Digital Commons Network^™

Crow's Nest, April 28, 2025, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

No abstract provided.

Kennesaw State University Student Managed Investment Fund Sector Sensitivity Analysis, John Kiersznowski, Joe Johnson, Kyler Howell, Geranger Lewis

Senior Design Project For Engineers

The Kennesaw State University Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF) Sector Sensitivity Analysis focuses on improving the fund’s decision-making and performance through data science. The SMIF is a diversified index fund designed to outperform indices like the S&P 500. This project investigates how macroeconomic variables—such as GDP growth, inflation, interest rates, and commodity prices—impact sector performance. By structuring data, developing a sustainable data pipeline, and leveraging advanced statistical techniques and predictive modeling, our team was able to provide the framework and proof of actionable insights that enhance the fund's ability to manage risks and optimize returns.

Quantifying And Characterizing Microplastics In The Greater Philadelphia Region, Emily Lybashev

Biology Honors Papers

Plastic is one of the world's most useful and versatile materials, so it is no wonder that 400 million tons are produced yearly. When exposed to weathering, heat, water, and organisms, plastic degrades and produces microplastics. These microplastics have managed to leach into our oceans, local waterways, bodies, and even our atmosphere. The negative implications of microplastic contamination in our environment are slowly being uncovered with concerns of toxin buildup. Additionally, the amount of microplastics we are exposed to through local waterways is rarely quantified. Though microplastic research is picking up pace, the Schuylkill River which spans the Greater Philadelphia …

Faculty Senate Minutes April 28, 2025, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• Call to Order
• Approval of Minutes - March 31, 2025
• University Business
• Faculty Senate Business
• Information
• EPC Report - April 3, 2025
• The Office of Equity
• Report
• Committee on Committees (CoC) Annual Report
• Calendar Committee Annual Report
• Retention Annual Report
• Recruitment Annual Report
• Old Business
• New Business
• Adjourn - 4:30 pm

The Role And Expression Of Pros-1 In The C. Elegans Gonad, Brandon W. Thomas, Mary B. Kroetz, Roberta Challener

Undergraduate Theses

The nematode, formally known as Caenorhabditis elegans, has served as an excellent model organism in understanding fundamental biological processes, including those governed by conserved genes like pros-1. pros-1 is partially responsible for the formation of tubular structures within the organism. Glial cells and excretory canals are both examples of tubular structures governed by pros-1. pros-1 orchestrates the embryonic development of these cell types by modulating cell proliferation and differentiation, thus ensuring proper morphogenesis and organogenesis. Its regulatory influence likely extends beyond embryogenesis, potentially affecting reproductive processes as well. Furthermore, the evolutionary conservation of pros-1 underscores its significance …

Scholarships Make Lasting Impact On Ole Miss Students, Tina H. Hahn

University of Mississippi News

OXFORD, Miss. – Two scholarship funds established by a University of Mississippi alumnus from Picayune have helped dozens of Ole Miss students realize their dreams of becoming accountants, engineers and medical professionals.

Quantifying Treatment Response To A Macrophage-Targeted Therapy In Combination With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors After Exposure To Conventional Chemotherapy, Shelby N. Bess, Gaven K. Smart, Timothy J. Muldoon

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Conventional chemotherapeutic agents, such as 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), can exert anti-tumor effects through immunogenic cell death (ICD) induction. Researchers have found hallmarks that quantify ICD (such as the translocation of HMGB1 and calreticulin). Although chemotherapeutic agents can induce ICD, they increase the expression of immune checkpoints, limiting their effectiveness. Studies have emphasized the importance of investigating the heterogeneous responses of cells co-localized in a solid tumor (macrophages, tumor cells, etc.) to ICD induction. However, these studies were performed in vivo, which limits the collection of information on cell-cell interactions due to model complexity.

Methods: In this study, we used a …

Owlsat, David Amaya, Grant Keuhne

Senior Design Project For Engineers

The OwlSat project, conducted by senior aerospace engineering students at Kennesaw State University, represents the university’s inaugural entry into the 2025 CanSat Competition. The mission objective was to design, build, and validate a CanSat capable of controlled deployment from a rocket, stable descent via an autogyro system, real-time telemetry transmission, and onboard video recording, while meeting strict mechanical, structural, and operational requirements.

A comprehensive design methodology was employed, incorporating trade studies, computational simulations, Finite Element Analysis (FEA), and iterative prototyping. Key innovations include a foldable blade autogyro system based on the Selig S1223 airfoil, a robust canister release mechanism, and …

Integrating Human-Centered Design Into Undergraduate Stem Capstone Courses: A Food Product Development Case Study, Saadeddine Shehab, Dawn Bohn, Lucas O'Bryan, Luettamae Lawrence, Mike Tissenbaum

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This study examines the integration of human-centered design (HCD) in a Food Science capstone course and explores its impact on students’ learning outcomes and skill development. This case study investigated how 42 undergraduate students engaged with HCD processes—including understanding, synthesizing, ideating, prototyping, and implementing—to develop innovative food products. Through pre- and post-surveys, interaction analysis, and performance assessments, the findings revealed that HCD activities significantly enhanced students’ knowledge, collaboration, creativity, and metacognitive skills. Additionally, students demonstrated improved food science competencies, such as product formulation and sensory evaluation. This study highlights the benefits of embedding HCD within STEM curricula to foster authentic, …

Integrating Environmental Analyses And Awareness To The Senior Chemical Plant Design Course Che 4233, Lucie I. Leblanc

Honors Theses

The EPA has implemented and increased environmental regulations and safeguards for carbon dioxide (CO2) and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions for the past 70 years. These regulations have affected the technology and methodology used in industrial chemical production processes. As newly graduated engineers enter the work field, they will encounter current and future EPA regulations, and they will have to adjust their production units to meet these safeguards. This report loosely follows the structure of the Plant Design Course (CHE 4233) to show the process of designing a conventional cumene production plant. The conventional process is compared to a new …

Variation In Bike Infrastructure Across American Cities, Jason D. Greenberg

Politics Honors Papers

What explains why some cities have developed extensive bike infrastructure while others have not? Bicycling is a low-cost transportation option and is becoming increasingly popular in the 21^st century. While there is extensive literature on bike infrastructure in the United States and its relationship with gentrification and advocacy, there is not significant, explicit dedication and focus toward explaining why variation exists across American cities. In my research design, I examine several factors that could point toward an explanation. The results show that policy diffusion is the most significant factor for bike infrastructure adoption, lending credence to prior literature on …

Computational Analysis Of Proton Conductivity Factors In Grotthuss-Style Mechanisms, Brock Dyer

Physics and Astronomy Honors Papers

The mechanism and fundamental molecular properties involved in proton conduction are discussed. Four calculable properties are presented: the proton affinity, binding energy (between protonated and neutral forms), intramolecular tautomerization barrier, and proton hopping barrier. An overview of the computational methods used in this thesis, including an introduction to the many-body Schrödinger equation and Density Functional Theory, as well as a look at Plane-Wave Density Functional Theory and Gaussian-Type Orbital Density Functional Theory are presented. 4,5-dimethyl-[1,2,3]-triazole is used as a model system, with 10 variations being generated with varying amounts and positions of fluorine substitution on the methyl groups. Preliminary calculations …

Jtc 25: From Military To Medicine, Natalie Ehrhardt

University of Mississippi News

This story is part of the 2025 Journey to Commencement series, which celebrates the pinnacle of the academic year by highlighting University of Mississippi students and their outstanding academic and personal journeys from college student to college graduate.

Quantifying The Rates Of Coastal Change Along Smith Island, Maryland, Sarah Lacy, Ravi Sankar

Longwood Senior Thesis Proposal

As increased climate variability continues to alter the environment, coastal landscapes are becoming increasingly vulnerable to geomorphic change. Coastal erosion, driven by rising sea levels, land subsidence, more intense storm events and human-induced activities poses a serious threat to the sustainability and resilience of island environments like Smith Island, a small marsh island located in the Chesapeake Bay. This study investigates the impacts of recent shoreline change along selected alongshore segments of the island’s coast. Using a combination of aerial imagery, field surveying techniques, and novel geospatial analyses, the project aims to identify areas at highest risk of erosion and …

Edra 56: Bibliography, Tamara Karr

Bibliographies

EDRA 56: Designing Communities for Climate Action and Resilience

Focus, 2025, Winter, Andrews University

Focus

FOCUS (ISSN 1077-9345) is published quarterly, free of charge, for alumni and friends of Andrews University, an institution owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Travel Behavior Study On Shared Micromobility Service, Yixiang Teng

Lyles School of Civil Engineering Graduate Student Reports

This study investigates the travel behavior on the shared micromobility service around Purdue University West Lafayette campus area. It aims to understand the shared micromobility user patterns and identify the barriers of adoption. The study was enlightened by the influence of pandemic on transportation choices and the shift on transportation habits, and the gap identified was the understanding of the college related population. The research method was a constructed survey distributed among Purdue University’s students, faculties and staffs. A total of 143 valid responses were collected, comprising 73 current users and 70 non-users. Results indicate that shared micromobility is primarily …

Fluorescent Labeling And Size-Dependent Uptake Of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles In Ovarian Cancer Tumor Spheroids, Kimberly R. Berardis

Honors Scholar Theses

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy, with most patients presenting at an advanced stage. While surgical debulking improves survival, nonresectable tumors (<1 cm) contribute significantly to morbidity and remain difficult to treat. Nanocarrier-based drug delivery systems offer an innovative approach to targeted therapy and palliation. In vivo models have demonstrated that intraperitoneally delivered mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) preferentially accumulate in tumors with low systemic exposure, enabling targeted chemo- and radiotherapy.

MSNs are particularly suited for radiotherapeutic delivery, as their strong interactions with tumor extracellular matrices drive selective uptake. Additionally, they exhibit excellent stability under neutron flux, allowing for loading with stable isotopes and irradiation immediately prior to administration. High radionuclide retention after dilution further minimizes systemic exposure and toxicity.

A key …

Fractal Dimension And Entropy Analysis Of Medical Images For Knn-Based Disease Classification, Krishna Mahapatra, Selvakumar R

Baghdad Science Journal

The study of medical image-based disease detection has witnessed a notable surge in interest and success with computational methods. This work proposes a novel framework to detect diseases at earlier stages from medical images, using mathematical model and Machine Learning. Introduce two new quantitative measures for COVID-19 and Tumor disease detection: image uncertainty based on Shannon entropy and image complexity based on fractal dimension. Our result demonstrated that in COVID-19 positive images exhibited skewed pixel distribution due to the hazy regions resulting in lower entropy values for diseased cases compared to healthy ones. The second quantity, fractal dimension was measured …

Design Hybrid Architecture To Implement Aes Algorithm On Fpga For Iot Applications, Nada Qasim Mohammed, Amiza Amir, Muataz Hammed Salih, R. Badlishah Ahmad, Rima Matem, Nisrean Thalji, Qasim Mohammed, Jamal Kamil K. Abbas, Taha Raad Al-Shakhli

Baghdad Science Journal

High-security cryptography algorithms like AES require high computational capabilities to achieve information security. Therefore, it is necessary to use parallel computing architectures that exploit modern technologies in spatial parallelisms to obtain the most conceivable computational power. Various technologies have been introduced to achieve parallel processing. One of them is field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), which have good characteristics suitable for implementing parallel architectures with lower power consumption. The paper aims to design and implement an embedded computing processing engine architecture transceiver with high performance to obtain better throughput on FPGA technology to encrypt and decrypt images. In this design, two boards …

Electrocatalytic Nitric Oxide Reduction To Yield Ammonia Over Fe3C Nanocrystals, Sen Lin, Lang Zhang, Tong Hou, Jun-Yang Ding, Zi-Mo Peng, Yi-Fan Liu, Xi-Jun Liu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Nitric oxide (NO), which generally originates from vehicle exhaust and industrial flue gases, is one of the most serious air pollutants. In this case, the electrochemical NO reduction reaction (NORR) not only removes the atmospheric pollutant NO but also produces valuable NH₃. Hence, through the synthesis and modification of Fe₃C nanocrystal catalysts, the as-obtained optimal sample of Fe₃C/C-900 was adopted as NORR catalyst at ambient conditions. As a result, the Fe₃C/C-900 catalyst showed an NH₃ Faraday efficiency of 76.5% and an NH₃ yield rate of 177.5 μmol·h^–1·cm^{–2 …}

Mine Closure Planning Must Face The Challenge Of Delivering Nature Positive Outcomes, Luis E. Sanchez, Angus Morrison-Saunders

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The need to address and reverse global biodiversity decline is imperative across all of society including the practices of mine closure planning. Nature Positive is the latest global biodiversity-focused initiative which calls for at least 30% of biodiversity to be enhanced through effective restoration relative to the 2020 baseline. This paper conceptualizes and explains what is necessary in mine closure planning and implementation to meaningfully contribute to this and other nature-positive goals, with some illustrative examples. Issues considered include application of the mitigation hierarchy, rehabilitation in mining and the time lag challenge for restoring biodiversity, biodiversity offsetting, conserving nature while …

Strategies To Improve Patient Satisfaction In Colorado Nursing Homes, Shahnoz Yusufbekova

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Patient satisfaction is a key performance indicator in nursing homes, influencing organizational success, clinical outcomes, and compliance with regulatory standards. This integrative review was conducted to identify strategies for improving patient satisfaction in Colorado nursing homes. By analyzing trends in patient care deficiencies and exploring evidence-based business strategies, the goal of this study was to enhance residents’ quality of life while fostering a patient-centered approach to care. An integrative literature review was conducted, in which peer-reviewed articles, government reports, and quality assessment tools published between 2019 and 2024 were analyzed. Lawton’s quality-of-life framework was used to assess factors influencing patient …

Hybrid Bermudagrass Drought Tolerance In A Cool-Season Climate, Ashley J. Beazer

Theses and Dissertations

Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) (KBG) is the most commonly grown cool-season C3 turfgrass. However, as global temperatures rise, KBG struggles to tolerate higher temperatures, leading to increased irrigation demands--a growing concern in arid and semi-arid regions facing escalating drought conditions. In contrast, hybrid bermudagrass (HBG; Cynodon dactylon [L.] Pers. x Cynodon transvaalensis Burtt Davy), a warm-season C4 grass, has demonstrated promising adaptability in traditionally cool-season climates. Since 2008, HBG has been successfully grown with minimal winterkill in Provo, UT, USA, and is now being considered for broader adoption in similar climates. Two separate studies were conducted to evaluate the …

Employability Of International Postgraduate Taught Students In The Uk: A Systematic Literature Review Using Prisma, Fa Wang, Rong Huang, Jingyu Wu, Wai Mun Lim

Plymouth Business School

One-year postgraduate taught programmes in the UK attract global talent through high-quality education, yet the employability and career pathways of these students remain understudied despite their recognised vital economic and cultural contributions. Amid the UK's higher education financial crisis, marked by funding cuts, staff layoffs, rising costs, and reliance on international student recruitment, this study employs the PRISMA 2020 framework to systematically review literature (2014–2024) on international postgraduate taught student employability. Analysing 13 studies from Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar, the findings reveal gaps in tailored sector-specific career and employability support, access to employment development opportunities and work-integrated …

Fact-Based Counter Narrative Generation To Combat Hate Speech, Brian Wilk, Homaira Huda Shomee, Suman Kalyan Maity, Sourav Medya

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Online hatred has become an increasingly pervasive issue, affecting individuals and communities across various digital platforms. To combat hate speech in such platforms, counter narratives (CNs) are regarded as an effective method. In recent years, there has been growing interest in using generative AI tools to construct CNs. However, most of the generative models produce generic responses to hate speech and can hallucinate, reducing their effectiveness. To address the above limitations, we propose a counter narrative generation method that enhances CNs by providing non-aggressive, fact-based narratives with relevant background knowledge from two distinct sources, including a web search module. Furthermore, …

Multiracial, Interclass Democracy, Franciska Coleman

Seton Hall Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Quiet Revolution In Intellectual Property Value And Protection: Cybersecurity Law’S Continuing Rise, Michael S. Mireles

Seton Hall Law Review

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Asphalt Content On Low-Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrum And Aging Evaluation Of Asphalt Mixtures, Chenyue Mei, Wei Wang, Junan Shen, Jinkun Sun, Yilin Xu, Jia Che

Civil Engineering & Construction: Faculty Publications

The aging of asphalt mixtures has a significant impact on the service life of asphalt pavements. Currently, the commonly employed method for assessing aging involves the extraction of asphalt from asphalt mixtures using the Abson method. However, this method is known to be detrimental to the extracted asphalt samples, time-consuming, and environmentally unfriendly. This study explored a novel non-destructive method for assessing asphalt aging, known as low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR). It primarily investigated the influence of asphalt content in asphalt mixtures on the patterns of LF-NMR spectra. Specifically, it examined the effect of asphalt content on LF-NMR spectra in …

Groovr: An Open Access Virtual Reality Drumming Application To Improve Pro-Sociality Using Synchronous Movement, Liam Cross, Wesley Nixon, Jack Smith, Chia-Huei Tseng, Yoshifumi Kitamura, Isamu Endo, Juris Savostijanovs, Gray Atherton

School of Psychology

Interpersonal synchrony can enhance social bonding, cooperation, and reduce negative biases, especially toward out-group members. However, studying social synchrony faces practical challenges. To address this, we introduce a customizable virtual reality (VR) application and report two experiments evaluating its effectiveness. In the first experiment, participants drummed either in sync or out of sync with a virtual partner matching their gender, age, and ethnicity. Synchronous drumming increased feelings of affiliation but did not influence pro-social behavior in an economic game. The second experiment involved Caucasian participants drumming with Middle Eastern avatars. Synchronous drumming not only increased trust and affiliation but also …