Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of A Basketball Match On Heart Rate Variability In Collegiate Intramural Players, Unobatsha Mbaiwa

Master's Theses

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a standard non-invasive physiological marker used to asses the autonomic nervous system (ANS) function and cardiovascular adaptability. HRV reflects the natural variations in time between successive heartbeats (R-R intervals), which come as a result of the interaction between sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the ANS (Shaffer & Ginsberg, 2017). Higher HRV compared to an individual's baseline is normally considered an indicator of greater parasympathetic (rest/digest) influence and more effective physiological recovery, whereas lower HRV relative to baseline is associated with sympathetic (fight/flight) dominance, fatigue, and increased physiological strain. Since the standardized HRV measurement criteria were …

Millard Freeman "Mid" Mcknight Papers,1950s-1970s, Millard F. Mcknight

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

The Political Economy Of Fashion Sustainability Regulation, Meital Peleg Mizrachi, Rachel Chambers

UC Law Business Journal

The global fashion industry is one of the world’s most polluting and exploitative sectors, emitting more greenhouse gases than all international flights and maritime shipping combined, driving extensive water contamination and waste, and relying on labor conditions that remain chronically unsafe and underpaid. Regulation has attempted to respond, but with limited success. Existing sustainability oversight—ranging from import bans and human rights due diligence statutes to environmental taxes and voluntary industry frameworks—remains fragmented and unevenly enforced, shaped by geopolitical tensions, protectionist agendas, and shifting policy priorities. This Article reviews the rapidly evolving landscape of fashion sustainability regulation over the past decade …

The Effects Of Food Insecurity And Child Health On Educational Achievement In Virginia Counties, Peyton T. Randall

Honors Projects

This study examines the relationship between county-level socioeconomic and demographic factors and student performance on Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) math and reading assessments in 2023. Using data from 127 of Virginia’s 133 independent counties and cities, this study conducts an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. The analysis shows a strong negative association between food insecurity, measured by the Identified Student Percentage eligible for free school lunch (ISP), and chronic absenteeism with SOL pass rates. These findings show food insecurity and absenteeism as key drivers for achievement disparities, suggesting a need for further interventions and broader research using school-level and …

College Algebra With Review, Lanee Young Ph.D., Jayme Goetz

All Open Educational Resources

This text is disseminated via the Open Education Resource (OER) LibreTexts Project (https://LibreTexts.org) and like the thousands of other texts available within this powerful platform, it is freely available for reading, printing, and "consuming." The LibreTexts mission is to bring together students, faculty, and scholars in a collaborative effort to provide an accessible, and comprehensive platform that empowers our community to develop, curate, adapt, and adopt openly licensed resources and technologies; through these efforts we can reduce the financial burden born from traditional educational resource costs, ensuring education is more accessible for students and communities worldwide. Most, but …

Automating The Precision Measurements Of Higgs Boson Couplings In The H → Zz* → 4l Decay Channel, Sully Billingsley

Physics Theses and Dissertations

As a way to test the Standard Model of Physics, the couplings of the Higgs boson to other particles is studied by measuring the production cross-sections of the Higgs boson using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The cross-sections are measured in the \HZZ  decay channel, where $\ell = e, \mu$. Two sets of measurements were performed on increasing amounts of data collected from proton-proton collisions and a center-of-mass energy of 13.6 TeV. The first set of measurements was collected between 2022 and 2023 corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 56 fb$^{-1}$ while the second set adds data …

Building A Road To Mitigate Ambulance Patient Offload Time (Apot), William J. Manguil

Doctoral Projects

Emergency departments (EDs) worldwide are experiencing increased utilization resulting in care delays for patients seeking urgent treatment. Despite critical circumstances that warrant emergency medical services (EMS) response, patients arriving to the ED via ambulance remain vulnerable to delays in care due to prolonged ambulance patient offload times (APOTs). The amount of health care providers and treatment space necessary to initiate care are both limited and often strained resources which dictate the need for innovative interventions to prevent patient harm. The following project outlines the interventions implemented at the project site to improve APOT as a means to enhance patient safety …

2026 May 21 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

School-Based Teen Dating Violence Prevention Programs: A Systematized Review, Chloe L. Marsh

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Teen Dating Violence (TDV) is a prevalent issue for many adolescents and can be defined as physical, sexual, and psychological aggression and harm that can occur in-person, online, or through technology. TDV victimization can have devastating impacts for youth, and school-based TDV prevention efforts have been highlighted as a means of addressing this issue. However, there is limited research on how prevention programming influences student beliefs and behavior. This study sought to reveal how programming influences student outcomes and which elements of highlighted prevention efforts are associated with greater benefits. A systematized review was conducted to address these research questions. …

Lgbtqia+ Inclusion In K-12 Education: A Systematized Review Of U.S. South Atlantic Region Educational Policy, Benjamin Little

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

LGBTQIA+ students experience disproportionate rates of discrimination, bullying, and mental health challenges within their educational settings, while educational policies shaping school climate vary considerably across jurisdictions. The purpose of this systematized review was to identify trends in the structure and implementation of LGBTQIA+ inclusion policies across K-12 state-level public education systems within the U.S. South Atlantic region and to examine how these policies addressed the needs of transgender youth and LGBTQIA+ students of color. This review synthesized publicly available state education documents, legislative materials, and nonprofit policy reports using a systematized review methodology guided by PRISMA principles and qualitative theme …

Barriers And Bridges: Exploring Factors That Shape Mental Health Service Utilization In Rural America, Margaret Wiwuga

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Despite disproportionately higher suicide mortality rates and comparable prevalence of mental illness across urban and rural communities in the United States, rural populations across the nation experience significantly lower access to and utilization of mental health services, naturally leading to worse comprehensive outcomes. This literature review examines multifaceted factors shaping mental health service use in rural America, taking note of both barrier and enabling factors that impede or enable these unique populations’ willingness and ability to access and use mental health services. Ten articles published prior to September 9, 2025, were selected from the James Madison University Libraries’ Psychology and …

Black Maternal Mental Health: Counseling Considerations For Prenatal Depression And Anxiety, Morgan Renee Williams

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

The maternal mortality rate of Black women in the United States is four times higher than white women (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). The CDC defines a maternal death as “the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy… but not from accidental or incidental causes” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024, para. 1). This statistic is a consequence of the inequality within and outside of the American healthcare system (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2020). For the purposes of this research, Black women are defined as any women …

Neurodiversity In Counseling: Counseling Strategies For Supporting Neurodiverse Clients, Emily R. Plowright

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Neurodiversity recognizes the natural differences in human functioning, including the unique ways that individuals think, learn, and process information. The neurodiversity movement views these differences as valuable, challenging historical beliefs that label them as deficits. Despite growing awareness of neurodiversity, counseling research and practice have largely overlooked the unique needs of neurodiverse clients, resulting in barriers to accessing mental health care. This paper addresses the concept and models of disability to provide context for understanding neurodiversity. Neurodiverse identities, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), specific learning disorders (SLDs), and tic disorder, are explored through their diagnostic criteria …

What’S Behind The Mask: The Diagnostic Divide In The Female Autism Phenotype, Shelley Gies Alston

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by differences in social communication and restrictive, repetitive behaviors; however, women are diagnosed at significantly lower rates than men. This study examined whether DSM-5-TR diagnostic practices may contribute to the underdiagnosis and delayed identification of ASD in individuals assigned female at birth (AFAB), with attention to masking behaviors, gendered social expectations, and clinician interpretation of symptoms. Grounded in the Female Autism Phenotype (FAP), a retrospective mixed-methods study surveyed 12 AFAB individuals aged 18–24 who self-identified or were formally diagnosed with ASD. Participants completed a 44-item online survey including Likert-scale and open-ended …

Effects Of Nurse-Led Standardized Kangaroo Mother Care (Kmc) Protocol On Nicu Length Of Stay, Physiological Stability, And Bonding: Evidence-Based Recommendation For Translation Into Practice, Madison Capul, Maria Bejarano, Tionette Kirk-Banks, Kelly Mcmillin, Onyinyechukwu Ubaezuonu, Amabelle Simsuangco, Charity Msamalia Chimwala-Selico

General Submissions: Clinical Settings Materials

Background: Preterm and low birth weight infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are at high risk for physiological instability, prolonged hospitalization, impaired bonding and breastfeeding, and increased mortality, with costs reaching up to $233,000 per stay (Broughton et al., 2022). The Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) protocol improves thermoregulation, stability, bonding, breastfeeding, and survival; however, its implementation remains inconsistent due to the lack of standardized nurse-led protocols.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether implementation of a standardized nurse-led Kangaroo Mother Care protocol, compared to current inconsistent practice, would improve NICU length of stay, physiological stability, …

Keeping Families Together: Companion Animals As A Public Health Imperative, Lori R. Kogan, Rebecca Niemiec

Journal of One Health Systems

Contemporary US public health frameworks emphasize social, economic, and environmental determinants of health, yet largely overlook the reality that most households include companion animals regarded as family members. This omission has tangible consequences during crises such as housing instability, illness, domestic violence, or disasters, when families are often forced to choose between their own safety and the safety of their animals. We argue that this represents a significant public health failure. Drawing on interdisciplinary evidence, we propose that companion animals function as a social determinant of health, that forced separation constitutes a public health harm, and that Human-Animal Support Services …

Signs Of Belonging: Community Identities Of Deaf Elders In Central And Coastal Massachusetts, Nelia Eaddy

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

This study focuses on shared experiences and themes of community identities within the elder Deaf community of central and coastal Massachusetts. Lived experiences and linguistic journeys shape our overall senses of belonging and identities; subsequently, they profoundly affect our relationship to our communities (Eastaugh, 2019). This research study discusses how concepts of belonging shift as individuals age within their community and how that impacts their sense of belonging and experiences with language. Communities where individuals feel a sense of belonging encourage identity development. The experiences of elders who identify as “Deaf” (due to their language preference and cultural influences) within …

2026 Commencement Program For The School Of Nursing And Health Sciences And The School Of Engineering And Computational Sciences, Merrimack College

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

2026 Commencement Program For The School Of Nursing And Health Sciences And The School Of Engineering And Computational Sciences – Accessible Version, Merrimack College

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

2026 Commencement Program For The Girard School Of Business, Merrimack College

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

2026 Commencement Program For The Girard School Of Business – Accessible Version, Merrimack College

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Agentic Synthetic Data Generation For Automated Model Development, Frederick Eugene Diehl

Theses and Dissertations

Large Language Model research has made large strides in capabilities from sentiment analysis to writing code. These advancements have been realized thanks to research into specific capabilities such as prompting techniques. Language models today have demonstrated the ability to create content, transform, and classify. These capabilities are not limited to academic exploration but also found in commercial products that are positioning themselves from application augmentation to personal assistants. These commercial products tend to steer towards single actions such as “summarize this article” or “write a function that performs action...” In parallel research has continued to advance towards more advanced constructs …

Automatically Constructed Preference Pairs For Chain-Of-Thought: Consistency Gains With Accuracy Tradeoffs, Cameron Scolari, Lanyu Shang

Honors Thesis

We investigate preference optimization over chain-of-thought (CoT) reasoning using automatically constructed preference signals derived from the accuracy and internal consistency of a model. Our results show that framing reasoning as a preference learning problem improves both the accuracy of the final answer and the structure of the model outputs. We observe a non-monotonic relationship between performance and the Direct Preference Optimization (DPO) scaling parameter β, where moderate values maximize accuracy while lower values improve stability, highlighting a tradeoff between optimization strength and reliable generation. We further identify a tradeoff between reasoning consistency and accuracy. Increasing the consistency weight improves agreement …

A Puff's Exploration Of Wayne Hopkins, Ethan G. Mullen, Leon Wiebers

Honors Thesis

This thesis is a synthesis of modalities I have studied during the course of my Theatre Arts degree, applied to the realization of the principal character, Wayne Hopkins in the award-winning play Puffs (Or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic) a LMU Theatre Arts Department production. This work is divided into three major sections. First, I reflect on how I applied acting tools I have studied at LMU to the development of my character and performance. These include script analysis, story structure analysis, breath work, and Viewpoints training. Second, I share media displaying my …

Architecture As Political Symbolism: Power, Authority, & The Built Form, Naomi Minwalla

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

This study examines how architecture functions as a medium of political symbolism, exploring the ways in which built environments communicate authority, ideology, and collective identity. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Murray Edelman, the research first establishes how political symbols shape social cohesion, legitimize authority, and construct political meaning. The study then applies architectural interpretation frameworks developed by Martin Warnke, Erwin Panofsky, and Alois Riegl to analyze how symbolic meaning is embedded within architectural form, spatial organization, and ornamentation.

Using a qualitative comparative case study design, the research analyzes two major religious structures: the Seville Cathedral …

Carter (Tyler) V. State Of Nevada, 123 Nev. Adv. Op. 45 (May. 14, 2026), Natalie D'Ambrosio

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Carter v. State of Nevada holds that drivers involved in injury crashes must stop, provide identification, and render reasonable assistance, but are not required to remain at the scene until law enforcement authorizes departure.

Swept Into The Crisis: A Phenomenological Study Of Staff And Adaptive Leadership During The Pandemic, Alexandra Deremer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Beginning in the fall of 2020, the pandemic created unparalleled challenges as schools reopened following extended closures, requiring school communities, with staff at every level, to rapidly adapt to evolving protocols, expanded job responsibilities, and ongoing uncertainty. This phenomenological study explored how building staff, such as custodians and teachers, perceived the leadership behaviors exhibited by principals during the implementation of COVID-19 disinfecting mandates and changes to school operations. Using Heifetz et al.’s (2009) adaptive leadership framework as a foundation, the intent of this research was to address three specific research questions that centered on staff perceptions of administrators’ response plans …

Choosing Play: A Quantitative Case Study On The Impact Of Play-Based Learning Compared To Direct Instruction In An Urban Kindergarten, Deborah Mary Arlauskas

Educational Studies Dissertations

Choosing Play: A Quantitative Case Study on the Impact of Play-Based Learning Compared to Direct Instruction in an Urban Kindergarten examines the academic and behavioral outcomes of kindergarten students in two urban public schools: one implementing a play-based instructional approach grounded in JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) practices, and the other using direct instruction. Rooted in Froebel’s original purpose for kindergarten to nurture the whole child through play, social connection, and interaction with nature, this study returns to the developmental intent behind the creation of kindergarten itself. Standardized literacy performance was measured using the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) …

The Greater Good?: Tradeoffs Between Social Connection And Status In Decision-Making Scenarios, Jonah M. Dratfield

Student Theses

Strong social relationships have consistently emerged as predictors of well-being in the psychological literature. However, research has not distinguished between the intrinsic social value derived from these relationships and the status derived from them. We constructed the novel Relationship Orientation Scale to explore this gap, utilizing binary decision-making scenarios in which individuals were forced to pit these two goods against one another. Across two studies, we found that individuals displayed a significant, but by no means universal, preference for intrinsically rewarding social relationships. We found, also, that social media use and comparison orientation were negative predictors of relationship orientation, whereas …

Completely Abandon Complete Auto: Why Modern Tax Policy Challenges Require Removing The Commerce Clause’S Restrictions On State Taxation, Peter Nielsen

UC Law Business Journal

The Complete Auto four-prong test is the modern analytical framework for courts to analyze whether a state-level tax discriminates against interstate commerce in violation of the Dormant Commerce Clause. The test asks whether (i) the taxpayer has substantial nexus to the taxing state, (ii) the tax is fairly apportioned to reflect the taxpayer’s activities in the state, (iii) the tax discriminates against interstate economic activity in favor of local activity, and (iv) the tax is fairly related to the goods and services provided by the state. The Complete Auto test faces critiques from both judges and scholars for its inconsistent …