Digital Commons Network^™

Fostering Safe Space For Children In Online Navigation And Parent-Child Interactions, Rizu Paudel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

As children and teenagers spend increasingly more time online, digital devices have become a major source of family friction. Disagreements frequently arise over privacy boundaries, and online activities. When these conflicts are unresolved, they often lead to broken trust and secretive behavior, leaving children vulnerable to digital harms like cyberbullying, toxic content, or account hacking. Therefore, it is important to create a safe and open environment for children where in order for them to share their feelings with parents. This dissertation investigates the human and technological dynamics of parent-child interactions, developing new ways to support collaborative conflict resolution and online …

Human-Centered Electric Vehicle Adoption Framework For Smart Mobility: Modeling Perceived Range And Charging Anxiety As A Psychological Barrier, Fatemeh Nazari, Abolfazl (Kouros) Mohammadian, Thomas Stephens

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Electric vehicles (EVs) offer a transformative pathway toward reducing the environmental, economic, and health-related externalities of internal combustion engine vehicles in urban settings. Despite substantial advances in battery technology, charging infrastructure expansion, and supportive policy incentives, EV penetration remains limited which poses challenges for smart and sustainable mobility planning. A critical yet insufficiently modeled barrier to adoption lies in the psychological perceptions surrounding electric driving range and charging reliability, which is commonly framed as “range anxiety,” but more broadly reflecting perceived range and charging anxiety. To address this gap, this study introduces a latent psychological construct capturing individuals’ perceived range …

A Deep Reinforcement Learning Framework For Dynamic Order And Rack Scheduling In Robotic Mobile Fulfillment Systems, Lingjun Wang, Bayi Cheng, Zhiguang Cao, Aldy Gunawan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Robotic mobile fulfillment systems play a vital role in modern e-commerce, but their efficiencydepends on overcoming a critical challenge: coordinating orders and racks effectively under dynamicorder arrivals, diverse delivery deadlines, and resource sharing among multiple stations. This papertackles the resulting dynamic order and rack scheduling problem and proposes an intelligentscheduling framework centred on deep reinforcement learning. At its core is TriNet-PPO, whichtrains a scheduling policy using TriNet, a tripartite graph neural network encoder tailored to capturethe many-to-many relationships among orders, racks, and items. Furthermore, we introduce IPCSA,an integer programming-based cooperative scheduling algorithm that maps station-level actionpreferences to conflict-free joint decisions …

Optimal Scheduling Of Virtual Power Plants Considering Photothermal Power Stations And Hydrogen Energy Utilization, Yousong Chen, Ruofa Cheng, Yi Liu, Yi Zhang, Zhihao Zuo

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To enhance the operational stability and low-carbon performance of virtual power plants (VPPs) with high shares of renewable energy, a coordinated dispatch model integrating concentrated solar power (CSP) plants with power-to-gas (P2G) and carbon capture is developed. An optimal VPP scheduling strategy is proposed, combining a stepped carbon trading mechanism with a compensation coefficient and dynamic hydrogen blending. To address multi-source uncertainties in wind power, CSP power, and loads, an envelope boundary model is used for simulation. Information gap decision theory (IGDT) is applied to provide customized solutions for decision-makers with different risk preferences. A bi-objective optimization model is …

Fault-Tolerant Control Method For All-Type Actuator Faults Of Evtol Aircraft, Juan Wang, Guorui Li, Zhiyong Fan, Huijie Chen

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To address all-type actuator faults, especially nonlinear distortion issues, in multi-rotor eVTOL aircraft, a novel fault-tolerant control method was proposed. A fault function was established at the rotor speed level, and a fault-tolerant control algorithm combining dynamic robust nonsingular fast integral terminal sliding mode with a high-order finite-time disturbance observer was designed to achieve fault-tolerant control through rotor redundancy allocation. The nonsingular fast integral terminal sliding mode algorithm was improved, and a dynamic system containing actuator faults and their derivatives was constructed via a dynamic surface to achieve system convergence within finite time, avoiding the singularity and chattering problems …

A Method For Assessing The Contribution Degree Of An Aviation Delivery System And Identifying Key Equipment, Xiaofeng Liu, Chengze Jiang, Xingyu Chen, Deyin Jiang, Bolin Shang, Bifeng Song

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Based on the delivery efficiency and delivery quality, a general aviation delivery system effectiveness evaluation model was constructed, and a calculation method of system contribution degree based on efficiency was given. By combining the system calculation experiment and simulation experiment based on agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS), the design idea of the Monte Carlo simulation experiment for key equipment identification and equipment technology development trend analysis was sorted out, and the key equipment identification method based on ABMS and contribution evaluation was proposed. By taking the intercontinental long-range aviation delivery mission as an example, a variety of simulation experiments …

Optimization Of Node Deployment For Three-Dimensional Heterogeneous Wsn In Elongated Structural Space, Jiguang Yang, Jiuyuan Huo, Fang Cao, Cong Mu

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To achieve effective coverage of key monitoring points in an elongated structural space, a heterogeneous wireless sensor network(HWSN) deployment optimization method combining the virtual force algorithm(VFA) and multi-strategy improved whale optimization algorithm(MSIWOA), namely HVF-MSIWOA, was proposed. A dynamic adaptive weight mechanism and a t-distribution perturbation operator with heterogeneous degrees of freedom were designed, enabling the whale optimization algorithm(WOA) to balance global exploration and local exploitation and jump out of local optima; combining the topological characteristics of the elongated space and node density distribution, an adaptive virtual force distance threshold between heterogeneous nodes was constructed; the mapping relationship between network …

Three-Dimensional Gaussian Reconstruction Of Large-Scale Scenes Under Multi-View Geometry Constraints, Haohao Cui, Yanqiang Di, Qing Liu, Xianguo Meng

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To enhance the geometry reconstruction quality of the GS algorithm in large-scale scene reconstruction, an optimization method constrained by multi-view geometry reconstruction results was proposed. 2D Gaussian planes were used as geometric primitives to overcome depth anisotropy, and dense depth maps generated by DUSt3R and aligned by sparse point clouds were introduced as constraints. By designing a multi-stage optimization strategy that decouples geometry and rendering, the gradient conflict problem in multi-objective training was solved. Experiments on the MatrixCity dataset indicate that the method surpasses comparison methods in related indicators of geometry reconstruction quality and rendering quality in large-scale scenes. …

Definitions And Mathematical Models Of Op Variants, Pieter Vansteenwegen, Aldy Gunawan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We have described the basic orienteering problem (OP) in Chap. 2, as one known variant of the single vehicle routing problems with profits (VRPP). In this chapter, we introduce the best-known variants of the OP. The first one is the team orienteering problem (TOP). In the TOP multiple routes can be composed to visit a subset of customers. In the context of the game of orienteering, the TOP corresponds to several players of the same team, each collecting profits in parallel, during the same time span. Another well-known variant of the basic OP is the OP with time windows (OPTW), …

Aqqd: Annotated Quranic Qira’At Dataset, Linda Smail, Mohammed Lataifeh, Md Sohazur Islam Sozib, Arthur Diniz De Souza

All Works

AQQD (Annotated Quranic Qira'at Dataset) is an open audio dataset of Quranic recitations annotated across canonical Qira'at styles. The dataset is designed to support research in machine learning, speech and audio processing, computational linguistics, and Quranic studies. The current release contains 24,183 WAV audio files from 309 reciters and covers 70 selected Quranic Surahs segmented into representative verses and phonetic variation points. Of these, 23,111 recordings were collected from publicly available sources, including official reciter websites, the Midad repository, MP3Quran, and verified YouTube channels, while an additional controlled subset of 1,072 recordings was obtained from a single reciter recorded as …

Black Adolescents' Understanding Of Racial Trauma: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, Winifred Wilson

Dissertations

Over the past two decades, scholars have increasingly recognized that chronic stress from racism can cause racial trauma in Black individuals. However, research on the impact of racial trauma on Black adolescents remains limited. Understanding the language and experiences of Black adolescents is essential for identifying and addressing the biopsychosocial effects of racial trauma. This study used interpretive phenomenological analysis to examine how 12 Black adolescents (9 boys, 3 girls, aged 14-17) from the Midwest conceptualize, experience, and cope with racial trauma. Participants completed two interviews: an initial session exploring their understanding and experiences, and a member-checking interview (completed by …

Decidability Of The Orbit Problem Over Q(X), Joshua Holden, Alexa Renner

Mathematical Sciences Technical Reports (MSTR)

The orbit problem is the problem of whether, given x, y ∈ Qn and an n × n matrix A, there exists an i ∈ N such that Aix = y. In 1980, Kannan and Lipton proved that the orbit problem is decidable. We show that a generalization of the orbit problem, where the field is Q(X) for X a countable set of transcendentals, is also decidable. We define the orbit power problem for an arbitrary group G to be the problem of when, given x, y ∈ G, there exists an n ∈ Z such that xn = y. …

Quality Versus Qualified: Head Start Program Leaders’ Perceptions Of The Characteristics And Traits Of High-Quality Early Childhood Educators In New York State, Tracy L. Persaud

Education Doctoral

The purpose of this study was to examine how leaders in New York State Head Start programs perceive the interpersonal traits and characteristics that define a high-quality, early childhood educator working with children from ages 3 to 5 years old. While formal qualifications, such as degrees and certifications, remain as requirements for employment, leaders may rely on interpersonal and dispositional qualities to distinguish effective early childhood educators in practice. Guided by credentialism theory, this study explored how leaders define teacher quality beyond credentials and how these perceptions shape hiring, evaluation, and professional support decisions. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews …

Ultraviolet Imaging Of Sr 12 C With Hst/Wfc3: Accretion And Variability Of A Giant Planet At The End Stages Of Growth, Claire O. Finley, Brendan P. Bowler, Ya-Lin Wu, Adam L. Kraus, Yifan Zhou, Yuhiko Aoyama, William Best, Ian Czekala, Catherine C. Espaillat, Katherine B. Follette, Gregory J. Herczeg, Raquel A. Martinez, Connor E. Robinson, Quang H. Tran, K. Ward-Duong

Astronomy: Faculty Publications

Many details of the gas accretion phase during giant planet formation remain untested. We present new 0.2–0.7 μm UV-through-red optical imaging of the young, wide-orbit planetary-mass companion SR 12 c from the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument on board the Hubble Space Telescope. SR 12 c exhibits strong accretion-related continuum excess blueward of∼5000 Å and clear signs of the Balmer jump at 3646 Å. We derive a total accretion luminosity of1.65 ±0.19× 10⁻⁵L_⊙and a mass accretion rate of 8 ±2 × 10⁻¹² M_⊙yr⁻¹. Based on its mass and age,SR12 c …

Measuring Administrative Hiring Confidence Of Music Teachers In The Context Of Shallow Hiring Pools, Aaron M. Strum

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify and measure the confidence of K-12 administrators in hiring music faculty. This study also aimed to analyze administrators’ perspectives and confidence in key stages of the hiring process, including defining job expectations, posting, advertising, interviewing, and selecting highly specialized music teachers in K-12 settings. Confidence of K-12 administrators can be gauged through their understanding of how well an applicant aligns with the specific needs of the school’s program. Three research questions guided this investigation: (1a) How confident are K-12 administrators in their understanding of music teaching pedagogy when interviewing music teacher candidates …

Why They Stay: A Qualitative Study Of Experiences Of Veteran Low-Incidence Self-Contained Special Education Teachers Who Remain In The Profession, Jessie Leyden

Dissertations

Persistent shortages of special education teachers in the United States have intensified the need to understand not only why some educators leave, but why others choose to stay. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the experiences of veteran special education teachers working in low-incidence, self-contained classrooms who choose to remain in the profession. With a particular focus on the factors that contribute to their retention beyond the first three years, the study involved a sample of ten low-incidence, self-contained teachers from a variety of states across the country. Using semi-structured interviews, the study explored how these …

Black Women Science Teachers’ Contextual Knowledge Shapes Technology Integration To Support Culturally Responsive Teaching In Secondary Science Classrooms, Ashley M. Thomas

Dissertations

The number of Black and Brown high school students entering college to study science and technology majors is declining. Because they encounter shared intersectional experiences in the science and technology fields, Black women have a unique connection with their students that builds on teaching practices grounded in culturally responsive teaching (CRT). The mixed methods study was bounded to one school district that had a CRT initiative and provided training to its teachers. The study used a pre-validated survey regarding the perceptions of CRT in a technology-supported learning environment and identified the tools and practices Black female science teachers (BFSTs) use …

Effects Of Disorder On The Magnetic And Electronic Structure Of Kagome Alloy Fe2mnsn., Thayne Dean

Theses

Iron-based magnets with the Kagome lattice are a rich set of materials due to their non-trivial topology combined with high magnetic ordering temperature (Tc). Previously, we identified and synthesized Fe2MnSn as a promising material with high magnetic anisotropy characterized by a high Tc. The desirable magnetic properties of ternary alloys are controlled by atomic-level antisite disorder and are sensitive to stoichiometry as well. To illustrate the role of disorder in Fe2MnSn, we performed DFT calculations using 64-atom supercells, which enabled us to probe changes in the density of states and magnetic moments by design. Our data show that substitution of …

Teachers’, Teacher Assistants’, And Classroom Aides’ Perception, Knowledge, And Implementation Of Orton-Gillingham, Doreen Sisolak

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study examined teachers’, teacher assistants’, and classroom aides’ perceptions, knowledge, and implementation of the Orton–Gillingham approach to reading instruction. A mixed-methods design was employed, incorporating quantitative survey data (N = 37) and qualitative interview data (N = 9). Descriptive statistics indicated generally low levels of perception, knowledge, and implementation among participants. One-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) were conducted to examine differences based on instructional setting, years of experience, and level of Orton-Gillingham training. Results revealed statistically significant differences in knowledge and implementation by training level and years of experience, whereas no significant differences were found in perceptions across groups. …

Simulations Of Inverse Compton Scattering With Radiation Reaction, Elizabeth Breen-Lee

Physics Theses & Dissertations

Inverse Compton scattering (ICS) is a versatile mechanism for producing bright, tunable, and quasi-monochromatic x-ray and gamma-ray radiation through the interaction of relativistic electrons with intense laser pulses. These sources have applications spanning medicine, archaeological studies, materials science, and fundamental research, motivating continued efforts to improve both their performance and the accuracy of theoretical models used to describe them. As nextgeneration laser and accelerator facilities continue to reach increasingly intense regimes, efficient and accurate simulation techniques have become essential for the design and optimization of ICS sources. This dissertation presents the development of analytical and computational methods for modeling inverse …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Mentoring Experiences Of Black Women Faculty At Public Hbcus, Leona Quatena Mcgowan

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Despite increases in the representation of women in academia, Black women remain significantly underrepresented, accounting for approximately 4% of full-time faculty in postsecondary institutions. This lack of representation contributes to intersecting challenges, including experiences with racism, sexism, and limited access to mentorships in higher education. Previous studies have established that mentoring aids in the success and retention of faculty, but there is limited research examining how Black women faculty experience mentoring within public Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived mentoring experiences of Black women faculty employed at public …

Parameter Dependent Chen-Fliess Series And Their Nonrecursive Interconnections, Natalie T. Pham

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In control theory, a Chen-Fliess functional series is a weighted sum of iterated integrals constructed from a given set of input functions. Such series can be used to represent nonlinear input-output systems. In applications, they have been employed to characterize interconnected nonlinear systems, to solve system inversion and tracking problems, and to design predictive and adaptive controllers.

Distributed parameter systems exhibit spatial dependence along with temporal dependence. Such systems are typically represented in terms of partial differential equations. In control theory, there appears to be no existing method for representing the input-output map of a distributed system via a Chen-Fliess …

Long-Term Spatiotemporal Change In Coral Reef Fish Populations And Communities In The Philippines, John Christopher Whalen

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The Visayas Region of the Philippines is a global epicenter of marine fish biodiversity. Hypotheses attribute this peak of species richness within the Coral Triangle to processes that occur at geological time scales. However, changes in biodiversity may occur on ecological time scales, allowing for the assessment of the potential impact of anthropogenic activities. Recent declines in genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity have been observed in the tropics, including the Philippines. Within the Philippines the Visayas Region is considered the epicenter of species adversity due to anthropogenic stressors such as habitat degradation, overfishing, and harvesting individuals for the aquarium trade. …

Analyzing The Institutional Factors Associated With Sense Of Belonging Among Stem Adjuncts At Community Colleges, Karuna Taneja

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

In this study I examined the relationships among organizational support, workplace conditions, and sense of belonging among adjunct faculty teaching STEM courses in community colleges. Grounded in the need-to-belong theory (Baumeister & Leary, 1995) and Herzberg’s two-factor theory (1968), I distinguished between relational and structural dimensions of faculty experiences. Perceived organizational support was conceptualized as a relational construct reflecting faculty members’ perceptions of being valued and included within their institutions, whereas workplace conditions were examined as structural factors influencing job satisfaction.

Using a quantitative, cross-sectional correlational survey design, data were collected from adjunct STEM faculty (N = 64) teaching at …

Enhancing Stem Education With Modeling, Simulation, And Ai Technologies: From Virtual Laboratories To Intelligent Teaching Assistants, Yiyang Li

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Rapid advancements in modeling and simulation (M&S) and artificial intelligence (AI) present new opportunities to enhance various aspects of STEM education, from virtual laboratories that simulate physical lab environments in software to intelligent teaching assistants that provide on-demand, curriculum-aligned instructional support. Virtual laboratories offer a potential solution to the access and scalability challenges of laboratory courses by allowing students to conduct experiments without physical equipment or geographical constraints. AI-powered teaching assistants, particularly those grounded in course-specific materials, can help mitigate the instructional support gap that arises when students work independently in digital learning environments. This dissertation presents three-phase research into …

A Causal Inference Protocol For Root-Cause Diagnosis In Non-Stationary Industrial Time Series, Cansu Yalim

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Industrial fault diagnosis increasingly relies on data-driven methods, yet most approaches assume process stationarity and treat association-based rankings as sufficient evidence for root-cause identification. Neither assumption holds when operating phases and fault progression create distinct behavioral regimes with shifting relationships among variables, and neither answers which feasible corrective action would alter a fault trajectory. The absence of a procedure addressing non-stationarity, causal identifiability, and decision-relevant effect estimation constitutes the gap this dissertation targets. In this context, a regime is a time period in which the process operates under a relatively consistent setting, so the relationships among variables are approximately stable …

Physics-Guided Deep Learning For Predictive Modeling Of Spatiotemporal Dynamical Systems, Niharika Deshpande

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Many physical and networked systems evolve under continuously changing spatial and temporal conditions. Transportation networks respond to fluctuating demand, atmospheric fields reorganize as storms intensify, and coastal response depends on localized forcing pathways. Modeling such systems requires learning formulations that adapt to evolving structure, operate on irregular geometries, and provide interpretable measures of predictive uncertainty. This dissertation develops a physics-guided spatiotemporal learning framework designed for structured dynamical systems whose governing interactions are neither static nor Euclidean. The central premise is that spatial relationships in these systems are dynamic and geometry-dependent. To represent this behavior, system states are modeled on time-varying …

Quantitative Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy For Antiretroviral Drug Monitoring: Novel Quality Index And Distributional Approaches In Aqueous And Plasma Matrices, Marguerite Rose Butler

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) offers high sensitivity for molecular detection but is limited for quantitative applications by spatial heterogeneity in signal enhancement on dried colloidal substrates. This Dissertation addresses these limitations through the development and evaluation of novel quantitative methods applied to the antiretroviral drugs tenofovir and emtricitabine.

A quality index (Qi) metric was developed to rank individual SERS spectra within each well based on analyte peak prominence relative to local baseline. SERS spectra were acquired from evaporated silver colloid deposits on aluminum well plates using a custom raster-scanning Raman system. Calibration curves were constructed using the top-ranked spectra (Top-Qi …

Variability In Nutrient And Enterococcus Concentrations In Tidal Floodwater Across Watersheds With Different Land Uses, Alyssa Bucci

OES Theses and Dissertations

Tidal flooding is an increasingly pressing hazard in coastal Virginia due to sea level rise and land subsidence. The Hampton Roads region of Virginia has the second-highest rate of relative sea level rise in the United States and experiences frequent tidal flooding, but the water quality impacts of this flooding on the Chesapeake Bay are not being accounted for. High concentrations of dissolved nutrients and Enterococcus bacteria (a fecal indicator) have been observed in tidal floodwater of the Lafayette River, a tributary of the James River and the lower Chesapeake Bay. This study investigates variability in dissolved nutrient and Enterococcus …

Exploring Literacy Preparedness And Academic Experiences Of First-Year Community College Students, Alexandra Ranieri

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Community colleges enroll students with diverse levels of academic preparation, yet placement into college-level coursework often relies heavily on high school grade point average (GPA), which may not fully reflect students' literacy preparedness. Although research has linked literacy proficiency to academic success, little is known about how first-year community college students experience literacy preparedness during the transition to college. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the literacy preparedness of first-year community college students and explore how their reading abilities aligned with their early academic experiences. Guided by the Reading Systems Framework (Perfetti & Stafura, 2014), the …