Digital Commons Network^™

Intersectionality And Belonging: Higher Education Mathematics, Ashley Natalie

Mathematics and Statistics

Students with intersecting marginalized identities (such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, disability, or first-generation background) often face unique challenges in advanced mathematics that affect confidence, participation, amounting to a sense of belonging. These experiences remain underrepresented in mathematics education research. This qualitative, narrative-based study examines how these students experience classroom dynamics and belonging in upper-level mathematics courses. Semi-structured interviews will be analyzed thematically to identify patterns related to identity, classroom culture, instructor behavior, and peer interactions. Findings aim to highlight barriers and supportive practices, informing more inclusive teaching strategies and equitable learning environments in advanced mathematics.

Intersectionality And Belonging: Higher Education Mathematics, Ashley Williams

Mathematics and Statistics

Students with intersecting marginalized identities (such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, disability, or first-generation background) often face unique challenges in advanced mathematics that affect confidence, participation, amounting to a sense of belonging. These experiences remain underrepresented in mathematics education research. This qualitative, narrative-based study examines how these students experience classroom dynamics and belonging in upper-level mathematics courses. Semi-structured interviews will be analyzed thematically to identify patterns related to identity, classroom culture, instructor behavior, and peer interactions. Findings aim to highlight barriers and supportive practices, informing more inclusive teaching strategies and equitable learning environments in advanced mathematics.

Youth In Leadership Positions: A Mediation Program Proposal, Abigail Horn

Sociology

Encountering the justice system can have harmful impacts on a child’s well-being and can lead to negative outcomes in the future, such as missing school and reoffending. This paper proposes a program to combat these impacts by creating infrastructure for schools to handle low level offenses within schools through a mentoring program. After a review of the literature on the current justice system in the United States, rehabilitative and restorative justice practices, and the effects of youth leadership positions, the “Re-Mentoring Program” is proposed. A play on the words "restorative" and "rehabilitative," this program involves youth who have offended, victims, …

Belonging, Ver Ikeseh

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This thesis explores belonging as the core of my artistic practice, developed through public murals and participatory installations in shared spaces. Grounded in a studio practice that engages directly with communities, the work positions art within everyday environments rather than separate from them. Through murals created across James Madison University and within surrounding communities, I examine how public art can generate moments of connection, visibility, and reflection. The thesis culminates in the participatory mural Belonging, created in the Duke Hall Gallery at James Madison University, where these ideas are brought together through direct public engagement. Developed through collaboration, the …

Growing Older Across Time And Space: The Impact Of Various Forms Of Capital On Social Support Networks Among Older Vietnamese Migrants, Hien Thi Nguyen, Lukasz Krzyzowski, Loretta Baldassar

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Much has been written about the important role of social support networks (SSNs) for the well-being of older adults, encompassing their social, emotional and practical needs. Less is known about what happens to the SSNs of older people when they migrate, and even fewer studies have examined the impact of different forms of capital on these networks. Drawing on ethnographic interviews and participant observation with 22 older Vietnamese migrants in Australia (2020–21), this paper explores the influence of different forms of social, cultural, economic and symbolic capital on their SSNs. Data analysis comprised egocentric social network analysis of the connections …

Neuromuscular Performance Changes In Response To The Australian Special Forces Selection Course, Angela Uphill, Kristina L. Kendall, Stuart Guppy, Michael Vacher, Simon Parker, Hannah Brown, Brendan Ashmore, Travis Zomer, G. Gregory Haff

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: Strenuous military activities, such as Special Forces (SF) selection courses, are known to involve high physical loads in the presence of food and sleep deprivation, which can have detrimental impacts on physical performance. Understanding the magnitude of performance deficit and the time required for recovery associated with these events, is important for injury prevention and maintaining operational readiness. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in physical performance in response to the Australian SF Selection Course (SF-SC) and to monitor recovery throughout 8 weeks following the course. Materials and Methods: Ninety-three healthy male participants (age: 28 …

Log Off To Level Up: The Effect Of Social Media Hiatus On Goal Pursuit, Nekysha L. Y. Jalil, Yong Han Tan, Andree Hartanto, Eddie M. W. Tong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Concerns are growing that social media, with its constant notifications and attention-grabbing content, may distract individuals and hinder progress toward important goals. Despite its pervasive presence in our lives, the impact of social media on goal achievement has not been thoroughly studied. This within-subject experimental study aims to investigate the effects of social media hiatus (SMH), a short abstinence from social media usage, on goal pursuit processes. Participants (N= 107) completed daily diaries over three consecutive days of SMH and three days of regular social media use. SMH was manipulated by blocking participants’ access to multiple social media platforms. The …

Prevention Of Dementia Using Mobile Phone Applications (Prodemos) – A Health-Economic Cost-Utility Analysis In People Aged 55–75 Years With Low Socio-Economic Status, Ron Handels, Marieke Hoevenaar-Blom, Manshu Song, Carol Brayne, Eric Moll Van Charante, Fiona E. Matthews, Junfang Xu, Linus Jönsson, Nicola Coley, Rachael Brooks, Xuening Jian, Tingting Qin, Youxin Wang, Wei Wang, Edo Richard, Anders Wimo

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction We aimed to explore the potential incremental cost-effectiveness of the PRODEMOS coach-supported mobile health intervention for primary prevention of dementia versus standard of care provided to people aged 55–75 years with low socio-economic status (SES) in the United Kingdom (UK), and any SES in China. Methods 12–18-month PRODEMOS trial (ISRCTN15986016) efficacy outcomes on hypertension, obesity, hypercholesterolemia, physical inactivity and smoking were extrapolated to lifetime impact on dementia onset, myocardial infarction, stroke and death using a health-economic open-source simulation model. Results Simulated outcomes showed dementia cases were avoided (UK = -206 (-658 to 281), China = -140 (-456 to 205) …

The Effect Of A 14-Day Digital Nudge-Based Sleep Hygiene Intervention On Behavioural, Cognitive, And Emotional Well-Being In College Students: An Experimental Approach, Tracy X. Chen, Chi-Ying Cheng, Michelle Koay, Chin Boon Soh, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Sleep is essential for one's cognitive, psychological, and physical health. Yet, college students often face sleep deprivation due to academic demands, social obligations, and extracurricular commitments. This study implemented a 14-day Digital Nudge-Based Sleep Hygiene Intervention, delivered via a digital platform, to encourage healthier sleep practices among college students. Grounded in nudge theory, the digital intervention used subtle behavioural prompts to improve participants' sleep hygiene without imposing restrictions, demonstrating high adherence and scalability. Participants were guided through daily tasks to enhance autonomy and motivation, such as creating calming bedtime routines. The digital intervention led to positive outcomes across four domains: …

Brief Virtual Reality And Mixed Reality Mindfulness Breathing Exercise For Emotional Well-Being And Cognitive Functions In University Students: Within-Subjects Experimental Design Study, Zoey Khai Yee Eun, Charmaine Jiali Koh, Hwajin Yang, Adalia Yin Hui Goh, Meilan Hu, K Tennakoon Appuhamillage Sandeeshwara Kasturiratna, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Background: Mindfulness has been shown to enhance emotional well-being and cognitive performance, yet much of this evidence stems from interventions requiring prolonged practice, making them time-consuming and less accessible. Recent studies suggest that brief mindfulness sessions may also yield positive outcomes, but the effectiveness of such interventions in virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) remains underexplored. Objective: This study investigates the effects of brief mindfulness breathing exercises delivered through VR and MR on attentional and emotional restoration and self-control capacity. Methods: Using a within-subjects experimental design, 102 undergraduate participants (n=83, 81.4% female; mean age 20.87, SD 1.89) completed a …

Digital Grief Technology To Support Bereavement: A Systematic Review Of Potential Benefits And Risks, Xun Ci Soh, Adalia Yin Hui Goh, Paye Shin Koh, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Grief is a universal and inevitable experience. However, the way we support the bereaved is changing, especially in the digital era. This systematic review examines the potential benefits and risks associated with various digital grief technologies, including online grief support groups, generative AI chatbots, online memorials, online therapy interventions, virtual reality, and digitally reproduced visuals or audio of the deceased. A systematic search was conducted in seven databases, and 30 articles were included in the final review. Findings indicate that digital grief technologies offer several benefits, such as reductions in grief and depressive symptoms, enhanced social support, greater accessibility, and …

Understanding Critical Thinking In Generative Artificial Intelligence Use: Development, Validation, And Correlates Of The Critical Thinking In Ai Use Scale, Gabriel R. Lau, Wei Yan Low, Louis Tay, Ysabel Thereze Ang Guevarra, Dragon Gašević, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Generative AI tools are increasingly embedded in everyday work and learning, yet their fluency, opacity, and propensity to hallucinate mean that users must critically evaluate AI outputs rather than accept them at face value. The present research conceptualises critical thinking in AI use as a dispositional tendency to verify the source and content of AI-generated information, to understand how models work and where they fail, and to reflect on the broader implications of relying on AI. Across six studies ( N = 1341), we developed and validated the 13-item critical thinking in AI use scale and mapped its nomological network. …

Understanding Customer Engagement Behavior In Virtual Try-On Services: Evidence From Indonesia, Nyoman Sri Subawa, Ni Putu Chantika Aprilia Nariswari, Made Maenita Dewi, Anak Agung Gede Wiranata, Caren Angellina Mimaki, Made Srinitha Millinia Utami

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The adoption of immersive technologies, such as Virtual Try-On (VTO), has transformed how consumers evaluate products, interact digitally, and engage with brands. This study investigates the effects of experiential value, flow, perceived enjoyment, customer trust, and customer satisfaction on customer engagement behavior, within the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) framework. Experiential value serves as the stimulus, flow and psychological states as the organism, and engagement as the response. Data were collected from 320 Indonesian e-commerce using a purposive sampling technique, targeting respondents with prior experience using Virtual Try-On (VTO) features through an online questionnaire distributed via Google Forms, and were subsequently analyzed using …

A Survey Of Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning For Intrusion Detection Systems, Thomas Bunko, Michael N. Johnstone, Wencheng Yang, Ben A. Scott

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Intrusion detection systems (IDS) monitor and detect malicious activity and unauthorized access that may compromise systems. Traditional IDS approaches send data to a central server for analysis, raising privacy concerns as data owners lose control over security. Federated Learning (FL) offers a privacy-preserving alternative by allowing local devices to process their data and generate models without sharing raw data. These local models are aggregated centrally to form a comprehensive model with performance comparable to centralized systems. This paper reviews FL-based IDS research, and is the first review paper to focus on privacy-preserving techniques collectively known as privacy-preserving Federated Learning (PPFL) …

Vehicle-Ramming Incidents At U.S. Event Venues: Rapid Review Of Cases From 1970-2026, Tin L. Nguyen, Erin M. Kearns

Reports, Projects, and Research

This research brief reviews 17 high-profile vehicle-ramming incidents targeting event venues, festivals, and public gatherings in the United States over the last 56 years. The data reveals an increase in frequency of vehicle-ramming incidents over time (with 41% of documented incidents occurring in the last decade), along with a shift from unintentional or spontaneous acts to deliberate, pre-planned attacks targeting "soft targets" during periods of peak pedestrian density.

Next-Generation Terrorism: Understanding Agentic Ai Systems And Potential For Malign Use, Alexis D'Amato, Ares Boira-Lopez, Emma Theobald, Meg Shercliffe, Jack Rygg, Samuel Hunter, Joel Elson

Reports, Projects, and Research

The call for an increased understanding of artificial intelligence in the U.S. AI Action Plan (The White House, 2025), in tandem with the growing use of AI by terrorist organizations (see Theobald et al., 2025), motivates our effort to provide clarity around the emerging technologies. In doing so, we define and distinguish the different types of agentic AI (e.g., reflex, goal-based, learning) and provide several case studies to illustrate the nefarious use of these tools. We use the malevolent innovation process as a framework to understand whether these tools are used for generating ideas, planning attacks, or executing them. Although …

A New Approach To Generate Combinatorial Patterns In Logical Analysis Of Data And Its Application To Predict College Retention, Salihah Ahmed E. Jaafari

Theses and Dissertations

Student retention and degree completion remain central challenges for higher-education institutions, with significant implications for student success, institutional effectiveness, and public accountability. While advances in predictive analytics have enabled earlier identification of students at risk of withdrawal, many commonly used machine learning approaches suffer from limited interpretability, constraining their practical usefulness for advising, intervention, and policy decision making. This dissertation addresses the problem of predicting student persistence by developing and evaluating optimization based, interpretable classification models within the Logical Analysis of Data (LAD) framework. Building on existing LAD formulations, this research introduces two novel pattern generation models, the Best Term …

Defining Civil Rico's "Injury To Business Or Property" Requirement: The Supreme Court Takes A Few Steps, Says It Punts, But Actually Fumbles, Randy D. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

Throughout its history, the RICO statute has presented lawyers with something of an interpretive parlor game. It is indefinite along multiple dimensions and thereby given multiple interpretations, even down to the word level. In Medical Marijuana v. Horn, the Supreme Court set out to define one of RICO's civil-standing provisions: Namely, whether the statute's "injury to business or property" requirement can be satisfied when a plaintiff suffers both economic and personal injuries. In a 5-4 decision, members of the Court engaged in an interpretive battle over the meaning of the phrase and succeeded only in holding that civil RICO does …

How Ai Destroys Institutions, Woodrow Hartzog, Jessica Silbey

Faculty Scholarship

Civic institutions—the rule of law, universities, and a free press—are the backbone of democratic life. They are the mechanisms through which complex societies encourage cooperation and stability, while also adapting to changing circumstances. The real superpower of institutions is their ability to evolve and adapt within a hierarchy of authority and a framework for roles and rules, while maintaining legitimacy for the knowledge produced and the actions taken. Purpose-driven institutions built around transparency, cooperation, and accountability empower individuals to take intellectual risks and challenge the status quo. This happens through the machinations of interpersonal relationships within those institutions, which broaden …

Antidiscrimination, Not Anti-Dei: The Real Story Of The Supreme Court's Recent Title Vii Precedent, Madeline H. Meth

Faculty Scholarship

For several years, my colleague and I had been litigating employment discrimination cases with facts that shocked our friends and family. For example, we fought Dallas County over a women-work-the-weekend policy that required women detention officers to work weekends while male colleagues took the weekends off. Likewise, we challenged the City of Cleveland when it moved our client, an emergency medical services supervisor, from the day shift to the night shift explicitly because he is Black. Then, in April 2024, in one of our client’s cases, Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overruled the …

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

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

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

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

Exploring Bidirectionality In Global Health Partnerships: Perspectives From U.S. Pediatric Residency Programs, Anik Patel, Pauline Kamau, Justus Simba, Ashley Combs, Adelaide Barnes, Kathy Ferrer, Heather Haq, Duncan K Hau, Lee Morris, Brittany Murray, Amy Rule, Reena P Tam, Lisa Umphrey, Megan S Mchenry

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction Despite growing interest, little guidance exists to re-evaluate global health partnerships (GHPs) through promoting bidirectionality. This study aims to understand the perspectives of United States (U.S.) pediatric global health (GH) faculty on institutional bidirectional practices to inform future discussions with international collaborators. Methods An internally, iteratively developed REDCap-based online survey (REDCap, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN), by our diverse author group, collected qualitative data from January 18 to February 20, 2023. Free-text responses were reviewed and coded inductively, with findings framed to generate themes for subsequent engagement with international partners. Results Of the 88 U.S. programs that identify as having …

Latinos In Rural Areas Of Massachusetts, Phillip Granberry, Rodolfo R. Vega, Florita Coto Tristán, Rafael M. Pérez Medina

Gastón Institute Publications

In previous reports, the Gastón Institute has noted that the Latino population is dispersed across the state, but mainly to urban areas. In 2024, Latinos living in Massachusetts rural areas1 numbered 38,500, or 3.6% of the state's overall Latino population. Although Massachusetts is the third most densely populated among the fifty U.S. states, 52% of its land is classified as rural. These rural areas hold over 45% of the state's cities and towns and about 700,000 residents (9.9% of the total population). This report underscores the limited Latino presence in rural areas compared to urban areas and analyzes differences in …

Stance And Gait Analysis Of Apollo Astronauts On The Moon, Faye Y Chiou-Tan, Conrad Li, Jason P Caffrey, Millard Reschke, Timothy R Macaulay

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction/aim: As humans return to the Moon, safe efficient ambulation and fall prevention on the lunar surface are key concerns. The analysis of gait from archived Apollo mission video footage is now possible with pose estimation video analysis software. Thus, this study aims to retrospectively quantify parameters of Apollo astronauts' stance and gait on the Moon.

Methods: Publicly available National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) footage of astronauts ambulating on the Lunar surface was examined using body pose analysis software. Goniometric lower limb joint/torso angles and width of base of stance and gait were derived. Gait cycle stance phase, swing …

Rationalizing Atrocity: Vindicatory Careerism And Mass Murder As A Career Path, 1939-1943, Bethany G. Bare

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines members of the Nazi Schutzstaffel from an occupational perspective, focusing on how professional roles shaped their participation in systematic mass murder. As National Socialism gained influence in interwar Germany, it coincided with the rise of a generation of ambitious and embittered men eager to distinguish themselves. The transition from the T4 Program (1939-1941), the involuntary euthanasia of disabled Germans, to Operation Reinhard (1942-1943), the extermination of Polish Jews, demonstrates how mass murder evolved into a career path, as each of the men examined served as T4 personnel before transferring to Poland to assume positions as extermination camp …

Mechanism Of Formation Of Guanine-Guanine Crosslinks As Products Of One-Electron Oxidation Of 1-Methylguanosine In Acidic Medium, Ibrahim Braimah Mr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) from normal metabolism and environmental exposure may cause oxidative DNA damage. Guanine (G) is the most oxidizable nucleobase. One-electron oxidation (OEO) of G in produces guanine radical cation (G•⁺), which deprotonates to form guanyl radical G(-H)•.This radical exists in two tautomeric forms: G(N1-H)• and G(N2-H)•. Dimerization of guanyl radical yields G-G cross-links (D1/D2); a tautomeric form for dimer formation remains elusive. This study presents the first characterization of G• dimerization products from the OEO of 1-MeGuo in acidic medium. Photolysis at 470 nm in the presence of S₂O₈²⁻ and Ru(II)(bpy)₃²⁺ generates two major stereoisomers (D1AW* and …

Academic And Demographic Predictors Of Retention And Persistence In Business Programs: Post-Covid Cohorts Of Traditional And Ncccs Transfer Students, Matthew K. Crump

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study examined academic and demographic predictors of first-year retention and major persistence among traditional first-year and North Carolina community college transfer students enrolled in undergraduate business programs. Guided by Tinto’s 1993 Model of Student Retention and Astin’s 1984 Theory of Student Involvement, the research focused on students who entered two AACSB-accredited institutions within the UNC System during Fall 2021, Fall 2022, and Fall 2023 as traditional first-year students or as transfer students from North Carolina community colleges.

Institutional data from the Banner Student Information System provided the basis for logistic regression analyses that examined predictors including high school …

Durable, Distributed Llm Inference On Cots Devices, Brycen E. Dunn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The advancement of Large Language Models (LLMs) has fundamentally changed the nature of natural language processing. The substantial memory requirements of frontier models creates a significant barrier to entry, centralizing inference. This thesis presents the design and implementation of a distributed inference framework designed to democratize LLMs by leveraging commodity devices. The framework combines the resources of heterogeneous COTS devices into a unified compute pool, enabling the inference of models exceeding a single device's memory capacity. A novel Task Partitioning Engine (TPE) analyzes model architectures, profiles node capabilities, and supports pipeline and expert parallelism strategies. The primary contribution is a …

A Machine Learning Framework For Early-Stage Cost Estimation Of Transportation Projects, Pritom Paul

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To address the limitations of traditional planning-level cost estimating methods, such as reliance on statewide averages, heavy reliance on engineering judgment, and high levels of inaccuracy, this study developed two data-driven frameworks and corresponding tools. The first framework focused on resurfacing projects and used treatment-specific simple linear regression based on lane miles and geographic location. The second addressed a broader group of construction projects and used multiple linear regression with project length, route type, and right-of-way cost as key predictors. In both frameworks, the final estimates are computed by aggregating multiple estimates produced by county-, region-, and state-level models. The …

Look, I Finished My Pem Sticker Chart!, Kimberly L. Fugok Do, Sarah Fish Do, Kira Galeano, Kyle S Wilson Md, Dawn M. Yenser, Bryan G. Kane Md

Department of Emergency Medicine

No abstract provided.