Digital Commons Network^™

The Influence Of Monsoon Variability On The Circulation Of The Near-Surface Indian Ocean And The Depth-Integrated Chlorophyll, Marufa Ishaque

OES Theses and Dissertations

The Indian Ocean experiences a strong semiannual reversal of monsoon winds, which determines the weather and climate of Asia, including freshwater fluxes between the atmosphere, land, and ocean. Studies and model projections suggest that the timing and intensity of the seasonal monsoon have already started to change, with more dramatic changes likely in the future. However, the impact of these changes on the Indian Ocean circulation system, including the inter-basin salt/freshwater transport between the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, remains unclear. To better understand how monsoon variability affects Indian Ocean circulation patterns, a Regional Ocean Modeling System simulation …

Enhancing Data Usability For People With Visual Impairments, Yash Prakash

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Human-Data Interaction (HDI) focuses on how individuals engage with, analyze, and extract insights from data. For blind and visually impaired (BVI) users, interacting with data, whether searching for relevant information from structured data (e.g., web data items) or interpreting visualizations to draw insights (e.g., data charts), presents significant challenges. These challenges arise from the complexity and sheer volume of data which cannot be effectively handled by assistive technologies like screen readers and screen magnifiers. Despite its importance, data usability, the ease, efficiency, and satisfaction with which BVI individuals can interact with the data, has received less attention compared to data …

A Focused Ethnography: Mental Health Therapists In Pediatric Integrated Care, Melanie Agustin

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

The scope of practice for Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs) and counseling residents (LPC-R) in integrated behavioral health (IBH) settings is grounded in accredited, theory-informed education and training. The benefits of IBH models are well-documented, however there is limited research that addresses how counselors develop professionally and clinically function, while navigating within pediatric inpatient environments. This qualitative dissertation used a focused ethnographic design to explore the lived experiences of ten purposively sampled counselors (n = 10) through demographic surveys, field observation, and semi-structured interviews. Reflexive journaling bracketed researcher bias, and thematic analysis, supported by NVivo and new member checking, guided interpretation. …

A Methodology For Model-Based Certification, Jay Albert Silverman

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A need for a single source of knowledge for design decisions has led to the development of a new field of systems engineering, model-based systems engineering (MBSE) (Delligati, 2014). System certification is defined as affirming that regulatory requirements for a system have been met (Goodwin & Juzaitis, 2006). System certification is a specific application of system validation. System verification can be defined as ensuring that the system of interest (SOI), as designed, is in accordance with the design inputs/requirements. System validation can be defined as ensuring that the SOI, as designed, meets the defined system needs (Wolfgand, Katz, & Wheatcraft, …

Eccentric Hamstring Strength And Acl Injury Risk In Ncaa Division I Female Field Hockey Athletes, Killian Patrick Ferrell

Exercise Science Theses & Dissertations

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries remain a pervasive issue in female collegiate athletics, particularly in sports demanding frequent decelerations, cuts, and high-speed movements such as field hockey. Despite the high injury burden, limited research has investigated biomechanical and workload-based risk factors specific to NCAA Division I female field hockey athletes. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between changes in eccentric hamstring strength and movement load metrics with changes in a composite ACL Risk Index. The sample included nine NCAA Division I female field hockey players who completed a 13-week offseason strength and conditioning program. Eccentric hamstring strength was measured …

Input Structure Based Optimization For Privacy Preserving Ai Systems, Feng Yizhou

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems become increasingly integrated into critical domains, ensuring privacy-preserving model design and system deployment has become a pressing priority. Safeguarding both sensitive user data and proprietary model parameters is critical throughout the AI model and system, from data acquisition and pre-processing to model inference and deployment. However, existing privacy-preserving frameworks face several limitations, including fragmented data ownership, incomplete protection across system stages, substantial computational overhead, and poor scalability to modern architectures such as large language models. This dissertation explores a unifying optimization strategy centered on input structure design to address these challenges. The core idea is …

Human Activity Recognition And Identification Driven Automated Deep Learning For Time-Series Classification, Justin Alan Gamble

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The growing emphasis on Digital Engineering (DE) within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) demands advanced methods for leveraging vast time-series data generated by sensor-rich environments. Deep learning models offer promising solutions for complex timeseries classification tasks, however their design and optimization remain highly resource intensive, requiring specialized expertise. This dissertation addresses this challenge by developing and evaluating an Automated Machine Learning (AutoML) framework specifically tailored for the time-series classification task of Human Activity Recognition and Identification (HARI).

A systematic investigation was conducted using the Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) comparing traditional search strategies of grid search and random search …

Unfolding Particle Detector Effects And Solving Qcd Inverse Problem With Generative Ai, Tareq Saeed Alghamdi

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have revolutionized high-energy physics by enabling generative models to address key detector-related Challenges. This work explores the generative model to mitigate smearing, acceptance, and inefficiency in particle detectors, enhancing experimental precision.

We present a generative model-based framework to model and correct detector distortions. Using the Jefferson Lab CLAS g11 experiment as a case study, our approach successfully unfolds detector effects in multi-particle final states while preserving multidimensional correlations despite complex reaction mechanisms. A key focus is addressing the acceptance problem—accurately modeling detector acceptance without computationally expensive simulations. By training generative model-based framework on simulated detector …

Empowering The User Through Inclusive Technical Writing, Robert Enriquez

English Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the issues in technical writing due to a disconnect between writer and reader/user. I am basing this study on my real-life job. I am a manager at a well-known sneaker retailer. In August 2024, there was a Workforce Management (WFM) software that the sneaker retailer launched in the retail stores. The WFM itself was glitched and unfinished. Not much disclaimer, training or preparation was given other than these procedural documents the sneaker retailer gave. If all the store managers had to depend on was technical documentation to prepare for this already glitched WFM, then I argue there …

Advanced Analytical Biosensing For Cancer Detection And Neural Diagnostics Using Tapered Optical Fiber (Tof), Protonic, And High Throughput Microplate –Based Technologie, Bayan Hassan Alharbi

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the development and application of advanced biosensing technologies to enhance early disease detection, neurological diagnostics, and bioactive compound evaluation. The research spans four key areas. First, it introduces tapered optical fiber (TOF)-based plasmonic biosensors for the non-invasive detection of prostate cancer, demonstrating high sensitivity and specificity compared to conventional diagnostic methods.

Second, it explores the use of fluorescent biosensors to test the Transmembrane Electrostatically Localized Proton (TELP) theory, shedding light on the role of localized protons in neuronal signaling and energy transfer. Third, the work presents a high-throughput, microplate-based biosensing platform for analyzing mitochondrial function under nanosecond …

Mental Health Counselors’ Perceptions Of Professional Identity As Correctional Counselors In An Integrated Behavioral Healthcare Setting, Jeanel L. Franklin, Kevin C. Snow, Edward S. Neukrug

Journal of Human Services Scholarship and Interprofessional Collaboration

This interpretive phenomenological study of four individuals examined clinical mental health counselors (MHCs) in a correctional integrated behavioral healthcare (IBH) setting to the purpose of examining how the unique experiences and roles of MHCs employed as correctional counselors in an IBH setting impacted the perceptions of their professional identity/development as counselors. Findings indicated how environment, work relationships, and multiple foci of mental health roles contributed to professional growth and identity development. Participants experienced an adaptive transitional process when applying counseling styles to the setting and population as well as integrating experiences as correctional counselors into pre-existing professional identities. Practical implications …

Monarch: Old Dominion University Magazine, Victoria Bourne (Editor)

Monarch Magazine

Summer 2025 issue of Monarch, the Old Dominion University Magazine.

Subtitled: GLOBAL IMPACT: Monarchs Make a Difference by Land and by Sea

Using Radium Isotopes To Compare Nutrient Inputs Via Submarine Groundwater Discharge To Offshore Export On The West Florida Shelf, Andrew L. Lindgren

OES Theses and Dissertations

Radium isotopes have been used to trace submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) and associated nutrient and metal inputs into the coastal ocean. They have also been used to estimate rates of diffusive mixing and export fluxes of dissolved constituents offshore. However, use of both approaches in tandem to determine the fate of groundwater inputs after they enter the coastal ocean is still relatively unexplored. Radium isotopes and nutrients were measured in two cross-shelf cruises on the West Florida Shelf in different seasons and in quarterly sampling of offshore wells. Through 226Ra mass balance and 223Ra-derived diffusive mixing rates, inputs of nutrients …

Electron Beam Irradiation Effects On Bulk Metals And High Entropy Alloys (Crmnv And Crmntiv) And The Synthesis And Characterization Of Irradiation-Induced Damage In Polycrystalline Metal And High Entropy Alloy Thin Films, Najmin Ara Sultana

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Accelerator beam exit windows are designed to withstand intense radiation and mechanical stress while preserving beam transmission and structural integrity. This dissertation explores the structural and mechanical responses of pure metals and high-entropy alloys (HEAs), in both bulk and thin-film forms, under high-dose electron beam (e-beam) irradiation to identify optimal materials for next-generation accelerator exit windows. Monte Carlo simulations using FLUKA, conducted at Jefferson Lab, revealed that amongst Ni, Ti, Cr, and V, Ni exhibits the highest power dissipation, while Ti depicts the lowest power dissipation, with Cr and V demonstrating intermediate characteristics. Bulk polycrystalline (PC) and single-crystalline (SC) samples …

Unraveling Nonperturbative Qcd With Transverse Momentum Hadronic Structures, Tommaso Rainaldi

Physics Theses & Dissertations

The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate the theoretical foundations of the factorization theorems that involve transverse quark and gluon momentum distributions, and to better understand the interface between foundational questions and phenomenological applications. Many of these applications involve using transverse parton momentum dependent (TMD) correlation functions as tools for probing the complex nonperturbative structures of the hadrons.

We first introduce the concepts of collinear and TMD factorization in a toy-model theory and, by leveraging the comparative simplicity of such a model, we test the range of validity and limitations of the factorization approach. At the same time, …

Mission Engineering Competencies Workshop Report: Roles, Responsibilities, And Skills, James D. Moreland, Jr. (Editor), Thomas Irwin, Robert-Allen Baker

Center for Mission Engineering (CME) Publications

This report summarizes the findings of a two-day Old Dominion University Mission Engineering Workshop involving the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the University of New South Wales, and Old Dominion University, focused on defining the roles, competencies, and skills essential to Mission Engineering. It presents a structured competency framework and offers recommendations to guide workforce development, training, and cross-agency collaboration in support of complex, mission-driven systems.

Towards Efficient Privacy-Preserving Deep Learning: He-Friendly Structures, Flexible Pruning, He-Efficient Architectures, And Secure Transformer Token Drop, Yifei Cai

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Deep learning (DL) has become a powerful tool for solving complex problems, but developing DL models typically requires vast datasets, high computational resources, and expert knowledge—barriers that limit accessibility. Machine Learning as a Service (MLaaS) addresses this challenge by allowing resource-rich providers to deliver pre-trained DL models as services. However, privacy concerns arise: clients hesitate to share sensitive data, while providers protect their proprietary models. To address this, privacy-preserving MLaaS integrates cryptographic techniques into DL computations, as seen in frameworks like Cryptonets, SecureML, GAZELLE, CrypTFlow2, Cheetah, and BOLT. Among them, Homomorphic Encryption (HE) enables computation on encrypted data but remains …

Understanding Anti-Racism In Counselor Education: A Narratology Of Anti-Racist Pedagogy In Sociocultural Courses, Danielle G. Rodgers

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Counselors have the privilege to join children, adolescents, and adults from all walks of life in a journey of working towards mental and emotional wellness. Our code of ethics outlines “honoring diversity and embracing a multicultural approach in support of the worth, dignity, potential, and uniqueness of people within their social and cultural contexts” (p.3) and promoting social justice as two of our core professional values (American Counseling Association [ACA], 2014). The ACA also stated in their Antiracist Statement in 2020 that “we have a moral and professional obligation to deconstruct institutions which have historically been designed to benefit White …

Thriving In The Age Of Ai: Navigating Ai Identity Threat Through Ai Job Crafting, Yuming He

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies like GenAI tools increasingly reshape the workplace, employees increasingly face threats to their work identity. Grounded in the identity threat response model and job crafting theory, this study investigates how AI identity threat influences employee AI job crafting behaviors and how these behaviors, in turn, affect vitality and learning. Using survey data from 521 full-time employees who actively engage with AI tools, the results indicate that AI identity threat stimulates both AI approach job crafting and AI avoidance job crafting. AI approach crafting enhances both vitality and learning, while AI avoidance crafting only supports vitality. …

Specialization Or Diversification? Creators’ Strategies On User-Generated Content Platforms, Ziwei Ye

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Recent advancements in digital platforms have reshaped content creation and distribution. User-generated content (UGC), created and shared by internet users, is transforming entertainment, communication, and information sharing. The rise of UGC has fueled the growth of the "creator economy"—an ecosystem of creators, users, and advertisers facilitated by platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. While prior research has primarily explored how UGC platforms incentivize content quantity and quality, this study advances the literature by examining how creators' content strategies influence consumer attention and how platform mechanisms shape this relationship, offering new insights into the interplay between creator behavior and platform design. …

Investigating The Ability To Perceive Nonverbal Behaviors In Different Interaction Formats, Amanda J. Ashdown

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The rapid rise in interactive video-based communication has raised important questions about how it affects the perception of nonverbal behavior and impression formation. Guided by the Parallel Process Model (PPM), Multiple Resource Theory (MRT), and Working Memory (WM) models, this study investigated the ability of individuals to observe and assess another person’s nonverbal behaviors and form accurate impressions during conversations in live, face-to-face interactions compared to virtual formats. The study employed a 2 (interaction format: live vs. virtual; within-subjects) × 2 (observation type: active vs. passive; between-subjects) × 2 (genuineness: genuine vs. nongenuine behavior; between-subjects) mixed design. Participants either actively …

The Evolution Of The Divine Feminine: How Religious Upheaval Changed Female Devotions, Nicole M. Honeycutt

Institute for the Humanities Master's Papers, Projects, and Capstones

The transformation in the depiction of women in Christian religious art from pre-Reformation through the Counter-Reformation mirrored and molded shifting theological, cultural, and gender paradigms. While much scholarship has addressed the symbolic and doctrinal significance of female figures in sacred imagery, less attention has been paid to how such portrayals influenced women’s own devotional experiences and sense of spiritual agency. This study argues that the religious imagery was not merely a passive reflection of male-dominated ecclesiastical values, but an evolving communicative medium through which women could engage with and reshape their spiritual roles. By analyzing key artworks, patronage trends, and …

Evidence For Distal Bolide Impact And Tsunami Deposits In The Upper Atlantic Coastal Plain Of Moore County (North Carolina, Usa) Generated By The Eocene Chesapeake Bay Bolide Impact, G. Robert Ganis, Ralph H. Willoughby, David J. Cicimurri, G. Richard Whittecar, Steven J. Hageman

OES Faculty Publications

Beds interpreted as Eocene bolide-generated impact and tsunami deposits occur at Paint Hill in the Upper Atlantic Coastal Plain of Moore County, North Carolina, USA. These strata, herein named the Mount Helicon Formation, consist of four distinct beds comprising about one meter of total section. Bed 1 (the basal bed) is approximately 43 cm thick and consists of sandy carbonaceous clay with carbon glass and rock fragments and contains 14-18 parts per billion (ppb) iridium (interpreted as bolide impact ejecta). Bed 2 is approximately 9 cm thick and consists of non-cohesive silt-size particles and loosely bound sand-size accretionary lapilli-like masses …

Not Right Now: Factors Affecting Interruption Decisions In A Healthcare Paradigm, Matthew G. Pacailler

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Interruptions are common in the workplace, but when they happen during high-stakes critical tasks, they can have serious consequences. In the field of healthcare, interruptions can lead to serious adverse events or medication errors. Research on interruption management strategies addresses the potentially harmful outcomes of interruptions but often fails to account for the initial decision to accept or reject the interrupting task. Two experiments were performed to examine the decision-making outcomes for interruptions.

In experiment I, the participants monitored two EKG displays while simultaneously entering medication information into a patient chart. The decision to accept or reject an interruption was …

"Exploring The Training Data Landscape For Ai Based Threathunting For Protecting Intellectual Property", Manzi Siibo, Christopher Kreider

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness that would result in the integration of AI into traditional threat hunting systems. To do so, 10-15 scholarly articles and data sets were evaluated to see the results of AI and machine learning threat hunting versus traditional systems. With so many proven benefits of this integration, this paper also explores how it impacts the protection of Intellectual property which is some of the most important forms of information that threat hunting systems aim to protect.

Digital Thread: Bridging Macro–Micro Services In System-Of-Systems, Joshit Mohanty

Graduate Student Government Association Research Conference

Organizations and industries increasingly rely on distributed services in decentralized environments—ranging from large-scale, system-of-system architectures to fine-grained, agent-based microservices. While this distributed paradigm offers flexibility and innovation, it presents critical challenges such as interoperability gaps, inconsistent data formats, and a lack of holistic oversight. Traditional integration approaches, including ad-hoc middleware or enterprise service buses, tend to solve these issues reactively. As a result, technical debt accumulates, stakeholder misalignments persist, and scaling to new demands becomes complex.

This research proposes digital thread (DT) as the unifying framework to create an authoritative source of truth: a continuous flow of information across the …

Meta-Clustering For Specialized Language Models: Enhancing Contextual Adaptation And Mitigating Hallucinations In Diverse Healthcare Environments, Joshit Mohanty, Vaishali Vaishali, Sandeep Kumar Nayak, Sumit Lahiri

Graduate Student Government Association Research Conference

Large Language Models (LLMs) have significantly advanced conversational AI by enabling dialogic information-seeking and task execution across diverse domains. However, their extensive parameters and broad domain scope lead to “data hallucinations.” These shortcomings are particularly evident in dynamic and diverse environments like India’s healthcare sector, where myriad languages, regional practices, and cultural nuances demand specialized, localized expertise rather than one-size-fits-all generalist models. This paper introduces a meta-clustering framework that integrates Distilled Language Models (DLMs) and Small/Specialized Language Models (SLMs) with meta-learning principles to address these limitations. By drawing on evidence from works such as MedHalu and Med-HALT, the framework seeks …

Tamos: Task-Aware Multi-Agent Orchestrator System, Joshit Mohanty, Sandeep Kumar Nayak, Sumit Lahiri

Graduate Student Government Association Research Conference

Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly at the core of multi-agent systems (MAS). However, the high resource demand, error propagation, and lack of adaptive evaluation mechanisms pose significant challenges in deploying these agentic solutions at scale. To address these concerns, this research proposes a Task-Aware Multi-Agent Orchestrator System designed to refine the agentic framework, categorizing tasks autonomously, assigning specialized evaluation datasets, and balancing token usage against functional effectiveness. This approach underscores robust data management, including AsyncHow, Mosaic AI, and Synthetic Preference Optimization (PO) corpora. Each dataset targets specific dimensions of agent performance, such as dynamic task decomposition and tool integration …

Graphtreemed: A Hybrid Graph-Tree Rag Architecture For Mission-Critical Medical Applications, Joshit Mohanty, Sandeep Kumar Nayak, Sumit Lahiri

Graduate Student Government Association Research Conference

Studies within engineering management indicate that decision-making is often based on the cognitive processing of grouped and pictographic information clusters entangled with high-level pattern recognition. Similarly, graph-based retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architectures substantially improve diagnostic accuracy and interpretability, while tree-structured systems reduce critical misses through hierarchical reasoning. However, existing solutions often lack a unified framework that seamlessly integrates these two paradigms to address the multifaceted demands of mission-critical healthcare settings. This proposal introduces GraphTreeMed, a novel hybrid RAG architecture designed to harness the complementary strengths of graph-based and tree-based retrieval mechanisms, thereby advancing the safety and efficacy of clinical decision support …

Fids: Accelerating Network Intrusion Detection Through Strategic Feature Selection, James Elmore

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

Network intrusion detection systems (IDS) typically analyze complete network flows to identify malicious traffic, requiring flows to conclude before classification. This approach creates detection delays for attacks like Slowloris that intentionally keep connections open for extended periods of time. This paper introduces a novel approach that classifies network traffic using only features available from the first few packets of a flow, enabling faster detection while maintaining high accuracy. We evaluate three random forest models on the CICIDS2017 dataset using expanding sets of features: the first-packet model trained on on features available from the first backward packet, the few-packet model which …