Digital Commons Network^™

Durability Of Alkali-Activated Concretes Under 5% Sulfuric Acid Environment, Celal Karabaş, Anıl Niş

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

The investigation focused on the resistance to 5% sulfuric acid degradation of the alkali-activated concretes (AAC). The AAC was manufactured using a blended binder of 50% slag and 50% F-type fly ash. The AAC was activated using a blend of 14 M sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate, with a hydroxide-to-silicate ratio of 1/2,5. Six AAC were produced against a 5% sulfuric acid environment, varying the binder amounts (400–500–600 kg/m3) and activator-binder (A/B) ratios (0,45–0,55). The chemical resistance of AAC was evaluated by visual appearance, variation in weight and compressive strengths. The findings pointed out that more gypsum and higher weight …

Comprehensive Risk Assessment For Construction Site Managers In Kosovo: A Mixed-Method Approach, Muhamet Ahmeti, Besian Sinani

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

This study developed and validated a hybrid ISO 31000:2018 Kosovo-compliant risk assessment framework tailored for construction site managers operating within transitional economies. The research employed audits of 20 ISO-certified contractors in Pristina, Kosovo, along with field observations, interviews, and quantitative risk matrices. The findings indicate a critical concentration of risk, with 70% of firms classified as "High" or “Very High” risk. The most prevalent hazards identified were working at height without collective protection, unprotected electrical systems, and manual handling of heavy materials. Regression analysis revealed that firms with a designated safety champion achieved significantly lower risk scores, whereas those with …

Behaviour Of Internally Strengthening Hollow Stainless-Steel Hot-Rolled Circular Columns Filled With Crumb Rubber And Recycled Aggregate Concrete, Wadhah M. Tawfeeq, Mohammed M. Rasheed, Mithaq Kohees, Ahmed W. Al Zandd, Saif Al-Balushi, Hamed Al Abdul Salam

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

Stainless-steel sections are increasingly being utilised in favour of their higher durability. Simultaneously, the use of recycled materials in concrete is aligned with the global concern to encourage sustainable and environmentally friendly construction. The paper examined the behaviour of stainless-steel columns filled with concrete with crumb rubber (CR) and recycled aggregate (RA). It analysed the effect of different percentages of CR (0, 15, and 30) and RA (0, 15, and 50) on the compressive strength of the concrete and the performance of the columns using stainless-steel hollow sections. 20 specimens were manufactured, 18 of which were cast with concrete containing …

Retracted: Fuzzy Backstepping Approach To Stabilizing Fuzzy Parabolic Partial Differential Equations, Zainab John, Fadhel S. Fadhel, Samsul Ariffin Abdul Karim, Teh Yuan Ying

Iraqi Journal for Computer Science and Mathematics

In this work,\floatquery[-14pc]AU: Please provide ORCID ID for remaining authors. we study the solvability and stability of the fuzzy reaction-diffusion equation and the fuzzy diffusion equation with nonhomogeneous boundary conditions. Firstly, we derive the fuzzy exact solutions by converting the nonhomogeneous boundary condition to a homogeneous condition, then we prove the instability of the solution by using simulation approach with the help of Maple program. From this, we have decided to implement the fuzzy backstepping approach to developed the stabilization of the fuzzy parabolic partial differential equations. By using this approach together with the generalized Hukuhara (gH) derivative, we were …

Piezoelectric Concrete: A Smart Material Approach For Energy-Harvesting Structural Technologies, Dianah Mazlan, Vynotdni Rathinasamy, Naveen Kumar, Liu Chunpeng, Elango Elango

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

The rapid growth of urban infrastructure demands innovative materials that not only support structural performance but also contribute to sustainability through energy harvesting. Piezoelectric concrete, which integrates ceramics, polymers, nanomaterials, and bio-based fillers into cementitious matrices, has emerged as a promising solution. This review systematically explores the fundamentals of piezoelectricity in concrete, highlighting how stress-induced electromechanical coupling enables both energy harvesting and structural health monitoring. The paper critically evaluates major material systems including PZT ceramics, PVDF polymers, hybrid nanocomposites, and emerging bio-based materials, alongside their integration strategies such as embedded and surface-mounted approaches. Applications across pavements, bridges, and smart buildings …

2025 Fall - Commencement Program, Office Of The Registrar, East Tennessee State University

ETSU Commencement Ceremonies and Programs

No abstract provided.

Stress During Adolescence: A Characterization Of Anxiety-Like Behavior, And The Mrna Expression Of Neuroimmune Factors, Clock And Stress Genes In Corticolimbic Areas., Annette Fernandez Oropeza, Annette K. Fernandez Oropeza

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Adolescence represents a critical window of frontal cortex (FC) maturation and corticolimbic circuit refinement that supports stress and emotion regulation. Disruption of these processes by early-life insults such as prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) or adolescent stress increases vulnerability to anxiety and mood disorders, in part through circadian–immune dysregulation. The circadian transcription factor Bmal1 and the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) have emerged as key regulators of neuroimmune signaling and synaptic communication, yet their interactions across developmental risk contexts remain poorly understood. This dissertation examined the effects of mild adolescent isolation stress, with and without PAE, on anxiety-like behaviors and …

176th Commencement, Fall

Commencement Programs

Commencement program (graduate and undergraduate exercises) for fall 2025

Dynamic Admittance Parameterization For Non-Prehensile Multi-Robot Transport With Optimal Coordinated Planning, Calvin J. Stahoviak

Computer Science ETDs

The Dynamic Admittance Parameterization of Non-Prehensile Multi-Robot Trans- port with Optimal Coordinated Planning (DYNAMO) architecture offers a practical framework for cooperative payload transportation using two robots equipped with nonholonomic mobile bases and four-degree-of-freedom manipulators. Coordinated mobile manipulation is a difficult problem in robotics, and the non-prehensile case is even more challenging than its prehensile counterpart because the robot bases and the payload are dynamically coupled. DYNAMO adapts arm motion in response to interaction forces and generates coordinated base trajectories that account for this coupling. Robust payload transport is achieved through the combination of opti- mal planning and adaptive compliant control, …

Irregularities In The Dynamics Of Large Networks: Cases On Social Networks And The Internet, Dheeman Saha, Abdullah Mueen, Shuang Luan, Afsah Anwar, Yangsun Hong

Computer Science ETDs

Dynamic networks capture evolving relationships among entities, and irregularities in their behavior often signal significant events. This dissertation investigates such irregularities across social and infrastructural networks. First, we analyze Twitter (prior to its rebranding to X) to characterize influencers, introducing a follower-overlap similarity measure that identifies micro-influencers beyond content-based methods.

We then examine election-related irregularities by comparing suspended and non-suspended accounts during the 2020 U.S. presidential election, revealing behavioral patterns linked to misinformation and coordinated manipulation.

Next, we develop an algorithm to infer post-specific diffusion networks, reconstructing who-saw-from-whom pathways for tweets at scale. This method uncovers structural differences in diffusion …

Thermally Stable And Regenerable Catalysts For Alkane Dehydrogenation, Ryan Alcala

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

Shale gas upgrading reactions have gained much interest since production dramatically increased around 2010. These reactions occur at high temperatures (600°C +) where undesired processes like sintering and/or coking often occur. It is of interest to use materials like ceria as a catalyst support in these alkane conversion reactions, but ceria is prone to losing active surface area through sintering. It is also of interest to understand the behavior of PtMn and PtZn intermetallics for propane dehydrogenation as they have been identified as some of the best catalysts by theory-based prediction in literature. This manuscript explores ways of utilizing ceria’s …

Arcsine Ratio Sine Generalized Distributions With Applications To Biomedical And Engineering Data, Kizito E. Anyiam, Mohamed A. F. Elbarkawy, Ehab M. Almetwally, Okechukwu J. Obulezi, Mohammed Elgarhy

Mesopotamian Journal of CyberSecurity

gonometric distributions offer a powerful approach to solving complex problems in probability and statistical modeling. In this study, we introduce a novel class of distributions: the Arcsine Ratio Sine Generalized (ARS-G) family. We provide a complete set of explicit formulas for the family’s statistical properties. Our key illustration is the ARS-Weibull (ARS-W) distribution, which uses the Weibull model as its foundation. This particular model demonstrates remarkable flexibility, with its hazard function capable of assuming diverse shapes, including bump, bathtub, reversed bathtub, J-shaped, and L-shaped profiles. We thoroughly examine the ARS W distribution’s statistical properties and employ various established estimation methods …

Lycopene, Race And Periodontitis: Disparities In Older Adults, Katherine Kwong, You Lu, Zhuo Huan Li, Susu Luo, Zhaoyu Huang, Zhong Chen, Na Zhao, Tung Sung Tseng

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Background Periodontitis is a severe gum disease that can be an indicator of other health conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Lycopene has been suggested as an adjunct therapy for periodontitis. This study aims to investigate the association between insufficient lycopene intake and the risk of Periodontitis among non-Hispanic White (NHW) and non-Hispanic Black (NHB) older adults. Methods The study included 1,227 adults aged 65–79 years from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (2009–2014). Total lycopene intake from daily diet was studied with age, race, marital status, smoking status, BMI, diabetes, sex, and education as independent variables in …

Assessment Of Fish Community Dynamics, Movement, And Morphology In Relation To Stream Barriers In The Upper Illinois Bayou Watershed, Risa Mccollough

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Intermittent streams are increasingly recognized as vital components of river networks by supporting dynamic fish communities shaped by variable hydrology and habitat connectivity. They are becoming increasingly vulnerable to fragmentation by anthropogenic activities, namely road crossings, dams, and climate shifts that intensify seasonal drying. In response, I conducted two studies in the Illinois Bayou watershed in Arkansas to assess the effects of fragmentation on fish community dynamics and morphology in intermittent streams.

In the first study, I examined temporal fish community dynamics across two barriers: a natural waterfall in Dare Creek and a low-water crossing in Dry Creek. Simultaneously, I …

Patient-Derived Ovarian Cancer Models Provide Insight Into Cancer Cell-Intrinsic And Immune Cell-Dependent Effects On Therapeutic Response, Parisa Nikeghbal

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy, largely due to late diagnosis and resistance to chemotherapy. This dissertation applies patient-derived organoids (PDOs), xenograft-derived organoids (PDXOs), and humanized xenografts (huPDX) to investigate therapeutic responses and immune interactions. Organoids were shown to retain critical features of the original malignancy. Across platinum-sensitive, -resistant, and -refractory cases, both PDOs and PDXOs exhibited drug sensitivities that aligned with patients’ clinical classifications. Building on this foundation, a drug screen revealed novel strategies. Auranofin restored platinum sensitivity in Notch3-active models, afatinib broadly reduced viability, and adavosertib–gemcitabine and sorafenib–topotecan combinations produced synergy. Extending this work, immune interactions …

Parameter-Efficient Multimodal Adaptation: Ocr-Integrated Lora For Textvqa And Captioning, Karthik Ganesh Malini

Master's Theses

Vision-Language Models (VLMs) have emerged as transformative technologies for multimodal AI, yet they face significant hurdles in processing text-rich images required for enterprise applications like document understanding, medical imaging, and industrial inspection. Current VLMs struggle with accurate text extraction and reasoning, often exhibiting high hallucination rates and poor Optical Character Recognition (OCR) token utilization. To address these limitations, this research presents a comprehensive framework for optimizing parameter-efficient Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA) fine-tuning strategies on state-of-the-art architectures, including LLaVA-1.5 and BLIVA-FlanT5. Our methodology integrates enhanced OCR token utilization, faithful caption generation, and specific hallucination mitigation techniques. We employ a multi-dimensional evaluation protocol …

Curious Contradictions: A Critical Edition Of 'The Great War In England In 1897,' By William Le Queux, Jacob D. Liljenquist

Student Works

Written by William Le Queux in 1894, The Great War in England in 1897 is a work of invasion literature, and a book full of curious contradictions. Once popular and now forgotten, its material construction belies its status as sensational literature. This critical edition of the 4th edition copy of the novel housed in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections evaluates the book's conception, creation, and reception, and provides a material bibliography of the HBLL's unique copy, all with the aim to reveal and explain the contradictions in the book as a product of imperial culture.

Emulation Of Orbital Dynamics And Control Of Fully Actuated Seven-Axis Prismatic Joint Systems, Bennett Russell

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

This thesis details the system modeling, design, control, simulation, construction, and testing of a fully-actuated seven axis prismatic joint system created for the primary purpose of emulating on-orbit maintenance tasks. Additionally, it seeks to further research of space-based control schemas and investigate stiction as a case study with a mountable hybrid hinge system that emulates stiction. Controllers are evaluated under common limits and metrics, including time to escape, overshoot, mechanical work, and limit-exceedance counts. Comparisons span a PID baseline, deterministic MPC/MPPI, and a probabilistic POMDP policy. Results verify the emulator and hybrid hinge meet the intended design criteria and show …

“Bridging The Gap To Midwave Infrared Event-Based Sensors: Design, Sensitivity, And Radiation-Hardness Characterization Of A Single-Pixel Iii-V Event-Based Infrared Sensor For Space Applications, Zinah M. Alsaad

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Event-based sensing presents a revolutionary paradigm shift for next-generation space surveillance systems, where power consumption is an ever-worsening constraint as temporal resolution demands increase. In addition to reduced power consumption, low latency, and wide dynamic range, the event-based sensor fundamentally only produces data when there is a change in illumination from which events are generated; no data is produced if the scene remains static. With their event-based datastream being inherently focused on the dynamic information of the scene, they are particularly well-suited to machine vision and autonomous sensing applications. While these sensors have many compelling advantages, there are presently no …

Log Cabins, Hard Ciders, And The Misunderstood Campaign Of 1840: Looking At How The Whigs Really Created The First Modern Presidential Campaign Through Effective Storytelling, Eric V. Schesventer

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The Whig party crafted the first ever modern campaign seen in American History during the campaign and subsequent presidential election of 1840. They did this not merely through the use of flashy campaign slogans and festive events as previous historians have discussed. The Whigs created the first ever modern campaign by telling both realistic and symbolic stories through the use of media narratives and physical objects crafted for the campaign. By doing this, this helped mold then candidate and future President William Henry Harrison into a candidate for all Americans, even if he was not in practice.

Knowledge Production As Identity Expression: A Third-Space Perspective On Sustainable Careers, Alicja Syska

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

This conceptual paper advances our understanding of sustainable careers by focusing on the knowledge creation activities of third-space practitioners in higher education. Specifically, we apply and extend the Process Model of Sustainable Careers to examine how different forms of knowledge production in three different institutional and national contexts – writing for publication, practice-based expertise, and curriculum development – contribute to career sustainability at the intersection of academic and professional/administrative roles and domains. The critical element of this extension is ‘identity expression’ in the form of knowledge production, which acts as an integrating mechanism that flows through and connects the original …

Recreating Fiber Recruitment With Fiber Recruitment Using Additive Manufacturing, Natalia D. Mciver

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Injured ligaments are often repaired with tendon grafts which may over or under constrain the joint; there is a need for an artificial graft option with the mechanical properties of a native ligament. Crimped fibers within ligaments allow for recruitment which means the viscoelastic properties of stress relaxation and creep are not inversely related. A feasibility study using ACLs and large-scale crimp models to study viscoelasticity, led to an in-depth analysis of the scapholunate interosseous ligament. Using the Modified Kelvin spring-dashpot model, for describing viscoelasticity with a variable stiffness property (time dependent fiber recruitment), we defined the relationship between creep …

Protein-Nucleic Acid Language Model-Assisted Design Of Precise And Compact Adenine Base Editor, Yinuo Li, Yang Li, Ziyi Zhang, Xiyu Ge, Shengfang Wang, Yang Zhang, Xiaogang Wang, Xiaohui Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Adenine base editors (ABEs) are powerful tools for gene therapy. However, efficient version of ABEs (e.g. ABE8e) always induce excessive bystander and off-target editing events and are large in size, hindering their potential in clinical disease treatment. Here, we develop a pre-trained Protein-Nucleic Acid Constrained Language Model to design ABE8e with high activity, reduced editing window and decreased size. By further engineering, the smallest ABE8e- PNLM-pcABE- with a 27% size reduction, exhibits high activity, precise 3-nt editing window, and reduced off-target events near background level in HEK293T cells. Compared to ABE8e, PNLM-pcABE has up to 133.5-fold precision improvement in pathogenic …

Boeing Turns It Around, How A Change In Leadership Impacted An Industry, Fenix Suriel

Capstones

Boeing’s post McDonnell Douglas merger saw a shift from engineering-led decision-making to shareholder-driven priorities. This change is at the root of major safety failures, production issues, and ripple effects across the aviation labor market and supply chain. The appointment of CEO Kelly Ortberg, an engineer with deep aerospace experience, marked a turning point as he emphasized safety, transparency, training, and cultural reform, including mandatory safety systems and stricter competency standards. Boeing has shown signs of recovery through improved earnings, rising stock value, renewed FAA trust, and increased industry confidence. Though the company has not fully regained its pre-pandemic standing, experts …

Beyond The Model Minority: South Asian New Yorkers Confront Poverty, Mizuki Uchiyama

Capstones

This capstone project examines poverty among South Asian immigrants in New York City, challenging the “model minority” myth that portrays Asian Americans as uniformly successful. Through a reported NY1 television news package and accompanying written narrative, the project highlights how language barriers, economic insecurity and limited access to public benefits shape daily life for many immigrant families in Queens.

Reporting from the South Asian Council for Social Services (SACSS) in Flushing, the story connects individual experiences in workforce and sewing programs to broader data showing that Asian New Yorkers experience poverty at rates comparable to Black and Latino residents, with …

Empowering Wireless Mesh Uav Networks Through Software-Defined Networking, Hieu Quang

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been widely deployed in applications such as environmental monitoring, disaster response, and surveillance. Effective coordination between UAVs depends on low-latency inter-UAV communication to exchange state information, decisions, and other critical data. UAV networks are inherently dynamic which necessitates a framework capable of handling scenarios such as traffic re-routing, and resilience to communication failures. To address the challenges of managing dynamic UAV networks, this thesis proposes a dual network approach composed of three main components. First, the Better Approach to Mobile Ad-hoc Networking (BATMAN) protocol is used to enable communication among UAVs. Second, the OpenFlow protocol …

2025 Fall Commencement, Harding University

Commencement Programs

Program for the Harding University Commencement on December 13. 
Commencement Speaker: Dr. Susan Kehl

Can Web-Based International Standardized Tests Be More Inclusive? A Udl Mixed-Methods Study Of Accented Tasks, Abdelbaset Haridy

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This dissertation explores the critical, yet understudied, issue of using a variety of accents/dialects within standardized listening assessments. The current study argues for a paradigm shift from dominant accent to the use of a variety of accents in foreign language testing and assessment. The shift is guided by the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), World Englishes, and Intercultural Communication Theory. Following a mixed-methods design, the study compares student perceptions (N=202) and experts’ (N=64) opinions across two distinct linguistic contexts: English and Arabic. College student participants rated listening samples across nine parameters, including Fluency, Accuracy, Comprehensibility, Intelligibility, and Approachability. …

Design And Evaluation Of The Influence Of Mutual Induction On Microbial Electrolysis Cell Performance And Biogas Production, Ashley L. Blackwell

Civil Engineering ETDs

Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) present a pathway for energy recovery in wastewater treatment by converting organic substrates into methane or hydrogen. Traditional MEC designs typically rely on physical electrode contacts and expensive materials, which restrict their scalability. This study introduces the first induction-based MEC that uses mutual inductance between an external copper wrap and an internal coil to generate a fluctuating electrical potential, removing the need for expensive electrodes. The induction-stimulated reactor showed faster total organic carbon removal and a higher CH4/CO2 ratio compared to a conventional anaerobic digester, indicating improved carbon-to-methane conversion, although total gas yield remained similar. Microbial …

Graph Based Planning With Guarantees, Trazon Tyrik Jimerson

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

This thesis presents two graph-based methods with formal guarantees for motion planning and routing. First, the invariant-set motion planner (ISMP), which uses constraint admissible positive invariant (CAPI) sets of closed-loop dynamics, is adapted for spacecraft attitude planning to avoid moving keep-out zones. Contributions include time bounds for maneuvers via exponential stability, a single-stage reachability graph from one-step backward reachable CAPI sets, and its multi-stage expansion to certify node safety over time. Simulations verify safe attitude control with moving obstacles. Second, we formulate a convex optimization problem over a network for evacuation planning with operational constraints such as helicopter capacity and …