Digital Commons Network^™

Faith’S Midwest Modern Forms: Midcentury Catholic Churches In St. Louis By Murphy And Mackey, Architects, Mary Reid Brunstrom

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This project originated in my research on three modernist churches commissioned by the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis from 1948-54 which was then under the progressive leadership of Archbishop (later Cardinal) Joseph E. Ritter. What factors accounted for these unprecedented forms for sacred architecture? The architectural partnership of Murphy and Mackey designed the churches in accordance with the new liturgical reform protocols that were embedded in the designs of the German architect, Rudolf Schwarz and his colleagues and disseminated through Catholic pastors of German origin in the St. Louis parishes. Other strands of modernism were also implicated in Murphy and …

Emotional Regulation In Adolescents, Its' Link To Social Media, & Potential Solutions, Jace Burke

Psychology Student Publications

This essay discusses emotional regulation in adolescents, and how social media has significant effects on its development. It also goes over potential solutions on how to fix irregular emotional dysregulation, and how society might be able to help prevent or teach adolescents to adapt emotional regulation to the modern digital landscape.

Sensory Processing Difficulties In Children And How It Affects Behaviors And Parental Stress, Brooklyn Hagberg

Psychology Student Publications

This paper looks at how Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) affects children and their families. It explores how struggles with processing everyday sensory information can lead to behaviors that are often misunderstood, as well as the stress this can place on parents. By increasing awareness of SPD and its effects, we can better support children, ease parental challenges, and help kids feel more comfortable and successful in their daily lives.

Dynamics Of The Mind: Factors Of Physical Activity And The Affects That Come From Exercise, Samantha Gruendemann

Psychology Student Publications

This paper explores a deep dive into the benefits of physical activity and exercise. In this piece of literature we look at six studies and sources that give you the advantages of how physical activity affects psychology, the dynamics of movements, and the behavioral aspects of one’s mental health. As research continues to come out over the past decades, we see a positive correlation between health and physical activity (Penedo & Dahn, 2005). Studies still show to this day that moderate physical activity may decrease the risk of many diseases and disorders that you may be genetically adaptable to (Miller …

The Effect Of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy On Anxiety, Lauren Schauer

Psychology Student Publications

Anxiety is a very common mental health disorder that many individuals struggle with every day. Cognitive behavioral therapy is structured to make individuals aware of their thinking and behavioral patterns and how they can take control. This paper explores how effective cognitive behavioral therapy is on each type of the most common anxiety disorders.

Lasting Love: First Sight Or Friends To Lovers, Rylee Lunnie

Psychology Student Publications

This article will explore the origins of romantic relationships, specifically, the “love at first sight” phenomenon compared to gradual love through friendship. This instant attraction, common in literature and film, may feel powerful and convincing, but some psychologists have doubted its accuracy. We’ll look at empirical evidence and psychological theories to perhaps determine whether “love at first sight” or relationships grounded in deep friendships are more likely to create lasting love.

Effects Of Exercise On Mental Health And Well-Being On College Students, Keira Kitzmann

Psychology Student Publications

This paper shows the effects of exercise on mental health and well-being on college students. College students’ mental health is an important issue because it greatly affects their academic success and performance. Overall, exercise can improve the well-being of college students and increase mental health.

How Does Childhood Trauma Increase The Risk Of Developing Depression In Adulthood?, Ella Heydmann

Psychology Student Publications

Childhood trauma is a common but often overlooked experience that can leave lasting effects on psychological and biological development. Research shows that exposure to abuse or neglect in early life can alter the brain structure, stress-response systems, and emotional regulation, which can increase vulnerability to depression and anxiety in adulthood. Furthermore, evidence suggests that the impact of trauma may reach across generations through behavioral mechanisms. Despite these risks, resilience and protective factors, such as early intervention, can minimize long-term consequences and help promote recovery. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for developing effective prevention strategies to reduce the lasting effects of …

How Do Childhood Experiences Influence Risk-Taking Behavior In Adolescence?, Sidney Zimmerman

Psychology Student Publications

This paper explores how positive and adverse childhood experiences influence adolescents’ risk-taking behaviors. It explains that positive experiences often lead to healthy, growth-promoting risks, while adverse experiences can increase impulsivity and unhealthy risk-taking. Overall, it emphasizes that early life experiences shape how young people approach challenges and make decisions during adolescence.

Screen Time On Child Development, Mariah Lovro

Psychology Student Publications

This paper focuses on the effects of screen time on childhood developments. It explores different types and durations of screen time and how different areas of child development are afffected.

Workplace Incivility And Well-Being: A Moderated Mediation Analysis Of Loneliness And Supervisor Support, Marie Rylance

Master's Theses

By building on previous research and addressing calls to examine the growing epidemic of loneliness, this study investigated how workplace incivility affects employee well-being and workplace outcomes, with attention to the roles of loneliness and supervisor support. Guided by the Conservation of Resources theory, workplace incivility was conceptualized as a resource-draining process that fosters stress states such as loneliness. A key contribution of this study was examining the process through which incivility impacts employees, by testing loneliness as a mediating mechanism and supervisor support as a potential moderator. Using data from 178 participants, regression and mediation analyses were conducted, as …

University Living Labs For Sustainability: Governance, Pedagogy, And Global North-South Patterns, Skilty C. Labastilla

Journal of Management for Global Sustainability

This scoping review examines how 72 higher education institutions (HEIs) operationalize sustainability through living labs (LLs), synthesizing evidence from 89 studies published between 2010 and 2025. Using Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) framework, the review maps how LLs coordinate governance, pedagogy, operational experimentation, and stakeholder engagement, comparing 63 Global North (GN) and 26 Global South (GS) cases. GN LLs feature formalized governance and resource-intensive infrastructures linking curriculum, operations, and data-driven experimentation. GS LLs operate under resource constraints but exhibit strong community embedding, participatory co-production, and socio-ecological responsiveness. Institutionalization depends on hybrid configurations where bottom-up experimentation aligns with top-down authority. Observed governance, …

Minerals, Critical Minerals, And Strategic Minerals In Alaska: Challenges And Opportunities, Bob Loeffler, Brett Watson, Rebecca Van Wyck

ISER Reports

This report examines the challenges and opportunities involved in increasing Alaska’s role in the U.S. critical minerals industry. It describes how critical minerals are defined, and which of those have been mined today, have been mined in the past or are likely to be mined in the near future. It describes how market conditions and geology affect Alaska’s opportunities to increase critical mineral production. It also describes how Alaska’s benefits from critical mineral production are the same as those from any mineral production: jobs, income, and taxes. Finally, the report makes recommendations for expanding critical mineral production.

On Lethality: Toward A More Complete Definition And Formation Of The Lethality Framework, John M. Hinck, Robert S. Hinck, Jayson A. Altieri, David R. Jarnot

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article argues lethality should be conceptualized as a holistic and regenerative process in which adversarial militaries prepare for, adapt to, and sustain the application of force in conflict. Whereas the literature on lethality is widening to include the human war fighter, attempts to define and measure lethality have proven problematic—a struggle this article seeks to remedy. Drawing on historical, doctrinal, and interdisciplinary perspectives, the authors argue that lethality includes the capacity to kill and elements of learning and adaptation. The proposed lethality framework offers policy and military practitioners a model for assessing and operationalizing lethality in military education, leadership …

Endocrine Disruptors And Pregnancy, Betül Yi̇ği̇t Yalçin, Gamze Bi̇li̇k Oyman, Ayşe Kubat Üzüm

Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

Sensitivity to endocrine disruptors is higher in early life. In pregnant women, endocrine disruptor chemicals can be passed to the baby through the placenta or through breast milk during lactation, leading to long-term and permanent adverse effects. These endocrine disruptors may cause adverse effects in women such as infertility, implantation defects, premature birth, spontaneous abortions, gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes. Exposure to endocrine disruptors in the intrauterine period may result in adverse effects on the reproductive system, metabolic changes, low birth weight, retardation in mental and physical development and also may be associated with congenital malformations. It is of great importance …

The Influence Of Endocrine Disrupters On Gut Microbiota, Kader Ugur

Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are closely associated with the second brain, the microbiota-derived enteric nervous system, commonly referred to as the gut microbiota. The microbiota plays a crucial role in human health and the development of diseases. In today’s industrialized world, the presence of EDs in air, water, and soil leads to primary human exposure through dermal contact and ingestion. The impact of these EDs on the microbiota remains unclear. EDs that disrupt the balance of the gut microbiota may contribute to a range of disorders, including metabolic (obesity, diabetes mellitus), cardiovascular (vascular stenosis, cerebrovascular disease), reproductive (infertility, ovarian and testicular …

Design, Synthesis And Biological Activities Of N-Substituted Phthalimide Derivative, Beaula Mangundah

Honors Theses

Phthalimides are a group of compounds among bicyclic non-aromatic nitrogen heterocycles that have gained recognition for their bioactivity across various fields, notably anti-cancer, anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory. This study discusses the synthesis of a novel phthalimide derivative and provides an analysis of its biological activity. It was conducted through a Boric acid Imide synthesis and yielded a successful derivative using hexylamine. The product was evaluated in vitro for antimicrobial, anticoagulant, and anti-inflammatory properties using Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion, clotting time, hemolysis inhibition, and protein denaturation assays. It showed mild anticoagulant and anti-inflammatory activity.

Advanced Soliton Structures And Elliptic Wave Patterns In A Sixth-Order Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation Using Improved Modified Extended Tanh Function Method, Mina Fahim, Hamdy Mohamed Ahmed, Islam Samir, Kamal Dib

Basic Science Engineering

In this work, a sixth–order extension of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) within its integrable hierarchy is investigated to model higher–order nonlinear and dispersive effects relevant to optical fiber systems and nonlinear wave propagation. By employing the Improved Modified Extended Tanh Function Method, a comprehensive family of exact analytical solutions is derived, encompassing bright and dark solitons, singular soliton structures, and singular periodic solutions. In addition, solution families expressed in terms of Jacobi elliptic functions, Weierstrass doubly periodic elliptic functions, and exponential profiles are obtained. The novelty of this study lies in extending the analytical framework of the NLSE hierarchy …

Mechanistic Roles And Design Criteria For Catalysts In Lithium–Sulfur Batteries, Saheed Lateef, Golareh Jalilvand

Faculty Publications

Catalysis is widely explored in lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries to address challenges related to limited capacity and cycle durability. Despite extensive research, catalyst development has often focused on materials without a clear understanding of the mechanistic landscape underlying the complex, multi-step, multi-electron sulfur redox pathway. In fact, our understanding of the thermodynamic, kinetic, and mass transport framework in Li–S systems is still evolving, particularly with respect to the reaction pathways during charge and discharge, and the dynamic evolution of materials in both liquid and solid phases. These evolving insights may fundamentally shift the requirements for catalyst design and future research priorities. …

Targeting Pancreatic Cancer With Rapamycin-Loaded Gold Nanoparticles Conjugated To Egf Peptide: Studies On Cytotoxicity And Uptake Mechanisms Aided By Proteomic Analysis, Adeolu Oluremi

Theses and Dissertations

Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most lethal malignancies, with a five-year survival rate below 5%. While rapamycin (Rap) has demonstrated therapeutic potential, its clinical utility is hampered by systemic toxicity. To address this limitation, this study developed a targeted nanocarrier system using gold nanospheres (AuNPs) functionalized with the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) peptide GE11 for the specific delivery of Rap to pancreatic cancer cells. It is to note that pancreatic cancer overexpresses EGFR. The AuNP–GE11–Rap conjugates were successfully synthesized and characterized using physico-chemical techniques, which confirmed peptide conjugation and drug loading. In vitro studies using PANC-1 cells demonstrated …

Biotechnology In The Fy 2026 Ndaa: Strategic Implications — And Recommendations — For Joint Force Readiness, James Giordano

Strategic Insights

This commentary analyzes how biotechnology provisions in the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) reflect emerging opportunities and challenges for U.S. national security. It explains that key investments in bioindustrial capacity, synthetic biology, bioinformatics, and related research signal a strategic shift toward integrating biological technologies into defense planning. While these advancements can strengthen biodefense, medical readiness, and operational resilience, they also raise policy, ethical, and governance questions about prioritization, oversight, and risk management. Dr. Giordano offers practical recommendations, including the need for enhanced workforce education, robust interdisciplinary coordination, and international collaboration to ensure responsible innovation. Aligning biotechnology investment with …

Student Voices On Trauma And Resilience: A Critical Phenomenological Study Of Gun Violence And College Student Experiences, Lucia Helena Garcia

Dissertations

This study posits that gun violence in the United States is a public health crisis and that colleges and universities must actively collaborate to develop and implement solutions to address and prevent this crisis, which affects communities and students. Gun violence can and does lead to disruptions in educational access, travel and safety, as well as have longstanding impacts on mental health. While extensive research exists that is focused on the impact of community and gun violence exposure on K-12 students, the impact of community violence and gun violence exposure on emerging adults in university settings is limited and remains …

Co-Production Of A Mobile Application For Parents Of Acutely Ill Children Under Five: ‘Ipoorly Child Symptom Checker, Sarah Neill, Amy Rathbone, John Downey, Monica Lakhanpaul, Matt Carey

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Acutely ill children under five years of age are frequent and increasing users of urgent and emergency care services despite there being no increase in acuity of presenting illnesses. This raises concerns about parents’ level of knowledge and confidence in assessing the severity of symptoms of acute illness, despite the abundance of digital information available. MethodBuilding on prior work to co-develop the content for a mobile app for parents of acutely ill children, we co-designed the iPoorly child symptom checker app using an experience based co-design methodology with seven parent and seven health professional patient and public involvement representatives. The …

Unmasking Oral Health Stigma: A Qualitative Scoping Review, J Doughty, J Booth, M Smith, K Saini, M Paisi, A Rodriguez, A Levine, C Bedos, V Muirhead, C Martins De Barros, C Freeborn

Peninsula Dental School

INTRODUCTION: Health-related stigma can limit access to care, impair adherence to treatment, and negatively impact mental health and quality-of-life. Oral health stigma, defined as stigma arising from oral conditions that diverge from sociocultural norms, operates through labelling, stereotyping, othering, and exclusion. Oral health stigma can lead to shame, diminished self-confidence, and avoidance of dental care, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of poor oral health and reinforcing internalised and anticipated stigma. While previous research has explored the social implications of oral appearance, little is known about the broader concept of oral health stigma or strategies to mitigate it.

METHODS: This scoping review …

Enhancing Aerosol Scattering Measurements: Performance Evaluation And Quality Assurance Of Airphoton Integrating Nephelometers In The Surface Particulate Matter Network, Kamlendra Singh Pathak

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Integrating nephelometers are key instruments for quantifying aerosol light scattering, a fundamental parameter governing the direct radiative effect of aerosols on climate and visibility, and for interpreting satellite observations of aerosol optical depth. The AirPhoton integrating nephelometer quantifies aerosol light scattering by measuring total scattering from the sample air and subtracting a clean-air reference that represents Rayleigh scattering, instrument wall scattering, and detector background noise. Measurement accuracy depends on rigorous calibration and regular performance evaluation to account for instrumental drift and environmental influences. This study presents a field performance evaluation of the AirPhoton integrating nephelometer within the global Surface Particulate …

Integrating Large Language Models And Single-Cell Omics Analysis For Target Discovery In Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Zixi Xu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The elucidation of cell-type–specific signaling networks is central to understanding pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and to nominating mechanistically grounded therapeutic targets. We present a Text-to-Target framework that integrates large language models (LLMs) with single-cell omics to couple literature-derived hypotheses to cell-type–resolved expression evidence. Using publicly available datasets, we construct malignant ductal epithelial and lineage-matched acinar meta-cell cohorts from PDAC and perform differential expression analysis to obtain a robust catalogue of disease-associated transcriptional changes. In parallel, an ensemble of LLMs is prompted in a schema-constrained manner to retrieve cell-type–specific targets, pathways, and mechanistic annotations from the biomedical literature. After normalization and …

Preliminary Investigation Of Cecal Microbiota In Experimental Broilers Reared Under The Aerosol Transmission Lameness Induction Model, Anh Dang Trieu Do, Khawla Alharbi, Ruvindu Perera, Andi Asnayanti, Adnan Alrubaye

Poultry Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis (BCO), and its associated lameness, is one of the most common and devastating issues the poultry industry constantly faces, both globally and domestically. Leveraging the currently accepted "leaky gut" model of pathogenesis, this study aims to evaluate the cecal community of broilers reared under the aerosol transmission BCO induction model. A trial involving 1320 Cobb 500 broilers was conducted using the same induction model for 56 d with the following treatments: (1) positive control (PC)-untreated birds on wire-flooring pens; (2) negative control (NC)-untreated birds on litter-flooring pens; (3) LOW-birds treated with probiotic Enterococcus faecium spray on …

Behavior Analytic Food Reinforcement Use And Guidelines In Interventions For Children With Autism, Christopher Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Reinforcers create opportunities to increase behaviors in applied behavioral analysis, with healthy and unhealthy foods offering high reinforcing value. The use of food raises ethical and health concerns, so researchers and behavior analysts often avoid food reinforcement altogether. Kronfli et al. (2024) indicate healthy food alternatives bring about similar rates of responding as snack foods, potentially reducing ethical and health concerns. This research presents the question: To what degree are food reinforcers used in behavioral interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder? This review analyzes behavioral research articles containing the words “food,” “edible,” “autism,” and “children” in the context of …

Discourse, Power, And Pedagogy In Ai And Human-Designed Efl Lesson Plans: A Clil And Systemic Functional Linguistic Perspective, Christian D. Libunao, Vincent A. Morales

Journal of English and Applied Linguistics

The integration of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) into English language teaching (ELT) raises important questions about how AI-generated lesson plans shape pedagogy, interaction, and ideology compared to human-designed materials. This study examines how ChatGPT-generated lesson plans converge with or diverge from those published by the British Council, with particular attention to teacher and learner roles, classroom power dynamics, and pedagogical scaffolding. A triadic framework combining systemic functional linguistics (SFL), critical discourse analysis (CDA), and content and language integrated learning (CLIL) was applied to three British Council lesson plans and three thematically matched ChatGPT outputs. Findings reveal that both sets of …

A Review Of Global Tidal Stream Energy Resources, Daniel S. Coles, Thomas A.A. Adcock, Andrew Cornett, Kevin Haas, Chul H. Jo, Hongwei Liu, Jon Miles, Patxi Garcia Novo, Jérôme Thiébot

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

This review identifies 426 candidate sites with potentially suitable characteristics for tidal stream energy development, across 19 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australasia. The most common site assessment quantifies the theoretical resource, which is the maximum amount of total energy that can be extracted. The aggregated theoretical resource estimate, of 1000 TWh/year, from 262 sites (62% of those identified), across 6 countries, is equivalent to 115 GW of continuous annual power. A more informative, albeit less common assessment, considers technical, environmental and economic constraints on energy extraction. New data from UK assessments is presented that indicates relationships between …