Digital Commons Network^™

Subscribe, Follow, Save: Podcast Preservation In The Platform Era, Ben Pettis, Jeremy Morris

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Podcasting has produced a glut of cultural content. Collecting and saving these sounds for future study, however, remains challenging. This article asks: “How are recent developments in the platformization of podcasting threatening the ability of users and researchers to save, study, and sustain podcasts and the cultural insights they offer?” To answer, we focus on a podcast preservation project, PodcastRE.org, and discuss strategies for creating an (un)stable repository for future studies of podcasting. While new developments challenge preservation efforts, they also offer archivists opportunities to prioritize the cultural significance of podcasts, rather than the economic motives of the podcast industry …

Deciphering The Association Of Fasting Blood Glucose With Gamma-Glutamyl Transferase And Uric Acid: A Cross-Sectional Study In A Tertiary Care Hospital In South India, Anbalagan Anithasri, Rajagambeeram Reeta, Velmurugan Hasini

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objectives: Fasting hyperglycaemia (FHG) in insulin resistance is due to oxidative stress wherein gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) and uric acid (UA) are known to impair insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells due to their pro-oxidant action and their role in metabolism of antioxidant glutathione. This study aims to determine the association of GGT and UA with FHG and its role in predicting the onset of prediabetes. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Government Villupuram Medical College, Villupuram, India, from July to December 2023. Individuals in the age range of 25–65 years attending the master health check-up clinic were included. …

The Hidden Net Cost Of Data Center Construction And Operation For Household Service Pricing, Arezou Shafaghat, Mikhail Klimenko, Da Hu, Ali Keyvanfar

Faculty Articles

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating data center construction and creating downstream implications for households. This study examines how AI-era data center costs (comprising construction, energy, water, grid upgrades, cooling, and lifecycle management) move through service supply chains and affect household prices in healthcare, transportation, education, banking, and commerce. It also considers the productivity and welfare benefits that AI may transmit. This study identifies four pass-through channels: utility-rate socialization of energy costs, cloud-platform pricing, sectoral pass-through from AI-adopting industries, and indirect effects through supply chains and labor markets. It introduces the AI-inflated net good basket, defined as …

20260715: Registrar, Schedule Of Courses, 1964-1997, Registrar

Guides to University Archives

These items include materials from the Office of the Registrar. Items were received in the 1990s but were not processed until 2026. Items include notable materials from or about the Registrar's Office and include schedule of courses and some student ID numbers from 1964-1997. Please download the finding aid for a full list of contents.

Nurse Staffing Variation Viewed Through The Lens Of Institutional Isomorphism, Mara Raggi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Nurse staffing is strongly associated with organizational and patient quality outcomes. Existing studies have not adequately explained why nurse staffing levels vary across hospitals operating under similar external institutional isomorphic pressures. Secondary and administrative datasets, along with random-effects regression models, were used to analyze 6 years of data (2014-2019) and examine the relationship between institutional factors and hospital nurse staffing in the general acute care setting. The results indicate that coercive factors of state laws were significantly associated with nurse staffing. Staffing mandates and staffing committees were significantly associated with increases in nurse staffing, while public reporting was significantly associated …

Co-Designing Translanguaging-Informed Transformative Socioemotional Learning With Bilingual Kindergarten Teachers In Colombia, Catherine Restrepo-Widney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Emergent bilingual children enter early childhood classrooms with rich, dynamic linguistic repertoires that span languages, cultural practices, and ways of knowing. Socioemotional learning (SEL) often fails to meaningfully incorporate children’s linguistic and cultural repertoires, reflecting critiques that many SEL frameworks privilege individualistic, culturally narrow competencies that may marginalize learners from diverse backgrounds. This is particularly consequential in early childhood dual language bilingual education (DLBE), where children's heritage languages are central to authentic emotional connection and identity development, and where empirical models for culturally sustaining SEL remain limited. Through a participatory design research approach structured around iterative cycles of collaborative inquiry, …

Applied Research In Field Crop Pathology For Indiana, 2019, Darcy E. P. Telenko

Purdue University Press Books

Applied Research in Field Crop Pathology for Indiana, 2019 serves as a summary of the applied field crop pathology research trials conducted in 2019 under the direction of the Purdue Field Crop Pathology program in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Purdue University. In Indiana, there are more than 57,600 farms, 16,000 crop producers, and 900 certified crop advisers, Extension educators, and crop-protection industry representatives who manage more than 11.4 million crop-production acres with a total value of $6.3 billion annually. There are more than twenty diseases affecting corn, soybeans, and wheat that may decrease crop production and …

Aquaponics: Farming Fish And Growing Greens For Grades 9–12, Amy M. Shambach,, Rebecca M. Ward, J. Stuart Carlton, Kwamena K. Quagrainie, Tomas O. Höök

Purdue University Press Books

Aquaponics: Farming Fish and Growing Greens for Grades 9–12 teaches STEM-related course material through aquaponics, a water-based agricultural system that combines aquaculture (fish production) and hydroponics (soilless vegetable production) systems. This curriculum is aligned with Next Generation Science Standards and designed to be used with an onsite aquaponics system. Topics include an introduction to aquaculture, fundamental parts of an aquaponics system, the nitrogen cycle, water quality, population dynamics, our modern food system, and more. The ten lessons presented build on each other and are intended to be delivered in sequential order. Alternatively, lessons may also be utilized as stand-alone units …

Weather And Climate Science Education For Grades 3–12, Natalie J. Carroll, Theodore Leuenberger, Gretchen Leuenberger

Purdue University Press Books

What’s the weather today? People are interested in the weather so they can plan their day, determine what they should wear, if they should venture outside, when and where to vacation, and many other tasks. Gardeners and farmers need to understand both weather and climate to decide what and where to plant, and how best to take care of their animals. Homeowners also need to understand typical climate conditions, allowing them to determine which flowers and shrubs to plant on their properties. It also tells them what kind of insulation, furnace, and air conditioner to install. And when stormy weather …

The Effect Of Doping In Ferroelectric Hafnium Oxide, Adedamola David Aladese

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Ferroelectric hafnium oxide (HfO2) has emerged as a promising material for next-generation non-volatile memory and computing technologies because of its compatibility with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) processing, scalability, and robust ferroelectricity. However, the atomistic mechanisms governing ferroelectric phase stabilization, defect interactions, and polarization switching remain incompletely understood, limiting the rational design of high-performance HfO2-based devices. This dissertation employs first-principles density functional theory calculations to establish atomistic design principles for engineering ferroelectricity in HfO2 through strain, dopant incorporation, oxygen-vacancy engineering, and multivalent defect chemistry. The effects of strain orientation, yttrium (Y) doping, and oxygen vacancies on ferroelectric phase stability were first investigated. …

China Maritime Report #56: The Silent Service: Assessing Plan Influence In The Central Military Commission, Natalie Shen, Joel Wuthnow

CMSI China Maritime Reports

Main Findings

• Despite its impressive expansion, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is more of a "decision-taker" than a "decision-maker," with its growth driven by top-down political directives from leaders like Xi Jinping rather than by its own institutional influence.
• The PLAN's bureaucratic influence within the high command remains modest, with minimal representation on the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) or in its subordinate departments.
• The PLA Army (PLAA) continues to dominate top leadership and management roles, limiting the navy's ability to compete for resources and influence key decisions despite a strategic shift toward the maritime domain.
• Career progression for …

Fixing What You Cannot Xray: Mental Health Crisis In The Pediatric Emergency Department, Juliana Castaneda, Miriam Hancock, Ashlyn Holt, Nina Petersen, Jillian Vo

2025

No abstract provided.

When Leadership Is Denied: A Phenomenological Study Of Women's Lived Experiences Of Promotion Rejection In The Pakistani Fashion Industry, Atif Bilal, Faiza Majid, Shumaila Zeb, Saqlain Raza, Aliya Abdul Hayee, Wali Ur Rehman

Plymouth Business School

Despite the growing presence of women in creative and leadership roles within the fashion industry, many continue to face barriers to leadership progression. Leadership rejection remains a critical yet underexplored experience that can significantly affect women's professional identity and aspirations. The research aims to explore the lived experiences of women in the fashion industry who perceive being rejected from leadership positions due to discrimination. Using a qualitative, phenomenological approach, 13 semi-structured interviews were conducted with women in the fashion industry of Pakistan. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis guided data collection and analysis, allowing for a rich exploration of meaning-making processes. The study …

Climate Change, Governance Failure, And Violent Insurgency In Cabo Delgado, Hala Thabet

All Works

Contemporary literature increasingly links rising levels of armed violence in several African countries to the repercussions of climate change, particularly long-term environmental stresses such as the deterioration of agricultural livelihoods, resource scarcity, and recurrent climate shocks. However, this study argues that the relationship between climate change and violence is not an inevitable causal one, but can be understood as the result of the intersection of the failure of the post-independence nation-building project and the impacts of climate change on livelihoods and economic security. In Cabo Delgado province, northern Mozambique, repeated climate shocks and the resulting deterioration of coastal agriculture and …

Data For Social Impact - Data Drill Worksheet, Dan Ferris, Jenrose Fitzgerald, Hilary Sedovic

Center for Social Development Research

Emergency response teams often create hypothetical scenarios, such as a natural disaster or mass-casualty event, to test emergency preparedness in a city or community. We are all familiar with fire: orderly filing out of school buildings, meeting in a designated location across the street, and listening for instructions. Drills like these help us surface where there may be gaps in our planning or opportunities to streamline processes so that everybody gets out safely. Data drills adapt this model to focus on the data challenges involved in responding quickly to a crisis. This worksheet is designed to facilitate the planning and …

The Data Drill: A Useful Crisis-Response Tool, Dan Ferris, Jenrose Fitzgerald, Hilary Sedovic, Ally Terhaar

Center for Social Development Research

Social sector organizations are often on the front lines of crisis response. Whether the crisis is a natural disaster or a result of human decisions, agencies must act quickly to minimize negative impact on the community. Doing this effectively requires significant planning and data coordination. A data drill is a planning tool developed by Amen Ra Mashariki. Much like a fire drill prepares an organization for the worst-case scenario, a data drill can prepare leaders to utilize data to make clear, informed decisions in a crisis. This case study highlights a data drill designed to address a funding crisis facing …

The Tagmatized Echinoderm, Richard L. Turner

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Synopsis Tagmosis is a derived condition of metamerism in annelids, arthropods, and chordates in which groups of adjacent segments are modified to perform specific functions. Examples are the clitellum of earthworms, the carapace of lobsters, and the sacrum of tetrapods, to mention a few. The argument is advanced here that examples of tagmosis are not hard to find among echinoderms, a fourth major group of metameric animals; but the degree of tagmosis is weak in most cases. The first few segments of the axial skeleton are often conjoined as a perioral tagma (e.g., the jaws and other parts of the …

The Unequal Costs Of War: Income Inequality Amid The Russia–Ukraine Conflict, Jomana M. Eissa

Economics

Purpose: This study analyses how the Russia–Ukraine war reshaped income inequality dynamics across 10 post-Soviet economies, focussing on whether pre-existing structural dependency conditions influenced the transmission of geopolitical shocks into domestic income distribution.

Design/methodology/approach: This study applies the fully modified OLS model to a balanced panel data set of 10 post-Soviet countries from 1998 to 2023, enabling the estimation of both overall and country-specific results.

Findings:The empirical results reveal that the Russia–Ukraine war is associated with rising income inequality in several post-Soviet countries, with the largest effect observed in Ukraine. Russia-aligned countries suffered the most due to their close ties …

Scattered Light Noise At Ligo Livingston Observatory Induced By Microseismic Ground Motion, Debasmita Nandi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Gravitational waves are “ripples” in the fabric of spacetime and create a minuscule change in the distance between two points. After publishing his theory of general relativity in 1915, Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves as a consequence of the theory. Almost 100 years after the theoretical prediction, gravitational waves were detected for the first time in 2015 by the Advanced LIGO detectors in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington. Gravitational waves have a very small amplitude, making it very challenging to detect them. Different types of noise sources either of instrumental or environmental origin can reduce the astrophysical …

Emotional Vs. Informational Framing And Campaign Reach In Crowdfunding: Evidence From 15,901 For-Profit And Charitable Campaigns On Kickstarter And Kiva, Marco Trotta

Idaho Conference on Undergraduate Research

Crowdfunding campaigns rely heavily on how they tell their story. This study asks whether the emotional tone of a campaign description shapes how many backers it attracts, and whether that relationship looks different for for-profit campaigns compared to charitable ones. This paper analyzed 15,901 campaigns drawn from Kickstarter and Kiva, classifying each description as either emotional or informational and measuring reach by backer count.

The results are consistent across both campaign types. For-profit campaigns using emotional language had roughly 11.6% fewer backers than their informational counterparts. Emotional charitable campaigns also underperformed, attracting about 13.6% fewer backers relative to the informational …

Lidar(T) Open Source Pathways: Community Water Resistance To Hoku Ai Datacenter, Jonathon Van Der Horn

Idaho Conference on Undergraduate Research

We pivoted from our previous SARE project "Toward AI Water Sustainability: Indigenous Knowledge, LiDAR, and Art," (2025) focused on AI water usage and indigenous water rights and protection. A conclusion from that research concerned AI data centers in Oregon moving upstream to Idaho's Snake River. A 2026 public hearing in Pocatello, Idaho discussed an AI data center being built at the local Hoku site. The overwhelming community response against the AI data center over environmental concerns affecting local water systems led us to connect Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) maps of Idaho and Geographic Information System (GIS) applications for creative …

Genetic Monitoring For The Conservation Of An Idaho-Endemic Fish, Danny Wheeler, Yuri Calderon, Audrey Harris, David Meyer, Matthew Campbell

Idaho Conference on Undergraduate Research

Shoshone sculpin Cottus greenei are found in only a handful of springs around Hagerman Valley, Idaho, an area that has been heavily developed for agriculture, aquaculture, and hydropower. We sampled C. greenei in Banbury Springs, near the southernmost extent of their range, in 2014, 2018, 2022, and 2026 to monitor overall population health. Extracted DNA was sequenced using a GT-seq panel of 82 single nucleotide polymorphism loci, and genotypes were used to assess deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, calculate expected heterozygosity and pairwise F_st, and estimate effective population size. We found no significant changes across time, meaning the population has remained …

Sophisticated Song: Exploring The Evolution And Ontogeny Of Large Repertoires And Syntax Usage In The Bachman’S Sparrow (Peucaea Aestivalis), Heather Jean Wolverton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

While humans have the most complex vocal communication system, many of the features that make human language so intricate can be found in other taxa. One building block of language commonly studied in animal communication is syntax, or the organization of vocalizations. Birds, wolves, and cetaceans all display complex vocal signaling that utilizes syntax. Understanding how syntax functions in different taxa can help illuminate the evolution and development of human language and the role it plays in social cognition. The Bachman’s sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis) is a species of songbird that utilizes syntax in the form of preferred transitions …

Identification Of Volatility Regimes In Financial Time Series Using Mixture Models, Markov Processes, And Bayesian Updating, Shreesh Bastakoti

Idaho Conference on Undergraduate Research

Most of the real-world dynamic data do not have uniform relationships over time. Instead, they alternate between periods of stability and high variability. The financial market and its performance are the best examples of this phenomenon. These evolving changes are described as volatility regimes, or market behaviors where statistical properties of the signal differ across time intervals. Traditional statistical models backed by traditional financial models such as GARCH capture changing variance using a fixed set of assumptions, whereas today's machine learning models can detect structural patterns but lack the idea of explanation of probabilities, direction and interpretation of how different …

The Impact Of Aging On Macrophages In The Pancreatic Islet, Olivia Burnside, Lizbeth De La Cruz

Idaho Conference on Undergraduate Research

Islet-resident macrophages are immune cells within pancreatic islets that play key roles in maintaining endocrine homeostasis and surveilling the local microenvironment. However, how aging affects these macrophages and their function in islets remains poorly understood. This study will examine how aging influences the abundance and spatial organization of islet-resident macrophages, with emphasis on their relationship to islet vasculature. We hypothesize that macrophage number increases with age and is associated with age-related enlargement of islet blood vessels, ultimately contributing to impaired islet function. Pancreatic tissues will be collected from young, middle-aged, and old mice, then sectioned and immunolabeled with antibodies against …

Investigating H-Alpha Variability In Classical Be Stars: Β Lyr, 59 Cyg, And Γ Cas, Vinny Barnes, Josh Uriu, James Dull

Idaho Conference on Undergraduate Research

Classical Be stars are hot, luminous B-type stars characterized by hydrogen emission lines in their spectra. Among the most rapidly rotating stars known, they spin at 70-80% of their critical velocity, ejecting material into a circumstellar disk that produces these spectral features. Depending on viewing orientation, this can appear as either strong emission or sharp absorption lines. Be star variability arises from several sources, including disk instabilities, extreme rotation, and gravitational interactions with binary companions. To better understand this variability—and more broadly, hot star evolution—we obtained high-resolution H-alpha spectra of three known variable Be stars: 59 Cyg, OT Gem, and …

Spatial Analysis Of Regional Economic Composition On Freshwater Usage In The Us Counties, Ashok Bahadur Deuba, Karl Geisler

Idaho Conference on Undergraduate Research

The paper analyzes regional freshwater usage on the basis of industry across the US counties. While numerous studies have examined the relationships between industry and water usage, little information is available on regional economic composition of freshwater usage. The study uses water data from the USGS and industry data from the US Census Bureau for the contiguous US to explore the question using multiple spatial econometrics techniques. The preliminary results indicate Agriculture, Mining, Utilities, Construction, Manufacturing , Wholesale Trade, Transportation and Warehouse, Finance and Insurance, Real Estate and Rental and Leasing, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services, Management of Companies and …

Protecting Indigenous Food Sovereignty Through Ecosystem Management: Evaluating The Relationship Between Camas And Garrison At The Centennial Marsh, Sincere Martin-Teton, Hart-Fredeluces Georgia, Sidney Fellows, Joshua Grinath, Nolan Brown, Bailey Dann

Idaho Conference on Undergraduate Research

Food Sovereignty and ecosystem conservation are closely tied to the protection of traditional food systems for Indigenous communities. The Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh in south-central Idaho holds great significance to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, supporting tribal identity and cultural practices across generations. Camas (Camassia quamash), native to the marsh, has served as an important sustenance for the tribes. Alongside camas, an increase in monocultures of sod-forming Garrison Creeping Meadow Foxtail (Alopecurus arundinaceus) raises questions on whether these plants can be managed to coexist in this ecosystem. Introduced as forage for cattle, Garrison has had minimal research but …

Neuroactive Metabolite Assessment Of Gaba-Producing Probiotics For Healthy Aging, Sanaly Nava, Dishant Aggarwal, Samjhana Pradhan, Ken Aho, Cynthia Blanton, Javier Ochoa-Repáraz, Kavita Sharma

Idaho Conference on Undergraduate Research

Aging is a gradual process of weakening bodily function that leads to decline in physical, cognitive and behavioral abilities. Gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), a major neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, is produced by both neurons and gut bacteria, and plays a crucial role in numerous physiological functions. Notably, aging is associated with a decline in GABA production and alterations in gut microbiota. Therefore, restoring GABA production by correcting dysbiosis presents a potential strategy for managing age-related functional decline. To better understand how to support healthy aging, our study investigates the gut-brain axis and the potential of genetically modified GABA-producing …

The Use Of Breathing Meditation With Bipoc Trauma Survivors, Keerthi Sundaramurthy

Doctoral Dissertations

There is a growing body of evidence supporting the use of mindfulness-based practices to reduce psychological distress. Although interest in mindfulness-based care is growing, studies investigating virtual interventions for BIPOC trauma survivors remain limited. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of a breathing meditation intervention on mental health outcomes in a sample of trauma-exposed BIPOC adults, using a randomized post-test only design. Participants in the intervention group were asked to complete a 10-minute box breathing meditation daily for four weeks. Quantitative analyses revealed that those in the intervention group reported significantly lower symptoms of anxiety and …