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The God Prompt And Deus Ex Machina: Techno-Theological Tropes And Operational Metaphors In Generative Media, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

This study reframes two durable tropes—the ―God Prompt‖ and the deus ex machina—as analytic lenses for understanding how contemporary generative systems stage beginnings and endings of cultural production. The ―God Prompt‖ denotes command-driven synthesis in which minimal textual instructions instantiate content on demand, crystallizing a production loop of input, model execution, and post hoc evaluation that orients anticipation toward instantaneous yield and controllable variation. The deus ex machina names an externally imposed resolution that interrupts causal development—historically a crane-borne god, functionally an algorithmic override—thereby concentrating attention on closure mechanics rather than world-building continuity. Read together, the pair offers a compact …

Root Exudates: The Rhizospheric Frontier For Advancing Sustainable Plant Protection, Muhammad Rahil Afzal, Misbah Naz, Youbo Yu, Lisha Yan, Peiyi Wang, Janaki Mohotti, Gefei Hao, Jing-Jiang Zhou, Zhou Chen, Libo Zhang, Qian Wang

Faculty Publications

Root exudates (REs), a diverse array of bioactive metabolites secreted by plant roots in response to environmental stimuli, serve as key mediators of rhizosphere ecology and plant defense responses, offering a promising avenue for sustainable pest management and eco-friendly plant protection. While earlier reviews primarily focus on root exudates in the context of general rhizosphere dynamics and plant-microbial interactions, critical knowledge gaps persist in REs-plant-pest tripartite interactions, the mechanistic basis of REs-mediated plant defense, and their practical integration with integrated pest management (IPM) frameworks. This review provides a synthesis of the latest literature on the biochemical diversity and functions of …

Long-Term Patterns In The Relative Abundance Of Common Snook As A Factor Of Shifting Environmental Conditions In The Florida Coastal Everglades, Jordan A. Massie, Ryan J. Rezek, Rolando O. Santos, W. Ryan James, Natasha M. Viadero, Ross E. Boucek, Jennifer S. Rehage

Marine Science

Objective Environmental variability as a factor of climate change and water management can result in fluctuations in the abundance and distribution of fish populations from year to year, with either negative or positive effects depending on behavioral and physiological requirements and the ability to adapt to changing conditions. Variability in water levels can also influence prey availability, affecting predator abundance in seasonal foraging areas. In this study, our objective was to better understand how environmental variation has affected the relative abundance of Common Snook Centropomus undecimalis in the freshwater/estuarine habitats of Everglades National Park. Methods Electrofishing data over 17 years …

Tetrigidae Of Ethiopia: First Species Delimitation Via Dna Barcoding And Description Of Three New Species †, Tarekegn Fite, Hendrik Devriese, Dustin Kulanek, Josip Skejo, Niko Kasalo, Manaye Misganaw, Tadele Tefera, Jandouwe Villinger, Martin Husemann

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Tetrigidae is a caeliferan family of Orthoptera constituting a diverse and relatively ancient lineage of small Orthopterans, which has its greatest diversity in tropical and subtropical areas. However, to date, few studies have been conducted on the identification and description of Tetrigidae species in Ethiopia, and even fewer molecular data are available. Hence, we performed the first species delimitation study via DNA barcoding of species belonging to the genera Paratettix, Leptacrydium, Dasyleurotettix, and Morphopoides from Ethiopia. We provide 35 new sequences of the COI gene belonging to six species of these genera. We show that Ethiopian Tetrigidae can be successfully …

Quantification Of Terpenes In Various Commercial Cannabis Products By Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detection And Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, Kaitlyn M. Ignaszak

Forensic Science Master's Projects

The goal of this research project was to identify and quantify the terpenes in five commercial cannabis products (dried bud, kief, two tinctures, and a pain cream) using gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Terpene identification and quantification were conducted using GC-MS and GC-FID, with a standard sample containing 21 terpenes of known concentrations. To determine the most effective extraction conditions, three organic solvents (ethanol, acetonitrile, and ethyl acetate) were employed. Additionally, the effects of extraction time on terpene yield were investigated by analyzing aliquots collected at five different time intervals, ranging from one hour to …

Applying Artificial Intelligence And Chatbots To Enhance Collection Development In Health Sciences Libraries, Ivan Portillo, David Carson

Library Presentations, Posters, and Audiovisual Materials

The continuous advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) has presented several opportunities for librarians to reduce their workload and become more efficient. This session will explore the potential of generative AI chatbots in assisting health sciences librarians with collection development. Two methods that will be discussed include the potential of AI to help discover new titles and how AI can evaluate your library collection for any potential gaps based on a college program’s curriculum.

Multi-Fidelity Machine Learning Modeling For Aerodynamic Response Prediction Of Aerospace Vehicles, Ethan S. Jackman

Theses and Dissertations

Hypersonic vehicle design requires understanding complex aerodynamic phenomena across the full flight regime. This study presents a novel MF surrogate modeling methodology that enables the prediction the full field response across a vehicle’s surface. A Space-Filling Curve (SFC) is used to convert unstructured data into 1D vectors. The a Convolutional Autoencoder is used with transfer learning to reduce the dimensionality of the data. An Emulator-Embedded Neural Network (E2NN) combines multi-fidelity data for fast, accurate predictions. A benchmark analytical example and hypersonic application are used to evaluate the methodology. Using various numbers of samples and sampling strategies it is found that …

Effect Of Workplace Design On Collaboration And Satisfaction In Space System Command, Joshua A. Hagood

Theses and Dissertations

This study addresses a significant knowledge gap regarding the influence of physical workplace design on employee collaboration and satisfaction with the physical environment within U.S. Space Force technical military organizations.  While seminal industry research consistently demonstrates that physical design and indoor environmental quality influence employee satisfaction and collaboration (e.g., Candido et al., 2015; Sailer et al., 2021), the understanding of these impacts within military contexts remains limited.  Using a quantitative post-occupancy evaluation survey, adapted from the Sustainable Post Occupancy Evaluation Survey (SPOES), multiple regression analyses revealed that physical elements collectively predict both satisfaction and collaboration.  The final simplified model showed …

How The Inter-Nucleon Force Shapes Emergent Collectivity And Imparts Uncertainties In Ab Initio Nuclear Observables, Kevin Becker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The importance of collective motion in atomic nuclei has been well-established for many decades. Even before the advent of the nuclear shell model and its much-needed answers to surprising empirical phenomena, collectivity and surface deformation have played a vital role in broadening our knowledge. Reconciling the collective and single-particle camps into a unified description required tremendous strides in the application of group theory and advances in high-performance supercomputing, and thanks to these efforts the symmetry-adapted no-core shell model, or SA-NCSM, has developed into a reliable model for the study of deformed light and medium-mass nuclei. State-of-the-art calculations reveal remarkably simple …

Evaluating Early Successional Habitat Selection By Herpetofauna And Pygmy Rattlesnakes In Tennessee, Carlin Frost

Tennessee State University Alumni Theses and Dissertations

Coupled with climate change, global biodiversity declines are exacerbated by increasing anthropogenic pressures and ecosystem destruction. Amphibians and reptiles are particularly vulnerable due to their specific and narrow habitat requirements. In Tennessee, the Western Pygmy Rattlesnake (Sistrurus miliarius streckeri) is classified as Threatened and is primarily associated with floodplains adjacent to early successional habitats (ESH) in the western Interior Plateau ecoregion. These ESH support unique flora and fauna but have declined in recent decades, largely due to urban encroachment and disturbance suppression. Studying snakes is challenging because of their limited activity periods, small home ranges, and low detectability from cryptic …

Procedures For Rangeland Condition Assessment In The Pilbara And Southern Rangelands 2025, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Natural resources published reports

This report defines the procedures used in 2025 by DPIRD to complete rangeland condition assessment (RCA) in the Pilbara and southern rangelands region which has predominantly shrub-based pastures. For the rest of the pastoral estate, DPIRD uses the Procedures for RCA in the Kimberley which has grass pastures.

RCA is the process DPIRD uses to make systematic, station-level assessment of rangeland. Rangeland condition considers both the condition of pastures (defined in the ‘Pasture condition guides for the Pilbara’ and ‘Pasture condition guides for the southern rangelands including the Gascoyne, Murchison and Goldfields-Nullarbor’) and soils as determined by erosion, using the …

Procedures For Rangeland Condition Assessment In The Kimberley 2025, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Natural resources published reports

This report defines the procedures used in 2025 by DPIRD to complete rangeland condition assessment (RCA) in the Kimberley region which has grass-based pastures. For the rest of the pastoral estate, DPIRD uses the Procedures for RCA in the Pilbara and southern rangelands which have predominantly shrub pastures.

RCA is the process DPIRD uses to make systematic, station-level assessment of rangeland. Rangeland condition considers both the condition of pastures (as defined in the 'Pasture condition guide for the Kimberley') and soils as determined by erosion, using the erosion assessment method on pastoral lands in Western Australia. The methods have evolved …

The Floodnet Community Engagement Guide, Véronëque Ignace, Sofia Mariyamis, Kendra Krueger, Polly Pierone, Hayley Elszasz, Hannah Eisler Burnett

The Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay, SRIJB

"At the Intersection of Science, Policy, and Community: The FloodNet NYC Community Engagement Strategy” is a public-facing community engagement guide that documents the strategies, tools, and lessons developed through FloodNet NYC, a cross-sector partnership among researchers at NYU and CUNY and New York City agencies. Designed as a practical resource, this guide shares our approach to community engagement and dissemination so that researchers, practitioners, community organizations, and public agencies can adapt these methods to their own urban climate science projects and other community-centered efforts that address climate challenges.

Grounded in community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles, the guide presents community engagement …

Uncovering Environmental Justice Disparities: Tree Canopy Inequality In Low-Income Marginalized Communities, Emmanuel Wallace

Tennessee State University Alumni Theses and Dissertations

Tree canopy inequality in low-income marginalized communities is a direct result of decades of environmental injustice within urban communities in the United States, specifically the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation. This phenomenon underscores the disproportionate distribution of tree cover, green spaces, and their myriad benefits in neighborhoods marked by poverty and social vulnerability. Rooted in a history of discriminatory urban planning practices and systemic disparities, tree canopy inequality has profound consequences on residents' health and well-being. It leads to urban heat island effects, reduced air quality, and additional socio-economic disparities. On average, urban communities of color have 33% less tree canopy …

Exploring The Cooling Effects Of Urban Forests In Summer, Xiaoyue Li

Tennessee State University Alumni Theses and Dissertations

As a nature-based solution to combat urban heat islands, urban forests can provide cooling and other co-benefits. However, little is known about the cooling benefits of urban forests in parking lots and under different land covers, especially with field observations. To address this gap, we measured air temperature (AT) and relative humidity (RH) and calculated heat index (HI) in three urban settings in Nashville, TN, in summer 2024. The research sites included: 1) Two different parking lots: parking lots with and without trees; 2) Three different distances from trees within the parking lot with trees: under trees, near trees, and …

Pd-Catalyzed Microwave Irradiated Cross-Coupling Of Carboxylic Acids And Amino Alcohols., Md Shahin Reza

Tennessee State University Alumni Theses and Dissertations

Amino esters are valuable pharmaceutical intermediates with anesthetic properties and applications as prodrugs. In this study, we have developed a new microwave-assisted method for the cross-coupling of aromatic carboxylic acids with amino alcohol using a palladium catalyst. This approach has enabled an efficient synthesis of amino esters, overcoming challenges such as side reactions and product separation.

Effects Of Tillage On Wheat Canopy, Stephanie Adanna Anyanwu

Tennessee State University Alumni Theses and Dissertations

Abstract Wheat canopy cover and greenness are useful crop performance indicators that provide significant insight into the performance of wheat crops. Understanding the effects of no-till and conventional tillage practices on winter wheat canopy cover and greenness will help inform agronomic decision making in wheat production. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the effects of no-till and conventional tillage practices on wheat canopy cover and greenness using drones. Wheat canopy cover mapping was carried out using deep learning supervised classification. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI) and optimized soil adjusted vegetation …

Distribution And Occurrence Of Cyanohabs, Nutrients, And Water-Quality Data In The Tennessee State University Wetland, Kristi Hill

Tennessee State University Alumni Theses and Dissertations

Toxic algal blooms are an expanding issue for aquatic ecosystems because they are hazardous to human and environmental health. Algal blooms naturally occur from the combination of warm temperatures, sunlight, and abundant nutrients in water, but what triggers them to become harmful algal blooms (HABs) and begin synthesizing toxin is not well understood, and their threat to freshwater sources was not heavily researched until recently. Microcystin (MC), a freshwater algal toxin, is a HABs toxin which targets the liver and causes sickness and death in humans and animals (pets, livestock, and wildlife). Urban freshwater wetlands are among the most HAB …

Ibi-Dt: A Novel Approach Combining Individualized Bayesian Inference And Decision Tree For Identifying Cancer Drivers And Their Interactions, Md Asad Rahman, Gregory F. Cooper, Jinying Zhao, Xinghua Lu, Jinling Liu

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Cancer is mainly caused by a relatively small portion of somatic genome alterations (SGAs), called cancer drivers. Despite success in identifying a good number of cancer drivers, many more remain to be discovered to explain various cancers. Moreover, limited tools are available to identify potential interactions among cancer drivers for a better understanding of oncogenesis. To tackle these challenges, we have developed a novel approach called individualized Bayesian inference using a decision tree (IBI-DT). IBI-DT recognizes the genetic heterogeneity among cancer patients, where different individuals or patient subgroups of distinct genomic makeup may have different drivers. IBI-DT works by constructing …

Draft Final Quarterly Operations And Maintenance Report Butte Treatment Lagoon System – Second Quarter 2025, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

The “Founder’S Gaze”: How The Fourth Amendment Is A Surveillance Technology That Enables Ai To Scale Control Over The Subaltern, Diego H. Alcalá Laboy

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Much has been written about the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning applications and how the current Fourth Amendment law has been unable to mitigate the privacy harm that these tools produce. This article explores how the development and usage of AI and machine learning models is dependent on the originalism principles of Fourth Amendment Law. Utilizing Critical Surveillance Studies and Anticolonial Theory, I posit that the Fourth Amendment is a surveillance technology that categorizes conduct, persons, and places to impose the material conditions for the subjugation of historically minoritized communities within the United States. Furthermore, this article explores …

Comprehensive Review Of In Vitro Approaches For Environmental Heavy Metal Exposure, Manas Warke, Madeline English, Camila Padilla, Lexie Gasco, Wendy Leisner, Rupali Datta, Smitha Rao

Michigan Tech Publications

Heavy metals are ubiquitous environmental pollutants, contaminating air, soil, and water via the erosion of natural deposits, as well as originating from anthropogenic sources, such as agriculture, industries, transportation, and landfills. The increasing utilization of heavy metals over the years, combined with the persistent nature of metals in the environment poses a direct threat to human and environment health. Although regulatory limits have been established for toxic metals, assessing the associated health risks using real-life exposure scenarios remains challenging. In this review, we summarize the development and use of in vitro models based two- and three-dimensional cell culture systems, focusing …

Lipid And Cholesterol Peroxidation Leads To Α-Crystallin Membrane Aggregation And Cataract Formation, Nawal K. Khadka, Preston Hazen, Oluwaseyi Akinola, Xinzhu Pu, Laxman Mainali

Boise State University Publications and Presentations

Purpose: The significant lens chaperone protein α-crystallin (αABc), comprised of αA-crystallin (αAc) and αB-crystallin (αBc) subunits, is found to form membrane-bound aggregates with age and cataract formation. However, the molecular basis for such aggregate formation is still unclear. Our research primarily aims to elucidate the effect of lipids (phospholipids and sphingolipids) and cholesterol (Chol) peroxidation on the aggregation of αAc, αBc, and αABc to bovine lens nuclear membrane (NM).

Methods: Lipid and Chol peroxidation was induced by a photosensitized peroxidation reaction, and topographical images of NM and oxidized-NM (Ox-NM) with and without αAc, αBc, or αABc were obtained using atomic …

Storage Location Optimization In Automated Storage And Retrieval Systems: A Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach, Lingjun Wang, Aldy Gunawan, Pieter Vansteenwegen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This study investigates the optimization of storage location in automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS). We introduce an optimization approach based on the Deep Q-Network (DQN) algorithm to enhance warehouse task efficiency and minimize stacker travel during storage and retrieval. To accelerate the algorithm training process, we integrate a prioritized experience replay mechanism. Furthermore, we decouple action selection from value estimation within the DQN framework to address the issue of value overestimation. The proposed model is evaluated against three heuristic methods. The experimental results demonstrate that our approach significantly outperforms these baselines.

Large Lithium-Ion Battery Model For Secure Shared E-Bike Battery In Smart Cities, Donghui Ding, Zhao Li, Linhao Luo, Ming Jin, Bin Zhu, Yichen Zhong, Junhao Hu, Peng Cai, Huiqi Hu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Electric bikes powered by lithium-ion batteries are increasingly used in smart cities to promote sustainable mobility and efficient delivery services. However, limited battery range and slow plug-in charging remain key challenges. Shared electric bike battery systems, facilitated by battery swapping stations, offer a promising solution by enabling quick and efficient battery replacements. However, their success hinges on accurate anomaly detection, battery health estimation and remain range prediction. These tasks remain challenging due to data scarcity, battery diversity and environmental variability. Here we show that a large-scale lithium-ion battery model trained on over ten million battery time series data enables robust …

Vibemus: Proactive Agentic System For Music Personalization, Zhiliang Guo, Teng Tu, Yunshan Ma, Xun Yang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Large language models (LLMs) enable diverse forms of AI-assisted creation, yet they often struggle to bridge the preference-articulation gap: users may provide incomplete or vague intentions or lack the vocabulary to specify what they want, yielding outputs misaligned with true preferences. To address this gap and facilitate music creation in a vibe-centric environment, we introduce VibeMus, a proactive agentic system built on open-source components. The system engages in multi-turn dialogue to progressively determine the music’s emotion, genre, lyrics, and other aspects before generation. Simulated evaluations show that proactive clarification improves alignment with users’ intended nuances. Our approach is training-free, leveraging …

Role Of Axial Ligation In The Conformational And Redox Properties Of Cytochromes, Morgan Elisabeth Reik

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Heme proteins are crucial for many biological processes including respiration, transport, and catalysis. As electron carriers containing redox active metal centers, their electron transfer (ET) properties are tuned by the protein environment, wherein the reduction potential can be influenced by factors such as heme solvent accessibility, charge, the presence of neighboring redox centers, as well as the identity of the axial ligand. The axial ligand in heme proteins is especially crucial for tuning the electronic properties of the metal center, as it affects the driving force of the reaction. However, the redox properties of heme proteins are further modulated by …

Revised Draft Final 2022 Insufficiently Reclaimed Sites Sampling: Bres No. 38 – Sister Dump Site Evaluation Summary Report, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Draft 2025 Interim Site-Wide Surface Water Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan, Woodard & Curran

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Maize Yield Stability Under Organic And Conventional Farming Systems In Sub-Humid Agro-Ecozones Of Central Kenya, Milka Kiboi, David Bautze, Felix Matheri, Amritbir Riar, Andreas Fliessbach

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Maize (Zea mays L.) is the main staple crop and is important to the food security and livelihoods of people globally. We evaluated the effects of organic and conventional farming systems on maize grain yield and temporal yield stability under different external input levels in a long-term experiment (2007–2022) at two sites in Kenya. We implemented four farming systems: organic high (Org-High), conventional high (Conv-High), organic low (Org-Low), and conventional low (Conv-Low) in a randomized complete block design. Growth indicators for maize, height, stem diameter, and grain yield were higher in high input systems, but grain yield stability was not. …