Digital Commons Network^™

Building Bots That Teach Thinking: Using Custom Ai Chatbots To Enhance Critical Thinking And Decision-Making, Megan Biagi

AI in the Classroom: A Virtual Summit

Generative AI is increasingly common in education, but its effect on student learning depends largely on how it is used. This interactive session will introduce practical strategies for creating custom AI chatbots that encourage students to think through problems rather than simply ask for answers. Participants will explore ways to design bots that ask learners to explain their reasoning, consider alternative perspectives, identify assumptions, and revise their thinking before receiving feedback.   Examples from healthcare education and other disciplines will show how these tools can support guided inquiry, reflective questioning, clinical reasoning, and decision-making. Participants will review and revise sample chatbot …

“The Birrundudu Drawings”, John Carty, Alistair Paterson

Talking Heads Seminar Series

The Birrundudu Drawings represent one of the most significant bodies of historical imagery ever introduced into the canons of Australian art. A collection of 810 crayon drawings were created by sixteen Aboriginal men working on a Northern Territory cattle station in 1945. Until recently, most of these drawings have never been seen, let alone researched, published or exhibited. For the last five years I have been engaged in a project firstly to share the existence of the drawings with the families of the men who made them, and then to explore whether we could also share them with the public. …

Preserving Past Harms To Advocate For Better Futures: The Intercultural Cancer Council Archives, Armin Weinberg Phd

History of Medicine Seminar

No abstract provided.

Theory Generation And Research: The International Impact On Families’ And Nurses’ Mental Health, Karen J. Foli

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

This special session will focus on Dr. Karen J. Foli’s two decades of research, based on her mental health-focused nursing theories. A brief overview of her theories, the middle-range theory of parental postadoption depression and the middle-range theory of nurses’ psychological trauma, will be offered. Select studies from her research trajectories as well as the link between theory and empirical studies will be emphasized. Last, the international impact of her work will be illustrated.

The Advanced Practice Nurse: Shaping Clinical Practice, Research, And Education, Geraldine A. Lee

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally, requiring integrated, patient-centred models of care. The role of the Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) has evolved significantly transforming from an emerging concept into a cornerstone of modern healthcare delivery through comprehensive assessment, early intervention, and continuity of care in both acute and community-based settings.

APNs play a key role in the delivery of evidence-based patient care.

Mothers And Infants In Multiple Pregnancy And Birth, Li-Yin Chien

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Background: ART-driven multiple births create unique health challenges.

Purpose: This research examines family trajectories, focusing on offspring health and maternal well-being.

Methods: Mixed-methods using national databases and a longitudinal maternal study.

Results: Multiples face higher risks of heart defects and cancer. Maternal depression peaks postpartum, driven by stress and declining support.

Conclusion: Specialized care and SET promotion are vital for family outcomes.

Accelerating Nursing Science With Ai: Promise, Risk, And The Path Forward, Maxim Topaz

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

AI is transforming nursing at unprecedented speed, but our institutions lack safeguards to match. This Hall of Fame address presents five projects spanning bibliometric analysis, living systematic reviews, multimodal clinical AI, fabricated citation detection, and clinical deskilling. Actionable frameworks for preserving clinical competence are presented.

Advancing Health Equity Through Community-Engaged And Global Health Research, Muhammad Chutiyami

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Health inequities remain a major challenge for nursing, particularly in under-resourced communities. This research program advances health equity through community-engaged initiatives and global health priorities including vaccine uptake and social determinants of health. Building on community experience, global evidence networks and funded collaborations, this work seeks to strengthen nursing capacity and co-produce culturally responsive, community-led solutions with communities & health workers.

From Neural Pathways To Parent Partnership: Nursing Science Supporting Early Language Development, Ashley E. Darcy Mahoney

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

This session highlights a translational program of science spanning neuroimaging and implementation research to improve neurodevelopmental outcomes for infants. Drawing from fNIRS studies in preterm-born children demonstrating differences in executive function and neural efficiency, alongside family-centered interventions including Háblame Bebé, participants will explore how nurses can translate developmental neuroscience into scalable strategies that strengthen early language environments.

Implementation Of Wound Digital Photography During Admission Two-Nurse Skin Assessments, Melody R. Austin

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

This quality improvement project evaluated the effectiveness of implementing a standardized two-nurse admission skin assessment, supported by digital wound photography, to strengthen documentation accuracy and improve recognition of pressure injuries at a large tertiary medical center. Hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs) remain a serious safety and financial concern, and inconsistent, subjective admission skin assessments limit the ability to distinguish present-on-admission conditions from hospital-acquired injuries. Guided by the Plan-Do-Study-Act methodology, the intervention was implemented across five targeted units following staff education, workflow updates, and integration of secure, HIPAA-compliant wound photography. Data collection included electronic medical record audits, PSI-03 quality reports, learning management …

Preliminary Study Of Moral Distress Among York College Nursing Students, Nikea S. Debidin, Andrey Aminov

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Moral Distress can occur when individuals are unable to act in accordance with their moral or ethical belief, this can be due to either internal or external constraints. While moral distress has been widely examined in among practicing nurses, limited research has explored the presence among undergraduate nursing students. The purpose of this study was to examine the level of distress and frequency of moral distress at a preliminary level, among undergraduate nursing students enrolled in a baccalaureate nursing program at York College in Queens, New York.
A quantitative descriptive design was adopted. Undergraduate nursing students (n=47) completed an anonymous …

Attention-Enhanced Multimodal Fusion Of Elevation And Aerial Imagery For Sinkhole Segmentation, Junfeng Zhu, Desireé Cunningham, Nathan Jacobs

Sinkhole Conference 2026

Image segmentation, the task of assigning a class label to each pixel in an image, has been widely applied in remote sensing to identify surficial geological and hydrological features from data sources such as multispectral satellite imagery, aerial photography, and digital elevation models. UNet is among the most widely adopted convolutional neural network architectures for segmentation, owing to its encoder–decoder structure and skip connections that enable precise spatial localization. UNet has been applied to detect sinkholes using lidar-derived high-resolution digital elevation data; however, existing models still fall short of the accuracy of manual sinkhole mapping. In this study, we aim …

Statewide Sinkhole Susceptibility Mapping In Florida Using Explainable Geoai, Osama M. Altarawneh, Weiwei Zhan, Clint Kromhout

Sinkhole Conference 2026

Sinkholes cause persistent damage to infrastructure, property, and groundwater resources across Florida. Statewide sinkhole hazard mitigation has been constrained by incomplete inventories and the absence of a high-resolution susceptibility map. This study presents a statewide sinkhole susceptibility assessment using an explainable GeoAI framework that integrates the citizen-reported Subsidence Incident Reports (SIR) database and a geologist-confirmed collapse-type sinkhole inventory from the Florida Geological Survey (FGS). Random Forest (RF) is used as the primary learner with ten geologic, hydrologic, topographic, and anthropogenic predictors. The influence of negative-sample buffer geometry on model behavior is evaluated across five annular buffer conditions (100-1000 m through …

Mobile Lidar Scans Of Caves: Methods For Tying In Ground Control Points, Robert E. Salaz, Jake Slyder, Ellen Trautner, Georgia Schneider

Sinkhole Conference 2026

Mapping cave passages using modern techniques such as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and photogrammetry are still in the juvenile stages. Newer technologies such as Simultaneous Location and Mapping (SLAM) LiDAR and faster computers have enabled speleologists to map caves much faster than traditional methods. From a land management perspective, the ability to efficiently collect detailed cave maps with reasonable precision quickly is crucial for decision making. The ongoing challenge with digital cave mapping using mobile LiDAR and photogrammetry techniques is geolocating the point-cloud underground. Mobile scanning methods can be tied to ground control points on the surface using high …

Mapping Sinkholes And Closed Depressions In The Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone: Comparison Of Lidar-Based Semi-Automated Detection Methods And Field Validation, Enzo Franceschi Genesi, Horia G. Olariu, Bradford Wilcox

Sinkhole Conference 2026

Sinkholes and closed depressions play a critical role in karst hydrology by facilitating rapid recharge to aquifer systems (Ford & Williams, 2007; White, 1988), yet their spatial distribution is often poorly quantified in large recharge zones, and the automated methods used to detect them vary widely in approach and reliability. This study compares three LiDAR-based automated detection methods to determine their relative performance for mapping sinkholes and closed depressions within the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone, using a 0.5-meter resolution bare-earth Digital Elevation Model derived from high-density airborne LiDAR point cloud data (12.66 points/m²) obtained from OpenTopography. The three methods evaluated …

Karst Sinkholes And Civil Engineering: Overview Of Characterization And Treatment Options From A Geophysical And Geotechnical Viewpoint, Mia Painter, Stephen Welsh

Sinkhole Conference 2026

Sinkholes pose a significant geohazard to civil engineering infrastructure in regions underlain by carbonate karst terrain. Selecting an appropriate stabilization method requires balancing site conditions, infrastructure risk, environmental considerations, and cost, all of which depend on a thorough understanding of the planned or existing infrastructure and subsurface conditions. This paper provides an overview of common sinkhole characterization and stabilization methods used in the Mid-Atlantic and Appalachian regions of the United States from both geotechnical and geophysical perspectives. The application of geophysical methods in conjunction with intrusive investigations is reviewed as a means of reducing subsurface uncertainty and refining treatment designs. …

Sinkhole Hazards, Risks, And Remediation: A Fifty-Year Case Study In New Jersey, Usa, Oladoyin Kolawole, Rita L. Sousa, Christina Comuso, Mohab Hussein

Sinkhole Conference 2026

New Jersey presents a uniquely complex sinkhole and ground subsidence hazard shaped by intersecting geological, industrial, and anthropogenic forces. Sinkhole herein refers primarily to collapse sinkholes, that is, the abrupt or progressive downward failure of the ground surface into subsurface voids, as distinct from solutional closed depressions of purely karst origin. This paper synthesizes five decades (1976-2026) of documented sinkhole and ground subsidence records across the state, examining root causes, societal and environmental impacts, and remediation strategies employed in response to such hazards. The review shows that New Jersey’s hazard is governed by three dominant mechanisms: karst dissolution in carbonate …

Creating A Karst Features Map Of A 7.5-Minute Quadrangle In Northern New Jersey, Zachary Schagrin

Sinkhole Conference 2026

Extensive areas of northern New Jersey are underlain by carbonate rocks, ranging from Proterozoic marbles to Paleozoic limestones and dolomites. These areas include large portions of Sussex and Warren Counties, as well as smaller areas within Hunterdon, Morris, Passaic, and Somerset Counties. As part of its efforts to map the geology of the state, the New Jersey Geological and Water Survey (NJGWS) has undertaken efforts to create karst features maps of quadrangles within this area—known as the Karst Susceptibility Project Area. Through field mapping, GIS analysis, and interpretation of past data collection, NJGWS began publishing these 1:24,000-scale maps in 2023. …

Remediating Groundwater In A Karst Terrane: Encouraging Results And Lessons Learned, Urvi Tulsiani, Jason M. Tillotson, Allison Nelan, Keith A. White

Sinkhole Conference 2026

Karst aquifers, characterized by a combination of multiple porosity types, discrete flow paths, and variable hydraulic conductivities, create a highly complex and heterogeneous environment that influences both the storage capacity and transport of contaminants in the subsurface. These complexities of karst aquifers present unique challenges for remediating contaminated groundwater. Pilot studies were performed at eight sites at Redstone Arsenal (RSA) in Huntsville, Alabama, to assess the viability of in situ injection-based remedies to treat groundwater impacted by chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) and perchlorate in the epikarst, the uppermost, highly weathered rind of karst bedrock. The studies assessed effectiveness of …

Ongoing Dye Tracing Prompts Major Reevaluation Of Groundwater Divides For The Lost River Karst System, Bowling Green, Ky, Usa, Lee Anne Bledsoe, Chris G. Groves, Nick Lawhon

Sinkhole Conference 2026

The Lost River Groundwater Basin located in south-central Kentucky may be one of the most thoroughly investigated karst basins in the US. Over the past 50 years, numerous studies have been conducted primarily due to the environmental challenges created by urban development on a well-developed sinkhole plain. The City of Bowling Green (pop. ~80,000) covers much of the basin but lies primarily in the northern, downstream reach nearest the main outlet of the system, the Lost River Rise. However, land use in the southern, up-gradient, portion of the basin is quickly changing from undeveloped and/or agriculture to industrial and residential. …

Characterization Of The Galena Karst Of East-Central Olmsted County, Minnesota, John D. Barry, Ronald C. Spong, Peter J. Hutchinson, Martin Larsen, Anthony C. Runkel

Sinkhole Conference 2026

The Galena Group is mostly composed of carbonate rock with subordinate beds of fine siliciclastics, mainly shale. In southeastern Minnesota, it is a source of water for domestic and agricultural use. Hydrologic and geochemical characterization of a Galena Group spring, Bear Spring, began in 1979. Recent springshed delineation through dye tracing and continuous level, temperature, and nitrate monitoring has shed light on the aquifer’s hydrologic response to precipitation, but the degree of karstification in the Galena was unclear. Current and planned future modeling require additional insight into the pervasiveness of fractures and conduits, and their properties. A suite of characterization …

Investigating Sediment Accumulation Dynamics Via Integration Of Gis And Remote Sensing Tools Along With Physical/Chemical Characteristics Of Sediments In Owl Cave, Highland County, Virginia, Dhanuska B. Wijesinghe, Spencer Schmidt

Sinkhole Conference 2026

The Valley region of Virginia, USA, features cave and karst systems. Variation in surface topography and vegetation within these systems significantly affects sediment accumulation in cave ecosystems. Remote sensing and GIS tools effectively analyze surface conditions, including vegetation cover and its influence on sediment buildup in caves. This study involved collecting high-resolution drone imagery, such as LiDAR, multispectral, and thermal data near Owl Cave in Highland County, VA, to understand the sediment accumulation process inside the cave system. High-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) were created from LiDAR point clouds, and vegetation indices like Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were calculated …

A Comprehensive Look At Ohio’S Karst Inventory Mapping—Reconnaissance, Ground-Truth, And Beyond, Brittany Parrick, Douglas Aden

Sinkhole Conference 2026

Keywords: Ohio, mapping, karst inventory, karst database, fieldwork, LiDAR, karst, GIS, geomorphology, digital elevation models The present iteration of the karst inventory mapping program at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey (herein the Survey) has been ongoing since 2009. With documentation of the Survey’s previous karst inventory mapping scattered across several decades-old publications—coupled with the karst community’s demonstrated need for a standardized database—this paper outlines the program’s evolution from its inception to the present. New Digital Elevation Models (DEM) derived from modern Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) datasets, along with modern mobile applications, have significantly improved …

Cover Collapse Sinkholes In Stormwater Infrastructure In The Urban Karst Of Bowling Green, Kentucky: Occurrence, Mitigation, And Prevention, Nick Lawhon P.G., C.F.M.

Sinkhole Conference 2026

Cover collapse sinkholes are an extremely common geohazard in karst terrains. These features, formed by concentrated flows of water entering the subsurface through discrete points in the epikarst, are particularly common in stormwater infrastructure in Bowling Green, KY. There are currently 787 known stormwater basins and hundreds of miles of stormwater conveyances in this fast-developing city, all of which concentrate stormwater flows over the naturally sinkhole-prone karst system. This paper reports on the occurrence of cover collapse sinkholes in stormwater infrastructure, particularly retention and detention basins, from inspections over the past 7 years and records from City-managed sinkhole repair projects, …

A Comprehensive Analysis Of Stratigraphic Influence On Karst Feature Distribution And Density Across Southeast Minnesota, Usa, Julia R. Steenberg, John D. Barry, Andrew J. Retzler, Anthony C. Runkel, Robert G. Tipping, E. Calvin Alexander Jr.

Sinkhole Conference 2026

Karst features pose significant risks to infrastructure and land use, from reducing tillable acreage to causing catastrophic failures in wastewater lagoons. This study analyzes the stratigraphic and spatial distribution of karst features in southeastern Minnesota to better understand their geologic controls. By seamlessly merging raster surfaces of Paleozoic bedrock units and intersecting them with regional karst datasets in a GIS framework, we found that over 95 percent of mapped sinkholes occur where unconsolidated sediment overlying bedrock is 15 meters or less. Furthermore, 81 percent of sinkholes are concentrated in just six of the 21 mappable bedrock units, each of which …

Hasparos Embayment – An Example Of Intrastratal Hypogenic Speleogenesis, Peter Hutchinson

Sinkhole Conference 2026

The Hasparos Embayment contains Neogene-aged deposits that overlie the Permian-aged San Andres Formation. The Hasparos Embayment consists of thousands of subsidence sinkholes, concentrated in two tracts that are overlain with deposits provisionally considered to be part of the Ogallala Formation. The two Ogallala-covered karst fields are divided north and south by the Hasparos Canyon. The northern karst field includes 12,400 hectares, whereas the southern tract includes 6,900 hectares. Intrastratal karst is a form of hypogene speleogenesis, in which karst develops in rocks buried by younger deposits after deposition of the younger rocks. Thus during the temperate, late Pleistocene epoch, Lake …

Constraining The Groundwater Pathways Driving Cave Formation In The Water Sinks Area In Highland County, Virginia, Usa Using Electrical Resistivity Imaging, Shamsuddin Ahmed, R Shane Mcgary

Sinkhole Conference 2026

Speleogenesis in carbonate bedrock occurs when water, acidified by CO2 , dissolves calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in rocks to form voids and dissolutional conduits. The near surface geology of the Water Sinks area is dominated by Silurian–Devonian limestones, accommodating numerous karst features including sinkholes, caves, and springs. Groundwater flow and cave development in the area is thought to be guided primarily by geologic structure (folds, bedding, and joints) and low-permeability layers. In this study, we use electrical resistivity methods to detect and characterize conduits and water flow paths in the subsurface. We collect dipole-dipole and Schlumberger array data along seven transects …

Brine-Enhanced Hypogenic Speleogenesis And Concentrated Karst Development In The Burton Flats, Eddy County, New Mexico, Dave Decker, Garrett Jorgensen Olague, Michael Jones, Ryan Palmer

Sinkhole Conference 2026

The Burton Flats, a 259-km² gypsum-dominated outcrop of the Permian Rustler Formation 26 km northeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico, contains more than 3,500 documented karst features — an anomalously high density relative to surrounding areas of equivalent lithology. The proposed explanation is a two-step brine-enhanced dissolution mechanism driven by the spatial intersection of three factors: the eastward-dipping Rustler Formation outcrop, the underlying Capitan Aquifer, and the intervening Permian Salado Formation. Fresh Capitan water dissolves Salado halite, generating an NaCl-enriched brine up to three times more aggressive toward gypsum dissolution than fresh water; this brine ascends into the Rustler Formation along …

Rompiendo Fronteras: Addressing Language Barriers In Hispanic Palliative Cancer Care, Carla Mcnulty, Catherine Finlayson

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Background: Cancer is the leading cause of death among Hispanic people, accounting for 20% of deaths (American Cancer Society, 2023). In 2024, the American Cancer Society predicted that 195,300 Hispanics would be diagnosed with cancer in the United States, and 50,400 (25%) would die from their disease, leaving approximately 144,900 (75%) living with cancer. As the Hispanic population rises in the United States, one can predict that cancer diagnoses will also increase. This is likely to result in a higher number of cancer-related deaths, as well as more individuals living with cancer. Consequently, there will be an increased demand for …

Improving Identification Of Older Adult Financial Exploitation Using The Oafem Screening Tool, Paige N. Horvath, J’Andra Antisdel, Lori J. Pajakowski

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Older adult financial exploitation is a growing public health concern that frequently goes unrecognized in healthcare settings. Financial exploitation can result in significant financial loss, psychological distress, and decreased quality of life for vulnerable older adults. Primary care settings represent an important opportunity for early detection; however, routine screening for financial exploitation is rarely incorporated into standard patient assessments. The purpose of this evidence-based practice project is to evaluate whether implementation of the Older Adult Financial Exploitation Measure (OAFEM) screening tool increases identification of older adults at risk for financial exploitation in a community-based primary care clinic. The guiding PICOT …