Digital Commons Network^™

Assessment Of The Radionuclide Concentration Levels Of Water And Sediments Along The Mara River, Gasper Kachenge, Abubakary Salama, Abdalah Kileo, Furaha Chuma

Tanzania Journal of Science

For many years, several factors have impacted the water quality of the Mara River, including population growth, agricultural expansion, livestock keeping, mining, and industrial activities. These factors have intensified water pollution and climate change effects around the river. While previous studies have mainly focused on assessing heavy metal pollution risks on the Mara River, this study evaluates the concentration levels of radionuclides in boreholes, water, and sediments along the river and its tributaries. Naturally occurring radioactive materials, including 226Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K, were evaluated. A high-purity germanium radiation detector (HPGe) with a coaxial detector system coupled with Gamma Vision software …

A Soft-Skilled Leadership Development Course For New Nurse Managers, Kiadrick Roshelle Hood

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

New nurse managers are stepping into leadership roles without structured training. While organizations offer various onboarding courses for managers transitioning into new management roles, few have implemented a structured, evidence-based program focused on leadership development, particularly in the soft leadership skills needed to lead a diverse workforce. I designed this staff education project to determine whether implementation of a leadership development course focused on time management, prioritization, and delegation would improve new nurse managers’ self-perception of these leadership skills. To address this gap, I developed a 1-day leadership development course to introduce tools to improve new nurse managers’ time management, …

Strategies Health Care Leaders Use To Employ Ai-Supported Data-Driven Decision-Making To Increase Profitability, Lacurisia Harrison

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Strategies Health Care Leaders Use to Employ AI-Supported Data-Driven Decision-Making to Increase Profitability by LaCurisia Harrison MS, Alabama A&M University, 2023 BS, Alabama A&M University, 2021 Qualitative Pragmatic Inquiry Business Research Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University August 2026

Analysis Of Early Menopause And Endometriosis Genetics Merit In Use Of Polygenic Risk Assessments For Prediction, Emily Solomon

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Endometriosis and Early Menopause are reproductive conditions that are under research in women's health. Both conditions impact a woman’s quality of life through severity of symptoms and associated risk factors and are influenced by genetic, hormonal and environmental elements. Both conditions have extensive and growing genetic knowledge that is being used to calculate either an increased or decreased risk of condition development. The array of genetic data shows promises in predicting risk for both conditions, as well as certain symptoms, to contribute to a personalized predictive tool to guide management of care. Endometriosis benefits from a potential polygenic risk assessment …

The Influence Of Circadian Rhythm Disruption And Apoe4 On The Prognosis And Progression Of Alzheimer’S Disease, Kayla Bradby

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by cognitive decline and memory loss and is the most common form of dementia. Genetic factors such as apolipoprotein E have been significantly associated with AD development and progression, most specifically the APOE4 isoform. Emerging evidence has shown that when the body’s circadian rhythm, the 24-hour dark/light cycle, is disrupted, the potential to develop a neurodegenerative disease such as AD increases. The purpose of this literature review is to examine the relationship between AD, circadian rhythm, and the APOE isoforms. This review puts a particular emphasis on the APOE4 isoform, as it has been shown to …

The Invisible Crop: Harnessing Root System Architecture In Heirloom Collards For Climate-Resilient Urban Agriculture, Vincent Antonio Brazelton

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Growing food in urban spaces often means working within variable, resource-limited environments, creating a need for crops that can withstand heterogeneous growing conditions. Heirloom collards (Brassica oleracea var. viridis) are known for their aboveground diversity and cultural importance, but much less is known about the variation that exists belowground. This dissertation examines root system architecture (RSA) diversity across 19 historically underutilized heirloom collard accessions using a multi-scale phenotyping approach that includes controlled gel-based imaging of seedlings and 2D imaging of mature field-grown root systems. Across both seedling and mature stages, heirloom collards showed substantial variation in RSA. These differences revealed …

2026 Focused Update Of The Saudi Heart Association Guidelines On Best Practices In The Management Of Chronic Coronary Syndromes, Owayed Alshammeri, Halia Alshehri, Shukri Alsaif, Mirvat Alasnag, Fatema Qaddoura, Fahad Alqahtani, Yosra Abdulahad A Turkistani, Walid Alharbi, Adel Tash, Mohammad Alshehri, Khalid Al Faraidy, Waleed Alhabeeb

Journal of the Saudi Heart Association

Background: Chronic coronary syndromes (CCS) continue to impose a substantial clinical and economic burden in Saudi Arabia. Since publication of the 2022 Saudi Heart Association (SHA) CCS guidelines, important advances have emerged in diagnosis, pharmacotherapy, cardiometabolic risk reduction, antiplatelet management, and revascularization. This 2026 focused update selectively revises and clarifies key recommendations to reflect these advances within the Saudi context.

Methods: A multidisciplinary SHA expert panel conducted a structured review of randomized trials, meta-analyses, and relevant international guidance published since 2022. Updates were restricted to areas with substantive new evidence or evolving clinical practice. Recommendations were formulated through expert consensus …

Analysis Of Application Of The Tod Concept In The Istora Senayan Area, Herika Muhamad Taki, Salsabila Dhania Wibowo, Muhammad Zaydan Bethaziarennur, Kelvin Erlangga

Jurnal Geografi Lingkungan Tropik (Journal of Geography of Tropical Environments)

TOD (Transit Oriented Development) is a concept of developing a mixed area that is integrated with transportation modes. This article aims to analyze the application of the TOD concept in the Istora-Senayan area. Research of The Application of the TOD concept in Istora Senayan area generally combines primary and secondary data. Primary data consists of field observation: recording real conditions of pedestrian paths, cycling infrastructure, transit access, land use, and connectivity. Spatial mapping/GIS analysis: mapping walking distance radius (400-800 m from station), measuring accessibility, block permeability, and connectivity (74,4% of the area within 800m walking distance to transit). Surveys: researchers …

Raising History From The Grave: Reparative Archival Pedagogy, International Virtual Exchange, And Community Engagement, Antonia Macdonald, Leah Rosenberg

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article brings together three threads in digital pedagogy: international virtual exchange, archival recovery work, and reparative pedagogy to argue that their convergence generates a transformative framework for reimaging critical archival practice and transnational collaborations. Our argument is supported by two related pedagogical projects that we undertook. The first is a collaboration with Pan Caribbean Sankofa (PCS) and the Panama Canal Museum Collection (PCMC) at the University of Florida (UF). The second is a collaborative online international learning (COIL) exchange that took place between two undergraduate classes at a university in the Eastern Caribbean and UF. Both initiatives were grounded …

Measure By Measure: Reflections On Building A Quiz Map For Critical Caribbean Digital Pedagogy, Ra Bacchus, Medardo G. Rosario, Alexander S. Butler

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article reflects on the web development of a digital quiz map designed to help students critically engage with the representation of the Caribbean in digital space. Emerging from workshops organized by Visiones del Caribe—a digital humanities initiative using digitized maps and archives to teach Caribbean history, culture, and cartography—this tool responds to students’ inquiries about the region’s spatial boundaries. The quiz invites students to select on a map those countries and territories they consider part of the Caribbean, prompting reflection on the diversity of perspectives shaping Caribbean identity. Drawing from the discourse of critical cartography and digital pedagogy, we …

Tun Up: Building Digital Dancehall Fashion Archives From An Artist’S Perspective, Grayson Chong

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article investigates the opportunities and challenges of building a dancehall fashion archive with particular emphasis on the transition from the material to the digital. As an artist-scholar, I use my own dancehall fashion collection as a case study to explore the process of digitizing material artifacts (in this case, fashion and textiles). I focus on dancehall fashion in particular because it speaks to themes of resistance, self-fashioning, and creativity in the global fashion market. Throughout the article, I highlight what the transition between material and digital affords scholars and public audiences. In particular, I ask: "How do we retain …

Acervos Documentales De Puerto Rico Y El Caribe @ Upr-Río Piedras: On Designing Digital Strategies For Preservation And Access Of Unique Puerto Rican And Caribbean Studies Collections, Mirerza González-Vélez, Mila Aponte-González

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This paper documents Acervos Digitales de Puerto Rico y el Caribe @ UPR-Río Piedras, its origins, goals, activities and participants. It reflects on the team engagement with fundamental discussions regarding the use of Omeka in a Caribbean context, that resulted in the articulation and enactment of ethical principles for digital curation, as well as in its commitment for fundamental digital preservation efforts based on minimal technology requirements. The paper also provides an assessment of its continuity as a DH initiative committed to preserving, improving open access, and building capacity for the effective use of unique digitized humanities collections, and poses …

Digital Research Tools, Newspaper Texts, And Enslaved Fugitives In The Atlantic World, Gunvor Simonsen, Natacha Klein Käfer, Heather Freund, Felicia J. Fricke

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article demonstrates the benefits and pitfalls of utilizing Natural Language Processing to structure a large corpus of newspaper adverts on fugitive enslaved people from the Atlantic World between 1766 and 1821. We evaluate a model for multilingual event extraction trained specifically for fugitive ads and jail lists in its capacity to extract correctly the attributes relevant for historical analysis. Finally, we discuss how the current model may be used to expand and qualify databases concerning enslaved fugitives in the eastern Caribbean.

Tracing Caribbean Narratives At The Intersection Of Language, Identity, And Social Media, Juan-Carlos M.E. Goilo

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article delves into how the creole language of Papiamentu navigates the complexities of cultural identity and decolonial praxis within the social media landscape. Drawing from literature reviews, digital ethnography, content analysis, and an interview with social media influencer Gerald Lijde, I explore Papiamentu’s deep-rooted colonial ambivalence—a legacy that shapes its contemporary online use. While digital platforms offer new avenues for celebrating and formalizing Papiamentu, they also risk commodifying its radical, anti-colonial roots into tourist-friendly narratives. By linking online content production to theories of agency and digital culture, the article illuminates Papiamentu’s enduring role as a vessel of resistance and …

A Metadata Analysis Of Anthropological Scholarship About Haiti And The Dominican Republic, Tess Kulstad González, Pauline Kulstad González, Zoe Grubbs, Hongyuan Zhang

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article presents the results of a metadata and content analysis of anthropological research about Haiti and the Dominican Republic available in the Anthropological Literature database and in the Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. This analysis shows that anthropological knowledge about Haiti and/or the Dominican Republic, produced in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is included less than scholarship published outside the island. In addition, our analysis indicates that research that pertains to both countries, or that considers transnational and/or inter-island processes has been infrequent. Furthermore, that which exists is not as discoverable or visible as research that focuses …

“Un Compromiso Con La Tierra”: Digital Placemaking In The Art Of Rosaura Rodríguez’'S Instagram Stories, Jeannine Murray-Román

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

From a recording of a hot pink flower on a foggy hillside, its leaves trembling slightly in the wind, to the ink made from its petals pooling onto white cardstock, Puerto Rican artist Rosaura Rodríguez shares her experimental processes on Instagram stories, fifteen seconds at a time. Instagram is a fraught platform that encourages aesthetic homogeneity, and yet, continues to function as a site for developing micro-poetic techniques. This article focuses on Rodríguez’s in-process Instagram Stories, and particularly the “Highlights” feature which allows her to archive her working processes for two of her projects: 1. Temporada, a self-published comic that …

Infrastructure Of Lack: Defining Caribbean Vernacular Networks, Luis Rivera Jiménez

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article offers a theoretical reflection on the forms and meanings of networks in the Caribbean, moving beyond traditional definitions rooted in computation and formal infrastructure. By turning to vernacular, improvised, and culturally embedded modes of exchange—such as in "Club Nintendo" culture and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) in the Dominican Republic, the DIY internet practices of Cuban users, and the ubiquity of memes and WhatsApp threads across diasporic communities—this piece reframes the concept of the “network” through a Caribbean lens. Rather than seeing the Caribbean as disconnected or technologically incipient, this approach understands the region as a space of creative, strategic, …

Agreements And Disagreements About The Roll Of Leadership Team Diversity In Strategic Change: A Critical Review Of Measurement And Empirical Inconsistencies, Amy C. Horner

Engaged Management ReView

Research examining the relationship between leadership team diversity and strategic change has produced inconsistent and often contradictory findings. This dissertation digest synthesizes prior research through a meta-analytic review of twenty-five studies representing more than 500,000 observations across multiple industries and countries. The results indicate that relationships between leadership team diversity characteristics and strategic change are generally small in magnitude and highly variable across studies.

Rather than reflecting a clear directional effect, these patterns point to a fundamental challenge in the existing literature: inconsistency in how key constructs are defined and measured. Strategic change is operationalized through a wide range of …

Determining The Sources Of Aerosols Delivered To The Subtropical North Atlantic Using Stable Isotopes, Khloe E. Coffie, Zach B. Bunnell, Dylan J. Halbeisen, Peter N. Sedwick, Tim M. Conway

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Deposition of atmospheric aerosols is a major source of bioavailable trace metals such as iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd) to surface waters. Such aerosol deposition occurs through two modes: (1) dry deposition, or the settling of dry aerosol matter onto the open ocean, and (2) wet deposition, the delivery of solubilized aerosols during rain events. Although the effect of dry deposition on trace metal delivery to the oceans is reasonably well-studied, the influence of wet deposition remains extremely understudied. Here, we present the first dissolved Fe (δ56Fe), Zn (δ66Zn, and Cd (δ114Cd) isotopic compositions ever measured in rainwater. …

Abundance Of Free-Living Cyanobacterial Nitrogen Fixers On The West Florida Shelf, Ashley S. Gielazyn, Emma Graves, Christa Baranowski, Dreux Chappell, Kristen Buck, Salvatore Caprara

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Trichodesmium is a free-living, marine cyanobacterium that acts as a biological nitrogen fixer, capable of using typically unavailable dissolved nitrogen gas. It is responsible for producing up to half of the usable nitrogen that is necessary for the survival of marine organisms and environments. Researching the abundance of different nitrogen-fixing species allows for a greater understanding of the importance of nitrogen fixation in certain environments. Specifically on the West Florida Shelf (WFS), where nutrient levels are low, it is hypothesized that nitrogen fixers support a significant portion of primary productivity. This study used qPCR of the rnpB housekeeping gene to …

Linking Sea Ice Melt, Water-Column Structure, And Particle Distributions In The Weddell Sea, Daniel England

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Sea-ice melt strongly influences the coastal waters of Antarctica by lowering surface salinity, reducing vertical mixing, and changing MLD (mixed layer depth). These changes can affect phytoplankton biomass, particle formation, and carbon export. This poster examines how meltwater, and mixed layer depth relate to fluorescence, particle abundance, and particle biovolume in the Weddell Sea region of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth) casts from the Polar Rapid cruise were used to analyze temperature, salinity, density, and fluorescence across multiple transects, and stations. Salinity was used to estimate meltwater percent in the water column, while density and temperature were used to …

Exploring Abundance Of Symbiotic Cyanobacteria Nitrogen Fixers On The West Florida Shelf, Julia Kiplinger

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Nitrogen is unusable by most organisms but is an essential nutrient for building life. Nitrogen fixers in the ocean, also known as diazotrophs, can produce bioavailable forms of nitrogen for other organisms to use from dissolved nitrogen gas. The West Florida Shelf is of particular interest for research on nitrogen fixers because it is generally oligotrophic, yet diazotrophic activity is hypothesized to increase regional productivity. Our understanding of the distributions of cyanobacterial nitrogen fixers is limited, and broadening this knowledge can inform other decisions and research on ocean health or productivity. This study advances understanding of the abundance of symbiotic …

A Mobile Ai Conversational Platform For Supporting Autism Assessment In Children, Ruoyu Wang

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Early identification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remains challenging because many clinically relevant social, emotional, and communication behaviors are difficult to capture during brief clinical encounters. Young children may have limited attention spans, communicate differently with unfamiliar adults, struggle to express thoughts and emotions, or behave differently in clinical settings than in everyday environments. Consequently, clinicians often rely on brief observations and caregiver reports, which may not fully represent children’s typical communication behaviors. This study introduces an AI-powered conversational application for smartphones that supports longitudinal collection of naturalistic communication data from children. The application engages children in age-appropriate, play-based conversations …

Evaluation Of Aluminum Electrocoagulation Performance Indicators For Decentralized Drinking Water Treatment, Huy Nguyen, Monica Castro Carias

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Electrocoagulation (EC) is a promising alternative to conventional chemical coagulation for decentralized drinking water treatment because it generates coagulants on-site , reducing the need for chemical transportation and storage in remote communities. In EC systems, an electric current applied to aluminum electrodes releases species that form solid coagulants capable of removing groundwater contaminants. However, long-term operation remains poorly understood, as electrode degradation through passivation (deposit accumulation) and pitting may reduce coagulant production and treatment efficiency, highlighting the need for practical indicators to track performance. The objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship between current, electrode condition, and aluminum …

Exploring Biopolymer Nanofibrous Scaffolds For Wound Healing Applications, James Lewis

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Chronic wounds continue to present a significant clinical challenge due to delayed healing, persistent inflammation, and the high risk of infection, creating an urgent need for advanced therapeutic strategies beyond conventional wound dressings. Electrospinning has emerged as a powerful and scalable fabrication technique for developing nanofibrous scaffolds that mimic the native extracellular matrix (ECM) while serving as localized drug delivery platforms. The unique structural characteristics of electrospun nanofibers, including their high surface-area-to-volume ratio, interconnected porosity, and tunable fiber morphology, enable efficient loading, protection, and controlled release of therapeutic agents, promoting a favorable healing environment. In this study, biocompatible and biodegradable …

Theoretical Model For A Poroelastic Membrane Under Uniform Load, Minh Duc Nguyen

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Flexible membrane wings appear throughout both natural and engineered flyers — parachutes, sails, birds, and bats — and are known to confer favorable aerodynamic characteristics through deformation in response to the surrounding flow. To date, flexibility and porosity have largely been studied in isolation, yet in a poroelastic membrane the two are coupled: as the membrane extends under load, its pores stretch with the surface. This study takes the first step toward analyzing that coupling by characterizing how the effective elasticity of the membrane depends on its porosity under uniform static pressure. Circular clamped membranes were simulated across a range …

Temporal Graph Networks With Dynamic Mode Decomposition For Iomt Threat And Risk Detection, Thinh Pham

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

The growing use of interconnected medical devices expands the attack surface of healthcare networks and creates the possibility that a compromise affecting one device, gateway, or communication channel may propagate through connected systems, producing cascading operational and patient-safety consequences. This research investigates whether temporal graph learning can improve intrusion detection and dynamic cyber-risk assessment in Internet of Medical Things networks. A Temporal Graph Network represents network flows as time-ordered interactions between communicating devices, uses each interaction to update their evolving behavioral profiles. The model jointly supports attack-type classification, anomaly detection, and dynamic risk scoring. The design also explores Dynamic Mode …

Protocol For Nod Islet Isolation Using A Novel Two-Filter Purification System, Sama Nayakanti

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the inflammation and destruction of pancreatic islets by infiltrating immune cells. As T1D incidence continues to surge worldwide, it is necessary to develop therapies capable of strengthening and protecting islet function.

Our prior research has previously demonstrated the protective antioxidant effects of Cornus officinalis (CO), a medicinal herb with known anti-diabetes properties, using 1.1B4 and NIT-1 transformed pancreatic β-cell lines. Although these cell lines are valuable and cost-efficient β-cell models, they are not fully representative of primary β-cell biology, which may affect their antioxidant response to CO.

To this end, …

Using Sers For Enhanced Pfoa Detection In Algae, Kyra Everette, Dawson Dodd, Theresa Evans-Nguyen

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Due to growing manufacturing processes runoff and environmental pollution, per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals,” bioaccumulate in various waterways, eventually making their way into human bodies. Due to the low intensity signals of forever chemicals, it is notoriously difficult to isolate what cellular processes they impact, especially when using Raman spectroscopy. Here, we employed surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to increase, detect and localize the perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). AuNPs were intracellularly produced in Chlorella and Scenedesmus algae cells, which acted as enhancers to the low PFOA signal. The production of AuNPs within these …

Comparing Satellite Gravity Estimates Of The Labrador Current To Mooring Observations, Calvin G. Rose, Jennifer Bonin

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

The Labrador Current is an important component of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and is the primary pathway for deep water transport from the sub polar North Atlantic southward. Understanding the strength of the Labrador Current and its variability can help to better estimate the potential decline of this crucial current system. A previous study (Meyer & Chambers, 2025) used satellite gravity measurements from the GRACE and GRACE Follow-on missions (GRACE/ FO) to approximate Labrador Current variability and demonstrated reasonable monthly values with transport calculated at a mooring array at 53°N. This study adds to that previous study by …