Digital Commons Network^™

From The Heart: Writing Love Poetry With Ai, Dan Ryan

Open Educational Resources

The chief reason our writing students turn to AI is not "laziness.” It’s fear. This lesson plan helps college students overcome their fear of a first-time poetry assignment by empowering them to partner with “collaborators”—first AI, then each other—to co-write a love poem before finally writing a poem on their own. This 4-hour lesson plan for a college-level Introductory Creative Writing course includes three low stakes drafting and revision assignments, and culminates in a high stakes poetry assignment.

The Tyranny Of Rockefeller Center: Architecture And Infrastructure In Greater New York, Joesph M. Watson

Funded Scholarship

Rockefeller Center has long been described as a city in miniature. The project’s aspirations to completeness have been discussed in a variety of terms, but most critics and historians focus on the contrast between the project’s cohesive visual language and the more varied urban landscape surrounding it. This preoccupation has led to blind spots in received understanding of this well-known project. This article focuses on little-known infrastructural and housing projects—some built, others not—that carry the Center’s history from the heart of Manhattan to the margins of the metropolis. To ensure financial viability, these projects mostly sought to pull wealthy, white …

Contemporary Normative Values For Five Common Static Standing Tasks On Firm And Compliant Floor Surfaces In Children Two To Thirteen Years, Nancy Darr

Funded Scholarship

Background/Objectives: Static upright tasks, including standing unsupported (SU), eyes closed (SEC), feet together (SFT), tandem (TS), and single limb (SLS), are routinely examined in children and are included in many norm-referenced measures. Existing normative values for these standing tasks may not apply to contemporary children and have not been established across wide age ranges. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate developmental trajectories of and relationships between four static standing positions (SPs [SU, SFT, TS, SLS]) in children aged 2 through 13 years who are developing typically. The effects of altered sensory input, including floor surface (firm and …

Repositioning Antimalarial Drugs As Anticancer Agents: Focus On Tafenoquine, Chris Barton

Funded Scholarship

Due to the expensive and lengthy process of drug design and approval, drug repurposing (or repositioning) has become another option for identifying preexisting molecules that may be used for alternative purposes. Recently, some antimalarial compounds have been shown to display efficacy against cancer cell proliferation. In this study, we provide evidence to suggest that multiple preexisting antimalarial drugs can reduce the viability of human cancer cells in culture. Furthermore, we provide the first evidence that one antimalarial, Tafenoquine (LD50 = 9.6 μM in HCT116 cells), is capable of decreasing viability with an efficacy comparable to Etoposide (LD50 = 15.2 μM …

Alternative Grading Approaches In Health Professions Education: A Scoping Review Protocol, Elena Wong Espiritu, Aine O'Connor, Sara Blass, Kathryn Lewis, Angela Shelton Clauson

Funded Scholarship

Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to map the existing literature on alternative grading approaches in health professions education and how these approaches are implemented.

Introduction: Although traditional alphanumerical tiered grading methods are widely used in health professions education, this approach is typically insufficient in providing descriptive feedback, allowing formative assessment, and promoting deeper learning and clinical application. Alternative grading approaches, including competency based assessment, pass-fail grading, ungrading, specifications grading, and others, are increasingly being implemented, but there is a gap in understanding which approaches are being used in which health professions programs and how the approaches are …

Forgoing Nuclear: Nuclear Power Plant Closures And Carbon Emissions In The United States, Luke Petach

Funded Scholarship

This paper examines the effect of nuclear power plant decommissioning on electricity generation and carbon emissions in the United States. Using data on nuclear reactor closures in the United States between 1993 and 2022 and data on state-level carbon emissions and electricity generation from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), this paper adopts a difference-in differences (DiD) approach to estimate the effect of nuclear decommissioning. Two-way fixed-effects (TWFE) DiD estimates suggest a nuclear plant closure increases annual state-level per capita carbon emissions between 6% and 8%. The increase in state-level carbon emissions is driven by a substitution toward fossil fuel electricity—particularly …

Tandem Virtue Development: Latent Growth Trajectories Of Welcoming Accountability, Patience, And Courage In Goal Pursuit, Robert J. Ridder, Hiroko Matsuo, Charlotte [email protected], Anne Jeffrey, Karen K. Melton, Perry L. Glanzer, Sarah A. Schnitker

Funded Scholarship

Informed by philosophical virtue theory, we tested developmental trajectories of welcoming accountability to other people in tandem with patience and courage. We sampled 870 US undergraduates pursuing personally-identified goals (N = 1,996 goals) across four timepoints in two years. Multi-level bivariate latent growth curve modeling disaggregated between-person patterns from within-person goal-level patterns for the three virtue measures. All three virtues’ slopes were nonsignificant, meaning virtues showed no uniform patterns of change for the sample. The slope of welcoming accountability was associated with the slopes of patience and courage so closely at the between-person level that a combined slope parameter was …

Simulations Of Electron Detection Systematic Errors For A Ucna+ Experiment, Rashika Gupta

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

The Ultracold Neutron Asymmetry+ (UCNA+) experiment at the Los Alamos Neu- tron Science Center (LANSCE) Ultracold Neutron source is an upgrade of the UCNA experiment, designed to measure the neutron beta decay asymmetry parameter, A 0 , with a precision of less than 0.2% using polarized ultracold neutrons (UCN). Neutron beta decay is governed by the weak interaction, and a precise measurement of A 0 provides a determination of the axial-vector to vector coupling ratio, λ = gA /gV . When combined with a measurement of the neutron lifetime, this allows the extraction of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix element Vud …

Optimizing External Radioactive Calibration Source Strength To Maximize The Livetime Of The Nexo Detector, Thakur P. Bhatta

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

The proposed next Enriched Xenon Observatory (nEXO) experiment aims to detect neutrinoless double beta decay in 136Xe, a rare process with profound implications for particle physics and our understanding of the neutrino. Achieving the required sensitivity demands ultra-low background conditions, making both material radiop urity screening and precise detector calibration essential. This dissertation addresses two key calibration challenges in preparation for nEXO. First, I investigated discrepancies in calibration efficiency measurements of the high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector named as GeIV located 4850 feet under ground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, Lead, SD. The root cause for the discrepancy was found …

Precision Measurement Of The Muon’ S Anomalous Precession Frequency Using Energy Integrated Analysis In The Fermilab Muon G- 2 Experiment, Joseph Peck

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

This dissertation investigates the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, aµ, through the Fermilab Muon g -2 Experiment, which aims to measure aµ to a precision of about 140 parts-per-billion.

Muons were injected into a magnetic storage ring where their decay positrons were detected by calorimeters. The changing spin and momentum orientation leads to an oscillation in decay positron counts, known as the anomalous precession frequency ! a. Using the magnetic field and !a measurements, we can determine the value of a µ. This study focuses on the Q-Method determination of !a, which utilizes an energyintegrated reconstruction rather than high-energy …

A Multidisciplinary Approach To The Thermal And Non-Thermal Mechanisms In Galaxy Clusters, Sheng-Chieh Lin

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

Galaxy clusters form at the intersections of the cosmic web and carry imprints of the structure formation history of the universe. As massive, multi-component systems, they offer unique insights into the astrophysical processes that govern both structure formation and galaxy evolution. Observable across the full electromagnetic spectrum, clusters emit photons through a variety of mechanisms, each tracing different physical processes. This dissertation investigates both the thermodynamic and non-thermal properties of the intracluster medium (ICM) to better understand the physical processes shaping observed phenomena. It comprises three main studies, each targeting a different aspect of galaxy cluster physics. In the second …

Structural And Physical Properties Of Solid State Materials: Cegage, Cssni3, And Yb2Si2-XGeXAl, Liam J. Scanlon

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

We present studies of three independent solid state materials: CeGaGe, CsSnI₃, and Yb₂Si_2-xGe_xAl.

CeGaGe is a magnetic candidate Weyl semimetal. Magnetic Weyl semimetals have possible technological applications due to their electronically conducting bulk states, magnetic states, and topologically protected surface states. We grew single crystals of CeGaGe using the zone-refinement method and flux-growth method. With single crystal X-ray and neutron diffraction, we found that zone-refined CeGaGe crystallizes with the I4₁md symmetry (space group 109). With single crystal X-ray diffraction, we found that flux-grown samples of CeGaGe have the …

From Proposal To Podcast: Starting A Student-Driven Pharmacy Podcast In The Classroom, Jarett C. Worden, Jennifer Duck

Funded Scholarship

Background: Podcasts are a widely available and popular educational medium for healthcare providers, residents, students, and patients. Podcasts are convenient, accessible, and may be effective education tools for listeners. While some studies have attempted to measure the effectiveness of podcasting to enhance knowledge, there are few studies evaluating podcasts in pharmacy education. The purpose of this project was to provide students with the opportunity to create a podcast episode through an in-class, semester-long assignment and to evaluate student perceptions of knowledge, confidence, and professional identity.

Educational activity: Over the course of a semester-long elective class, students worked in groups to …

From Affirmation To Equity: The Spiral Of Congregational Empowerment For Women In Baptist Congregations, Heather E. Deal, Will Ward, Gaynor I. Yancey

Funded Scholarship

Patriarchy has long structured Christian life and practice. In many Baptist settings, even formal affirmations of women in leadership leave a gap between stated commitments and women’s lived experience. This study investigates how Baptist congregations cultivate empowering environments for women by tracing the interplay of beliefs, practices, and processes through which theology is enacted in congregational life. Drawing on feminist theology and lived-religion perspectives, and using constructivist grounded theory, we conducted nine semi-structured interviews with 15 women clergy across seven U.S. Baptist congregations. Analysis proceeded through iterative initial, focused, and theoretical coding with attention to reflexivity and trustworthiness. Findings highlight …

Safe Data-Enabled Control Of Human-In-The-Loop Robotic Manipulator Systems, Ritirupa Dey, Avimanyu Sahoo, Vignesh Narayanan

Publications

Safe control of human-in-the-loop (HIL) robotic manipulators is critical for applications such as assistive robotics, teleoperation in hazardous environments, and collaborative manufacturing. However, this remains challenging due to the lack of a unified framework that simultaneously addresses safety constraints, external disturbances, unmodeled dynamics, and dynamic role switching in the HIL setting. In this paper, we propose a novel NN-driven HIL control framework in which human–robot dyadic interaction occurs through the haptic channel. Using Lyapunov stability analysis, we theoretically show that the proposed NN-based controller ensures accurate joint trajectory tracking, compensates for system uncertainties, and adapts to human inputs modeled as …

Community Health Worker-Delivered Tobacco Cessation In A Small Rural County, Ellen J. Hahn, Amanda Bucher, Amanda T. Wiggins, Kathy Rademacher, Whitney Beckett, Leeann Taylor, Audrey Darville, Jean Edward

BREATHE Faculty Publications

Purpose: We evaluated a Community Health Worker (CHW)-Tobacco Treatment Specialist (TTS) model for delivering tailored tobacco treatment counseling and support in a rural, low-resourced county.

Methods: This was an exploratory, prospective study of people 18 years or older who used any tobacco product including e-cigarettes or vapes in the past 30 days. The CHW assessed tobacco use, secondhand smoke exposure, and quit history; and collected an expired breath carbon monoxide sample and a brief health history before providing 4–6 in-person or phone-based sessions involving tailored tobacco treatment counseling and support. The CHW connected participants to a prescriber at a federally …

Long-Term Safety And Effectiveness Of The Treo Stent Graft For The Endovascular Treatment Of Infrarenal Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms, Matthew J. Eagleton, Michael C. Stoner, John Henretta, Maciej Dryjski, Jean M. Panneton, Apostolos Tassiopoulos, Manish Mehta, Benjamin Pearce, Mel J. Sharafuddin, Treo Investigators

Department Surgery Faculty Publications

Objective

Report on the long-term safety and effectiveness of the TREO stent graft in endovascular repair of AAA from a US investigational device clinical study.

Methods

Data from a multicenter, nonrandomized, prospective, US investigational device exemption pivotal study (NCT02009644) were used. From November 2013 to February 2016, 150 patients were enrolled at 29 US centers. Safety endpoints were defined as major adverse events (i.e., all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, stroke, renal failure requiring renal replacement therapy, respiratory failure, paraplegia, bowel ischemia, and procedural blood loss of 1,000cc or greater). Effectiveness endpoints were defined as no aneurysm rupture, absence of sac increase …

Student Perceptions Of Campus Facilities And Their Impact On Educational Experience, Steven W. Greenwood

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the perceptions of undergraduate students regarding campus facilities at a picturesque academic institution located in Northern California and explores how these perceptions impact their educational experiences and outcomes. Despite the significant role of physical and technological infrastructure in shaping educational environments, student voices are often underrepresented in the capital renewal process. This study aims to fill this gap by employing a qualitative research approach grounded in empowerment theory and using participatory methods, such as photovoice and semistructured interviews. It underscores the importance of student involvement in facility planning and renewal processes and introduces the research objectives, theoretical …

Cognitive Biases In Online Opinion Platforms: A Review And Mapping, Rudolph T. Bedeley

Funded Scholarship

Raising users’ awareness about cognitive biases in online platforms can result in better decisions. However, despite scholarly efforts to examine cognitive biases, there is still a lack of research that systematically analyzes, summarizes, and categorizes the current state of online cognitive biases. To this end, we conducted this systematic review by synthesizing the extant literature to reveal the current state of research on the prevalence and influence of online cognitive biases in the IS discipline. We described the mechanisms of the common cognitive biases, showed how they are studied, and mapped such biases in a six-level information processing model. Our …

Pedagogical Idealism, Race, And The Specter Of Africa In Josefina Aldecoa’S Historia De Una Maestra And Donato Ndongo’S Las Tinieblas De Tu Memoria Negra, Parker Lawson

Funded Scholarship

This article examines two contemporary Spanish novels, Josefina Aldecoa’s Historia de una maestra (1990) and Donato Ndongo’s Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra (1987), to assess the status of pedagogical idealism and experimentation with particular attention to Equatorial Guinea. Where previous scholarly attention to Aldecoa’s novel focuses on the protagonist’s credentials as a progressive pedagogue, this article draws attention to Gabriela’s etapa guineana to argue that the text cripples under the weight of postcolonial analysis as regards race, religion, class, and language. Drawing the novel into comparison with Ndongo’s text, the article argues that Spanish colonial pedagogy flattened, or sought …

Spectral Divergence Prioritizes Key Classes, Genes, And Pathways Shared Between Substance Use Disorders And Cardiovascular Disease, Everest Castaneda, Elissa Chesler, Erich J. Baker

Funded Scholarship

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are heterogeneous diseases with 

overlapping biological mechanisms and often present with co-occurring disease, 

such as cardiovascular disease (CVD). Gene networks associated with SUDs 

also implicate additional biological pathways and may be used to stratify 

disease subtypes. Node and edge arrangements within gene networks impact 

comparisons between classes of disease, and connectivity metrics, such as 

those focused on degrees, betweenness, and centrality, do not yield sufficient 

discernment of disease network classification. Comparatively, the graph 

spectrum’s use of comprehensive information facilitates hypothesis testing 

and inter-disease clustering by using a larger range of graph characteristics. 

By adding a connectivity-based …

Influence Of Virtual Reality On Lower Extremity Joint Kinematics During Overground Walking, Hunter Derby, Nathan Conner, Adam C. Knight, Harish Chander

Funded Scholarship

The inability to regain balance following a trip-induced event is one of the leading causes of falls and fall-related injuries in older adults. Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to expose individuals to realistic environments with minimal injury risk compared to real-world exposures. The purpose of this study was to compare lower extremity joint kinematics during overground walking when exposed to real and virtually generated trip obstacles. A total of 14 healthy participants [7 male, 7 female; age: 23.46 ± 3.31 years; height: 173.85 ± 8.46 cm; mass: 82.19 ± 11.41 kg; shoe size (men’s): 9.03 ± 2.71 s] were …

New Jersey's Mitigation And Adaptation To Climate Change: An Economic Analysis Of The State's Societal Benefits Charge And Community Solar Energy Program, Nicole S. Provost

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Understanding the current trajectory of New Jersey’s emissions and the existing legislation and programs implemented to help reduce emissions, it is evident that the State requires further actions to spur heightened emission reductions to reach its goals. One known impactful policy that could significantly accelerate this process is a carbon tax, which applies to emission-intensive goods. Although this policy does not currently exist in New Jersey, the State has a Societal Benefits Charge (SBC) that applies an approximate 3% charge to electricity and gas consumption on residential and commercial utility customers’ monthly energy bills, where revenues fund programs that offer …

An Experimental Investigation Into The Influence Of Colored Lighting On Perceived Spatial Impressions, Heejin Lee, Eunsil Lee

Funded Scholarship

The present study investigates the psychological impact of lighting color on spatial impressions within indoor settings, drawing on Mehrabian and Russell’s PAD model. The purpose of this study is to explore potential variations in spatial impressions, encompassing affectivity, tranquility, and thermality, across six different lighting colors (i.e., red, green, blue, yellow, orange, and purple). A controlled laboratory experiment was conducted with 101 participants, utilizing a color-changing LED lighting fixture to expose participants to actual lighting conditions rather than simulated images. The findings revealed significant differences in spatial impressions among the six lighting colors, indicating that the choice of lighting color …

Exploring Stress, Fatigue, Burnout, And Resilience Among Healthcare Personnel In Southeast Asia: A Scoping Review, Kelsey Trulik, Vijaya Arun Kumar, Wendy Wu, Muralidhar Varma, Mauli M. Patel, Kajol Manglani, Trini A. Mathew

Global Health Research Collaborative

This study aims to compare methods used to measure burnout, fatigue, stress, and resilience, as well as resilience-building interventions among healthcare personnel (HCP) in Southeast Asia. Even before COVID-19, HCP faced high levels of burnout and stress, exacerbated by the pandemic. Identifying effective resilience-building strategies is essential to supporting a healthier workforce. Studies published from January 2016 to December 2021 focusing on burnout, stress, fatigue, and resilience in HCP in Southeast Asia. A comprehensive literature search of seven databases (Jan 2016-Dec 2021), using terms related to resilience, HCP, and Southeastern Asian countries identified relevant English-language studies. COVIDENCE software was used …

Implementing And Evaluating A Pilot Interprofessional Training Program To Engage Health Care Teams In Cost Of Care Conversations, Jean Edward, Kimberly D. Northrip, Mary Kay Rayens, Julia Costich, Andrea Welker, Rachel O’Farrell, John A. D'Orazio

Nursing Faculty Publications

Introduction: This study evaluated the impact of Financial and Insurance Navigation Assistance-Training – a pilot interprofessional training program to facilitate cost of care (CoC) conversations and address health-harming social determinants of health in a pediatric hematology–oncology clinic.

Methods: A pre–post study design was used to evaluate the impact of Financial and Insurance Navigation Assistance-Training on an interprofessional health care team's (clinicians, social workers, financial navigator, and legal advocates) knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to CoC conversations and screening, referring, and collaborating with interprofessional team members. Data were collected …

Wondrous Uncertainty: Transforming Student Educational Experiences Using Restorative Practices, Zachary C. Schafer

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

One of the primary purposes of education is to help students make sense of their lived experiences. In the process of becoming, students navigate multiple relationships (school, peers, adults, and with self). These relationships often cause conditions of uncertainty which can be managed and transformed using restorative practices in tandem with the academic disciplines taught in school. Over the last decade this has been my inquiry puzzle, “As educators, how can we embrace uncertainty with students as a way of helping to empower them through their dignity, with the academic disciplines as a lens through which relational learning occurs in …

Group And State-Specific Estimation In Animal Movement Models Using A Bayesian Approach, Anita Bhandari Sharma

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This research study investigates statistical approaches for modeling the movement patterns of white-tailed deer in Louisiana using GPS tracking data. We start by classifying the latent behavioral states using a hidden Markov model (HMM) and then integrate those inferred states into a state-dependent step selection framework to evaluate the land cover preferences. Standard HMMs, however, assume the same movement patterns for all animals, overlooking the differences due to characteristics such as sex, age, breeding season, etc.

To address this limitation, we extend the modeling framework to incorporate the group-level structure defined by similar characteristics or conditions to assess whether such …

Diet Quality Mediates The Relationship Between Chronic Stress And Inflammation In Patients With Metabolic Syndrome, Junghee Kang, Debra K. Moser, Terry A. Lennie, Misook L. Chung, D. Travis Thomas, Martha J. Biddle

Nursing Faculty Publications

Background 

Chronic stress is associated with promotion of inflammation and development of metabolic syndrome, as well as deterioration of diet quality. Inflammation can be modified by changes in dietary intake.

Objective 

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that diet quality mediates the relationship of chronic stress with inflammation in patients with metabolic syndrome.

Methods 

Participants with metabolic syndrome (n = 73, 62 ± 12 years old, 71% female) completed questionnaires on chronic stress (Perceived Stress Scale-10) and diet quality (Healthy Eating Index-2020). The Perceived Stress Scale-10 was dichotomized. The Healthy Eating Index-2020 score was used as …

Championing Reproductive And Perinatal Health With The Recovery Community: Improving Access To Healthcare And Health Promotion Resources To Support Recovery, Hartley C. Feld, Alex Elswick, Jeremy Byard, Whitney Beckett, Amanda Fallin-Bennett

Nursing Faculty Publications

Peer recovery support services are instrumental in the promotion of long-term recovery primarily by focusing on building the recovery capital of people with substance use disorders. Women may have specific health-related needs that are not generally part of recovery support staff training. Our team co-created a model by training people with lived experience as coaches to promote the health of women with SUD during the critical period of their reproductive years when mortality from overdose risk is high and can be compounded by issues surrounding pregnancy. We explored the outcomes of a small pilot test of this model to promote …