Digital Commons Network^™

Thermal Aberrations And Optical Design For Current And Future Gravitational Wave Detectors, Matthew Richard Todd

Dissertations - ALL

Since the first detection of gravitational waves in 2015, the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collabo- ration has detected over 300 gravitational-wave events. Planned upgrades to each detector will further improve gravitational wave sensitivity limits, pushing the frontier of multi- messenger astronomy and paving the way for next-generation detectors, like Cosmic Ex- plorer and Einstein Telescope. Though many challenges to reach sensitivity goals are being addressed, there are still cru- cial aspects of the detectors that are poorly understood and will inhibit gravitational wave detection commissioners from bringing future detectors to their design sensitivity. In par- ticular, increased circulating arm power targets will exacerbate …

On The Suppression Of Vortex Shedding Within A Supersonic Dual–Stream Rectangular Nozzle, Matthew Anthony Qualters

Dissertations - ALL

Within an experimental rectangular dual-stream supersonic nozzle, a vortex-shedding instability forms at the blunt trailing edge of the splitter plate separating the Mach = 1.23 core flow and Mach = 1.0 bypass flow, with the combined jet further expanded to Mach = 1.6. This instability generates large coherent vortical structures that interact with the downstream recompression shock, inducing oscillations and producing high-frequency acoustic radiation that dominates both the near- and far-field. Active and passive control techniques are applied to suppress the formation of energetic, periodic vortex shedding and thus reduce or eliminate its effects on the flow field. Three control …

Forced And Driven: Pressures And Motives Of Better Marketing, Xiaobo Lin

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation comprises two essays examining how external pressures and internal firm characteristics jointly determine marketing decisions and their consequences for firms, stakeholders, and society at large. The first essay investigates the heterogeneous spillover effects of product quality crises on rival firms’ market value and rivals’ subsequent strategic adjustments in recruitment. Three concurrent mechanisms, the consumer switching effect, the industry demand effect, and the remedial cost effect, are proposed to derive and empirically test a nonlinear relationship between firm similarity and net spillover outcomes. Using event study methodology across 102 product quality crises among Chinese listed firms from 2017 to …

Knowing And Being Known: Monstrosity And Relationality In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Rachel Carpenter

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation looks at Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein as a prime example of the ways character relations and narrative form can invite both characters and readers to renegotiate the boundaries of monstrosity and humanity, how our notions of such monstrosity and humanity are constituted dynamically, through relationships, and how this negotiation is itself a religious relational dynamic. By closely reading Mary Shelley’s novel, I consider three main facets of the work: the epistolary frame of the novel as a series of letters and stories relayed between characters, the practice of naming that takes place within the novel, and the …

Press To End Nightmare: Technology, Disfigured Labor, And Retail Grocery Work, Katherine Mott

Dissertations - ALL

This study attends to the lived experiences of retail grocery customer service workers to examine how economic forces, namely the growth of online retail and technological advancements in information systems and data collection, are reshaping retail work. It draws upon in-depth interviews, content analysis, and eight months of participant observation working alongside predominantly college-educated customer service workers at Whole Foods Market, an upscale retail grocery chain with hundreds of locations across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Prior to the 2010s, Whole Foods Market’s decentralized management structure successfully deployed a hegemonic “post-industrial work ethic” rooted in environmentalism, organic …

"That Has Been My Entire Life Of Being Invalidated," Lgbtq+ And Poor: Experiences Of Cis-Heteronormativity And Neoliberal Poverty Governance In Cities In Upstate New York, Dustin J. Satterfield

Dissertations - ALL

Social welfare provision in the United States is neoliberal, punitive, and more about controlling people than alleviating poverty. Poor people are highly regulated by the state through welfare provision, with social welfare supports reserved for “the deserving poor” (Soss et al. 2011; Katz 2013; Hughes 2019; Purser and Hennigan 2019). Poverty is viewed as a personal moral failing and those seeking benefits must demonstrate their deservedness to be approved. Simultaneously, LGBTQ+ individuals in the US are at higher risk of experiencing poverty than the general US population (DeFilippis 2016; Badgett 2018; James 2016). Queer and trans people are more likely …

Feed-Ing Identity Item Development, Observational, And Experimental Analysis To Study The Relationship Between Algorithm-Based Short Video Platforms And Identity, Sarah Elizabeth Hogenboom-Jones

Dissertations - ALL

Short video social media platforms (SVPs) such as TikTok and YouTube Shorts are distinguished from other forms of social media by two key features: video delivery and explicit algorithm-driven selection. In this project, I argue that these platform features make SVPs particularly potent at reinforcing individuals’ identities and enable more effective persuasion relative to other media. These media are sufficiently unique that to study their effects I develop novel survey items designed specifically around the key features of SVPs. These items assess both usage of SVPs and their impact on identity. I find that users of SVPs are particularly likely …

A Study On Gender Equality And Geographic Homogeneity In Education And Their Association With Midlife Suicide, Julene Kemp Cooney

Dissertations - ALL

ABSTRACT Suicide consistently ranks among the top five causes of death for the U.S. population aged 25-64, and suicide rates have been rising in the United States since 2000. Although targeted efforts have been made to reduce suicide deaths among high-risk individuals, the upstream, or “contextual,” causes of poor mental health that drive suicidal ideation and completion are fueling a national mental health crisis that is overwhelming available mental health resources, resulting in a significant and needless loss of life. This three-chapter dissertation examines how suicide rates among midlife adults in the United States are associated with several upstream contexts …

Peptide And Peptide Bioconjugate Based Drug Development For The Treatment Of Metabolic Diseases, Nancy Cham

Dissertations - ALL

The Doyle group has coined the term ‘corrination’ to describe the conjugate modification of a peptide, protein, small molecule, or radionuclide with a corrin ring-containing molecule such as cobalamin, also known as vitamin B12 (B12), or cobinamides. By exploiting the innate chemico-physical properties of corrin ring-containing compounds, both in general and specifically via the innate dietary B12 uptake pathway in mammals, corrination has been explored for drug development and targeted/localized delivery of probes and therapeutics. Most recently, it is in the field of peptide-based therapeutics that corrination is generating significant interest, no doubt driven in part by the recent successes …

Three Essays On Social Security Retirement Age Reform And Its Implications For Older Adults, Halim Yoon

Dissertations - ALL

Rising life expectancy and declining fertility rates have led to rapid population aging in many countries. To address the resulting fiscal pressures on social insurance programs and encourage longer labor force participation among older adults, many countries have reformed their public pension systems. In the United States, the Social Security Amendments of 1983 gradually increased the Full Retirement Age (FRA)—the age of eligibility for full, unreduced Social Security benefits—from 65 to 67. While prior research has extensively examined whether this reform delayed Social Security claiming and retirement, much less is known about its broader and longer-term consequences for well-being, including …

Substance Use From Adolescence To Midlife: The Influence Of Religiosity, Childhood Aversity, And Sexual Minority Status, Joshua Glenn Grove

Dissertations - ALL

Substance use is a leading cause of premature mortality in the United States, with overdose and alcohol-related deaths rising sharply in adulthood and midlife. Religiosity is among the most well-documented social factors associated with lower substance use, operating through community ties, behavioral norms, and meaning-making. Yet despite the life course nature of substance use, research has centered primarily on adolescence, relied on cross-sectional data, and typically employed single measures of religiosity. Consequently, it remains unclear whether religiosity functions similarly across its multiple dimensions or among populations exposed to heightened social disadvantage, including individuals with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and sexual …

Image Restoration Regularized By Structured Sparsity Promoting Functions: Theory, Algorithms, And Applications, Jianchen Wei

Dissertations - ALL

Image restoration aims to recover an unknown clean image from observations degraded by blur, subsampling, missing pixels, or noise. This dissertation develops and analyzes variational image restoration models based on structured sparsity promoting functions (SSPFs) and their Moreau-enveloped regularization. The main objective is to design nonconvex regularization models that promote structured sparsity in transformed image representations while remaining analytically tractable and computationally effective. The first part of the dissertation studies an SSPF regularized image restoration model. Under the identifiability condition $\ker(A)\cap \ker(B)=\{\bm0\}$, where $A$ is a linear forward degradation operator and $B$ is a transform operator used to extract image …

The Unintended Consequences Of Deregulating Confidential Treatments, Jiahui Han

Dissertations - ALL

This paper examines how the SEC’s deregulation of confidential treatment under the FAST Act affected firms’ material contract redaction behavior and the broader economic consequences associated with disclosure opacity. Using a large sample of SEC filings, I document that confidential treatment is positively associated with both product market competition and lower 10-K readability, suggesting that redaction reflects both proprietary protection incentives and broader disclosure opacity. Further analyses using abnormal file size show that discretionary disclosure complexity remains significantly associated with redaction behavior after controlling for firms’ underlying economic complexity and reporting environment. I further find that the association between redaction …

Marble Bodies: Sculpture, Gender, Race, And Nineteenth-Century U.S. Literature, Madeline Olley

Dissertations - ALL

Marble Bodies reads across both literary texts and sculptures to ask how sculptural logic operates across forms to reveal what sculptors and sculpture offer the field of nineteenth-century U.S. literary studies—formally, theoretically, and methodologically. It argues that sculpture functions not merely as subject matter within nineteenth-century American literature but as an interpretive framework that reveals how bodies are objectified, valued, and assigned cultural meaning. With attention to the formal and material properties of sculpture—stillness, smoothness, and duration—and to the questions of ideality, valuation, and preservation that sculpture generates, this dissertation shows how nineteenth-century writers and artists found in those properties …

Aging Alone In Malaysia: Social Challenges And Legal Protections, Jal Zabdi Mohd Yusoff, Zulazhar Tahir, Siti Zaharah Jamaluddin

Hasanuddin Law Review

According to The Japan Times, nearly 28,000 elderly individuals in Japan will die alone in the first half of 2024. This alarming trend is not unique to Japan; many countries, including Malaysia, are facing the challenges of an aging population. As Malaysia approaches becoming an aging nation, issues affecting the elderly, particularly those living alone, demand urgent attention. While not all elderly people face the same circumstances, some enjoy stable finances or live with their family, while others live in isolation due to various factors, such as remaining unmarried, widowhood, or estranged familial ties. Some are simply separated by their …

Presentation – The Crel Framework: Structuring Ttrpgs For Real Learning, Cristo Leon

STEM for Success Resources

Welcome everyone. I want to begin not with a definition, but with an image. This poster is not only announcing an event. It is showing what role-playing games do. They gather many worlds into a shared space. In this image, the shamanic figure becomes a bridge among languages, traditions, stories, disciplines, and communities. That is also the purpose of the 10th International Colloquium on Role-Playing Game Studies: to create a space where people who care about role-playing games can meet, listen, connect, and recognize the knowledge already being created through play.

Weighted Average Ensemble Learning Model For Improving Brain Tumor Classification, Laith H. Alhasnawy, Hasanain Ali Al Essa, Tahseen A. Wotaifi, Abbas F. Hommadi, Ameer K. Al-Mashanji

Baghdad Science Journal

The detection of Brain Tumors (BTs) is of great benefit in identifying the growth of dangerous cells in the brain that pose a threat to the patient's life. Early detection of BTs remains a significant challenge due to subtle differences among tumor types and the complexity of brain anatomy. Manual diagnosis by radiologists is often time-consuming and subject to variations, which may delay treatment. Among available imaging techniques, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is widely used because of its high-resolution capabilities. Deep Learning (DL) has achieved remarkable success in image classification tasks through Transfer Learning (TL), which utilizes pre-trained models. Therefore, …

Predictive Mobility-Aware Analysis Of Controller Overhead In Sdn-Enabled Iot, Abdulrahman Saidu, Kamalrulnizam Bin Abu Bakar, Babangida Isyaku, Muhammad Nura Yusuf, Farkhana Binti Muchtar

Baghdad Science Journal

The rapid growth and increasing mobility of Internet of Things (IoT) mobile devices significantly intensify flow setup requests in Software-Defined Networking (SDN). Frequent movement of mobile devices across access points triggers repeated flow rule installations in data-plane switches, leading to excessive controller overhead under limited flow-table memory capacity. Inaccurate mobility prediction in existing approaches further aggravates this challenge by causing unnecessary rule placement and redundant flow setup requests. This study investigates the impact of mobility-aware prediction on controller overhead with experimental scenarios using different groups of mobile IoT devices, while considering controller CPU and memory utilization. A proactive mobility prediction …

Examining Nitrate Concentrations In Rainwater In The Marine Boundary Layer In St. Petersburg, Sam Irvine, Anson Kirsch, Ben Lloyd '25, Yasin Elshorbany, James Ivey

Student Research

Harmful algae blooms (HABs) are a common, natural phenomenon that occur in bodies of water. Karenia brevis is an algae species where, in excess, it can result in red tide events which deplete nutrients in the area, impacting aquatic life and releasing toxic gasses. Past research shows that K. brevis can grow through nutrient absorption in response to excess nitrate in water. This project sought to examine whether nitrates from rainfall are responsible for creating an increase in nitrogen concentrations in the water surrounding St. Petersburg which can lead to algae bloom growth. Results showed that rainwater has higher concentrations …

Data Scheduling Using Distance Function With Single-Pass Processing, Mahmood Shakir Hammoodi, Suhad Hatim Jihad, Mithal Hadi Jebur

Baghdad Science Journal

Task scheduling is one of the most fundamental difficulties confronting numerous sectors, including education, healthcare, and industrial management. Scheduling quality has a direct impact on performance efficiency, resource utilization, and end user satisfaction. With the growing volume and diversity of data, there is a greater demand for intelligent systems that can handle the spatial and temporal complexity of jobs and resource allocation. As a result, modern data analysis and decision-making processes have become critical for ensuring workflow optimization while reducing time and space waste. This study proposes an innovative approach to task scheduling that combines multidimensional data analysis using Data …

Assessing Clinician Preference For Redirection Of Care In Neonatal Tracheostomies, Gabriella Destefano, Alla Kushnir, Perri Donenfeld

Cooper Rowan Medical Journal

A spectrum of indications exists for the implementation of neonatal tracheostomies, ranging from short-term airway control to congenital airway anomalies. The decision to initiate long-term mechanical ventilation is multifaceted and can be influenced by factors such as physician preferences, caregivers’ attitudes, and comorbidities. It is important to have an ethical framework in place to guide the treatment of preterm neonates who may require long term mechanical ventilation. This study examines physician perspectives on the ethics of neonatal tracheostomy, focusing on the treatment of infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia. A mixed methods study, consisting of demographic information and 5 clinical vignettes centering …

Cardozo Law News Brief: June 26, 2026, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Briefs

Highlights from the June 26, 2026 Cardozo Law News Brief include:

• Cardozo celebrated the Class of 2026 at its 48th Commencement, honoring 304 J.D. graduates and 64 LL.M. graduates as they prepared to begin their legal careers.
• Professor Gary Galperin spoke to The Guardian and was quoted in The Wall Street Journal about the defense strategy in the Luigi Mangione case, discussing the likelihood of a psychiatric defense.

Faculty news includes:

• Sarah Chu, Director of Policy & Reform at the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice, published her paper "Move Fast and Strengthen Justice: A Framework for Responsible Technology Adoption" …

U.S. Service Member To Counseling Student, Nicole Marie Arcuri-Sanders, Kellie Forziat-Pytel

Educational Sciences and Organizations

This qualitative descriptive study examines the absence of military career pathways for licensed mental health counselors (MHCs) and the impact of this structural limitation on service members' career transitions. Findings indicate that both combat and non-combat veterans pursued mental health counseling due to personal service-related mental health experiences and dissatisfaction with available care while in service. Despite these challenges, many participants expressed a strong desire to continue serving their country as professional counselors. Over half of the participants reported separating from the military because no occupational role existed for licensed MHCs. At the same time, most indicated they would have …

Effect Of 3d Printing Orientation And Fabrication Techniques On The Marginal Adaptation Of Obturator Bases At The Defect Margin, Loshni.S Sagaran

Student Works (2020-2029)

Marginal adaptation of an obturator at the maxillary defect margin is essential for achieving an effective oronasal seal and satisfactory prosthetic function. However, evidence regarding the effects of fabrication techniques and 3D-printing build orientation on obturator-base adaptation remains limited. This in vitro experimental study assessed marginal adaptation of obturator bases at the maxillary defect margin and examined the effects of 3D-printing build orientation and fabrication technique/material. Fifty obturator bases were fabricated on an edentulous maxillary master cast with a Class I midline defect in two phases. In Phase I, obturator bases were 3D printed at 0°, 45°, and 90° build …

Long-Term Shoreline Evolution And Anthropogenic Impact: Evidence From 76 Years Of Coastal Change In Mazagón, Spain, M. Fernández-Hernández, M. Pastor, L. Iglesias, R. Castedo, K. S. Sajinkumar

Michigan Tech Publications

The Mazagón coast (Huelva, southwestern Spain) illustrates the strong imprint of anthropogenic interventions on shoreline dynamics. This study evaluates its evolution between 1946 and 2022 by digitizing historical shorelines from aerial photographs and quantifying changes through three complementary indicators: Net Shoreline Movement (NSM), End Point Rate (EPR), and Linear Regression Rate (LRR). Statistical analyses (ANOVA and Tukey’s test) were performed to assess differences between pre- and post-construction phases of the Juan Carlos I breakwater. The results indicate a prevailing erosive trend, with mean retreat rates of − 1.4 m/yr and localized shoreline losses exceeding 100 m. Prior to the breakwater, …

Seeing Is Believing: Mental Imagery Amplifies Moral, Emotional, And Motivational Responding To Mentally Constructed Hypothetical Events, Julie L. Ji, Adam S. Radomsky, Jackie Andrade

School of Psychology

Mental imagery is theorised to support important mental simulation processes, yet there remains little direct evidence of its functional impact on affective, moral, and motivation outcomes. This study examined whether the ability to generate visual mental imagery amplifies “as-if-real” responding to a mentally constructed harm event. Using a modified laboratory harm provocation paradigm, Aphantasics (individuals with no or minimal visual imagery; N = 32) and Visualisers (those with normal to high imagery ability; N = 48) were asked to write down the sentence “I hope [name of a loved one] is in a car accident”, followed by instructed mental simulation …

Isolation, Molecular Identification, And Biofilm Characterisation Of Klebsiella Pneumoniae From Clinical Specimens, With Evaluation Of Probiotic Lactobacillus Fermentum-Mediated Anti-Biofilm Activity, Sophy Ps

Muthanna Medical Journal

Background: Healthcare-associated infections caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae infection are increasingly associated with indwelling medical devices due to the organism's strong biofilm-forming ability, which enhances resistance to antibiotics and host immune responses. This study evaluated the biofilm-forming potential of clinical Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates and investigated the anti-biofilm activity of Lactobacillus fermentum under in vitro conditions. Methods: Fifteen clinical specimens, including catheter tips (n=6), sputum (n=5), and urine (n=4), were collected between September and December 2012. Isolates were identified using morphological and biochemical tests. Biofilm formation was assessed using the crystal violet microtiter plate assay. Molecular confirmation involved 16S rRNA gene sequencing …

Knowledge, Attitudes, And Practice Of Iraqi Parents Regarding The Issues Of Vaccinating Their Children, Taqi Mohammed Jwad Taher, Rami Bahaa Saadi, Rand Sadik Al Radhy, Mohanad Aljama, Houreleen H Salman, Mayameen H Salman, Mustafa Sabeeh Lafta Zubaidi, Shaymaa Abdul Lateef Al-Fadhul, Mohammed Firas Turki, Hasanain Faisal Ghazi

Muthanna Medical Journal

Background: Children's vaccination can help in the prevention and protection against various fatal illnesses. Aims: This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of both parents toward their children's vaccinations. Methods: This is a cross-sectional analytical study of Iraqi parents in Wasit province. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaires that were developed from published research and adapted according to local culture. Data was collected from three primary health care centres in Kut City, Wasit province, for 255 parents who visited centres with their children for any reason from the first of April 2023 to the thirteenth of July …

The Multitargeted Cellular Spectrum Of Quercetin: Ameliorating Xenobiotic Toxicities And Metabolic Disorders, Wissam Sajid Hashim

Muthanna Medical Journal

Quercetin, a prominent dietary flavonol, exhibits a diverse range of biological activities that extend beyond simple free-radical scavenging, encompassing vital cytoprotective, membrane-stabilizing, and metabolic-regulatory properties.¹ This comprehensive review elucidates the multifaceted pharmacological spectrum of quercetin in restoring physiological homeostasis under conditions of xenobiotic insults and metabolic stress.² Specifically, we synthesize experimental and clinical evidence—including pivotal comparative studies to demonstrate quercetin's exceptional capacity to regulate systemic lipid profiles, preserve hemorheological parameters, and maintain cellular membrane integrity across vital systems.^3,4 Furthermore, this review highlights the therapeutic efficacy of quercetin in mitigating industrial and environmental xenobiotic-induced toxicities, with particular emphasis …

Rethinking African Security In The Anthropocene: An Alternative Framework, Hamdy A. Hassan

All Works

Introduction – Traditional approaches to African security often treat neocolonialism, governance failures, and terrorism as isolated issues, obscuring their systemic interconnections under Anthropocene conditions of human-induced environmental change. This study argues that African security should be reconceptualized in light of climate change, resource depletion, and ecosystem degradation, as these dynamics reshape the continent's collective security arrangements. Methods – This research combines critical analysis of African collective security mechanisms, focusing on the African Union and the African Peace and Security Architecture, with qualitative evidence from 15 unstructured interviews conducted in Mali, Nigeria, and Egypt between July and October 2025. Thematic qualitative …