Digital Commons Network^™

Isabel I Of Castile And Her Portapaz: A Queenly Expression Of Sovereignty, Legacy, And Piety, Alina Cui

Theses and Dissertations

What is a pax, and why does it matter to a queen? I argue that in the Portapaz Gótico at the Royal Chapel of Granada, Queen Isabel I of Castile drew from Rogier van der Weyden’s Miraflores Altarpiece to craft a new iconography, reflecting her unique political and devotional interests.

Hanne Darboven: Bismarckzeit (Bismarck Time), Lindsey J. Poremba

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines post-war German artist Hanne Darboven’s 1978 work Bismarckzeit (Bismarck Time). Bismarckzeit is a significant work where images, quotations, and equations meet and explore history. This thesis studies the different visual languages in Darboven’s installation, comparing her work with that of Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project.

Voyager, Ben K. Voss

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores painting as a site of meditation, time and (un)knowability.

Containment, Quin Mittelstead

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores “containment" (the act of keeping something within limits) as both oppressive control and a mode of self-regulation, grounded in the author’s experience with epilepsy. Paintings deploy grayscale grounds, restrained palettes, and contrasting rapid/slow gestures; emergent color, texture, and altered substrates map psychological states, bodily impulses, and reactive processes. Research into witchcraft, remedial items, and eugenics (notably Buck v. Bell) informs works that link historical censorship and institutional violence to contemporary stigma. Sculptural installations (nets, jute, flawed Faraday-like enclosures) and cannibalized studio materials probe systems that restrain thought, media, and bodies. By introducing unpredictable variables with found supports, …

A New Electroencephalography Electrode Design For Curly And Kinky Hair Types, Elena Butler

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Medical discrimination and implicit bias are present in both societal systems and into the design and validation of medical devices. Traditional electroencephalography (EEG) systems often fail to provide reliable physiological recordings on curly and kinky hair types (3B–4C), associated typically with Black American and others of African descent. EEG on these hair types often results in high electrode-scalp impedance, poor signal quality, and participant discomfort. Consequently, such technical biases contribute to the underrepresentation of these populations in neuroscience research and clinical diagnostics, while simultaneously limiting equitable access to EEG-based medical care.

To address this gap, a novel conductive electrode attachment …

Beyond Local Pathology: Exploring The Role Of Gut Microbiota In Chronic Low Back Pain Using An Integrated Behavioral And Microbiological Approach, Adan L. Redwine

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Chronic low back pain (LBP) affects millions worldwide, often originating from intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration. While the gut microbiome modulates musculoskeletal pain, prior studies of the gut-disc axis have focused entirely on structural changes. This leaves a critical gap: does the microbiome influence the experience of discogenic pain? To answer this, an integrated approach using longitudinal gut microbiome profiling, machine learning-based behavioral phenotyping, and structural disc assessments in a rat model of discogenic LBP was utilized.

Female Sprague Dawley rats underwent one of four conditions: sham surgery, IVD injury, antibiotic-mediated microbiome depletion + IVD injury, or IVD injury + treatment …

Multi-Stakeholder Perspectives On Gender-Based Violence In Marital Relationships: A Qualitative Study In Rural India, Soumya Singh, Aneel Brar, Urvita Bhatia, Devika Gupta, Abhijit Nadkarni

Brain and Mind Institute

In India, an estimated 41% of women report experiencing domestic violence in their lifetime and up to 28% report violence during pregnancy. Our study aims to understand local perceptions/attitudes towards GBV and lived experiences of GBVvictimisation and perpetration in marital relationships in rural Rajasthan. We conducted a focus group discussion with community health workers (n = 7) and interviews with young married men (n = 17) and women (n = 21), and local government officials (n = 2). The data was analysed using thematic analysis with triangulation conducted across methods and researchers. Our findings reveal that women experience multiform violence, …

Acute Metabolic And Molecular Responses To Sprint Interval Versus Moderate-Intensity Continuous Exercise In Healthy Young Men, Enda Murphy, Claire Laurens, Laurie Frances, Marie-Adeline Marquès, François Crampes, Isabelle De Glisezinski, Javier Monedero, Helena Kenny, Noel Mccaffrey, Francis M. Finucane, Cedric Moro, Donal O'Gorman

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Exercise intensity is a key determinant of the physiological responses in skeletal muscle that lead to improvements in human health. Whether a bout of brief supramaximal acute exercise has similar effects on muscle physiology and metabolic health to a longer bout of continuous acute exercise remains unclear. In a randomized cross-over design, 12 healthy young recreationally active men completed single acute bouts of either sprint interval exercise (SIE; seven repeated 30 s maximal sprints at 130% over 35 min) or moderate-intensity continuous exercise (MICE; cycling at 65% effort over 60 min), or a nonexercise control (CON) session, on separate days. …

Same-Sex Marriage In Taiwan: Soft Sovereignty, Threat Management, And The Politics Of Recognition In Asia, Olga Shalaeva

University Honors Program Senior Projects

Why did Taiwan as a contested state with no seat in the United Nations (UN), shaped by Confucian conservatism and the world’s longest period of martial law become the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, while other Asian democracies with stronger institutional track records have not? This paper argues that democratic maturity alone cannot answer this question. What explains Taiwan’s 2019 marriage equality achievement is the strategic management of threat, operating simultaneously at the geopolitical and psychological levels, and the utilization of “soft sovereignty” as the “weapon of the weak.”

The paper introduces “soft sovereignty” as an in-progress …

The Muse Of Modern Day Celebrity Endorsements, Cassaundra Garcia

University Honors Program Senior Projects

Kim Kardashian has redefined what it means to be a celebrity endorser in the modern age. It is not just about putting a celebrity face to a product, or in this case a Luxury Fashion Brand, but instead about embodying the brand itself. Kim Kardashian has served as the epitome of a ‘Modern Muse’, one who shapes and inspires brands. This thesis proposal takes an exploratory case study approach to Kardashian’s partnerships with Luxury Fashion Brands. It focuses on her Instagram social media presence and how it transforms traditional endorsement strategies into brand collaborations. By analyzing her posts, engagement, and …

No More Loopholes: The Story Of The 13th Amendment Exception Clause : Its Effects And How To Challenge It, Nur Johnson

University Honors Program Senior Projects

This study examines the harms of exploitative prison labor through examining the loophole in the 13th amendment of the United States Constitution. I build an argument that the wording of the 13th amendment needs to be modified to close this loophole in all states. Additionally, through framing prison labor as a form of human trafficking, I argue that prisoners could potentially sue to challenge the 13th amendment by applying the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). I present several case studies to describe the conditions that prisoners are exposed to, compare them to other forms of trafficking, and conclude that we …

Newly Registered Nurses With Neurodiversities: A Qualitative Study Of Their Experiences During Transition To Professional Practice, Heather Wallace

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Abstract Introduction: Transition-to-practice (TTP) programs play a crucial role in bridging the academic-to-practice gap for newly licensed Registered Nurses (NLRNs) and improving first-year retention rates. However, these programs may fall short in addressing the specific needs of NLRNs with neurodiversities (NLRN-ND). Neurodiversity (ND) encompasses Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Tourette Syndrome, and the 3 Ds – Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, and Dysgraphia. Unsupportive environments for disclosing neurodiversity and requesting accommodations may contribute to the 10-25% NLRNs leaving their jobs within the first year, with 1-3% exiting the nursing profession altogether. Objectives: This study aimed to (1) explore NLRN-ND …

Exploring Teamwork Between Virtual And Bedside Nurses, Caitlin Weinheimer

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Background: Advancing technologies and the use of telehealth have expanded in hospitals to include telenursing. Telenursing introduces a unique dynamic where virtual and bedside nurses work together as a remote team to provide patient care. Published literature reports that teamwork among nurses and healthcare professionals impacts patient and workforce outcomes. However, there is a gap in exploring teamwork between virtual and bedside nurses. Addressing this knowledge gap is critical to ensure positive patient and nursing workforce outcomes in hospital-based telenursing settings.

Objective: To generate a grounded theory that explains teamwork between virtual and bedside nurses in the hospital setting. A …

Breastfeeding Education Preferences Of Pregnant People With Low Incomes, Megan Kindred

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Background: The proportion of infants breastfed at 1 year in the United States remains below the Healthy People 2030 goal. Longer breastfeeding durations are important due to dose-response benefits, but disparities are greater among those with low incomes. Prenatal breastfeeding education (PBE) interventions can increase breastfeeding duration. Additionally, incentivization and gamification can be used to increase use of educational technology but are underexplored in this domain. Prior studies examining PBE format preferences do not reflect currently available technology. PBE format preferences of childbearing people should be reexamined.

Purpose: This purpose of this study is to: (1) identify PBE format preference …

Phases Of The Moon, Larry Browning, Kay Cutler

Astronomy Activities

As viewed from the earth, the moon appears to move through an orbit around the Earth. There are eight different phases of the moon, (1) New Moon, (2) Waxing Crescent, (3) First Quarter, (4) Waxing Gibbous, (5) Full Moon, (6) Waning Gibbous, (7) Last Quarter, and (8) Waning Crescent. Then the moon moves to the “new” phase and the cycle repeats. This is a month of phases. Let’s explore the phases!

Ethnic And Sex Differences In Salt Sensitivity Amongst Normotensive Young Adult Nigerians: Implications For Hypertension Prevention, Ahmed Oloyo, Abdullahi Adejare, Oluwakemi Odukoya, Simiat Elias, Oyewole Kushimo, Olusoga Sofola

Biomedical Sciences, East Africa

Background: High dietary salt intake is a well-established modifiable risk factor for hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Salt sensitivity – a blood pressure (BP) phenotype defined by exaggerated BP response to salt loading, remains underrecognised in normotensive populations despite its strong link to adverse cardiovascular outcomes. The burden and determinants of salt sensitivity amongst young Nigerians remain poorly understood.

Aims: This study aimed to identify demographic and behavioral risk factors associated with salt sensitivity, explore potential ethnic and sex-related differences, and determine the independent predictors of salt-sensitive (SS) BP response amongst normotensive young adult Nigerians.

Subjects and Methods: An …

A Comparative Analysis Of Direct Air Capture And Geologic Co2 Storage Technologies, Sarah Fettig

Environmental Studies Honors Theses

Centuries of greenhouse gas emissions have led to anthropogenic climate change and an increased average global temperature. The 2015 Paris Agreement committed the signatory countries to take action to limit global warming to at most 2°C, with a lower maximum warming target of 1.5°C. Climate data shows the 1.5°C target is out of reach, and that aggressive greenhouse gas mitigation needs to be undertaken to reach the 2°C goal. A rapid shift to renewable energy and lifestyle changes will not be effective, however, and in fact, CO₂ needs to be removed from the atmosphere for the 2°C goal to …

Faith Leaders’ Guide To Adolescent Protection, Population Council, Zambia Interfaith Networking Group (Zingo), Faith Mother Bodies

Adolescents and Young People

No abstract provided.

Addressing The Functional Anonymity Of The Post Thaw Microbiome: How Redox And Temperature Conditions Dictate Microbial Community Composition After Permafrost Thaw, Nathan Patrick Alexander

Master's Theses and Capstones

Permafrost is perennially frozen soil that underlays 11% of Earth’s total surface and stores 33%of the planet’s global soil carbon stocks in the form of soil organic matter. Rising global temperatures are causing permafrost to thaw. Permafrost thaw often creates a heterogeneous patchwork of redox conditions on the landscape, resulting in a diversity of microbial metabolisms using alternate terminal electron acceptors. In aerobic respiration, microbes use oxygen as TEAs and soil organic matter as an electron donor; anaerobic respiration is carried out when microbes use alternate electron acceptors, such as NO3-, Fe3+, SO42-, and CO2. Understanding microbial responses to changing …

Identifying Landscape And Behavioral Drivers Of Human-Black Bear Conflict In New Hampshire, Shea O'Connor

Master's Theses and Capstones

Abundant American black bear (Ursus americanus) populations and increasing human development in New Hampshire have led to a prevalence of human-bear conflict across the state. This conflict negatively impacts humans, bears, and even the surrounding environment as safety is put at risk and environmental roles are disrupted. This thesis aimed to address both the ecological and human dimensions of human-bear conflict by combining a quantitative spatial analysis with a qualitative thematic analysis. Chapter One examined anthropogenic and landscape factors influencing human-black bear conflict levels across New Hampshire. I utilized ordinal logistic regression to analyze how various ecologically relevant predictor variables …

Learning From Practice: Autoethnographic Reflections & Practitioner Perspectives On Inclusive Engagement For Bipoc, Mml, And Special Education Students, Mikayla A. Aquino

Program in Community Action (PICA)

This study examines how educators conceptualize, enact, and experience inclusive engagement for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students, multilingual learners (MLLs), and students with disabilities, and how structural conditions shape their capacity to implement equity-oriented practices. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with ten educators from Lakewood, Illinois, and Harborview, Connecticut, alongside autoethnographic reflection, this qualitative study centers practitioner voices to investigate the gap between educational policy and classroom practice. Grounded in Bettina Love's abolitionist teaching framework and Alison Kafer's political-relational model of disability, the analysis situates educator experiences within systems shaped by racism, linguistic hierarchy, and ableist normativity. Thematic …

Hitchhiker's Guide To University Student Launch Initiative (Usli): Creating A User Guide From Previous Team Experiences To Benefit Future Uah Usli Teams, Faith Olivia Sweetser

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

The Baby And The Bathwater: Reproductive Abuse As Domestic Violence And Empowering Bodily Autonomy Through The Law, Kadhapriya Lindo

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

Reproductive abuse—ranging from contraceptive sabotage and coerced pregnancy to coerced abortion and sexual violations such as stealthing—operates as a distinct and under-recognized form of domestic violence. By assessing medical, sociological, and legal research, it is clear how reproductive abuse holds a victim’s body and reproductive ability hostage, producing long-term physical, psychological, and familial harms. Existing criminal statutes, which focus on force-based sexual offenses, do not capture non-physical reproductive violations such as medication tampering or nonconsensual condom removal. Further, civil remedies, including tort claims and custody determinations, inadequately account for the harms of coerced conception and the long-term legal ties it …

Under The Influence: Why The Federal Government Should Implement A Tier System For Drunk Drivers, Maycie Bloom

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

Drunk driving persists as a serious problem in the United States, claiming thousands of lives every year. Although the drunk driving fatality rate decreased following advancements in federal drunk driving legislation during the 1990s, after decades of remaining unchanged, the drunk driving fatality rate has increased in recent years. The increase in drunk driving fatalities has been associated, in part, with an increase in drunk driving recidivism, a phenomenon that is closely linked to alcoholism and poses a serious problem for the community. Individuals who suffer from alcoholism often develop higher tolerances, which can lead to overconsumption and a diminished …

Undue Hardship In Student Loan Bankruptcy: A Circuit-By-Circuit Analysis Of Brunner, Rahaf Alrehaili

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

The judicial landscape of student loan discharge under the Brunner test reflects both commonalities and significant divergences across circuits. While courts generally adhere to a shared framework for assessing undue hardship, they remain divided on key issues, including whether retirement savings qualify as necessary expenses, the extent to which religious tithing is protected under the Religious Liberty and Charitable Donation Protection Act (RLCDPA), and whether a debtor’s refusal to enroll in an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan constitutes bad faith under Brunner’s third prong. Courts also disagree on whether IDR eligibility should be considered under the first or second prong …

Religious Law Schools, Rankings, And Bias: Measuring The Rankings Penalty At Religious Law Schools, Michael Conklin

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

Law school rankings play a pivotal role in shaping legal education. However, these rankings have faced substantial criticism for their methodology, susceptibility to manipulation, and bias related to political ideology and race. This Article measures bias by applying a novel, quantitative analysis to disparities between the objective overall rankings and the subjective peer rankings among religiously affiliated law schools. The findings reveal that religiously affiliated law schools experience a 17.65 peer rankings penalty. Further analysis strengthens the evidence of bias by showing a heightened penalty among more devoutly religious law schools. A longitudinal analysis finds that this trend is rapidly …

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

The first edition of the Florence Normal College Quarterly

Is Hipaa Still Protecting Your Medical Data? An Analysis Of Deidentification As A Security Measure In The Age Of Ai., Jessica Novak

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly altering the landscape of many industries, and for some, faster than the law can necessarily keep up, leaving those industries unprotected from AI-related concerns. For the healthcare industry in particular, the integration of AI presents large-scale data privacy concerns. The current law protecting patient data privacy, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”), is potentially already outdated and inadequate; concerns about HIPAA’s efficacy have long-existed and AI’s integration has only solidified this concern. It is potentially inadequate because of a provision within the law itself-deidentification. HIPAA allows healthcare providers to remove identifying information from a …

"Smart" Cities And Due Care With Emerging Technologies, Anthony J. Luppino

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

The rapid development of increasingly powerful technologies presents new opportunities to produce public benefits, as exemplified by the “Smart Cities” movement. Conversely, emerging technologies pose significant threats to public safety and individual rights, as evidenced by high-profile cyberattacks and other technology-related incidents, and in warnings issued by some Artificial Intelligence experts. This article examines the responsibilities of local governments in the United States as users of technology and as regulators of uses by other actors—arguing that they have a duty of care, traceable to the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, to act diligently in that dual role whether or not …

The Fourth Amendment And Geofence Warrants: Safeguarding Geofencing's Constitutionality Through Particularity And Reasonableness, Mathias Lang

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

Geofencing, a location-based investigative technique that uses digital mapping to identify individuals within a defined geographic area, has become an increasingly common yet constitutionally contentious tool for law enforcement. Federal courts remain deeply divided on whether geofence warrants comport with the Fourth Amendment. The Fifth Circuit has held that such warrants constitute unconstitutional general warrants, while the Fourth Circuit has concluded that they do not even amount to searches under the third-party doctrine. This circuit split exposes a broader tension between technological innovation and foundational constitutional privacy protections.

This Article argues that geofence warrants should be treated as searches subject …