Digital Commons Network^™

Ftc Titans #17576 2026 Engineering Portfolio, Andrew Sun '27, Ian Wang '27, Noah David '26, Aparna Sadhanagiri '26, Adam Park '28, Ajay Srinivasan '28

Distinguished Student Work

FTC Robotics is a program for students to engage with designing, assembling, and driving an 18x18x18' robot to compete in local, regional, and state competitions. During the 25/26 season, we reached over 150k+ individuals, connected with 36 STEM professionals, helped mentor 11 robotics teams, and curated an Instagram page with over 360k+ views. The team was the Reach award winner at the regional level and was first pick on the Winning Alliance. Then, at the Illinois State Championship, we were 3rd place in qualification matches and reached Semifinalist in the elimination rounds. The 25/26 season, in terms of overall OPR …

Holistic Review In Graduate Admissions: Admissions Professionals’ Evaluation Of Non-Cognitive Traits, Joshua L. Olson

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This basic qualitative study examines how graduate admissions professionals conceptualize, operationalize, and interpret holistic review within graduate admissions processes. Guided by Social Cognitive Theory and Expectancy-Value Theory, the study explores how non-cognitive traits such as motivation, resilience, self-efficacy, and professionalism are evaluated alongside traditional academic indicators in admissions decision-making. Using semi-structured interviews with graduate admissions professionals directly involved in admissions decisions, the study identifies how holistic review is defined and implemented across institutional contexts, which non-cognitive traits are most valued, and the tools and procedures used to assess applicant potential beyond academic metrics. Findings suggest that, for participants in this …

Predicting Anomalies, Boone Bowles, Adam V. Reed, Matthew C. Ringgenberg

Faculty Publications

We show that stock returns exhibit predictable patterns before the publication of anomaly trading signals. Moreover, anomaly trading signals derived from financial data are themselves predictable, making it possible to trade before financial statements are released. A trading strategy based on predicted anomaly signals earns an annualized return of 2.80% in the quarter before the signal is released. In recent periods, this return predictability is concentrated in signals that are harder to forecast, and returns are increasingly earned several quarters before signals are released. Our findings suggest anomalies are more anomalous than previously recognized.

All-Inside Arthroscopic Technique For Repairing Radial Meniscus Tears At The Anterior Horn-Body Junction, Brandon Omari Boyd, Robert M. Walker, Harrison A. Volaski, Ferdinand J. Chan

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

Radial meniscus tears are a common tear pattern that, if left untreated, can ultimately lead to accelerated degenerative changes and disability. There is well-established evidence that supports meniscal preservation in patients with radial meniscus tears. Various surgical techniques are used to repair radial tears, including inside-out, outside-in, and all-inside methods. Self-retrieving all-inside devices are a safe option when repairing radial tears. However, radial tears at the junction of the anterior horn and body present a unique surgical challenge, as surgeons may have difficulty maneuvering the jaws of the self-retrieving suture device around the anterior limb of the meniscal tear. We …

Restoring The People-Powered Energiewende, Carol Hager

Environmental Studies Research and Scholarship

Germany was an early leader in the energy transition. In contrast to the country’s general top-down policymaking style, the Energiewende proceeded from the bottom up, through the activism of small innovators and local communities. The 2000 Renewable Energy Sources Act supported the local transition primarily through feed-in tariffs. The locally based Energiewende yielded diverse benefits, including climate resilience, economic vitality, and community efficacy. Technological challenges, however, combined with pressure from incumbent utilities, led the German government to shift back toward a more centralized model. As community ownership stalled, local opposition to facilities imposed from outside grew, slowing the transition and …

Making The Case For Open Dental Education, Casey D. Wright, Pamela P. Smalley, Fanny Eliza Bondah, Jennifer L. Lehto, Tonia Morley, Danelle Orange, Elisabeta Karl, Royce Kimmons

Library Faculty Research and Publications

Dental education as a field and dentistry as a profession are facing significant challenges, including workforce shortages, ever-rising costs, unmet student and community needs, as well as quality of pedagogical practices. Open educational resources are learning objects that are freely accessible and are able to be retained, reused, revised, remixed, and redistributed under the philosophy of more openness and sharing. While some efforts are being made to address the aforementioned concerns, the prospects of more readily welcoming and adopting open education have not been discussed as a potential means of alleviating these barriers. Here, we expound on some of the …

Meiji Rhythm: Auditory Effects And Tradition Vs. Modernity In Late Nineteenth Century Verse, Roger K. Thomas

Faculty Publications – Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

This study, which grew out of a 2009 presentation at the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs, examines possible alignments between choices of lineation in Japanese poetry of the Meiji period (1868-1912) and various political and social ideologies of the time. It argues that the choice of arrangements of lines into patterns of either 5-7 or 7-5 morae typically associated the former with advocacy of adaptation of the classical chōka  genre while the latter tended to be associated with more "progressive" values and was employed in shintaishi and songs that drew stylistic inspiration from the  imayō genre.

Affirmatively Misled: The Commutation Instruction That Distorted Louisiana’S Death Penalty, G. Ben Cohen

Akron Law Faculty Publications

In 1997, Louisiana voters amended the state constitution to mandate that capital juries be instructed on the governor’s power to commute life and death sentences. This amendment, urged by the Louisiana District Attorneys Association, followed a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling that found an earlier clemency instruction violated the state constitution.     The instruction was fundamentally false. Louisiana governors, it turns out, lacked the unilateral authority to commute sentences; such actions require a favorable vote from the Parole Board. This reality became starkly clear in 2023, when the clemency petitions of fifty-six condemned prisoners—many sentenced by juries affirmatively given this instruction—were terminated …

Cesarean Section Rates In Lucas Do Rio Verde, Brazil: Assessing The Impact Of Socioeconomic Status And Maternal And Neonatal Outcomes, Ramya Vemulapalli, Roni Arienti, Linder Wendt, Jay Brooks Jackson, Mary B Rysavy, Kimberly A Kenne

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background

Brazil is globally known for its high rate of cesarean section despite endorsing the WHO’s current recommendation of 15%.

Objectives

Determine if socioeconomic status correlated with the rate of cesarean section (CS) at a mixed private and public hospital in the west-central region of Brazil. Describe the maternal and neonatal outcomes by mode of delivery (MOD) in the same population.

Design

Cohort study

Methods

Data from all delivering patients at São Lucas Hospital were collected during an 18-month period and analyzed. Demographics, baseline maternal health status, pregnancy and delivery information, maternal outcomes, and neonatal outcomes were entered into a …

Congenital Syphilis: From Near-Elimination To Crisis, Chad J Abresch, Irene A Stafford, Regan M Johnson, Kayode Olabanji, Ashleigh M Sutphen, Helen E Cejtin, Ashley Hoover

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This analytic essay examines the transformation of congenital syphilis (CS) in the United States from near-elimination to crisis. Drawing from the January 2025 Congenital Syphilis Summit in Atlanta, Georgia-convening public health leaders, Tribal health departments, the National Coalition of STD Directors, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention experts-we contrast prevention systems during near-elimination (1998-2005) with the current crisis (2018-2025). Evidence revealed how dismantling public health infrastructure produced dramatically different outcomes, with CS cases increasing 937% over the past decade and racial/ethnic disparities worsening. American Indian/Alaska Native communities face rates up to 100 times higher than White populations in some …

Glaucoma Risk With Metformin And Sulfonylurea Therapies In Type 2 Diabetes: A Retrospective Cohort Study., Jared Lim, Jingru Zhou, Hulin Wu, Ziqi Liu, David A Lee

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Research on metformin, sulfonylureas, and open-angle glaucoma risk in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has yielded inconsistent findings. This study examined associations between hypoglycemic treatments and glaucoma diagnosis rates.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study analyzed electronic health records of newly diagnosed T2DM patients from the Merative™ Explorys® Therapeutic Dataset (2010-2022), comparing three groups: metformin monotherapy, sulfonylureas plus metformin combination, and untreated controls. Propensity score matching balanced demographics, glycemic control, body mass index, blood pressure, lipid levels, and comorbidities. Cox proportional hazards models calculated adjusted hazard ratios for incident glaucoma.

Results: After 1:1 propensity score matching, metformin monotherapy (N=100,387) showed …

Personalized Management Of Chronic Rhinosinusitis In The Context Of Immune Deficiency, Christopher M Bell, Amber U Luong, Chadi A Makary

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Primary and secondary immunodeficiency as a cause of recalcitrant or difficult to treat chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and recurrent acute rhinosinusitis (RARS) are under-appreciated etiologies. Patients with persistent symptoms, frequent exacerbations despite appropriate medical therapy, or other sinopulmonary conditions known to be related to an immunodeficient state warrant further testing for immunodeficiency, as up to 20% of this cohort of patients may have underlying immunodeficiency. Testing for immunodeficiency includes CBC with differential, immunoglobulin levels, and pneumococcal vaccine titres before and after administration. Regarding secondary immunodeficiency, these patients may present with atypical symptoms, harbor atypical bacteria, or even present with severe complications …

Circulating Biomarkers In Subjects With Progressive Pulmonary Fibrosis: Data From The Inbuild Trial, Toby M Maher, R Gisli Jenkins, Francesco Bonella, Shervin Assassi, Claudia Diefenbach, Carina Ittrich, Klaus B Rohr, Martin Kolb

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: We investigated the prognostic potential of circulating biomarkers at baseline and the effects of nintedanib on changes in these biomarkers in subjects with progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PPF).

Methods: In the INBUILD trial, subjects with PPF received nintedanib (n=332) or placebo (n=331). Associations between biomarker levels at baseline and the rate of forced vital capacity (FVC) decline (mL·year-1) over 52 weeks, time to interstitial lung disease (ILD) progression (absolute decline in FVC % predicted ≥10%) or death over 52 weeks, time to first acute exacerbation or death over the whole trial, and time to death over the whole trial were …

Erratum: Assessment Of Skin Fibrosis In A Murine Model Of Systemic Sclerosis With Multifunctional Optical Coherence Tomography (Erratum), Harshdeep Singh Chawla, Yanping Chen, Minghua Wu, Pavel Nikitin, Jessica Gutierrez, Chandra Mohan, Manmohan Singh, Salavat R Aglyamov, Shervin Assassi, Kirill V Larin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This corrects the article "Assessment of skin fibrosis in a murine model of systemic sclerosis with multifunctional optical coherence tomography" in volume 30(3), 036007.

“Do Everything” Versus Realistic Surgical Interventions: Navigating The Road To Shared Decision-Making In Trauma Surgery, Victoria E Wagner, Ashna S Karpe, Martin L Blakely, Lillian S Kao, Thaddeus J Puzio

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

"DO EVERYTHING!!" How many times have you heard that phrase from a distressed family member? We routinely receive this desperate plea, and our knee-jerk reaction is to press on, push harder, be more aggressive. We, as acute care surgeons, have spent our lives learning a craft geared towards "doing everything" to heal patients so this response comes naturally. However, how do we respond to "do everything" when the probability of a meaningful recovery is extremely low or non-existent? These situations create moral tension for surgeons who must reconcile the desire to preserve life with the obligation to avoid harm, respect …

Exploring The Las-Vict Principle Of Cryptocurrency Exchanges: A Belief–Action–Outcome Perspective, Cheuk Hang Au, Kevin K.W. Ho, Po Hsu Shieh, Kris M.Y. Law

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose – Cryptocurrency exchanges operate in a hyper-volatile, “wild west” environment, fundamentally challenging existing theories of FinTech success that were built for stable markets. The literature lacks a framework to explain how firms thrive amidst such extreme regulatory ambiguity and institutional distrust. This study resolves this theoretical puzzle by developing a new principle for success in nascent, high-stakes digital ecosystems. Design/methodology/approach – We conduct a multiple-case study of 14 leading cryptocurrency exchanges. Using the belief–action–outcome (BAO) logic as an analytical guide, we deconstruct the strategic actions that separate successful exchanges from failures, synthesising them into a new, empirically grounded framework. …

Super-Resolution Learning Inspired Spectral-Spatial Correlation Network For Hyperspectral Target Detection, Jiaping Zhong, Yunsong Li, Jianxin Li, Yanzi Shi, Weiying Xie, Paolo Gamba

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Hyperspectral target detection (HTD) aims at extracting targets from complex backgrounds while overcoming noise interference. Existing deep learning models for HTD usually suffer from low spatial resolution and unitary representation, especially in space-borne platforms. Super-resolution, as a critical technology to enhance the spatial details, could effectively address the aforementioned issue. To make super-resolution absolutely pose positive effects on target detection, this paper proposes an end-to-end novel super-resolution learning inspired spectral-spatial correlation network for hyperspectral target detection (SR-HTD) from the perspective of spatial and spectral regularization to achieve high-precision detection. Specifically, we designed a Spatial Correlation Aggregation (SCA) module inspired by …

You Can Only Take Your Clients As Far As You’Ve Been Yourself: Examining The Intersections Between Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy, Lived-Living Experience, And Clinical Practice, Jordan J. Negrine, Stephen J. Bright, Monica J. Barratt, Matthew Pennell, Anthony Barnett, James Bennett-Levy, Timothy Piatkowski

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Following Australia’s landmark 2023 decision to approve psilocybin and MDMA for clinical use, psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) is beginning to emerge within regulated mental health settings. This study investigates psychologists’ views on the relevance of psychedelic therapists’ lived-living experience (LLE) with psychedelics. While discussion around LLE is growing, little is known about how psychologists perceive its role in clinical preparedness for PAT. Methods: Twenty Australian psychologists were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling. Semi-structured interviews explored perceptions of LLE in therapist training and practice. Data were coded and thematically analyzed to identify patterns in how experiential knowledge is valued within …

Reflecting On Themes From Telehealth Consultations Early In The Pandemic: An Opportunity To Learn From Multiprofessional Colleagues, Maggie Meeks, Laura R. Joyce, John Dean, Lorna Davies, Tika Ormond, Philippa Seaton, Dale Sheehan, Dean Sutherland, Melanie Welfare, Arindam Basu

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Aims: This study is aimed at documenting the reflections of New Zealand healthcare professionals on the use of synchronous telehealth consultations. Methods: A qualitative narrative inquiry was conducted to explore the practice of telehealth in New Zealand. Purposive sampling was used to identify clinicians from multiple professions who used telehealth during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fifteen semistructured interviews were conducted between October 2020 and May 2021 with clinicians from primary and secondary care, including multiple professional backgrounds. Interview transcripts were analysed thematically. Results: Six themes were identified: (1) equitable access: There were concerns regarding equitable access to …

Rock On Technology: Perspectives Of People With Neurological Conditions On Robot-Assisted Lower Limb And Gait Neurorehabilitation, Rachel G. Buckingham, Saran Chamberlain, Amanda Timler, Matthew K. Bagg, Nikki E. Bakhtazad, Taya Hamilton, Patricia Martinet, Bianca Haagman, Stuart I. Hodgetts, Barbara Singer, Ann Maree Vallence, Jodie Marquez, Eric Gaitho, Emma Gee, Jessica Nolan

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose: Explore perspectives of people living with neurological conditions in Western Australia (WA) on robot-assisted lower limb neurorehabilitation (RALLR), and implementation requirements. Materials and methods: This co-designed, qualitative descriptive study included people living with neurological conditions. In-person semi-structured focus groups (FGs) were facilitated by a person with lived experience of stroke. FGs were recorded, data were transcribed, and thematically analysed using a reflexive approach. Results: Five FGs included 24 participants (54.2% women, median age 50 years). Of these, thirteen participants had RALLR experience. Primary neurological conditions represented among participants comprised spinal cord injury (n = 11), stroke (n = 3), …

Determining The Carbon Footprint Of Australia’S Electricity, Gas, Water And Waste Services Sector, Soheil Kazemian, Rashid Zaman, Behzad Foroughi, Morteza Ghobakhloo

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose – This study aims to address the global challenge of quantifying sectoral carbon emissions, offering a scalable methodology applicable across diverse national contexts. As one of the world’s leading greenhouse gas emitters, Australia has a critical role in achieving the Paris Climate Change Agreement’s net-zero emissions goal by 2050. The utility services sector – electricity, gas, water and waste services – has historically been Australia’s largest source of CO2-equivalent emissions. However, this also highlights its significant potential to contribute to national emission reductions through targeted mitigation strategies. This research analyses the total carbon footprint of Australia’s utility services sector …

Optimizing Subgroup Selection In Petrochemical Industries: A Robust Data Envelopment Analysis Approach For Uncertainty Management, Sadegh Niroomand, Hilda Saleh, Morteza Shafiee, Dragan Pamucar, Ali Mahmoodirad

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This study addresses the critical challenge faced by organizations in selecting an optimal subgroup of decision-making units (DMUs). Such a selection procedure can significantly influence efficiency, profitability, and strategic development. Recognizing the limitations of existing methods in handling inexact data and incorporating managerial preferences, this study proposes a novel framework that integrates data envelopment analysis (DEA) with binary linear programming models. The model applies belief-degree–based representations of uncertainty to capture imprecise inputs and outputs. For this model, two solution approaches—namely, chance-constrained programming and expected value approaches—were developed. These approaches are suitable for real-world applications using standard optimization software. The effectiveness …

The Basis For Recommending The Selection Of Samplers In Determining Occupational Exposures To Aerosols, Martin Harper, Pieter Bertier, Marcus Cattani, Karen Galea, Darrah Sleeth, Steven Verpaele

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Measurements are considered to be the basis of exposure assessments used to determine risks to workers. Inhalation exposure poses the greatest risk for most airborne chemicals, and measurements are based on collecting (sampling) and analyzing air samples. Samplers have been developed for more than 120 years. Each new design has been intended to address flaws perceived in earlier designs. Users are faced with a varied array of samplers from which to choose. Comparisons are difficult to make because tests of sampler performance were not standardized until recently and have not been applied consistently. The existing large body of work does …

Multi-Scale Sensor-Aware Variational Autoencoders For Adaptive Iot Security: Integrating Drift Calibration And Cyberattack Detection, Md Kamal Hossain, Iftekhar Ahmad, Daryoush Habibi

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Existing approaches to Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) anomaly detection treat sensor drift calibration and cyberattack detection as separate problems, overlooking their strong interdependence and the compound failure modes that arise when drift dynamics are exploited by stealthy adversaries. Industrial Internet of IoT sensor networks therefore require a unified framework that jointly models both phenomena. This paper proposes the first unified multi-scale sensor-aware variational autoencoder (MS-VAE) framework that jointly models sensor drift and malicious activity within shared latent representations, enabling integrated calibration and security monitoring. The framework introduces three key components: (i) a multi-scale latent architecture that captures short-term anomalies …

Pharmacist-Led Educational Intervention To Improve Knowledge, Medication Adherence, And Asthma Control Among Asthma Patients At Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital: A Protocol For Randomized Controlled Trial, Mekuriaw Dereje Tekele, Goitom Belay Kassa, Yainu Welegerima Welekidane, Derbew Fikadu Berhe, Abadi Kahsu Gebre, Afewerki Gebremeskel Tsadik

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a pharmacist-led educational intervention on medication knowledge, adherence, and asthma control among adult asthma patients at Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia.

Methods: A single-blind, parallel-group randomized controlled trial will be conducted. All eligible adult asthma patients on active follow-up at the chest clinic of Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital will be included. Participants will be randomly assigned via a computer-generated sequence to an intervention group (structured pharmacist-led education using teach-back, illustrated pamphlets, a follow-up phone call and SMS) or a control group (routine care). Outcome assessors will be blinded to group allocation. Outcomes will be …

Rrto: A High-Performance Transparent Offloading System For Model Inference In Mobile Edge Computing, Zekai Sun, Xiuxian Guan, Zheng Lin, Yuhao Qing, Haoze Song, Zihan Fang, Zhe Chen, Fangming Liu, Heming Cui, Wei Ni, Jun Luo

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Deploying Machine Learning (ML) applications on resource-constrained mobile devices remains challenging due to limited computational resources and poor platform compatibility. While Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) offers an offloading-based inference paradigm using GPU servers, existing approaches can be divided into non-transparent and transparent methods, with the former necessitating source-code modifications. Non-transparent offloading achieves high performance but requires intrusive code changes, limiting compatibility with diverse applications. Transparent offloading, in contrast, offers wide compatibility but introduces two challenges: performance degradation under MEC's low and fluctuating bandwidth, where per-operator remote procedure calls (RPCs) inflate end-to-end latency and energy consumption; and black-box logic reconstruction, which …

State Responsibility For Violations Of International Humanitarian Law And Human Rights Law By Private Security Companies In Africa: The Case Of The Wagner Group And Africa Corps, Shannon Joy Bosch, Matthew Kimble

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The outsourcing of traditionally military functions in Africa to private military companies (PMCs) such as the Wagner Group and the Africa Corps has been accompanied by violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. According to the International Law Commission's Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, state responsibility for these violations can be imputed to the states that employ PMCs to function as their agents, to exercise government authority or to act in the vacuum left by official authorities. States that do not intervene to prevent these abuses fail their obligations of due diligence through …

Culture, Community, And Development: Unpacking The ‘Socio-Cultural Milieu Dynamics’ Of Solomon Islands And Their Influence On Australia's Aid Localisation, Mark Opoku Amankwa, Gladys Nangira Murruka, Kwadwo Adusei-Asante, Vicki Frances Banham, Clement Amponsah, Emmanuel Enyinful

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Using public ethnography anchored in the post-development theory and interpretivist epistemological paradigm, this study examines what we term the ‘socio-cultural milieus dynamics’ (SCMD) of the Solomon Islands (SI) and how these shape meaning, discourse, and practice in ways that influence Australia's aid localisation efforts and aid outcomes. The findings indicate that local communities are deeply entrenched in complex SCMD with heterogeneous networks of decision-makers within the ecosystem. These SCMD, we argue, are evident in the structural and contested roles associated with the gendered composition of local committees, the power asymmetries between dominant local elites and subalternised groups, and the relationalities …

Antecedents Of Employee Service Innovation Behaviour Through The Resource-Based View, Ataul Karim Patwary, Md Sazzad Hossain, S. Mostafa Rasoolimanesh, T. Ramayah

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This study applies the Resource-Based View (RBV) to explore how strategic, tactical, and internal green marketing orientations foster employee service innovation behaviour in the hospitality sector. It examines green trust and responsibility feelings as key internal resources and investigates their mediating roles. Using PLS-SEM analysis on 778 responses from Malaysian hotel employees, the findings indicate that internal green marketing orientation significantly enhances green trust and responsibility feelings, which, in turn, positively influence employee service innovation behaviour. By integrating psychological constructs into RBV, this research offers new insights into the role of green marketing in driving organizational sustainability. However, the study …

Addressing Professional Tensions Through Intellectual Candour And Stewardship, Thoughtful Dialoguing As A Duoethnographic Collaborative Exploration, Sarah Barradell, Narelle Lemon

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Using duoethnography, we explore our experiences of physiotherapy practice and education and argue that the profession’s desire for credibility is at the expense of vulnerability, risk and intellectual candour–of imagining the profession and education of its graduates differently. We identified key themes around: alignment/misalignment, reflection/reflexivity and professional scope. This methodology models risk and questioning through the juxtaposition of different perspectives. Through our contrasting narratives, we remain open to new forms of learning, modelling what intellectual candour demands from us: facing the problems of the past so that we might learn from our history and change our future. This can be …