Digital Commons Network^™

Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions Of Literacy In Stem Classroom Instruction By Implementation Of Project-Based Lessons, Sarah Ferguson, Maryam Enderson, Jamie Colwell

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This study examines how project-based learning (PBL) supports pre-service STEM teachers (PSTs) in understanding and applying disciplinary literacy in classroom instruction. Conducted in a semester-long PBL course at a mid-sized public university, the research explores PSTs’ shifting perceptions of literacy in STEM and the challenges and successes they experience. Using qualitative methods grounded in student voice and case study frameworks, data were collected through focus groups, reflections, and lesson plan analyses. Findings show PSTs initially held narrow views of literacy but developed more nuanced understandings through PBL. Key successes included increased confidence and use of inquiry-based strategies; challenges involved time …

Lessons Learned Using Participatory Research To Develop Physical Education Resources And Recommendations For Blind Students, M. Ally Keene, Nina Marranca, Julia Lagrand, Andrews Mead-Colegrove, Angela Eckhoff, Justin Haegele

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Using a participatory action research (PAR) methodology, the purpose of this manuscript was to describe the experiences of co-constructing resources and recommendations for physical education (PE) teachers, with blind individuals as research partners, aimed at enhancing PE for blind students. Four blind young adults served as research partners within the project. The project consisted of 15 meetings over 19 weeks and two stages, and took place entirely on Zoom. Stage one consisted of four meetings and focused on exploring the needs of the partners and their experiences and opinions related to improving PE for future blind students. Stage two consisted …

Languages Of Marginalization: Educational Inequality And Identity Formation Among Rohingya Refugees In Bangladesh, Md Khalid Rahman

Sustainability and Social Justice

This research paper investigates how language-of-instruction policies shape educational inequality and identity formation among Rohingya refugee children living in protracted displacement in Cox’ Bazar, Bangladesh. Analyzed from a human right–based framework, the study examines whether existing educational policies align with international legal standards on the right to education, including the UDHR, ICESCR, Child Convention and SDG 4. While these frameworks guarantee non-discriminatory and inclusive access to education, the reality in Cox’s Bazar reveals a persistent gap between normative commitments and policy implementation. Moreover, the study explores how the exclusion of both the host language (Bangla) and the native Rohingya language …

Trading Places With The ‘Other’: Octavia Butler’S “Bloodchild” And “Amnesty”, Katie Zamora-Godinez

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

Navigating Critical Communication Pedagogy As International Graduate Teaching Assistants In The United States' Communication Classrooms, Janifar Nova

Research Papers

As U.S. universities continue to diversify, international graduate teaching assistants (iGTAs) play a central yet understudied role in communication classrooms. Guided by the framework of Critical Communication Pedagogy (CCP), this study examines how iGTAs interpret and embody critical pedagogical principles as they navigate linguistic, cultural, and institutional expectations. Using an interpretive approach, I held a focus group discussion with seven iGTAs to explore how participants’ identities, experiences, and emotions influence their teaching practices. Five main themes emerged, including (1) interpreting CCP through identity and positionality, (2) embodying CCP through collaboration and mutual learning, (3) negotiating ethical and shared uses of …

A Guide To Human Ecology Mapping: An Approach For Understanding Human-Environment Connections, Thien-Kim Bui, Rebecca J. Mclain, David Banis, Lee Cerveny

Occasional Papers in Geography

Occasional Papers in Geography Publication No. 9

Places matter to people, and maps can help people and communities share why places matter. Over the past 30 years, public participation GIS (PPGIS) and other forms of human ecology mapping (HEM) have become important ways for agencies, non-governmental organizations, environmental and community advocacy groups, university researchers, and others to learn about or advocate for what matters to people about landscapes they visit, use, or love.

HEM is a method for mapping human-environment interactions and connections. This manual is intended for the planner or practitioner who is interested in using HEM to strengthen …

Annual Report Town Of Center Harbor, New Hampshire For Year Ending December 31, 2025, Center Harbor Town Representatives

Center Harbor, NH Annual Reports

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire.

Florida Springs: From Geography To Politics And Restoration, Linh Uong

The Southeastern Librarian

Christopher F. Meindl

Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2024

ISBN: 9780813079158

245 pp. $38.00 (Hbk)

Employing The Marketing Mix Framework To Increase Usage Of Academic Libraries, Chantelle Swaren

The Southeastern Librarian

Academic libraries face a regular influx of new students, creating an ongoing need to increase awareness and usage. To accomplish this, many academic libraries rely on short-term outreach tactics that focus on only one element of the marketing mix: Promotion. This article introduces the complete marketing mix framework, including seven elements (7 Ps), and explains how they can be applied in academic libraries. Definitions and library-specific examples are provided for each element: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process, and Physical Proof. The integrated approach of marketing mix theory and planning can be employed by academic libraries to increase patron awareness, …

Serum Biomarker Trajectory Clusters Predict Functional Outcome And Quality Of Life For Traumatic Brain Injury, Thanh Son Do, Chantal Carnes, Zhihui Yang, Firas Kobeissy, Hamad Yadikar, Gayla R. Olbricht, Olli Tenovuo, Jussi P. Posti, Ewout W. Steyerberg, Lindsay Wilson, Nicole Von Steinbüchel, Endre Czeiter, Andras Buki, David K. Menon

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Serum brain-enriched biomarkers are increasingly employed in the clinical evaluation of traumatic brain injury (TBI) to assist with triage, neuroimaging decisions, and prognostication. However, the potential of temporal biomarker trajectories to inform disease monitoring and long-term outcomes remains underexplored. We aim to identify distinct biomarker trajectory (TRAJ) profiles in traumatic brain injury patients and to examine their associations with long-term clinical outcomes. The study included 373, CT-positive Intensive Care Unit (ICU) traumatic brain injury patients (256 with initial Glasgow Coma Scale 3–12) from the Collaborative European Neurotrauma Effectiveness Research in TBI (CENTER-TBI) core study who had at least two serum …

Digital Learning For English Learners: A Selected Annotated Bibliography For English Learner Research, Policy, And Practice, Center For Equity For English Learners

Annotated Bibliographies

Digital Learning for English Learners: A Selected Annotated Bibliography for English Learner Research, Policy, and Practice is comprised of 17 annotations from recent and seminal literature regarding digital learning resources for English Learners (ELs) and Multilingual Learners (MLs). These annotations build on the annotations regarding digital learning in CEEL’s 2022 annotated bibliography, Ensuring Equity and Excellence for English Learners: An Annotated Bibliography for Research, Policy, and Practice (Center for Equity for English Learners, 2022) to include publications from 2022-2025. This selected annotated bibliography serves as a resource for researchers, policymakers, educators, and advocates who are working for equity and …

Leading The Change: Staff-Driven Ai Transformation In Smu Libraries’ Collection Team, Siew Khim Lim, Fion Goh

Research Collection Library

Why do libraries need to use AI? It is crucial for Libraries to stay relevant in this digital age by improving efficiency, access, and user experience. By adopting AI, libraries can better manage growing digital collections, provide innovative services, and ensuring they remain essential as hubs for knowledge and learning in an AIdriven world.

Evolution Of A Novel Neuronal Sex-Specifically Spliced Gene In Mosquitoes, Yael Norohasimbola Tsitohay

Student Theses and Dissertations

Female mosquitoes from many species require a blood meal from an animal host as a protein source for egg development and successful reproduction. The majority of mosquito species are generalists in their host preference, feeding on a range of animals including mammals, birds, and amphibians. However, a small fraction of mosquito species have evolved a preference for human hosts. These species are mainly found in the genera Aedes, Culex, and Anopheles, and they have created a global health crisis due to their ability to transmit deadly human pathogens including dengue virus, Zika virus, West Nile Virus, and …

Ancient Immune Systems: Sensing And Signaling In Bacterial-Phage Conflict, Cameron Grace Roberts

Student Theses and Dissertations

Viruses are among the most significant selective pressures shaping the evolution of life on Earth. In the microbial world, bacteriophages (phage) are bacterial viruses and drive a continuous evolutionary arms race that has led to an extraordinary diversity of bacterial defense mechanisms [1]. These systems are thought to have provided the evolutionary foundation for numerous eukaryotic immune strategies [2]. Experimental studies have validated many of these anti-phage defense systems and revealed the mechanisms by which they disrupt phage infection [3]. Nonetheless, major gaps persist in our understanding of how bacterial immune systems recognize bacteriophage infection to trigger immunity. This dissertation …

The Influence Of Dna Methylation On Both H2a.Z Nucleosome Dynamics And The Zinc Finger And Homeoboxes Transcription Factor Family, Rochelle M. Shih

Student Theses and Dissertations

DNA methylation represents a widespread and heritable modification that exerts substantial influence on chromatin organization and function in many eukaryotic genomes. The presence of DNA methylation has been strongly linked to transcriptional regulation, in both activating as well as repressive ways, though exactly how a small chemical mark can enact such drastic and seemingly opposing effects on gene expression remains an open question. In my thesis work, I describe the influence DNA methylation has on two classes of chromatin proteins, the histone variant H2A.Z and the Zinc Finger and Homeoboxes (ZHX) family of transcription factors. DNA methylation and H2A.Z preferentially …

The Reinnervation Of Sensory Hair Cells Following Lesion Of The Lateral Line Cranial Nerve, Rohan S. Roy

Student Theses and Dissertations

Loss of hearing is a prevalent sensory pathology in the United States and worldwide. A significant proportion of deafness is attributed to sensorineural hearing loss, which often involves damage and retraction of the nerve fibers that relay auditory information between the mechanosensitive hair cells of the inner ear and the brain. The restoration of physiologic hearing would require the regeneration of nerve fibers back into the sensory epithelium of the cochlea, followed by the reinnervation of appropriate hair cell targets. Nerve regeneration studies in humans and other mammalian models are lacking due to the limited accessibility of the inner ear. …

Investigations Into Why Human (But Not Mouse) Ku70/80 Is Essential Reveal A Role For Human Ku70/80 In Ribosome Biogenesis, George Zakusilo

Student Theses and Dissertations

The requirement of Ku70/80 for ribosome biogenesis in higher primates explains otherwise perplexing essential nature of this double-strand break (DSB) repair factor. We have ruled out telomere protection or DSB repair as the essential function ofKu70/80. Instead, unbiased genome-wide analyses pointed to a role in ribosome biogenesis. Human Ku70/80, but not mouse Ku70/80 is enriched in the nucleolus at the Dense Fibrillar Component (DFC) periphery, likely via co-evolved protein-protein interactions with nucleolar factors. Consistent with its localization in the nucleolus, human Ku70/80 null cells exhibit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) processing defect and consequent shutdown of protein synthesis offer a direct explanation …

Influence Of The Solar Cycle And Interplanetary Shocks On Turbulence At 1 Au, Sujan Prasad Gautam

Dissertations

This thesis studies the effect of the solar cycle and interplanetary shocks on turbulent fluctuations at 1 AU. We examine the solar cycle dependence of turbulence cascade rates corresponding to the total turbulence energy using the methodology developed by Adhikari et al. that utilizes a Kolmogorov phenomenology. Turbulence cascade rates are derived using 25 years (1995–2020) of Wind spacecraft plasma and magnetic-field observations. We find that the total turbulence energy cascade rate changes with the solar cycle, such that the cascade rate is largest during solar maximum and smallest during solar minimum. It is positively correlated with the solar wind …

Comparative Visions For U.S. Group-Based Asylum Proposal, Lauren N. Hughes

Scholarly Articles

Images of asylum seekers and migrants desperate to enter the United States at the southern border abound in U.S. media. Less familiar to the American public, but intertwined with the highly politicized modern migration crisis, is the ever-growing backlog of pending asylum applications before both the Asylum Office and Immigration Courts. This backlog has many causes, including underresourced agencies, a growing number of asylum applicants, the high evidentiary burden and complexities inherent to asylum law, and the lack of counsel for many asylum seekers. In response to this crippling backlog, some scholars propose the adoption of a “group-based” asylum mechanism. …

The Complexities Of The Bilingual Advantage, Melisa Sierra

Behavioral Neuroscience Honors Papers

The bilingual advantage hypothesis, which proposes an enhancement of executive functions in bilinguals, remains heavily debated with inconsistent findings across studies. This study investigated working memory performance in bilingual and monolingual young adults using a modified n-back task with an interruption while recording EEG activity. Participants completed 1-back, 2-back, and 3-back conditions across the pre-interruption phase and a post-break 2-back condition. Behavioral measures (accuracy and response times) were analyzed alongside ERP, focusing on P300 and sustained activity components, were analyzed. Results showed a decrease in accuracy as task difficulty increased from 1-back to 3-back, indicating the expected effects of higher …

High-Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy Of Jet-Cooled 1-Butene, Vladyslav Filatov

Chemistry Honors Papers

A high-resolution absorbance spectrum of 1-butene was obtained in the 994–1000 cm⁻¹ region using a quantum cascade laser-based spectrometer coupled with a supersonic jet expansion source. To mitigate the low number density of the molecular jet, a multi-pass optical configuration was employed to achieve an effective path length of approximately six passes. Experimental spectra were calibrated using a methanol reference and etalon. Supporting calculations for vibrational frequencies and rotational constants were performed at the MP2/cc-pVTZ level of theory. The observed spectral features were assigned to the vibrational band ν25 (centered at 993.67 cm⁻¹), which was identified as a primarily a-type …

Casting Long Shadows: Political Influence On Classical Scholarship In The 20th And 21st Centuries, Anna Taylor

Classics Honors Papers

History, especially Classical history, is not as objective as it is often made out to be. Classical scholarship is not immune to the influence of politics, even if and when a scholar does not explicitly reference it or intend for the scholarship to be political. To explore this influence, this thesis examines two case studies: Edmund Buchner’s work from the 20th century on the so-called “ Horologium Augusti, ” and the rise of regime transition scholarship in the 21st century. Both case studies examine the impact of contemporary politics on a scholar’s perception of a contentious period of Roman history: …

Creation Of A New Roman Identity: Encounters, Conflicts, And The Establishment Of Multicultural Order In Virgil’S Aeneid, Caleb Butler

Classics Honors Papers

Virgil composed the Aeneid at a moment when Roman cultural identity experienced a thorough reevaluation. This thesis argues that the Aeneid does not merely reflect the cultural moment in which it was written but rather presents a model for the formation of this new Roman identity. The second half of the Aeneid centers almost entirely upon the interactions and developing relationships between the different peoples who reside within Latium. It is only through the formation of alliances – built upon equal treaties (foedera) and cultural exchange – that peace is able to be formed between those peoples. The …

The Shape Of The Wind: How Our Homes Create Us, And We Create Them, Ava Norris

Dance Department Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

One, And Other, One Another, Another (Again): A Historical And Embodied, Kinetic And Theoretical Investigation Of Otherization, Emily Brankman

Dance Department Honors Papers

This thesis investigates otherization and its use as a tool for power through theoretical, historical, and movement based investigations. Over the course of this academic year, I worked with a group of Connecticut College dancers in weekly rehearsals to build choreography and to hold discussions. This took place alongside external, independent research into thinkers and artists from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Martha Graham, theories by historians such as Edward Said, and both historical and current events. These elements were not approached sequentially, but simultaneously, with the intention that each element influence and inform the others. I reference this variety of topics …

Protected And Conserved Areas In Canada: Advancing Conservation Policy, Practice & Indigenous Leadership, Christopher J. Lemieux, Don Carruthers Den Hoed, Eli Enns, Catherine E. Reining

Geography and Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Protected and Conserved Areas in Canada: Advancing Conservation Policy, Practice, and Indigenous Leadership, is Canada’s first bilingual, interdisciplinary, open-access textbook dedicated to the evolving management and planning of protected and conserved areas. This resource addresses critical pressures and transitions in conservation, integrating Indigenous perspectives and case studies from across Canada to prepare the next generation of practitioners and researchers to become ethical, equitable, and effective decision-makers.

Over the past decade, Canada has experienced rapid expansion of protected and conserved areas, including the rise of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs), the expansion of marine protected and conserved areas, and …

Confronting Inequality: Three Eras Of Gender And Tax Scholarship, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Tax law is not neutral--it encodes social values and reinforces certain longstanding hierarchies. For over fifty years, legal scholarship at the intersection of gender and tax has exposed how seemingly neutral tax laws perpetuate gender inequality. This Article uses the metaphor of quilting to trace the evolution of this scholarly field across three distinct eras.   Part I names and defines the designing era (1971-1986), which began with Grace Blumberg's writing on the gendered impact of tax laws on marriage, labor, and caregiving; she framed taxation as a tool of social control over women. Blumberg's work laid the foundation for other …

Defending Darnassus: Self-Disclosure Between Characters In World Of Warcraft, Molly Peterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined why players substitute physical contact with people for virtual contact with people, why players engage in self-disclosure, and how they interact with other players. A content analysis analyzed data collected from an online questionnaire. Using data from 125 questionnaires, the research gathered information on why players self-disclose within the game World of Warcraft and if they have experienced any advantages or disadvantages from those interactions.

Rosenwald Rural School Libraries, Suzanne Marie Stauffer

Faculty Publications

The Rosenwald Rural School Libraries Program was created as an adjunct to the Rosenwald Rural Schools Program, which funded the construction of 4,977 rural Black school buildings in fifteen Southern states, 395 of them in Louisiana. However, it soon became apparent that providing textbooks was not enough to promote literacy and develop self-directed reading among students. The officers and agents of the Fund realized fairly early in the Rural Schools Program that there was a want of reading materials in the South in general. Beginning in 1927, the Rosenwald Fund began providing collections of graded fiction and non-fiction books to …

Heat-Related Injuries And Fatalities In Roofing: Osha Investigations From 2003-2024, Kenneth S. Sands Ii, Benjamin Marshall

The Professional Constructor

This study examines 52 heat-related roofing incidents recorded by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) between 2003-2024 to describe patterns in outcomes and identify trade-specific prevention opportunities. Researchers built a structured dataset from OSHA investigation summaries and analysed frequencies of the incidents and their associations with month, time of day, project type, end use, and age to complement a thematic review of narrative abstracts. Fifty-eight percent of cases were fatalities, with the remainder split between hospitalized and non-hospitalized injuries; these statistics underscore the consequences of heat events that trigger OSHA reporting. There was a clear relationship between number of …