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Fieldnote 26: Summer Self-Care Rituals & Reflections, Venus Evans-Winters Dr.

Fieldnotes of a Black Woman Scholar: Research, Culture, and Wellness

In this reflective Fieldnotes episode, Dr. Mildred Boveda and Dr. Venus Evans-Winters pause to share how they’ve been showing up for themselves this summer. From the beaches to the quiet corners of our homes, we discuss the intentional self-care rituals that grounded us, restored us, and helped us reconnect with our purpose as educators, scholars, and Black women navigating layered commitments. We also offer a brief update on what’s ahead for the podcast and how our creative and scholarly energies are aligning for the upcoming season. Whether you're holding space for rest, reinventing your wellness routine, or simply curious about …

Comparative Study Of Machine Learning Models For Predicting The Market Value Of Professional Football Players, Álvaro Salvador López

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

The market value of professional football players is a critical factor in decision-making for clubs, agents, and analysts. Accurate player valuation impacts transfers, contract negotiations, and financial planning. In recent years, data-driven approaches have emerged to support traditional scouting with predictive analytics. This thesis presents a comparative study of machine learning models to estimate the market value of football players based on historical performance and personal attributes.

This thesis presents a comparative study of two independently developed machine learning systems designed to predict the market value of football players for the 2020–2021 season. Both systems were trained using real data …

An Analysis Of Employment Patterns And Career Decisions Among Dental Hygienists: In A Transforming Healthcare Landscape, Shirley Calderon Jamarck

Dental Hygiene ETDs

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors contributing to dental hygienists’ consideration of changing careers, retiring early, or feeling burned out. A 26-question survey was emailed to members of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association, with 742 responses meeting inclusion criteria. Participants evaluated aspects of their careers, including job satisfaction, wages and benefits, personal growth, work-related stress, burnout, work-life balance, and retirement plans. Results revealed that one-third of respondents planned to leave the profession, citing burnout, physical strain, and limited career growth as reasons. High correlations were found between job satisfaction and feeling valued, professional accomplishment, and growth …

Loss And Early Recovery Of Biomass And Soil Organic Carbon In Restored Mangroves After Paspalum Vaginatum Invasion In West Africa, Julio César Chávez Barrera, Juan Fernando Gallardo Lancho, Robert Puschendorf, Claudia Maricusa Agraz Hernández

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Invasive plant species pose an increasing threat to mangroves globally. This study assessed the impact of Paspalum vaginatum invasion on carbon loss and early recovery following four years of restoration in a mangrove forest with Rhizophora racemosa in Benin. Organic carbon was quantified in the total biomass, including both aboveground and belowground components, as well as in the soil to a depth of −50 cm. In addition, soil gas fluxes of CO ₂, CH ₄, and N ₂O were measured. Three sites were evaluated: a conserved mangrove, a site degraded by P. vaginatum, and the same site …

A Data-Driven Approach To Time Series Forecasting And Clustering Of U.S. Regional Drug Overdose Mortality, Koshali Hamy Muthunama Gonnage

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

The increasing rate of drug overdose deaths in the United States poses a critical public health challenge, particularly due to the surge in synthetic opioids and other high-risk substances. This study presents a data-driven framework that integrates time series forecasting and clustering techniques. Monthly mortality data for five key drug types: cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and oxycodone were analyzed using four time series forecasting models: ARIMA, ETS, TBATS, and NNAR. These models were evaluated using standard accuracy metrics RMSE, MAPE, and MAE to assess predictive performance. Signal decomposition approach based on Singular Value Decomposition and subspace modeling was employed to …

Improved Rational Approximations Of Pi, Nelson Carella

Publications and Research

The irrationality exponent of a real number α is defined by maximal value μ(α) ≥ 1 such that the inequality |p/q − α| < 1/qμ(α) is true for finitely many rational approxi- mations by relatively prime pairs p/q. The earliest result introduced the upper bound μ(π) ≤ 42 for the irrationality exponent of π. Subsequently, it was improved by many authors. The more recent result introduced the improved upper bound μ(π) ≤ 7.6063. This note introduces an improved irrationality exponent μ(π) ≤ 3. The optimal value is expected to be μ(π) = 2.

Rethinking The Applicability Of Section 8 Of The Canadian Charter For The Information Age And Beyond, François Tanguay-Renaud

All Papers

The Supreme Court of Canada’s interpretation of the right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure guaranteed by section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has remained fairly stable since the adoption of the Charter. Or at least, that is how the Court’s section 8 jurisprudence to date makes it seem. Yet, in some recent decisions dealing with digital communications and the internet—culminating in the 2024 case of R. v. Bykovets—the Court has, implicitly, brought into question the foundational principle based on which the right has historically been circumscribed. Or so I argue in …

Cultural Risk And Protective Factors Associated With Sexual Assault Among Hispanic And Non-Hispanic White Women, Daisy Ramos

Psychology ETDs

There is a paucity of research on sexual assault among Hispanic college women. Existing studies indicate that Hispanic college women report similar mental health sequelae as non-Hispanic White women following a sexual assault; thus, factors that protect or increase their risk is an area worthy of further investigation. Latino cultural values, such as familism, may serve as a protective factor for sexual assault among Hispanic college women, while acculturation with mainstream culture may function as a risk factor. This study examined whether ethnicity moderated the effects of cultural protective and risk factors on sexual assault experiences among Hispanic and non-Hispanic …

Some Corrections To The Record On Lemkin’S Early Years: The Evidence From Poland, Zachary Mazur

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This piece addresses some misunderstandings regarding Raphael Lemkin's early years in Poland, his influences and the development of his ideas. While discussing some of the extent published information, I point out what other archival documents from Poland and the League of Nations have to say about Lemkin's past. One of the main points is that Lemkin was an unreliable narrator on his own life, and this has caused confusion.

Arts & Literature: A Personal Reckoning: Taking Responsibility As A Perpetrator, Henry C. Theriault

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This autobiographical essay identifies three forces that shaped the author’s participation in the scholarly and political struggle against genocide and other mass violence and oppression. These include his status as the grandson of Armenian Genocide survivors, the fact that his father was killed in action in the US War of Aggression against Vietnam, and the bullying he experienced as a child and adolescent. It then pushes back against any sense of victimhood that has resulted from the combination of these forces, to recognize the author’s implication in perpetration of the US War of Aggression against Vietnam, which the author has …

Optimizing Distributed Boundary Exchanges For Benchmarks, Solvers And Sparse Matrix Operations, Gerald Collom

Computer Science ETDs

Boundary exchanges dominate the cost of both stenciled codes and those that rely on sparse matrix operations. The performance of large boundary exchanges is limited by synchronization overheads and injection bandwidth limitations. Irregular boundary exchanges incur additional overheads due to the large number of required messages. This thesis investigates multiple methods for improving the performance and scalability of both Cartesian and irregular boundary exchanges. Since boundary exchanges are typically performed iteratively, persistent communication presents an opportunity for optimization by sharing and amortizing setup costs. Partitioned communication is also explored to increase asynchrony, reducing bottlenecks from synchronization overheads and data congestion. …

Exploring Immune System Through Computational Modeling: A Comprehensive Study Of Lymph Nodes And Immune Response Scaling, Vaccine Efficacy, And Large-Scale Extreme First Passage Time, Jannatul Ferdous

Computer Science ETDs

The adaptive immune response is a complex defense mechanism that develops over time to recognize and eliminate pathogens with remarkable precision and durability. This dissertation investigates the dynamics, scaling, and efficiency of the adaptive immune response through a synthesis of computational modeling, mathematical analysis, and agent-based simulations. First, we analyze the topology of the lymphatic network and investigate the T cell search time to find the lymph node that is containing the matching dendritic cell. Second we show how the scaling of lymph node number and volume with body mass, leads to scale-invariant search times for T cells locating antigen-bearing …

“…Stay On It…”/A Theory///“Illumination Happens”//, Lara E. Goldmann

Art & Art History ETDs

“…stay on it…”/a theory///“illumination happens”// is a critical engagement with the work of contemporary Black artists Arthur Jafa and Adam Pendleton, explored through the lens of the Black radical tradition. Bridging aesthetics, politics, and history, the dissertation investigates how their visual, sonic, and conceptual practices articulate Black life, insurgency, and imagination.

Drawing on theorists such as Fred Moten, Sylvia Wynter, Hortense Spillers, Frantz Fanon, and Cedric Robinson, the study constructs a framework that considers Blackness as an ontological, social, and aesthetic force. It examines how Jafa and Pendleton unsettle dominant epistemologies, staging acts of refusal and creation that resonate within …

The Evolution Of Schooling: From Industrial Obedience To Techno-Autonomy, Seb Taylor, Ron Roberts Ii

Digital Laboratory: Publisher of Internet Journal

This paper examines the enduring architecture of the American education system as a mechanism designed for compliance, not creativity. Rooted in 19th-century industrial logic, the structure of schooling, its physical design, time constraints, and assessment methods, has remained largely static despite seismic cultural and technological shifts. Through historical analysis and contemporary critique, this work interrogates the persistence of standardized methods, institutional prestige, and top-down instruction as barriers to meaningful learning and value creation. Drawing from interdisciplinary research and live case studies, including Alpha School’s AI-powered, mastery-based model, the paper advances the concept of techno-education: a student-centered paradigm informed by feedback …

Scoping Review: Faktor – Faktor Yang Mempengaruhi Keputusan Lansia Memilih Senior Living, Nia Murniati, Badra Al Aufa, Mochamad Iqbal Nurmansyah

Jurnal Administrasi Bisnis Terapan

Abstract Senior living has emerged as an alternative solution to public health and social policy challenges amid the global acceleration of aging. Traditionally perceived as a last resort, life in senior living facilities is shaped by evolving dynamics in health, family, and society. This scoping review explores the key factors influencing older adults' decisions to reside in senior living communities during their later years. Utilizing Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Health Service Use as a theoretical framework, the review was conducted following PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Articles published between 2019 and 2024 were identified through searches in PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest, and Taylor & …

Hidden Struggles, Shining Leaders: Black K–12 Leaders Navigating Microaggressions While Leading Predominantly White Or Majority-Minority Schools, Yinka Dallas

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative narrative study explored the lived experiences of eight Black educational leaders navigating microaggressions in predominantly White or majority-minority K–12 school settings in Southern California. Framed by Critical Race Theory (CRT) (Crenshaw, 1989; Ladson-Billings, 1998; Solórzano, 1998), the conceptual framework of microaggressions (Sue, 2010; Sue et al., 2008, 2007), and informed by the historical displacement of Black educators and leaders following Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the study examined how participants perceived and responded to microaggressions, as well as the reported psychological and physiological toll of these experiences, and strategies employed to address, cope with, and disrupted incidents …

Making The Macc: Communities Of Practice And Cultural Citizenship In Austin, Texas, Cassie Lynn Smith

Anthropology ETDs

Meaningful community engagement is a challenge for local governments without a thorough understanding of constituents’ histories and their relationship with City government. This dissertation investigates the City of Austin’s (COA) Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) in Austin, Texas, to understand how this culture and arts institution engages with and is influenced by its patrons. This study analyzes the role of the MACC’s community of practice (Lave and Wenger 1991)—an evolving group of educators, activists, artists, and COA staff—in shaping public policy and educational programming as well as creating places of belonging for marginalized people in the city. …

Inequality And Covid Risk At School: Racial Disparities In Indoor Density, Vaccination Rates, And Consequences For Absenteeism, Michael C. Quinn, Michah W. Rothbart, Amy Ellen Schwartz, Brian Elbel

Center for Policy Research

During the COVID pandemic, schools were widely believed to be a venue that facilitated disease transmission. While some worried Black and Hispanic students would disproportionately face greater risk of COVID exposure at school (school COVID risk) – given well-documented racially disparate school environments and resources – little empirical evidence exists documenting or refuting potential disparities in school COVID risk. This paper begins to fill this gap by examining racial disparities in the school environments that contribute to COVID risk at school—specifically, vaccination rates and classroom space per pupil (indoor density) - in New York City elementary schools. We then document …

Microneedle-Based Lc-Ms/Ms Profiling Of Dermal Interstitial Fluid Reveals Early Lipid Dysregulation Contributing To Painful Neuropathy In Prediabetic And Type 2 Diabetic Rats, Srinivasa Rao Gadam

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN), a complication of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, also occurs in obesity and prediabetes, with dyslipidemia as a modifiable risk factor. The distal-to-proximal neuropathy pattern and length-dependent intraepidermal nerve fiber loss suggest peripheral contributions. We hypothesized that elevated neurotoxic lipid intermediates—diacylglycerols (DAG), free fatty acids (FFA), and acylcarnitines (CARs)—in the dermal interstitial fluid (ISF) drive metabolism-associated hyperalgesia in prediabetic and diabetic rats. Using a microneedle array (MIA) with LC-MS/MS, we profiled ISF and serum lipids from high-fat diet (HFD) and HFD + streptozotocin (STZ) rat models alongside Hargreaves testing. ISF lipid changes appeared earlier (weeks …

The Isoperimetric Inequality For Asymptotically Cat(0) Groups, Edric D. Dabu

Master's Theses

An asymptotically CAT(0) space is one where every ball of radius r is f(r)-CAT(0) for a fixed sublinear function f. An asymptotically CAT(0) group Γ is a group which acts properly and cocompactly by isometries on an asymptotically CAT(0) space X. Fix x0 ∈ X, choose D > 0 such that X = S γ∈Γ �� γ · B �� x0, D 3 ?? , define A = {a ∈ Γ : d(x0, a · x0) ≤ D + 1}, and let R be the set of reduced words in A of length at most 10 that represent the identity in …

Exploring Adversarial Threats To Neuralhash: A Perceptual Hashing Algorithm, Gurleen Kaur

Student Theses

Perceptual hashing algorithms are algorithms that generate content-based image hashes by extracting perceptual features from the images. Unlike cryptographic hashes, which exhibit significant changes with even slight input alterations, perceptual hashes do not change when modifications like compression, color correction and brightness are applied to the images. These hashes are designed to remain similar for inputs that are visually or perceptually alike, which has led to their widespread application in detecting duplicate images, finding similar images for reverse image search and to detecting inappropriate content of Child sexual abuse (CSAM) images by comparing image hashes with dataset of known perceptual …

Datasets Associated With Caballero Et Al. (2025): Sentinel-3 Coastal Analysis Ready Data (S3card): An Operational Framework For Coastal Water Applications, Cassia B. Caballero, Vitor S. Martins, Rejane S. Paulino, Thainara M. A. Lima, Elliott Butler, Eric Sparks

Research Data

This dataset provides access to twelve .zip archives containing pre-processed tiles from the S3CARD (Sentinel-3 Coastal Analysis Ready Data) framework. Each archive corresponds to a 2.5° × 2.5° coastal grid that includes an AERONET-OC (Aerosol Robotic Network – Ocean Color) station used for validation in Caballero et al. (2025). The data include atmospherically corrected, glint- and adjacency-corrected surface reflectance images derived from Sentinel-3 OLCI imagery.

Each tile includes:

- 21-band surface reflectance images in GeoTIFF format (valid water pixels only)

- Metadata files with acquisition geometry and processing details

These datasets support reproducibility and enable users to evaluate the S3CARD …

Beyond The Pitch: Teaching Emotional Labor In Advertising Education Through An Action Research Program, Michael Joseph Mallory

Theses and Dissertations

As the advertising industry continues to expand, new graduates must navigate the profession in the face of increasing challenges. With competition in the job market growing and Generation Z valuing work-life balance, the advantage of quality advertising education becomes paramount. Current advertising education does not address the challenge of emotional labor that professionals will face in the field. With limited scholarship that explores emotional regulation, communication dynamics, and client relations in an academic advertising setting, emotional labor in advertising education is explored through a thoroughly documented experiential learning study. This study employs Participatory Action Research (PAR) to investigate, develop, and …

Durkheim’S Structural Functionalism And The Integration Of Genocide In His Sociological Framework, Anthonie Holslag

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Genocide Culture: Cultural Habitus, Ethnic Engineering And Religious Doxa, Michael M. Gunter

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Teaching Philosophy, Growing Child’S Empathy : Derrida’S Trace Theory For Critical Thinking And Character Education, Fatimah Fraya, Fristian Hadinata

International Review of Humanities Studies

Child bullying cases increased significantly following the pandemic and took its toll on the need for emergency tackling and preventive action. This research focused on philosophy as a an approach to character building, using the synthesis method of literature views which also inspired from previous teachings known as Philosophy for Children (P4C), combined with hands-on experiment simulation. The aim is to discover a practical learning concept to enable philosophy to be introduced in children's classrooms at a certain age. Researchers found the intersection between philosophy and child character building beneficial in refining their empathy cognitively and creating better generations in …

Are We Too Invested In Sports?, Joshua E. Hollinger

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"What would it look like to rein in and re-orient our love of sports, such that it becomes part of our worship of the one true God?"

Posting about a balanced perspective on sports from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Are We Too Invested in Sports?

2023-04-25 Executive Council Minutes, Susie Salazar

Executive Council Minutes

No abstract provided.

Structural Variants: Mechanisms, Mapping, And Interpretation In Human Genetics

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Structural variations (SVs) represent genomic variations that involve breakage and rejoining of DNA segments. SVs can alter normal gene dosage, lead to rearrangements of genes and regulatory elements within a topologically associated domain, and potentially contribute to physical traits, genomic disorders, or complex traits. Recent advances in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics have greatly improved SV detection and interpretation at unprecedented resolution and scale. Despite these advances, the functional impact of SVs, the underlying SV mechanism(s) contributing to complex traits, and the technical challenges associated with SV detection and annotation remain active areas of research. This review aims to provide an …

Lessons In Longevity From Blood Stem Cells Under Protein Stress, André Catic

Center on Aging Staff Publications

Blood stem cells are among the body's longest-living cells despite being highly vulnerable to proteotoxic damage, which accelerates their aging. To maintain protein homeostasis (proteostasis), hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) employ mechanisms such as reduced translation rates, high chaperone activity, autophagy, and selective protein degradation. These strategies mitigate protein misfolding, maintain quiescence, and preserve regenerative potential. Disruptions in proteostasis can lead to the elimination of impaired HSCs through differentiation or apoptosis, ensuring the integrity of the stem cell pool. Due to the systemic impact of the blood on aging and its experimental and clinical accessibility, investigating HSC proteostasis provides insights into …