Digital Commons Network^™

From Student-Athlete To Working Professional: Career Readiness For College Athletes, Elizabeth M. Gibbs

Masters Projects

College student-athletes face unique challenges in preparing for life and work after graduation. With a significant amount of time dedicated to their athletic career, many student-athletes have limited opportunities to explore potential careers, participate in internships, or get involved in activities or work on or off campus. The number of student-athletes has continued to increase, and it is important for student-athletes to utilize career resources available to them. Research has shown that student-athletes struggle with career readiness and lack of confidence in transitioning out of their athletic career. It is important to adequately prepare them for the workforce, as very …

Sustainability Recognition Program: A Gamified Approach To Student Engagement On Campus, Sydney K. Gandolfi

Masters Projects

This project explores how gamification can be used to increase student engagement in sustainable practices on college campuses by creating a Sustainability Recognition Program. College students, though aware of environmental issues, may struggle to connect individual actions with meaningful change. By introducing a point-based system with digital badges, milestone rewards, and leaderboards, this recognition program is designed to make sustainability more accessible, visible, and motivating for students living in residence halls. Guided by Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the program is designed to support students’ intrinsic motivation (autonomy), competence, and relatedness. By aligning sustainability goals with positive reinforcement and SDT, the overall …

Supporting Ftiac Student Transitions Through Various Orientation Programs, Zoe C. Shimones

Masters Projects

As retention rates for first-year college students continue to decline, there is a growing need for orientation programs to be thoughtfully designed. These programs should not only introduce the students to available academic and personal support services, but also begin to understand the institution’s history and culture. To address this challenge, this paper presents a series of orientation programs grounded in theory and research, aimed at supporting student through the critical transition into college. By aligning programming with student development theories, these orientation programs offer a comprehensive approach to improving the student transition process, which can lead to better retention, …

Standardizing Support: Creating A Digital Guidebook For College Access Professionals, Darci L. Vanwormer

Masters Projects

Despite the expansion of college access programs across the United States, a streamlined, comprehensive resource for college access professionals remains to be found. This gap disproportionately impacts first-generation, low-income, and racially minoritized students who may not have the knowledge and support systems necessary to navigate the realm of postsecondary education. Recent literature on college advising, college access, and diverse student needs was collected and analyzed to best inform the intervention. The purpose of this project is to provide an accessible, centralized guidebook via a user-friendly website that serves as a foundational resource for college access professionals and is supported by …

Rachel Barr, Huda Abu-Suwa, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Dr. Rachel Barr is a developmental and clinical psychologist, and a leading expert on early learning and memory. She has published and presented on over 200 articles, encyclopedia entries, book chapters, and poster presentations on subjects related to child development and psychology and continues to do research in these fields (Rachel Barr, 2019).

Robert Stoller, Huda Abu-Suwa, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Robert Stoller was an American psychiatrist who studied gender identity and sexuality. Stoller was born in 1924 and died in 1991 (Green, 1992). He died in a car accident near his home, at the age of 66 (Cook, 1992). Stoller received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and received his medical degree in 1948 from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (Goleman, 1991). Stoller also completed psychoanalytic training at the Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, where he worked under psychoanalyst Hanna Fenichel.

304-306 E 83 Realty, Llc V. Mason

All Decisions

In this post-answer motion, the tenant sought dismissal of a holdover proceeding based on improper deregulation. The landlord alleged the apartment was deregulated through high-rent vacancy in 2014, but the tenant demonstrated that the building was receiving J-51 tax benefits at that time, making luxury deregulation illegal under Roberts and Regina Metro. The court dismissed the petition, finding the apartment remains rent stabilized. The tenant's rent overcharge counterclaim was also allowed to proceed to trial, as the court found a colorable claim of fraudulent deregulation supported by failures to register and questionable IAIs. Practice Note: A landlord's ignorance of J-51 …

97th St. Commons, Llc V. Ortega

All Decisions

Landlord commenced a licensee holdover alleging tenant of record had vacated, relying solely on a DHCR order that dismissed tenant's lease complaint as moot due to supposed vacatur. Tenant moved for summary judgment, showing she remained in occupancy and had never surrendered or abandoned the apartment. The court found landlord's reliance on the DHCR order misplaced, holding DHCR lacks authority to determine primary residence and that its finding had no res judicata or collateral estoppel effect. Further, because the tenant remained in possession with a valid lease, she could not be bypassed as a necessary party. The court emphasized due …

Philbear, Llc V. Meltzer

All Decisions

In this nonpayment proceeding, the tenant moved to dismiss based on the landlord's failure to serve a Good Cause Eviction Law (GCEL) notice as required by RPL § 231-c and use of an outdated notice of petition form. The landlord argued GCEL did not apply to nonpayment cases, that the co-op was exempt, and that the arrears predated the statute's effective date. The court rejected all of these arguments, holding that GCEL applies to proceedings commenced after its effective date regardless of rent default timing, and that the mandatory form of notice of petition "required since 2019 "was not used. …

Tfcp2 Fusion-Positive Rhabdomyosarcomas: A Report Of 10 Cases And A Review Of The Literature, Madison P Ginn, Ryan A Denu, Davis R Ingram, Khalida M Wani, Alexander J Lazar, Douglas J Harrison, Michael S Nakazawa, Anthony P Conley, Shreyaskumar Patel, John Andrew Livingston

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background/Objectives: The fusion of the TFCP2 gene with either EWSR1 or FUS typically results in a spindle cell and/or epithelioid variant of rhabdomyosarcoma. This is an ultra-rare type of sarcoma, with most of our knowledge about these coming from case reports and small case series. Herein, we describe the clinical characteristics and treatment course of 10 patients with TFCP2 fusion sarcomas.

Methods: We identified 10 patients in our hospital system with TFCP2 fusion sarcomas and 43 previously reported cases in the literature. We assessed primary tumor characteristics, treatment regimens, and survival rates among all cases.

Results: We find that …

Acute Brcaness Induction And Ar Pathway Blockage Through Cdk12/7/9 Degradation Enhances Parp Inhibitor Sensitivity In Prostate Cancer, Fu Gui, Baishan Jiang, Jie Jiang, Zhixiang He, Takuya Tsujino, Tomoaki Takai, Seiji Arai, Celine Pana, Jens Köllermann, Gary Andrew Bradshaw, Robyn Eisert, Marian Kalocsay, Anne Fassl, Steven P Balk, Adam S Kibel, Li Jia

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Current treatments for advanced prostate cancer (PCa) primarily target the androgen receptor (AR) pathway. However, the emergence of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and resistance to AR pathway inhibitors (APPIs) remains ongoing challenges. Here, we present BSJ-5-63, a proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) targeting cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) CDK12, CDK7, and CDK9, offering a multipronged approach to CRPC therapy. BSJ-5-63 degrades CDK12, diminishing BRCA1 and BRCA2 expression and inducing a sustained "BRCAness" state. This sensitizes cancer cells to PARP inhibitors (PARPis) regardless of their homologous recombination repair (HRR) status. Furthermore, CDK7 and CDK9 degradation attenuates AR signaling, enhancing its therapeutic efficacy. Preclinical studies, including …

A Pioneering Artificial Intelligence Tool To Predict Treatment Outcomes In Ovarian Cancer Via Diagnostic Laparoscopy, Xiaotian Ma, Yu-Chun Hsu, Amma Asare, Kai Zhang, Deanna Glassman, Katelyn F Handley, Katherine Foster, Khwahish Sharma, Shannon Westin, Amir Jazaeri, Nicole D Fleming, Pratip K Bhattacharya, Xiaoqian Jiang, Anil K Sood, Shayan Shams

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Ovarian cancer is associated with high rates of patient mortality and morbidity. Laparoscopic assessment of tumor localization can be used for treatment planning in newly diagnosed high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC). While spread to multiple intra-abdominal areas is correlated with worse outcomes, whether other morphological tumor differences are also associated with patient outcomes is unknown. Given the large volume of visual information in laparoscopic videos, we investigated whether deep-learning models can capture implicit features and predict treatment outcomes. We developed a novel deep-learning framework using pre-treatment laparoscopic images to assess clinical outcomes following upfront standard treatment, defined as short progression-free …

The Zircon, April 25, 2025 [Spoof Issue], Dordt University

Dordt Diamond

No abstract provided.

The Determination Of Effort During The Evaluation Of The Injured Worker, Madison Davisson

Graduate Student Scholarship

For occupational therapists to obtain accurate pictures of clients and how they perform during assessments utilized within their scope of practice, full motivation and effort are needed for any result to be precise. When these two factors are not completely present, the dependability of performance measures is interrogated, with coefficients of variance (CVs) being one of them. This study aimed to establish an overall cutoff CV that could be used as a guide to determine if individuals were providing full effort during therapeutic evaluations. This was done through isometric strength testing in healthy college-aged individuals through maximal and submaximal effort …

Social Construction Of Technology In Vr Adoption For Science Education, Adipurwa Muslich

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

VR has emerged as a promising tool for revolutionizing science education, offering immersive and interactive experiences that can enhance student understanding. It holds significant potential as a communication medium for explaining the complexities of science in classroom settings. Despite its potential, VR’s penetration in science education remains limited. This research explored the facets influencing VR adoption in education, focusing on science teachers' perspectives in Jakarta. Using a qualitative approach, the study investigates how the SCOT concept, grounded in communication theory, affects the adoption of VR in the educational sector. Key themes identified included the role of networking, school culture, socioeconomic …

The Bacon, April 25, 2025, Beacon Staff

The Beacon, 2024-2025

Mugs filled to brim with mystery; Conhof can't read this headline; Crisis of a lifetime: man or muppet?; crime runs rampant at Northwestern; Conhof inducted into Roller Derby; Still winless after 46 runner-up finishes; "Poet of Polka" drops third album; Local legend takes control of tiny island;

Mirror Test Of Infant Self-Awareness, Jenna Bekkala, Naomi J. Aldrich

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Our understanding of self, or belief in one’s being as distinct from others, has been a subject of inquiry throughout human history. Discussions of self-concept would not appear in the empirical literature, however, until the mid-19th century. After likening an orangutan’s response to teasing as that of a “naughty child”, Charles Darwin began to question orangutans’ selfconcept by observing reactions to their own mirror images. Darwin’s use of the mirror to gauge self-awareness, a method eventually applied to his own infant son (Darwin, 1877), would remain the most frequently used assessment of self-concept for the next century.

Attachment Theory: John Dollard And Neal Miller, Carla Cabrera, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

No abstract provided.

Bio-Physiological Development During Adulthood, Maria Boix Braga, Charles J. Golden, Lisa K. Lashley

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Defining adulthood, and what the criteria truly is to be able to consider oneself an adult, varies from culture to culture. Biologically, adulthood can also be defined as the period in which full physical and intellectual maturity has been attained. It is a period that is defined slightly differently depending on the source, but it is agreed that it tends to be considered the life period between ages 18 and 60. However, the definition of adulthood can have varying legal and sociocultural factors as well. For example, the legal definition of an adult is a person who has reached the …

Navigating Multiple Identities Through Dai Xiaohua’S Literary Journey, Luo Chin

Student Works (2020-2029)

Dai Xiaohua is a prominent contemporary Malaysian Chinese female writer and esteemed cultural advocate. Over the course of a literary career spanning more than three decades, she has made substantial contributions across various genres, including prose, reportage, non-fiction, fiction, and social commentary. Her works have garnered numerous awards and recognition within both Malaysian Chinese literary circles and the broader global Chinese literary community, securing her a sustained position at the forefront of literary criticism. In addition to her literary achievements, Dai Xiaohua has been committed to advancing Malaysian Chinese literature, fostering dialogue between the Malaysian Chinese community and other ethnic …

Experimental Studies, Alexander Beaujean, Allison D. Gutierrez

Essays in Developmental Psychology

The concept of an experiment has undergone many changes in psychology's relatively short existence, and its essential features are still debated. Psychologists agree that it involves (a) systematically observing and recording phenomena; (b) explicitly describing the conditions under which the observations occurred, and (c) analyzing the resulting data to look for meaningful relations. The major area of disagreement is whether manipulation of phenomena is required.

Correlational Studies, Alexander Beaujean, Hannah Greeley

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Correlational studies are a type of research design that involves examining the relation among two or more phenomena. The design's distinguishing features are (a) data are collected more or less simultaneously, or at least treated as if they were collected at a single point in time; and (b) there is no manipulation of phenomena (e.g., assigning participants into groups).

Longitudinal Studies, Alexander Beaujean

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Longitudinal studies provide information about phenomena constancy and change. Their core feature is that the phenomena under investigation are observed repeatedly in the same participants (e.g., persons, animals, organizations), which requires collecting data at multiple time points (called waves). The participants, phenomena observed, duration of study, and number of waves can greatly differ between studies. For example, longitudinal studies with animals often gather data across many waves, but the entire study may only last a few days or weeks. By contrast, longitudinal studies with humans typically gather data at just a few waves but may last years or decades.

Infant Memory, Jenna Beffel, Naomi J. Aldrich

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Until the second half of the 20th century, the ability to recall information was thought to emerge between 2- and 10-years-of-age. Resulting from repression of our earliest sexual urges, immature neural mechanisms, or an impoverished sense of self and linguistic skills, infantile amnesia represents the predominant view of infancy at the time; a period in which the child possessed remarkably limited mental abilities, thus experiencing the world as nothing more than “one great blooming, buzzing confusion” (James, 1890). The research contributions of Dr. Carolyn Rovee-Collier over the next seventy years succeeded in altering this perspective.

Divorce, Effect On Child Development, Vijay Bajnath, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Childhood experiences of divorce affect multiple domains of development. Cognitive, emotional and physical areas of a child’s development may be impacted by the separation.  Models of development which take into account both biological and environmental influences suggest that problems of divorce impact the parental practices towards the children which lead to difficulties in emotional regulation and insecurity. These arenas impact health in both explicit health risk behaviors as well as biological responses within the body. The combination of these seen and unseen processes contribute to an overall impact on health.

Infant Imitation And Social Interaction, Caroline Bartes, Naomi J. Aldrich

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Today imitation (i.e., copying another’s behaviors) is recognized as the fundamental mechanism by which cultural knowledge is socially transmitted across generations (Gergely & Csibra, 2006). Indeed, inquiries into children’s imitation have been at the forefront of developmental science nearly since its inception. Piaget suggested that at its core, imitation acted as the child’s representation of self-in-action before the representation of self-in-thought (Piaget & Inhelder, 1966/1969). While Piaget discussed the presence of reflexive imitation within the first months of life (e.g., a baby crying upon hearing another baby’s cry), he reasoned that children could not imitate others’ gestures until the end …

Sequential Studies, A. Alexander Beaujean

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Sequential studies combine aspects of longitudinal and cross-sectional studies in order to overcome some of inherent problems in both designs. Longitudinal studies can provide rich information about phenomena change, but have two major disadvantages: (a) they can require substantial resources, and (b) they can confound effects of age, cohort (i.e., influences due to shared historical experiences), and time-of-data-collection effects (i.e., events that co-occur with the data collection occasions). Cross-sectional studies require fewer resources, but only provide limited information about developmental change.

Cross-Sectional Studies, Alexander Beaujean, Allison D. Gutierrez

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Cross-sectional studies are a type of research design used to understand time-related constancy and change in phenomena using data collected more or less simultaneously from different groups (called cohorts) of participants (e.g., people, animals, organizations). The cohorts vary on the basis of age or some other temporal phenomena (e.g., developmental stage, grade in school), so the combined sample is thought to represent the focal phenomena in the population at different times (i.e., a cross section). Differences among the cohorts are used to approximate developmental changes.

Prosocial Reasoning, Ryan Bennett, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Prosocial behavior is best described as a general range of actions that are intended to benefit individuals other than one’s self. Some of these prosocial actions include helping, comforting, and sharing with others (Batson & Powell, 2003). More specifically, prosocial behavior is better understood as one’s voluntary action that is solely meant to benefit others. Prosocial reasoning is the motivating influences for an individual to engage in a prosocial behavior. Some research suggests that reasoning behind prosocial behavior is a motivation toward altruism, a principle in which one individual is selfless and engages in behaviors that help others, despite personal …

April 25, 2025 Minutes, Swosu Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.