Digital Commons Network^™

Chimes: November 24, 2025, Calvin University

Chimes

Student Senate welcomes LCS council by Ellery Johnson

Administrators respond to student questions in second academic transition town hall by Ian Tjoelker & Ashley Hammons

Matins: A poetry collection by Professor Otto Selles by McKenna Wilkinson

No Noise November: A spiritual, physical and mental practice by Ella Vanden Berg

Seminary: A "seedbed" for growth by Joe Toly

Calvin's Women's Rugby on the rise by Hendrik Beelen

Furry friends on campus keep watch over students by Ashley Hamons & Maya Oeverman

"You Will Be Like God": On freedom and the fall of Anakin Skywalker by Joe Toly

Optical, Electrical, And Structural Properties Of Nio Thin Films, Derived By Sol–Gel Method, Tatyana Ivanova, Antoaneta Harizanova, Nikolay Petkov

Physical Sciences Publications

NiO films were successfully deposited by sol–gel spin coating on Si, glass, and ITO-covered glass substrates. The impact of the film thickness (the different number of layers), annealing temperatures (from 300 to 500 °C), and the substrate type on the crystal structure, film morphology, optical, and vibrational properties was investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed a polycrystalline structure and the appearance of the cubic NiO phase. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) was applied to explore the surface morphology of NiO films, deposited on glass and ITO substrates. The oxidation states of Ni were determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The …

Modified Artificial Neural Networks In Stochastic Differential Equations To Estimate The Occurrence Rate Of A New Process For Software Reliability Growth Modelling, Adel Sufyan Hussain, Zedan Zubair Mashikhin, Noora Taha Abduirazzaq

Baghdad Science Journal

This paper aims to utilize modified artificial neural networks under stochastic differential equations to improve the estimation of occurrence rates on models towards the growth of software reliability through such models. There has never been a time when reliable assessment methods have been more important as software systems grow ever more sophisticated. This study covers the risks arising from software bugs, security weaknesses, and the need to meet legal requirements. The authors use a new method that combines artificial intelligence techniques with classical reliability models to achieve their goal of a more efficient computational tool for predicting software reliability. It …

Enhancing Brain Mri Classification With Gray Wolf Optimization And Swin Transformers, Lamyaa Fahem Katran, Ebtesam N. Alshemmary, Waleed A. Al-Jawher

Baghdad Science Journal

With the rapid advancement of computational power, deep learning has become integral to medical imaging. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are widely applied to brain MRI scans for tumor classification due to their strong localization and recognition capabilities. However, their limited ability to capture long-range dependencies often leads to information loss and reduced performance in complex feature extraction. To overcome this, the Swin Transformer introduces a hierarchical attention mechanism with shifted windows that preserves spatial relationships and enhances the modeling of global contexts. This architecture improves the detection of intricate tissue textures and supports high-resolution reconstruction of MRI images. Furthermore, integrating …

Transformer Network On Global Self-Attention Mechanism For Brain Tumor Segmentation, Ammar Awni Abbas Baghdadi, Mohammed Al-Mukhtar, Ammar S Al-Zubaidi

Baghdad Science Journal

Transformers are a specific category of neural network design. Transformers often depend on extensive pre-training on a large scale and exhibit a notable degree of computational complexity. The disadvantage of using this method is a significant increase in computational complexity, which necessitates a significant commitment of time and computing resources in order to successfully work with these models. Transformer networks possess the desirable benefit of extracting distant characteristics effectively via their self-attention mechanism. In this paper, the Global Self-Attention Transformer module is applied to tackle these issues. The model is based on a segmentation problem called Brain-GS that works as …

Adolescent Girls’ Uptake Of Prep In Sub-Saharan Africa: A Meta-Aggregation Of Mixed Methods Studies, Susanna Aba Abraham, Dorcas Frempomaa Agyare, Benjamin Kofi Anumel, Mustapha Amoadu

Biennial Convention (CONV)

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is home to 25.9 million people living with HIV, with adolescent girls accounting for 63% of new infections [1,2]. These girls face risks compounded by gender-based violence, and limited sexual education [3]. Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), estimated to be 99% effective in preventing HIV from intercourse and 77% from injectable drug use, is a promising prevention strategy [4]. Despite its efficacy, PrEP uptake and adherence among adolescent girls in SSA remain low [3]. This meta-aggregative review synthesizes evidence on PrEP uptake, adherence, facilitators, and barriers among adolescent girls, addressing a critical gap in research.

Methods: …

Identifying Gaps Through Fetal Infant Mortality Review, Angela M. Schooley

Biennial Convention (CONV)

In the United States, about 23,000 liveborn babies die before their first birthday (National Center for Fatality Review and Prevention (NCFRP), October, 2021). Almost an equal number of babies are stillborn (NCFRP, October 2021). Reducing stillbirths and newborn deaths is a global priority. Ensuring all childbearing women and babies receive the right care, at the right time, from the right people is vital to reduce fetal infant deaths (Homer et al, 2020). The Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) examines fetal and infant deaths (National Center for Fatality Review and Prevention (NCFRP), 2024a). FIMR is community owned and action-oriented to …

Sense Of Belongingness In The Nursing Profession: Perception Of Students In A Ghanaian University, Gloria Achempim-Ansong

Biennial Convention (CONV)

The nursing profession is a noble and demanding vocation that requires a deep sense of commitment, compassion, and resilience. Nurses play a pivotal role in providing high-quality care to patients, promoting health and well-being, and serving as advocates for their patients and the healthcare system. However, the journey to becoming a nurse is often fraught with challenges, particularly for undergraduate nursing students who are navigating the complexities of academic and clinical training. Sense of belongingness plays a crucial role in shaping the academic, clinical, and social experiences of undergraduate nursing students.

This study sought to explore the sense of belongingness …

Energy Management Of Battery Supercapacitor Hybrid Storage In Electric Vehicles With Solar Integration: Review, Islam Sayed, Yousef Mahmoud

Faculty Articles

Hybrid energy storage systems (HESS) integrating batteries and supercapacitors offer a promising solution to overcome the limitations of battery-only architectures in electric vehicles (EVs). By leveraging the high energy density of batteries and the high power density of supercapacitors, HESS can enhance power delivery, improve energy efficiency, and extend battery lifespan. The effectiveness of HESS, however, is largely determined by the energy management system (EMS) that coordinates power flow under dynamic driving conditions. Unlike existing reviews, this work addresses common gaps in the literature, including the lack of industrial energy storage component examples, limited coverage of recently developed EMS strategies, …

Critical Technology Areas Part 2: Implications And Recommendations For The Warfighter And Warfighting, James Giordano

Strategic Insights

This commentary builds on the designation of six Critical Technology Areas defined by the U.S. Department of War: Applied Artificial Intelligence, biomanufacturing, contested logistics technologies, quantum and battlefield information dominance, scaled directed energy, and scaled hypersonics, to analyze their implications for future warfighting and to offer practical recommendations. Dr. Giordano explains how these technologies will compress decision timelines, blur attribution, and integrate across domains, fundamentally altering operational tempo and strategic risk. Preparing warfighters for these changes requires heightened technical literacy, updated education and training, organizational adaptation, and robust ethical frameworks. The article argues that doctrinal evolution, iterative experimentation, and interdisciplinary …

Design And Refinement Of Cybercelltm, A Virtual Reality Health Education Program For Adolescents And Young Adults With Sickle Cell Disease, Aimee Hildenbrand, Melanie Pitone, Benjamin Bear, Corinna L. Schultz, Sherman Finch, Danielle Morley, Stephanie Hubbard, Alyssa Decino, Melissa A. Alderfer, Lori E. Crosby, Fredric Freeman

Department of Pediatrics Faculty Papers

For people living with sickle cell disease (SCD), the risk for disease complications and premature death rises sharply in adolescence and young adulthood, when chronic organ damage is compounded by reduced preventive care. To make informed health care decisions, adolescents and young adults (AYAs) require effective education about their health condition and treatment options. We aimed to systematically design and develop a user-centered, evidence-based virtual reality (VR) health education program to optimize the use of SCD therapies among AYAs with SCD. We engaged a diverse team including AYAs with SCD and their caregivers, multidisciplinary SCD clinicians and researchers, patient education …

Guiding The Story World: A Comparison Of Diegetic Cues In A Snow White Vr Narrative Game, Jiayi Xu

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Virtual reality (VR) narrative games must guide players through complex story worlds without undermining immersion, yet prior work rarely compares different forms of in-world guidance under tightly controlled conditions. Designers routinely mix diegetic text, character behavior, and environmental motion, but it remains unclear how these cue families differentially shape cognitive load, task performance, and narrative experience when they convey the same instruction.

This thesis investigates how three common diegetic cue types—diegetic text, non-verbal gestures from a non-player character, and environmental motion and highlights—affect players in a first-person VR retelling of the Snow White story. In a between-subjects laboratory study, each …

The Next Frontier Of Environmental Advocacy, Center For Rights And Justice, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

2025 Event Invitations

The Center for Rights and Justice invites you to hear from three experts on environmental litigation and policy in a panel discussion moderated by Professor Alex Reinert. The discussion will be far-ranging, touching on domestic and international litigation, environmental policy, and climate justice.

• Wilson Dunlavey, a partner at the leading class action firm in the country, represents government entities, consumers, small businesses, workers, fishers, and residents in complex litigation against fossil fuel companies, automobile manufacturers, and other polluters.
  
  
• Raya Salter is the Founder and Executive Director of the Energy Justice Law & Policy Center and is an attorney, consultant, educator …

Relational Perception, Ecological Transition, And Artisanal Intelligence: Towards An Aesthetics For The Future, Nicola Perullo

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

In this essay, I address the issue of future generations according to relational aesthetics. Specifically, I propose a way of feeling and thinking about the future based on a particular mode of perception that stems from relational aesthetics: relational perception. Within this broad context, I propose a perspective that challenges assumptions in expressions such as ‘digital innovation’ and ‘ecological transition.’ Since I believe that relational perception needs to focus on the continuity of becoming, I emphasize the importance of the analogical dimension of thinking, which is currently overshadowed by the digital mindset. Finally, I suggest qualifying the potential of such …

The Environmental Impacts Of Super Bowl Host City Location, Joshua Sheibley, Charles Mango

Montserrat Annual Writing Prize

No abstract provided.

Candida Glabrata Vertebral Osteomyelitis Following L3-4 Transforaminal Lumbar Fusion: Illustrative Case, Bryce R. Michael, Adam Youssef, Paige Grafton, Saleh Mostafa, Jonathan Sayegh, Luis A. Robles, Abduljabbar Alhammoud

Student Publications

Background: Candida vertebral osteomyelitis is rare, particularly following instrumented spine surgery. Candida glabrata presents additional management challenges due to its frequent resistance to azole antifungal treatment and its association with immunocompromised hosts.

Observations: A 74-year-old immunosuppressed man underwent L3-4 transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion with cyst excision. Seven weeks postoperatively, he presented with constitutional symptoms and elevated inflammatory markers but was discharged with presumed viral illness. Nine months after surgery, imaging revealed cage displacement. Intraoperative cultures during hardware removal identified C. glabrata. The patient underwent repeat irrigation and debridement with hardware exchange and was treated with intravenous micafungin and oral fluconazole …

Assessment Of Traffic Related Air Pollution Effects On Indoor Air Quality In Educational Buildings, Ahmed Gouda Mohamed, Mohamed Sherif Dr., Fahad Alqahtani Dr., Yousif Deeb Eng.

Civil Engineering

This study assesses the impact of traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) on indoor air quality (IAQ) within a Riyadh school. The main objectives are to pinpoint factors influencing IAQ and to evaluate the effectiveness of existing ventilation and filtration systems. Air quality Egg sensors monitored nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter (PM1.0, PM2.5, PM10) levels both indoors and outdoors over 30 days. Findings revealed average indoor PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations of 14.09 µg/m3 and 18.15 µg/m3, respectively, while outdoor concentrations averaged 20.63 µg/m3 and 27.88 µg/m3. A strong positive correlation was observed between indoor and outdoor PM levels, …

Markey Holds Slim Lead Over Moulton In Massachusetts Senate Dem Primary 11/24/2025, Unh Survey Center

All UNH Survey Center Polls

Incumbent Democratic Senator Ed Markey holds only a small lead over Representative Seth Moulton in the race for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in 2026. Potential candidates who have not officially announced their candidacy, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Representative Ayanna Pressley, are very popular among likely primary voters. State residents are divided on a proposal to allow people to buy and consume marijuana in the same space if the vendor has a special license while they support a ban on tests for marijuana use as a condition for employment. Housing and the cost of living are cited most …

Rhode Island Democratic Gubernatorial Primary Muddied By High Number Of Undecided Likely Voters 11/24/2025, Unh Survey Center

All UNH Survey Center Polls

The 2026 Democratic primary for governor of Rhode Island remains unclear, as a plurality of likely voters are undecided on their choice of candidate. Helena Foulkes currently holds a slight lead over prospective candidate and Speaker of the RI House Joe Shekarchi and incumbent Governor Dan McKee. McKee is very unpopular among likely Democratic primary voters and suffers from low job approval among Rhode Islanders overall. Rhode Islanders would like state officials to intervene to keep Our Lady of Fatima and Roger Williams Medical Center open, with many state residents reporting they or their family used one or both hospitals. …

Some Like It Hot -Structural Changes In Extremophile Rubredoxin At 120 °C., Tzanko Doukov, Igor Leontyev, Francis E. Jenney, Dominic George, Stephen P Cramer

PCOM Scholarly Works

How does the structure of a protein change as the temperature is raised from cryogenic conditions at 100 K to 393 K? Understanding the structure and dynamics of proteins under environmental extremes is relevant for human health, biotechnological applications, and our search for life elsewhere in the universe. Here we reveal the high temperature crystal structure of a hyperthermophilic (Pyrococcus furiosus) rubredoxin at 393 K (120 °C), together with multiple complementary structures down to 100 K. The results are compared with molecular dynamics calculations. Significant changes in H-bonding are observed. Discussions about high-temperature protein structure and stability need to recognize …

Multigenerational Teachers And Staff Experiences, Perceptions, And Preferences On Organizational Change Communication In Schools, Chrystal Louise Fields

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizational leaders’ failure to adopt effective change communication strategies in schools exacerbates teacher and staff shortages, compounding factors that undermine student outcomes and overall school effectiveness. Multigenerational teachers and staff must understand change communication strategies as a leading indicator of unsuccessful workforce and organizational change in schools. Grounded in social constructivist theory and conceptually informed by Goffman’s frame analysis, the purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to explore how multigenerational teachers and staff experience change communication as recipients and agents of change in schools. The participants consisted of 16 multigenerational teachers and staff members across four generations from …

On Iterative Method For The Solution Of Non-Linear Equations Using Anti-Lobatto Four Point Quadrature Rule, Tusar Singh, Dwiti Krushna Behera

Baghdad Science Journal

By harnessing the classic anti-Lobatto four-point quadrature rule of degree of precision three, the order of convergence of the Newton-Raphson method has been profoundly enhanced. This newly developed iterative scheme reveals a remarkable order of convergence, reaching three and far surpassing the original Newton-Raphson method. It operates as a two-step iterative method that elevates Newton’s approach by integrating the quadrature rule. A theorem related to this innovative iterative method has been formulated, confirming that its order of convergence is indeed three. In the numerical computation section, insightful scenarios demonstrate the remarkable numerical efficiency of the new method. Through the power …

Efficient Face Mask Recognition Model Based On Deep Learning And Multi-Machine Learning Classifiers, Hassenien Ali Hussein, Firas Muneam Bachay, Saffa Jasim Mosa, Mohammed Hasan Abdulameer

Baghdad Science Journal

Safety in chemical and biological laboratories requires face masks. Nevertheless, the masked face images present obstacles to accommodate the wide pose variations, low resolution, changes in size and incomplete cropping, and varying emotive expressions, making feature extraction and recognition robust difficult. To decern between faces with proper, improper, and no facemask, Deep Learning (the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs)) and classifiers such as SoftMax, Support Vector Machines (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) were used. The methodology utilized the 2075 AR face images that contain various resolutions, orientations, and occlusions. The paper develops a Deep Learning-based model utilizing CNNs and …

Next Word Prediction In Social Media Texts For Punjabi-English Bilingual Users With Sequential Cnn-Bilstm, Gurpreet Singh, C P Kamboj

Baghdad Science Journal

Preparing a collection of Punjabi-English social media text and creating a next word prediction system for Punjabi users are the main goals of this study. As the Gurmukhi script has a large character set, typing in Punjabi takes a lot of time. That is the reason behind using the Roman script for communication on social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter by many Punjabi users. For such users, we have proposed a sequential CNN-BiLSTM architecture to provide suggestions to improve typing speed and make communication convenient. In our proposed model, we used 128 filters and a kernel size of …

Serum Levels Of Uchl1 And S100b In Covid-19 And Multiple Sclerosis Patients: A Comparative Study In Erbil City, Krg, Iraq, Daldar Fares Jeejo, Mayada Noori Iqbal, Nisreen Sherif Alyasiri

Baghdad Science Journal

Ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCHL1) and S100B are proteins involved in neuronal development and damage. Their levels in serum have been proposed as potential biomarkers for various neurological conditions, including COVID-19 and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The study aimed to compare serum levels of UCHL1 and S100B among COVID-19 patients, MS patients, and healthy controls, and to assess the correlation between these biomarkers in the context of COVID-19. This cross-sectional study included 91 COVID-19 patients, 29 MS patients, and 50 healthy controls from the Kurdistan Region (KRG) of Iraq. Serum levels of UCHL1 and S100B were quantified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay …

Investigating The Mechanisms Of Microbial Interactions Using A Model Cystic Fibrosis Polymicrobial Community, Bassam El Hafi

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Cystic fibrosis (CF) airway microbial communities are complex ecosystems where interspecies interactions influence pathogen survival and disease progression. We leverage a CF-relevant in vitro four-species model composed of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus sanguinis, and Prevotella melaninogenica, alongside a microbiome dataset with over 4,000 respiratory samples from publicly available sequencing data of CF patient samples, to explore the dynamics of microbial interactions in CF. On a broader scale, we performed microbial network analysis to examine how the latest modulator therapy, elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor (ETI), might influence CF microbial communities. Our analysis revealed a reduction in node connections and …

Study On The Mechanical Characteristics Of A Natural Fiber-Based Hybrid Polymer Composite, Sanjay Dharmaraju, Sureshkumar Periyasamy, Murugesan Palaniappan, Dawit Tafesse Gebreyohannes

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In this work, the hybrid fiber-based epoxy composite samples have been prepared with the application of three unlike organic natural fibers viz., Sisal (S), Ramie (R), and Flax (F) and epoxy as the matrix, with a weight ratio of 70:30 for epoxy and fibers. Six different stacking sequences of fibers, pure fibers and pure matrix were used for specimen preparation, namely S/F/F/F/S, F/S/S/S/F, F/R/R/R/F, R/F/F/F/R, R/S/S/S/R, S/R/R/R/S, PS, PR, PF, and Pure matrix. The composite specimen was prepared by manually and uniform thickness was obtained by the compression moulding process. The mechanical trials such as, tensile, impact, hardness, and flexural …

Regulating Privacy Policies On Digital Platforms, Michele Bisceglia, Alessandro Bonatti, Fiona Scott Morton

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We study how privacy regulation affects menu pricing by a monopolist platform that collects and monetizes personal data. Consumers differ in privacy valuation and sophistication: naive users ignore privacy losses, while sophisticated users internalize them. The platform designs prices and data collection options to screen users. Without regulation, privacy allocations are distorted and naive users are exploited. Regulation through privacy-protecting defaults can create a market for information by inducing payments for data; hard caps on data collection protect naive users but may restrict efficient data trade.

Student Life E-Newsletter November 24, 2025, Seattle University School Of Law Student Life

Student Life E-Newsletters

No abstract provided.

The National Landscape On Wellness Culture And Well-Being Best Practices In Healthcare Systems And Academic Institutions: Results From The Fourth National Summit On Promoting Clinician Well-Being, Megan Amaya, Bernadette Mazurek-Melnyk, Josh Winn, Jeff Messinger

Journal of Wellness

Introduction: The health of our nation’s healthcare workforce continues to decline. A comprehensive, whole-system, evidence-based approach is key to a successful wellness initiative and is the foundation for culture change. Building a culture of wellness leads to better mental health outcomes, healthier lifestyle behaviors, higher levels of engagement and job satisfaction, improved patient satisfaction and employee retention, and a positive return (ROI) and value on investment (VOI).

Methods: The purpose of this cross-sectional, descriptive, anonymous survey was to assess the organizational wellness culture of participants who attended the National Summit on Promoting Well-being and Resilience in Healthcare Professionals. …