Digital Commons Network^™

Spinoza And The Reciprocity Of Nature, Kevin S. Jobe

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This paper develops an account of the reciprocity of Nature in Spinoza as a central yet underappreciated dimension of Spinoza’s relational metaphysics. Building on Ziporyn’s interpretation of Spinoza, the paper argues that any understanding of infinity and necessity is incomplete without Spinoza’s relational account of the reciprocity of God or Nature (Deus sive Natura). Through a close analysis of the Ethics, the Principles and Letter 32, the paper shows that for Spinoza all finite things are reciprocally determined by another singular thing to exist in a certain way through the infinite, eternal and equal force [ …

Message From The President, Georgia Southern University

Messages from the President

No abstract provided.

Midweek Memo, Georgia Southern University

Midweek Memo

• Applaud 
• Remember 
• Share 
• Experience 
• Around the Nest

Automated Segmentation And Structural Remodeling Analysis Of Ipsc-Derived Cardiomyocyte, Bahareh Bahmani

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle that can change cell structure, protein organization, and overall heart function. Some forms of cardiomyopathy are genetically inherited, including Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), the most common inherited cardiomyopathy affecting nearly 1 in 200 individuals1,2, and Desmin-Related Cardiomyopathy (DRM), a rarer disease that affects approximately 1 in 2000 individuals3. Changes in cardiomyocytes’ cellular structure define cardiomyopathies, and these changes are typically studied with fluorescence microscopy. However, manual image analysis is slow, labor-intensive, and often gives inconsistent results, especially when images are analyzed by non-experts. This thesis presents an automated computational framework for analyzing cardiomyocyte …

Improving Semantic Precision In Text-To-Image Diffusion Models Via Latent-Space Optimization And Semantically-Parsed Evaluation, Mohammad Rouie Miab

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Text-to-image diffusion models can produce visually impressive images from natural-language prompts, but they often fail to satisfy the detailed semantic constraints expressed in compositional prompts. Typical failure modes include omitted objects, merged entities, incorrect quantities, incorrect attribute binding, and leakage of one entity's attributes onto another. This thesis studies the problem of semantic precision in text-to-image generation: how faithfully a generated image satisfies the structured meaning of its prompt.   The thesis makes two linked contributions. First, it presents a training-free inference-time refinement method for diffusion-based image generation. The method operates directly in latent space during denoising and uses noun-phrase-aware cross-attention …

Largest 2-Regular Subgraphs In Complete S-Partite Graphs, Yiyang Jiang

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis, we focus on the class of complete $S$-partite graphs, for $S$ an undirected graph possibly with self-loops, and address the problem of finding largest $2$-regular subgraphs of these graphs, which can be formulated as an integer linear program. Roughly speaking, a complete $S$-partite graph is obtained by replacing every single node of $S$ with a number of nodes, preserving the edge/non-edge relations of $S$. Our motivation in studying largest $2$-regular subgraphs is rooted in the structural systems theory, particularly in the problem of finding largest subnetworks that can sustain controllability or asymptotic stability of the corresponding subsystems. …

Enhancing Community Transitions For Outpatient Behavioral Health Clients, Sylvia Chonya

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Sustainability Strategies For Solo And Small Medical Practices In Kenya, Milcah Achieng' Odeny

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Implementation Of The Phq-9 For Early Detection Of Depression In Older Adults, Elsie Kumba Kamara

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

The Moderating Effects Of Body-Mind-Spirit Well-Being On The Relationship Between Diabetes Self-Efficacy And Type 2 Diabetes Self-Management, Carly Snodgrass

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Examining A Positive Variation Of The Good Behavior Game With Head Start Children At Risk For Child Adversity And Externalizing Behavior Problems., Alexandra Gibson, Courtney P D Goldenberg, Malinda J. Colwell, Amelia E. Talley, Joaquín Borrego, Adam T. Schmidt

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Children participating in the Head Start program in the United States are predominantly from underserved groups, have increased rates of child adversity, and are at risk for externalizing behavior problems in the classroom. The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is an effective classroom management strategy for reducing disruptive and off-task classroom behaviors. However, previous research has not examined the GBG within the Head Start context.

METHODS: The current case-controlled study evaluated the effectiveness of the GBG in six Head Start children aged 3-5. Researchers conducted daily classroom behavioral observations of disruptive behaviors, and teachers completed pre- and post-treatment assessments of …

What History Shows: A Structural Account Of Fixed-Point Theory Formation, Griselda Poe

Publications and Research

Theory generation has long been subsumed under categories such as creativity, genius, and innovation. These categories do not distinguish assembly-based conceptual synthesis from fixed-point theory generation.

This paper makes that distinction explicit. The termination condition of assembly is external: data, citation, endorsement, usability. The termination condition of fixed-point theory generation is internal: consistency with internally held constraints, resolution of structural contradiction. The two operate under different processing conditions.

The historical record confirms this distinction. What Darwin, Einstein, Spinoza, and Kant produced was not assembly. Their processes involved unresolved branch retention and decomposition necessity, arriving at internally constrained fixed-point termination. Freud …

Asymmetric Synthesis Of Borylated Amines Via Rhodium Catalyzed Hydroboration Of Allylamine Derivatives: Surprising Role Of Counterions And Accelerators, Rukshani Wickrama Arachchilage

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

The Catalytic Asymmetric Hydroboration (CAHB) reaction is a valuable method for synthesizing chiral organoboron compounds. Nevertheless, key mechanistic details, including catalyst activation, ligand effects, and rate-determining steps, are difficult to generalize and remain not fully understood. Building on previous research from the Takacs group, this work explores acyclic N-acyl allylamines as substrates in rhodium-catalyzed hydroboration and investigates the formation of active catalysts from various rhodium precursors, the role of counterions (e.g. BF₄, BArF-), ligand-to-metal ratios, and the impact of external fluoride additives (e.g. TBAT). Hydroboration of acyclic N-acyl allylamines achieves up to 90% yield and 99 : 1 …

Transforming Experience Into Practice: A Portfolio Of Growth, Identity, And Leadership, Ana I. Loli

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This professional portfolio documents the integration of my academic learning, practicum experience, and personal transformation throughout the Master of Social Work program at the University of Montana. Drawing from trauma‑informed, anti-oppressive, and culturally responsive frameworks, I demonstrate competency across micro, mezzo, and macro levels of practice, with particular emphasis on ethical decision-making, ADEI engagement, community assessment, policy analysis, research-informed practice, and collaborative leadership. Through narrative reflections and applied artifacts—including case analyses, simulated clinical sessions, community-based research, organizational evaluation, and leadership implementation—I illustrate how meaning, context, power, history, and possibility shape my approach to social work. This portfolio highlights my development …

Stance Detection On Social Media: The Impact Of Doping On Athlete Reputation, Connor O'Neill

Theses

Doping scandals can have a lasting effect on both athletes' and organizations' reputations, causing athletes to lose money and fans to lose trust in the organizations that govern their favorite sports. This paper investigates the impact a doping scandal can have on an athlete's reputation by  conducting a case study on Jannik Sinner, one of the top tennis players in the world, who ultimately accepted a suspension after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs, despite being unintentionally exposed. Using data sourced from YouTube comments on tennis-related videos, a fine-tuned Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.3 model with a classification head was used to carry out stance …

She Absorbs, Jamie Westermeyer

Theses

Drawing from lived experience, this thesis investigates the ways sensitivity, attentiveness, and emotional labor are cultivated over time, specifically within gendered environments that reward endurance and self-containment. The figures in this work exist within moments of tension—straining, compressing, and distorting under pressures that are often invisible yet deeply felt. This work focuses on endurance—how individuals adapt, absorb, and negotiate expectations placed upon them. My figures operate as both personal and collective bodies, embodying experiences that extend beyond being autobiographical. Moments of physical distortion and emotional discomfort coexist within the sculptures, allowing vulnerability and critique to appear simultaneously. Ultimately, the sculptures …

Interventions For Behavioral Symptoms Of Dementia, Christina Khouri, Robert Martin

Advocate GME

No abstract provided.

Professional Blend Xx, Rossie Rf Baker

Professional Practices (ART 399)

Over the years and with lots of considerations photography relating to landscape and nature are crucial to what I as an artist and photographer want to work with.These four photographs were a way for me as an artist to have free range on what I wanted to capture. Not only did I have free range with what I wanted to capture but as well as how I wanted to capture my photographs. At first glance it just seems that there are four photographs of trees. The point is not to just look and see trees but to look and see …

Empowering Junior High School Students’ Collaboration Skills Through Science Learning Using The Secret Mission Game, Rahma Fika Kurnia, Imraatul Mufidah, Dyne Rizki Puspitasari

Journal of Innovation and Teacher Professionalism

This study aimed to empower the collaboration skills of Class VII B students at SMP Laboratorium UM through the implementation of the Game-Based Learning model using the Secret Mission game in science learning on the topic of Physical and Chemical Changes. The study was motivated by the low level of students’ collaboration skills, as indicated by previous classroom assignments that were mostly completed individually rather than collaboratively in groups. The study employed the Lesson Study approach, which consisted of three stages: Plan, Do, and See. During the planning stage, the Lesson Study team collaboratively designed learning modules, game scenarios, instructional …

Propasafe-Hybrid: A Text-Based Hybrid Propaganda Detection Tool, Thomas Kimmeth, Avijit Roy, Vivek Sharma

Publications and Research

Propagandistic content increasingly circulates through online news and social media, where readers often encounter it with limited scrutiny, highlighting the need for reliable and fine-grained detection. This paper introduces Propasafe-Hybrid, a sentence-level system that integrates a fine-tuned transformer classifier with LLM-based technique classification to identify, label, and explain specific propaganda strategies. The pipeline generates actionable outputs, including highlighted sentences, technique assignments, and concise rationales, so users can immediately understand why a sentence was flagged and how each label was determined. To control inference cost, Propasafe-Hybrid employs a cost-aware pre-filtering stage that forwards only high-likelihood sentences to LLMs, reducing token usage …

Meet And Greet With Tony Pérez (Laii Career Series), Tony Pérez

LAII Events

This event will offer students the opportunity to learn about Tony Pérez’s career in public service and to engage with him about his current work in the field. Students interested in pursuing careers in government service are especially encouraged to attend. Light refreshments will be provided.

José Antonio “Tony” Pérez is a New Mexico native who earned dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Latin American Studies and Spanish in 2012 from UNM. He furthered his education by completing a Master of Arts in International (Sustainable) Development at the SIT Graduate Institute in Washington, D.C., in August 2014. Tony currently serves …

Predicting And Decoding Allosteric Binding Sites Using Protein Language Models And Structure-Based Machine Learning: An Energy Landscape-Guided Explainable Ai Framework, Kamila Riedlová, Vít Skrhák, William G. Gatlin, Max Ludwick, Lucas Turano, Marian Novotný, David Hoksza, Gennady M. Verkhivker

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Computational prediction of allosteric binding sites in protein structures remains a persistent challenge, as these regulatory pockets evade detection by both sequence-based and structure-based algorithms. Both computational and physical origins of this predictive asymmetry remain insufficiently understood. In this study, we systematically examine the determinants of binding site predictability using a dual framework that integrates a fine-tuned protein language model and the structure-based method P2Rank as complementary tools probing a diverse data set of 453 human kinases, together with a physics-based interpretability layer derived from energy landscape frustration analysis. Both predictors exhibit a sharp and reproducible dichotomy on protein kinases, …

Does Your Sleep Really Matter?, Kristy Riddle

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In this project, I am tracking 10 of my daily statistics revolving around my routine. I am using an Oura Ring to help accomplish some of the statistics. These include: readiness score, sleep score, screen time on cell phone, time spent on social media, steps taken, stress levels, restorative time, pages read, homework time spent, and oz of water consumed. I will be utilizing Excel for my data and will have around 3 months worth of statistics. hope to learn more about my levels of efficient sleep and how I can better improve my motivation as a student. This project …

Does Corruption Deter Voters? Assessing Citizen Response To Governance Failures In Mexico (2023), Kailey E. Swart

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

What is the impact of corruption on voter turnout in Mexico? With the country’s political sphere of government corruption, such as bribery, favoritism, misuse of public funds, and abuse of authority by public officials, citizens’ responses to these issues have left many scholars with varied outcomes. While some say perceptions of corruption can lead to lower trust in political institutions, making people feel their voices are useless and that voting is pointless, others claim that, despite corruption, many citizens still feel compelled to participate in elections to punish corrupt officials. These perspectives, when citizens believe the government is corrupt, can …

Political Villains: America’S Perception Of Corrupt Politicians, Robin Nakamura

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Online and social media sources have made political news more accessible and digestible than ever before. While beneficial, it raises questions regarding the truth and quality of political news being spread and the effects it may be having on the public. In this paper, I seek to expand on existing research regarding political corruption and online media sources. Previous research has highlighted the rise of disinformation in online news sources, noting that social media reporting does not necessarily hold government officials accountable. Using the Chapman University Survey of American Fears Wave 10 (2024), the relationship between fears of political corruption …

Assessment Of Cognitive Function In Stroke Survivors Using The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (Moca), Georgia Cameron

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Falls are a common and serious complication in post-stroke patients, with 37–73% of individuals falling within the first 6 months post-stroke and up to 73% within the first year (Verheyden et al., 2013). This study is part of a broader investigation examining whether gait characteristics and impaired cognitive function can predict fall risk when used alongside artificial intelligence. Prior to strength testing and gait analysis, multiple surveys were administered to assess the participants' cognitive function, including the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The MoCA is a cognitive screening tool developed to detect mild cognitive impairment and assess multiple cognitive domains, including …

Computational Ligand-Receptor Simulations Of Fluorinated Morphine Derivatives Using Pymol, Mirabella Romano, Emily Chen

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The opioid epidemic impacts 60 million people worldwide every year. Morphine, a commonly prescribed opioid, binds to the μ-opioid receptor (MOR) in the body via protonation of its tertiary amino group and the MOR. An unfortunate side effect of this binding process is its non-selectivity in both peripheral and central tissues. While activation within inflamed peripheral tissues results in pain relief, activation within central tissues results in the unwanted and addictive side effects of opioids. Because there is a pH discrepancy between healthy (central) and inflamed (peripheral) tissues, selective binding in the inflamed tissues could provide pain relief without addictive …

Parasocial Relationships In Identity & Mental Health, Josephine Railston

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Parasocial relationships are one-sided emotional connections people form with media personalities such as influencers, streamers, and celebrities. Although these relationships are inherently unreciprocated, prior research has shown that they can provide meaningful feelings of companionship. While parasocial relationships are often viewed negatively, the current study examined the association between parasocial relationship strength and multiple dimensions of psychological well-being, including loneliness, perceived stress, self-esteem, and behavior mimicry. Grounded in Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, media personalities were conceptualized as role models whose behaviors and attitudes are observed, internalized, and potentially imitated by audiences. Participants completed an online survey assessing the strength of …

Does Feeling Threatened By Cultural And Demographic Changes Make People More Likely To Support Authoritarian Leaders In The United States?, Jack Brett Krikorian

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Does the perception of threat from cultural and demographic transformations increase a tendency to support authoritarian and nationalist views in politics in the United States? While current research indicates that demographic anxiety, rather than economic distress, has fueled support for authoritarian political figures in recent elections, there has been insufficient focus on whether such threat perceptions directly forecast support for authoritarian governance more generally. I argue that individuals who recognize heightened cultural and demographic threats are more inclined to support robust, authoritarian leadership, as perceived threats amplify the psychological necessity for security and order over democratic limitations. I utilize the …

Developing Narrative-Based Stem Learning Tool For K-6 Visually Impaired Students, Daniel Tsivkovski, Dylan Ravel, Jeffrey Kraskouskas, Brandon Foley, Maryam Etezad, Franceli Cibrian, Rajeev Joshi, Ariel Han

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This research develops a free, accessible web application that enables K-6 students who are blind or visually impaired (BVI) to learn STEM concepts using refreshable braille displays. Currently, most online learning tools are not designed for BVI students, creating a significant educational barrier.

The application interfaces with commercial braille displays and uses narrative-based learning to make STEM content approachable and engaging. By presenting material as personalized interactive stories generated with the help of Artificial Intellligence (AI), students can connect with concepts while developing braille reading skills. The curriculum design prioritizes accessibility through the Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) standards and …