Digital Commons Network^™

The Decadent Bible: Biblical Intertextuality In Flaubert’S Herodias And Wilde’S Salome, Shoshana Mintz

Theses and Dissertations

This paper argues that Gustave Flaubert’s Hérodias and Oscar Wilde’s Salomé incorporate biblical intertextuality throughout their work as a means to showcase Decadent technique and themes. Both authors weave direct quotations from biblical sources such as the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Revelation, and Acts into their texts, layering biblical passages with themes of excess, eroticism, and decay central to the Decadent movement. Drawing on Julia Kristeva’s theory of intertextuality, I show how these biblical fragments intersect with narrative voice to destabilize meaning and form a unique, new work of writing that intertwines their own words with biblical …

O Esqueleto De Um Romance, Lanna Leite

Theses and Dissertations

In O Esqueleto de um Romance: The Film (2025), a Berlin legal dispute between a mayor and evangelicals sparks filmmaker Lanna Leite’s reflection on faith, memory, and belief. Using archival, 16mm, and 8mm footage, the experimental film frames filmmaking as an ephemeral, performative practice resisting closure and conventional narrative finality.

Qualitative Exploration Of Hallucinations Among Adolescents With Suicide Ideation And/Or Attempts, Rebecca E. Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

A qualitative study exploring and characterizing how psychotic experiences (PEs), specifically hallucinations, may affect suicidal behaviors in adolescents. Thematic analysis revealed eight key themes within the connection, capturing unique perspectives and nuanced meanings. Exploring this intersection may increase the understanding of adolescent PEs and help inform more targeted interventions.

Structural Characterization Of Peptide Nanoaggregates At Varying Concentrations And Their Impact On Cellular Responses, Malika Rozmetova

Theses and Dissertations

Peptide nano-assemblies can regulate cellular pathways in a structure-dependent manner. Here, we show that the enzyme-responsive peptide NapFFK(NBD)Yp forms distinct nanoscale assemblies at different concentrations, triggering differential ER stress and extracellular vesicle release in MDA-MB231 cells. These results highlight the importance of supramolecular organization in peptide–cell interactions.

One Stone's Journey, Satoko Saito

Theses and Dissertations

One Stone’s Journey is a participatory, experiential thirty-minute documentary about uranium. By using an embroidered world map and appealing to participants’ senses—especially touch—the project explores the possibility of telling the story of radiation, which is invisible, intangible, and silent. Uranium is a radioactive material used by the United States in the development and production of the atomic bombs during the Manhattan Project. This year, 2025, marks the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in 2011 was on a scale comparable to the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, and the threat …

"The Very Milk And Sperm Of Kindness": Democratic Pleasures And Echoes Of Intimacy In Moby-Dick And Absalom, Absalom!, Nicholas Profeta

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines homosocial relationships in Moby-Dick and Absalom, Absalom! to evaluate the ways male bonds have transformed between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and how these relationships comment on the strength and possibilities of American democracy. I argue that Melville’s novel presents a utopian vision of America defined by democratic bonds developed through labor and homoerotic intimacy that cut across racial lines and melt individual identities, while Faulkner’s novel reflects many of those imagined possibilities, only to see them wither away under the weight of racial divisions. Ishmael and the crew of the Pequod embrace this erasing of self, …

"Catching Up": Christian Walker's Critical Lens, Noam Parness

Theses and Dissertations

“Catching Up” examines three bodies of photographic work that artist, critic, and curator Christian Walker (1953-2003) generated between 1984-1991. By reading each series against a corresponding text, “Catching Up” furthers an understanding of how Walker’s works reconstruct experiences and histories of race and sexuality in the United States.

The Effect Of Extending In-State Tuition For Undocumented Students On College Enrollment And Tuition Pricing, Dongxin Weng

Theses and Dissertations

I use panel data of public institutions from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, and estimate the effect of in-state tuition policy using a staggered difference-in-differences estimator. The results reveal that most of the policy's effect is concentrated among Hispanic students, while other student groups and tuition are mostly unaffected.

The Effect Of Medical Aid In Dying On Health Outcomes And Risky Behavior Of The Elderly, Jacky Wu

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the effects of Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) legalization on health outcomes and behavior among elderly U.S. adults using BRFSS data from 2005-2022. Using staggered difference-in-differences, this paper finds that MAiD increases exercise, lowers BMI, and reduces blood pressure medication use.

I Know You Are Watching, Camilo Salas Kusulas

Theses and Dissertations

I Know You Are Watching is a short documentary film that examines the evolving history and scope of mass surveillance, and how to resist it. The film introduces two local New York City artists, Bill Brown from the Surveillance Camera Players, and Sam Lavigne, who misuse technologies designed to watch us, exposing these systems and fighting back through digital art and performance.

Blending interviews, observational footage, personal narration, archival images, and news clips from different eras, the film interrogates the mechanisms of control, and positions art as a method of both understanding and talking back to surveillance.

Risk And Public Judgments On Police Pursuits: A Nationally Representative Conjoint Experiment, Scott M. Mourtgos, Ian T. Adams, Kyle Mclean, Geoffrey P. Alpert

Faculty Publications

Police vehicle pursuits emphasize a central tension between law enforcement imperatives and public safety. While modern policies emphasize balancing apprehension needs against risks of continuation, little is known about whether public intuitions mirror this framework. We address this gap using a nationally representative conjoint experiment (N = 3,334) that varied eleven contextual factors across randomized pursuit scenarios. Respondents rated perceived risk, indicated whether pursuits should be terminated, and made forced-choice tradeoffs. Across all outcomes, high-risk situational factors (e.g., high speeds, adverse weather, heavy traffic, urban settings, etc.) increased perceived danger and termination support, while more serious underlying offenses, particularly …

A Recurrent Neural Network For Forecasting Dead Fuel Moisture Content With Inputs From Numerical Weather Models, Jonathon Hirschi, Jan Mandel, Kyle Hilburn, Angel Farguell

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This paper proposes a recurrent neural network (RNN) model of dead 10 h fuel moisture content (FMC) for real-time forecasting. Weather inputs to the RNN are forecasts from the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR), a numerical weather model. Geographic predictors include longitude, latitude, and elevation. Forecast accuracy is estimated in a study that utilizes a spatiotemporal cross-validation scheme. The RNN is trained on HRRR forecasts and observed FMC from weather station sensors within the Rocky Mountain region in 2023, then used to forecast FMC at new locations for all of 2024. The model is evaluated using a 48 h forecast window. …

Re: Approval Letter For The Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Revised Draft Final 2022 Unreclaimed Sites Sampling: Ur-12 Site Evaluation Summary Report (Dated December 9, 2025), Molly Roby

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Reported Safety Practices Of Publicly Advertised Psychedelic Retreats, Amy L Mcguire, Logan Neitzke-Spruill, Jill O Robinson, Caroline S Beit, Nikita Singh, David S Mathai, Lynnette A Averill

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Importance: The availability of psychedelic retreats has grown to meet the demand for access to these substances. Despite centuries of use among Indigenous communities, psychedelics can pose serious risks for some users.

Objective: To determine safety precautions that retreat organizations that offer psychedelic substances currently use.

Design, setting, and participants: This qualitative study included structured interviews conducted by phone or email with representatives from 49 organizations publicly advertising psychedelic retreat offerings from July to October 2023. Organizations were eligible if they marketed their services in English, offered at least 1 psychedelic substance, and made contact information available online. Organizations were …

Review Of Human Anatomy And Physiology Preparatory Course, Alex Zuo

Open Educational Resources - Reviews

No abstract provided.

Cognitive And Economic Development, John Luke Gallup

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

A burgeoning literature has found that early childhood health conditions of individuals have large causal effects on their cognitive development, education and earnings. How much does early cognitive development contribute to the national economy? Although researchers have long studied the role of worker health for economic growth, they have not assessed the role of early cognitive development.

Cognitive ability is the foundation of human capital, affecting both educational attainment and economic growth. The risk factors for poor cognitive development are very high in many countries. Each risk factor also causes child mortality, making child survival a viable proxy for good …

A Visualization-Supported, Hierarchical, Action-Learning Model For Driving Behavior In A V2x Environment, Xuantong Wang, Jing Li, Jecca Bowen

Geography and the Environment: Faculty Scholarship

Understanding human driving decisions is crucial for intelligent transportation research. Most existing studies focus on individual vehicles in limited contexts, which restricts broader applicability of results. Leveraging Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) infrastructure, this study introduces a machine learning framework to model driving actions and detect outliers across diverse environments. This approach features a semantically enabled clustering method that groups similar driving behaviors based on speed and actions. It also adds a time-series learning model to identify typical driving behaviors across various contexts, thereby enabling detection of abnormal driving actions. A suite of visual tools has been developed to help interpret driving patterns, …

Re: Approval Letter For The Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Revised Draft Final 2022 Unreclaimed Sites Sampling: Ur-22 Site Evaluation Summary Report (Dated December 10, 2025), Molly Roby

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Precision Acoustofluidics For High-Throughput Mechanobiology In Suspension Cells, Kaichun Yang, Ruoyu Zhong, Ke Li, John Mai, Pengzhan Liu, Ye He, Joseph Rich, Ying Chen, Janna Wang, Zhiteng Ma, Zhiteng Ma, Xianchen Xu, Qian Wu, Tony Jun Huang

Faculty Publications

Mechanomodulation, the process of altering cellular behavior through applied mechanical forces, plays a critical role in physiological processes and has substantial implications for cancer therapy, immunology, and drug development. However, precise and efficient stimulation of nonadherent cells remains a major challenge, limiting the investigation of mechanotransduction pathways and the development of targeted therapeutics. Here, we developed an acoustofluidic platform named Suspension-cell Targeted Response to Excitation via Acoustofluidic Mechanomodulation (STREAM) to enable precise, high-throughput stimulation of suspension cells. STREAM accomplishes this using 101.14-megahertz high-frequency surface acoustic waves to deliver controlled mechanical stimulation at a throughput of 500,000 cells per minute. STREAM …

Light Is Not Always Right: Peri-Iridial Lightness Reduces Attractiveness Via Perceived Sex-Typicality Across Human Populations, Vojtěch Fiala, Juan Olvido Perea-García, Petr Tureček, Sławomir Wacewicz, Juan David Leongómez, Šimon Pokorný, Ondřej Pavlovič, S. Adil Saribay, Farid Pazhoohi, Robert Mbe Akoko, Karel Kleisner

School of Psychology

Abstract: Evolutionary psychology views the human eye as special. In particular, it claims that the light peri-iridial tissues surrounding a relatively darker iris form a combination that sets us apart from other primates. From this perspective, much less attention has been paid to how eye colouration varies between humans, although evidence indicates that variations in peri-iridial and iridial colouration influence both perceived facial attractiveness and sex-typicality. To determine what aspects of eye colouration influence the perception of faces, we have measured the colour of peri-iridial eye tissues (‘the white of the eye’) and the iris in nine samples from seven …

Effects Of Ai Transparency On Perceived Fairness In Ai-Driven Selection Tools: The Mediating Roles Of Ai Literacy And Attitudes Towards Ai, Tony Mellek

Industrial-Organizational Psychology Dissertations

Artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly prominent feature of modern hiring, creating opportunities to enhance efficiency and consistency in selection. This study examined how AI transparency, AI literacy, and attitudes toward AI shape applicants’ perceptions of fairness when engaging with AI-scored pre-hire assessments. A sample of 290 U.S. adults were randomly assigned to either a high- or low-transparency hiring scenario and then completed measures of AI literacy, attitudes toward AI, and procedural fairness. Results indicated that both AI literacy and attitudes toward AI were strong and significant predictors of perceived procedural fairness, suggesting that applicants who feel knowledgeable about AI …

2026 January - Tennessee Climate Snapshot, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Monthly Reports

No abstract provided.

Re: Approval Letter For The Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Revised Draft Final 2022 Unreclaimed Sites Sampling: Ur-06 Site Evaluation Summary Report (Dated December 10, 2025), Molly Roby

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Career Plans Among Graduating Us Emergency Medicine Residents, Dave W. Lu, Bo Gu, D. Mark Courtney, Bryan G. Kane, Michelle D. Lall, Michael Gottlieb, Yvette Calderon, Christopher Bennett

Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers

IMPORTANCE: The emergency medicine (EM) workforce is undergoing complex change, including a potential projected physician surplus, the volatile and evolving interests of medical students, and the continued high rates of burnout. Understanding the career intentions of graduating residents is critical to inform workforce planning.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the career plans, anticipated career durations, and key factors associated with the career decisions of graduating US EM residents.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional survey study, which sampled graduating residents from all Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited categorical EM programs, was conducted after the 2023 American Board of Emergency Medicine In-Training …

Career Plans Among Graduating Us Emergency Medicine Residents, Dave W. Lu, Bo Gu, D. Mark Courtney, Bryan G. Kane, Michelle D. Lall, Michael Gottlieb, Yvette Calderon, Christopher Bennett

Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers

IMPORTANCE: The emergency medicine (EM) workforce is undergoing complex change, including a potential projected physician surplus, the volatile and evolving interests of medical students, and the continued high rates of burnout. Understanding the career intentions of graduating residents is critical to inform workforce planning.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the career plans, anticipated career durations, and key factors associated with the career decisions of graduating US EM residents.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional survey study, which sampled graduating residents from all Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited categorical EM programs, was conducted after the 2023 American Board of Emergency Medicine In-Training …

Flux Crystal Growth Of Potassium Lanthanide Double Vanadates With Lanthanide-Dependent Coordination Number Variance, Hunter B. Tisdale, Hans Conrad Zur Loye

Faculty Publications

A series of potassium rare earth double vanadates is presented. Single crystals of double vanadates with stoichiometry K₃Ln(VO₄)₂ (Ln = La, Pr, Nd, and Sm) and crystallizing in the glaserite structure type were synthesized via a molten alkali chloride/fluoride flux reaction. Different structures were observed depending on the constituent rare earth: K₃La(VO₄)₂ crystallizes in an as-of-yet unreported modification of the typical glaserite structure in the space group P2₁/c, likely due to its larger ionic size that results in an increase in the lanthanide coordination number …

Melatonin Use In Young Children: A Systematic Review, Chelsea L. Kracht, Grace Bolamperti, Rob Breeden, Madeline Crocker, Danielle N. Christifano, Robert C. Gibler, Grace Gyllenborg, Peter Johnson, Jacob Lovell, Lauren Mathews, Obianuju Onuoha, Natesh Samaroo, Anna S. Trofimoff, Perry Weidling, Anna Wallisch

Student Publications

Importance: Melatonin is the leading cause of unsupervised medication exposure and overdose in emergency departments for young children (aged 0-6 years). Existing literature has documented the benefits of melatonin in older children (aged 7-18 years) with neurologic conditions but has yet to examine young children.

Objective: To examine the long-term outcomes (safety and effectiveness) associated with melatonin use in young children.

Evidence review: Nine databases, including Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, and Web of Science; 2 clinical trial registries; existing subject matter systematic reviews; and forward and backward citation of included articles were reviewed from inception to February 26, 2025, to identify …

Nitric Oxide Required For Transition To Slower Hepatic Protein Synthesis Rates During Long-Term Caloric Restriction, Hector H. Palacios, Edward Cao, Adelaide Cahill, Hussein Mohamad, Marc K. Hellerstein

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Calorie restriction (CR) extends maximal lifespan and maintains cellular homeostasis in various animal models. We have previously shown that CR induces a global reduction of protein fractional synthesis rates (FSRs) across the hepatic proteome in mice, but the timing and regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. Nitric oxide (NO), a bioactive molecule upregulated during CR, is a potential regulator of protein synthesis. To explore the role of NO in hepatic proteome fluxes during CR, we used in vivo deuterium labeling from heavy water and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry-based (LC/MS-based) flux proteomics in WT and NO-deficient (NO-) mice. We observed a transition to reduced …

Prospective Audit And Feedback By Antibiotic Stewardship Teams To Reduce Antibiotic Overuse At Hospital Discharge: A Stepped-Wedge Cluster-Randomized Clinical Trial, Daniel J Livorsi, Michael Joshua Hendrix, Erin Rachmiel, Jahnavi Bongu, Alice Bewley, Kevin Hsueh, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: Antibiotics prescribed at hospital discharge are frequently unnecessary or suboptimal. Strategies to improve prescribing are not well defined.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether a discharge-focused prospective audit and feedback process decreases antibiotic overuse at hospital discharge.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This stepped-wedge cluster-randomized clinical trial was conducted across participating units at 10 hospitals with antibiotic stewardship (AS) teams and supporting staff from December 5, 2022, to November 17, 2023. After a 24-week baseline period, 1 hospital crossed into the intervention arm every 2 weeks.

INTERVENTION: The intervention consisted of disseminating institutional guidelines for oral antibiotic step-down to frontline prescribers and …

Racial, Ethnic, And Socioeconomic Survival Disparities In Early-Onset Metastatic Colorectal Cancer, Jennifer S Wang, Benny Johnson, Caitlin C Murphy

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Importance: Rates of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) are rising among young adults. Disparities by race and ethnicity and neighborhood-level socioeconomic status (SES) among this population are understudied.

Objective: To examine the association of race and ethnicity and neighborhood-level SES with mortality among a community-based sample of young adults with mCRC.

Design, setting, and participants: This cohort study used a large electronic health record-derived database of young adults with cancer treated at 280 community-based US clinics between 2013 and 2021. Eligible patients were young adults aged 18 to 49 years diagnosed with de novo or recurrent mCRC. Patients were followed up …