Digital Commons Network^™

Organic Alkalinity Distributions, Characteristics, And Application To Carbonate System Calculations In Estuarine And Coastal Systems, Christopher W. Hunt, Joseph Salisbury, Xuewu Liu, Robert H. Byrne

Faculty Publications

The capacity of aquatic systems to buffer acidification depends on the sum contributions of various chemical species to total alkalinity (TA). Major TA contributors are inorganic, with carbonate and bicarbonate considered the most important. However, growing evidence shows that many rivers, estuaries, and coastal waters contain dissolved organic molecules with charge sites that create organic alkalinity (OrgAlk). This study describes the first comparison of (1) OrgAlk distributions and (2) acid–base properties in contrasting estuary-plume systems: the Pleasant (Maine, USA) and the St. John (New Brunswick, CA). The substantial concentrations of OrgAlk in each estuary were sometimes not conservative with salinity …

An Examination Of Academic Library Platforms And Systems During Covid-19, Cole Hudson, Paul Gallagher

University Libraries Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper examines the use and subsequent trajectory of academic library technologies due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking a broad view of technologies, the systems and services discussed will center around resource use because COVID restrictions shuttered many in-person technologies. The two academic libraries compared in this study show a similar pattern of use and signal growth of certain platforms and technologies for the future.

Multicultural Perspectives On Building Instructional Capacity For Multilingual Learners: Synergy Of Teachers, Community Members, And Academics, Mihaela M. Gazioglu, Emily W. Howell, Lindsey W. Rowe, Victoria Pennington, Nicole C. Ferguson-Sams, Kavita Mittapalli, Amlan Banerjee

Publications

This design-based research study explored the feedback process, resulting actions, and changing instructional perspectives involving teachers, community members, and researchers leading to enhanced professional development offered to K-12 teachers of multilingual students. Specifically, the feedback from a community advisory council and teachers significantly shaped researchers’ approaches to designing and adapting a literacy course to address the needs of multilingual students’ caregivers. The findings underscore the importance of a holistic approach to professional development and highlight the multicultural perspectives that academics can discover by involving both community stakeholders and teachers in promoting impactful practices for multilingual learners.

Enhancing Communication And Swallowing Skills In Children With Cri Du Chat Syndrome: A Comprehensive Speech Therapy Guide, Soultana Papadopoulou, Areti Anagnostopoulou, Dimitra V. Katsarou, Kalliopi Megari, Efthymia Efthymiou, Alexandros Argyriadis, Georgios Kougioumtzis, Maria Theodoratou, Maria Sofologi, Agathi Argyriadi, Efterpi Pavlidou, Eugenia I. Toki

All Works

Background: A specific deletion on the short arm of chromosome 5 (5p) is the hallmark of the rare genetic syndrome called Cri du Chat Syndrome (CdCS). It causes severe difficulty with swallowing, speech, motor skills, and cognitive deficiencies. These arise from characteristic laryngeal abnormalities and oral–motor dysfunctions. Objective: This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of speech and language intervention in addressing the multifaceted challenges of CdCS, including speech and language impairments, feeding difficulties, and social communication deficits. Methods: A narrative review was conducted to synthesize existing studies from the last 35 years on therapeutic interventions for individuals with CdCS. …

Discharge-To-Water Level Conversion Using Monthly Duration Curves (Dwl-Mdc): Enhancing The Utility Of The Geoglows Ecmwf Hydrological Model, Darlly Judith Rojas Lesmes

Theses and Dissertations

Flood early warning systems are crucial for disaster risk reduction strategies, enabling communities to take timely action against threats. However, the effectiveness of these systems depends on accurate and timely hydrological data, particularly river discharge and water level measurements. Unfortunately, many regions, face significant challenges in obtaining hydrological data, especially discharge data due to outdated rating curves, high equipment costs, and logistical constraints. Water level measurements, by contrast, offer reduced uncertainty and are often more accessible, providing an alternative for hydrological modeling in data-scarce regions. To address these limitations, we developed and validated the Discharge-to-Water Level Conversion Using Monthly Duration …

Blinatumomab Maintenance After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation For B-Lineage Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Yuanxin Wang, Merve Dede, Vakul Mohanty, Jinzhuang Dou, Ziyi Li, Ken Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Decoding cellular state transitions is crucial for understanding complex biological processes in development and disease. While recent advancements in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) offer insights into cellular trajectories, existing tools primarily study expressional rather than regulatory state shifts. We present CellTran, a statistical approach utilizing paired-gene expression correlations to detect transition cells from scRNA-seq data without explicitly resolving gene regulatory networks. Applying our approach to various contexts, including tissue regeneration, embryonic development, preinvasive lesions, and humoral responses post-vaccination, reveals transition cells and their distinct gene expression profiles. Our study sheds light on the underlying molecular mechanisms driving cellular state transitions, …

A Statistical Approach For Systematic Identification Of Transition Cells From Scrna-Seq Data, Yuanxin Wang, Merve Dede, Vakul Mohanty, Jinzhuang Dou, Ziyi Li, Ken Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Decoding cellular state transitions is crucial for understanding complex biological processes in development and disease. While recent advancements in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) offer insights into cellular trajectories, existing tools primarily study expressional rather than regulatory state shifts. We present CellTran, a statistical approach utilizing paired-gene expression correlations to detect transition cells from scRNA-seq data without explicitly resolving gene regulatory networks. Applying our approach to various contexts, including tissue regeneration, embryonic development, preinvasive lesions, and humoral responses post-vaccination, reveals transition cells and their distinct gene expression profiles. Our study sheds light on the underlying molecular mechanisms driving cellular state transitions, …

Dividing Up The Marital Home, Mark Strasser

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

For many marital couples, the most valuable asset at the time of divorce is the home in which they live. If that home was brought to the marriage by one of the parties and the marital community helped pay down the mortgage, the couple may disagree about whether or how much of the value of the marital home is subject to distribution at the time of divorce. Different states have adopted different approaches to the conditions under which some of the value of the marital home is subject to distribution. The approaches are designed to achieve a variety of goals …

Pneumonia And Anemia In Rural Midwestern Missouri: A Retrospective Analysis, Jenna Watts, Morgan W. Stewart, Tyler Stone, Shelby Mertz, John Paulson, Nova Beyersdorfer, Kerry Johnson

Student Publications

Introduction: Pneumonia and anemia are prevalent medical conditions with significant implications on patient health, resulting in numerous hospitalizations and deaths. Various studies have been done on the mortality rates of pneumonia and anemia individually. However, fewer describe the mortality of patients diagnosed with pneumonia superimposed on anemia.

Methods: This retrospective study used data from electronic medical records obtained from rural Midwestern Missouri, including 9,879 patients who were admitted with either anemia or pneumonia. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality.

Results: The study found that patients with pneumonia had a higher mortality rate of 25.8% when diagnosed with comorbid anemia compared …

Microstructure Analysis Of Different Naoh Molarity Towards Fly Ash Geopolymer For Underwater Concreting Material, F. H.A. Zaidi, A. Romisuhani, M. M.A.B. Abdullah, W. M.W. Ibrahim, M. I.A. Bistamam, A. S. Sauffi, L. Y. Li

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Geopolymer concrete is a new sustainable and environmentally friendly composite with great potential to replace conventional concrete that is mostly produced by ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Binders used for geopolymer concrete such as fly ash and blast furnaces are mostly industrial wastes or by -products containing high silica and aluminium content that act as stimulants for geopolymerization. Furthermore, geopolymers also exhibit better durability and corrosion resistance than OPCs. However, material subjected to underwater placement method typically exhibit a decrease in properties. While geopolymer has not been widely used as underwater concreting material, this research is purposed to identify the effect …

Monitoring Methods On Evolution Of Alkali Activation Of Alkali-Activated Materials, R. Mohamed, R. A. Razak, M. M.Al Bakri Abdullah, S. Z.Abd Rahim, B. Kim, T. Imjai, I. H. Aziz, D. L.C.H. Hao

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Alkali activation for producing alkali-activated materials is noted as a complex due to involving several reactions. due to complexity of the reactions, various techniques have been applied by past researches on monitoring the evolution of alkali-activated materials. The evolution monitored during alkali activation include internal relative humidity, structural evolution, ultrasonic evolution and heat evolution. all of these techniques provide real-time information which is significant for evaluating the reaction process of alkali activation with respected parameters applied thus will be briefly reviewed in this paper. in addition, among those techniques, due to its reliability, heat evolution is one noted as one …

Utility Of Immobilized Metal Salens As Electrocatalysts: Fuel Cells And Organic Electrosynthesis, Zachary A. Nguyen, Shelley D. Minteer

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

There have been significant advancements in the electrosynthesis of fuels and organic molecules, making it an increasingly sustainable and cost-effective alternative to traditional chemical redox reagents. Early versions of these systems faced challenges in chemo selectivity due to high applied overpotentials, which have been mitigated with the introduction of molecular electrocatalysts, like metal salens (MSalens). These MSalens reduce the required overpotentials, increase turnover numbers (TON), and have simple modularity within their ligand structure allowing for tunable selectivity. While these MSalen electrocatalysts are typically used homogeneously for engineering simplicity, downstream separations are often costly and time-consuming. Immobilization of MSalens addresses these …

Re: Comment Letter For The Draft Final Butte Reduction Works (Brw) Smelter Area Mine Waste Remediation And Contaminated Groundwater Hydraulic Control Site Quality Assurance Project Plan (Qapp) For Microbial Analysis And Biotreatability Study (Dated October 10, 2024), Emma Rott

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Efficient Visual Data Processing Approaches To Improve Resource Utilization, Yeganeh Jalalpour

Dissertations and Theses

With continuous advancements in technology, the volume of visual data being captured, distributed, and consumed across various applications is rapidly increasing. Enhancing the efficiency of visual data processing can improve resource consumption, making the storage, transmission, and use of this growing visual content more effective.

Image and video data constitute a significant share of internet traffic, making video compression a critical factor in enhancing overall data throughput by improving the video compression ratio. Capturing, transferring, and storing raw video data is challenging due to the substantial resources required for both storage and computation. Video compression, however, can significantly mitigate these …

Schools Apart: Curricular Stratification Across School Socioeconomic Compositions And Implications For Educational Inequality In The Us, Daniel Mackin Freeman

Dissertations and Theses

Motivated by longstanding sociological theories and utilizing the most current, large, and nationally representative data, this dissertation aims to describe and add nuance to our understanding of how the curriculum US youth are exposed to is stratified by the socioeconomic composition of the schools they attend. All three empirical chapters suggest that school SES contributes to substantial differences in school structure, as evidenced by differences in course-taking patterns and how course-taking relates to academic achievement in high school and beyond. The first study suggests that the relationship between curricular intensity in secondary school and postsecondary achievement is variable depending on …

Writing Fiction: Imagination, History, And Voice In Singapore Fiction, Suchen Christine Lim

Kritika Kultura

No abstract provided.

Caveats On The Problem Of Understanding Peirce's Semiotics And Pragmatism, E. San Juan Jr.

Kritika Kultura

“Caveats” is San Juan’s response to “Addendum” in which he praises Stecconi’s focus on Peirce’s theory of knowledge rather than merely on his linguistic paradigm. San Juan, however, disagrees with Stecconi for “conflating the various pragmatisms into one lump.” San Juan prefers to regard Peirce as “a moderate realist” and reiterates the potential relevance of Pierce’s semiotics to the global war on terrorism and the Sri Lankan civil war.

Signs, Meaning, Interpretation: C. S. Peirce's Critique Of Deconstruction And Post-Structuralism, E. San Juan Jr.

Kritika Kultura

From the perspective of Peircian semiotics, this paper presents a prolegomenon of “a science of pragmaticist aesthetics.” Following the fundamental epistemological categories of C. S. Pierce, San Juan reads Michael’s Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost as unraveling the anatomy of terror in Sri Lanka. Such a reading, for San Juan, “elicit signs of whether we, and others in the collaborative enterprise, embody,” quoting Pierce, “an intelligence capable of learning by experience.”

Fostering Conceptual Roles For Change: Identity And Agency In Esea Teacher Preparation, Brian Morgan

Kritika Kultura

English Changing, the theme and title of the 2009 ESEA conference held in Manila, raises specific challenges for language teacher education: To what extent do we prepare teachers to be passive recipients of the social, cultural, and economic changes that align with the global spread of English? Alternatively, how might we encourage teachers to become active participants—“agents of change”—through their mediation and implementation of language curricula and pedagogy? The author addresses such questions by first reflecting on his own personal and professional development in EFL and EAP teaching contexts. These experiences are then related to the growing research literature in …

Utilizing Large Language Models To Synthesize Product Desirability Datasets, John D. Hastings, Sherri Weitl-Harms, Joseph Doty, Zachary L. Myers, Warren Thompson

Research & Publications

This research explores the application of large language models (LLMs) to generate synthetic datasets for Product Desirability Toolkit (PDT) testing, a key component in evaluating user sentiment and product experience. Utilizing gpt-4o-mini, a cost-effective alternative to larger commercial LLMs, three methods, Word+Review, Review+Word, and Supply-Word, were each used to synthesize 1000 product reviews. The generated datasets were assessed for sentiment alignment, textual diversity, and data generation cost. Results demonstrated high sentiment alignment across all methods, with Pearson correlations ranging from 0.93 to 0.97. Supply-Word exhibited the highest diversity and coverage of PDT terms, although with increased generation costs. Despite minor …

A Quantitative Study Of The Factors Leading To Veteran Teacher Retention In Central Virginia Public Schools, Timothy J. Crawford

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Teacher retention and attrition are constant concerns for administrators in public schools. Having quality teachers can be a major factor in determining a student’s level of success. Following a tumultuous time in education throughout the COVID pandemic, it is ever important to public school administrators to retain quality veteran teachers who have the best ability to assist students with their educational needs. With the existence of virtual teaching options and higher pay in other sectors, it is becoming increasingly hard to retain teachers and to fill teaching vacancies. This study aims to identify reasons teachers chose to stay in the …

Modelling V-Band Atmospheric Loss With Deep Learning, Ralph Lyndon Gesner

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Modelling atmospheric loss is fundamental to implementation of future mm-wave terrestrial and earth space communication links. Atmospheric losses have traditionally been estimated by calculating the contributions of individual weather phenomena through in-situ meteorological measurements and statistically derived models for estimating localized atmospheric water content. Collecting data for all points along the propagation path and calculating the physical effects of gases, clouds, and precipitation individually is both time consuming and impractical for large-scale use cases.

In response to these present limitations, this work proposes the use of novel deep learning models for estimating atmospheric losses from tabular meteorological sensor data and …

Operations On Submodules With The Multiplicative And Quotient Properties, Jiekai Pang

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

Inspired by the works of Petro, Epstein, Vassilev, and Morre, this thesis aims to study the generalized definitions of the semiprime operation, weakly prime operation, and standard closure operation on rings, that is, the multiplicative operation, weakly multiplicative operation, and standardly multiplicative operation on submodules. Then, we will use Matlis duality to induce the dual notions of these definitions on submodules of Matlis-dualizable Artinian modules. In order to understand the dual notion of the standardly multiplicative operation, that is, the standardly quotient operation, we will classify the operations on the injective hull of residue field of the ring K[[x,y]]/(xy) which …

Mechanical Engineering Insights : Highlights From Final Year Projects 2024

Research Publications (2021 to 2025)

Mechanical Engineering Insights: Highlights from Final Year Project 2024” features a carefully curated collection of outstanding Final Year Projects from the graduating students from the Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya. These projects showcase what the students can achieve after four years of hard work and learning. Each project reflects their creativity and technical skills, showing how they can solve real world problems with practical and sustainable solutions. This compilation is divided into three fundamental themes: Mechanical, Manufacturing, and Materials, representing the core domains of mechanical engineering. The Mechanical theme showcases our students' prowess in applying theoretical knowledge …

Corpus Linguistics At The U.S. Patent And Trademark Office, Tabrez Y. Ebrahim

BYU Law Review

This Article examines the intersection of corpus linguistics and patent law. It introduces the foundations of corpus linguistics and its application to the law and advances the potential for its application to patent examination at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Historically, the disciplines of corpus linguistics and patent law did not intersect until scholars began to consider the application of corpus linguistics to patent litigation for interpretation of terms in patent claims. Interpretation of legal language provided by corpus linguistics and applied to patent examination at the USPTO has yet to be addressed and is a novel …

In Silico-Predicted Cytokeratin Fragment 21-1 (Cyfra 21-1) Immunogenic Epitopes For The Early Detection Of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, Brian Umbu Rezi Depamede, Bachti Alisjahbana, Sulaiman Ngongu Depamede, Sanny Hafidhoh, Siti Nururrohmah, Ilham Ngongu Tryawan, Muhammad Yusuf

Chimica et Natura Acta

Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, an aggressive cancer in the head and neck region is mostly diagnosed at an advanced stage and thus has a poor prognosis. Cytokeratin Fragment 21-1 (CYFRA 21-1) is one of the oncomarkers discovered in saliva. For developing a diagnostic kit, CYFRA 21-1 antibodies and immunogens are needed. Natural CYFRA 21-1 immunogen is difficult to obtain, so it must be made in-silico using bioinformatics. We aim to predict CYFRA 21-1 immunogenic epitope to produce antibodies polyclonal against CYFRA 21-1, which can be used to develop NPC diagnostics. The immunogenic epitopes were predicted and chosen based on antigenicity, surface accessibility, …

Theory And Algorithms To Learn, Propagate, And Exploit Uncertainty For Stochastic Optimal Control Of Dynamical Systems, Vignesh Sivaramakrishnan

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Non-Gaussian uncertainty frequently arises in learning and control problems involving stochastic dynamical systems, particularly in autonomous vehicles, UAVs, satellites, and robotics. In this dissertation, we propose a new framework that leverages characteristic functions that provides a frequency-domain representation of random variables. The dissertation is structured into three key areas. First, we address model-based stochastic optimal control for linear systems with non-Gaussian noise, demonstrating that characteristic functions can be used to enforce chance constraints and control systems toward desired distributions. Second, we explore data-driven stochastic control, utilizing empirical characteristic functions to handle systems with unknown disturbances. In addition, we derive several …

The Role Of Nutrient Solutions On Phosphate-Solubilizing Bacteria Population, Phosphorus Availability, Phosphorus Uptake, Growth And Yield Of Red Chili (Capsicum Annuum L.), Betty Natalie Fitriatin, Raden Faqih Hilmiy Ghifari, Emma Trinurani Sofyan, Fitri Widiantini, Hanif Fakhrurroja, Tualar Simarmata

Jurnal Kultivasi

Red chili consumption in Indonesia has increased every year. However, with large chili production to meet large consumption, land conversion for various purposes has reduced the harvested area. The efforts to increase the harvested area of chili using Inceptisols soil by providing nutrient solutions to overcome the infertility of the soil using its nutrients. This experiment aims to determine the effect of nutrient solution application on the population of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria, phosphorus availability, phosphorus uptake, growth, and yield of Red Chili (Capsicum annuum L.) in Inceptisols. The experiment was conducted from August 2023 to February 2024 at Ciparanje Experimental Field, …

Top Ten Epilepsy Research Priorities: A Uk Priority Setting Partnership, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Purpose: Research into epilepsy has experienced decades of chronic underfunding compared to other neurological conditions despite its prevalence and seriousness. To evidence the need for greater investment, the Epilepsy Research Institute (formerly Epilepsy Research UK) funded, led and managed a James Lind Alliance (JLA) Priority Setting Partnership (PSP). This “industry standard” methodology brings together healthcare professionals, patients, carers and patient group representatives to identify and prioritise research uncertainties within a defined area of health or care.Methods: The UK Epilepsy PSP is a once-in-a-generation, national consensus that collated and ranked the research priorities of the UK epilepsy and associated condition community. …

Gpu-Accelerated Community Detection: Performance Comparison Of Networkx And Cugraph, Venkata Satyanarayana Pulaparthi

Masters Projects

Community detection in complex networks is an essential process in the field of network science, offering insights into the underlying structure and functionality of interconnected systems. As the scale and complexity of networks grows, traditional CPU-based methods for community detection struggle to keep pace, leading to the exploration of GPU-accelerated solutions.

This project investigates the implementation of the Louvain algorithm for community detection using GPU-accelerated computing via the CuGraph library. By comparing it too traditional CPU based methods implemented with NetworkX, this study examines performance improvements, scalability, and applicability across real-world datasets. Two networks were used for experimentation: Zachary’s Karate …