Digital Commons Network^™

Supporting Graduate Student Flourishing: Development Of A Whole-Person Formation Framework Through A University-Wide Task Force, Elisa Greene, Amanda Grieme-Bradley, Maren Bishop

Papers

How do whole persons form for lives of character and flourishing within graduate schooling years? What steps could an institution take to move toward that end? This work describes the process of one institution’s use of a task force examining these questions using a combination of literature review and structured interviews with key stakeholders across campus. The context of the institution’s unique mission, vision, and virtue framework provided a foundation out of which four areas of focus emerged: 1) infrastructure and representation, 2) belonging and community, 3) communication, and 4) professional identity formation. Investment in these institutional themes supports formation …

Disentangling The Hemodynamic Effects Of A-Wave Loss And Cardiac Output Reduction In Atrial Fibrillation, Hailey Labonte, Ahmad Bshennaty, Ghasaq Saleh, Salameh Al-Halaseh, Mohamad Alkhouli, Hoda Hatoum

Michigan Tech Publications

Purpose: Atrial fibrillation (AF) increases thromboembolic risk, yet the relative hemodynamic contributions of A-wave loss, cardiac output (CO) reduction, and patient-specific atrial geometry remain incompletely understood. This study aimed to isolate the hemodynamic consequences of A-wave removal and CO reduction on left atrial (LA) flow and stasis. Methods: Five patient-specific LA geometries were evaluated using transient laminar CFD simulations. For each geometry, the sinus rhythm transmitral waveform was used as the baseline and modified to represent AF with compromised and conserved CO. Hemodynamic endpoints included LA velocity, time-averaged wall shear stress (TAWSS), relative residence time (RRT), oscillatory shear index (OSI), …

Lanthorn, Vol. 61, No. 01, August 10, 2026, Grand Valley State University

Volume 61, August 10, 2026 – current

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

It Takes A Community: Barbershops As Healing Spaces For Black Men, Aron Anthony King, Piri W. Ackerman, Patricia Fernandez

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Black men in the United States experience disproportionately poor mental health outcomes yet remain significantly underrepresented in accessing care. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, African American adults are 20% more likely to report serious psychological distress and are more likely to experience feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and worthlessness compared to their white counterparts. Despite these disparities, less than half of Black men experiencing mental illness seek treatment. Intersecting factors such as racism, stigma, medical mistrust, and traditional notions of masculinity contribute to these gaps, highlighting the need for more culturally responsive …

Strategies For Successful Postgraduation Next Generation Nclex (Ngn) Preparation, Kristy P. Ludy

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Background and Problem: In 2023, the Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) was implemented after a strategic practice analysis conducted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) to improve evaluation of Clinical Judgment and decision-making of nursing graduates (Jessee et al., 2023; Poorman & Mastorovich, 2020). Initially, first-time pass rates (FTPRs) rose after the NGN’s implementation, but have fluctuated on national and state levels (National Council of State Boards of Nursing, 2025). Nursing faculty have been focused on preparing students for the NGN (Boev, 2023; Sturdivant & Allen-Thomas, 2022). However, becoming aware of how graduates prepare after graduation and …

Translational Reading Frame Predicts The Pathogenicity Of C-Terminal Frameshift Deletions In Mecp2, Jacky Guy, Elena Hein, Beatrice Alexander-Howden, Timur Von Bock Und Polach, Tricia Mathieson, Benjamin P Kleinstiver, Huda Y Zoghbi, Adrian Bird

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

Mutations in the MECP2 gene cause the severe neurological disorder Rett syndrome. A cluster of frameshift-causing C-terminal deletions (CTDs) removes ~100 amino acids and accounts for approximately 10% of RTT-causing mutations. Their pathogenicity is unexpected because this C-terminal domain is dispensable in mice. Analysis of pathogenic and benign human MECP2 variants reveals that some individuals with apparently typical CTDs do not develop Rett syndrome, confirming that C-terminal truncations are not intrinsically pathogenic. Using human sequence data and mouse models we show that pathogenicity results from a marked reduction in MeCP2 levels and depends on the presence of a proline proline …

Functionality Risk Assessment And Risk-Based Management For Critical Infrastructure Systems, Anteneh Zewdu Deriba

Dissertations and Theses

Critical infrastructure systems such as transportation networks serve as the lifelines of modern society, supporting economic activity and ensuring access to critical services. Their disruption under extreme events can produce consequences extending far beyond physical damage to individual assets. In transportation networks for instance, failures of critical assets such as bridges and tunnels can reduce accessibility of communities, limit freight capabilities for commerce, and increase travel distance and travel time of road users. These consequences associated with the system functionality loss are tied not only to the physical vulnerability and failure of individual assets, but also to the system configuration …

Malt1 Protease Inhibition Restrains Glioblastoma Progression By Reversing Tumor-Associated Macrophage-Dependent Immunosuppression In Mice, Juliana Hofstätter Azambuja, Saigopalakrishna Yerneni, Lisa Maurer, Hannah Crentsil, Gabriela Debom, Linda Klei, Mei Smyers, Chaim Sneiderman, Kristina Schwab, Rajesh Acharya, Aivi Nguyen, Josie Emery, John Little, Jeffrey Meridew, Yijen Lin Wu, Prasanna Ekambaram, Dong Hu, Pete Gough, John Bertin, Ari Melnick, Gary Kohanbash, Riyue Bao, Peter Lucas, Linda Mcallister-Lucas

College of Life Sciences Faculty Papers

MALT1 protease is an intracellular signaling molecule that promotes tumor progression via cancer cell-intrinsic and cancer cell-extrinsic mechanisms. MALT1 has been mostly studied in lymphocytes, and little is known about its role in tumor-associated macrophages. We show that MALT1 is expressed in glioblastoma (GBM)-associated macrophages. Mechanistically, GBM tumor cells induce a MALT1-NF-κB signaling axis in macrophages, leading to enhanced macrophage migration and polarization toward an immunosuppressive ('M2-like') phenotype. Inactivation of MALT1 protease promotes transcriptional reprogramming that reduces migration and restores a macrophage anti-tumor 'M1-like' phenotype. Preclinical in vivo analysis shows that MALT1 inhibitor treatment results in immuno-reactivity of GBM-associated macrophages …

Automated Classification, Measurement, And Semantic Segmentation Of Open-Web Joists From Point Cloud Data, Justin Raymond Dworacek

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a BIM-oriented methodology for the automated classification, measurement, and segmentation of structural trusses from point cloud data. A real truss point cloud and a complementary synthetic dataset derived from CADBIM Revit families were used to develop and evaluate the workflow. Classification was performed using a rule-based Python algorithm based on principal component analysis, side-view feature extraction, and family-specific geometric decision logic, while a separate family-aware script was used to extract key truss dimensions. Semantic segmentation was evaluated using a PointTransformerV3 model to separate truss and non-truss points in mixed point cloud scenes. The results demonstrated strong performance …

A Graphical Approach To Isospectral Unfoldings, Dallin Seyfried

Theses and Dissertations

Isospectral reductions are mathematical techniques used to shrink a matrix, or a graph, into a smaller, dimensionally reduced form while preserving its spectrum. Simple graphs that share isospectral reductions also share quantum walk properties. As such we further develop the inverse process, isospectral unfoldings, to find graphs that share isospectral reductions. We first prove many conditions relating to isospectral reductions and unfoldings. Afterwards, we define two new unfolding processes: general unfolding which unfolds the graph one vertex at a time, and equitable partition unfolding which excels at larger graph unfolding. In particular, through equitable partition unfolding, we discover many graphs …

Vedic Mathematics And Mental Computation: Fast Multiplication Techniques, Algebraic Foundations, And Historical Perspectives, Rakesh Bhatia, Mrinal Kanti Roychowdhury

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Mental computation has fascinated mathematicians, educators, and students for centuries. Various computational techniques allow arithmetic calculations to be performed rapidly without the use of calculators or computers. Among these methods, several popular techniques are associated with what is commonly known as Vedic Mathematics. In this article, we examine a collection of fast multiplication techniques, including multiplication near powers of ten, multiplication by eleven, squaring numbers ending in five, and the vertical-and-crosswise method. For each technique, we provide elementary mathematical explanations based on algebraic identities and place-value representations.

Recalibrating Risk: A Call For South Asian-Focused Heart Failure Prediction Models, Nandini Nair, Dongping Du, Aiswarya J. Pillai, Swarna Mahesh, Mrudula R. Munagala, Howard J. Eisen, Balakrishnan Mahesh

Division of Cardiology Faculty Papers

Background: Heart failure (HF) represents the final common pathway of diverse cardiovascular disorders, including coronary artery disease, primary myocardial pathology, and abnormalities of cardiac conduction. These conditions arise from an interplay of genetic, environmental, and psychosocial influences, making it essential to understand these determinants to improve risk prediction and prevention. Multiple biological pathways of inflammation, fibrosis, coagulation, oxidative stress, lipid dysregulation, endothelial dysfunction, and metabolic disturbances are shaped by inherited susceptibility and modifiable exposures. Together, these mechanisms drive HF development and progression, though their relative contributions vary across populations. Methods: PubMed and Google Scholar were searched for clinical, biomedical, and …

The Use Of Machine Learning Models For Predicting The Dielectric Strength Of Gases, Matthew Mileski, Paul W. Groth, Timothy S. Wolfe, Adib J. Samin

Faculty Publications

Technological advancements in high voltage systems have pushed sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) to its operational limits. Furthermore, this gas has other drawbacks including a high liquefaction temperature and a high global warming potential. Therefore, there has been an urgent need to find alternative gases with high dielectric strength (DS). In this work, density functional theory (DFT) is used to calculate molecular descriptors that are fed into an artificial neural network (ANN) and a random forest (RF). These machine learning (ML) models are then used to predict the DS for hundreds of molecules. A finite element model (FEM) is also used to …

An Atmospheric Optical Turbulence Structure Parameter Measurements System Based On Direct Ri Sensing Using High-Resolution Fiber-Optic Sensors, Matej Njegovec, Simon Pevec, Vedran Budinski, Boris Macuh, Melissa K. Beason, Denis Onlagic

Faculty Publications

The paper presents a method to characterize the refractive index structure parameter (C_n²) associated with optical turbulence directly. The characterization system is based on miniature, high‑resolution, all‑fiber refractive index (RI) sensors. The refractive index sensors employ open‑path, low‑finesse Fabry–Perot interferometers that are approximately 8 mm long and 200 μm in diameter. The active part of the interferometers is made of ultra‑low‑expansion glass, which eliminates the influence of thermal expansion on the refractive index measurements. The proposed refractive index sensor, operating in a differential configuration, achieved a resolution of 2×10^-9 RIU using a custom‑designed spectral interrogation system …

Cigarette Smoke Induces Fasn-Dependent Fatty Acid Metabolic Rewiring To Drive Bladder Cancer Progression, Chandra Sekhar Amara, Danthasinghe Waduge Badrajee Piyarathna, Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal, Yuen San Chan, Karthik Reddy Kami Reddy, Chandra Shekar R Ambati, Mohammed Khurshidul Hassan, Pratik Shriwas, Tanmay Gandhi, Antrix Jain, Tanja Gangnus, Pooja Popli, Roshan Borkar, Sung Wook Kang, Silvia L Summers, Vasanta Putluri, Sandra L Grimm, Sharan Venkatesh, Ningxin Song, Erin H Seeley, Jenna Hedlich-Dwyer, Shu-Hsia Chen, Nupam P Mahajan, Abhinav K Jain, Lacey Elizabeth Dobrolecki, Gabrielle A Wells, Hugo Villanueva, Jenny Li, Xuefeng Liu, Roni J Bollag, Anna Malovannaya, Sung Yun Jung, Hyun-Sung Lee, Irfan A Asangani, Martha K Terris, Chad J Creighton, Leomar Y Ballester, Balasubramanyam Karanam, Suyu Liu, Minjae Lee, Rajeeva R Raju, M Minhaj Siddiqui, Livia S Eberlin, Ramakrishna Kommagani, Arun Sreekumar, Jianjun Gao, Nicolas L Young, H Courtney Hodges, Cristian Coarfa, Natalie R Gassman, Seth P Lerner, Yair Lotan, Nagireddy Putluri

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Cigarette smoke promotes bladder tumor growth by enhancing cancer cell survival and proliferation through smoke mediated carcinogens. FASN, a key enzyme in fatty acid synthesis, is dysregulated in many cancers and correlates with aggressive phenotypes. In this study, we demonstrate elevated fatty acid levels and FASN specifically in smokers with bladder cancer. Elevated FASN under smoke exposure imparted epigenetic alterations, particularly histone acetylation, impacts DNA repair and DNA-binding transcription factors which regulate metabolic pathways. Under cigarette smoke, bladder cancer cells undergo a metabolic shift, utilizing glutamine as a major carbon source through reductive carboxylation to fuel fatty acid biosynthesis via …

Effective Visibility In The Infrared Bands, Peter L. Dean-Erlander, Steven T. Fiorino, Ronald G. Driggers

Faculty Publications

Visibility is an atmospheric metric for the comparison of terrestrial imaging conditions and locations. A limitation of visibility is that it is defined for the visible spectrum only, and there is no simple infrared equivalent. This study compares three reflective infrared wavebands: near-IR (NIR), shortwave IR (SWIR), and extended shortwave IR (eSWIR), to the visible band across a global set of cities to develop three rule-of-thumb functions for IR effective visibility. To accomplish this, a radiometric sensor model is combined with the Laser Environmental Effects Definition and Reference (LEEDR) software package to calculate the visibility of a black-and-white contrast target …

Moss Biomonitoring And Isotopic Signatures Reveal Aviation Fuel As Local Lead Source Near Oregon Airports, Oluwaseyi E. Aderinboye, Alyssa E. Shiel, Lauren Stalford, Christina J. Murphy, Dean B. Atkinson

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Lead emissions from piston-engine aircraft using leaded aviation gasoline (avgas) remain a significant source of environmental contamination near regional airports, posing potential health risks to nearby communities. Passive biomonitoring using the epiphytic moss Orthotrichum lyellii was combined with lead isotope fingerprinting to quantify lead concentrations and distinguish between legacy leaded gasoline and current avgas emissions near Hillsboro and Troutdale airports in Oregon. Here we show that lead levels are elevated by up to 50 times the rural background near airports, with isotopic signatures confirming avgas as a dominant local source. These findings indicate that avgas use contributes substantially to environmental …

Enabling Asl Digital Communication Under Poor Internet Access, Swann Thantsin

Student Theses

Video conferencing degrades asymmetrically. When bandwidth falls, a hearing caller loses picture quality and keeps the conversation; a deaf and hard of hearing signer, whose language is carried entirely in the visual modality, loses the conversation. This thesis asks whether signed video reduced to the rates at which commercial platforms fail can be reconstructed at the receiver well enough to keep signing legible. A twostage reduction pipeline crops to the signer and transmits the face and hands at higher fidelity than their surroundings, achieving a reduction of approximately 99%; reconstruction uses a recurrent bottleneck mixer architecture, trained both conventionally and …

Robustness Assessment Of Head And Neck Proton Therapy Plans Using Composite Synthetic Cts: A Preliminary Step Toward Ai Driven Anatomy Prediction Planning: A Retrospective Dosimetric Study., Ryan Michael Rodriguez

Masters Projects

Proton therapy is more commonly being utilized for head and neck cancer treatment due to its ability to reduce dose to the surrounding normal tissue. However, one of the biggest challenges in proton treatment is its sensitivity to changes in tissue density, often necessitating adaptive replanning. This study evaluated if incorporating additional synthetic CTs (sCT) datasets during robust optimization can create treatment plans that maintain target coverage and organ sparing despite anatomical changes better than the original nominal plan, thereby reducing the need for adaptive planning in head and neck proton treatment. Ten head and neck cancer patients who underwent …

The Role Of Chimeric Antigen Receptor Regulatory T Cells In Promoting Immune Tolerance In Solid Organ Transplantation: Mechanisms And Therapeutic Potential, Maher S. Alwethaynani

Saudi Medical Journal

Solid organ transplantation (SOT) is a life-saving procedure for patients with end-stage organ failure; however, lifelong immunosuppressant use is needed to prevent allograft rejection. These drugs increase the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, liver, kidney, and lung cancers, and heighten susceptibility to oncogenic viruses, including hepatitis B and Epstein-Barr virus. The usage of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) regulatory T (Treg) cells is a promising approach to induce transplant tolerance while minimizing dependence on immunosuppressants. The CAR Tregs offer the potential to enhance graft survival and quality of life by reducing immunosuppressant-related morbidity and mortality. Despite remarkable progress in transplantation tolerance, challenges …

Exploring Translational Medical Research Progress In G20 Countries: 5-Year Study, Hana A. Alhumud, Fars K. Alanazi, Edward B. Devol

Saudi Medical Journal

Objectives: Biomedical research is crucial for advancing medical knowledge and improving public health. However, the research process is often disjointed and lacks seamless progression, leading to delays and missed opportunities. To address this, the concept of translational research has emerged, focusing on the smooth transition of research results to the next stage of inquiry. Methods: This study analyzed approximately 40,000 research publications from the Web of Science database to identify research activities associated with translational research. Publications from Group of 20 (G20) countries over the past 5 years were examined to explore patterns of research focus and progress in this …

Indigenous Ontologies And Architecture, Reconstructing Interrelational Relationships, Arlene Garcia Guzman

McNair Summer Research Program

Contemporary architecture faces a growing pressure to respond to the socioecological crises with regard to the consequences of design that so often accept environmental systems as separate from the living. In contrast, many Native systems, often referred to as Traditional Knowledge (TK), comprehend cumulative, place-based bodies of knowledge that are developed through extended histories of interaction with specific environments. In this context, Traditional Knowledge encompasses resource use practices, sustainability, spirituality, and an emphasis on a relational worldview. It is characterized in such a framework that different layers of existence, such as humans, animals, plants, water, climate, and materials, are understood …

Template Housing: A House For The Next 100 Years, Joab Barrientos, Sophia Rico, Armando Munoz

McNair Summer Research Program

This research looks at more than a hundred years of prefabricated housing to show how standardized housing production has changed and shaped today’s housing. By studying old records and current pre-approved housing plans, the study shows how housing design has shifted over time. Comparing examples from the past and present reveals common strategies to boost efficiency, speed up construction, and make housing more accessible. With the ongoing housing shortage in the United States, this research is timely, especially given the recent 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which encourages faster, more efficient housing development. The study creates a timeline that …

The Business Next Door: Ev Construction: Back To The Future, Steve Vanderveen

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

The genesis of the company dates to 1945 when two young men, Peter Elzinga and John Volkers, formed a partnership to construct homes in Fremont, Michigan. But its story begins before that.

Artificial Intelligence In Central Arkansas School Districts: A Phenomenological Study Of Practices, Polices, And Perceptions, Alana M. Graham

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Artificial intelligence (AI) has evolved at a fast rate and has created both opportunities and challenges for public school districts. As AI technologies continue to emerge, limited research exists regarding how school districts in central Arkansas are integrating AI into instructional and administrative practices. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore district-level administrators’ perceptions and experiences regarding the integration of artificial intelligence in public school districts in central Arkansas. The study was guided by Diffusion of Innovations Theory and the Technology Acceptance Model, and examined current AI practices, policy development, perceived benefits and challenges, and barriers associated with …

Design And Implementation Of An Intelligent Electronic Circuit To Control Laser Power In Real Time Using Built-In Thermal Feedback, Zainab Hussam Al-Araji

Mesopotamian Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

One of the challenges of laser thermal therapy is to balance treatment effectiveness with the protection of healthy tissues from unintentional thermal damage. The aim of this study is to regulate the laser thermal dose with high accuracy using commercially available microcontrollers through the design and implementation of a low-cost closed-loop control system. The proposed system uses an adaptive control algorithm (PID) to adjust the laser power in real time, supported by a safety mechanism that calculates the equivalent cumulative minutes (CEM43) to prevent tissue charring. A binary verification methodology was adopted to assess the system's reliability, in which a …

Mountain Development In Nepal: Settlements, Infrastructure, And Economic Transformation, Keshav Bhattarai, Ambika P. Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

As Nepal urbanizes, expands infrastructure, strengthens local governments, and explores deeper connectivity with India and China, climate change is increasing floods, landslides, heat, and water insecurity. Rapid internal migration, rising disaster risks, youth outmigration, and dependence on remittances are also revealing the limits of conventional urban development, especially in the mountainous region. The central challenge for Nepal is no longer just to accommodate growing towns and cities, but to build settlements that are safe, productive, environmentally resilient, and capable of sustaining long-term prosperity.

This paper argues that Nepal's urban future must be guided by a new development paradigm centered on …

Methodologies For Encouraging Creative Expression Within The Curriculum, Ian D. Martzke

Masters Projects

Many students struggle to find creative expression within the school curriculum. Indeed, since the 1990s we have seen a rise in average IQ but a reduction in scores through the Torrance Test for Creative Thinking (TTCT) (Kim, 2011). In the course of this project several methodologies for creative problem solving will be described and several lessons will be described that will both explain and model these methodologies of creative problem solving. These lessons will utilize the creative process (Wallas, 1926) and be written to include student choice (Hogan et al. 2020) specifically, within the instructional framework known as Teaching for …

Surface-Modified Zinc Oxide Nanostructures For Ammonia Detection, Gowri Shonali N Ms

Theses and Dissertations

The escalating demand for sustainable gas sensors with low-ppm detection has driven research on surface-engineered nanomaterials for portable air-quality and health screening. This thesis focuses on the fabrication of nanostructured ZnO films as chemiresistive sensors for NH3 detection at RT. This study investigates surface modification using GO, rGO, g-C3N4, Ti3C2Tx; (Se, and Te) ink using a drop casting technique over DC-sputtered ZnO films. Surface modification plays a vital role by providing plenty of active sites, enhancing defective oxygen vacancy, facilitating charge transfer, and synergistic interaction between adsorbed oxygen species to enhance the sensing performance at RT. Among them trGO/ZnO hybrid …

Enhancing A Mid-Wave Infrared Fourier Transform Hyperspectral Imager For Explosions, James T. Stofel, Kody A. Wilson, Martin Larivière-Bastien, Anthony L. Franz, Michael L. Dexter

Faculty Publications

Capturing reliable hyperspectral imager data at a meaningful frame rate for explosions and other fast-changing scenes is not possible in the mid-wave infrared region under traditional sensor operating configurations and processing techniques, which typically have frame rates on the order of 0.5–2.0 Hz. To combat these shortcomings, the scene acquisition parameters were tailored for explosions and a new method for processing optical signatures of fast transient scenes with Fourier-transform infrared hyperspectral imagers was developed. For this technique, the instrument was first configured to collect asymmetric interferograms while optimizing the number of measurement points on the short side of the interferogram. …