Digital Commons Network^™

Lights, Camera, Mississippi: Um Students Shine In Inaugural Festival, Jordan Karnbach

University of Mississippi News

OXFORD, Miss. – The Mississippi Film Society's first film festival celebrated creativity from across the state, but the University of Mississippi was all over the credits.

Disentanglement In Representation Learning: Interpretability In Dimension Reduction With Vae, Minh Hong Vu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research explores both theoretical and practical aspects of disentangled representation learning by extending the VAE framework. We address the core challenge of extracting independent generative factors from observed data while preserving high reconstruction fidelity. To this end, we propose two novel VAE variants: (i) the $\lambda\beta$-VAE, which incorporates an additional $\ell^2$-norm reconstruction loss to improve accuracy, and (ii) the $\gamma\beta$-VAE, which introduces a mutual information regularization term to encourage independence across latent dimensions.

Our theoretical analysis is conducted in a linear Gaussian setting, where we derive optimal solutions for these VAE-based models. We further examine how varying levels of …

The Future Of Public Service Loan Forgiveness (Pslf) Under The Trump Administration, Arrianne Bautista

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice (ERSJ) Blog

The earnings of public sector employees trail behind those of their private sector counterparts, and this income disparity is continually increasing. Thus, the burden of repaying student loan debt weighs heavily on public servants.  Lower earnings, and the resulting difficulty in repaying student loans, tend to dissuade individuals from pursuing or maintaining careers in public service, thereby leading to staffing shortages in essential workforce sectors, particularly since those positions often require highly educated candidates.  In 2007, Congress sought to address these burdens by passing the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (“CCRAA”), which established the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (“PSLF”) …

Music Performance Laboratory Ensemble, Department Of Music, University Of Richmond

Music Department Concert Programs

No abstract provided.

Academic Senate - Minutes, 4/15/2025, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

Educating Ots On The Benefits Of Virtual Reality With Post-Stroke Rehab, John Nacion, Zeida Gutierrez

Spring 2025 OTD Capstone Symposium

This capstone project focused on educating occupational therapists (OTs) about the benefits and applications of virtual reality (VR) in post-stroke rehabilitation. The primary goal was to increase therapists’ knowledge, confidence, and willingness to integrate VR into clinical practice. The project included the development of educational resources such as informational handouts, guidebook, and pre-and post-surveys to assess changes in therapists’ attitudes and understanding of VR. By bridging knowledge gaps, the project aimed to enhance patient engagement and improve rehabilitation outcomes.

Mental Health Wellness For Female Law Enforcement Executives And Their Perception Of Proactive Mindsets, Cindy Elizabeth Baughman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This qualitative study aimed to examine how female law enforcement executives perceive the use of mental health wellness in their professions. The phenomenological design provided an increased understanding of the lived experiences of those interviewed, specifically regarding their use of mental health wellness. The snowball sampling technique was utilized to recruit seven female law enforcement executives at the Sheriff, Under Sheriff, Chief, or Deputy Chief rank. One-on-one interviews were completed, data collected from the interviews was transcribed using NVivo software, and collectively, common themes amongst the participants’ interviews were identified. The gap in the research and the associated qualitative interview …

Mapping And Assessing High-Resolution Typhoon Exposure And Vulnerability In The Philippines: A Scoping Review, J. Andres F. Ignacio

Journal of Management for Global Sustainability

This scoping review synthesizes the extensive literature on mapping high‑resolution typhoon exposure and assessing household and housing vulnerability in the Philippines. With approximately 20 typhoons passing through the Philippine Area of Responsibility annually—and seven to eight making landfall—the country faces enormous challenges that demand localized and granular risk assessments. Early approaches typically employed fixed‑buffer techniques to delineate exposure; however, recent research has shifted toward dynamic, multi‑hazard models incorporating real‑time meteorological data, numerical wind field and storm surge simulations, and advanced remote sensing imagery. Concomitantly, vulnerability assessments have evolved from indicator‑based composite indices to hybrid approaches that integrate quantitative household survey …

Asking And Telling In Humanitarian Contexts: A Feasibility Assessment Of Para-Social Worker-Led Screening For Sexual Violence Against Children In Uganda, Abir Nur, Gloria Seruwagi, George Odwe, Peter Kisaakye, Stella Muthuri, Prosmolly Ayebale, Monicah Rwotmon, Dagim Habteyesus, Yadeta Dessie, Francis Obare, Yohannes Wado Dibaba, Bonnie Wandera, Chi-Chi Undie, Et Al.

Humanitarian Task Force

This intervention study focuses on an adapted version of a school-based response and prevention model that involves having trained para-social workers (PSWs) screen children primary school pupils for sexual violence and link survivors identified through this process to care. Situated in a refugee settlement in Uganda, the study finds that screening of this sort is feasible for PSWs to conduct, and effectively promotes sexual violence disclosure, in addition to enhancing the uptake of sexual violence services.

Nonprofit Leader Strategies To Retain First-Time Charitable Donors, Regina Goodrum Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

First-time donor retention remains a significant concern for nonprofit organizations, especially from rural nonprofit business leaders striving to maintain financial sustainability. These leaders care about identifying effective marketing strategies to retain first-time donors, as low retention threatens both their funding stability and their capacity to serve their communities. Grounded in single- and double-loop learning theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore marketing strategies rural nonprofit business leaders use to retain first-time donors to achieve financial sustainability. The participants included four different charitable nonprofit business leaders in South Georgia and South Carolina with successful experiences in …

Cryptocurrency Strategies For Small Enterprises, Ufuoma Omosebi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Due to their limited creditworthiness and growth potential, small enterprises (SEs) encounter significant challenges when securing their growth needs. SEs in Florida lack awareness, understanding, or practical guidance on cryptocurrency-based growth strategies. The purpose of the qualitative, multiple-case study was to explore the cryptocurrency-based growth strategies available to SEs in Florida. Rogers’s diffusion of innovations theory, Markowitz’s modern portfolio theory, and Thaler’s behavioral finance theory grounded the conceptual framework. Four participants identified through purposeful sampling as SEs in Florida used cryptocurrency in their enterprises. Data were collected using in-depth semistructured interviews. Five themes emerged from the six-phase thematic analysis: (a) …

Leveraging Attention Mechanism To Unlock Gene And Protein Attributes, Ala Jararweh

Computer Science ETDs

Advancing personalized medicine depends on effectively integrating and interpreting the vast, heterogeneous landscape of biological data, from genomic sequences and transcriptomics to the insights embedded in scientific literature. Current machine learning models often focus on single data modalities, limiting their capacity to capture the multifaceted nature of biological systems. We address this gap by developing three attention-based machine-learning models integrating diverse data modalities. Firstly, DeepVul is a multi-task model that leverages cancer transcriptome data to predict genes critical for cancer survival and their corresponding drugs. Subsequently, LitGene refines gene representations by integrating textual information from the scientific literature. Finally, Protein2Text …

The Placebo Effect For Opioid Abuse, Carly Longenecker

D.U.Quark

No abstract provided.

Behere Nevada: Partnership And Policy, Sara Hunt

Community Engagement Expo Research Posters

Partnership: Nevada ranks 51st in the nation for mental illness prevalence and access to care (Mental Health America). Significant shortages in mental health professions, especially in rural areas. Other states using policy and funding to implement a “grow our own” model for behavioral health workforce development. Proposed a behavioral health workforce development center for Nevada.

Marjorie Barrick Museum Of Art, Zida Wang

Community Engagement Expo Research Posters

This poster presents Bus to Barrick, a museum education initiative at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art that provides free access to arts-based learning experiences for students across the Clark County School District. Through funded transportation, guided exhibition tours, and hands-on workshops, the program removes barriers to museum participation and promotes creativity, critical thinking, and cultural engagement. The poster outlines program operations, participation data, educational outcomes, and future goals while demonstrating how university museums can support equitable access to arts education and strengthen connections between higher education institutions and local communities.

A Winning Strategy: Sports For Advancing Health In Underserved Communities, Chia-Liang Dai

Community Engagement Expo Research Posters

Prevailing disparities in health outcomes underscore the urgent need for targeted interventions tailored to the unique needs of underserved students. An after-school sports program plays a vital role in promoting comprehensive school health by offering structured team sports alongside social-emotional lessons and academic support.

In Our Simulation Era: Transitioning From Passive To Immersive Training, Jennifer Rice, Jessica Schmidt, Brooke Blair, Taylor Soltis

2025 Henry Ford Jackson Hospital Research Symposium

Background: Simulation-based training is an essential component of education for bedside nurses; simulation can include procedural skills and complex nursing assessments and interventions (Tsiouris et al., 2024). High fidelity simulations have been shown to improve professional nurses’ self-confidence (Guerrero, Ali, & Atallah, 2022). Based on the organization’s annual learning needs assessment, nurses identified their preferred method of education was through hands-on, simulation-based educational offerings. Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to increase nurses’ knowledge of critical care concepts, while increasing confidence implementing advanced nursing skills within their patient population through tailored simulation-based training. Methods: The Plan, Do, …

Scrub Club: No Dues, Just News, Danielle Elswick, Jennifer Rice, Jessica Schmidt, Mariah Foster

2025 Henry Ford Jackson Hospital Research Symposium

Background: At one midwestern teaching hospital, nurse engagement was not optimal and professional development opportunities focused on research and evidence-based practice (EBP) were lacking. The clinical nurse specialist (CNS) team identified journal clubs as an opportunity to increase engagement after reviewing the literature. This journal club was named, Scrub Club. Aims or research questions: The aim of this quality improvement (QI) project was to foster inquiry, disseminate EBP, build professional relationships, and utilize Scrub Club as a platform for professional development and advancement. Design: The QI project design was centered around the Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) framework. Previously, the …

Let’S Talk About It: Utilizing A Code Blue Debrief For Inpatient Resuscitation Events, Brooke Blair, Jennifer Rice

2025 Henry Ford Jackson Hospital Research Symposium

Background: There is evidence to support the use of implementing clinical debriefing programs in the hospital setting. Implementing a standard debriefing program for teams that care for patients in cardiac arrest is shown to improve outcomes, yet in practice most events are not debriefed. Many hospitals currently use a debriefing tool for traumatic clinical events. However, many of these debriefing programs are focused on the Emergency Departments and pediatric events. Hypothesis: Utilizing a standard debrief tool for inpatient clinical resuscitation (Code Blue) events can identify areas for quality improvement. Methods: A literature review was performed including articles that related to …

Del Policial Clásico Al Post-Neopolicial: La Estética Del Crimen En La Narrativa Mexicana, 1940–2020, Maria Carpio-Manickam

Purdue Studies in Romance Literatures

Del policial clásico al post-neopolicial: La estética del crimen en la narrativa mexicana, 1940–2020 is a comprehensive study of Mexican crime fiction from cultural, gender, social, political, and literary perspectives. This book covers the different phases Mexican crime fiction has evolved through in the past eighty years: classical detective fiction (1940–1960s), género negro (1970s), neopolicial (1980–2000), narconarrative (1990s to the present), and post-neopolicial (2000 to the present). The first half of the book offers an overview of the development of crime fiction in the United States, how it was adopted by Mexican writers in the 1940s, and the changes it …

Development And Evaluation Of Canbench: A Testbed For Assessing The Security Of Automotive Can Buses, Trevor S. Mcclellan

Theses and Dissertations

Modern vehicles rely heavily on electronic control units (ECUs) that communicate via the controller area network (CAN) bus, a protocol developed in the 1980s with minimal security considerations. The growing number of ECUs has heightened the risk of cyberattacks on vehicles. Although CAN bus security has been extensively researched, the CAN standard still lacks built-in security measures. Furthermore, testing proposed security mechanisms is challenging due to the proprietary nature of automotive systems. To address this, an open-source physical testbed was developed using inexpensive, off-the-shelf components to support automotive CAN bus security research. The testbed provides a controlled environment for simulating …

Reservoir Characterization And Basin Modeling Of Mesozoic Siliciclastic Strata For Sedimentary Geothermal Exploration, Iron County, Utah, Theodore L. Morgan

Theses and Dissertations

The transition zone between the Colorado Plateau and Basin and Range provinces of southwestern Utah provides excellent opportunities for future geothermal resource development. A combination of large fault-controlled extensional basins with outcrop analogs along basin margins, an elevated heat flow and thermal regime and the presence of porous and permeable sedimentary formations within extensional sedimentary basins allow for sedimentary geothermal exploration and development. Utilizing a reservoir-centered approach has the potential to dramatically expand the economic limits of geothermal plays in both established and frontier basins. This study characterizes a sedimentary geothermal system in Iron County Utah, centered on the Escalante …

Compositionally Complex Diborides: Competing Solubility During Sintering And Properties, Laura Silvestroni, Carlo Baldisserri, Jacopo Matteo Tabaglio, Nicola Gilli, Jeremy Watts, Steven M.I. Smith, Gregory E. Hilmas, William G. Fahrenholtz

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An ultra-high temperature ceramic based on ZrB2, TiB2, and SiC was hot pressed to full density at 1850 °C. Addition of 5 vol% of different metal-compounds, in the form of HfC, VC, NbC or CrB2, increased the densification temperature to 1910 °C. The resulting compositionally complex ceramics had homogeneous microstructures with boride grains exhibiting core-shell features. The shell was a solid solution containing variable amounts of the three metals. Notably, TiB2 remained as a discrete phase in the reference material and in the presence of the V- and Cr- based additions, whilst it dissolved into the main ZrB2-based grains for …

Longitudinal Assessment Of Moral Distress And Burnout During Pediatric Residency In A Canadian Site: Low Prevalence But Notable Risk Of Attrition, Kenneth S. Lee, Dianna C. Louie, Elaine O. Cheung, Peter Dodek, Dylan King, Kimee Chong

Journal of Wellness

Introduction: Although more than half of pediatric residents report burnout, the incidence of moral distress, the course of moral distress and burnout during residency, and associations between this course and personal characteristics of residents are unknown. The purpose of this work was to examine the incidence, temporal course, and associations of moral distress and burnout in pediatric residents.

Methods: In the pediatric training program of British Columbia Children’s Hospital, all residents were invited to complete the Moral Distress Scale-Revised thrice yearly, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory annually, between July 2016 and October 2018. In addition, residents reported a measure of …

Conducting Effective Literature Searches And Writing Strong Abstracts, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

This invited presentation for students at Poland's War Studies University communicates ideas on how Ph.D. students at this institution can enhance their research quality. Specific content includes formulating your research question, determining research aims and methodology, reviewing a research question checklist, understanding the meaning of search terms you propose to utilize, devising effective search strategies, consulting multiple varieties of information resources from multiple countries, finding gaps in literature, being able to distinguish between nuances in literature and data, writing succinct abstracts, and enhancing the clarity of your prose.

Rose Receives Award For Excellence In Academic Service Unit, Communications And Marketing

Campus News Archive

No abstract provided.

Tollefsrud To Give Student Address At Umn Morris Commencement, Communications And Marketing

Campus News Archive

No abstract provided.

Program Review Report 4-15-25, Angela Brock

Program Review Committee

No abstract provided.

Ucc Minutes 4-15-25, Angela Brock

UCC Agendas/Minutes

No abstract provided.

Ucc Agenda 4-15-25, Angela Brock

UCC Agendas/Minutes

No abstract provided.