Digital Commons Network^™

Teaming With Technology: Adaptive Automation In Joint Cognitive Systems For Industry 5.0, Jessica Johnson

Virginia Digital Maritime Center (VDMC) Faculty Publications

Adaptive automation enables dynamic reallocation of functions between people and autonomous agents to improve performance in complex work. This paper presents a meta-analysis of experimental and quasi-experimental studies (2000-2025) on joint cognitive systems in industrially relevant contexts, quantifying effects on task performance, safety/failure management, workload, trust, and learning. Across studies, adaptive automation reliably reduces operator workload and shows moderate gains in task performance and safety, with healthier trust dynamics when adaptations are triggered by human-state or event cues, made transparent to the user, and remain rapidly overridable. Risks emerge when performance-triggered switching is opaque or poorly timed, which can erode …

Investigating Woody Vegetation Recruitment Post Riparian Enhancement Extraction Along The Baduwa't, Rize Martins De Oliveira, Wiley Hughes, Owen Lenox

Forestry, Fire, & Rangeland Management Senior Capstones

The Baduwa’t River in Humboldt County, California, faces a legacy of channelization, poor land management, and severe flooding that has left high, dry floodplain terraces disconnected from the river and dominated by invasive vegetation. In response to sediment deficits during drought years, Riparian Enhancement Extractions (REEs) were introduced as an alternative gravel mining method that simultaneously presented opportunities for habitat restoration. This study evaluates five REEs along the Baduwa’t to identify the construction features and site conditions that promote successful riparian vegetation establishment. Findings show that REEs can create seasonal wetlands conducive to native riparian habitat reestablishment, when excavation is …

Assessing Understory Along The Elk River (Hikshari') In Headwaters Forest Reserve, Humboldt County, California, Julie R. Meyers, Aliyah M. Ingram, Caleb N. Larkin, Joshua L. Carpenter

Environmental Science & Management Senior Capstones

Northern California’s extensive logging history and lack of forest management has altered old-growth coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests, leaving dense, homogenous second and third-growth forest stands. This has led to the use of modern restoration techniques such as variable density thinning (VDT) which aims to rehabilitate old-growth forest conditions by improving stand heterogeneity and light availability for understory species. Our study was done in Headwaters Forest Reserve (HFR) along the Elk River (Hikshari’) Trail in Humboldt County, California. Initially, the project was supervised by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Arcata Field Office. However, the 2025 U.S. government …

Ecological Assessment And Restoration Strategy For The Riparian Wetlands Of Woody Ryno Farms, Bee Krstich, Ethan Michael Gilmore, Kai Jeremy Hensley, Nicolas Augusto Yanez, Vanessa Luis

Environmental Science & Management Senior Capstones

Woody Ryno Farms is situated in McKinleyville, Humboldt County, California. The surrounding area is a mosaic of farmland, homes, and wetlands. This project aims to gather information about the health and species composition of the wetlands on Woody Ryno Farms. A step-point method was used to collect data on species composition along 16 m transects at 2 m intervals; all plants within a 1 m radius were identified and documented. Following data collection, we used Excel to analyze data based on several factors, including transect number, plants identified to the lowest taxonomic level, and native versus invasive taxa. Statistical analysis …

Restoring Riparian Health And Cultural Resources Along School Creek, A Baduwa’T Tributary, At Blue Lake Rancheria, Humboldt County, Ca, Karlie G. Hall, Fern W. Mcbride, Natalie R. Christenson, Olivia C. Brock, Emily A. King

Environmental Science & Management Senior Capstones

Riparian corridors are essential components of the landscape, supporting healthy streams and surrounding habitats by stabilizing banks, retaining water, and regulating stream temperatures. Indigenous peoples have stewarded these environments since time immemorial, cultivating deep relationships with the land and its culturally significant plants. Their continued ability to practice, transmit, and sustain this knowledge is vital not only for maintaining Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) but also for fostering resilient and healthy ecosystems. The purpose of this project was to revegetate a riparian area of School Creek with culturally significant plants. School Creek is a tributary in the Baduwa’t watershed at Blue …

Becoming Reacquainted: Baseline Habitat Assessment Of Streams On Returned Tribal Lands Of Blue Lake Rancheria, California, Haley Davis, Sophia Enriquez, Cecilia Olnes, Grace Poitras

Environmental Science & Management Senior Capstones

This project presents baseline habitat data for three tributaries of the Baduwa’t (Mad River) – Powers Creek, School Creek, and Kelly Creek – located on or adjacent to reacquired Blue Lake Rancheria (BLR) lands. These small coastal streams hold ecological and cultural significance and have the potential to support salmonids and other aquatic species. Powers Creek and School Creek were dry during the survey period and were assessed using qualitative, waypoint-based observations of vegetation, substrate, instream cover, channel morphology, and potential fish passage barriers. Kelly Creek, a perennial tributary, was surveyed using the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (CDFW) …

Assessing Wood Jam Formation In The South Fork Elk River In Headwaters Forest Reserve, California (Year 2), Blaine Follrath, Nico Hutton, Diego Rodriguez, Torrey Stapp

Environmental Science & Management Senior Capstones

Large woody debris (LWD) contribute to the formation of complex habitat structures by stabilizing channels, creating refugia, and enhancing spawning conditions. A lack of LWD in the South Fork Elk River in Headwaters Forest Reserve has been identified by the BLM as a limiting factor in salmonid resurgence. Salmonids provide vital ecological functions to their watersheds; however, their populations face the pressure of habitat loss. This study expands upon last year’s assessment of wood jam formation on the South Fork Elk River and examines how log jam structures have changed over time since the BLM’s 2022 accelerated recruitment project. This …

Integrating Data Management Plans Into The Unified Architecture Framework Standards Views, Cansu Yalim, Holly A. H. Handley

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

System Architecting translates an operational concept into a model of the system to be realized. There is a need for a Data Management Plan (DMP) to be included in the overall system engineering process with the advent of Digital Engineering. Data longevity, accessibility, and integrity can all be improved throughout the system's lifecycle by a well-defined DMP. System engineers use an architecture framework to arrange the system data into several sets of viewpoints. Incorporating a DMP at this point specifies the procedures for gathering, storing, retrieving, and maintaining data to ensure that all interested parties have access to current, correct …

Multimodal Spatio-Temporal Pest Prediction In Precision Agriculture, V N S Kameswari Sri Sindhu Manchikanti

Masters Theses

Accurate and timely prediction of pest outbreaks is a cornerstone of Agriculture 5.0, which emphasizes intelligent, data-driven, and sustainable decision-making in crop production. This research presents a multimodal deep learning framework that integrates heterogeneous data sources, including weather parameters, satellite-derived vegetation indices, and static and dynamic soil attributes, to forecast pest population dynamics under varying management and ecological conditions. The proposed framework employs modality-specific deep encoders to capture distinct temporal and spatial representations from each data stream and merges them through a late-fusion architecture that learns cross-modal dependencies critical to pest emergence. The design further incorporates treatment-aware and multiclass extensions, …

Sustainable Water Purification Using Green-Synthesized Nanoparticles: A Comparison Between Mono- And Bimetallic Nanoparticle Systems, Sai Bhargava Vipparla, Naveen Debbata, Satyavardhan Dharmapuri, Anil Kumar Busi, Pranay Bhasker Kalakonda, Dayanand Aitipamula, Moses Kigozi, Pritam Mandal, Krishna Kumar Balu, Parvathalu Kalakonda

Michigan Tech Publications

This review explores recent advancements in using environmentally benign monometallic nanoparticles (MMNPs) and bimetallic nanoparticles (BMNPs) for photocatalytic water purification, addressing the urgent need for sustainable solutions to global water scarcity. This study systematically analyzes how key photocatalysis variables, including nanocatalyst concentration, dye selection, and pollutant concentration, influence dye degradation outcomes. Standardized experimental conditions utilizing UV irradiation, 10 ppm, methylene blue (MB), and green synthesis routes were employed for comparative assessment. Results indicate that BMNPs, particularly Ag-Cu BMNPs composites, consistently outperform their MMNPs, achieving degradation rates between 90% and 99%, compared to 70%–85% for MMNPs. This superior performance is attributed …

Adding Libraries To The Equation: Mathematical Sciences’ Underutilization Of Academic Librarians, Jennifer Lc Burke, Elizabeth C. Novosel, Daniel G. Kipnis, Rasitha Jayesekere

Scholarship and Professional Work

Academic librarians do not engage with all disciplinary departments equally. Despite equal or even greater efforts, some departments are less responsive to librarian outreach. One such department is mathematics. To understand mathematics departments’ relationships with their academic librarians, three mathematics librarians created a 20-question survey that was disseminated to mathematics faculty, instructors, and instructional staff in the United States and Canada. Of the 188 survey participants, more than a third reported that they never engage with their librarians, approximately half only do so occasionally, and a mere eight percent of participants collaborated with librarians to provide information literacy instruction (IL) …

Deep Learning-Based Ensemble Two-Step Classification Of Medical Images Using Cnn Architectures And Ensemble Methods, Noreliz Alorico

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Breast cancer remains one of the most common cancers amongst women globally. Early detection is crucial for improving survival rates. While mammography is widely used and an effective imaging technique, it can sometimes yield false positive or false negatives. Mammogram interpretation is highly operator-dependent, introducing variability and the potential for diagnostic errors. Additionally, mammographic images have limitations, such as low contrast in breast tissue and overlapping structures that can obscure lesions or mimic abnormalities. These limitations can lead to unnecessary biopsies or delayed diagnosis. These challenges highlight the needs for advanced and data driven diagnostic tools to support and enhance …

Swosu Research And Scholarly Activity Fair 2025, Swosu Office Of Sponsored Programs

SWOSU Research and Scholarly Activity Fair Programs

On behalf of the members of the University Research and Scholarly Activity Committee (USRAC) and the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) at Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) — welcome to the Thirty-Third SWOSU Research and Scholarly Activity Fair!

This year’s event features 99 poster presentations and 9 oral presentations, showcasing the work of over 170 student and faculty researchers, writers, presenters, artists, collaborators, and faculty sponsors. These presentations represent a wide array of scholarly and academic activity from across SWOSU’s academic community, including the Departments of Art, Communication, and Theatre; Allied Health Sciences; Biological Sciences; Business; Chemistry & …

Modeling Deductive Inference: A Historico-Philosophical Introduction To First-Order Logic, David J. Buller

Faculty Books & Book Chapters

This book is a companion text for lectures on first-order logic and its elementary metatheory (used in Intermediate Logic at Northern Illinois University). It covers the basic concepts of set theory necessary for a mathematical development of first-order logic; develops a formal language of first-order logic; presents a classical Tarskian semantics for the language and the “semantic” conception of logical consequence; presents a Gentzenian proof system and the “syntactic” conception of logical consequence; develops a partial decision procedure for logical consequence in the language; demonstrates applications of the formal system to modeling deductive inference expressed in natural language; and extends …

Resource Assessment Report No. 1: Mid-West Scallop Resource 2024 Assessment, Jason How, Arani Chandrapavan, Rachel Marks

Resource Assessment Reports

The Mid-West Scallop Resource (Resource) is only accessed by the Abrolhos Islands Mid-West Trawl Managed Fishery (AIMWTMF). The AIMWTMF is the second largest scallop fishery in Western Australia. Access is limited to the 10 licences granted to access the Resource, which are managed through a range of, gear controls, catch rates and seasonal closures. They access saucer scallops, Ylistrum balloti (formerly Amusium balloti) using otter trawls fished over predominantly sand. The fishery was certified by the Marine Stewardship Council in 2021, with the fishery entering re-certification in 2026.

In 2024, 95.7 t meat weight (478.5 t whole weight) of saucer …

Navigating Wastewater: Minnesota Mining Wastewater Permit Challenges And Evolving Compliance Standards, Madelaine Adamich

Journal of Earth and Life Science

February of 2021 marked the beginning of Minnesota clearly establishing that groundwater qualifies as a Class 1 water in a legal battle involving United States Steel, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, WaterLegacy, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and eventually the Minnesota Supreme Court (MNSC). Minnesota has a water classification system, as required by the federal Clean Water Act, with 7 classes of use. Class 1 waters are waters used for domestic consumption (MPCA 4, n.d.). According to Minnesota Statute § 7050.0220, the acceptable level for sulfate is 250 mg/L in Class 1 …

Aquatic Invertebrate Populations In Roadside Wetlands In Relation To Water Characteristics, Ellen P. Isakson

Journal of Earth and Life Science

The continual habitat destruction and draining of wetland systems makes the need to understand the ecology of roadside wetlands all the more necessary. Roadside wetlands provide valuable habitat to countless aquatic invertebrates, which can provide insight into the health of the wetland system due to their diversity. The objective of this study was to analyze the populations of aquatic invertebrates in roadside wetlands in relation to water characteristics such as pH, salinity, conductivity, water depth and temperature, and dissolved oxygen. This was done by collecting samples of invertebrate populations from roadside wetlands, in addition to data on water quality characteristics …

Chromium Removal From Tannery Wastewater Via A Hydroponic Technique With Vetiver Grass (Vetiveria Zizanioides), Ismot Zereen, Zainul Abedin, Siddikur Rahman, Debasish Pandit

Applied Environmental Research

This research aimed to investigate the effects of hydroponically cultivated vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) on the treatment of tannery wastewater for chromium (Cr) removal in Bangladesh. The field experiment involved 9 containers, which were separated into 3 groups: tannery wastewater with hydroponically planted vetiver, tannery wastewater without vetiver (control), and a group with vetiver grown in tap water. The tap water group was used solely for plant growth assessment, whereas only the control and hydroponic vetiver groups were evaluated for Cr and water quality parameters. Throughout the 45-day trial period, Cr and other water quality parameters were analyzed …

Exploring The Co-Composting Potentials Of Raw Grease Trap And Grease Trap-Derived Soaps: Insights Into Grease Trap Modification, Calcium Supplementation, And Microbial Community Analysis, Pokchat Chutivisut, Panaya Kotchaplai, Bualuang Faiyue, Nattapong Tuntiwiwattanapun

Applied Environmental Research

Managing waste with grease traps poses a challenge because of the potential environmental issues associated with its disposal. In this study, two approaches were investigated to increase the biodegradability of grease trap waste: 1) converting raw grease trap waste into soap and 2) supplementing grease trap soap as inoculum with calcium material. The preparation of grease trap soap was optimized to attain a soap yield of 103% by utilizing a water-to-ethanol ratio of 9:1 at 80 °C for a processing time of 3 hours. A comparison of the composting results revealed higher nitrate yields with increased ratios of grease trap …

Microplastic Contamination In Commercially Important Bivalves Of Sorsogon Bay, Philippines, Sarina M.B. Arciga, Charmaine A. Malon, Kenneth N. Ballaran

Applied Environmental Research

Sorsogon Bay, a key fishing ground in the Philippines, is known for its commercially important bivalve species: Perna viridis, Atrina pectinata, and Paphia undulata. Despite their ecological and economic value, limited research has been conducted on microplastic contamination in bivalves harvested from this area. This study aimed to assess the abundance and types of microplastics in commercially important bivalves (P. viridis, A. pectinata, and P. undulata) from Sorsogon Bay, Philippines. Commercial bivalve samples were randomly collected, digested with 10% w/v potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution, filtered (8 µm), and examined under a compound microscope. …

Exploration Of Indigeneous Biosurfactant-Producing Bacillus Sp. From Petroleum Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Soil In Indonesia, Rizky Danang Susetyo, Wahyu Wilopo, Suwarno Hadisusanto, Endah Retnaningrum

Applied Environmental Research

Hydrocarbonolastic bacteria are valuable for the remediation of petroleum-polluted environments. The production of biosurfactants by such bacteria significantly enhances hydrocarbon bioavailability and increases remediation efficiency. One genus of hydrocarbonolastic bacteria with the potential to produce biosurfactants is Bacillus, yet strain-level diversity and local adaptations remain underexplored.Tthis study aimed to isolate and characterize hydrocarbonolastic bacteria belonging to the Bacillus genus from soil samples collected at Geopetroleum Teksas Wonocolo, Kedewan District, Bojonegoro Regency, Indonesia, which is a historically underreported hydrocarbon site. Additionally, the capacity of Bacillus to synthesize biosurfactants was examined. Bacillus strains capable of biosur-factant production were identified via a polyphasic …

Examining Short Term Drainage Impacts To Soil Health In Hydric And Non-Hydric Soils Of Waseca County, Minnesota, Ely Hartl

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Subsurface drainage is implemented throughout the Midwest United States to remove excess moisture from soil to enhance crop growth. Hydric soils are ubiquitous throughout Minnesota and are commonly drained due to their historically saturated conditions. Changing a soil's hydrology can impact its formation and properties. The alteration of physical, biological, and chemical soil properties can occur to both hydric and non-hydric soils, impacting overall soil health. The purpose of this study is to examine the short-term effects of tile drainage on the soil health of hydric and non-hydric soils in southern Minnesota. Research methods include: 1) collect soil-sediment cores to …

Hydrogen Peroxide Production From Light-Driven Water Oxidation Via Nickel Oxide-Titanium Dioxide Heteronanocrystals, Mahfuz Ahammed Swadhen

Dissertations and Theses

High dependence on fossil fuels for energy carries risks for the environment, health, energy, and geopolitical stability. One of the solutions to address this is solar energy utilization, and the use of semiconductors for photocatalytic water splitting is a tantalizing prospect. An n-type semiconductor TiO2 combined with p-type NiO producing a heteronanojunction shows effective light-driven oxidation of H2O into H2O2. We developed a synthetic method to attach NiO nanoparticles on the surface of anatase TiO2 nanorods. We characterized the materials with UV-visible spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and electron microscopy. We immobilized the HNCs on fumed silica and removed organic surfactants …

First-Principles Modeling Of Nitazoxanide Analogues As Prospective Pfor-Targeted Antibacterials, Islam Gomaa

Nanotechnology Research Centre

Pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase (PFOR) is a key Achilles’ heel in anaerobic pathogens. We integrate electronic-structure calculations (DFT), cheminformatic QSAR metrics, and residue-resolved docking to distill a concise “recognition code” and translate it into practical design rules. Using nitazoxanide (Nita; ΔG(bind) ≈ −10.0 kcal·mol−1) as a well-established reference, productive binding requires a conserved triad: a hydrogen-bond donor addressing Thr-997 and Cys-840, a π–π stack with Phe-869, and a recurrent π–σ contact to Thr-997 that orients the scaffold. Deacetylation to tizoxanide unmasks the phenolic donor and raises local electrophilicity, yet it also slightly loosens pocket packing (−9.6 kcal·mol−1). Strategic halogenation introduces a σ-hole …

Leveraging Distributed Semantics From Deep Learning Architectures For Literature-Based Discovery, Clint A. Cuffy

Theses and Dissertations

Literature-based discovery (LBD) is a scientific process that introduces methods to automatically identify novel insights between non-interacting sets of literature. To date, numerous statistical and machine learning-based methods have been applied in the biomedical domain to find treatments for diseases such as Raynaud's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Multiple Sclerosis. However, the lack of standardized practices and creation of bespoke methodologies produces a scenario where the adoption of LBD remains challenging in real-world systems. Our work addresses these concerns through the improvement of five critical areas: 1) error propagation within LBD's a priori dependent tasks, 2) exploring the integration of modern …

Beyond Homogeneity: Exploring Causal Heterogeneity In Psychopathology, Philip B. Vinh

Theses and Dissertations

Traditional models in psychiatric research often impose assumptions of causal homogeneity, treating population-level associations as reflective of uniform underlying mechanisms. This dissertation challenges that assumption by introducing statistical and machine learning frameworks designed to detect and model causal heterogeneity in the development of psychopathology. Central to this approach is the advancement of finite mixture structural equation modeling (FM-SEM) to identify latent subgroups characterized by distinct, and sometimes opposing, causal pathways.

The dissertation comprises three integrated empirical studies. The first introduces mixDoC, a finite mixture extension of the classical Direction of Causation (DoC) model applied to twin data, enabling the detection …

Modeling The Impacts Of The Current And Projected Temperatures On Spongy Moth Population Dynamics, Adrienne B. Spring

Theses and Dissertations

The spongy moth (Lymantria dispar) is an invasive forest pest that has caused significant ecological damage across the United States. Its invasion front is shaped by a number of factors, including temperature in both the northern and southern regions. With ongoing climate change, areas that were previously uninhabitable may become increasingly favorable for moth population establishment and expansion, while other areas may experience thermal stress limiting persistence. This study develops a temperature-driven population model to analyze how temperature affects the spongy moth population dynamics along the invasion front. This model incorporates temperature effects on fecundity, stage-specific survival rates, …

Evaluating Spatiotemporal Vegetation Index Variation To Detect Salt Marsh Dieback On The Georgia Coast, Emmanuella Bosompemaa Obeng

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Salt marshes, essential for coastal protection and carbon sequestration, are increasingly vulnerable to dieback events, threatening ecosystem resilience and vital services. Detecting these shifts early is essential for timely intervention. However, few studies have applied Early Warning Signals (EWS) to coastal marsh systems. Most EWS research has focused on lakes, forests, or climate tipping points, with limited application to salt marsh dieback in the southeastern U.S. Site-specific, long-term spatial analyses are also lacking, as prior work often examines short time frames or single disturbance events. This study investigates the spatiotemporal patterns of salt marsh dieback on the Georgia coast from …

Predicting Capture And Survival Probabilities Of The Arizona Tiger Salamander: A Comparison Of Capture-Recapture Models, Brittney Nelson

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Capture-recapture models are essential tools for estimating population dynamics in ecological studies. A fundamental component of these models is the capture history matrix, which records individual detection over time and serves as the basis for estimating survival and capture probabilities. This presentation explores three statistical approaches to these estimations: the Cormack-Jolly-Seber (CJS) model, the Hidden Markov Model (HMM) for CJS, and the Bayesian CJS model. The CJS model provides a likelihood-based framework for estimation, and the HMM CJS incorporates latent states into the model to account for uncertainty in detection. The Bayesian CJS extends this same analysis by integrating prior …

New Psychoactive Substances Detected In Wastewater Samples Collected Along The Interstate Highway Rest Areas In Kentucky, Durga Prasad Kodati

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

The rapid emergence and proliferation of new psychoactive substances (NPS) pose significant challenges to public health and law enforcement. The potential for abuse and toxicity of these substances, which are intended to mimic the effects of controlled drugs, has been raising concerns as these compounds are designed to evade being regulated. There are traditional methods of tracking NPS, such as seizures and forensic toxicology, but they are delayed and seldom effective because these substances continue to evolve rapidly. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has emerged as a promising tool for real-time surveillance of drug consumption. The primary objective of this research was …