Digital Commons Network^™

Spring Issue, Volume 36, Number 1

CompassPoint

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Motivations Of Undergraduate Sport Management Students, Kyle J. Brannigan, Tyler J. Hajek

The COSMA Journal

This study explored the motivations of undergraduate sport management in four university programs. Convergent mixed-methods research through the theoretical framework of Self-Determination Theory was incorporated with an adapted questionnaire of the Academic Motivation Scale and semi-structured interviews through Thematic Analysis. Ninety-six surveys with nine interviews were deemed usable across four regionally focused, vocationally minded, and accessible universities. Overall, students reported higher levels of extrinsic motivation than intrinsic motivation. The findings suggested intrinsic motivation to know and extrinsic motivation through regulation for identification scored highest with the participants. No significant differences were found between classes and ethnicities. However, male students experienced …

Revisiting The Flutie Effect: The Impact Of Collegiate Athletics On College Choice, Robin Hardin, Michelle L. Childs, Win G-Y Koo

The COSMA Journal

This study revisits the Flutie Effect by examining factors that influence a student’s college choice which includes the role of athletics and its brand. The study assessed items related to academics, interpersonal influences, campus culture, and athletics through a survey of first-year students. An exploratory factor analysis produced a seven-factor model explaining 71.51% of the variance. The strongest factor was emotional and behavioral identification with university athletics, reflecting fandom, affiliation, and pride in athletic success. Athletics significantly influenced college choice, but their impact extends beyond athletic success to include broader dimensions of branding, fandom, and affiliation. For institutions seeking to …

Simulations Of Phugoid Motion Of Jal 123, Dereth J J. Drake Scheuermann

Georgia Journal of Science

Airplanes rely on a balance between the four forces of flight: lift, weight, thrust, and drag. If these forces are balanced, the airplane will remain stable. However, if structurally or systematically compromised, the motion can rapidly become unstable. In the aviation industry, mistakes in repairs and aircraft design can lead to accidents causing the loss of life in some cases. In this article, we will be analyzing what happened 70 Japan Airlines flight 123 and how the flight’s motion deteriorated due to a defective repair. More specifically, we will discuss the aerodynamic effects of phugoid motion and how it developed …

The Shorthorn: August 29, 1984

The Shorthorn Newspaper Collection: 1980s

No abstract provided.

The Shorthorn: August 1, 1984

The Shorthorn Newspaper Collection: 1980s

No abstract provided.

Caldwell Clean‑Water Engine (Ccwe‑1.0) Unified Cavitation‑Plasma, Microbubble, Atmospheric, And Polishing Architecture For Pfas, Microplastic, Pathogen, And Brine‑Grade Contaminant Reduction, Michael Victor Caldwell Mr.

Defensive Publications Series

CCWE‑1.0 is a modular, container‑scale clean‑water engine that accepts:

• Floodwater

• Sewage‑contaminated surface water

• Industrial brines

• Saline wells

• Atmospheric humidity

and outputs:

• Potable water (where validated)

• Decontaminated non‑potable water (for industrial/ag use)

• Mapped waste streams (sludge, spent media, brine)

It integrates:

• Hydrodynamic cavitation (CPR‑1.0)

• Plasma‑assisted destruction (CPR‑1.0)

• Microbubble oxidation (MBR‑1.0)

• Conventional filtration and adsorption (POL‑1.0)

• Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH‑1.0)

• Telemetry and safety control (CTL‑1.0)

• Waste stream handling (WST‑1.0)

• Power and structural backbone (PWR‑1.0)

All subsystems use standard industrial components and conservative operating envelopes so labs, utilities, and humanitarian teams can build, test, and iterate without proprietary parts or hidden parameters.

Toward A Standard Of Identity In Ai Interaction, Brian Harber

Defensive Publications Series

Systems are increasingly capable of producing outputs that appear complete and actionable. These outputs are frequently evaluated as though they fully represent the processes that produced them. This paper argues that where identity is not explicit at the interaction boundary, interpretation necessarily relies on inference. Inference enables interaction but leaves residual uncertainty regarding what participated in producing that interaction.

The paper proposes identity as a structural property of interaction rather than an inferred property of behavior or presentation. It defines the interaction-boundary condition under which identity becomes relevant and examines the implications of that condition for evaluation. The contribution is …

Breaking The Parallax: Big Tech In India, Dr. Pratiksha Ashok

National Law School Business Law Review

This paper examines the role of Big Tech in India through the conceptual lens of parallax, understood as the analytical distortion that arises when platform power is assessed from shifting institutional, legal, and geopolitical vantage points. Existing scholarship and policy debates tend to frame Big Tech in India either through Global North regulatory paradigms emphasizing monopoly power, market foreclosure, and the need for ex-ante constraints or through a domestic developmental narrative that positions digital platforms as engines of innovation, inclusion, and infrastructural expansion. This paper argues that neither perspective, taken in isolation, adequately captures the legal and political economy of …

Training And Resources For Clinicians To Reduce Paperwork Burden And Improve Patient Work Capacity Documentation, Emilio Del Toro, Susan Gatti, Jennifer Kimble, Rebekah Lewis, Karen L. Fortuna, Samantha Migdail-Goyette, Gregory G. Morneau, Donald J. Medd, Ricky Snyder, Karen L. Huyck

Journal of Maine Medical Center

Problem: Inadequate patient work capacity documentation by clinicians contributes to health and economic inequity, clinical inefficiency, and worse patient health outcomes. The intersection of an aging workforce and high amounts of work disability presents an opportunity for health systems to integrate occupational health best practices across clinical settings to improve patient health and work outcomes. Clinicians, however, are often unfamiliar with navigating patient work capacity forms to help patients maintain or obtain employment. This knowledge gap further perpetuates work disability.

Approach: To compensate for this gap, we co-created a training for clinicians that integrates didactic learning and supplemental resources to …

Enhanced Rehabilitation Program In Acute Care: New Program Development And Results In Response To Delayed Hospital Discharges, David L Smith, Morgan Hall, Mary E Mcnulty, Elizabeth Pontius, Cathy Peabody, Beth Burke, Julie Fox

Journal of Maine Medical Center

Problem: The objective of this project was to evaluate and describe the flow of patients who have delayed discharge after they have participated in an enhanced therapy program. Approach: In the current practice, which started in 2021, the care coordination team identifies patients medically ready for discharge but with barriers. Working with the rehabilitation team, the care coordination team determines if the patient is suitable for the enhanced therapy program. These patients go on to receive 1 hour of physical therapy and 1 hour of occupational therapy each day, Monday through Friday, with the goal of discharge to home. Outcomes: …

Intensification Of Thermal Energy Storage Systems Based On Sodium Nitrate, Hari Suthan V Mr

Theses and Dissertations

Thermal energy storage (TES) systems employing phase change materials (PCM) bridge the gap between thermal energy demand and supply. The low thermal conductivity of sodium nitrate (NaNO3), an inorganic PCM for high-temperature TES systems restricts charging and discharging kinetics, reducing system-level performance. This thesis investigates the intensification of sodium nitrate-based thermal energy storage systems through the incorporation of different classes of additives. Metal oxides (zinc oxide and aluminium oxide) and carbon-based materials (graphene oxide (GO) and expanded graphite (EG)), were incorporated into NaNO3 to improve its thermophysical properties (thermal conductivity, latent heat, specific heat).

Composites were prepared using low-energy ball …

Understanding The Long-Term Patterns Of Change Of A Tidal Marsh In Mission Bay, San Diego, California, Carrie A. Shuster, Theresa Sinicrope Talley Ph.D., Drew Talley Ph.D., Zhi-Yong Yin Ph.D., Kellie Uyeda Ph.D.

Theses

Coastal marshes are among California’s most productive ecosystems and the most impacted, having been extensively modified by dredging, filling, and urban development. This thesis investigates over a century of change for a marsh in Northern Mission Bay, San Diego, California using ecological and spatial analyses.

Chapter 1 provides an overview of the environmental history and current land use of the Northern Mission Bay marsh, tracing changes from pre-contact Indigenous stewardship through colonial and modern urban development. It also introduces a restoration plant palette derived from historical and contemporary species occurrences, ecological functions, and documented cultural uses. By integrating ethnobotanical knowledge …

Underclosed Posets, Richard Ngo

McNair Summer Research Program

Underclosed complexes are a recent generalization of interval graphs to higher dimensions. Motivated by underclosed complexes, we define and study underclosed posets. Order ideals of these posets correspond to pure underclosed complexes. We classify which principal order ideals are rank-symmetric (and in fact are self-dual).

A Modeling Scenario For Cooling A Hot Vehicle In Florida, Jared Bunn, Bernadette Mullins, Elizabeth Hale, Jaeyoun Oh

CODEE Journal

This paper presents a group project assigned in a Calculus 2 course that has students work to develop, analyze, and draw conclusions about a modeling scenario for cooling a hot car. Using a modeling-first approach, instructors supported the students in class throughout the beginning of the project, enabling the groups to complete the remainder of the project on their own. Students used parameter estimation to tune their models to provided data: one for windows being up, and one for windows being down. This project provides an example of how modeling can be introduced early in a calculus course, rather than …

Behavioral Effects Of Novel Treatments For Pain Management Using Combinatorial Methods, Rohit Rajeev Nambiar

Theses and Dissertations

Pain, despite being an uncomfortable feeling to experience, is a necessary protective mechanism for the body1. Understanding that pain results from several different mechanisms within the body is important to discovering the optimal way to treat and manage a person’s pain. Modern medicine has seen numerous advancements in treating or managing acute and chronic pain, particularly with opioid drugs. However, these treatments come with potential side effects, including opioid use disorder (OUD) and fatal overdose. Finding new treatment methods, or improving existing methods, is crucial for patients with pain. This thesis explores two projects looking to develop safer analgesia using …

Functionality Risk Assessment And Risk-Based Management For Critical Infrastructure Systems, Anteneh Zewdu Deriba

Dissertations and Theses

Critical infrastructure systems such as transportation networks serve as the lifelines of modern society, supporting economic activity and ensuring access to critical services. Their disruption under extreme events can produce consequences extending far beyond physical damage to individual assets. In transportation networks for instance, failures of critical assets such as bridges and tunnels can reduce accessibility of communities, limit freight capabilities for commerce, and increase travel distance and travel time of road users. These consequences associated with the system functionality loss are tied not only to the physical vulnerability and failure of individual assets, but also to the system configuration …

An Atmospheric Optical Turbulence Structure Parameter Measurements System Based On Direct Ri Sensing Using High-Resolution Fiber-Optic Sensors, Matej Njegovec, Simon Pevec, Vedran Budinski, Boris Macuh, Melissa K. Beason, Denis Onlagic

Faculty Publications

The paper presents a method to characterize the refractive index structure parameter (C_n²) associated with optical turbulence directly. The characterization system is based on miniature, high‑resolution, all‑fiber refractive index (RI) sensors. The refractive index sensors employ open‑path, low‑finesse Fabry–Perot interferometers that are approximately 8 mm long and 200 μm in diameter. The active part of the interferometers is made of ultra‑low‑expansion glass, which eliminates the influence of thermal expansion on the refractive index measurements. The proposed refractive index sensor, operating in a differential configuration, achieved a resolution of 2×10^-9 RIU using a custom‑designed spectral interrogation system …

Coca-Cola Redux: The Problematic Absence Of Comparables, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

On June 25 a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Coca-Cola v. Commissioner. It is very hard to predict outcomes from oral arguments, but two of the judges asked questions that suggested they were open to accepting the taxpayer’s “bait and switch” argument. They also seemed receptive to the treaty argument. Interestingly, there was less focus on the taxpayer’s marketing intangibles argument, which I regard as the better one.

Fieldwork Educators' Perspectives On Occupational Therapy Students Addressing Sexuality And Intimacy: Expectations, Supports, And Barriers, Elizabeth Deluca-Berg

Student Dissertations

Sexuality and intimacy are recognized as meaningful occupations within occupational therapy practice; however, they remain inconsistently addressed in clinical care. Previous research has identified limited educational preparation as a contributing factor to occupational therapists' discomfort and lack of confidence in addressing these occupations. Although classroom instruction provides foundational knowledge, Level II fieldwork serves as the primary setting in which students apply knowledge within authentic clinical environments. Despite the central role of FW educators in facilitating students' professional development, little research has explored how they prepare OT students to address sexuality and intimacy during fieldwork. The purpose of this basic qualitative …

Supporting Graduate Student Flourishing: Development Of A Whole-Person Formation Framework Through A University-Wide Task Force, Elisa Greene, Amanda Grieme-Bradley, Maren Bishop

Papers

How do whole persons form for lives of character and flourishing within graduate schooling years? What steps could an institution take to move toward that end? This work describes the process of one institution’s use of a task force examining these questions using a combination of literature review and structured interviews with key stakeholders across campus. The context of the institution’s unique mission, vision, and virtue framework provided a foundation out of which four areas of focus emerged: 1) infrastructure and representation, 2) belonging and community, 3) communication, and 4) professional identity formation. Investment in these institutional themes supports formation …

Lanthorn, Vol. 61, No. 01, August 10, 2026, Grand Valley State University

Volume 61, August 10, 2026 – current

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Strategies For Successful Postgraduation Next Generation Nclex (Ngn) Preparation, Kristy P. Ludy

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Background and Problem: In 2023, the Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) was implemented after a strategic practice analysis conducted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) to improve evaluation of Clinical Judgment and decision-making of nursing graduates (Jessee et al., 2023; Poorman & Mastorovich, 2020). Initially, first-time pass rates (FTPRs) rose after the NGN’s implementation, but have fluctuated on national and state levels (National Council of State Boards of Nursing, 2025). Nursing faculty have been focused on preparing students for the NGN (Boev, 2023; Sturdivant & Allen-Thomas, 2022). However, becoming aware of how graduates prepare after graduation and …

Enhancing Cultural Competency Through Training In A Primary Care Clinic, Rogelio Perez Iii

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Cultural competence remains essential in primary care settings serving diverse populations, yet staff at a small Southern Texas primary care clinic reported no previous formal cultural competency training in workplace orientation or school. The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice quality improvement project was to evaluate whether a brief, evidence-based cultural competency intervention improved clinician cultural competency scores. Madeleine Leininger’s Culture Care Theory provided the theoretical framework, Lewin’s Change Theory guided the change process, and the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle directed implementation and evaluation. The problem addressed was the lack of structured training to support culturally responsive communication, patient trust, and …

Impacting Competency In C-Ssrs Suicide Risk Screening On An Inpatient Psychiatric Unit, Fidelis Sangye

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Suicide remains a leading public health concern, and inconsistent application of the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) may contribute to variability in suicide risk assessment and delayed intervention within inpatient psychiatric settings. The purpose of this quality improvement (QI) project was to evaluate the effectiveness of a standardized C-SSRS-guided educational intervention on staff competency in suicide risk screening. Guided by Lewin’s Change Theory and implemented using the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework, this quantitative pretest-posttest QI project was conducted on an adult inpatient psychiatric unit. The intervention consisted of a 25-minute instructor-led PowerPoint presentation on standardized C-SSRS administration and evidence-based suicide risk …

Usa V. Derby Clerfe

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Home Is Within Me, Essraa Nawar

Library Articles and Research

"For someone accustomed to measuring days by what gets accomplished, there was something liberating about realizing that a day does not have to be productive to be meaningful."

A Case Report Of Myocardial Infarction Complicated With Blood Pressure Fluctuations Caused By Pheochromocytoma, Huiping Li, Wei Yang, Yu Feng, You Zhang, Gan-Xin Yan, Chuanyu Gao

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

Pheochromocytoma typically presents with sustained or paroxysmal hypertension, but initial manifestation as acute non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) is rare. Peri-procedural hemodynamic fluctuations are often dramatic, making diagnosis and management challenging. We report a 51-year-old male admitted with chest tightness for 17 days. Elevated troponin and coronary angiography showing multivessel disease with total occlusion of the mid-left anterior descending artery (LAD) led to a preliminary diagnosis of NSTEMI. During percutaneous coronary intervention, blood pressure surged to 240/130 mmHg; intravenous nitroprusside caused an instantaneous drop to 95/55 mmHg, with rapid rebound to >200 mmHg upon withdrawal, showing no clear temporal relationship …

Threads Across The Atlantic: A Dialogue Of Feminist Writings Between Portugal And Cape Verde, Elliana Shillig Venancio

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the feminist literary traditions of Portugal and Cape Verde through a comparative analysis of Ana de Castro Osório’s Infelizes and Dina Salústio’s Mornas eram as noites. Separated by nearly nine decades and an ocean, these two works nonetheless converge in their insistence on women’s autonomy, bodily sovereignty, and resistance to patriarchal structures. Drawing on Hélène Cixous’s theory of écriture féminine and Kimberlé Crenshaw’s framework of intersectionality, this thesis argues that despite the significant differences in time, geography, and socio-political context that separate these authors, powerful threads of feminist consciousness bind their writing together. At the same time, …

Dis/Ability Critical Race Theory In The Early Childhood Education Classroom, Milo Knickerbocker

Masters Projects

Data shows that many Black and Disabled students are underserved in their current learning environments. This project provides a theoretical introduction to Dis/ability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), as well as guidance on how to incorporate the theory into the early childhood education setting. This is done in attempt to provide a more equitable and inclusionary learning environment.  This project incorporates a data-driven professional development program surrounding DisCrit and incorporation of anti-racist and anti-ableist inclusionary teaching methods, for the betterment of all students.