Digital Commons Network^™

Northern Rainstorm Belt And Response Strategies, Jianping Huang, Xiaodan Guan, Xiaohuang Liu, Xiaohan Shen, Xiaojie Liu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

In the summer of 2025, the Northern Rainstorm Belt stretching from eastern Northwest China to the Northeast region exhibited a significant increase in summer precipitation and rainfall frequency over northern China. Cities in the north were frequently struck by extreme rainstorms, resulting in prominent disasters such as “floods in drylands and urban waterlogging”. Northern China spans a vast territory, serving not only as a major grain-producing area and a densely populated region but also as an ecological security barrier that connects the farming-pastoral ecotone and the Loess Plateau. Its stability has nationwide implications. Therefore, comprehensively enhancing flood control capacity, strengthening …

Perverse Tax Incentives And The Destruction Of Creative Works, Luke Maher

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Physiobridge: Physiology-Constrained Self-Supervised Foundation Model For Cross-Device Ecg–Ppg Learning With Conformal Risk Control, Abbas Alzubaidi, Ali Al-Shuwaili, Ali Al-Bayaty

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Wearable and bedside sensors continuously generate electrocardiograms (ECG), photoplethysmograms (PPG), and related physiological waveforms that could enable earlier detection of deterioration and more personalized care. However, current deep learning pipelines in biomedical signal processing often remain taskand device-specific, degrade under domain shift (new hospitals, sensors, skin tones, motion), and provide limited uncertainty information for safety-critical decisions. We propose PhysioBridge, a foundation-model approach that learns a shared representation space for ECG and PPG via self-supervised pretraining and explicit physiology constraints, then supports downstream adaptation with distribution-free risk control. PhysioBridge introduces (i) multi-rate patch tokenization that preserves clinically meaningful morphology across heterogeneous …

Improving The Circuit Realization Of Grover’S Quantum Search Algorithm By Replacing Hadamard With √ × Gates, Ali Al-Bayaty, Ali Al-Shuwaili, Abbas Alzubaidi, Marek Perkowski

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Jozsa, Bernstein-Vazirani, and Grover, utilize Hadamard gates to create uniform superposition states for the input qubits of an oracle. However, Hadamard gates are non-native (non-supported) gates in all real quantum computers. For this reason, Hadamard gates are considered cost-expensive gates when realizing (transpiling) such algorithms into a real quantum computer. This paper introduces a new methodology for cost-effective transpilation of Grover’s algorithm into real quantum computers, by replacing all Hadamard gates with √ X gates. In quantum computing, the Hadamard and √ X gates create uniform superposition states of a qubit on the Xaxis and Y-axis of the Bloch sphere, …

Burnout And Secondary Traumatic Stress Experiences In Mental Health Professionals Working With Military Veterans, Megan Carter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Burnout among mental health professionals has been a long-standing phenomenon when working with trauma individuals resulting in increased job turnover rates and decreased quality of care for patients. The job demands- resourced model and constructivist self- development theory were used to guide this study. The purpose of this research study was to explore how mental health professionals working with the military veteran population experience burnout and secondary traumatic stress. A descriptive qualitative design was used with purposive and snowball sampling to attain 10 mental health professionals from various facilities serving military veterans. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and were …

An Educational Intervention To Increase Nurses’ Knowledge And Confidence Of Patient Mobility, Debbie Ann Pytak

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Immobility is a significant concern given that nearly half of all hospitalized adults are immobile during their hospitalization, placing them at increased risk for adverse outcomes. As a result, it is critical for nurses to implement strategies that promote safe, structured patient mobility. Thus, the purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project was to determine if an educational intervention focused on patient mobility and standardized mobility tool utilization increased knowledge and confidence among nursing staff in an acute care setting. Ten participants volunteered to attend the educational intervention. The average age of the participants was 44.30 years (SD …

Southeastern United States African American Business Leaders’ Effective Business Profitability Strategies, Maurice Chamblin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American business leaders in the United States experience persistent operational constraints that affect business sustainability and long-term profitability. These leaders face recurring challenges in accessing capital, securing managerial support, and effectively utilizing resources, which may hinder their ability to remain viable and competitive. Grounded in resource-based view theory, this qualitative pragmatic inquiry project aimed to identify and explore the practical strategies used by African American business leaders in the Southeastern United States to increase their business profitability over more than 5 years. The participants were six African American business leaders from the Southeastern United States who had grown their …

Traditionally Certified, Second-Career Teachers’ Perceptions Of Intent To Stay In The Classroom, Tara L. Wells

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem that was addressed through this study was the high teacher turnover, including traditionally certified, second-career teachers (TCSCTs), in United States classrooms, despite support and additional resources provided. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine TCSCTs’ perceptions on the reasons and their recommendations to remain in the classroom. Ingersoll's teacher turnover and retention framework was used to conceptually frame this study. Using a basic qualitative design, semistructured interviews were conducted with 12 TCSCTs. Data were analyzed through thematic analysis. The following themes emerged: TCSCTs remain in the profession primarily due to a sense of purpose in their …

The Missing Link Between Occupational Therapy And Hemodialysis: Program Development And Implementing Intradialytic Ot In A Rural Hospital Setting, Madison Maki

Capstone Projects

Occupational therapy (OT) has demonstrated effectiveness in supporting individuals undergoing hemodialysis, a life‑altering yet lifesaving treatment for end‑stage renal disease (ESRD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Despite this, hospitalized patients who require dialysis often receive reduced rehabilitation services due to the time‑intensive nature of dialysis and the productivity demands placed on therapists. Additionally, gaps in therapist knowledge regarding the unique functional deficits and educational needs of this population further limit service delivery.

This doctoral capstone project (DCE), conducted at Upper Peninsula Health System (UPHS), a hospital in rural Northern Michigan, addressed these barriers through the development of a comprehensive resource …

Development Of 6-Week Tier 2 Intervention Tracks Within An Elementary Mtss Framework, Maxwell Lyle

Capstone Projects

The Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is designed to provide levels of support with differing intensity that align with student needs. Tier 1 is universal instruction provided to all students in the classroom. Students who do not demonstrate adequate progress may receive Tier 2 interventions, which are primarily small-group and, when appropriate, individual interventions that are skill-specific, time-bound (6–8 weeks), and include progress monitoring. Students who do not respond to Tier 2 may require Tier 3 supports, which are intensive, individualized interventions. Many school systems lack consistent, structured Tier 2 supports, particularly in Occupational Therapy-related skills, such as fine motor …

Addressing Barriers To Occupational Therapy Access For Foster Youth Through Advocacy And Education, Josephine Sanders

Capstone Projects

Occupational therapy (OT) is well positioned to support regulation, sensory processing, and participation in daily activities, yet its role in trauma-informed care is often underrecognized. Foster youth experience disproportionately high rates of trauma exposure, which can affect emotional regulation, behavior, relationships, and participation in meaningful occupations. Despite these needs, barriers within healthcare systems and limited awareness of OT’s role often prevent foster youth from accessing services.

This doctoral capstone experience focused on increasing access to OT for foster youth through advocacy, education, and advanced clinical learning and practice. The experience took place at CAYA Therapies in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where …

Culturally Responsive Trauma-Informed Care: A Crosspollination Through Content Analysis, Ryan Andrew Partika

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to investigate additional ways trauma-informed care can have more of a whole child approach, especially for the most vulnerable students. This research, with an eye on the most vulnerable, addressed the following a guiding question: what would a traumainformed system of care look like with a social justice dimension? To gain a better understanding of such a possibility, this research used a content analysis of the literature on trauma-informed care. From the literature, it became apparent cultural responsiveness has often been suggested as a needed addition for trauma care but has never been fully …

Gathering Places: Indigenous Resources, Economies, And Diplomacy In The Northeastern Great Plains, 1650 – 1806 Ce, Matthew D. Busch

History Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

Centuries before European arrival in the Great Plains region of North America, Indigenous exchange networks connected people within the continental interior to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the Gulf Coast. Throughout this vast Native Space, Indigenous peoples sought new resources and opportunities to create sustainable and successful lifeways by harnessing the spiritual, economic, and political power of place as they journeyed across the landscape.

The Coteau des Prairies centrally located between the Missouri, Mississippi, and Hudson's Bay watersheds within the Northeastern Great Plains represents a unique place of power. This imposing glacially modified landscape characterized by numerous lakes, fertile …

Teachers' Perceived Impact Of Teacher-Led Committees On Agency And Morale, Sherry Wibben

Dissertations

The action research study examined how participation in teacher-led committees influenced teachers’ perceptions of agency and morale within an urban Midwestern high school. Grounded in theories of shared and distributed leadership, the study addressed a problem of practice centered on limited teacher voice, fragmented communication, and inconsistent collaborative structures. A convergent mixed-methods design was employed to evaluate changes in teacher morale and professional agency following implementation of teacher-led committees.

Quantitative data were collected using Wong’s (1991) Staff Morale Questionnaire (SMQ), measuring leadership synergy, cohesive pride, and personal challenge. Surveys were administered at baseline (N = 30) and endline ( …

The George-Anne Daily, Georgia Southern University

George-Anne Media Group: Newsletters & Magazines

No abstract provided.

Video Summarization Based On The Difference In Statistical Histograms Of Fuzzy Clustering Features, Ekhlas Falih Naser

Baghdad Science Journal

The quantity of video footage produced has skyrocketed in the last several years. The enormous increase in video content creates issues with content management. Video and image processing technologies need to receive greater attention to handle the increasing number of videos on the internet and to extract reliable information from them. Video summaries offer concise and streamlined depictions of the content of a video stream. This research aimed to build a methodology for video summarization utilizing the difference in the histogram of video frames using three stages. Frames were elicited from the video, and then SIFT detectors were utilized in …

Infinitely Many Hidden Attractors In A Simple Six-Term Chaotic 2-Torus Snap System With A Line Of Equilibria, Sarbast Hussein Mikaeel, Irfan Ahmad, Rizgar H. Salih

Baghdad Science Journal

Chaotic systems with simple structures and controllable dynamics are highly desirable for practical applications, including secure communications, signal processing, and nonlinear control. However, most existing systems are too complex or lack flexibility in controlling signal amplitude and polarity. In this study, a simple chaotic snap system is considered that has a line of equilibria and is composed of six algebraic terms, with a single quadratic nonlinearity. In some regions of parameter space, a chaotic attractor coexists with a line equilibrium or with a limit cycle of period-2. The basin boundary of a limit cycle and chaotic attractor is smooth. Additionally, …

Design And Application Of Collaborative Simulation System For Satellite Constellation Flight Missions, Dong Yan, Hanzhe Yang, Fangfang Jiang, Chengbao Liu, Peng Zhang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To meet the requirements of the collaborative drill for the ground operation and control system of the satellite constellation, as well as the verification and evaluation of in-orbit complex missions, the design ideas and implementation methods of the collaborative simulation system for satellite constellation flight missions were proposed. By adopting the time correction mechanism of the time-scale distributor, the time synchronization problem among the simulation nodes and the operation and control simulation system was solved. By adopting the communication technology based on improved PDXP + UDP, the problem of cross-node data interface and inter-satellite communication simulation was resolved. A …

Overall Design Method Of Low Earth Orbit Communication Satellite Based On Mbse, Jiace Shang, Rui Zhang, Ya Dai, Hua Zhu, Siqi Hu, Linqiang Ge, Chenguang Shi

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Drawing on the model-centric design philosophy of model-based systems engineering (MBSE), this study constructs a model architecture suitable for the design and analysis of low Earth orbit communication satellites. This architecture adopts a multi-dimensional matrix approach. Vertically, it traverses the mission layer, system layer, satellite general design layer, and subsystem layer, achieving top-down hierarchical decoupling. Horizontally, it establishes a comprehensive view mapping mechanism covering the domains of requirements, functions, structure, and performance. Integrating the characteristics of product development, a modeling process covering the entire lifecycle—from mission demonstration and overall design to subsystem design and integration verification—has been established. The …

The Prospector, April 20, 2026, Utep Student Publications

The Prospector

No abstract provided.

Lanthorn, Vol. 60, No. 15, April 20, 2026, Grand Valley State University

Volume 60, August 4, 2025 – April 20, 2026

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Enhancing Provider Self-Efficacy And Documentation In Hypertension Management, Stephanie Nsiah

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Primary care providers often experience inconsistent confidence and incomplete documentation when managing hypertension, contributing to suboptimal blood pressure control. This quality improvement project addressed the need for structured provider education at an outpatient family clinic. The purpose was to evaluate the impact of a structured educational intervention on provider self-efficacy and documentation completeness. Using a quasi-experimental pre-post design guided by the Plan-Do-Study-Act model and Lewin's Change Theory, a 60-minute educational session was delivered to 12 licensed providers. Participants completed pre- and post-intervention self-efficacy surveys using the Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM) and Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM) and Feasibility of Intervention …

Edgecube -- An Iot Edge-Sensor Node For Tiny Machine Learning Applications, Nathan Gerard Timmins

Master's Theses (2009 -)

This thesis presents a novel internet-of-things (IoT) edge device, EdgeCube, a compact embedded system that combines a microcontroller unit (MCU) and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The proposed platform explores a trade-off between the performance gains achievable through FPGA-based acceleration and the associated increases in cost and power consumption. The primary contributions of this thesis include (1) the design of a compact hybrid MCU–FPGA edge architecture intended for vision workloads, (2) a streaming MCU-to-FPGA data path using SPI for frame transfer, and (3) an end-to-end hardware prototype and evaluation on an embedded inference task. Designed for IoT vision applications, EdgeCube …

Building Resilient Cities: Strategies For Sustainable Urban Development In Response To Climate Change In Uae, Thekra Hattawi

Theses

This thesis discusses the way cities may grow and adopt resilient urban measures to incorporate sustainability, technological advancements, governance systems, and financial systems in order to reduce the effects of climatic changes. Cities across the globe are being threatened by the effects of climate change due to the growing number of threats to humans, which include global temperatures increasing, marine level rising, droughts due to water shortages, and extreme weather patterns. This thesis will discuss ways in which the city centers of cities particularly in the UAE can strategize and embrace a holistic resiliency planning to address these multidimensional problems. …

Ramifications Of Not Digitalising Registries And Records Centres In Civil Service In Zambia, Glenda Ntalasha, Tuesday Bwalya, Chrispin Hamooya, Sututu Imasiku, Kadeyo Mutale Kuyela, Dalitso Mvula, Matilda Mercy Muchinga

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Digitalisation of records management among other things, improves access to records and results in efficiency and effectiveness in the functions of an organisation. Because of the potential benefits of digitalisation, several governments globally have automated registries and records centres. However, governments in the Global South, Zambia inclusive have not digitalised the records sub sector. This study investigated the consequences of not digitalising registries and records centres in public service in Zambia. A survey research design was used combining both quantitative and qualitative research techniques. Data was collected from a sample 118 respondents and key informants. Qualitative data was collected through …

Chemotherapy-Induced Activation Of Caspase-1 And Il-1Α Release By Cancer Cells Remotely Skews Myelopoiesis To Drive Pro Tumorigenic Systemic Neutrophil-Dominant Inflammation, Stephen Qr Wong, Kazukuni Hayashi, Ethan J Subel, Yung Hsing Huang, Hongbo Gao, Haley E Garcia, Sophie J Porter, Mustafa Karabicici, Xen Ping Hoi, Mark D Alonzo, Armine Kasabyan, Efrosini Tsouko, Crystal S Shin, Lisa Bouchier-Hayes, Dimitrios Korentzelos, Chen Chen, Michael Brooks, Zheng Yin, Renil S Titus, Lan Zhou, Yinan Gong, Yulin Li, Stephen Tc Wong, Ziad El-Zaatari, Dharam Kaushik, Raj Satkunasivam, Fotis Nikolos, Keith S Chan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

While chemotherapy-induced tumor cell death is known to modulate the local immune landscape, its systemic impact on distant bone marrow—a site essential for immune cell maturation—remains underexplored. Here, we show that gemcitabine chemotherapy induces inflammatory caspase-1-dependent pyroptosis in epithelial cancer cells (epiCaspase-1). Despite its inflammatory nature, epiCaspase-1-mediated cell death is non-immunogenic. Clinically, elevated expression of an epiCaspase-1 gene signature correlates with worse patient outcomes. Mechanistically, epiCaspase-1 triggers the noncanonical release of IL-1α through NINJ1 lytic pores, remotely skewing bone marrow hematopoiesis towards granulocyte-monocyte progenitors and mature neutrophil output. This systemic reprogramming elevates the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in both peripheral blood …

Trends In The National Resident Matching Program: Shifting Applicant Priorities In The Setting Of Application Limits And Pass/Fail Step 1 Grading, Joshua Morrow, Siena Blackwell, Zibi Gugala, Atul Maheshwari, Peter Boedeker

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Purpose: This study evaluated differences in expected and observed proportions of activities, average Step 2 scores, and abstracts, publications, and presentations since the adoption of a 10-experience maximum for residency applications and pass/fail Step 1 grading.

Method: The authors queried National Resident Matching Program data for MD senior applicants from 2016 to 2024 across 22 specialties. Data included average Step 2 scores; research, work, and volunteer experiences; and number of research products for matched and unmatched students by specialty. Repeated-measures multilevel models were used to estimate the difference in observed outcome in 2024 and expected outcome based on trends from …

Analyzer-Less X-Ray Interferometry With Super-Resolution Methods, Murtuza S. Taqi

LSU Master's Theses

X-ray interferometry provides valuable information on attenuation, small-angle scattering, and differential phase contrast. This multi-modal contrast can aid in many clinical applications, such as lung diseases and breast cancer. However, standard inter- ferometry has an analyzer grating that can increase the dose requirement to maintain the same image quality as a standard X-ray. We propose the use of super-resolution methods for X-ray grating interferometry without an analyzer, with detectors that fail to meet the Nyquist sampling rate needed for traditional image recovery algorithms. Detector phase- steps are used to nominally recover the sampling and iteratively recover the visibility and the …

Generative And Large Language Models For Library Knowledge Graphs, Partha Sarathi Mandal, Sukumar Mandal Dr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Structured Abstract

Purpose - Knowledge graphs play a key role in modern library and information services for information discovery, advanced search, and explainable recommendation systems. Recent progress in generative and large language models (LLMs) is changing. The present paper presents a clear and concise overview of how these models support knowledge graph construction in library and information science.

Design/methodology/approach –This study shows a conceptual and analytical approach. It considers the latest trends in generative models and LLMs as applied to the construction of knowledge graphs. Their application in entity extraction, relation identification, schema mapping, and triple generation on unstructured text …

Book Review: Hopeful Visions, Practical Actions: Cultural Humility In Library Work Edited By Sarah R. Kostelecky, Lori Townsend, And David A. Hurley, Gina Mik

School of Information Student Research Journal

No abstract provided.