Digital Commons Network^™

Optimizing Decision-Making In A Cerebral Palsy Model Using Reinforcement Learning, Richard Ampah

Pitzer Senior Theses

This study presents an original interdisciplinary investigation into how reinforcement learning (RL) can model motor and cognitive defects and potentially improve motor and cognitive functions in individuals with cerebral palsy (CP), a non-progressive neurological disorder that impairs movement and adaptability. Integrating computational neuroscience and machine learning, the research applies policy gradient methods and Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) to simulate adaptive learning in agents with and without CP-related constraints.

The central aim is to compare the cumulative rewards of optimal policies, derived from value iteration, and human-like learning policies using the REINFORCE algorithm, both with and without the Bellman baseline. The …

The Anatomy Of A Reconstruction: From Fourier Space To Image Recovery In Computed Tomography, Charlotte P. Maurer

Honors Theses

This thesis develops the mathematical foundations of computed tomography (CT) reconstruction through the lens of harmonic analysis. Beginning with the Schwartz class, we introduce the Fourier transform and its role in expressing the Radon transform and its inversion via a fractional Laplacian. After constructing the Radon transform in general dimension R^d, we specialize to the cases d = 2 and d = 3, demonstrating explicit inversion formulas and the associated instability in lower dimensions. For its computational advantages, we study filtered back-projection using classical low-pass filters (Ram-Lak, Shepp–Logan, Cosine, Gaussian) and formulate a discrete reconstruction algorithm grounded in …

Optimizing Radial Interfaces For Eye-Movement Authentication On Smartphones, Trey V. Tuscai

Honors Theses

Radial authentication interfaces offer privacy-preserving, calibration-free eye-movement authentication. While their effectiveness has been demonstrated on large displays, their performance on smartphones remains underexplored. This study investigates seven radial interface configurations on the iPhone 13, varying the number of radial indicators and password lengths to examine trade-offs between accuracy, security, and entry time. Through a controlled eye-tracking experiment with 27 participants, we evaluate each configuration’s performance and collect user prioritizations of the three factors. Our findings reveal that shorter passwords with fewer indicators improve speed and accuracy but reduce security, while longer configurations enhance security at the cost of usability. Based …

Identifying The Spread Of Invasive Jumping Worms Across Maine’S Forests Using Soil Edna, Rebecca Wanger

Honors Theses

Jumping worms of the Megascolecidae family are invasive earthworms from East Asia that have been spreading across the United States since the late 1800s (Chang et al., 2021). Recently, the earthworms have gained more attention for their expansion into northeastern states, as they are believed to have negative impacts on the soil biogeochemistry, flora, and fauna of these forest ecosystems that have had no native earthworms given the recent nature of the Last Glacial Maximum (~11,000 yrs ago; Bohlen et al. 2004; McCay et al. 2020). The earthworms are distinguished by their thrashing behaviors, milky-white smooth clitellum, and evenly spaced …

Revealing Spatiotemporal Neural Activation Patterns In Electrocorticography Recordings Of Human Speech Production By Mutual Information, Julio Kovacs, Dean Krusienski, Minu Maninder, Willy Wriggers

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Background

Spatiotemporal mapping of neural activity during continuous speech production has been traditionally approached using correlation coefficient (CC) analysis between cortical signals and speech recordings. A prior study employed this approach using electrocorticography (ECoG) data from participants who underwent invasive intracranial monitoring for epilepsy. However, CC cannot detect nonlinear relationships and is dominated by the correspondence between periods of silence and of non-silence.

New Method

We introduce the mutual information (MI) measure, which can capture both linear and nonlinear dependencies. We validated CC and MI on the sub-second spatiotemporal brain activity recorded during continuous speech tasks. To refine the results, …

Into Thick Air: Adapting Cultural Practices Into Solutions For Modern Wicked Problems, Syed Muhammad Erzum Naqvi

Theses and Dissertations

Into Thick Air argues that cultural practices can inspire solutions

to challenging modern problems. This project employs the Basant

festival as a case study to critically reimagine kite flying as a

collective practice with the potential to contribute to the reduction

of air pollution in Lahore, a city consistently ranked among those

with the poorest air quality globally. By building kites from fabric

treated with nanoparticle coatings, Into Thick Air transforms a

traditional community activity into an accessible, citizen-driven

method for removing pollutants from the air. The treated kites

empower Lahoris to take charge of their environment while

encouraging collective …

An Ecofeminist Approach To Climate Risks, Angela Hefti

Michigan Journal of International Law

Climate change poses significant risks to the human right to life. However, international adjudicators have either neglected to examine right to life claims in the context of climate risks or dismissed them as prospective and speculative. International human rights bodies have long applied the standard of imminence to determine whether a threat to the right to life exists and the extent to which it constitutes a violation. In climate change cases, this standard has hardened, requiring a tight temporal connection between climate risks and a violation of the right to life. This article argues that failing to recognize the impact …

Applying Machine Learning Methods To Generate Understandings Of Differential Item Functioning In A Flu Knowledge Assessment, William L. Romine, Tanvi Banerjee, Derrick Cox

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Current influenza trends, including the severity of the 2025 flu season and the prevalence of H5 bird flu in livestock, necessitate efforts to better understand how to educate students about its transmission. Although validated assessments of influenza knowledge exist, these have not been evaluated for affective and demographic biases. We explore differential item functioning (DIF) effects in four items focused on specific aspects of flu transmission derived from a validated influenza knowledge assessment. In doing so, we introduce and utilize a machine learning framework for exploration of DIF which offers greater flexibility than traditional statistical approaches in terms of studying …

Extraction Of Patient Subtypes Using Llm Generated Knowledge Graphs Integrated With A Transformer Architecture, Benjamin Holmes, Cogan Shimizu

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Extracting patient subpopulations (clinically relevant cohorts of individuals who share overlapping symptoms, risk factors, or diagnostic criteria) from unstructured medical notes is an ongoing challenge due to the variability of clinical language and the complex nature of patient conditions. We demonstrate a pipeline that combines named entity recognition (NER), transformer embeddings, guided dimensionality reduction, and LLM-mediated knowledge graph integration to enhance patient extraction. The approach begins with NER using the UMLS metathesaurus [1] to extract clinical terms, followed by transformation into vector embeddings using a biomedical transformer. These embeddings are augmented with structured knowledge graph representations generated through an LLM-driven …

Comparative Study Of Single Imputation Techniques For The Prediction Of Missing Dairy Data, Ahmed M. Gad Prof, Ahmed Abdelhakim Ahmed Mr, Eman Manaa Prof, Basant Shafik Dr, Sakr Mostafa Prof

Business Administration

Dairy farm records are a crucial component of effective livestock business management. Record analysis allows a farm’s owner to make informed decisions. Incomplete records are less useful for data analysis, so it's important to handle missing values correctly. This study compares different imputation methods for handling missing values in a dataset of dairy records comprising 997 records collected from 234 cows between 2012 and 2022. The dataset was screened against records with missing values and then deleted, resulting in 858 observations from 200 animals. There were missing values in two variables, with a missing percentage of 13.9%: days in milk …

Identifying Research Paths Based On Main Path Analysis: A Case Study Of Knowledge Graphs, Ruibin Wei, Yidan Wang, Yan Xu

Journal of Scientific Information Research

[Purpose/significance]The main path analysis of citation networks can be used to identify important literature in specific fields and can achieve the extraction of mainstream research threads. This paper will use the main path analysis method to analyze the research path of knowledge graphs and sort out the context of their research development. [Method/process]This paper firstly obtains research papers in the field of knowledge graphs from the Web of Science platform, then uses the HistCite software to generate a direct citation network of the literature, and then imports the data into Pajek to generate multiple main paths of the dataset, and …

Identifying Intangible And Biocultural Heritage Elements Toward Environmental Understanding: Engaging Stakeholders Through Art, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Grounded in a case study in Barbuda in the Caribbean, this research examines sustainability from the perspective of what arts and heritage can contribute to community engagement and local and broader understandings about the environment. This article documents a growing body of literature recognizing the role of arts and culture, including local knowledge and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), in climate change endeavors. Art and TEK present expansive world views. Contextual information situates research done on the island of Barbuda pre- and post-Hurricane Irma. Visual arts workshops engaged community members in mixed methods research. Results documented cultural elements, particularly intangible and …

Every Publication Needs An Author Verified Tl;Dr Statement, Sarah Oerther, Daniel B. Oerther

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Why Ai Monitoring Faces Resistance And What Healthcare Organizations Can Do About It: An Emotion-Based Perspective, Karl Werder, Lan Cao, Eun Hee Park, Balasubramaniam Ramesh

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

Continuous monitoring of patients' health facilitated by artificial intelligence (AI) has enhanced the quality of health care, that is, the ability to access effective care. However, AI monitoring often encounters resistance to adoption by decision makers. Healthcare organizations frequently assume that the resistance stems from patients' rational evaluation of the technology's costs and benefits. Recent research challenges this assumption and suggests that the resistance to AI monitoring is influenced by the emotional experiences of patients and their surrogate decision makers. We develop a framework from an emotional perspective, provide important implications for healthcare organizations, and offer recommendations to help reduce …

Farm Profit Impacts Of Consecutive Drought Years Under Climate Scenarios In Southwestern Australia, Sud Kharel, Kevin J. Foster, Meredith M. Guthrie, Ross Kingwell

Climate Science Research Articles

Climate projections for southern Australia indicate an increased likelihood of years of consecutive droughts. How resilient are farm businesses and their farming systems to recover from episodic drought? This study assesses the farm economic and financial impacts of consecutive droughts in southwest Australia. Bioeconomic simulation modelling of farm businesses with different farming systems at three locations is used to examine the long-term financial consequences of consecutive droughts. Various key factors affecting those consequences are examined. Farm location, farming system and starting equity are found to be the main determinants of how quickly a farm business can financially recover from the …

The Arctic Ocean Region : Biodiversity, Governance And Protective Measures, Antonios Andreadakis, Graeme Chesters, Dimitrios Dalaklis, 90 North Foundation

Reports

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• The Arctic Ocean region stands at the forefront of global environmental transformation, serving as a harbinger of climate change and a frontier for emergent geopolitical and economic interests.

• The Arctic region's economic potential, particularly in shipping and resource extraction, appears to offer shorter trade routes, reduced fuel consumption, and increased access to high-value resources. However, this analysis largely ignores the complex geo-physical, environmental and geographical limitations of the region.

• The fragility of Arctic Ocean ecosystems – characterized by slow ecological recovery, specialised biodiversity, and extreme environmental conditions – renders them especially vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances. …

Lead Bioaccessibility And Commonly Measured Soil Characteristics (Detroit, Mi, Usa) Phase Ii, Conor T. Gowan, Sabrina R. Good, Allison R. Harris, Patrick Crouch, Shawn P. Mcelmurry

Open Data at Wayne State

Urban soil contaminated with anthropogenic sources of Pb is a major contributor to child Pb exposure. To assess the Pb risk in urban areas, composite samples were collected from 142 voluntary privately owned 142 residential parcels in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park, Michigan. Samples were collected at two time periods, before and after treatment applied for those denoted as treatment sites. Samples were collected from areas covered with turf grass on the parcels from the front, middle and rear sections. Soils were collected with a bulb planter at approximately 10cm depth and were cleaned with a tap water-Liquinox detergent solution …

The Future Of Shipping At The Biodiversity-Climate Nexus : Round Table Report, Mary S. Wisz, Fabio Berzaghi, Mikaela Gomez, Maud C. Quinzin, Renis Auma Ojwala, Emily Nuckolls

Reports

This report presents the outcomes of a cross-disciplinary Round Table hosted by the World Maritime University (WMU) from May 13-15, 2024, in Malmö, Sweden. The event brought together 51 experts from academia, industry, NGOs, and international organizations, including the IMO, to explore shipping’s role at the biodiversity-climate nexus. The Round Table had a particular focus on the impacts of shipping that are currently unregulated or under-regulated, and opportunities to address biodiversity loss and pollution as the sector decarbonizes. The report highlights the need to apply comprehensive, ecosystem-based approaches to effectively manage shipping's impacts, including cumulative impacts, on the environment, people, …

Association Between Lifetime Interpersonal Violence And Post– Covid-19 Condition Among Women In Kentucky, 2020-2022, Ayşe Güler, Heather M. Bush, Katie Schill, Nurlan Kussainov, Ann L. Coker

Biostatistics Faculty Publications

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic increased the risk of interpersonal violence. We investigated the association between lifetime interpersonal violence experience and risk of post–COVID-19 condition (the persistence of symptoms of COVID-19 and severity of health problems associated with COVID-19 that last a few weeks, months, or years) among women with lifetime interpersonal violence experience.   Methods: Women participants aged ≥18 years in Kentucky’s Wellness, Health & You—COVID-19 study completed online quantitative surveys about the impacts of the pandemic, developing COVID-19, and symptoms of post–COVID-19 condition. We conducted cross-sectional analyses estimating rate ratios of developing COVID-19 and symptoms of post–COVID-19 condition during the …

Elements Of Statistics, Paul Flesher, Jeffrey Sadler, Jonathan Rehmert, Lanee Young

All Open Educational Resources

This undergraduate text, intended for an introductory statistics course, motivates and develops basic inferential statistics. The first chapter establishes the necessity of inferential statistics, lays the basis of a scientific worldview, and finishes by introducing sampling methods and variables. Subsequent chapters develop visualizations, descriptive statistics, probability, and random variables. Sampling distributions are treated in the fifth chapter which is immediately followed by the development of confidence intervals and hypothesis testing. The text concludes with a treatment of linear regression. The use of Excel is emphasized throughout. The text is best viewed online through LibreTexts.

Future Of Bse Days 2025: Growing A Regenerative Bse, Derek M. Heeren, Santosh Pitla, Jennifer R. Keshwani, Mark Stone

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Presentations and White Papers

The Future of BSE Days 2025: Growing a Regenerative BSE brought together over 150 faculty, staff, students, and partners to envision the next quarter-century of the Department of Biological Systems Engineering. The event emphasized regeneration—not only of resources and ecosystems, but also of ideas, learning models, and relationships. Across seven major sessions—three Spark Talks and four Pillar Workshops—participants explored how BSE can thrive amid technological disruption, demographic change, and societal transformation.

Key Outcomes

Redefining Impact: This session challenged participants to evolve from counting outputs to valuing relationships, collaboration, and community well-being.

Adaptive Learning Models: This discussion introduced design studios, micro-credentials, …

Collaborative Wildfire Governance Within The Southwest Idaho Wildfire Crisis Strategy Landscape: Survey Results 2025, Mahmood Muttaqee, Cody R. Evers, Lindsay K. Campbell, Max Nielsen-Pincus, Olivia Awbrey, Kathryn Hixson, Michelle Johnson, Erika Svendsen

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Collaboration plays a critical role in wildfire risk mitigation efforts. This study examines collaborative wildfire governance networks within Southwest Idaho, a priority landscape designated in 2022 under the USDA Forest Service's Wildfire Crisis Strategy (WCS). Through survey data from 64 respondents, the Fueling Adaptation study aimed to identify the structure, capacity, and gaps in governance networks addressing wildfire risk in Southwest Idaho and understand how WCS investments have influenced wildfire management in the area. The findings reveal a growing governance network centered on the USDA Forest Service and the Idaho Department of Lands and supported by numerous non-governmental organizations and …

Temporal Network Analysis Of Comorbidities Among People With Hiv In South Carolina, Yunqing Ma, Matthew Lohman Ph.D., Monique J. Brown Ph.D., Mph, Yichen Li, Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Bankole Olatosi Ph.D., Jiajia Zhang Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Introduction: People with HIV experience a high rate of comorbidities that can complicate their health outcomes. Understanding the prevalence, interrelationships and temporal development of these comorbidities is crucial for improving health management and quality of life for people with HIV. Methods: We used a population-based cohort extracted from statewide electronic health record (EHR) data in South Carolina (SC), including 18 649 people with HIV who survived at least 1 year after HIV diagnosis between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2020. Comorbidities and organ systems were classified using ICD-10 codes. Network analysis was performed to assess the closeness centrality among …

Aviation Sustainability & Infrastructure, Eva Maleviti

Publications

MS Aviation & Aerospace Sustainability

What Makes The Embry-Riddle Program Unique?

► Industry-driven program
► Technology pathways
► 100% online asynchronous teaching through Canvas learning platform
► 10 courses/30 U.S. credits hours (60 ECTs) all on Aviation & Aerospace Sustainability topics
► Covers the latest trends in the industry
► Utilizes real case studies

Hydrogen Readiness In Aviation & Challenges- Technology Meets Regulation And Market Demand, Eva Maleviti

Publications

Where technology meets regulation and market demand.

Examining The Disclosure Of Sensitive Information Through Mobile Applications: A Privacy Calculus And Warning Experiment On Location-Based Services, Dwayne A. Ford

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Smartphones and mobile applications have become all but ubiquitous in society. These applications provide a plethora of functions both in standalone and network configurations. Many of these popular applications utilize Location-Based Services (LBS) to deliver value to the user. Whether for navigation, transportation or social interactions, sharing information is essential when using these applications. While LBS applications provide various benefits, the sharing of location data also creates significant privacy risks. In many cases, users are unaware of the real risks and continue to share their location data in exchange for the benefits the application provides.

The problem identified in this …

Development Of A Phishing Risk Exposure Taxonomy On Mobile Devices In The Healthcare Industry, Christopher P. Collins

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Phishing emails accessed on mobile devices present substantial risks to healthcare organizations when employees often operate under high cognitive load and with limited cybersecurity training. Despite widespread security awareness initiatives, healthcare workers continue to engage with phishing content on mobile platforms, posing threats to organizational data. Given the high value of healthcare data and the increasing sophistication of phishing schemes targeting healthcare professionals, there is a pressing need to enhance their ability to recognize phishing indicators on mobile devices.

This study developed and validated a Healthcare Workers Phishing Risk Exposure (HWPRE) taxonomy, designed to classify healthcare workers based on their …

An Evaluation Of Data Protection And Privacy Issues Introduced By Byod In Financial Institutions, Andy Miguel Santana

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

The idea of “bring your own device” (BYOD) allows organizational employees to conduct their tasks or processes on their own personal devices, has increased organizational efficiency significantly while allowing employees more flexibility. However, this approach also introduces major concerns about the security of organizational data as employees take their devices everywhere with them, opening more opportunities for unauthorized access to important data. Another major concern is the privacy of employee personal data. As many organizations implement BYOD, employees worry that with organizational monitoring and device management, their personal data is at risk as well. The problem this study tackles is …

Architectural Technical Debt Migrating Object Oriented Systems To Modular Architectures, Lionel Standridge

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Architectural Technical Debt (ATD), a subset of Technical Debt (TD), arises when outdated architectural decisions present significant challenges to the maintenance and evolution of legacy object-oriented monolithic systems. These systems tend to have tightly coupled components and rigid dependencies, making it difficult to scale, adapt, and modernize. This dissertation investigated strategies for managing ATD during the transition from monolithic architectures to modular systems. By identifying the root causes of ATD in a legacy objectoriented system and evaluating various decomposition strategies, this research proposed a framework to guide practitioners in reducing ATD and improving a system’s modularity. Using quantitative metrics, the …

A Vision Transformer Based Assistive System For Dermatological Diagnosis In Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Syeda Lamima Farhat

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a complex and often underdiagnosed autoimmune disease that affects multiple organs and presents with a wide range of symptoms-ranging from fatigue and joint pain to life-threatening organ damage. One of its most visible and diagnostically significant indicators is the Butterfly Malar Rash (BMR), a distinctive facial rash that often resembles other common dermatological conditions like rosacea, acne, eczema, and fifth disease. This overlap can lead to misdiagnosis or delayed detection, especially in busy clinical environments. To assist dermatologists in distinguishing BMR from similar facial rashes, this study explores the development of an AI-powered image classification …