Digital Commons Network^™

Stories From The Pantanal: Documentary Filmmaking And Conservation In A Changing Wetland Landscape, Tobin Yates

Environmental Studies Senior Theses

This thesis pairs a short documentary film, Umbigo do Pantanal, with a written component examining conservation in Brazil's Pantanal wetland. Six days of fieldwork in Mato Grosso in September 2025 centered on Sandro Sebastião Godofredo, a multi-generational Pantaneiro rancher whose 130,000-hectare property is transitioning from intensive cattle operations toward ecosystem-based conservation and ecotourism. Sandro's account, drawn from interviews recorded on his ranch and along the São Lourenço River, anchors a broader argument about the limits of single-species conservation models in the Pantanal. The dominant jaguar-focused approach concentrates ecotourism revenue in a small portion of the wetland while pushing the costs …

Evaluating Outcomes Of Alternative Pathologic Terminology In High-Grade Dysplastic Colorectal Lesions, Shaman Dalal, Aakash Desai, Nahel Tunio, Jacqueline Khalil, Devereaux Sellers, Marc Landsman

Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Faculty Papers

Background Pathologists occasionally classify colorectal adenomas with dysplastic mucosal invasion as intramucosal carcinoma (IMC), or carcinoma in situ (CIS), instead of high-grade dysplasia (HGD), potentially leading to earlier surveillance colonoscopies and inappropriate surgical referrals. We aimed to analyze differences in the management of patients with these diagnoses, and examined the factors that may lead to inappropriate early interval (IEI) follow-up recommendations for surveillance.

Methods We reviewed 870 colonoscopy and pathology reports from 2015-2022, excluding cases of colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, and lesions not amenable to endoscopic resection. Surveillance appropriateness was defined in accordance with the 2020 US Multi Society …

Activated Dorsomedial Hypothalamic Astrocytes Regulate Feeding Behavior, Bella M. Lisenby

Honors Projects

The dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) region of the brain has been shown to be important for anticipatory feeding activity and play a role in restricting excessive food intake. In obese animals that overconsume calories, astrocytes within the DMH exhibit intracellular signaling changes indicative of cellular activation. Because astrocytes are known to influence neuronal function, we hypothesize that activated astrocytes regulate behavior. In the current study, we use chemogenetics combined with stereotaxic surgery to assess the contribution of astrocyte activity in the DMH towards metabolic behaviors.

Effects Of Divided Attention On Linguistic Tasks And Speech In Healthy Young Adults, Allison Coca

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of divided attention on concurrent speech and linguistic tasks by investigating performance on three linguistic computer tasks (phonological, syntactic, and semantic) and speech kinematics. Thirty-seven healthy young adults (19 male, 18 female) ages 19-30 were recorded performing a sentence repetition task using electromagnetic articulography. Each participant completed the sentence repetition once in isolation and once concurrently with each of the three linguistic computer tasks. Participants also completed computer tasks in isolation. Significant dual-task effects were observed on total number of correct responses in the phonological and syntactic linguistic tasks. No …

Hemlock, Ephraim Esson, Ambrose Vellequette, Geno Meschi

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Hemlock is a tool designed to protect musicians from having their work used to train generative AI models without their consent. It works by adding carefully crafted inaudible noise to audio files that disrupts the ability of AI models to learn from them — a technique known as adversarial perturbation. Our system targets three different types of AI model simultaneously: a Music Information Retrieval (MIR) classifier, a sequential audio generation model (Mel-LSTM), and Meta’s AudioCraft, a transformer-based music generator. Testing in twenty songs showed an average 15% reduction in the MIR model’s classification confidence, a 59% increase in Mel- LSTM …

From Awareness To Action: Developing Protocols For Tardive Dyskinesia Aims Screening Among Mental Health Clinicians, Annette Pratt

Nursing Capstones

Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is an often-irreversible movement disorder linked to prolonged antipsychotic treatment. It is under-recognized in mental health settings due to inconsistent or absent screening. Early identification with validated tools such as the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) is advised but not routinely performed, resulting in delayed diagnosis and poor management. The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project aims to improve TD detection by implementing a standardized AIMS screening protocol using a quasi-experimental, pre- and post-test design. Project components include prescriber education and demonstration using the AIMS tool. Participants are mental health prescribers managing antipsychotic medications. Expected outcomes include …

Ai Insurance Chatbots And Phygital Service Engagement: The Triadic Impact Of Trust-Anxiety-Complexity- On Aging Consumers, Rajat Subhra Chatterjee, Bindu Singh, Ranjan Chaudhuri, Sheshadri Chatterjee, Demetris Vrontis, Pantea Foroudi

Plymouth Business School

This study examines elderly consumers’ perceptions of the design of AI insurance chatbot services in a phygital context. Drawing on the extended reality technology (ERT) framework and the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model, it explores the cognitive–affective dynamics shaping chatbot adoption in a sensitive service setting. Data were collected from 396 elderly consumers of major insurance companies in Malaysia and analysed using structural equation modelling to assess mediating and moderating effects. Findings show that perceived trust critically mediates the relationship between cognitive factors and chatbot adoption. Technology anxiety and perceived complexity strongly moderate the trust–usage relationship, confirming a triadic interaction. The study …

Self-Care: A Beneficial Intervention For Nursing Faculty, Paige Baade

Nursing Capstones

Burnout among nursing faculty is a growing concern that impacts job satisfaction, well-being, and the ability to effectively educate future nurses. The purpose of this project was to investigate the impact of self-care on nursing faculty stress and burnout levels, overall well-being, and job satisfaction by comparing pre-test and post-test results after regular self-care implementation. This quasi-experimental project was conducted in a Midwest undergraduate nursing program and the sample included full-time nursing faculty who voluntarily participated. Data was collected through a survey to measure perceived stress, well-being, and job satisfaction, and degrees of burnout. Results indicated modest improvements in perceived …

The Impact Of Oral Adherence Education From Pharmaceutical Nurse Educators, Joshua David Boss

Nursing Capstones

The project investigates the impact of pharmaceutical nurse educators providing oncology practice nurses with education on oral anticancer medication adherence. A sample of nine registered nurses and advanced practice nurses participated in the pre-education survey and educational intervention, whereas seven participated in the post-education survey. Using a quantitative, quasi-experimental design, the project found an increase in understanding of the role pharmaceutical nurse educators play on the multidisciplinary team following the educational intervention. The findings support the need for an industry-wide naming clarification for the pharmaceutical nurse educator role, including the title across companies. Additionally, the need for the pharmaceutical nurse …

Improving Nurse Burnout With Wellness Activities During Break Times, Alyson Sigvertsen

Nursing Capstones

Nursing burnout continues to be a critical concern in healthcare worldwide. Due to a lack of physical, emotional, and mental breaks, burnout has a high prevalence in the nursing profession. Burnout leads to reduced patient quality of care, higher staff workload, increased risk of errors, delay in care, and reduced job dissatisfaction. Nursing staff who do not take their scheduled breaks are more at risk for burnout because of the strong correlation between burnout and lack of rest (Stutting, 2023). For nurses to take their scheduled breaks is a common practice; however, nurses report continued stress as their break includes …

Effects Of L-Baiba Supplementation With And Without Grains Of Paradise On Changes In Resting Metabolic Rate, Body Composition, And Cardiometabolic Risk Factors, Leah E. Allen, Paige J. Sutton, Alex Schrautemeier, Kevin Holley, Connor J. Gaige, Joesi M. Krieger, Anthony M. Hagele, Karenina Antequera Gutierrez, Petey Mumford, Chad Kerksick

Faculty Symposium

To evaluate the impact of 56 days of supplementing with L-BAIBA or L-BAIBA + GOP (BGOP) on resting metabolic rate, body composition, perceptual indicators of mood and affect, and cardiometabolic markers in overweight and obese men and women.

METHODS: Healthy men and women (43.2±11.4 years, 169.4±7.6 cm, 90.3±15.6 kg, 31.4±4.4 kg∙m-2) completed a weekly exercise program and followed a calorierestrictive diet and were randomly assigned in a double-blind and blocked manner according to sex and DXA lean mass to consume daily either a placebo (PLA) (n=12 [11F, 1M]), 500 mg L-BAIBA (L-BAIBA: MitoBurn™, NNB Nutrition) (n=13 [9F, 4M]), or …

Staff Education To Improve Adolescent Behavioral Health Referrals Through Crafft Screening And Motivational Interviewing Training, Franca Achaleke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Advocacy Matters, Richard Collins

American Indian Law Journal

The Supreme Court’s 2022 Castro-Huerta decision was wrong on the points it discussed. It was doubly wrong for a reason it ignored. But the latter error was shared because all briefs and the dissenting opinion ignored it as well. The question presented was whether a nineteenth-century federal Indian country statute provided for exclusive federal jurisdiction over interracial crimes, or for concurrent authority with states. The Court held that the statute allowed concurrent jurisdiction. But it ignored the fact that Congress and the Court, until fairly recently, avoided concurrent federal-state jurisdiction over crimes. Had the self-styled originalist Justices taken their theory …

Stability At Stake: The Effects Of Overturning Chevron On Indian Gaming, Evan Callahan

American Indian Law Journal

The Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright to overturn Chevron Deference marks a significant change in administrative law and could have drastic consequences for the regulation of Indian gaming in the United States. This Note explores the implications of such a shift, emphasizing the importance of maintaining stability in the highly regulated gaming industry. Many stakeholders, including operators, investors, regulatory agencies, and patrons, may face significant uncertainty without doctrines such as Chevron Deference. Without agency expertise in interpreting statutes, the Court may instead directly influence the regulation of Indian gaming in the United States, presenting challenges and uncertainties for all …

Reading Between The Treaties: Why The Supreme Court Must Honor The Indian Canons Of Construction, Amelia R. Wimmer

American Indian Law Journal

This Note critically examines the Indian canons of construction as interpretive tools employed by the United States Supreme Court in cases involving treaties and statutes with Tribal Nations. Ultimately tracing their origins to Worcester v. Georgia, this Note explores how the Indian canons were designed to protect tribal sovereignty, ensure the liberal construction of ambiguous provisions in favor of tribes, and prevent the abrogation of tribal land and rights. Shifts in interpretive philosophy and the rise of textualism have led to a checkered application of the Indian canons across courts. However, a continued application of the Indian canons is necessary …

The Federal Trust ​​​Responsibility ​And Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction: Restoring Justice In Tribal Nations​​​ ​, Sofia Sallas

American Indian Law Journal

Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction (SDVCJ), enacted through the Violence Against Women Act, was designed to address jurisdictional gaps that long allowed non-Indian perpetrators of domestic violence in Indian Country to evade accountability. Yet despite restoring Tribal authority, SDVCJ remains significantly under-implemented. This Note argues that this failure is not merely a policy shortcoming, but a legal one. Congress restored Tribal criminal jurisdiction while conditioning its exercise on federal funding, coordination, and institutional support. Federal agencies, however, have failed to provide the consistent infrastructure necessary for SDVCJ to function in practice. These failures breach the federal trust responsibility, which imposes …

Olaf: Towards Robust Llm-Based Annotation Framework In Empirical Software Engineering, Mia Mohammad Imran, Tarannum Shaila Zaman

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly used in empirical software engineering (ESE) to automate or assist annotation tasks such as labeling commits, issues, and qualitative artifacts. Yet the reliability and reproducibility of such annotations remain underexplored. Existing studies often lack standardized measures for reliability, calibration, and drift, and frequently omit essential configuration details. We argue that LLM-based annotation should be treated as a measurement process rather than a purely automated activity. In this position paper, we outline the Operationalization for LLM-based Annotation Framework (OLAF), a conceptual framework that organizes key constructs: reliability, calibration, drift, consensus, aggregation, and transparency. The paper …

Environmental, Social, And Governance (Esg) Research: A Systematic Review Of Recent Trends (2020–2024), Jiyeon Kim Ph.D., Wooyoung Yang

Faculty Publications

The 2020–2024 period marks a pivotal era in sustainable development, characterized by significant regulatory developments, including the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the International Sustainability Standards Board standards, and the introduction of mandatory ESG reporting requirements worldwide. This review examines how recent policy changes have reshaped the linkages between ESG and sustainability. Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, we conducted a systematic review examining empirical studies of ESG–sustainability performance relationships published between 2020 and 2024. Studies examined the quantitative relationships between ESG sustainability performance and publicly traded corporations. Quality assessment employed the adapted Newcastle–Ottawa Scale with sustainability-specific criteria. From 2847 …

Multilingual Assessment Practices In School-Based Speech Language Pathologists, Carolyn Alana Ferguson

Theses and Dissertations

Multilingual assessment is an area of growing relevance and importance in the field of speech language pathology. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the current assessment practices among school-based SLPs in relation to their language background status (e.g. monolingual, bilingual, multilingual) and their perceptions on issues related to multilingualism. A survey instrument was created, which asked SLPs to respond to questions on various topics, including demographics, caseload information, assessment practices, statements on multilingual perceptions, and clinical scenarios. There were 267 participants included in the study from across the country with varying ages and years of experience in the …

30 Db On-Chip Ultra-High Inverse Weak Value Amplification, Yuhan Mei, Meiting Song, Andrew N. Jordan, Jaime Cardenas

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Weak value amplification (WVA) has emerged as a powerful technique that enhances measurement precision. However, traditional table-top WVA setups and on-chip demonstrations have not achieved an amplification over 20 dB. The practical limit of the amplification is the fidelity of photon post-selection. To address this limit, we design a weak value device with an over 30 dB interferometer extinction ratio, where the stray light in the dark port is minimized with thermally tunable phase shifters. As a result, the device successfully shows 30 dB WVA, termed ultra-high WVA. This WVA optimization strategy by improving interferometer extinction is extensible to a …

First Course Portfolio For Plpt 803 Fundamentals Of Scientific Discovery, Hernan Garcia-Ruiz

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

PLPT 803 Fundamentals of Scientific discovery is a new curse in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I designed and developed this course from the ground up. Initially, it was offered as a special topic (PLPT 892-014) for four years. PLPT 803 was approved by the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources curriculum committee in September of 2025. PLPT 803 is unique within the University of Nebraska system and will be offered for the first time in the fall of 2027. The course is designed for students to learn fundamental scientific skills such as scrutinize, …

Tribal Nations As Lords Of The Fee: A Common Law Argument For Tribal Discretion In Spending Federal Forfeiture Funds, Kent A. Anderson

American Indian Law Journal

Federal criminal forfeiture is a powerful tool meeting at the nexus of criminal law and property law. Courts justify its use based on its English common law history. After seizing and selling assets, the federal government doles out payments from its Assets Forfeiture Fund to cooperating law enforcement agencies through equitable sharing agreements that bind recipients to use funds for law enforcement purposes. Tribal Nations have compelling legal and policy arguments for their entitlement to greater access to and discretion over forfeiture funds obtained through seizures in Indian country. These legal arguments are grounded in: (1) federal criminal forfeiture’s failure …

September 2024 – August 2025 Case Law On American Indians, Thomas P. Schlosser

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

New Applications Of Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing Parameters Characterize Age-Related Changes In Exercise Performance During Adolescence, Katerina Kourpas, Takeshi Tsuda

Department of Pediatrics Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Age-related changes in exercise performance during adolescence are complex because of progressive physical and functional changes, in which multiple factors are involved.

METHODS: Peak and submaximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) parameters were studied in healthy children and adolescents.

RESULTS: TTotal 303 subjects were divided into six groups by ages and sex: ≤11 years old (yo) (28/22 for males/females), 12–15 yo (61/98), and ≥16 yo (52/42). Rest and peak heart rate (HR) were comparable in all groups. Absolute peak values of oxygen consumption (˙ VO2), work rate (WR), and oxygen pulse (OP) were higher in older age groups in both …

Interexaminer Variability In Objective Structured Clinical Examinations At A Medical University, Rakesh Calton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Elementary Teachers Using Coteaching In Bermuda, Laveta Daphne Ebbin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Public High School Dance Teachers About Implementing Virtual Teaching, Rosana Gonzalez Anaya

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Interview With Vernon Weckbacher, Vernon Weckbacher, Logan Dovalina

Rio Grande Valley Oral Histories

In this oral history interview conducted on June 2, 2026, Logan Dovalina interviews Vernon Weckbacher (born 1956 in Wadsworth, Ohio), a longtime Rio Grande Valley resident and former museum professional. Weckbacher recounts his family’s relocation to Mercedes, Texas, in 1970 at age 14, his high school and college years at Pan American University (BFA in Art, minor in Geology), and his 26-year career at the McAllen International Museum (now IMAS), where he worked on exhibits and notably helped build the Mexican folk art collection through acquisitions in Oaxaca and Michoacán.

He later served as collections manager at the Mission Historical …

Applications Of Iceye Commercial Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar In The Laurentian Great Lakes, Ray H. Watkins, Susan Janiszewski, Michael Sayers, Robert Shuchman, Karl Bosse, Gary L. Fahnenstiel, Joseph W. Burns

Michigan Tech Publications

The Laurentian Great Lakes, often resembling inland seas, exhibit complex interactions between wind and waves that influence lake conditions. Monitoring these dynamics currently relies on buoy-based measurements and model predictions. Recent advancements in commercial satellite technology now provide high-revisit, high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery, such as ICEYE’s X-band data from the NASA Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) program. SAR offers all-weather, day-and-night capabilities, making it a valuable tool for Great Lakes monitoring. In this study, we assess the effectiveness of ICEYE SAR for lake monitoring, focusing on western Lake Erie. We evaluate multiple imaging modes and find that Stripmap …

Reducing Cardiovascular Disease Risk In Obesity: An Unexpected But Welcome Fourier Transformation, Layla A Abushamat, Arsalan Hamid, Vijay Nambi, Huaizhu Wu, Christie M Ballantyne

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.