Digital Commons Network^™

First Evaluation Of Contrast-Enhanced Micro-Xct As A Tool For Organismal And Reproductive Trait Observations In Corals Based On Scans Of Thesea Nivea Deichmann, 1936, Erin E. Easton

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Micro-X-ray computed tomography (micro-XCT) with contrast enhancement is considered a non-destructive tool that is increasingly being applied to explore the internal and external structures of vertebrates and invertebrates. Although micro-XCT has been applied to corals to study skeletal features, contrast enhancement has not been applied to evaluate the utility for visualization of soft tissue structures in corals. This study is the first to evaluate the utility of contrast enhancement to visualize internal and external features, including soft tissue features, of octocorals. Contrast staining of a Thesea nivea specimen with 2.5% Lugol's iodine permitted visualization of soft tissues with sufficient density …

Blue Carbon Ecosystems As Climate Solutions: Sequestration Across Coastal And Marine Environments, Allison K. White, Richard J. Kline, Md. Saydur Rahman

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) such as mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrasses, sequester significant amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere. These ecosystems capture and store carbon in biomass and sediments over long periods. Other marine ecosystems, including the open ocean, kelp forests, bivalve reefs, and coral reefs, have been excluded from the BCEs, but they have the potential to serve as crucial blue carbon sinks or to support adjacent BCEs. Climate change, however, poses severe threats to these ecosystems. Rising sea levels, increasing temperatures, and ocean acidification can lead to habitat loss, reduced biodiversity, and impaired carbon sequestration capacity. Consequently, anthropogenic …

User-First Approach To Designing A Library Ai Chatbot, Samantha Seah, Zhenyan Li

Research Collection Library

At SMU Libraries, after a year of experimentation, user testing, and preparation, we have just launched an AI-assisted chatbot to handle Tier 1 questions – will the library be open this weekend, where can I find printers, what workshops does the library offer, etc. While this can be thought of as a technology-forward project, we hope to illustrate how the human elements were essential to elevate the project. Throughout this journey, while learning the ins and outs of new technologies, we placed more emphasis on user-centred service design and we will show how other libraries can do so as well. …

Age-Related Lens Membrane Composition And N101d Deamidation Modulate Αa–Crystallin Membrane Interactions Relevant To Cataract, Preston Hazen, Jordyn Anderson, Navdeep Kalkat, Binod Aryal, Nawal K. Khadka, Laxman Mainali

Boise State University Publications and Presentations

Purpose: αA-crystallin (αAc), the predominant subunit comprising α-crystallin (αABc), becomes increasingly deamidated and membrane bound with cataract formation. Furthermore, the lens lipids and cholesterol (Chol) composition significantly change with age and cataract formation. Despite this, the relationship between αAc deamidation and lens membrane composition in cataractogenesis remains unclear. To address this, we analyzed the role of N101 deamidation and membrane composition in the membrane interactions of αAc.

Methods: Experimentation involved using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) to analyze wild-type (WT) and N101D-αAc membrane binding and its physical effects on the membrane properties of 60-year-old (yo) and 20-yo model human lens lipid …

Sex-Based Disparities In Artificial Intelligence For Cardiovascular Disease: A Scoping Review, Maurgan Lee, Tarek Atasi, Michael Mclellan, Yodit Beru, Jason Booza

Population, Patient, Physician and Professionalism Projects

No abstract provided.

Study Of A Nonlinear Delayed Parabolic Model For Prion Disease Dynamics With The Unfolded Protein Response, Gangadhara Boregowda, Laurent Pujo-Menjouet, Zhaosheng Feng, Michael R. Lindstrom

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Prion diseases are neurodegenerative disorders characterized by the dynamic spread of misfolded toxic proteins in the brain. In this process, the normal cellular prion protein (PrPC) produced by neurons misfolds into a toxic form known as scrapie prion protein (PrPSc). These misfolded proteins propagate through the brain by converting healthy prions into their toxic form. This biological mechanism can be modeled by a system of nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations, accompanied by a nonlinear delayed integral boundary condition. Our primary objective is to establish the existence of nonnegative classical solutions to this system. Furthermore, we derive a priori estimates for …

Bridging Theory And Practice: A Data-Driven Community Partnership To Optimize Maintenance Effectiveness, Daniel Wu

Academic Affairs

This project established an immersive, industry-engaged learning experience that embedded Data Science students in a professional business environment through a partnership with Thiele Kaolin. Students applied advanced data mining, machine learning, and big data analytics techniques to large proprietary datasets to address authentic business challenges and generate actionable, data-driven insights. By working with complex real-world data, students bridged the gap between classroom theory and industry practice while gaining hands-on experience with the full data science workflow, including data preparation, exploratory analysis, predictive modeling, and results interpretation. The project also fostered critical thinking, teamwork, and professional competencies. Students collaborated in multidisciplinary …

2026 October 1 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

State-Aware Fuzzing Of Javascript Engines With Llm-Guided Instrumentation, Wai Kin Wong, Dongwei Xiao, Cheuk Tung Lai, Ping Fan Ke, Shuai Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The security of the modern web depends on the correctness of JavaScript (JS) engines, yet these complex systems remain vulnerable to high-impact bugs. A critical limitation of state-of-the-art fuzzers is the coverage plateau: once a fuzzer saturates the control-flow graph, edge coverage loses its ability to guide discovery. Because complex engine behaviors, such as JIT optimization tiers and hidden class transitions, often share identical edge coverage, standard coverage metrics are blind to the distinct internal states required to trigger deep errors. To bridge this gap, we present StateLens, a framework that employs Large Language Models (LLM) to automate the discovery …

Size-Tunable Tellurium Quantum Dots By Glancing Angle Deposition, S. M. Sayem, Salim Hussain, Fernando Maia De Oliveira, Ranjitha Kumarapuram Hariharalakshmanan, Gregory Guisbiers, Tansel Karabacak

Faculty Scholarship

Tellurium has a unique helical crystal arrangement and pronounced anisotropy that influence its electronic and optical properties at the nanoscale. This study reports the synthesis of pure tellurium quantum dots (Te QDs) on silicon wafer using glancing angle deposition (GLAD). Quasi-hemispherical dots with lateral sizes ranging from 9 to 28 nm and vertical dimensions of 6 to 10 nm were produced as a function of the deposition duration. A comparison of the dot sizes with the Bohr radii of the charge carriers indicated a regime of strong to intermediate confinement. Structural analyses confirmed the polycrystalline nature and trigonal phase of …

Noise Characterization And Mitigation In Intermediate-Scale Quantum Systems, Muhammad Qasim Khan

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Current quantum processors, at the intermediate scale of tens to hundreds of qubits, remain error-limited. This thesis studies two related sources of error. The first is environmental noise, which may have temporal and spatial correlations and nonclassical components. The second is state-preparation and measurement (SPAM) error, which arises in the operations used to characterize this noise, a prerequisite for boosting operational fidelities. Neither can be characterized alone. Noise spectroscopy techniques use imperfect preparation and readout, while SPAM characterization is affected by qubit decoherence. Our methods vary measurement depth, drive duration, or sequence repetition so each source changes the measured signal …

Draft Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Silver Bow Creek Conservation Area (Sbcca) Operations And Maintenance (O&M) Plan, Stantec Consulting Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Poster Session: Turning A Scientific Poster Into A Publishable Manuscript, Scott R. Beason

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

Scientific posters are often treated as the final product of an undergraduate research project. After months of fieldwork, laboratory analysis, data processing, and interpretation, a student prepares a poster, presents the work at a departmental symposium or professional meeting, rolls up the poster, and moves on to the next stage of their career. The research, however, does not necessarily need to end with the poster session. A well-developed scientific poster already contains many of the fundamental elements of a scientific manuscript: a research question, scientific context, methods, results, figures, interpretation, discussion, and conclusions. Converting a poster into a manuscript therefore …

In Memoriam: Dr. Don C. Steinker (1936-2026), Paleobiologist, Teacher, Editor, And Mentor, Margaret M. Yacobucci, Susan T. Goldstein, Ronald E. Martin

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

Dr. Don C. Steinker, Professor Emeritus of Geology and Paleobiology, died at the age of 89 in Bowling Green, Ohio, on February 5, 2026. During his remarkable 43-year career at Bowling Green State University (BGSU), Don played a pivotal role in developing the Paleobiology specialization within the Geology undergraduate degree program, mentored generations of students, and served as advisor for the Beta Upsilon chapter of Sigma Gamma Epsilon (SGE) from 1969 until his retirement in 2010. In this brief memorial, we will highlight some of Don’s most important contributions to BGSU’s geology program, the field of foraminiferal paleobiology, geoscience education, …

A Tribute To Frank Delno Holland, Jr. (1924-2023), Sigma Gamma Epsilon National President (1970-1975), Paleontologist, And Friend, John M. Erickson

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

Frank Delno Holland, Jr., was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, on March 6, 1924. All family and friends, including his students and professional acquaintances, knew him as Bud. His parents were Frank D. Holland and Francys Bell Holland. His paternal grandparents, O.B. and Laura Holland were North Dakotans who had homesteaded in Sargent County during the 1880s, but had relocated to Kansas in 1903. Bud had a rural upbringing on the outskirts of Leavenworth, graduating in 1942 from Leavenworth High school. It seemed natural that he would follow in his father’s footsteps by attending the University of Kansas (KU) so Bud …

The Compass - Volume 95 Issue 2 - Complete Issue, Scott R. Beason

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Significance Of Kenya's Indigenous And Emerging Blue Foods For Sustainable Aquaculture Development. A Review, Jonathan Munguti, Mavindu Muthoka, Domitila Kyule, Esther Magondu, Kevin Obiero, Jimmy Mboya, Menaga Meenakshisundaram, Tanga M. Chrysantus, Gerald Kwikiriza, Francis K. Njonge

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Kenya's aquaculture sector is at a pivotal stage, transitioning from a historical reliance on Nile tilapia and African catfish toward a more diversified production portfolio that integrates indigenous and emerging freshwater and marine species. This shift is increasingly recognized as essential to enhance climate resilience, food security, and ecosystem health. This systematic review synthesizes more than two decades (2000 to 31st January, 2026) of peer-reviewed literature to evaluate the biological suitability, culture performance, and socio-ecological roles of underutilized native taxa, including Ningu (Labeo victorianus), Jipe tilapia (Oreochromis jipe), freshwater prawns (Macrobrachium spp.), rabbitfish (Siganus sutor), marine-acclimatized Nile tilapia, mud crab …

Aidws1: Building With Llms And Ai Agent, Olivier Kepler Francois

Paul English Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) Institute Publications

The Paul English Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute (PEAAII) at the University of Massachusetts Boston hosted the first session of its AI Demo Workshop Series, “Building with LLMs and AI Agents,” on October 5, 2026, led by Olivier Kepler Francois, Founder and Researcher of WebAIAgent. This hands-on workshop introduced participants to developing AI-powered web applications using Large Language Models (LLMs), Next.js, React, HTTP communication, and the OpenAI API. Through guided demonstrations and practical exercises, participants explored frontend and backend development, API integration, user interaction, and the end-to-end process of building an interactive AI application. The session provided foundational knowledge and practical …

Don’T Sweat Interaction Trees Proof-Guided Local Variable Lifting For Interaction Trees, Yiming Lin, Ian Kariniemi, Yao Li

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Verifying existing software is hard: Programs are developed in languages not amenable to verification, involve complicated optimizations that obscure the underlying logic, and are gigantic in size. In this paper, we propose a way to ease this pain via a simplification framework that employs interaction trees as a language-agnostic interface. We show that local variable lifting, the technique underlying AutoCorres for the Simpl language, can be generalized to interaction trees via an implementation in Rocq. A key challenge with simplifying interaction trees is that they are highly dynamic structures and we would like our approach to work with mostly uninterpreted …

Representation Stability In The Intrinsic Hyperplane Arrangements Associated To Irreducible Representations Of The Symmetric Groups, Ian Flynn, Eric Ramos, Benjamin Young

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Some of the most classically relevant Hyperplane arrangements are the Braid Arrangements Bn and their associated compliment spaces Fn. In their recent work, Tsilevich, Vershik, and Yuzvinsky [TVY20] construct what they refer to as the intrinsic hyperplane arrangement within any irreducible representation of the symmetric group that generalize the classical braid arrangements. Through examples it is also shown that the associated compliment spaces to these intrinsic arrangements display behaviors far removed from Fn. In this work we study the intrinsic hyperplane arrangements of irreducible representations of the symmetric group from the perspective of representation stability. This work is both theoretical, …

Chemnetworks: New Capabilities For High-Throughput, Real-Time Chemical Graph Construction And Analysis, Daniel J. Pope, Jackson Elowitt, Bo Zhang, Manish Parashar, Aurora E. Clark

Michigan Tech Publications

A major revision of the ChemNetworks software (originally published in the Journal of Computational Chemistry, 2014, 35, 495–505) is presented. While the original ChemNetworks provided foundational graph construction capabilities for chemical systems, it was limited to simple distance and 3-body angular edge criteria, was not designed for high-performance computing environments or real-time operation alongside running simulations. This release addresses these limitations through three core contributions. First, a recursive Z-matrix-based search algorithm is introduced that enables chemically intuitive, arbitrarily descriptive three-dimensional structure searches, supporting geometric, energetic, and logical criteria. Second, the DataSpaces data staging framework is incorporated as an optional I/O …

Digitizing Land Records For A More Inclusive Future, Md Sharif Hasan Rafi '30

Annual Student Research Poster Session

This project supported the Land Data Digitization for Inclusive Growth Project in Bangladesh by transforming paper-based land records into structured and accessible digital information. The work involved data entry, verification, quality control, standardization, and metadata management using a web-based system. More than 12,500 land records were processed, with 98% passing quality checks. The experience demonstrates how accurate and standardized digital land data can improve transparency, accessibility, government planning, and inclusive land administration while reducing errors and disputes.

Ph-Compensated Hydrogen Peroxide Quantification Using A Dual-Modal Fiber-Optic Probe, Homayoon Soleimani Dinani, Bohong Zhang, Maryam Karimi, Rex E. Gerald, Shelley D. Minteer, Jie Huang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We report a dual-modal fiber-optic probe that integrates electrochemical quantification of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) with co-localized fluorescent pH sensing for pH-indexed interpretation of the H₂O₂ response. H₂O₂ is a reactive oxygen species involved in oxidative stress, inflammation, and cellular signaling, and local pH modulates both its production and electrochemical response. Many electrochemical H₂O₂ sensors exhibit pH-dependent sensitivity, creating ambiguity unless pH is measured and used for compensation, which is difficult in small, heterogeneous, or rapidly changing microenvironments. A three-electrode configuration—working (WE), counter (CE), and Ag/AgCl pseudo-reference (pRE) electrodes—is fabricated directly on the cylindrical surface of a 710-µm-diameter optical fiber using …

Mutation-Based Multi-Agent Test Case Update, Dawei Tian, Jiakun Liu, Yun Peng, Yichen Zhang, Jianlei Chi, Jun Sun, Xiaohong Su

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Modern software systems evolve rapidly under CI/CD practices, where tests are critical for quality. However, substantial code changes often render existing test cases obsolete, causing pipeline disruptions, reduced productivity, and compromised quality. Recent automatic test update approaches leverage LLMs to refine test cases via execution feedback and exact-matching context retrieval, prioritizing executability and line coverage but suffering three limitations: (1) neglecting test assertion adequacy, weakening fault detection; (2) relying on coarse line coverage instead of specific uncovered lines/branches; (3) using exact-matching retrieval, which fails for LLM hallucinated queries. To address these, we propose MuMuTestUp, a mutation-guided multi-agent framework with three …

Ddor: Delta Debugging For Explainable Overrefusal Testing And Repair, Qinyan Zhou, Peixin Zhang, Jun Sun, Haonan Zhang, Dongxia Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

While safety alignment and guardrails help large language models (LLMs) avoid harmful outputs, they can also induce overrefusal, i.e., unwarranted rejection of benign queries that merely appear risky. We present DDOR (Delta Debugging for OverRefusal), a fully automated and explainable framework for overrefusal testing and repair in a black-box setting, where only model inputs and outputs are accessible and internal safety mechanisms remain opaque. DDOR applies delta debugging to localize minimal refusal-triggering fragments (mRTFs) that provide phrase-level, explainable evidence for why a refusal occurs. Conditioned on these mRTFs, DDOR generates diverse, context-rich prompts and performs multi-oracle validation to filter intrinsically …

Characterizing And Repairing Obsolete Android Gui Tests Under Ui Evolution, Shiwen Song, Yiheng Xiong, Wenbo Guo, Manqi Sun, Jiaolong Kong, Xiaofei Xie

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Graphical user interface (GUI) tests are widely used in regression testing of mobile applications (apps) tovalidate app behavior from the user’s perspective. However, frequent app evolution, such as UI redesignsand feature updates, often renders existing GUI tests obsolete, even when underlying functionality remainsunchanged. Automatically repairing such tests is critical for maintaining test suites and reducing substantialmanual effort. Despite the practical importance, there is still a lack of a systematic understanding of thecharacteristics of obsolete GUI tests and a publicly available benchmark to support their study. To fill thisgap, we construct a benchmark comprising 736 obsolete GUI tests collected from 36 …

Probguard: Proactive Runtime Monitoring For Llm Agent Safety Via Probabilistic Prediction, Haoyu Wang, Christopher M. Poskitt, Jiali Wei, Jun Sun

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Large Language Model (LLM) agents increasingly operate across domains such as robotics, virtual assistants, and web automation. However, their stochastic decision-making introduces safety risks that are difficult to anticipate during execution. Existing runtime monitoring frameworks, such as AgentSpec, primarily rely on reactive safety rules that detect violations only when unsafe behavior is imminent or has already occurred, limiting their ability to handle long-horizon dependencies. We present ProbGuard, a proactive runtime monitoring framework for LLM agents that anticipates safety violations through probabilistic risk prediction. ProbGuard abstracts agent executions into symbolic states and learns a Discrete-Time Markov Chain (DTMC) from execution traces …

Mg-Fuzz: Model-Guided Fuzzing For Unsafe Scenario Discovery In Autonomous Driving Systems, Yulong Lyu, Ruiqi Hong, Jiawan Wang, Jun Sun, Lei Bu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

As autonomous driving systems (ADS) are increasingly deployed in real-world environments, discovering diverse unsafe driving scenarios remains a fundamental yet difficult problem. Existing scenario generation and testing approaches often rely on black-box exploration or externally-observed heuristic feedback, which struggle to effectively guide the search toward high-risk scenarios induced by complex decision-making behaviors. A key difficulty stems from the fact that unsafe behaviors in ADS often arise from internal decision-making logic, which can induce structured and discontinuous responses that are hard to effectively explore using purely black-box guidance. Consequently, current tools tend to repeatedly discover a narrow set of similar unsafe …

Chatgpt, Can You Generate Multiple-Choice Questions For An Undergraduate Computing Course? An Evaluation Of Its Effectiveness Using Classical Test Theory, Eng Lieh Ouh, Kar Way Tan, Siaw Ling Lo, Benjamin Gan, Yuhao Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Educators are increasingly adopting large language models such as ChatGPT to generate multiple-choice questions (MCQs), yet empirical evidence on the quality of these items in computing education assessments remains limited. This study compares 30 ChatGPT-generated and 30 manually crafted items from an undergraduate software design course, and evaluates item difficulty, discrimination, and distractor quality using Classical Test Theory. We triangulated two evaluations using within-subjects and between-subjects designs. Our quantitative findings show that all three metrics in both evaluations point in the same direction. ChatGPT-generated items are easier, less discriminating, and exhibit poorer distractor quality than manually crafted items. Distractor quality …

Service Robots With Low Anthropomorphism In Restaurants: Consumer Reactions And Implications, Ferhat Eren, Volkan Genc

Journal of Global Hospitality and Tourism

This study investigates consumer responses to low-anthropomorphic service robots in restaurant front of-house roles using the AIDUA (Artificially Intelligent Device Use Acceptance). Data from 1,268  participants were analysed using PLS-SEM. The results revealed that social impact and  anthropomorphism significantly influenced both performance and effort expectancy, while hedonic  motivation influenced only performance expectancy. Performance expectancy strongly influenced  emotions, which in turn significantly influenced both the willingness to use service robots and objections  to their use. However, effort expectancy did not significantly influence emotions. The findings validate the  AIDUA model in this context and offer practical insights for robot design and implementation.