Digital Commons Network^™

Issue Of Data Imbalance On Low Birthweight Baby Outcomes Prediction And Associated Risk Factors Identification: Establishment Of Benchmarking Key Machine Learning Models With Data Rebalancing Strategies, Yang Ren, Dezhi Wu, Yan Tong, Ana Lopez-De Fede

Publications

Background: Low birthweight (LBW) is a leading cause of neonatal mortality in the United States and a major causative factor of adverse health effects in newborns. Identifying high-risk patients early in prenatal care is crucial to preventing adverse outcomes. Previous studies have proposed various machine learning (ML) models for LBW prediction task, but they were limited by small and imbalanced data sets. Some authors attempted to address this through different data rebalancing methods. However, most of their reported performances did not reflect the models’ actual performance in real-life scenarios. To date, few studies have successfully benchmarked the performance of ML …

Association Of Hospital Incentive Care Management Partnerships For Uninsured Patients With Emergency Department Utilization, Sarah Gareau, Ana Lopez-De Fede, Zhimin Chen, Nathaniel Bell

Publications

IMPORTANCE The South Carolina (SC) Healthy Outcomes Plan (HOP) program aimed to expand access to health care to individuals without insurance; it remains unknown whether there is an association between the SC HOP program and emergency department (ED) use among patients with high health care costs and needs. OBJECTIVES To determine whether participation in the SC HOP was associated with reduced ED utilization among uninsured participants. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This retrospective cohort study included 11 684 HOP participants (ages 18-64 years) with at least 18 months of continuous enrollment. Generalized estimating equations and segmented regression of interrupted time-series analyses …

Qualitative Analysis Of Anti-Abortion Discourse Used In Arguments For A 6-Week Abortion Ban In South Carolina, Victoria C. Lambert, Emily E. Hackworth, Deborah Lynn Billings Phd

Publications

Background: On June 24, 2022, The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, leaving abortion legislation entirely up to states. However, anti-abortion activists and legislators have organized for decades to prevent abortion access through restrictive state-level legislation. In 2019, South Carolina legislators proposed a bill criminalizing abortion after 6 weeks gestation, before most people know they are pregnant. The current study examines the anti-abortion rhetoric used in legislative hearings for this extreme abortion restriction in South Carolina. By examining the arguments used by anti-abortion proponents, we aim to expose their misalignment with public opinion on abortion and demonstrate that their …

The Evolution Of Ai On The Commercial Flight Deck: Finding Balance Between Efficiency And Safety While Maintaining The Integrity Of Operator Trust, Mark Miller, Sam Holley, Leila Halawi

Publications

As artificial intelligence (AI) seeks to improve modern society, the commercial aviation industry offers a significant opportunity. Although many parts of commercial aviation including maintenance, the ramp, and air traffic control show promise to integrate AI, the highly computerized digital flight deck (DFD) could be challenging. The researchers seek to understand what role AI could provide going forward by assessing AI evolution on the commercial flight deck over the past 50 years. A modified SHELL diagram is used to complete a Human Factors (HF) analysis of the early use for AI on the commercial flight deck through introduction of the …

Community Organization Perspectives On Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy And How They Increased Covid-19 Vaccine Confidence: A Canadian Immunization Research Network, Social Sciences And Humanities Network Study, Sarah Ashfield, Lorie Donelle Phd, Rn, Fcan, Gina Uppal, Michael A. Bauer

Publications

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 vaccines play a critical role in reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and despite vaccine availability, disparities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake among Canadian subgroups exist. Community organizations are uniquely situated to relay important vaccine messaging around all vaccines, understand components of vaccine hesitancy, and facilitate vaccine uptake within the communities they serve. The objective of this research was to solicit community organizations perspectives specific to COVID-19 vaccines and explore strategies of increasing vaccine uptake within their communities. METHODS: A qualitative focus group study was held in the spring of 2021 with 40 community organizations from …

An Investigation Of Media Reports Of Digital Surveillance Within The First Year Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Leigha Comer, Lorie Donelle Phd, Rn, Fcan, Marionette Ngole, Jacob J. Shelley, Anita Kothari, Maxwell Smith, James M. Shelley, Saverio Stranges, Brad Hiebert, Jason Gilliland, Tommy Cooke, Jodi Hall, Jed Long

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INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a surge in digital public health surveillance worldwide, with limited opportunities to consider the effectiveness or impact of digital surveillance. The news media shape public understanding of topics of importance, contributing to our perception of priority issues. This study investigated news media reports published during the first year of the pandemic to understand how the use and consequences of digital surveillance technologies were reported on. METHODS: A media content analysis of 34 high- to low-income countries was completed. The terms "COVID-19," "surveillance," "technologies," and "public health" were used to retrieve and inductively code media reports. …

Leveraging Digital Technology For Social Connectedness Among Adults With Chronic Conditions: A Systematic Review, Pamela J. Wright Phd, Ms, Med, Rn, Cen, Phyllis A. Raynor, Dana Bowers, Elizabeth M. Combs, Cynthia F. Corbett Phd, Rn, Faan, Hannah Hardy, Khushi S. Patel

Publications

PURPOSE: To review the evidence about the impact of digital technology on social connectedness among adults with one or more chronic health conditions.

METHODS: PubMed, Embase, Social Sciences, CINAHL, and Compendex were systematically searched for full-text, peer-reviewed empirical evidence published between 2012 and 2023 and reported using the PRISMA flow diagram. Articles were critically appraised applying the Joanna Briggs Institute checklists. Specific data were extracted based on the framework for social identity and technology approaches for health outcomes and then analyzed and synthesized.

RESULTS: Thirty-four studies met study criteria. Evidence showed heterogeneity among research methodology, chronic health conditions, digital technology, …

Use Of Digital Technologies For Public Health Surveillance During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review, Lorie Donelle Phd, Rn, Fcan, Leigha Comer, Brad Hiebert, Jodi Hall, Jacob J. Shelley, Maxwell J. Smith, Anita Kothari, Jacquelyn Burkell, Saverio Stranges, Tommy Cooke, James M. Shelley, Jason Gilliland, Marionette Ngole, Danica Facca

Publications

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, a variety of digital technologies have been leveraged for public health surveillance worldwide. However, concerns remain around the rapid development and deployment of digital technologies, how these technologies have been used, and their efficacy in supporting public health goals. Following the five-stage scoping review framework, we conducted a scoping review of the peer-reviewed and grey literature to identify the types and nature of digital technologies used for surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic and the success of these measures. We conducted a search of the peer-reviewed and grey literature published between 1 December 2019 and 31 December …

Key Informant Perceptions Of Challenges And Facilitators To Implementing Passive Remote Monitoring Technology For Home Care Clients, Grace Warner, Lori E. Weeks, Yu Ting Chen, Bradley Hiebert, Kathleen Ledoux, Lorie Donelle Phd, Rn, Fcan

Publications

Background: Passive remote monitoring technologies (RMT) are an option that could keep frail older adults home longer while reducing care burdens on family/friend caregivers. In contrast to active RMT which requires an individual to engage with the technology (i.e., push a button), passive RMT does not require any action to function (i.e., sensors or cameras). Objective: This qualitative study explored the challenges and facilitators of implementing passive RMT in home care settings by applying an implementation science lens. Method: Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informant stakeholders. Data were coded using a Framework Analysis approach that inductively and deductively …

Hepatitis B Immunity Among Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Brief Report, Robin M. Dawson Phd, Rn, Cpnp-Pc, Courtney Catledge, Ann Scott Dnp, Rn, Ccrn-K, Cne, Leigh Blackmon Pate Dnp, Msn, Aprn, Fnp-Bc, Gail Vereen

Publications

Background: Health sciences students who report low/equivocal hepatitis B titers may be required to repeat the immunization series, even though the result may not indicate non-immunity. Method: To describe hepatitis B immunity patterns, this retrospective, descriptive study utilized de-identified vaccination records and anti-HBs titers of three cohorts of sophomore nursing students entering clinical rotations in 2018–2019. Results: Only 33% of students had initial anti-HBs quantitative serum titer ≥10 mIU/ml, demonstrating immunity. After students with low/equivocal titers (n = 191, 64%) were re-immunized per institution protocol, only 2% (n = 7) were identified as non-responders. Cumulative costs incurred by students for …

A Snapshot Of Postgraduate Research At Mtu 2023, Stephen Cassidy

Publications

As our postgraduate research students live and work in an increasingly digital and information-driven age, the ability to write and communicate in a variety of styles appropriate to a range of audiences becomes increasingly important. The Graduate Studies Office working with the MTU Library Service and others, supports research students to develop their writing skills not just for academic publication but also for communicating to the general public. As part of this initiative, we organized the second annual MTU Postgraduate Research Writing Competition. Its aim was to provide postgraduate research students from all disciplines across the University with an opportunity …

Visions For The International Decade Of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032, Kristen A. Carpenter, Andrew Cowell, Alexis Palmer

Publications

The United Nations General Assembly recently proclaimed the International Decade of Indigenous Languages ( "IDIL") from 2022-2032 to "to draw attention to the critical loss of indigenous languages and the urgent need to preserve, revitalize and promote indigenous languages and to take urgent steps at the national and international levels." The Decade is an opportunity to expose and address the severe loss of Indigenous Peoples' languages locally, regionally, and globally. It is a chance for the entire world community to gather together and commit to bringing Indigenous languages back from the brink of dormancy or extinction.

“Aspirations”: The United States And Indigenous Peoples’ Human Rights, Kristen A. Carpenter

Publications

The United States has long positioned itself as a leader in global human rights. Yet, the United States lags curiously behind when it comes to the human rights of Indigenous Peoples. This recalcitrance is particularly apparent in diplomacy regarding the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2007, the Declaration affirms the rights of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination and equality, as well as religion, culture, land, health, family, and other aspects of human dignity necessary for individual life and collective survival. This instrument was advanced over several decades by Indigenous …

How Private Actors Are Impacting U.S. Economic Sanctions, Maryam Jamshidi

Publications

Economic and trade sanctions are typically understood as the exclusive province of governments and intergovernmental organizations. Private parties have, however, long played a role in sanctions regimes. For example, private plaintiffs holding unsatisfied, terrorism-related civil judgments have used various U.S. federal statutes to enforce those judgments against assets blocked by U.S. sanctions. Most recently, plaintiffs with judgments against the Taliban have used some of those federal laws to execute against the financial assets of Afghanistan’s central bank. These and other efforts to enforce terrorism-related civil judgments are more than just attempts to collect on outstanding damages awards. Rather, they allow …

Unequal Homes, Unequal Health: Applying The Loss Of Chance Doctrine To Landlord-Tenant Cases, Delaram Takyar

Publications

Low-income families and families of color in the U.S. are disproportionately likely to live in homes that are negligently maintained by landlords, with significant implications for their physical health. Despite suffering harm, tenants often cannot seek legal relief without ruling out all possible alternate causes of their injuries. For example, if a tenant develops asthma after being exposed to black mold in her home and can show that her landlord had knowingly refused to remediate the mold, the tenant would still be barred from relief if she were genetically predisposed to developing asthma or could have also been exposed to …

The Shared Ethical Framework To Allocate Scarce Medical Resources: A Lesson From Covid-19, Govind Persad, Govind C. Persad

Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has helped to clarify the fair and equitable allocation of scarce medical resources, both within and among countries. The ethical allocation of such resources entails a three-step process: (1) elucidating the fundamental ethical values for allocation, (2) using these values to delineate priority tiers for scarce resources, and (3) implementing the prioritisation to faithfully realise the fundamental values. Myriad reports and assessments have elucidated five core substantive values for ethical allocation: maximising benefits and minimising harms, mitigating unfair disadvantage, equal moral concern, reciprocity, and instrumental value. These values are universal. None of the values are sufficient alone, …

Dynamic Function Learning Through Control Of Ensemble Systems, Wei Zhang, Vignesh Narayanan, Jr-Shin Li

Publications

Learning tasks involving function approximation are preva- lent in numerous domains of science and engineering. The underlying idea is to design a learning algorithm that gener- ates a sequence of functions converging to the desired target function with arbitrary accuracy by using the available data samples. In this paper, we present a novel interpretation of iterative function learning through the lens of ensemble dy- namical systems, with an emphasis on establishing the equiv- alence between convergence of function learning algorithms and asymptotic behavior of ensemble systems. In particular, given a set of observation data in a function learning task, we …

Cook-Gen: Robust Generative Modeling Of Cooking Actions From Recipes, Revathy Venkataramanan, Kaushik Roy, Kanak Ray, Renjith Prasad, Yuxin Zi, Vignesh Narayanan, Amit Sheth

Publications

As people become more aware of their food choices, food computation models have become increasingly popular in assisting people in maintaining healthy eating habits. For example, food recommendation systems analyze recipe instructions to assess nutritional contents and provide recipe recommendations. The recent and remarkable successes of generative AI methods, such as auto-regressive large language models, can lead to robust methods for a more comprehensive understanding of recipes for healthy food recommendations beyond surface-level nutrition content assessments. In this study, we explore the use of generative AI methods to extend current food computation models, primarily involving the analysis of nutrition and …

Tutorial - Shodhguru Labs: Optimization And Hyperparameter Tuning For Neural Networks, Kaushik Roy

Publications

Neural networks have emerged as a powerful and versatile class of machine learning models, revolutionizing various fields with their ability to learn complex patterns and make accurate predictions. The performance of neural networks depends significantly on the appropriate choice of hyperparameters, which are critical factors governing their architecture, regularization, and optimization techniques. As the demand for high-performance neural networks grows across diverse applications, the need for efficient optimization and hyperparameter tuning methods becomes paramount. This paper presents a comprehensive exploration of optimization strategies and hyperparameter tuning techniques for neural networks. Neural networks have emerged as a powerful and versatile class …

Security Investigations: A Professional's Guide, Alan Saquella, Larry Nicholson

Publications

From the forward:

"Security Investigations A Professional’s Guide has been expertly crafted to equip both novices and experienced investigators with the essential knowledge and skill to excel in the field of investigations. Whether aiming for a career in law enforcement, private investigations, corporate security, or you are simply interested in unraveling mysteries, this book will serve as your ultimate companion on the journey to becoming a proficient investigator."

Chapters 1 and 2 are presented here.

Flying Blind: Exploring The Visual Cues Used By Helicopter Pilots In Degraded Visual Environments, Brandon Dreslin, Molly C. Mersinger, Shivani Patel, Alex Chaparro

Publications

Helicopter pilots rely on visual cues from the environment and instrument displays during critical phases of flight – particularly final approach and landing – to safely land. However, the specific visual cues pilots rely on and how they integrate those cues to make anticipatory inceptor inputs or corrections are not well understood. Importantly, those cues may be degraded under nighttime and brownout/whiteout conditions where the downwash of a helicopter’s rotors cause loose dirt/snow to be projected into the air, resulting in the obfuscation of the pilot’s vision outside the aircraft. The lack of visual cues in these conditions means that …

Proknow: Process Knowledge For Safety Constrained And Explainable Question Generation For Mental Health Diagnostic Assistance, Kaushik Roy, Manas Gaur, Misagh Soltani, Vipula Rawte, Ashwin Kalyan, Amit Sheth

Publications

Current Virtual Mental Health Assistants (VMHAs) provide counseling and suggestive care. They refrain from patient diagnostic assistance because of a lack of training on safety-constrained and specialized clinical process knowledge (Pro-Know). In this work, we define ProKnow as an ordered set of information that maps to evidence-based guidelines or categories of conceptual understanding to experts in a domain. We also introduce a new dataset of diagnostic conversations guided by safety constraints and ProKnow that healthcare professionals use (ProKnow-data). We develop a method for natural language question generation (NLG) that collects diagnostic information from the patient interactively (ProKnow-algo). We demonstrate the …

A Semantic Web Approach To Fault Tolerant Autonomous Manufacturing, Fadi El Kalach, Ruwan Wickramarachchi, Ramy Harik, Amit Sheth

Publications

The next phase of manufacturing is centered on making the switch from traditional automated to autonomous systems. Future factories are required to be agile, allowing for more customized production, and resistance to disturbances. Such production lines would be able to reallocate resources as needed and minimize downtime while keeping up with market demands. These systems must be capable of complex decision-making based on parameters such as machine status, sensory/IoT data, and inspection results. Current manufacturing lines lack this complex capability and instead focus on low-level decision-making on the machine level without utilizing the generated data to its full extent. This …

Tutorial - Shodhguru Labs: Knowledge-Infused Artificial Intelligence For Mental Healthcare, Kaushik Roy

Publications

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems for mental healthcare (MHCare) have been ever-growing after realizing the importance of early interventions for patients with chronic mental health (MH) conditions. Social media (SocMedia) emerged as the go-to platform for supporting patients seeking MHCare. The creation of peer-support groups without social stigma has resulted in patients transitioning from clinical settings to SocMedia supported interactions for quick help. Researchers started exploring SocMedia content in search of cues that showcase correlation or causation between different MH conditions to design better interventional strategies. User-level Classification-based AI systems were designed to leverage diverse SocMedia data from various MH conditions, …

The Troubling Emergence Of Hallucination In Large Language Models--An Extensive Definition, Quantification, And Prescriptive Remediations, Vipula Rawte, Swagata Chakraborty, Agnibh Pathak, Anubhav Sarkar, S.M Towhidul Islam Tonmoy, Aman Chadha, Amit Sheth, Amitava Das

Publications

The recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) have garnered widespread acclaim for their remarkable emerging capabilities. However, the issue of hallucination has parallelly emerged as a by-product, posing significant concerns. While some recent endeavors have been made to identify and mitigate different types of hallucination, there has been a limited emphasis on the nuanced categorization of hallucination and associated mitigation methods. To address this gap, we offer a finegrained discourse on profiling hallucination based on its degree, orientation, and category, along with offering strategies for alleviation. As such, we define two overarching orientations of hallucination: (i) factual mirage (FM) …

Man Vs Machine – Detecting Deception In Online Reviews, Maria Petrescu

Publications

This study focused on three main research objectives: analyzing the methods used to identify deceptive online consumer reviews, evaluating insights provided by multi-method automated approaches based on individual and aggregated review data, and formulating a review interpretation framework for identifying deception. The theoretical framework is based on two critical deception-related models, information manipulation theory and self-presentation theory. The findings confirm the interchangeable characteristics of the various automated text analysis methods in drawing insights about review characteristics and underline their significant complementary aspects. An integrative multi-method model that approaches the data at the individual and aggregate level provides more complex insights …

Science Communication As A Collective Intelligence Endeavour: A Manifesto And Examples For Implementation, Maria Petrescu

Publications

Effective science communication is challenging when scientific messages are informed by a continually updating evidence base and must often compete against misinformation. We argue for the need for a new programme of science communication as collective intelligence—a collaborative approach, supported by technology. This would have four key advantages over the typical model where scientists communicate as individuals: scientific messages would be informed by (1) a wider base of aggregated knowledge, (2) contributions from a diverse scientific community, (3) participatory input from stakeholders, and (4) better responsiveness to ongoing changes in the state of knowledge.

Cognitive Processing Disruptions Affecting Flight Deck Performance: Implications For Cognitive Resilience, Sam J. Holley, Mark D. Miller

Publications

The flight deck of a commercial aircraft has become progressively digitized and operates in multiple modes with displays and indicators that require increasing levels of comprehension. Examining several aspects of cognitive processing is important to understand how threats to safety might occur and what actions might be taken to reduce severity or to eliminate the threat altogether. This paper presents the elements of cognition to consider, relevant characteristics of working memory and cognitive processing speed, types of disruptions and how they are addressed, results from overload or confusion, and the need for effective cognitive resilience to recover and repair the …

Hook, Line, And Sinker: How To Build Dei In Stem Focused Institutional Repositories By Putting Student Research First, Anne Marie Casey, Debra Rodensky

Publications

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) Scholarly Commons is an institutional repository on the bepress Digital Commons platform that highlights the intellectual output of the university’s faculty, staff, and students. Established in May 2013, Scholarly Commons has grown to include faculty, student, and staff research, instructional materials, journals, magazines, conferences, and research data. By August 2022, the collections consisted of more than 34,600 works downloaded nearly 4.9 million times. An important part of this collection is the research submitted by undergraduate students, which offers a variety of diverse voices.

Educate Or Litigate? The Mindsets Of Advancing Knowledge And Maintaining Financial Stability In Higher Education, Cherri Brown, Cheryl Lentz

Publications

The educational mindset for online higher degrees, specifically the master’s and doctoral journey, shifted from the refractive thinking perspective as transformational experiences, producing objective decision-making processes, to transactional business exchanges, and in some institutions, an exchange for investors and stakeholders. Nehrlich (2006) coined “transactional exchange” as an exchange of one thing for another involving some form of gain. This chapter presents the business of marketing higher education programs (i.e., master’s and doctoral degrees) and the front-line faculty positioned to achieve an institution’s profit margin derived from degree production. Our goal is to discuss the losses and gains when faculty, who …