Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating Social Vulnerability In Livingston County, Ny, Charles Canero Iii, Daniel Noone

Proceedings of GREAT Day

Social vulnerability refers to the differential capacity of communities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from adverse events such as natural disasters, public health emergencies, and economic disruptions. While national indices like the CDC/ATS-DR Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) offer standardized frameworks to quantify this concept, their application often overlooks critical intra-county disparities, especially in rural areas. This study applies the 2022 SVI dataset to analyze social vulnerability in Livingston County, New York—a predominantly rural county in upstate New York. We integrate geospatial analysis, correlation matrices, and Lasso-regularized regression to assess how vulnerability varies across census tracts and to identify …

Rochester Elementary Schools: Progress, Challenges, And The Path To Equity, Aimee Maoriello

Proceedings of GREAT Day

How does the first city in New York State to desegregate its schools now present one of the most segregated school districts in the nation? This capstone thesis investigates the persistent achievement gaps in Rochester’s elementary schools, examining the long-lasting impacts of redlining, blockbusting, and racial covenants on educational outcomes of young learners today. Since its incorporation in 1834, Rochester’s residential demographics have shifted dramatically, resulting in a diverse population. The post-WWII migration to northern cities contributed to an explosive growth in the Black population by over 2,000% in Rochester. This demographic shift—while vital to the city’s cultural fabric—created challenges …

Senegalese Community Through Media, Genesis Flores

Proceedings of GREAT Day

This paper builds off another paper detailing the media representation in Dakar, Senegal. This paper will discuss the extent in which the media representation in Dakar represents the daily culture, the sense of community, and how the media in Dakar transfers over to the diaspora/ america (if such a thing even occurs). In order to engage in this discussion, the top popular newspapers and news channels will be used as primary sources, coupled with clips of interviews, social media, and scholarly articles. This paper will then discuss the effectiveness of media in Dakar and assess if the media has any …

The Gospel Of Resistance: How The Exodus Narrative Undermined Pro-Slavery Christianity, Lauren Reilly

Proceedings of GREAT Day

In the book of Exodus, God delivered the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt and into the Promised Land. For enslaved people in the United States in the 19th century, the beginning of this story felt familiar, and the end felt hopeful. By resonating with the Israelites, African Americans in the United States formed a distinct identity and theology that leaned on the hope of God’s justice and deliverance. Scholarship on Christianity among enslaved people has largely presented Exodus as a tool in forming identity and a sense of hope that God will deliver them in the same way He …

Why Won't My Parlays Hit?: An Analysis Of The American Sports Betting Industry, Ian Palmieri

Proceedings of GREAT Day

This paper investigates the advertising of the American sports betting industry. The increased prominence of such messaging, including league partnerships and influencer endorsements, influences individuals to gamble at higher rates, especially young adult males. Analysis of a sportsbook’s partnership with a sports league, three popular YouTube Channels, and a self-administered survey consisting of Likert-scale and open-ended questions reveals that advertisers employ deceptive language and placement, leading to higher rates of sports betting and advertising wearout.

Unity Decomposition To Simplify Challenging Integrals: A Crossover Between The Real And Complex Domains, Gavin George

Proceedings of GREAT Day

Integrating functions in the real domain tends to be challenging and can become complex as more functions and terms are inserted into the integrand. Shifting our lens to the complex domain can greatly simplify integration and the ability to deter mine trends among the primitives of families of functions. The trend relevant to this research paper is integral to finding the primitive function of higher-order elementary reciprocal functions by converting them into a summation of simpler terms. This result agrees with the results obtained from the residue theorem. Relating to fundamental complex analysis techniques such as the De Moivre theorem, …

The Role Of Actuarial Discretion In Discrimination In Auto Insurance, Michael Abrams

Proceedings of GREAT Day

In today's auto insurance industry, rate discrimination against people of color and lower-class individuals is rampant, but unseen by those outside of the industry. This is due to the proliferation of individualist perceptions of the operations of the auto insurance industry among social scientists and legal scholars in calculating insurance rates. It operates on the basis of risk calculation, backed up by actuarial measures that serve to single out minorities living in low-income areas. Driving history, insurance history, zip code, homeownership, and credit are among the most common measures used by insurance companies to calculate insurance rate, are shaped by …

Understanding International Student Retention With Hope And Social Connectedness: A Mixed Methods Study, Elizabeth Mathews, Isabel Deitch, Nathaniel Hastings, Stephen Ellison

Liberty University Research Week

With the rise of internationalization in higher education, universities often face the issue of international student attrition due to adjustment-related issues. Previous research has identified a variety of potential contributors to international student retention, mostly relating to integration into the university’s social and academic systems. Additionally, intentional social interactions in the host culture have been found to catalyze international student adjustment and are associated with long-term outcomes such as higher life satisfaction. Research on hope in college students supports the idea that higher levels of hope are associated with better academic outcomes (e.g., higher grade point averages; GPA). The international …

Notification Efficiency, Lashundra Rucker

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

Environmental Limitations Of A Low-Cost, Cots Lora Meshcore Node Network, Robert Thompson, Alexander Weir, David Zelinsky, Hannah Murai, Judah Sotomayor

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

Short Time, Lasting Impact: Teaching Pediatric End-Of-Life Care In One Day, Mckenzie Taliaferro

GS4 Student Scholars Symposium

Background: Pediatric nurses working in specialities that experience end-of-life, death, and post-mortem care, often feel unprepared for the emotional toll and lack adequate support systems (Camera et al., 2024). Nurses report feeling under prepared due to a lack of hands-on opportunities before graduation (Richoux, et al., 2022).  Pediatric death is a traumatic experience for families and nurses. Previous studies have shown that hands-on education increases nurses' confidence in caring for patients at the end of their lives (Cole & Foito, 2019; Noyes et al., 2023).

Method: A one-day, hands-on workshop on pediatric end-of-life was created and offered to nursing students …

Hptlc: The New Front Line Of Global Botanical Surveillance, Tiên Do, Ilona Trettin, Ehab Mahran, Sonja Drobnjak

Oxford ICSB

Quality control of botanicals is approaching a breaking point. Regulators, industry, and pharmacists are now forced to answer questions faster and at larger scale than ever before: What plant is actually in the product? Is it the right species—or a look-alike? Is it pure or adulterated? Is it safe? Is the chemistry consistent? And how can labs make confident decisions when analytical capacity and staffing are finite? This presentation demonstrates how modern HPTLC— far beyond its historical role as a simple identity test— now provides clear, interpretable chemical evidence that supports analyst with a practical tool for risk-based surveillance of …

Faith-Informed Practice And The Challenge Of Religious Trauma: Insights From Christian Residents In Counseling, Nicole Taylor, Breanna Mcneal

Liberty University Research Week

This study explored the perceptions and emotional experiences of Christian counseling residents working with clients affected by religious trauma. Residents brought personal faith perspectives into their clinical roles, shaping how they understood and engaged with clients’ harmful or distressing religious experiences. Participants described empathy alongside moments of cognitive and emotional dissonance when clients’ narratives conflicted with their own beliefs. They highlighted challenges related to value conflicts, countertransference, bracketing personal convictions, and discerning appropriate spiritual integration. Findings underscore the need for targeted supervision and training to strengthen clinical preparedness for navigating faith-informed tensions in work with religious trauma.

Shame, Blaming Others, Forgiveness, And Depression, Louis Alvey, Bonnie Mckinney, Caroline Vaile, Hannah Murch, Jichan Kim

Liberty University Research Week

Depression is a pervasive mental health disorder often worsened by the damaging effects of shame. This creates a critical need for applied research to identify protecting coping mechanisms for use in clinical settings. To address this problem, this study employed a rigorous cross-sectional quantitative methodology, surveying adults to test whether forgiveness and blaming others moderate the well-established relationship between shame and depression. The study's robust statistical analysis revealed that while the maladaptive tendency to blame others worsens depressive symptoms, self-forgiveness acted as a significant moderator that effectively deactivated the harmful impact of shame. Ultimately, this research provides actionable, real-world solutions …

Faith-Based Practices And Health: The Role Of Faith-Based Guided Meditation In Managing Type 2 Diabetes, Willie Velasquez

Liberty University Research Week

The purpose of my study was to investigate how faith-based guided meditation influences health management behaviors and individuals with Type 2 diabetes. Specifically, I examined its effects on glycemic control, stress levels, and emotional well-being. Current diabetes management approaches, such as medication, diet, and exercise, often fail to address psychological and spiritual aspects critical for effective self-management. Grounded in the Biopsychosocial Model of Health, this mixed-method study explored the potential of faith-centered meditation to promote improved self-care behaviors and enhance emotional resilience. The research included a sample size of 40 participants, male and female, ages 18-60, of diverse backgrounds, divided …

3d Printed Square Packing: Making Math Accessible For Everyone, Joseph Holt, Jacob Drambi

Liberty University Research Week

Making math tangible and accessible to everyone has always been an ongoing process, and as a part of that process this study aims to take steps forward in the area of square packing. Mathematics can often seem theoretical and aloof, something only for those in their “ivory tower.” Making mathematics into something tangible, something that anyone can see and, more importantly, play with, brings the extensive and invaluable field of mathematics down to an accessible level for everyone to use and enjoy. This study investigates square packing, the problem of deducing the smallest square that can contain a given number …

Analyzing The Association Of Coated Gold Nanoparticles Utilizing Yeast Cells, Olivia A. Greiner

Linfield University Student Symposium: A Celebration of Scholarship and Creative Achievement

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have proven to be versatile technological tools, especially in the field of biomedicine. GNPs can be functionalized through different coatings for tasks like drug delivery, diagnostics, and biosensing. To further understand how GNPs can be altered for use as a biomedical tool, the cellular association of GNPs coated in different combinations of polyethylene glycol (PEG), sodium citrate, bovine serum albumin (BSA), and rabbit anti Saccharomyces Cerevisiae (antibody) with yeast cells was evaluated. This was tested through two main sample groups coated in either a base layer of sodium citrate or PEG. Each group had three samples that …

Sanctions-Resilient Reserve Architecture: The Convex Monetary Anchor Framework (Cmaf), Kutelleugo Yatsliach

Liberty University Research Week

This study develops a political economy framework for reserve asset composition under conditions of geopolitical fragmentation. Following the 2022 Russian reserve freeze, traditional reserve adequacy models centered on safety, liquidity, and return fail to account for jurisdictional risk and the potential immobilization of sovereign assets. This research argues that sanctions resilience must be incorporated as a core objective of reserve management. It examines whether non-sovereign monetary assets, particularly gold and secondarily silver, can enhance reserve accessibility in emerging markets. The study hypothesizes that gold functions as a primary sanctions-resilient monetary anchor due to its non-counterparty structure and global liquidity, while …

Paradise Reimagined: A Reception Theory Analysis Of Viewer Responses To Bachelor In Paradise’S New Era, Cathryn Thomas

Liberty University Research Week

Broadcast television ratings are declining due to the popularity of streaming platforms (Attest Media, 2024; Bauder, 2025). Shows must adapt to survive in this increasingly digital environment. In 2025, Bachelor in Paradise (Teti, 2025) hired a new showrunner, Scott Teti, who adjusted the show’s format, structure, location, cinematography, and editing with the hope of boosting viewer engagement (Franklin, 2025). This study applied Stuart Hall’s (1973, 1980, 2021) encoding/decoding model to analyze audience Instagram comments in response to Teti’s premiere episode of Bachelor in Paradise. This study explored how audiences decoded and responded to these changes, and whether social media commentary …

Voices From The Pacific: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study Of Paraprofessionals’ Experiences Using Aac Devices To Support Students With Autism In The Northern Mariana Islands, Edieson Louie Aguirre

Liberty University Research Week

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of paraprofessionals implementing augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices to support students with autism in K–12 schools within the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Public School System (CNMI PSS). The theory guiding this study was Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, which framed AAC as a cultural tool that mediates social interaction and explained how paraprofessionals scaffold communication within students’ zones of proximal development. The central research question was: What are the lived experiences of paraprofessionals implementing AAC devices to support students with autism in the Northern Mariana Islands? …

Polite But Simple: Social Perception And Morphosyntactic Variation In Southern American English, Jamie Forgey

Liberty University Research Week

Southern American English (SAE) occupies a unique sociolinguistic paradox: it simultaneously evokes warmth and regional identity while serving as a target for stigma tied to perceived lack of education. This mixed-methods study examined whether morphosyntactic variation in SAE functions as a strategic response to that stigma. Combining diachronic and synchronic corpus analysis — drawing from COHA, LAMSAS, and CORAAL — with a between-subjects matched-guise perception survey of 36 participants, this study investigated both the structural integrity of SAE and listener attitudes toward its speakers. Corpus data revealed near-total erasure of high-frequency nonstandard features such as leveled was/were and completive done …

Teaching Hope As A Measurable Skill: Building Resilience In Students And Educators, Cathleen Beachboard

Liberty University Research Week

Schools are experiencing rising levels of disengagement, stress, and declining connectedness, while simultaneously facing high rates of educator burnout and attrition. Psychological hope is strongly associated with engagement, well-being, and resilience. It is often treated as an emotional trait as opposed to a cognitive skill that can be intentionally developed through systems and environments. Grounded in Snyder’s hope theory, which proposes hope in quantifiable terms as a goal-directed thinking process composed of agency, pathways, and goals, this project proposes and examines measuring hope and utilizing a tier-based system of support designed to strengthen psychological hope among both students and educators …

Gospel Reception And Response In Children With Profound Cognitive Disabilities, Reagan Lewis

Liberty University Research Week

This study attempts to build a bridge over a gap in research regarding how to measure children with cognitive disabilities’ understanding of the gospel, also incorporating information about ministry structure, caregiver responsibility, and methods for presenting the gospel. While there is a plethora of research surrounding the design of disability ministries, very little research has been done in the area of gospel reception, particularly in children with cognitive disabilities. This study utilized a qualitative research design to collect data for analysis and discussion. Specifically, this study included individual interviews, one focus group discussion with all participants at the conclusion of …

Navigating Through Covid: How Has Covid Impacted College Student Adjustment?, E'Lena E.H Johnson

GS4 Student Scholars Symposium

College adjustment is the way incoming and continuing college students cope with the demands of college life, including academic, mental, socioemotional, and developmental components. The purpose of this research project is to determine whether the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on college students' ability to adjust to college living across three distinct phases: pre-pandemic, during the pandemic, and post-pandemic. A cross-sectional sample of 1,515 participants from Georgia Southern University completed the Wooster-Wickline College Adjustment Test (WOWCAT; Wickline et al., 2009) between 2019-2024, which was administered online via Qualtrics, a secure web-based survey platform. Although the WOWCAT has been successfully …

Legislature Information

Warren C. Cowen Papers

Legislature information on the voting record of each member of the house and each member of the senate for the 56th legislature.

Texas Tax Journal

Warren C. Cowen Papers

Texas tax journal toward lower governmental cost through citizen understanding, April 1958.

Dsaa Prior Art Research Report, Sameul Church

Defensive Publications Series

This Prior Art Search Report presents the results of a comprehensive search conducted in support of a provisional patent application filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the invention titled "Systems and Methods for Device Security Attestation Architecture (DSAA)." The DSAA invention comprises five integrated subsystems — Dual-SIM Mutual Attestation (DSMA), Differential Network Analysis (DNA), Multi-Sensor Environmental Attestation (MSEA), Hardware-Rooted Trust Chain (HRTC), and Autonomous Downgrade Resistance System (ADRS) — collectively forming a unified on-device architecture for cellular network security.

The search encompassed all available records through April 2026 across the following databases: USPTO Patent Full-Text …

Afmu-1: Adaptive Vortex–Acoustic Microfluidic Platform For Active Flow Stabilization, Clog Mitigation, And Transport Enhancement In Constrained Fluidic Systems, Michael Victor Caldwell Mr.

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure describes a modular experimental platform combining vortex-structured microfluidic channel geometry with externally applied acoustic field modulation to actively control microscale fluid transport. The system is designed to evaluate whether hybrid passive–active flow structuring can reduce clogging, improve particle dispersion, and increase transport stability in laminar microfluidic environments.

The platform integrates PDMS-based microchannels (straight, vortex/spiral, and redundant branching geometries) with a phased piezoelectric transducer array capable of generating continuous, pulsed, and phase-shifted acoustic fields. These fields induce acoustic streaming and vortex-like flow perturbations within the fluidic domain.

A closed-loop imaging system tracks particle motion using high-speed microscopy and computational …

Context-Aware Database Access Control Via Differential Evaluation Of Candidate Transactions Against Filtered And Unfiltered Projections, Felix Barbalet

Defensive Publications Series

Problem. Access control in database-backed systems conventionally uses separate mechanisms for read and write paths: read-path filtering (row-level security, query rewriting, view predicates) paired with write-path per-row post-image checks (e.g. SQL WITH CHECK OPTION) or ad-hoc application logic. The two specifications drift apart; per-row write checks miss indirect effects from triggers, referential cascades, derived-data maintenance, and secondary-index side effects; and externalized authorization services introduce staleness hazards.

Technique. A single visibility predicate, derived from the request context, governs both paths. Reads are evaluated against a projection of the database from which elements failing the predicate are absent. A write is authorized …

Implementing Retrieval And Distributed Practice In A Rotating Block Schedule: Boosting Students’ Memory And Metacognition, Terra A. Caputo, Kaitlyn C. Hoffmann, Cindy Reagan, Guy D. Savastano, Brandon J. Foster, Kathryn Hallal, Kristin Miller-Gecsi, Thomas A. Yarcusko

Journal of Catholic Education

An all-boys secondary Jesuit Catholic school in the Midwest, recently transitioned to a rotating block schedule with the goal of supporting deeper learning for all students. Though the transition to longer class meetings helped achieve this goal, less frequent class meetings presented a new challenge in that it tended to exacerbate the natural “forgetting curve.” Retrieval practice, one of the most widely cited high-impact learning strategies to boost student memory, is most beneficial when used alongside spaced practice. A team of teachers implemented and tested the impacts of retrieval and distributed practice on memory in a rotating block schedule. Our …