Digital Commons Network^™

Systems And Methods For Scalable Retinal Screening Programs, Jeremy Richard Benson

Computer Science ETDs

This dissertation addresses gaps in artificial intelligence-based computer vision tasks in the medical image processing field. We demonstrate effective methods for standardizing and augmenting digital fundus photographs so that robust convolutional neural network-based systems can perform high-throughput disease classification and generalize to never-before-seen data from novel camera technologies, scaling with the changing hardware landscape, as well as keeping up with vast amount of incoming data from the ever-increasing population. We also tackle the problem of discovering relevant samples in an unlabeled cohort of image data, thus widening the bottleneck to all downstream supervised machine learning tasks.

Riding The Wave Of Information: Library Professionals’ Opinion Towards Information Literacy (Il) Program In Academic Libraries Of Pakistan, Shahzadi Humbhi, Munazza Jabeen, Shabbir Tareen, Alia Humbhi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The present study investigated status, strategies to promote the IL programs, contribution of social media, and challenges to provide IL programs in the academic libraries of Pakistan. A concurrent mixed-method technique was used and a structured questionnaire was designed to collect the data and in-depth interviews from 12 academic librarians of the capital cities of four provinces of Pakistan. A systematic sampling technique was used to collect the data from library professionals. The results reveal that academic libraries took imitative to launch IL programs at academic libraries of Pakistan but there is a need for improvement and revamp them. The …

Ultrasound Modulation Of Macaque Prefrontal Cortex Selectively Alters Credit Assignment–Related Activity And Behavior, Davide Folloni, Elsa Fouragnan, Marco K. Wittmann, Lea Roumazeilles, Lev Tankelevitch, Lennart Verhagen, David Attali, Jean François Aubry, Jerome Sallet, Matthew F.S. Rushworth

School of Psychology

Credit assignment is the association of specific instances of reward to the specific events, such as a particular choice, that caused them. Without credit assignment, choice values reflect an approximate estimate of how good the environment was when the choice was made—the global reward state—rather than exactly which outcome the choice caused. Combined transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging in macaques demonstrate credit assignment–related activity in prefrontal area 47/12o, and when this signal was disrupted with TUS, choice value representations across the brain were impaired. As a consequence, behavior was no longer guided by choice value, and …

Mdma And Mouth Ulcers, Y Lin

Peninsula Dental School

Sir, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), otherwise known as ecstasy, is an illicit drug which is consumed for recreational use. In addition to systemic complications, it can also present with a variety of oral side effects. Patients may first present to their primary care practitioners before being referred acutely onwards to an oral and maxillofacial surgery or oral medicine department for further investigations and management, which has been our experience here in a secondary care setting. I would like to raise awareness about these oral manifestations and the management options that can be provided.Xerostomia can occur which should subside after approximately 48 hours. …

中小学英语学术词汇标准参照测验的开发及验证, Christopher D. Barr, Diane August, Lauren Artzi, Coleen D. Carlson, David J. Francis

Chinese/English Journal of Educational Measurement and Evaluation | 教育测量与评估双语期刊

本研究开发了一项英语学术词汇测验 (the Test of Academic Vocabulary in English, TAVE)，并报告了TAVE的设计和验证过程。该测验旨在衡量学生对学术词汇的掌握情况，不同年级题本之间进行了垂直等值，而且评定结果可以统一到同一个发展性的量尺 (a developmental scale) 之上。此外，测验分数可以向一个有意义的语料库 (a meaningful corpus) 中推广。本研究以先前的试点工作为基础，所用样本包含2,238名来自西南某大城市的3到8年级学生，当中既有英语学习者 (English learner, EL)，也有非英语学习者，并阐述了语料库与测验的开发思路及过程。结果表明，TAVE测验呈现单维结构且具有很高的信度和关联效度，测验也能很好地区分低年级之间学生的词汇掌握能力。本文研究意义在于提出了一种发展性的度量方法 (a developmental metric)，使得学生的测验分数可以推广到一个有意义的语料库中——该语料库涵盖了学术文本中的常见词汇，而且能获得学生对语料库各单词的掌握概率。本文实践意义在于提供了一个不同年级分数可比的测验工具，并能用它来追踪学生短期或长期上词汇量的变动。

Designing And Validating A Criterion-Referenced Assessment Of High Utility Academic Vocabulary In English For Elementary And Middle School Students, Christopher D. Barr, Diane August, Lauren Artzi, Coleen D. Carlson, David J. Francis

Chinese/English Journal of Educational Measurement and Evaluation | 教育测量与评估双语期刊

This study reports on the design and validation of a vertically equated assessment of academic vocabulary that generalizes to a meaningful corpus of words and is measured on a developmental scale: the Test of Academic Vocabulary in English (TAVE). The study builds on previous pilot work and uses a larger sample of students who are English learners (ELs) and non-EL students in grades 3 to 8 (n= 2,238) from a large urban Southwestern region, and describes the rationale and process of corpus and assessment development. A review of the findings from the study found the academic vocabulary construct …

Using Data Mining To Explore Factors That Distinguish Between Students With High And Low Mathematical Literacy Performance — An Example With Socio-Economically Disadvantaged And Advantaged Students In Macao, Wa Kit Sou, Kwok Cheung Cheung, Man Kai Ieong, Soi Kei Mak

Chinese/English Journal of Educational Measurement and Evaluation | 教育测量与评估双语期刊

Using Macao-PISA 2012 data collected from socio-economically disadvantaged and advantaged students, this study identified two sets of important learning factors that distinguished between low- and high-performing disadvantaged students, and between low- and high-performing advantaged students, respectively. The findings of this research contribute to a better understanding of the reasons for Macao’s high-quality and equitable education as compared to other regions with high mathematical literacy performance while also revealing the crux of small inequities in its education system. The analysis method used in this paper provides a paradigm for data mining research using large-scale assessment data and helps researchers better grasp …

Trick Or Treat? How A U.S. Patent Over A Method For Processing Sugarcane Wrongly Alarmed The Colombian Panela Industry, Carter Ostrowski

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Innocent Until Suspected Guilty, Rebekah Durham

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Revitalizing The Ban On Conversion Therapy: An Affirmation Of The Constitutionality Of Conversion Therapy Bans, Logan Kline

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rejecting Word Worship: An Integrative Approach To Judicial Construction Of Insurance Policies, Jeffrey W. Stempel, Erik S. Knutsen

University of Cincinnati Law Review

Insurance coverage litigation is a quest for discerning meaning: Does the insurance policy cover the loss at issue? Construing the insurance policy, courts attempt to give legal effect to what the document purports to command. But what were the intentions and expectations of insurer and insured? Do those intentions even matter? Or is only the written text of the policy relevant to the coverage result? Courts addressing these questions typically frame the interpretative choice as one of strict textualism versus contextual functionalism.

In many, perhaps even most situations, text and context align to create an “easy” case. If a factory …

Political Equality And First Amendment Challenges To Labor Law, Luke Taylor

University of Cincinnati Law Review

This Article conceptualizes a novel basis for defending laws that strengthen labor unions from First Amendment challenge: the argument that these laws are adequately tailored to advancing a compelling state interest in reducing economic inequality’s transmission into political inequality. The Article makes two principal contributions. First, it updates criticisms of the Supreme Court’s campaign finance decisions’ rejection of any compelling interest sounding in political equality. The Article does so by bringing recent constitutional scholarship to bear on that criticism and by explaining how recent improvements in social scientists’ ability to track different economic brackets’ political influence call for the Court …

Challenging Solitary Confinement Through State Constitutions, Alison Gordon

University of Cincinnati Law Review

Eighth Amendment jurisprudence has resulted in limited scrutiny of solitary confinement despite the known harms associated with the practice. The two-part test established by the federal courts to evaluate Eighth Amendment claims and limitations on challenging prison conditions under the Prison Litigation Reform Act can make it difficult to establish that solitary confinement is cruel and unusual punishment.

State constitutional challenges to solitary confinement are underexplored. Nearly all state constitutions contain an equivalent provision to the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. State courts need not be bound by federal jurisprudence in interpreting the scope of the state …

Authority, Obedience, And Justification, Michelle Madden Dempsey

University of Cincinnati Law Review

We have a duty to think for ourselves. The law claims authority over us. We have a duty, at least sometimes, to obey the law. Alone, each of these premises is fairly uncontroversial. Combined, they create some intriguing puzzles. Can law’s claim of authority be justified? If so, does justified legal authority entail an obligation to obey the law? If not, are we nonetheless justified, and perhaps even obligated, to act as if such an obligation exists? While this essay is hardly the first to address these questions, it is the first to do so by combining elements of Joseph …

Relationships Among College-Level Science Course Enrollment, Environmental Perception, And Pro-Environmental Attitude: Evidence From The Us General Social Survey, Mazbahul G. Ahamad, Fahian Tanin

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Understanding pro-environmental attitudes is critical to encouraging pollution-minimizing behaviors. Therefore, identifying associated factors is essential for understanding different types of pro-environmental attitudes. We aimed to investigate the associations among individuals’ college-level science course enrollment and their perceptions of the level of spending to improve and protect the environment, as well as their pro-environmental attitudes. We used nationwide population-based cross-sectional survey data from 2,348 individuals obtained from the General Social Survey in the United States. An ordered logistic model was used to examine the associations among college-level science course enrollment, environmental perception, and pro-environmental attitude. We found that science course enrollment …

Sustainable Irrigation Based On Co-Regulation Of Soil Water Supply And Atmospheric Evaporative Demand, Jingwen Zhang, Kaiyu Guan, Bin Peng, Ming Pan, Wang Zhou, Chongya Jiang, Hyungsuk Kimm, Trenton E. Franz, Robert F. Grant, Yi Yang, Daran R. Rudnick, Derek M. Heeren, Andrew E. Suyker, William L. Bauerle, Grace L. Miner

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Irrigation is an important adaptation to reduce crop yield loss due to water stress from both soil water deficit (low soil moisture) and atmospheric aridity (high vapor pressure deficit, VPD). Traditionally, irrigation has primarily focused on soil water deficit. Observational evidence demonstrates that stomatal conductance is co-regulated by soil moisture and VPD from water supply and demand aspects. Here we use a validated hydraulically-driven ecosystem model to reproduce the co-regulation pattern. Specifically, we propose a plant-centric irrigation scheme considering water supply-demand dynamics (SDD), and compare it with soil-moisture-based irrigation scheme (management allowable depletion, MAD) for continuous maize cropping systems in …

Dead Men Tell No Tales: Arkansas’S Grave Failure To Honor Its Constituents’ Postmortem Quasi-Property Right, Mckenna Moore

Arkansas Law Review

It is doubtful that Hulon Rupert Austin woke up on the day of March 7, 1986 and expected it to be his last. March 7 was a typical day—a workday—that started with a simple drive to a job site with his co-worker. A day that began so unremarkably ended with his co-worker looking up from where he was working to see “Austin lying on the ground.”

The High Price Of Poverty In Arkansas’S Courts: Rethinking The Utility Of Municipal Fines And Fees, Madison Miller

Arkansas Law Review

The opposite of poverty is not wealth. It is justice. Beginning in the 1980s, a "trail of tax cuts" led to budget shortfalls and revenue gaps throughout the United States. These budgetary problems resulted in many cities and towns shifting their burden of funding courts and the justice system at large "to the 'users' of the courts, including those least equipped to pay." Although "jailing an indigent person for a fine-only, low-level offense is unconstitutional," it is still an ongoing practice in many states, including Arkansas. In 1995, Arkansas passed new legislation to govern its circuit courts' collection and enforcement …

The National Popular Vote On Trial, Keaton Barnes

Arkansas Law Review

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them …

Creating Cautionary Tales: Institutional, Judicial, And Societal Indifference To The Lives Of Incarcerated Individuals, Nicole B. Godfrey

Arkansas Law Review

It has long been said that a society’s worth can be judged by taking stock of its prisons. That is all the truer in this pandemic, where inmates everywhere have been rendered vulnerable and often powerless to protect themselves from harm. May we hope that our country’s facilities serve as models rather than cautionary tales. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, issued the above-quoted clarion call to protect the lives of incarcerated people on May 14, 2020. At that point, the COVID-19 pandemic had brought American society to a standstill for a little more than two months, …

Korematsu’S Ancestors, Mark A. Graber

Arkansas Law Review

Mark Killenbeck’s Korematsu v. United States has important affinities with Dred Scott v. Sandford. Both decisions by promoting and justifying white supremacy far beyond what was absolutely mandated by the constitutional text merit their uncontroversial inclusion in the anticanon of American constitutional law.3 Dred Scott held that former slaves and their descendants could not be citizens of the United States and that Congress could not ban slavery in American territories acquired after the Constitution was ratified.5 Korematsu held that the military could exclude all Japanese Americans from portions of the West Coast during World War II.6 Both decisions nevertheless provided …

Arkansas Law Review - Volume 74 Number 3, Review Editors

Arkansas Law Review

No abstract provided.

Culturally Responsive Teaching: Understanding And Embracing Cultural Diversity In The Chinese Classroom, Jing Gao

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

Schools and society have become more diverse. Culturally responsive teaching as an effective teaching method has been applied in different school subject areas. This article introduces the concept of culturally responsive teaching and discusses its implementation in the Chinese classroom. This article addresses the establishment of an inclusive, safe, and academically rigorous learning environment, diversification of curriculum content knowledge and instructional strategies, and incorporation of culturally responsive assessment. Culturally responsive teaching in the Chinese classroom provides an opportunity for teachers not only to develop students' language skills and cultural understanding, but also to cultivate students' attitudes and dispositions toward diversity …

A Comparative Study Of The Teaching Of Chinese And Swahili Credit Courses At Burundi University, Mfitiye Ferdinand Mf.

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

Abstract

Our study compared the teaching of Chinese credit course and Swahili credit course at the Burundi University. The goal is to find out the reasons why many students prefer to learn Chinese credit course instead of Swahili, whereas the two courses have the same volume of hours. It also aims to know the students points of view on the teaching of Chinese in Burundi, to know the problems facing the promotion of Chinese in Burundi and the appropriate measures that can be taken to resolve these problems. The study proceeded by a method of survey that we carried out …

Online Chinese Learning: A Case Study Of The Use Of Youtube Instructional Videos, Mireia Vargas-Urpí, Yanjun Xu

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

YouTube is one of many online platforms that provide good, free learning resources for students of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). This article aims to explore the role and implications of YouTube videos in CFL education. To that end, it firstly introduces a questionnaire survey conducted among Chinese language learners in Barcelona, Spain, focusing on their viewing habits related to YouTube Chinese-learning videos. The results of the survey not only reveal the students’ preferences for certain types of video content/formats, but also indicate that they make only very limited use of YouTube resources to supplement their formal language education. …

The Use Of Social Intelligence As A Tool For Improving The Relevance Of Libraries In The Society, Iyal Usman, Florence Olabisi Ajani Ph.D, Abdulakeem Sodeeq Sulyman

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The roles libraries play in contributing to the progress of the society cannot be overemphasized because libraries are one of the institutions needed for the over-all attainment of 21st-century goals. This paper argues that the use of Social Intelligence in the library services would aid the creation of new experience for library users and other stakeholders, which will result in increasing the credibility and recognition of libraries across various societies. Its main objective is to create awareness for the potential benefits of Social Intelligence to the library practices in the society. It uses the Social Intelligence Model of Daniel Goleman …

Institutional Support And Collection Development Practices In Private University Libraries In South-West Nigeria, Funmilayo Folake Ajayi, Adebowale Jeremy Adetayo, Arinola Oluwatoyin Gbotoso, Mutiat Yewande Salvador

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study sought to investigate the institutional support employed for collection development practices in Private University Libraries in South-West Nigeria. This study adopted the qualitative research design. The population comprised 57 key informants made up of heads of the libraries and acquisition librarians from 31 Private University libraries. The total enumeration technique was used for the study. A Key Informant Interview was the instrument used for data collection. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Findings revealed that institutional support had an impact on collection development practices. The predominant institutional support received was the prompt release of the library's budget allocation …

Covid 19 Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services Of Some Academic Libraries In Africa, Mariyama Abdulai Kumah, Theophilus Kwamena Ocran, Imoro Osman, Seth Kobina Parbie

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of virtual references services of some academic libraries before and during the COVID 19 era in some Africa countries. The case study was the research design used for the study. Seven Sub Saharan African countries, that is, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Botswana were purposely chosen because of their burgeoning establishment in VRSs in Academic Libraries. The researcher sampled academic librarians from these countries as respondents to respond to the online questionnaire. A total of 141 librarians responded to the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics (Means and Standard Deviation), …

Change Management In The Irish Defence Forces During Technological Change, Paul Hegarty Lt Cdr

Irish Business Journal

Extant literature fails to address change management in the military during technological change. Few researchers have examined how military organisations, undergo change and what, if any, processes do they use to manage this change. As such, whether change management processes are found to have a positive impact on military organisations or not, the extant literature in the sociology and military domains are being added to by the findings of this research.

The aim of this paper is to determine if the Irish Defence Forces would benefit from the introduction of change management processes when implementing new technological systems. The extant …

Brief Report: Employees’ Perceptions Of Stress And Support During A Pandemic Mandated Telework, Dimple S. Johnson, Aaron D. Johnson, Kristen B. Crossney, Emily Devereux

Irish Business Journal

COVID-19 has forced the knowledge-based workforce into full-time remote work, amplifying every-day stressors. The crisis has resulted in employees having to juggle work and home life simultaneously, while forcing many organizations with little to no experience to implement and manage teleworking. This brief study explores employee perceived stress as it relates to perceived support and age within an American workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a global era of uncertainty and crisis, the findings suggest that employees’ perceived stress is negatively related to age and perceived organizational support, but not related to perceived supervisor support. The pre-pandemic world will likely …