Digital Commons Network^™

Racing To Safety: Tax Policy For Ai Safety-By-Design, Mirit Eyal-Cohen, Yonathan Arbel

SMU Law Review

The White House recently announced its vision of artificial intelligence (AI) policy: AI development is a race and America must win it. To that end, a new America’s AI Action Plan directs federal agencies and states to remove regulatory barriers to AI development and accelerate innovation. This approach leaves limited room for regulatory measures that would address the safety risks of powerful AI systems: their behavior in novel domains remains unpredictable, their decision-making opaqueness, and their alignment with human values is uncertain. While experts warn of large-scale accidents, policymakers find themselves in a bind: Regulate AI and cede ground to …

Trademark Confusion After The Algorithmic Turn, Daryl Lim

SMU Law Review

Trademark confusion doctrine rests on an implicit theory of consumer perception. Courts infer confusion through proxies such as similarity, market proximity, intent, and evidence of actual confusion, presuming that consumers encounter trademarks in stable, human-designed environments. That premise no longer holds uniformly across contemporary markets. Today, consumers increasingly encounter trademarks through algorithmic systems that rank, cluster, recommend, and generate content on their behalf.

This Article argues that trademark law’s likelihood of confusion doctrine has not yet reckoned with this transformation. In algorithmically mediated markets, confusion often arises without copying, deception, or misleading conduct by traders. Instead, it often arises from …

Privatizing College Athletics: Using An Llc To Govern College Sports, Melinda Roth

SMU Law Review

In April 2025, the University of Kentucky, a member of one of the most powerful conferences in college sports, created Champions Blue, LLC. The board of trustees approved the transfer of Kentucky’s collegiate athletics operation into this new entity. A few months later, the University of Utah similarly created a limited liability company (LLC) to house its athletics program, though Utah’s model also incorporated a private equity investor into the LLC. Other schools, including Boise State, Clemson, Michigan State, Texas Tech, and West Virginia, among others, have also recently formed LLCs or formed partnerships with a private entity to hold …

Association Between Internet Use For Health Information And Alzheimer’S Disease Diagnosis Among Older Adults With Diabetes In The United States: Examining Racial And Gender Disparities, Henry M. Zeidan

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study uses data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) Round 13, collected in 2024, to examine whether internet use for health information is associated with Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis among older adults with diabetes in the United States. Given the rising adoption of digital health, understanding who benefits from online health resources is increasingly important. The research also examines whether these associations differ across racial and gender groups, offering insight into potential disparities in digital health engagement and cognitive outcomes. Findings from this study will inform clinical practice, public health programming, and strategies to ensure equitable access …

A Unified Automated And Explainable Ai Framework For Drug Discovery, Clinical Diagnostics, And Public Health Data Prediction, Lord Coffie

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis investigates the development of automated, explainable artificial intelligence systems to improve automated scientific discovery, clinical diagnostic support, and public health decision-making. Three independent yet thematically aligned studies were conducted across cheminformatics, radiology, and population health. Study A introduces an automated and explainable machine learning pipeline for Quantitative Structure–Activity Relationship (QSAR) modeling using RDKit-derived molecular descriptors. The pipeline performs systematic preprocessing, consensus-based feature selection (mutual information, random forest importance, RFECV), and benchmarks six supervised models—Random Forest, XGBoost, Support Vector Machine, Balanced Random Forest, EasyEnsembleClassifier, and a blended meta-ensemble, achieving AUC = 0.90 and accuracy = 0.83, while ensuring interpretability …

Influence Of The Sst K-Ω Stress-Limiter Coefficient On Transonic Shock Buffet Prediction For The Oat15a Supercritical Airfoil, Melinawo Vowotor

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Transonic shock buffet predictions using the Shear Stress Transport (SST) k–ω turbulence model are known to be sensitive to the stress-limiter coefficient a₁, yet no systematic investigation of this sensitivity exists. This thesis presents a parametric study of a₁ for two-dimensional URANS simulation of shock buffet on the OAT15A supercritical airfoil at M = 0.73 and Re = 3 × 10⁶. Eleven a₁ values (0.25–0.37) are examined at α = 3.5°, and a matrix of five a₁ values across five angles of attack (3.0°–3.9°) maps the interaction with incidence. The results reveal that a₁ acts as a bifurcation parameter: a …

Pile Setup Effects On Driven Piles In Southeastern Coastal States, Peya Sharif

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The resistance of driven piles typically increases with time after installation, a phenomenon known as pile setup. This behavior is primarily associated with the dissipation of excess porewater pressure and the progressive reconsolidation of soil surrounding the pile shaft, particularly it is observed in cohesive soils. Although several empirical and analytical models have been proposed to estimate pile setup, their practical implementation in foundation design remains limited due to uncertainties associated with soil conditions, pile geometry, resistance variability, and time dependent behavior. To address some of these uncertainties, this study collected 221 pile load test data at the End of …

The Effects Of Membrane Structure And Filtration Conditions On Virus Filtration, Wenbo Xu, Xianghong Qian, Hironobu Shirataki, Daniel Strauss, Sumith R. Wickramasinghe

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Virus filtration is used for validation of virus clearance in the manufacture of monoclonal antibodies. Requirements for this size exclusion process include 10,000-fold reduction of virus particles and at least 95 % recovery of the monoclonal antibody in the permeate. The size difference between the rejected parvovirus particles, 25 nm, and monoclonal antibody, 10-12 nm, is about two. Membranes are designed with pore sizes around the average size of the parvovirus. Given the polydispersity in membrane pore size and virus particles, filter performance is dependent on membrane properties, feed and operating conditions. Compromised performance usually occurs due to product related …

De Novo Protein Binding To Zinc Oxide Through Biomineralization Pathways, Jean-Mark A. Francis

Theses and Dissertations

De novo proteins are structurally distinct from proteins found in nature and thus capable of having their amino acid sequence modified to accomplish tasks such as increasing protein-nanoparticle binding without unfolding or decomposing. Zinc Oxide nanoparticles are functionally distinct from their bulk counterparts and are widely used as semiconductors in a variety of fields such as medicine and agriculture. With demand for these nanoparticles increasing, environmentally sustainable methods of Zinc Oxide nanoparticle synthesis are being investigated as an eco-friendly alternative to currently utilized but environmentally hazardous chemical and physical techniques. This research investigates the binding characteristics between Zinc Oxide nanoparticles …

Commissioning & Daily Qa Of Converted Linac For Electron Flash, Tomaj Javidtash

Theses and Dissertations

Ultra-high dose rate (FLASH) radiotherapy has demonstrated promising normal tissue sparing in preclinical studies; however, the lack of standardized dosimetry, commissioning, and quality assurance (QA) methodologies remains a major barrier to its reproducible and safe implementation. In particular, conventional clinical commissioning and QA protocols are not directly applicable at FLASH dose rates due to challenges associated with detector response, dose-per-pulse effects, and beam control limitations.

This thesis presents the commissioning of a converted Varian 21EX linear accelerator for electron FLASH operation within the Division of Medical Physics at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Department of Radiation Oncology. Comprehensive beam characterization …

Follow The Cyclists: Everyday Navigation Of Richmond's Bike Infrastructure, Emily E. Schreer

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the embodied experience of cycling in Richmond, emphasizing the importance of centering firsthand, lived experience in cycling research and urban planning. While traditional transportation planning can often myopically prioritize efficiency and safety metrics to evaluate infrastructure, this project argues that such approaches overlook essential experiential, sensory, and emotional dimensions of cycling that determine how infrastructure is perceived, used, and ultimately succeeds or fails.

Through an ethnographic approach combining field observation of cyclist behavior and mental mapping sessions with Richmond cyclists, this study positions people who bike in Richmond as expert knowledge holders. Participant contributions, combined with observations …

Between The Veins: Materializing Memory In The Age Of Digital Storage, Alice Mohammed Aslem

Theses and Dissertations

What happens to a childhood stored behind a password? This thesis began with a simple moment of scrolling through my son’s photographs on my phone. As the images multiplied, they began to lose clarity, turning into an overwhelming digital archive. This made me ask: What kind of memories am I preserving for him?

Having grown up between analog and digital worlds, Between the Veins explores how I navigate memory through material objects and digital archives. Using weaving, images are transferred onto screw pine and palm leaves. In this process, digital files of his childhood are translated into organic fibers of …

Munajat: Design As A Dialogue With The Divine, Shawky Abdalla

Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary design discourse remains grounded in functional, seemingly user-centered paradigms, often neglecting what lies beyond the tangible within a human experience. This research challenges such frameworks by positioning design as a dialogue with what exceeds the physical, moving toward the experiential, where meaning precedes and informs form. Drawing on Islamic philosophy, particularly the relationship between zahir and batin (outward form and inward meaning), the study repositions design as a medium for remembrance (dhikr) rather than mere utility.

Through a critique of modernist and postmodernist principles, the research proposes a series of objects that engage with memory, introspection, and transcendence in …

Contours Of Duration: Movement Authored Through Form—A Behavior Archive, Jood Senussi Elbeshti

Theses and Dissertations

Insect anatomy offers an elegant example of motion derived from structure. Inspired by insect movement, Contours of Duration employs a cam-and-follower system consisting of moving, leg-like parts, designed to engage a series of rotating cams, such that the shape of each cam’s surface activates the legs in unique ways, generating repetitive movement, and demonstrating how geometry produces distinct motion behaviors over time. Through iterative experimentation and controlled variation, trace emerges as a central methodology, whereby movement, over time, creates a distinct pattern of marks, making motion legible and reflecting how subtle changes to surface and form generate different behavioral outcomes. …

Fused Filament Fabrication Additive Manufacturing Of 17-4 Ph Stainless Steel: Process–Structure–Property Relationships In Magnetic Materials, Maanav Patel

Theses and Dissertations

Additive manufacturing (AM) enables the fabrication of complex metallic components through layer-by-layer processing directly from digital models. Among AM techniques, material extrusion–based processes such as fused filament fabrication (FFF) provide an accessible method for producing metal parts using filament feedstocks composed of metal powders and polymer binders. When applied to precipitation-hardening stainless steels such as 17-4 PH, the processing route and heat treatments can influence the resulting microstructure and functional properties. This work investigates the magnetic behavior of 17-4 PH stainless steel fabricated using FFF and evaluates how heat treatment conditions influence measured magnetic properties. Samples were produced and analyzed …

Tms Phantoms For Investigating Multimodal Neuromodulation Procedures, Wesley H. Lohr

Theses and Dissertations

Evidence suggests that combining deep brain stimulation (DBS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is potentially unsafe for certain TMS target locations, though TMS can alleviate several DBS-resistant PD symptoms such as speech impairment, freezing of gait, and dysphagia. Addressing this issue, head phantoms designed for TMS with embedded electric field (E-field) triaxial dipole probes (TDPs) are used to investigate a tunable magnetic shield that can protect implants from periphery E-fields and focalize magnetic fields. Through segmentation of MRI files, 3D printing, and injection molding of CNT-PDMS conductive composites, anatomical head phantoms are created. Anchoring TDPs to clinically relevant regions in …

Characterization Of Growth, Motility And C-Di-Gmp In Selenomonas Sputigena Atcc 35185, Margaret E J Stiker

Theses and Dissertations

Selenomonas sputigena is an obligate anaerobic, Gram-negative pathobiont that transitions from a low-abundance commensal bacteria to a structural component in dysbiotic oral biofilms associated with early childhood caries and periodontitis. Analysis of S. sputigena ATCC 35185 cultures optimized in TYGVS media revealed robust growth, characteristic crescent morphology with flagellar tuft motility, and strong monospecies biofilm formation comparable to Streptococcus mutans via crystal violet assays.

ELISA quantification demonstrated significantly elevated c-di-GMP levels in sessile biofilm fractions relative to motile planktonic cells (p=0.0009), establishing the secondary messenger’s correlation with the motile-sessile lifestyle switch. Recombinant expression and purification yielded PilZ-domain effector proteins, Selsp_1666 …

Class-Aware Early-Exit Networks For Efficient And Secure Edge Deployment, Mohammed Ayyat

Theses and Dissertations

Edge devices increasingly run high-stakes machine learning workloads under strict latency, power, memory, and communication constraints. Deep neural networks provide the accuracy needed for tasks such as network intrusion detection, health monitoring, autonomous sensing, and human activity recognition, but conventional inference executes the same computational path for every input. Early-exit neural networks reduce average inference cost by allowing confident samples to terminate before the final layer. However, existing early-exit systems are largely class-agnostic: they allocate computation according to confidence or uncertainty, without considering that different output classes may carry different operational urgency. This dissertation develops class-aware early-exit inference, a framework …

Nanomagnet Based Straintronic Devices For Unconventional Computing: Simulation And Performance Analysis, Rahnuma Rahman

Theses and Dissertations

Nanomagnetic devices are of great interest in digital hardware because of their non-volatility and dynamic ability to change magnetization but suffer from high switching error rates and temperature sensitivity. Magnetostrictive nanomagnets that utilize strain to switch between stable magnetization states encoding bit information are of interest since they are extremely energy efficient as piezoelectric layers can be used to rotate magnetization that have switching energies in the range of attojoules. Their stochasticity can also be useful in probabilistic, analog, neuromorphic, and collective computing systems, where occasional switching errors are not devastating. The dissertation extends spintronics beyond conventional computing schemes by …

Ontological Runtime Monitoring For Mission Engineering, Alexander R. Will

Theses and Dissertations

The advent of the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) concept will bring low-altitude aviation to civilians through passenger and cargo transport. However, the prospective vehicles in UAM studies are predominantly autonomous, raising questions about their efficacy and stability in densely populated urban areas. At the same time, extensive work has been performed to define a new branch of systems engineering that focuses on runtime behavior, synchronization, communication, and task allocation.This field is known as "mission engineering". Mission engineering has been deployed in military scenarios to model human-autonomy cooperation. By applying the concepts from this field to UAM, full systems-of-systems can be …

Optimizing Energy Efficiency In Educational Buildings Through Facade Material Selection, Rania Rushdy Moussa, Malak Ayman, Khloud Khalid

Architectural Engineering

Facade material selection is crucial for improving building performance and reducing environmental effect, as evidenced by the growing demand for sustainable architectural solutions, especially in educational institutions. The use of typical, non-sustainable facade materials in Egyptian educational buildings is a major cause of the country's high energy consumption, poor indoor air quality, and rising carbon emissions. This research explores the possibility of using cuttingedge facade materials to promote sustainability in Egyptian university buildings in order to close this crucial gap. The study incorporates a mixed-methods approach and begins with a qualitative theoretical review that includes a thorough literature analysis. A …

Impact Of Therapeutic Design On Patients’ Satisfaction And Wellness In Healthcare Facilities., Dalia Moati

Architectural Engineering

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the signi3icance of designing healthcare environments that extend beyond functionality. These healing hospital environments are designed to promote patient satisfaction and well-being. However, despite increased awareness of their bene3its, the global adoption of healing-centred hospital designs remains limited. While the healthcare system has long focused on treating physical ailments, there is a growing recognition that to promote overall wellness, it must shift toward a more comprehensive approach to healing, addressing not only the body but also the emotional and psychological needs of patients. This paper aims to investigate the impact …

Cryogenic Sloshing In Aircraft Fuel Tanks, Stuart Colville

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Liquid sloshing in next-generation sub-cooled liquid hydrogen aircraft fuel tanks can induce rapid ullage pressure and temperature drops, potentially causing cavitation in cryogenic pumping systems and compromising fuel delivery systems. Sloshing events may be initiated during taxiing, take-off, landing, and turbulence, with large accelerations producing highly non-linear liquid motion and wave-breaking conditions. Understanding such phenomena is essential for cryogenic hydrogen fuel tank design and certification for next generation aircraft.A systematic experimental methodology was employed to investigate both the wave kinematic and thermodynamic aspects of sloshing. Initial water–air experiments in a simplified horizontal circular tank were conducted to validate measurement techniques, …

Digitalisation In The Voluntary Sector: An Empirical Study On The Determinants Of It Acceptance, Deniz Dogu

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Digitalisation represents a major societal trend that drives economic and social trans-formation by increasingly embedding digital information and communication techno-logies (ICT) into processes, interactions, and everyday activities across all domains of life. However, the voluntary sector has yet to fully embrace ICT. The extent to which volunteers integrate digital tools depends on factors such as technical infrastructure and willingness to adopt IT. Research in this area remains limited, and findings are often difficult to transfer across different national contexts. This PhD research addresses the gap in understanding IT acceptance in volunteering, using Germany as a case study. A comprehensive literature …

Optimisation Of Application Distribution For Heterogeneous Multi-Access Edge Computing Environments, Harald Frank

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Mobile networks have evolved from pure transport networks for voice, text andimage data to multifunctional data processing platforms. This goes hand in handwith the change from manufacturer-dependent, hardware-based systems tovirtual infrastructure environments based on standard systems.This paradigm shift creates completely new possibilities for functionalities andservices which was not able with the old architecture. On the other hand, theongoing development of the mobile networks with its virtual platforms generatesnew challenges which must be analysed and solved.While the demands on the new functionalities and services are increasing, theend-user device also become more powerful. The combination of end-userdevice mobility, limited resources at the …

Towards An Evaluation Of The Business Value Of Ai: A System Dynamics Approach, Ganesh Sankaran

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

In the early 2010s, when Artificial Intelligence (AI) emerged from the latest "winter" of disillusionment, discussions about its use in decision-making tended to be dichotomous: humans or AI. More recently, consensus has shifted toward a complementary humans-and-AI perspective, recognising that augmentation, not substitution, is the more appropriate frame for AI's role in the foreseeable future. This shift foregrounds the challenge of evaluating outcomes in collaborative decision-making contexts.The thesis proposes a simulation-based framework, drawing on system dynamics, to evaluate whether complex, time-varying interactions between humans and AI agents result in collectively rational behaviour. The framework extends the observation of dynamic complexity …

Applications Of Evolutionary Algorithms In Wind Farm Layout Optimisation, Pawel Manikowski

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

The transformation from fossil fuels to renewable energy is gaining momentum. Countries worldwide are investing significant funds and resources in this shift. The motivations for this change include political, environmental, and social factors, among others. In the UK, which is surrounded by the ocean and experiences strong winds, offshore wind farms are seen as the most viable source of renewable energy. It is anticipated that by 2030, all electricity in the UK will be generated by wind turbines. Hence, the optimisation of the wind farm layouts is the desired direction of research in the UK.In Chapter 3, we discussed the …

What Kind Of Democracy Is Energy Democracy? Reconsidering Energy Democracy Through Green Democratic Theory, Eric S. Godoy

Faculty Publications - Philosophy

This study examines an energy democracy framework for guiding a just transition to renewable energy, which incorporates democratic methods and values into energy policy decision-making. But as there are a variety of models of democracy (e.g. liberal, ecological, green republican, and socialist), energy democracy is a complex normative concept, which gives rise to ambiguities and confusions. Drawing from political theory, I argue that identifying with a particular kind of democracy provides the framework with a clearer definition, richer normative grounding, and resources for addressing some limitations its critics have identified, such as the reduction of democracy to participation.

Diverse C–C Bond Formation Reactions Catalyzed By Oxidized Palladium Nanoparticles Supported On Marine Shell Waste Powder Via Additive-Free Deposition–Precipitation, Jian Hou, Garrett M. Milligan, Zhicheng Cai, Jun-Hyun Kim

Faculty Publications – Chemistry

The formation of carbon-carbon (C–C) bonds is central to modern organic synthesis. Although the use of conventional Pd-ligand complexes as homogeneous catalysts results in highly effective yields, these systems often face some limitations including high cost, difficult recyclability, and thermal stability. Here, we demonstrate the utilization of palladium (Pd)-derived metals supported on finely ground marine shell waste as a reactive and recyclable catalyst for diverse C–C bond-forming reactions. Oyster shell powder (OSP) derived from problematic biowaste, primarily composed of calcium carbonate, provides abundant anchoring sites to immobilize Pd ions via an additive-free deposition–precipitation method, followed by thermally-induced conversion into oxidized …

Supporting Teachers’ Learning About Technology Accessibility: A Content Analysis Of Asynchronous Professional Development, Mutiara Syifa, Natalie L. Shaheen

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Accessibility is imperative to providing disabled students a free and appropriate technology-mediated public K-12 education. But according to the literature, teachers often lack the requisite knowledge to ensure the technologies they use are accessible. So, we conducted a study to understand what, if any, asynchronous professional development about technology accessibility was available to teachers and other K-12 professionals. The findings indicate that of the free technology accessibility professional development materials in the sample (a) fewer than 20% are designed for teachers, (b) most provide limited information, and (c) fewer than 9% specifically address science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. …