Digital Commons Network^™

The Decision Of Us Airlines To Diversify The Flight Deck: Perceptions Of Collegiate Flight Students, Timm J. Bliss, Irene A. Miller

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The United States (US) airline industry is struggling to find enough commercial pilots and to diversify a profession that has the reputation of historically being male and white. To attract a younger and more diverse generation of pilots who have been historically underrepresented, women and people of color, a major US airline announced a diversity plan in March 2021 to hire thousands of pilots, at least 50% of them women and people of color. In 2022, several other US airlines launched similar initiatives. The purpose of this study was to identify perceptions of collegiate flight students regarding the airline industry’s …

Epanorama May 2026, Southern Adventist University

Panorama Parent Newsletter

This digital issue of Panorama includes an article featuring backpacking students aiding an injured hiker, Asian cultural night, journalism students earning a CMA Award, and Campus Research Month.

The Impact Of Play-Based Learning In Early Education, Stefani Merchant

Masters Projects

The increasing emphasis on academic achievement in early childhood education has contributed to a decline in play-based learning. This decline has raised concerns about its impact on children’s overall development. This project examines play-based learning as a developmentally appropriate approach that supports cognitive, social-emotional, language, and self-regulation skills in preschool and kindergarten students. Supported by the theories of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, the project explores play as a continuum consisting of free play, guided play, and playful learning. With each form of play, there are varying levels of teacher involvement. A review of current research highlights both the benefits …

Psychological Principles In Writing Center Consulting & Ai, Ella S. Hansen

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

A third of those ages 18 to 24 have engaged with ChatGPT (OpenAI, 2025). The newest form, ChatGPT-4, is better at generating more plausible long-form essays and creative writing than ever before (Imran & Almusharraf, 2023), meaning that AI-assisted writing is prevalent at higher education institutions (Cardon et al., 2023) and in writing centers (Goulet, 2025). Limited research has investigated the impact of this on writing center consultants. This multidisciplinary study investigated how consultants feel about large language model artificial intelligence (LLM AI) and how it can impact the consulting process, through the lens of three psychological principles: empathy, social …

The Night Circus - The Traveling Edition: An Advertising Campaign And Cross-Cultural Analysis, Charlee A. Salinas

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This thesis is an outline of my advertising plansbook that examines how culturally adapted advertising for a single book affects perceived authenticity, emotional resonance, and purchase intent across three distinct markets: the United States, Brazil, and Vietnam. This study examines three culturally distinct markets to identify which advertising elements require full localization versus those where standardization is acceptable. By comparing adapted campaigns against a standardized approach, this research provides actionable insights for publishers navigating the efficiency-effectiveness trade-off.

The research questions asked:

-       How does culturally adapted advertising for the same book affect perceived authenticity, emotional resonance, and purchase intent across …

Rewriting The Boer ‘Slim’: Alice Stopford Green’S Reports On St. Helena’S Prisoner Of War Camp And Her Impact On British Views Of Boer Prisoners, Natasja A. Swanson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Alice Stopford Green (1847 – 1929) was a prominent Irish historian and politician, known for her role as a political activist in the Irish Home Rule movement. Her lesser-known legacy is her investigative journalism on prisoner conditions in British prisoner of war camps during the Second Boer War (1899 – 1902). Her reports on Boer conditions in the Deadwood Prisoner of War Camp on the island of St. Helena reflected maltreatment and institutional abuse by the British Government. These discoveries supported the minority English opposition that thought that England was overstepping the rules of civilized warfare. Green was primarily concerned …

The Mysteries Of Postpartum Ocd: A Systematic Review, Taryn Shaffer

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Background: The research on postpartum mental health is growing, with most focusing on physical and sexual wellness, or well-known mental health symptoms such as psychosis, depression, and stress. However, as the research grows, so does the interest in lesser-known or under-considered postpartum mental health symptoms, including Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The focus of this research can be the exacerbation of already-present OCD symptoms, or the onset of them during pregnancy and the postpartum period. The purpose of this systematic review was to analyze research on OCD in pregnant and postpartum women. Specifically, the review included an analysis of measures used to …

The New York Times: A Strategic Audit, Kaylee Campbell, Cassidy June, Keira Cummins, Tanner Maas, Alyssa Fjelstad

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The New York Times is a legacy newspaper that has navigated a great many changes since its founding in 1851. The company rose to success with its traditional print journalism, but has now transformed into a largely digital, subscription-based business model that provides subscribers with access to news, games, recipes, podcasts, product recommendations, and more. This provides an excellent foundation for a strategic audit to understand how one of the giants of a dying industry has not only managed to stay alive, but to thrive.

A PESTEL and Porter’s Five Forces analysis reveals that The New York Times operates in …

Fresh Phytoplankton Bloom Growth In The Fall And Its Control On Ocean Heating In The Pacific Arctic Region, Clare B. Gaffey, K E. Frey, Bonnie Light, Lee W. Cooper, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier

Geography

Delayed sea ice freeze-up and decreased sea ice extent in the Pacific Arctic region have altered light availability in marine waters, extending the ice-free season and increasing opportunities for photosynthetic activity and energy exchanges. This study investigates phytoplankton bloom progression during the fall using chlorophyll pigments and examines the impact phytoplankton have on heat distribution within the water column. Measurements of chlorophyll-a concentrations and its associated degradation product pheophytin were made in conjunction with optical measurements of light transmittance within the upper water column during the Synoptic Arctic Survey cruise in the Central Arctic Ocean and northeast Chukchi Sea in …

Impact Of Obesity On Complication Rates After Treatment Of Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis: A Retrospective Cohort Database Study, Holden Archer, Scott B Rosenfeld, Pablo Castañeda, Jessica A Mcgraw-Heinrich, Simon P Kelley

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: While obesity is a well-established risk factor for slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE), limited data exist regarding its impact on postoperative complication rates. This study aimed to evaluate the association between obesity and complications following SCFE treatment.

Methods: We queried a large national database for pediatric patients who underwent treatment for SCFE between June 2005 and June 2025. We divided this cohort into patients with obesity and patients without obesity. We matched the cohorts with a propensity scoring algorithm on a one-to-one basis, resulting in 1,175 patients in each group. We tracked outcomes including infection, pulmonary embolism (PE), chondrolysis, …

Derivation And Validation Of The Pediatric Community-Acquired Pneumonia Severity (Pedcaps) Score: A Prospective Cohort Study, Todd A Florin, Ron Reeder, Lilliam Ambroggio, Richard M Ruddy, Samir S Shah, Allison Cator, Matthew J Lipshaw, Geoffrey A Capraro, Laura F Sartori, Amy Y Cheng, Leah Tzimenatos, Patrick S Walsh, Claudia R Morris, Chris A Rees, Son H Mclaren, Tamar R Lubell, Chari D Larsen, Justin Moher, Eileen J Klein, Shubhada Hooli, Nathan Kuppermann

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a frequent and costly cause of pediatric emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations. Previous prognostic tools for CAP are limited by small samples, single-center or retrospective designs, lack of generalizability to ED settings, lack of biomarkers, or limited objective data. To overcome these limitations, we will derive and externally validate a prediction rule for pediatric CAP severity in a large, multicenter prospective cohort.

Methods: This is a prospective cohort study of children 3 months to 18 years old with CAP who present to EDs within the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network. Enrollment began 8/2023 …

Antibiotics Aren’T Enough, Andrew R Dinardo, Christoph Lange

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Case Series: Joubert Syndrome And Eosinophilic Esophagitis, Jonathon Schening, Stephanie Leon-Paredes, Eric Chiou, Vibha Szafron, Anthony Olive, Sara Anvari

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Joubert syndrome (JS) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by developmental abnormalities, particularly in the brainstem and cerebellar vermis, alongside multisystem manifestations such as kidney and liver anomalies, polydactyly, cleft lip or palate, and tongue defects. The underlying ciliopathy causing JS may also contribute to gastrointestinal symptoms and immune dysregulation via Wnt signaling and impaired epithelial maintenance. Dysmotility including Hirschsprung disease has been documented at increased rates in JS and in other ciliopathies. Our case series highlights how JS patients frequently exhibit feeding intolerance, vomiting, and poor growth, which may raise suspicion for an underlying gastrointestinal condition, such as eosinophilic …

Risk-Stratified Transitional Care And Cardiovascular Hospitalizations By Sex: A Secondary Analysis Of A Randomized Clinical Trial., Douglas S Lee, Chang Nancy Wang, Peter C Austin, Sharon E Straus, Michael E Farkouh, Alice Chong, Monica Taljaard, Stephanie Poon, Stuart Smith, Robert S Mckelvie, Robert M Iwanochko, Andrea Macdougall, Esam Elbarasi, Peter M Cram, Jiming Fang, Clare L Atzema, Jacob A Udell, Paula A Rochon, Michael J Schull, Susanna Mak, Heather J Ross

Heart and Vascular Articles

IMPORTANCE: Female patients with heart failure (HF) are older and more often present with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), whereas male patients present with more ischemic disease. Despite these differences, an emergency department-based acute HF strategy may be equally applicable to both sexes.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the strategy for acute HF management in the Comparison of Outcomes and Access to Care for Heart Failure (COACH) trial differed by sex.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This prespecified secondary analysis of the multicenter COACH stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized clinical trial included 10 acute care hospitals in Ontario, Canada. Data were collected from January …

Robot-Assisted Resection Of Diaphragmatic And Hepatorenal Recess Peritoneal Endometriosis: Two Cases And A Narrative Review, Xiaoming Guan, Qiannan Yang, Daniel Y Lovell, Chunhua Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In this report, we describe two cases of diaphragmatic endometriosis with concurrent hepatorenal recess peritoneal involvement managed using robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery with the da Vinci Xi platform. In both patients, diaphragmatic implants and hepatorenal recess peritoneal lesions were excised en bloc, followed by resection of additional pelvic and abdominal lesions. Case 1 involved a 45-year-old woman whose pathology confirmed endometriosis in 28 of 46 sites, including the diaphragm, umbilicus, bowel, hepatorenal recess peritoneum, and pelvic peritoneum. Case 2 involved a 32-year-old woman with histopathologic evidence of endometriosis in 26 of 34 resected sites, including the appendix, diaphragm, hepatorenal recess peritoneum, …

Civilian Mass Killings Perpetrated By Nonstate Actors: Data Trends And Theoretical And Empirical Risk Factors, Charles H. Anderton, Roxane A. Anderton

Economics

This article addresses two research questions: (1) What are recent trends in nonstate actor (NSA) civilian mass killings by country locations and perpetrator groups? and (2) What are risk factors for NSA civilian mass killings based on economic choice theory and large-sample empirical inquiry? We summarize recent data on mass killings perpetrated by various NSAs including rebel groups; political, territorial, and identity militias; and terrorist organizations. Following a review of the empirical NSA mass killing literature, we develop an economic choice model of a NSA's resource allocations to direct (military) fighting and to violence against civilians when in contestation with …

Maternal Fish Intake In The Year Prior To Conception And Birth Defects, National Birth Defects Prevention Study, 1997-2011, Dorothy Kim Waller, Zeyu Miao, Renata H Benjamin, Richard Finnell, Nithya Lakshmi Mohan Dass, Eirini Nestoridi, Marcia C De Oliveira Otto, Julie Peterson, Tunu Ramadhani, Mark A Canfield

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Epidemiologic data on the association between maternal fish intake and birth defects are sparse. Our objective was to assess associations between maternal fish intake and 52 different birth defects, most of which have not been assessed previously.

Methods: Using logistic regression, data was analyzed for 29,242 mothers of infants with birth defects and 10,973 mothers of control infants who participated in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS) and delivered between 1997 and 2011. We focused on associations between mothers who reported high fish intake of 2 or more servings of fish per week for the year prior to …

Reducing Transfusions In Neuromuscular Spinal Fusion: A National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-Pediatrics Quality Improvement Project, Holden Archer, Venessa L Pinto, Farrah Russell, Valentina Briceño, Melissa Ard, Lisa Hensch, Jun Teruya, Tanisha G Daugherty, Wallis Molchen, Ryan D Coleman, Darrell Hanson, Frank T Gerow, Nicole I Montgomery

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Pediatric spinal fusion can result in substantial blood loss, particularly in patients with scoliosis related to underlying neuromuscular (NM) disease. Transfusion is frequently required but carries risks including transfusion reactions, alloimmunization, volume overload, and infection.

Local problem: The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-Pediatrics (ACS NSQIP-P) is a nationally validated, risk-adjusted national outcomes registry. At our institution, ACS NSQIP-P data identified our institution as a high outlier in transfusion for neuromuscular scoliosis patients.

Methods: A multidisciplinary group convened from January 2024 to June 2024 to design and implement a perioperative pathway with the primary goal of …

Aircraft Fault Detection Via Weight And Bias Analysis Of A Custom First Neural Network Layer, George Harrison Chen

Theses and Dissertations

Fault detection in aircraft is traditionally handled through redundant hardware and comparison algorithms to detect failures. Alternatives like model-based residual generation and data-driven approaches such as supervised fault classification and unsupervised anomaly detection have been explored, but they suffer from practical limitations; model-based methods require accurate system models, and data-driven methods have large constraints on the data limiting scalability and adaptability. This work presents a purely data-driven neural network architecture featuring a custom first layer designed for real-time fault detection where the weights and biases of this layer are used to detect faults. The network requires zero supervision and complements …

What Happens When Leaders Don’T Live Up To The Ideal? How The Leadership Perception Gap Can Undermine Leader Development And Intentions, Julia Macgregor-Peralta

Theses and Dissertations

Despite decades of research on leadership development, we know surprisingly little about why capable, confident people choose not to pursue leadership. This study introduces the Leadership Perception Gap (LPG), a construct that captures discrepancies between ideal leader views and the leaders people actually observe, and tests whether those discrepancies reduce the desirability of leadership roles. LPG was assessed using latent congruence modeling (LCM) to compare ideal leader ratings with vignette-based leader evaluations. The vignettes manipulated leadership style (agentic, communal, balanced) and team composition (all-male, all-female, balanced). Participants were randomly assigned to one condition and evaluated their interest in joining the …

Design And Simulation Of Anti-Resonant Hollow-Core Fiber For Sensing Applications, Pravallika Kante

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the design and simulation of an 8-tube single-ring anti-resonant hollow-core fiber for sensing applications, with particular emphasis on methane gas detection at the fundamental absorption wavelength of 3.3 µm. Conventional solid-core silica optical fibers exhibit strong multi-phonon material absorption beyond 2.5 µm, rendering them fundamentally unsuitable for efficient light guidance and direct gas sensing at mid-infrared wavelengths. Anti-resonant hollow-core fibers overcome this limitation by guiding light predominantly through an air-filled hollow core via the anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguide mechanism, in which the thin silica glass walls of the cladding tubes act as Fabry-Pérot etalons that confine the …

Bipoc Stem Scholarship And Mentorship Initiative: A Community Based Approach To Expanding Access And Equity In Stem Education, Raymond Davis Jr.

Master of Public Administration for Senior Leadership

Across the United States, persistent inequities continue to limit access to Science,  Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education for Black, Indigenous, and  People of Color (BIPOC) students. Despite increased national attention toward diversity,  equity, and inclusion over the past decade, measurable improvements in participation,  retention, and degree completion in STEM fields have not kept pace. These disparities  remain deeply rooted in structural inequalities that influence educational access, resource  distribution, and long-term career opportunities.

The issue is frequently described as a“pipeline problem,”suggesting that students enter  STEM pathways but fail to persist through to completion. While this metaphor is useful, it  oversimplifies …

Impact Of Currency Volatility In The Automotive Import-Export Procurement, Adelaide De-Heer

Master of Public Administration for Senior Leadership

Automobile import and export trade is a global venture and thus affected by global issues including cross border issues and currency volatility. Since it is a major in the economic field, it is vital that some risks be evaded in the initial stages of this trade to ensure sustainability. As a result, this research paper aims to assess how currency volatility as a key procurement risk impacts this business and why it is important to understand these dynamics. Currency volatility significantly influences automobile import and export procurement by shaping cost structures, competitive positioning, and financial stability within the global automotive …

Nomophobia In Early Adolescence: An Exploration Of Prevalence, Academic Performance, And School Policy In United States Middle School Students, Christopher Otero

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine nomophobia among middle school students, investigating its relationships with grade level, smartphone OS, school smartphone policy, and academic performance. Grounded in Social Cognitive Theory, the research utilized a sample of 85 U.S. middle school students to address three research questions:

Q1 What relationships exists between middle school students’ grade levels, smartphone operating systems, school smartphone policy, GPA, and nomophobia levels?

Q2 To what extent do middle school student’s grade level, smartphone operating system, and school smartphone policy predict nomophobia?

Q3 Is nomophobia a significant predictor of GPA in middle school students?

Findings …

Certified Orientation And Mobility Specialists’ Experiences Working With Students Who Have Cerebral Visual Impairment, Elise Nobuko Darrow

Dissertations

Certified orientation and mobility specialists (COMS) provide instruction to students who are blind or visually impaired on how to navigate safely and efficiently. Visual impairments can stem from eye-related conditions or neurological issues, such as cerebral visual impairment (CVI), which affects visual processing. Cerebral visual impairment is currently the leading cause of visual impairment in children in the United States and is often accompanied by comorbidities such as cerebral palsy, which is associated with additional disabilities. Orientation and mobility (O&M) instruction focuses on teaching safe and efficient travel skills and began as a rehabilitation service for blinded war veterans who …

The Paradox Of Twice-Exceptional Teacher Experience: A Narrative And Visual Inquiry, Michael Danielle Bell

Dissertations

Twice-exceptional (2e) individuals, those with high cognitive ability and concurrent disabilities, have been the primary focus in K-12 research, yet they largely disappeared from research as adults. This narrative inquiry examined the lived experiences of three 2e educators navigating the public school system. Grounded in the Neurodiversity Paradigm and the Social Model of Disability, the study utilized semi-structured interviews and photo elicitation to externalize the sensory and cognitive realities of 2e educators through an affirmative, strengths-based lens. Narrative analysis revealed a central synthesis of the paradox of 2e educator experiences that highlighted participants’ neurodivergent traits as simultaneously their greatest professional …

Exploration Of The Intent To Remain In The Nursing Profession: Reasons New Nurse Graduates Remain At The Bedside, Amy Simons

Dissertations

Newly graduated nurses (NNGs) have been essential to sustaining the nursing workforce, yet up to 35.0% have left their initial positions within 2 years of licensure, contributing to persistent workforce instability (Kovner et al., 2016; Shatto & Lutz, 2017; Yu & Kang, 2016). Although factors influencing early turnover have been widely studied (Blegen et al., 2017; Fox & Abrahamsen, 2009; Kovner et al., 2016; Shatto & Lutz, 2017; Skillman & Toms, 2022; Wei et al., 2018; Yarbrough et al., 2017), less has been known about the determinants of NNGs’ intent to remain in the nursing profession. Guided by Herzberg’s Two-Factor …

Reconsidering The Undergraduate Viola Canon: A Skill Based Framework For Repertoire Expansion, Daniella Isabel Angulo Martinez

Dissertations

This research analyses the limitations of the standard undergraduate viola repertoire and proposes a structured, skill-based framework for its expansion. Within collegiate viola programs in the United States, training frequently focuses on a limited group of orchestra-accompanied works, particularly those by Telemann, Stamitz, Bruch, and Walton. While these works have a great pedagogical value, their dominance has contributed to a restricted repertoire that can limit students’ technical development, musical style knowledge, and artistic growth.

Based on the pedagogical standards of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA), this research identifies five core performance domains - technique, rhythm, intonation, tone projection, and …

Exploring The Biocultural Profile Of The Undocumented Populations Of The Sonoran Corridor: A Skeletal Assessment Of The Prevention Through Deterrence Strategy, Mary A. Vaughn

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Over the last thirty years the mortality rate of the undocumented population at the US-Mexico border has risen, requiring methods distinguishing US-born individuals from immigrants to improve the likelihood of identification and repatriation through foreign consulates. Forensic anthropologists with the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner (PCOME) have advocated for the use of the biocultural profile, combining the biological profile with factors including oral health, osteological stress, and personal effects. The biocultural profile serves two purposes, functioning both as a tool for identification and with which to document structural inequality within communities of origin.

This study examines changes in …

Observation And Reflection Of Neighborhood And Community 2026: Food Access, Housing, Religious Community, And Health Care Access Reflection, Celene Philip, Michaela Kizy, Haley Montgomery, Akash Dantuluri, Josh Hailo, Abdel Kareem Hilo, Shadi Charara, Sarah Schenck

Patient Education Projects

No abstract provided.