Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of Spatially Targeted Fertilizer Strategies On Canopy Growth Across Contrasting Tart Cherry Orchard Sites, Kurt Wedegaertner, Brent Black, Matt Yost, Grant Cardon

Plants, Soils and Climate Student Research

Variable-rate fertilization is increasingly promoted in perennial orchard systems, but its effectiveness remains difficult to predict because tree responses are often inconsistent and strongly conditioned by site-specific constraints. To address this, we evaluated soil-based and vigor-based zoning frameworks across four commercial tart cherry (Prunus cerasus) orchards representing contrasting soil conditions, canopy structures, and management histories. Within each orchard, management zones were defined using either soil apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) or satellite-derived canopy vigor. Fertilization strategies were implemented by varying fertilizer application timing among zones using split-application approaches while maintaining a constant total fertilizer rate. Tree-level canopy structure was …

Liminality And Space In The Iliad And The Heike Monogatari, Jade Simmons

Theses and Dissertations

Both the Iliad and the Heike monogatari have received scholarly attention throughout the years, though rarely in comparison with one another. A few scholars, such as Tyler Creer and Naoko Yamagata, have attempted to examine the two side by side, but very little work has been done beyond their respective analyses. This is unsurprising as a cursory glance at the two texts suggests that they are too separated by time and space to warrant closer examination. I argue, however, that there is great value in analyzing the two side by side. Indeed, a closer look at these texts reveals that …

Gratitude And The Second Language Writer: The Effects Of Gratitude Journaling In The English Language Writing Classroom, Lauren Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Gratitude journaling interventions have repeatedly been shown to enhance wellbeing when conducted in participants’ first language (Emmons & McCullough, 2003; Sansone & Sansone, 2010), yet no studies to date have examined these practices in second language (L2) contexts. This mixed-methods quasi-experimental study investigated the effects of a six-week gratitude journaling intervention on adult L2 English writers enrolled in an intensive English program. Eleven writing classes (N = 183) were randomly assigned to either a gratitude journaling group or a neutral-events control group, with 123 participants completing all four stages of data collection. Trait gratitude and subjective wellbeing were measured pre-intervention, …

Weighted, I Drown Peacefully, Clarke P. Hamilton, Masaru Suzuki

Honors Thesis

weighted, i drown peacefully is a call-and-response to my ancestral history and heritage as African American, and my physical experience at the door of no return on Goree Island off the coast of Dakar, Senegal.

Through ceramic face pots invoking the face jugs recovered from Edgefield, South Carolina, visual metaphors of the calla lily and cowrie shell, wood iris petals holding water, and a watercolor painting with Adinkra symbols Adwo & Sankofa, I mark the Atlantic Ocean as a resting place of my ancestors.

This piece is for those who have transitioned from this plane to the next. I carry …

A Tale Of Trees And Turtles, Adam Drapcho

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Steam Olympics Raises $7,500 For Iwu Scholarships, Emily Bollinger

Press Releases 2020-2029

No abstract provided.

Dietary Preferences And Food-Seeking Behavior Of Discoid Cockroaches, Blaberus Discoidaliscont., Robert Larsen, Sadie Ariola

2026 Student Academic Showcase

Blaberus discoidalis, also known as discoid cockroaches, inhabit the tropics of South America where their diet consists of leaf litter and decaying organic matter on the ground. This experiment expands on research from two previous years, originally based on the loitering time of the roach's different food types. Such as peanuts, leaf litter, and bananas. The experiment this year was to determine which food was preferred by determining how much it was eaten. Each food item, peanuts, banana, and leaf litter (peanuts alone are crushed) were dried in an oven for 24 hours and weighed before and after each trial. …

Sudden Cardiac Arrest & Newly Diagnosed Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy In A High School Athlete, Jacob Rolfes, Brent Holtgrewe, Mike Tzianos

2026 Student Academic Showcase

A high school soccer player experienced sudden cardiac arrest during competition and required immediate CPR and AED use. Following resuscitation, physicians ruled out commotio cordis and identified findings consistent with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, supported by a prolonged T-wave on EKG while all other laboratory and catheterization results were normal. The athlete later received an ICD and pacemaker, prompting significant physical, emotional, and lifestyle adjustments. This capstone project examines the emergency response, the role of trained medical personnel at sporting events, and the implications of early cardiac screening for adolescent athletes. Through consented family interviews, structured questionnaires, and case-based data collection, the …

Turning Service Into Stability: Measuring Self-Sufficiency Outcomes At Presbyterian Children’S Homes & Services, Olivia Wolf, Alex Wolf

2026 Student Academic Showcase

Community organizations play a critical role in helping vulnerable children, youth, and families achieve stability and independence. This service learning project partnered with Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services (PCHAS) to evaluate how well its programs support client progress toward self sufficiency. Using discharge data from the Arizona Self Sufficiency Matrix, students analyzed outcomes across multiple program types and four service sites. The evaluation found strong improvements in areas related to immediate stabilization, including personal safety, legal status, substance use recovery, and disability support. However, clients continued to face ongoing challenges in childcare access, housing stability, parenting skills, children’s education, and …

Effects Of Menstrual Cycle Phases On Muscular Strength And Ligament Laxity, Nicole Waldo Johnson

2026 Student Academic Showcase

Female participation in sport continues to increase, yet women remain largely underrepresented in research. Due to hormonal differences, additional research is needed to understand how menstrual cycle (MC) phases influence performance and injury risk. Females experience higher incidences of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, which may be influenced by hormonal fluctuations. The purpose of this study is to examine how MC phases and changes affect muscular strength and ligament laxity at the knee. Muscular strength and ligament laxity will be tested twice during the MC: once during the early follicular phase (EFP) and the second set are to be collected …

Longitudinal Fueling Status Of High School Female Athletes, Kaylee Turner, Abigail Rickermann

2026 Student Academic Showcase

Low energy availability (LEA) is a clinically significant concern in adolescent female athletes due to its impact on growth and development, bone health, hormonal function, performance, recovery, and cognitive outcomes. Despite established associations, a clear longitudinal understanding of how LEA relates to injury and illness rates across an academic year remains limited, representing a clinical gap in athletic training and sports medicine literature. The purpose of this capstone project was to develop a comprehensive Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol to support a future longitudinal investigation examining LEA and its relationship to injury and illness incidence in high school female athletes. …

The Weight Of Marijuana: Marijuana As A Gateway To Binge Eating, Hailey Proctor

2026 Student Academic Showcase

As many societies move toward the legalization of marijuana the other underlying side effects and symptoms of this drug must be analyzed so that users may be fully informed about the effects of their drug usage. Therefore, this exploratory project looks to evaluate the relationship between the use of marijuana as a recreational drug and binge eating. Throughout the project three main topics have been explored including the adverse outcomes of binge eating and over eating, how cannabis use can play a role in binge eating, and if binge eating can be a contributing factor in initiating the use of …

The Impact Of Prior Abusive Dating Experiences And Gender On Romance Scam Victimization And Monetary Loss, Trevor Rowe

Department of Psychology

Online romance scams are a rapidly expanding cybercrime that affects millions of people each year, financially and emotionally. This study examines an underexplored question: Will individuals with a greater number of abusive partners be more vulnerable to romance scam victimizations and lose more money? Adult dating app users (N = 518) completed an online survey. After controlling for being approached for relationships, those with a greater number of past abusive partners were more likely to be victims and lost more money. In addition, men reported a higher frequency of romance scam victimizations and more money loss.

Horned Oak Galls And Their Dispersal On Lindenwood's Campus, Peyton Birkenmeier, Timothy Sesterhenn

2026 Student Academic Showcase

Horned oak galls are woody growths found on the branches of oak trees (Quercus sp.). These growths are caused by the parasitic wasp, Callirhytis cornigera. These wasps produce the galls by piercing the branch with their ovipositors and laying eggs into the branch. Based on the severity of infestation, these galls can cause severe damage or even death to oak trees. This research determined the dispersal and severity of horned oak galls infesting the different species of oak trees around the heritage side of Lindenwood. This was done by walking around the heritage side of campus and observing different species …

Minutes, Global Initiatives Committee Meeting, Thursday, April 23, 2026, Rollins College Global Initiatives Committee

The Center for Global Initiatives

No abstract provided.

Usa V. Dante Webb

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Detecting Eigenvectors Of An Operator That Are Near A Specified Subspace, David Darrow, Jeffrey S. Ovall

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

In modeling quantum systems or wave phenomena, one is often interested in identifying eigenstates that approximately carry a specified property; scattering states approximately align with incoming and outgoing traveling waves, for instance, and electron states in molecules often approximately align with superpositions of simple atomic orbitals. These examples—and many others—can be formulated as the following eigenproblem: given a selfadjoint operator L on a Hilbert space H and a closed subspace W ⊂ H, can we identify all eigenvectors of L that lie approximately in W? We develop an approach to answer this question efficiently, with a userdefined tolerance and range …

April 23, 2026, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

Hawk's Herald -- April 23, 2026, Roger Williams University

Hawk's Herald

No abstract provided.

The Necessity Of Adaptive Sports: Addressing Financial Barriers To Participation In Children With Spinal Cord Injuries, Megan G. Wells

Student Capstone Papers

 Children with spinal cord injuries (SCIs) experience numerous barriers to participation in adaptive sports despite the well-established physical, psychosocial, and developmental benefits of physical activity. Financial constraints, limited awareness of funding opportunities, and the complexity of grant application processes often prevent families from accessing adaptive sports programs and specialized equipment. The purpose of this doctoral capstone project was to develop a comprehensive financial guidebook for families of children with SCIs to address financial barriers to adaptive sports participation, promote physical activity, and improve overall quality of life. Guided by the Person-Environment-Occupation-Performance (PEOP) model, this doctoral capstone project addressed financial accessibility …

Data Analysis For A Regional Department Of Transportation, Maxwell Cook, Kendall Klewer, Jocelyn Wood

2026 Student Academic Showcase

The given client is the regional office of a state department of a transportation agency that oversees five counties within the state. The regional office has provided information pertaining to areas such as financials, car accidents, and contractors which will be used to explore a variety of data trends and insights. The goal of the data exploration is to determine if there are other ways in which money can be reallocated to create an optimized spending plan for future projects. Actual award cost versus estimated award cost, contractor versus timeliness of projects, and type of job versus employers in a …

Effects Of Gibberellic Acid On Mutant Millet, Claire Swiderski, Eric Grant, Kimberly Karlsson, Neil Telfer, Jonathan Becker

2026 Student Academic Showcase

Millets are grasses with small seeds grown as a cereal crop, a major food crop, especially in equatorial regions and in developing countries. Millet plants can develop a dwarfism mutation that leads to less growth and lower yields than normal millet plants. This mutation can be related to a deficiency or insensitivity to a plant growth hormone called gibberellin. We used two experimental groups of millet plants, a control group and a group that received gibberellin treatments. By treating the plants with gibberellin, we observed increased growth in mutant and wild-type millet plants. We measured the length of each plant …

Effects Of Gibberellic Acid (Ga3) On Growth, Height, And Structural Strength In Mutant Setaria Viridis, Gracie Jones, Emma Lewis, Robert Larsen, Alejandro Molina

2026 Student Academic Showcase

Gibberellin (GA3) is a plant hormone that promotes stem elongation and overall plant growth. It increases cell elongation, which results in taller plants. However, increased growth may come at the cost of structural strength. Some mutant plants respond differently to gibberellin depending on whether they are sensitive or insensitive to the hormone. Sensitive mutants lack the ability to produce gibberellin but respond when it is applied, while insensitive mutants do not respond due to defects in hormone signaling. This experiment examines how GA3 affects plant height, panicle development, and structural stability in mutant Setariaviridis.

Neuromuscular Function And Balance In Young Adults: Feasibility And Reliability Of Strength And Conditioning Assessments, Riley Fritzsche, Nicole Waldo Johnson, Jessica M. Moon

2026 Student Academic Showcase

Neuromuscular assessments are widely used in exercise science however; the reliability of comprehensive functional testing batteries in healthy young adults remains unclear. Since sex and hormone status may influence performance, this study proposes that neuromuscular outcomes will differ across males, naturally cycling females, and hormonal contraceptive users. This pilot study will evaluate the feasibility and test-retest reliability of a neuromuscular assessment battery in adults aged 18–35 using a repeated-measures design. Participants will complete two identical testing sessions separated by 5–10 days. Assessments will include balance on force plates, handgrip strength, a 5-repetition chair-rise, and the 3-meter Timed Up-and-Go, alongside neuromuscular …

Environmental Stability Drives Development In Drosophila Melanogaste, Nestor Omar Rivera Guevera

2026 Student Academic Showcase

The development of Drosophila melanogaster is highly sensitive to environmental conditions, particularly temperature, which has been shown to influence both developmental rate and lifespan. Previous studies report that higher temperatures accelerate development but may reduce adult longevity, while field observations in related Drosophila species indicate that stable environmental conditions support greater population success compared to fluctuating ones. Building on this, the present study examined the combined effects of temperature and humidity on fruit fly development. Groups of 10 female flies were placed in culture tubes containing standard medium, with three replicates per treatment. After 48 hours of egg-laying, adults were …

Limits To Human Reason, Violette Geerling

2026 Student Academic Showcase

Human reasoning operates on a continuum that integrates rational analysis with intuitive and emotionally driven thought. While rationality is often idealized as logical and evidence-based, irrational thinking is not merely a flaw; it often plays a functional or adaptive role. Drawing on work by Galotti (2008), Michalik-Jeżowska (2019), and others, this paper explores how reasoning interacts with unconscious processes in everyday decision-making, sports performance, and social behavior. Findings indicate that irrational cognitive tendencies, though often maladaptive, can, under certain conditions, enhance resilience, focus, and social cohesion. The integration of rational and irrational elements within human cognition illustrates the complexity and …

Effectiveness Of Rule Modification And Contact Exposure Reduction In Adolescent Contact Sports, Alex Martin

2026 Student Academic Showcase

Clinical Question: In adolescent athletes participating in contact sports, does rule modification or contact restriction reduce sport-related concussion incidence compared with standard full-contact rules? Background: Sport-related concussion remains a major concern in youth athletics. Structural prevention strategies, such as limiting contact exposure, have been proposed as effective approaches, though their comparative effectiveness remains under review. Methods: A critically appraised topic (CAT) was conducted using Google Scholar to identify peer-reviewed studies from the past 15 years examining rule modification or contact restriction as primary prevention strategies. Six high-quality studies met inclusion criteria, including one meta-analysis, one systematic review, prospective cohort studies, …

A Sticky Situation: Mannose Glycosides, Morgan Romanski, Scott Hasty

2026 Student Academic Showcase

Mannose chemistry is notoriously difficult due to the electronic structure of the molecule. The dipole moments on the molecule provide stability, meaning adding and removing substituents come with many obstacles. This results in numerous byproducts, prevents reactions from going quickly, or prevents the reaction from occurring at all. In this project, the issue of producing a mannose molecule with the desired leaving group for glycosylations is investigated using two different methods of synthesis of attaching 2-mercaptopyridimine to a benzylated mannose on carbon 1. These two methods investigate and aim to solve the issue of epoxide formation and the mannose molecule …

A Comprehensive Analysis Of The World’S Largest Entertainment Conglomerate: The Walt Disney Company, Brendan Finnery, Judah Davis, Matt Mossinghoff, Rebecca Sims

2026 Student Academic Showcase

This project presents a comprehensive strategic and operational analysis of The Walt Disney Company to identify key gaps within its current business model. Using an integrated management policy approach, the study evaluates external and internal influences on Disney’s competitive position through the application of established analytical frameworks, including PESTEL, Porter’s Five Forces, the VRIO framework, and SWOT analysis. Peer-to-peer comparisons of the company’s financial health and capacity for growth were then assessed utilizing liquidity, leverage, efficiency, and profitability ratios. In compiling such strategic and financial insights, this analysis aims to inform the development of a purposeful SMART goal recommendation, addressing …

Understanding The Impact Of Therapeutic Recreation On Patient Outcomes, Faith Atkins, Emma Jones

2026 Student Academic Showcase

This exploratory project examines the role of Therapeutic Recreation (TR) in improving overall well-being and quality of life for individuals across diverse populations. The purpose of this project is to analyze how leisure-based interventions can be adapted to meet the physical, cognitive, emotional, and social needs of patients in various settings. By synthesizing current research and professional practices, this project highlights how TR contributes to rehabilitation, identity rebuilding, and long-term wellness. The project focuses on how recreational therapists use individualized, evidence-based approaches to help patients re-engage in meaningful activities following injury, illness, or disability. It also explores the impact of …