Digital Commons Network^™

2023 Silicon Valley Pain Index, Scott Myers-Lipton, William Armaline

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Werewolf On Campus: A Case Study In Inoculation Theory And Gamified One-Shot Library Instruction, Abigail Adams

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

This case study details the development and results of an information literacy game in which undergraduate students evaluated fictional sources to learn how to recognize a werewolf on campus. The game relied on inoculation theory and fiction to teach students to identify indicators of mis and disinformation outside of any real-world examples that might affect their learning experience. The game showed promise as students were far more engaged and demonstrated better retention later in the semester than students who received a more traditional lecture about disinformation and source evaluation. However, the game would likely be more effective if it were …

Exercise Intensity And Fractionated Response Time, Danielle R. Martineau, Ronald V. Croce, Wayne Smith

Data Catalog

We investigated the role of three intensities of aerobic exercise (Low Intensity [LI], Moderate Intensity [MI], High Intensity [HI]) on information processing and cognition (IPC) by analyzing response time (RPT) and its fractionated components (1) reaction time (RT, interval between stimulus onset and muscle activation, and (2) movement time (MT, time interval between muscle activation and completion of the required motor response). Twenty-seven participants (16, male; 11, female) between the ages of 18-25 (mean age = 21.9 years) took part in 1-choice, 5-choice, and dual-task (DT, counting backwards by 3) conditions prior to and 1-min and 20-min postexercise. Based on …

Systematic Review Of Necrophilia Aetiology Focusing On The Link Between Childhood Sexual Abuse And Necrophiliac Behaviours, Sophie Foxcroft

Theses : Honours

Sexual attraction to corpses is a disturbing concept to those who do not achieve sexual gratification from the stimuli. Due to this reason, as well as ethical concerns with relations and methods of obtaining, there has been little to no research on correlations between behaviours and psychological concepts. This is especially evident since the 1980s after the bulk of the literature on necrophilia was published. This systematic review looked at the existing literature on necrophilia and, in addition to reviewing the aetiology, aimed to identify cases that included individuals' upbringings and childhoods. Out of all existing literature, only 11 sources …

The Space Between Writing And Dancing: Dancingwords/Wordsthatdance, Lara Dorling

Theses : Honours

This practice-led research investigates the figurative space between writing and dancing through a looped feedback cycle. The project explores the ‘conversation’ between writing and improvisational dance and how it forms a responsive process named dancingwords/wordsthatdance. Conducted in sessions lasting 30 minutes at a time, this project asks: how can writing and dancing intersect to create a broader and clearer understanding of embodied knowledge, improvisation, creative research process and personal practice? This research project involved solo studio investigation and an hour-long interview with dancer, writer, researcher, and choreographer Dr Jo Pollitt, who is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the ECU School …

Extending Aerial Surveys Beyond Target Marine Mammal Species: An Application Of Strip Transect Methodology To Humpback Whale And Dugong Abundance Estimation In Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia, Jennah Tucker

Theses : Honours

Aerial surveys are commonly used to estimate abundance of marine mammal populations, to detect trends over time and inform conservation management. Estimating abundance in areas critical to a species’ survival and reproduction is important to assess that population’s status and its vulnerability. Aerial surveys allow relatively large areas to be covered over short periods of time which can be important for highly mobile species with wide-ranging movement patterns such as marine mammals. While aerial surveys are often designed for specific target species, information on additional non-target species is often recorded, as surveys are generally infrequent due to expense and logistical …

Comparative Study On Development Of Novel Catalytic Oxidation For Removing Emerging Contaminants, Abdul H. Asif

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

‘Wastewater treatment’ is not itself a new concept, where global water bodies have been polluted since the evolution of mankind. As a result of human activities including domestic, industrial and commercial practices, levels of water pollution through aqueous contaminants are increasing every day. Moreover, rapid industrialisation and recent human progress has given rise to a new classification of pollution, that of emerging contaminants (ECs). Further, these chemicals are highly resistant to biodegradation and are capable of travelling, where they can penetrate from one part of the world to another. Whilst traditional wastewater treatment techniques, such as adsorption, might be effective …

Island Meltdown: Demise Of The Abrolhos Painted Button-Quail Turnix Varius Scintillans In The Face Of Multiple Threats, Ryan Carter

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Island avifauna suffer high rates of extinction and decline. The major threats to island birds centre around the ecological impacts of invasive predators, competitors, and grazers. The Abrolhos Painted Button-quail (Turnix varius scintillans) is a subspecies that has been determined to be the 5th most likely taxon to become extinct in Australia. T. v. scintillans historically inhabited three islands in the Houtman Abrolhos archipelago off the mid-west coast of Australia. This study aimed to 1) confirm the status of T. v. scintillans on North Island and determine the main causes of decline, 2) model habitat variables with detections from camera …

Distance Based Image Classification: A Solution To Generative Classification’S Conundrum?, Wen-Yan Lin, Siying Liu, Bing Tian Dai, Hongdong Li

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Most classifiers rely on discriminative boundaries that separate instances of each class from everything else. We argue that discriminative boundaries are counter-intuitive as they define semantics by what-they-are-not; and should be replaced by generative classifiers which define semantics by what-they-are. Unfortunately, generative classifiers are significantly less accurate. This may be caused by the tendency of generative models to focus on easy to model semantic generative factors and ignore non-semantic factors that are important but difficult to model. We propose a new generative model in which semantic factors are accommodated by shell theory’s [25] hierarchical generative process and non-semantic factors by …

Contextual Path Retrieval: A Contextual Entity Relation Embedding-Based Approach, Pei-Chi Lo, Ee-Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Contextual path retrieval (CPR) refers to the task of finding contextual path(s) between a pair of entities in a knowledge graph that explains the connection between them in a given context. For this novel retrieval task, we propose the Embedding-based Contextual Path Retrieval (ECPR) framework. ECPR is based on a three-component structure that includes a context encoder and path encoder that encode query context and path, respectively, and a path ranker that assigns a ranking score to each candidate path to determine the one that should be the contextual path. For context encoding, we propose two novel context encoding methods, …

Relation Preserving Triplet Mining For Stabilising The Triplet Loss In Re-Identification Systems, Adhiraj Ghosh, Kuruparan Shanmugalingam, Wen-Yan Lin

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Object appearances change dramatically with pose variations. This creates a challenge for embedding schemes that seek to map instances with the same object ID to locations that are as close as possible. This issue becomes significantly heightened in complex computer vision tasks such as re-identification(reID). In this paper, we suggest that these dramatic appearance changes are indications that an object ID is composed of multiple natural groups, and it is counterproductive to forcefully map instances from different groups to a common location. This leads us to introduce Relation Preserving Triplet Mining (RPTM), a feature matching guided triplet mining scheme, that …

Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence In The Banking Sector, Krishnaraj Arul Obuchettiar, Alan @ Ali Madjelisi Megargel

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Changes in technology have shaped how corporate and retail businesses have evolved, alongside the customers’ preferences. The advent of smart digital devices and social media has shaped how consumers interact and transact with their financial institutions over the past two decades. With the rapid evolution of new technologies and customers' growing preference for digital engagement with financial institutions, organizations need to adopt and align with emerging technologies that support speed, accuracy, efficiency, and security in a user-friendly manner. Today, consumers want hyper-personalized interactions that are more frequent and proactive. Moreover, financial institutions have a growing need to cater to consumers' …

Experiments And Modelling Into Air Staging In A Fixed Bed Biomass Combustor, Awais Junejo

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Combustion of biomass to produce heat and electricity has increased recently due to environmental concerns over the use of fossil fuels. Being CO2 neutral, biomass has the potential to replace solid fossil fuels, such as coal, in thermal power plants. Direct combustion of biomass is the most widely used thermochemical process to generate heat and electricity.

In staged biomass combustion, primary air is supplied beneath the fuel bed, with secondary air then provided above in the freeboard region. The freeboard can be divided into primary freeboard length (LI), which is upstream of secondary air, and a secondary freeboard length (LII), …

Ranked Keyword Search Over Encrypted Cloud Data Through Machine Learning Method, Yinbin Miao, Wei Zheng, Xiaohua Jia, Ximeng Liu, Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo, Robert H. Deng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Ranked keyword search over encrypted data has been extensively studied in cloud computing as it enables data users to find the most relevant results quickly. However, existing ranked multi-keyword search solutions cannot achieve efficient ciphertext search and dynamic updates with forward security simultaneously. To solve the above problems, we first present a basic Machine Learning-based Ranked Keyword Search (ML-RKS) scheme in the static setting by using the k-means clustering algorithm and a balanced binary tree. ML-RKS reduces the search complexity without sacrificing the search accuracy, but is still vulnerable to forward security threats when applied in the dynamic setting. Then, …

T-Counter: Trustworthy And Efficient Cpu Resource Measurement Using Sgx In The Cloud, Chuntao Dong, Qingni Shen, Xuhua Ding, Daoqing Yu, Wu Luo, Pengfei Wu, Zhonghai Wu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

As cloud services have become popular, and their adoption is growing, consumers are becoming more concerned about the cost of cloud services. Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) generally use a pay-per-use billing scheme in the cloud services model: consumers use resources as they needed and are billed for their resource usage. However, CSPs are untrusted and privileged; they have full control of the entire operating system (OS) and may tamper with bills to cheat consumers. So, how to provide a trusted solution that can keep track of and verify the consumers’ resource usage has been a challenging problem. In this paper, …

Identification And Virulence Screening Of Fungal And Bacterial Entomophathogens Of The Edible Long-Horned Grasshopper Ruspolia Differens (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) From Uganda, Alfonce Leonard, James P. Egonyu, Fathiya M. Khamis, Chrysantus M. Tanga, Sunday Ekesi, Samuel Kyamanywa, Sevgan Subramanian

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Natural enemies are major challenges in laboratory rearing of grasshoppers, but the identity and virulence of these towards the edible long-horned grasshopper Ruspolia differens (Serville) is scarcely known. In this study, fungi and bacteria were isolated from R. differens collected from Mbarara, Masaka, Hoima, Kampala and Kabale districts in Uganda in 2018, cultured on standard microbial media, identified using molecular techniques and screened for virulence against the insect in laboratory bioassays. Fourteen and nine species of fungi and bacteria were isolated from R. differens, respectively, with the number of isolates varying based on collection site. The most prevalent entomopathogenic fungal …

Oriental Research Institute & Manuscripts Library, Kerala: A Case Study, Sarita Somarajan, S Mohammed Esmail Dr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The Oriental Research Institute & Manuscripts Library, University of Kerala, houses the treasures of ancient knowledge in India. It has come in to existence out of royal interest. The kings of Travancore, as a rule, were valorous as well as lovers of art and literature. Srimulam Thirunal was mainly responsible for the spread of Oriental literature throughout the world. It was he who instituted the department for the publication of manuscripts which in due course grew into the present institution. It is located at Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Its origin goes back to the illustrious Maharaja of Travancore, Swati Tirunal (1829-1846). …

Perceptions And Challenges In Accessing Library Electronic Resources: A Case Study Of The National Open University Of Nigeria (Noun), Babarotimi Oluwaseun, Babarotimi Opeyemi Oluwaseun Bo

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study investigated user perceptions and challenges associated with accessing and utilizing electronic resources at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), including their implications for remote users. Using a quantitative research approach and survey methodology, the study involved 1,680 participants: 1,513 students, 140 academic staff, and 27 academic librarians. Employing a combination of probability (stratified random and systematic) and nonprobability (purposive) sampling ensured comprehensive representation. Participants completed self-administered closed-ended questionnaires distributed through online platforms, primarily Google Forms. Data collected underwent thorough analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Findings indicated that the NOUN library offers access …

Law Libraries And Sustainability Of Judicial Precedent In Nigerian Legal System, Emmanuel Owushi Dr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study adopted descriptive study to examine law libraries and sustainability of judicial precedent in Nigerian legal system. The population involved legal educators, law librarians and practitioners in four States in different geopolitical zones of Nigeria, namely Rivers State, Lagos State, Benue State, and Anambra State. Due to the large population, the study employed multi-stage of balloting and random sampling techniques to sample 100 respondents each from the selected states. Out of the 400 samples, 389 respondents responded correctly to the questionnaire, indicating a 97.3 percent response rate. A self-designed questionnaire was utilized and means score was used to answer …

On Beauty, Scholarship, And Function: The Lessons From, And Importance Of, Legal History In The Development Of The Law Of Marine Insurance: [Review Of] Marine Insurance: A Legal History By Rob Merkin, Andrew B.L. Phang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

A few words of explanation at the outset are perhaps necessary – if nothing else than to explain the apparently cryptic title of this review essay. What in fact began as a somewhat straightforward review of a book on the history of marine insurance took a wholly unexpected turn and morphed into a general essay on the beauty, scholarship and function of legal history as viewed through the lenses of marine insurance. Indeed, in addition to being a magisterial two-volume history of the law of marine insurance, the present work demonstrates – in the most vividly possible way – at …

An Interpretive Description Study Of The Views And Experience Of Obstetric Fistula Risk Factors Among Women Attending Evangel Vesico Vagina Fistula Centre In Nigeria, Lydia Babatunde-Bulndi

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

An obstetric fistula is a hole between the birth canal and the bladder or rectum, which is caused by prolonged, obstructed labour without intervention. Sufferers of obstetric fistula may experience chronic urinary and/or faecal incontinence. Although obstetric fistula is directly caused by prolonged obstructed labour, factors such as unskilled birth assistance can increase fistula risk indirectly. Harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation, lack of formal education, illiteracy, poverty, limited social role for women, malnutrition, early marriage before the full development of the pelvis, and a lack of emergency obstetric services are some of the additional factors associated with …

Disaster Risk Reduction Management Practices: The Case Of A Private Academic Library In Northern Philippines, Rico Bautista Orenia, David A. Cabonero

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study aimed to determine the possible causes of library disasters, disaster practices, and challenges of Saint Mary's University Learning Resource Center (SMULRC) on prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. The respondents were the nine librarians of SMULRC. It made use of mixed methods of research. A quantitative design was used to identify the possible causes of disasters and determine the frequency and percentage of librarians practicing disaster risk reduction management. The qualitative method was used to support the quantitative answers and to know the challenges they experienced in disaster management. The study found that: 1) natural disasters such as storm …

Status Of Blended Library Services At The University Of Baguio, Lea C. Colbongan-Papay, Jackson Bacolong Colas

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Blended library services are reinforced by academic librarians to deal with the challenges that come from the changes caused by the pandemic. Transformation is reflected through information and communication technologies that are in constant development and available to users remotely. This study discusses the extent of usage and effectiveness of blended library services at the University of Baguio library by the students, faculty, non-teaching, and other library users. Blended library services covered online platforms, online resources, online circulation, online reference service, online information literacy (IL), and online want list form. This study used a descriptive research design to gather the …

Prison Libraries, Intellectual Freedom And Social Justice In Nigeria, Olusegun Adebayo Opesanwo, Oluyomi Abidemi Awofeso Phd

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper deployed a systematic review to examine prison libraries and intellectual freedom towards attaining social justice in Nigeria. Information resources used cover the periods of 2010 and 2020 to articulate the necessary development in prison libraries, intellectual freedom and social justice in Nigeria. Search engines such as Google scholar, Semantic Scholar, and RefSeek were used to retrieve information and through different queries yielded several results but very few of them were selected to fit in the study due to limited studies directed to address the focus of this study particularly in the Nigeria scenario. Information obtained were subjected to …

Reread Strategy For The Inclusion Of Children With Mild Intellectual Disorder In Qualitative Education In Nigeria, Monisola Adebanke Osoba, Kolawole Akinjide Aramide Phd, Adeola Esther Olutoki

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Developmental goals aiming at inclusive education for all category of children irrespective of their disability is still at variance with the present situation of children with intellectual disorder who presents a deficit in intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviour. This is due to low intelligence quotient score, therefore, ensuring qualitative education for this category of children is still a herculean task in Nigeria. Such children do not grasp at the same pace as the regular children, because they have difficulty in abstract thinking and problem solving.

The conventional educational system is built on skills such as comprehension, memory, abstract thinking and …

Self-Efficacy And Research Output Among Librarians In Polytechnic Libraries In South-South, Nigeria, Osaheni Oni Cln, Esharenana E. Adomi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Purpose: This article examines the self-efficacy and research output of librarians in polytechnic libraries in South-South Nigeria.

Design, methodology, and approach: This study adopted an ex-post facto research design and used a questionnaire to collect data from librarians in Polytechnic Libraries in South-South, Nigeria.

Findings: This study showed a moderate relationship between self-efficacy and the research output of librarians in polytechnic libraries in southern Nigeria. The study also revealed that self-efficacy will significantly predict research output among librarians in polytechnic libraries in southern Nigeria.

Originality/value: This study generated significant findings that are capable of encouraging polytechnic management …

Teaching Strategies For Information Processing And Retrieval Using The Revised Bloom’S Taxonomy, Saravanan T

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper discusses the methods the course teacher used to teach the Information Processing and Retrieval course [Course Code: 19LISC302]. A few aspects, including Chain Indexing, KWIC, Boolean operators, queries, logical relations, and recall & precision, have been highlighted here for illustration. The course teacher was able to improve the students' knowledge of the mentioned areas by using teaching methods based on the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. The methods also made it possible to follow the students' progress. Boolean operators, queries, logical relations, and recall & precision exercises are taken into consideration for the discussions here, but chain indexing and KWIC …

Leadership Styles, Staff Motivation And Job Satisfaction In Private University Libraries In Osun State, Nigeria, Adebowale Jeremy Adetayo, Abata-Ebire Blessing Damilola (Mrs), Omobola Abigail Babarinde

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study sought to examine the influence of leadership styles and staff motivation on job satisfaction in private university libraries in Osun State, Nigeria. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that leadership styles and Staff motivation are predictors of job satisfaction of library staff. There was a high level of job satisfaction among library personnel due to the democratic leadership styles that were predominant. Most of the library staff were highly motivated with a higher level of intrinsic motivation than extrinsic motivation. The study concludes that leadership …

Finding A Nexus Between Qualitative Education And The Intellectually Challenged Children In Nigeria: The School Libraries As Rescue Agents, Monisola Adebanke Osoba, Kolawole Akinjide Aramide, Adesola Faustina Oyesiku

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The intellectually challenged children (children with intellectual disability) suffer from a condition which limits their capacity to learn and function in the society. Ensuring qualitative education for this category of children is still an herculean task in Nigeria as at today. Such children suffer from poor memory and have difficulties with abstract thinking and problem solving. Because the conventional educational system is built on skills such as comprehension, memory, abstract thinking and problem solving, intellectually challenged children are at a disadvantage of being excluded in an inclusive education system. In special education, teaching intellectually challenged children have over time evolved …

Effective Use Of Medical Library: A Qualitative Approach To Quality Medical Care., Oluchi Cecilia Okeke Dr., Ngozi Fidelia Enem Dr.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The library is always known to be the warehouse of resources in terms of books and non-book materials. This paper generally discussed the medical library which is a library that is found or situated in any health related establishment, as well as the resources and services obtainable from it. It also emphasized on the need to provide varied information services and ICTs resources in the delivery of qualitative Medicare to clients of these libraries. The paper also stressed why medical libraries should be used effectively thereby giving that qualitative approach to quality Medical care services to her clients.