Digital Commons Network^™

Process Activities Of A Neutrosophic-Based Smart Simulation Framework For Islamic Sacred Rituals, Nabil M. Abdelaziz, Mohamad S. Al-Thenyan

Neutrosophic Sets and Systems

No abstract provided.

An Experimental Study On The Deterioration Characteristics Of Sandstone Masses With Rock Bridges Under Cyclic Freezing And Thawing, Zhang Huimei, Li Zengle, Chen Shiguan, Yuan Chao, Zheng Shihang

Coal Geology & Exploration

Objective To determine the deformation and failure mechanisms of fractured rock masses with rock bridges in alpine regions, this study conducted mechanical property tests on rock samples with varying lengths of rock bridges subjected to cyclic freezing and thawing. Methods Through experiments, this study summarized the characteristics of the static strength deterioration of rock masses under the combined effects of different numbers of freezing and thawing cycles and varying rock bridge lengths. By combining acoustic emission signal monitoring and scanning electron microscopy, this study thoroughly explored both the evolutionary characteristics of fractures and rock rupture modes. Accordingly, it revealed the …

Fructure Mechanisms And Fracture Distribution Patterns Of Main Roofs In Goaves Within Abandoned Mines, Tao Xuefeng, Shi Biming, Hua Xinzhu, Lin Baiquan, Yue Jiwei, Liang Yuehui, Zhang Chengcheng, Qin Hao, Yang Yong, Xue Yonglin

Coal Geology & Exploration

Objective In abandoned mines, the storage zones of free gas are closely associated with overburden fractures in goaves. To accurately estimate free gas resources in abandoned mines, it is necessary to thoroughly investigate the rupture mechanisms of blocks in main roofs in goaves, as well as the overburden fractures and rupture trace morphologies in goaves. Methods Based on the masonry beam theory, this study established a mechanical model for the primary cantilever beam of a main roof. The analytical solutions of the stress components in the primary cantilever beam were analyzed using the stress inverse method, and the mathematical expression …

Transnational Mass Tort Litigation: A Proposal For An International Court Of Civil Justice, Maya Steinitz

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter argues for the creation of an International Court of Civil Justice for transnational mass tort cases. It considers the challenges of adjudicating cross-border mass torts along with the incentives and feasibility of a new international court. Drawing upon case studies including the Bhopal disaster, litigation surrounding the devastation of the Ecuadorian rainforest, and the attempts to sue over human rights abuses in Nigeria, the chapter demonstrates that the world's legal systems were not designed to solve these kinds of complex cases, and the absence of mechanisms to ensure coordination means that victims try, but fail, to find justice …

Multi-Actor Roles In Basic Education Provision For Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Children In Sabah And Sarawak, Neneng Heryati, Chandra Wijaya, Lina Jannah

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

This study examines the governance of basic education access for Indonesian Migrant Workers’ children in Sabah and Sarawak by focusing on the roles of multi-actors involved in service provision. Using a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews and document analysis, the study finds that the operation of Community Learning Centers is highly dependent on the interaction between the Malaysian government as the licensing authority, plantation companies as facility providers and funders, and the Indonesian government through Atdikbud, KJRI/KRI, and SIKK as facilitators of educational diplomacy and the roles of PMI communities. Non-governmental organizations such as Humana Child Aid Society also enhance …

Engaging Stakeholders To Build, Sustain, And Grow Responsible Business: Some Frameworks, Meena Raghunathan, Kara Li Liu

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This is a follow-up Dialogue commentary to the MGDR publication:

Raghunathan, Meena and Liu, Kara Li (2024) "Moving from ‘Managing Stakeholders’ to ‘Managing for Stakeholders’: The Imperative for Responsible Business," Markets, Globalization & Development Review: Vol. 9: No. 3, Article 4.
DOI: 10.23860/MGDR-2024-09-03-04
Available at: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/mgdr/vol9/iss3/4.

In this commentary, the concepts of stakeholder approach to management is expanded and deepened.

Import Substitution Industrialization In Africa: Guinea's Experience, Mamadou Saliou Diallo

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

Import substitution industrialization (ISI) is such a template that many countries lagging behind in terms of development considered as an essential phase. The process of adopting ISI by these countries, however, displays contrasts in many aspects. The more apparent cases of differences in ISI adoption emanate from the East-Asian and Sub-Saharan African (SSA) models. These two regions are both latecomers in that industrial revolution, compared to Latin American countries being pioneers, was a chronologically later undertaking. Despite constraining factors, the East-Asian model thrives to become a successful experience. Meanwhile, SSA and Latin American countries still strive to achieve this ambition. …

The Tax Adviser, Volume 5, Number 10, October 1974, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Tax Trends, E. S. Linett

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Limited Partnership V. Association: A Need For Change, Philip P. Storrer

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Living Arrangements And Depression Among Elderly Persons In China: A National Cross-Sectional Study, Yue Lyu, Seung Chun Paek, Patreeya Kitcharoen, Thammarat Marohabutr

Journal of Health Research

Background: While the positive effect of living alone on depression among elderly persons has been demonstrated by multiple studies in China, evidence regarding other types of living arrangements, specifically considering family size, is scarce. This study assessed the effect of living arrangements, as measured by family size, on depression among elderly persons.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of 6,678 adults aged 60+ from the 2020 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study was conducted using descriptive and binary logistic regression analyses.

Results: Of the analyzed elderly persons, 35.43% (n=2,366) exhibited depression. Elderly persons living alone exhibited higher levels of depression than those …

Mental Health First Aid Certification's Impact On Filipino Nurses' Ability To Increase Personal Help-Seeking Behaviors, Self-Awareness Of Health Changes, And Improved Self-Connection, Maria Elena Holguin, Brenda Marshall, Faith Atte, Katherine J. Roberts

School of Nursing Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Background

Post COVID-19, almost 50% of nurses reported severe depression, and over 30% moderate to severe anxiety. Nurses from minority racial and ethnic backgrounds, including Filipino nurses, accounted for more than 54% of COVID-related deaths, despite comprising only 24.1% of the nursing workforce. Filipino nurses, making up only 1% of the U.S. population, comprise 4.5 % of the nursing workforce and face significant barriers to seeking mental health services, including stigma, a sense of shame, and adherence to cultural values that view mental illness as unacceptable.

Aim 

To assess the impact of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) certification among Filipino …

Usa V. Michael Moran

2025 Decisions

USDC for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Operational Context's Impact On Cockpit Behavior: Case Studies In Aviation, Nick Mehrdad Loghmani

Dissertations - ALL

This thesis examines instances where pilots in a tightly regulated environment, the modern airline cockpit, exhibit diverging responses when presented with identical information. Despite explicit standardization of procedures, instrumentation, and Crew Resource Management, observable patterns of operational divergence persist. The study adopts distributed cognition (Hutchins, 1995) as the primary lens and analyzes the crew–procedures–artifacts system using cockpit transcripts and flight data. Operational context is the evolving set of roles, procedures, cognitive artifacts (including automation), constraints, and environmental conditions, while the operational configuration denotes its time-indexed instantiation at moment t. Within this frame, the thesis documents when cues do—and do not—propagate …

Editor's Note, Tim Hunt

Jeffers Studies

No abstract provided.

Policies Of Pain: Neoliberal Rhetorics Of The Opioid Epidemic In Culture And Policy, Gina Arlene Stinnett

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation outlines and examines the Neoliberal rhetorics of choice and responsibility, and how these rhetorics are utilized in policy and culture related to the Opioid Epidemic in the United States. Through this examination of neoliberal rhetorics in policy and culture, I unpack the circular influence these two have on each other—i.e., cultural assumptions inform policy decisions, and established policy can slowly influence cultural assumptions. The key area in which these two influence each other is through rhetoric, therefore I argue that in addition to an economic and cultural structure, neoliberalism is a rhetorical structure—it shapes our society specifically through …

Intercultural Communicative Competence (Icc) Among Efl Learners And Teachers And The Potential For Ai As A Guide, Zeynep Saka

Theses - ALL

This study investigates the Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students and instructors in Turkey by examining both perceived and observed aspects of ICC, as well as the potential role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in supporting intercultural communicative competence education. Guided by Byram’s (1997) model and informed by Speech Act Theory (Searle, 1969) and Politeness Theory (Brown & Levinson, 1987), the study adopted a mixed-methods design including 89 students and 46 instructors from nine state universities. Data were collected through a 25-item ICC questionnaire and a series of Discourse Completion Tasks (DCTs) completed under self-guided …

Novel Origin Of Sperm Heteromorphism In The Drosophilidae, Karan Bhatt

Theses - ALL

Sperm heteromorphism, the production of two or more discrete sperm types or morphs within a single testis, occurs in diverse taxa. This phenomenon is believed to represent a division of labor by male gametes, with only one morph (the "eusperm") participating in fertilization and the other morph(s) specialized to perform some other (typically unknown) function within the female reproductive tract. One of the most intensively investigated systems is the Drosophila obscura species group, for which sperm heteromorphism evolved once in the common ancestor to the group, with all examined descendent species exhibiting sperm length heteromorphism. The absence of additional sperm …

Intersectionality, Epistemic Injustice, And Silencing: The Operationalization And Reification Of Intersectionality In Academic Research And Institutional Practices, Emery Lockwood

Theses - ALL

Intersectionality is a powerful analytic tool that can be used to better understand the role that oppression plays in society and how it shapes the way people affected by multiple systems of oppression interact with society. Recently, the unit of analysis for intersectionality has started to shift from intersecting systems of oppression to overlapping identities, which has changed intersectionality from being a tool used to analyze systemic oppression to individual’s experiences. This work explores the implications this shift has on academic research and the practice of several disciplines. Using a lens of epistemic injustice through theories of hermeneutical bastardization (Drury, …

Twas-Ctl: A Robust And Efficient Method For Multi-Tissue Transcriptome-Wide Association Studies Using Cross-Tissue Learners, Md Mutasim Billah, Hairong Wei, Fengzhu Sun, Kui Zhang

Michigan Tech Publications

The advent of transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) has expanded the classical genome-wide association study (GWAS) framework by integrating gene expression with genetic variation to identify trait-associated variants. While multi-tissue TWAS approaches improve statistical power over single-tissue models, existing methods often lose information during result aggregation and require intensive computation. Here, we present TWAS-CTL (Cross-Tissue Learner), a novel framework that leverages heterogeneous gene expression across tissues by adaptively reweighting and optimizing multiple single-tissue learners. Simulations demonstrate that TWAS-CTL achieves higher statistical power than the leading method, UTMOST, while maintaining proper type I error control and reducing computational time by over half. …

Building Bridges: Industrial Trade Unions In A Changing Climate, Nicole Möller

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation examines how German industrial trade unions and workers in the automobile and coal industries navigate the profound challenges of the green transition. Workers’ experiences are situated within a broader political-economic context shaped partly by market-led decarbonization efforts, welfare retrenchment/austerity, erosion of progressive institutions in society, and global competition, as well as a global restructuring of value accumulation. The analysis critically engages with unions’ current responses to a market-led transition and their implications for labor’s future. The dissertation develops its argument across three empirical chapters. Chapter 2 investigates workplace-level changes in coal mining and automobile production, analyzing how workers …

Effects Of Π-Rich Solvents And Nickel And Cobalt Dopants On The Synthesis And Properties Of Cesium Lead Halide Nanocrystals, Tsung-Hsing Chiang

Dissertations - ALL

Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals feature unique properties like quantum confinement, tunable band gaps, and high surface-to-volume ratio; and have been proven as prominent materials in applications such as light-emitting diodes, sensors, lasers, solar cells, etc. Optoelectronic properties of semiconductor nanocrystals are highly associated with their sizes, morphologies, and compositions. Understanding the growth mechanism can lead to the ability to control the size, morphology, and composition of nanocrystals. In this thesis, growth and b-site doping of perovskite, cesium lead halide (CsPbX3), nanocrystals are discussed. Solvent effects in the growth of cesium lead bromide were first investigated from the aspect of plumbates in …

Robust Security Assurance In Cyber-Physical Systems: From Attack Diagnosis To Attack Resilience, Zifan Wang

Dissertations - ALL

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) have become integral to critical infrastructure, from autonomous vehicles to industrial control systems. However, their increased connectivity and sophistication introduce new vulnerabilities, making security a paramount concern. This dissertation presents a comprehensive pipeline for enhancing CPS security, focusing on accurate diagnosis of trustworthy time frames and subsystems, followed by system resilience measures to restore safe states. The foundation of system resilience lies in an advanced checkpointing protocol for real-time multi-process systems. A novel three-step approach uniquely addresses both logical and timing correctness, which are crucial for modern CPS applications. By partitioning processes into directed acyclic graphs, implementing …

Model Inference And Sparse Network Analysis: Machine Learning In The Gene Regulatory Network Framework, Youchuan Wang

Dissertations - ALL

This thesis explores sparse network inference from high-dimensional, noisy, and underdetermined data—a fundamental challenge in many scientific domains. We focus on the development of evolutionary computation methods for discovering underlying network structures that are both interpretable and biologically plausible. Our methods are applied to the domain of Gene Regulatory Network (GRN) inference, where sparsity, indirect interactions, and limited observations pose significant hurdles. The framework models both steady-state and time-series gene expression data, with particular emphasis on biological sparsity and regulatory dynamics. We approach the problem from three perspectives: (1) edge-level analysis using transitive reduction to distinguish direct from indirect regulation; …

Developing Best Practice Fabrication For Niobium Superconducting Devices, Jadrien Timothy-Henke Paustian

Dissertations - ALL

Superconducting qubits are a leading platform for scalable quantum computation. This platform offers high gate speeds and can make use of readily scalable complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication techniques. However, superconducting qubits are susceptible to a variety of losses that arise in systems with superconductors, such as due to ubiquitous two-level systems, quasiparticles, and more. Designing fabrication processes to mitigate and manage these loss sources is critical to achieving scalable quantum computation. However, many of these loss sources are set during fabrication processing, of which there can be many different steps, each with its own parameter space. Exploring this space …

Performance Of Digital Economic Indicators During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Payment System Case Of Indonesia, Darjana Darjana, Yanti Rusmawati

Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking

We explore the performance of digital payment system instruments during both the pre-COVID-19 period and during the pandemic. We focus on four main digital economic indicators in Indonesia; namely, electronic money, Automated Teller Machine (ATM), digital banking, and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) transactions. Using monthly data covering the period 2013:01 to 2023:04 obtained from Bank Indonesia, we employ the Difference-in-Differences method to assess the impact of the pandemic on digital economic indicators. The results show that during the pandemic, generally, the transaction value of electronic money, digital banking and RTGS are continuously upward trending, while the number of electronic …

Study On Creep Mechanical Properties And Constitutive Models Of Silty Clay With Different Compaction Degrees, Li Mingchao, Wu Gangrong

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

In order to ensure the smooth construction and long-term stable operation of silty clay sections in the Zhoukou –Pingdingshan highway project,this paper conducted one-dimensional creep tests on silty clay samples with different compaction degrees under different stress levels and studied the effect law of compaction degree on its long-term creep mechanical properties.By establishing the corresponding creep constitutive models,a theoretical basis was provided for the prevention and control of creep failure in silty clay subgrades in engineering practice.Research results show that:① Under the same stress level,with the increase of compaction degree,the instantaneous strain,creep strain,and total strain of the samples all decrease …

Assessing The Gender Differences In Mental Health Access And The Intersectionality Of Depression, Anxiety, Stress Between Black Men And Black Women During Covid-19, Turquoise Ef'e Pipes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The COVID-19 pandemic, which emerged in the past five years, has had a particularly severe impact on well-being, mental health, and access to care for Black communities. Therefore, the purpose of this quantitative study, grounded in intersectionality theory was to assess gender differences between Black women and Black men confronted with depression, anxiety, stress symptoms and mental health access during the crisis of COVID-19, which has been under researched within this demographic. The study sample included participants from various cities across the United States who lived through the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 to March 2023 (n= 104). A MANOVA …

Association Between Vitamin D And Cholesterol In Post-Acne Hypertrophic Scars And Keloids: A Cross-Sectional Study, Yuli Kurniawati, Yulia Farida Yahya, Sarah Diba, Rina Novriani, Hasbiallah Yusuf, Ekta Martgaredta

Journal of General - Procedural Dermatology and Venereology Indonesia

Background: Post-acne hypertrophic scars and keloids result from abnormal wound healing within the pilosebaceous unit. Ruptured microcomedones create wounds that can lead to prolonged inflammation, increased collagen synthesis, and fibrinolysis inhibition, resulting in elevated scar tissue in acne lesions. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to prolonged inflammation and damage to dermal collagen. High total cholesterol levels can lead to excessive sebum production, exacerbating inflammation and fibrosis. This study aimed to determine the association between serum vitamin D and total cholesterol levels with scar severity in patients with post-acne hypertrophic scars and keloids.

Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted at …

Dysconscious Ableism In The Public Library Advancing Disabled Patron And Staff Experiences Toward More Inclusive Programs And Services, William N. Myhill

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation investigates the operation of dysconscious ableism in public librarianship and its impact on disabled patrons and staff. Drawing on critical disability studies, critical theory, and ethnographic methods, the study explores how public library policies, practices, and professional beliefs perpetuate ableist norms and marginalize disabled individuals. The research is grounded in three central questions: (1) How does dysconscious ableism operate in public librarianship? (2) What are the lived experiences of disabled patrons and staff in public library spaces? (3) What strategies can disrupt dysconscious ableism and promote a more inclusive, anti-ableist praxis? Data were collected through interviews with librarians …