Digital Commons Network^™

Ai-Enabled Innovations In Automated Essay Scoring And Feedback Systems, Michael J. Murff

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the evolution and educational implementation of Automated Essay Scoring (AES) systems, with particular focus on generative artificial intelligence integration in educational assessment. Through a two-article format, this research addresses the persistent gap between technical capability and educational adoption that has characterized AES development over seven decades. The first article presents a comprehensive methodological review analyzing 122 studies spanning AES evolution from foundational computational linguistics through contemporary hybrid systems. Despite achieving strong correlations with human scoring, modern AES systems face resistance due to validity concerns and misalignment with pedagogical values, revealing an "adoption paradox" where technical sophistication often …

Educating Health Care Workers To Reduce Stigma And Create A Supportive Environment For Individuals With Substance Use Disorder, Rosette Nakiyemba Wakanabo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This doctoral project was a staff education project aimed at addressing a critical practice problem within nursing related to stigma faced by individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) in health care settings. The practice-focused question guiding the project addressed whether structured education and skill building could reduce stigma among health care workers toward patients with SUD. The purpose of this project was to enhance health care workers’ understanding of stigma and to equip them with practical tools and strategies to foster inclusive, empathetic, and effective care environments. The training was delivered in a workshop format that combined evidence-based strategies with …

Evidence-Based Intervention Proposal For Reducing Intimate Partner Violence Against Jamaican Women, Kimisha K. Campbell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Domestic violence (DV) is a significant public health concern that negatively impacts women’s health, yet gaps in trauma-informed screening and referral processes persist within nursing practice. In Jamaica, DV remains underreported, highlighting the need for enhanced provider competency in identifying and supporting survivors. The doctoral project was used to examine how implementing the trauma-informed care (TIC) model and the Identification and Referral to Improve Safety (IRIS) program could improve healthcare staff’s ability to recognize, assess, and support DV survivors. Guided by the TIC framework and the IRIS program, a mixed-methods approach was used, incorporating pre- and posttraining assessments, staff surveys, …

A Closer Look At Parental Narratives: A Qualitative Analysis Of Parental Entries In Neonatal Research Diaries Of Preterm Infants Participating In The Report-Bpd Feasibility Study, Wisam Muhsen, Ana Guillot Lozano, Jos M. Latour

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Highlights: What are the main findings? Parental diary entries captured meaningful real-time observations of preterm infants’ health during the first 10 days of life in the NICU. These entries showed emotional depth and parental vigilance but lacked the clinical specificity to support prediction of BPD. What is the implication of the main finding? Parental observations, while insightful, do not appear to complement echocardiographic data in predicting early BPD development. Neonatal diaries may still hold value as a communication tool to enhance family-centred care and parent–staff collaboration in the NICU. Background/Objectives: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a chronic lung disease affecting preterm …

Video-Based Intervention To Reduce Treatment And Outcome Disparities In Adults Living With Stroke Or Transient Ischemic Attack (Virtual): Protocol For A Randomized Controlled Trial, Munachi Okpala, Chigozirim Izeogu, Mengxi Wang, Charles Green, Gabretta Cooksey, Thuy Nguyen, Sarah Cohen, Latonya Bryant, Daphne C Hernandez, Elmer V Bernstam, Michael Gonzales, Rhonda Conyers, Olasimbo Chiadika, Kristin Varacalli, Sean I Savitz, Jose-Miguel Yamal, Anjail Z Sharrief

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Racial and ethnic disparities in post-stroke blood pressure (BP) control persist, and effective interventions to address post-stroke care inequities are needed. We designed a randomized comparative effectiveness trial to evaluate the Video-based Intervention to Reduce Treatment and Outcome Disparities in Adults Living with Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack (VIRTUAL) model of care for post-stroke BP reduction.

Methods: The study will enroll 534 stroke survivors in a randomized trial to receive either the VIRTUAL intervention or enhanced standard care. Individuals with ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, or transient ischemic attack (TIA) are enrolled before hospital discharge and randomized (1:1) to VIRTUAL …

Extracellular Vesicles For Clinical Diagnostics: From Bulk Measurements To Single-Vesicle Analysis, Hai Linh Tran, Wenshu Zheng, David A Issadore, Hyungsoon Im, Yoon-Kyoung Cho, Yuanqing Zhang, Dingbin Liu, Yang Liu, Bo Li, Fei Liu, David Tai Wai Wong, Jiashu Sun, Kun Qian, Mei He, Meihua Wan, Yong Zeng, Ke Cheng, Tony Jun Huang, Daniel T Chiu, Luke P Lee, Lei Zheng, Andrew K Godwin, Raghu Kalluri, Steven A Soper, Tony Y Hu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a crucial role in intercellular communication, signaling pathways, and disease pathogenesis by transporting biomolecules such as DNA, RNA, proteins, and lipids derived from their cells of origin, and they have demonstrated substantial potential in clinical applications. Their clinical significance underscores the need for sensitive methods to fully harness their diagnostic potential. In this comprehensive review, we explore EV heterogeneity related to biogenesis, structure, content, origin, sample type, and function roles; the use of EVs as disease biomarkers; and the evolving landscape of EV measurement for clinical diagnostics, highlighting the progression from bulk measurement to single vesicle …

2025-08-12 Minutes, Morehead State University. Staff Congress.

Staff Congress Records

Staff Congress meeting minutes from August 12, 2025.

Computational And Mathematical Modeling Of Microbial Community And Host Responses To Microbiota-Directed Complementary Foods Administered To Children With Acute Malnutrition., Steven J. Hartman

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Globally, millions of children suffer from undernutrition, with stunting affecting 150 million and wasting nearly 50 million under five years old. Current interventions have shown limited effectiveness in mitigating long-term consequences such as stunted growth, cognitive deficits, and immune dysfunction. Through this body of work, I investigated the efficacy of a microbiota- directed complementary food (MDCF-2) as a next generation therapeutic food to combat childhood stunting. Across two randomized controlled trials involving Bangladeshi children with either moderate acute malnutrition or post-severe acute malnutrition, MDCF-2 significantly outperformed standard ready-to-use supplementary foods (RUSF), leading to significantly improved ponderal and sustained linear growth …

First-Year Writing Student Perceptions Of Graduate Student Instructor Authority, Lacey Madison Hamilton

Theses and Dissertations

Graduate student instructors (GSIs) are trusted to teach first-year writing (FYW) courses across U.S. campuses, yet many still wonder how their undergraduate students actually perceive their authority, especially when they're new to teaching or sharing a classroom with full-time faculty. While previous research has explored how GSIs view their own authority and how institutional structures shape their roles, we know far less about what students of these GSIs think. This study aims to fill that gap. Building on Reed and Ostenson's work in Big Comp, I conducted a mixed-methods study in Fall 2024 to hear directly from FYW students about …

Embodied Multisensory Gastronomic Experience And Sustainable Destination Appeal: A Grounded Theory Approach, Qicheng Pan, Qingchuo Zhang, Junjun Tian, Jinhua Zhang, Qian Chen

Plymouth Business School

The shift toward experience-oriented travel has positioned food as a central driver forattracting visitors to sustainable destinations, directly supporting United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)11 (resilient cities) and SDG 12 (responsible consumption).While prior research has predominantly emphasised marketing outcomes, the role of bodily experiences in shaping gastronomic tourism has received less attention. This studyexplores how sensory elements (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch) and non-sensoryelements (including cultural meaning and service quality) jointly influence food-relatedtravel experiences. Twenty-five self-identified food travellers were interviewed in a UnitedNations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) City of Gastronomy,and their narratives were analysed using a three-stage …

The Changing Style Of Change In Style: A Critical Case Study On The Aesthetics Of De-Radicalization Experiences, Bernardo Alba

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This dissertation explores how aesthetic experiences—not just belief-systems or ideologies—influence both the process of radicalization into, and de-radicalization out of, Far-right nationalist subcultures. It introduces the concept of “aesthetic conversion”: a profound transformative shift in how people experience and express themselves through artistic media and stylistic taste broadly understood (including but not limited to fashion, tattoos, music, dance, creative writing, public speaking, etc.). I argue that such transformations in aesthetic sensibility can spark profound ideological changes, including the possibility of fostering disengagement from such far-right movements. With this concept, I aim to show that aesthetic concerns, far from being incidental …

Quantified Possibility Neutrosophic Soft Set Based Decision Support System For Enhanced Accuracy In Sustainable Supplier Selection Decision Analysis, Neha Andaleeb Khalid, Muhammad Saeed

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

To deal with the concepts of vulnerability, ambiguity, and indeterminacy that are typical in complex decision analysis contexts, neutrosophic set-like structures are frequently used. Although neutrosophic sets are particularly good at handling indeterminate circumstances, indeterminacy plays a part in making the decision making process imprecise and ambiguous. This paper develops a more advanced technique to improve the accuracy of decision analysis problems: the Quantified Possibility Neutrosophic Soft Set Decision Support System (Q^t PNSSDSS). In order to reduce the element of indeterminacy present in conventional neutrosophic sets, the proposed DSS is based on the Quantified Neutrosophic Set, which employs a …

Some Properties Of Neutrosophic Cubic Hypersoft Sets, Lubna Nayab, Muhammad Gulistan, Fawad Hussain

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

This study addresses the limitations of NCS in managing uncertainties associated with multiple attributes and their further bifurcation. To address this challenge, we propose a generalization of the neutrosophic cubic soft set, introducing the concept of "neutrosophic cubic hyper soft set." Within this framework, we define internal and external neutrosophic cubic hypersoft sets, along with operations such as P-intersection, P-union, P-restricted union, P-extended intersection, P-OR operator, P-AND operator, R-intersection, R-union, R-restricted union, R-extended intersection, R-OR operator, R-AND operator, complement, and relative complement of neutrosophic cubic hyper soft sets. The study explores and presents relevant results, demonstrating the enhanced capability of …

Application Of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis For Quantifying Responsibility In Ml-Based Intrusion Detection System, Mona Mohamed, Zekra Sakr

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

With the swift growth in Internet of Things (IoT), certifying secure and trustworthy networks has turned to be a critical challenge, particularly as IoT devices are increasingly vulnerable to sophisticated cyberattacks. As a remedy, intelligent intrusion detection systems (IDS) evolved as promising solutions in recent years, but deciding on the appropriate model remains difficult because of competing performance and trustworthiness criteria. To this end, this paper explores a novel application of an ML-augmented decision-making framework to enhance security-related decision-making in IoT environments. The framework systematically evaluates and ranks ML-based IDS systems according to different evaluation criteria with distinct trade-offs, including …

Structural Basis For Membrane Microdomain Formation By A Human Stomatin Complex, Jack Stoner, Shufang Li, Ziao Fu

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Biological membranes are not just passive barriers-they actively sense and respond to mechanical forces, in part through specialized proteins embedded within them. Among these are Stomatin-family proteins, which are known to influence membrane stiffness and regulate ion channels, yet how they achieve these functions at the molecular level has remained elusive. Here, we report the 2.2 Å cryo-electron microscopy structure of the human Stomatin complex in a native membrane environment. We find that Stomatin assembles into a 16-subunit ring-shaped homo-oligomer, forming a ~12 nm-wide cage that defines a mechanically distinct, curvature-resistant membrane microdomain. While the majority of the complex exhibits …

Analysis Of User Interaction Events For Conversion Matching Across Products, Ozgur Yonter, Arun Mathew, Alistair Hughes, Zhusong Li

Defensive Publications Series

Granular user interaction data can be used to guide product development, customize products per user preferences, and other purposes that can provide user benefits. However, it is difficult to efficiently aggregate and compare user interaction data from multiple different products and across different data dimensions in a privacy-preserving manner. This disclosure describes privacy-compliant techniques that generate insights into user behavior by analyzing user journeys cross-contextually across diverse products (including interaction via different modalities and user interfaces). Per the techniques, a conversion matching service (CMS) is built that offers flexibility in defining join algorithms that can be used for attribution. User-permitted …

Equalitarian Dao V1.0 — Technical Specification & Source Code, Xavier Pillet

Defensive Publications Series

This document, produced with the assistance of ChatGPT o3 and ChatGPT 5 Thinking, is released under the Apache 2.0 licence. It is a voluntary defensive publication (prior art) and therefore enters the prior art upon release under the applicable patent statutes: EPC Art. 54(2) (European Patent Convention), French IPC Art. L 611-11 (French Intellectual Property Code), 35 U.S.C. §102(a) (United States Patent Act), Chinese Patent Law Art. 22(5) (中华人民共和国专利法), and Japanese Patent Act Art. 29(1) (特許法). This work discloses 48 enabling proposals across L1/L2 consensus and PQC (Stake & People 50/50, tree-signatures), fiscal protocols (polynomial rebase with ZK proof-of-execution), DeFi …

Minimal Orbital Workshop (Mvp) – Open-Source Strategic Report (2025), Xavier Pillet

Defensive Publications Series

This document, produced with the assistance of ChatGPT o3 and ChatGPT 5 Thinking, is released under the Apache 2.0 licence. It is a voluntary defensive publication and therefore enters the prior art upon release under the applicable patent statutes: EPC Art. 54(2) (European Patent Convention), French IPC Art. L 611-11 (French Intellectual Property Code), 35 U.S.C. §102(a) (United States Patent Act), Chinese Patent Law Art. 22(5) (中华人民共和国专利法), and Japanese Patent Act Art. 29(1) (特許法). It discloses 25 enabling technical innovations for a minimal orbital workshop in microgravity, covering manufacturing systems, processes, logistics, materials, and automation. Each innovation is enabling in …

The Effects Of Forest Bathing On Anxiety In Adults: An Integrative Review, Nancyruth Leibold

General Submissions: Non-Traditional Settings and Methods

The aim of this study is to explore the effects of forest bathing on anxiety levels in adults. An abundance of forest bathing research evidence is present in the literature. There are documented physiological and psychological benefits from walking or spending time in forest nature. Yet, there are still many unanswered questions about the health benefits of forest bathing for humans. In this study, an integrated review of forest bathing specific to the effect on anxiety levels in adults is the focus. A thorough search of six electronic databases (CINAHL, Health and Medical Collection, OVID, Pub Med, Public Health Database, …

Developing Cross-Cultural Competence And Media Literacy Through Multi-Modal Instruction And Projects, Michelle Verbitskaya, Alla Kourova, Irina Pidberejna

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

We explore the integration of Media Literacy in the 2-year Russian language STARTALK program, “How Words Shape People: Understanding Business Russian Through Proverbs.” Given the current geopolitical climate, particularly the ongoing war in Ukraine, fostering critical engagement with media has become more essential than ever. By encouraging students to interact with multimedia resources—including animated videos, podcasts, news articles, and the Russian National Corpora—the curriculum aims to enhance both language and media literacy skills. Media Literacy’s Five Key Framework is applied to guide students in analyzing media critically while producing academic projects and cultural responses. We present a curriculum that fosters …

Successful Demonstrations Of The Elroi Satellite License Plate, David M. Palmer, Rebecca M. Holmes Sandoval

Small Satellite Conference

ELROI (Extremely Low Resource Optical Identifier) is a system that attaches a small, cheap, low power, autonomous blinking light to a satellite or other space object to allow it to be unambiguously identified by ground observations using a small telescope. This can provide a resolution to the space object identification problem for future launches at minimal technical and financial costs to the satellite operator. In 2024, two satellites carrying ELROI Space Object Tracking Units were successfully launched on separate rocket launches. As reported here, in both cases ELROI provided the first definitive identification of each satellite, sooner than achieved by …

Figaro (5g Phased Array Antenna For Lunar Relay Operations) High-Altitude Balloon Flight Test, Seth Waldstein, James Downey, Bryan Schoenholz, Sarah Dever, Mick Koch, Taylor Pember, Lauryn Leslie, Casey Baron, James Nessel, Satish Sharma, Sanghamitro Das

Small Satellite Conference

NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program has outlined lunar internet (LunaNet) requirements for beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) communications between lunar surface assets. These requirements include providing a Ka-band, high-resolution video link to relay between a dynamically moving Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) and stationary lunar habitat or Human Landing System (HLS). The NASA 5G Array for Lunar Relay Operation (FIGARO) project’s aim is to demonstrate this architecture using a High-Altitude Balloon (HAB) hosting an active phased array (APA) antenna bent-pipe relay system to communicate between two ground terminals using 5G FR2 band beamforming integrated circuits. Fundamental objectives for this demonstration are successfully …

Satellite Passive Ranging Metasurface Optics For Space Rendezvous And Proximity Operations, Jeremy Harris, Zachary Coppens, Cameron Vo, Addison Long

Small Satellite Conference

Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) are pivotal in a range of space missions, including satellite servicing, debris removal, and formation flying. Traditional RPO sensor technologies, such as LiDAR, radar, and visual cameras, face limitations in terms of power and size requirements. This work introduces a novel passive ranging sensor based on metasurface optics (meta-optics), designed to reduce power and size requirements while enhancing RPO activities by utilizing a single aperture imaging and ranging sensor. The meta-optic device features subwavelength-engineered structures that encode range information using a rotational, double helix point spread function. This new sensor offers potential for reduced power …

Power Optimization Strategy For High-Power Payloads In Next-Generation Satellites, Atif Mahmood, Ayman Muhammad Abdullah

Small Satellite Conference

Flash Talk presented during the 2025 SmallSat Conference.

Scope-1: On-Orbit Surface Feature-Based Navigation And Timing Mission Overview, Paula Delfin, Lance Lui, Margaret Lambert, Dominic Nguyen, Meenakshi Kalinathabotla, Dylan Mcintyre, Maximilian Roccioli, Riley Vazquez, Yan Zhe Wong, Yulia Meza, Brandon Jones, Renato Zanetti

Small Satellite Conference

The SpaceCraft for Optical-based Position Estimation-1 (SCOPE-1) is a 3U CubeSat developed by the Texas Spacecraft Laboratory (TSL) at The University of Texas at Austin to demonstrate near real-time Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) estimation primarily using optical detections of Earth’s islands and archipelagos. The mission adapts algorithms originally developed for lunar crater-based PNT and applies them to terrestrial features for validation in low Earth orbit (LEO). SCOPE-1 features an onboard system combining Mask R-CNN-based surface-feature detection, catalog-based feature identification, and an extended Kalman filter (EKF) to estimate position and timing in near real-time. The SCOPE-1 spacecraft will be built …

Implementation Of A Standardized Protocol For Early Detection Of Coronary Artery Disease, Erika Sosa

DNP and Student Works

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of mortality worldwide, accounting for over 931,000 deaths in the United States in 2021. The growing prevalence of CVD, coupled with increased life expectancy, underscores the need for early detection and intervention to mitigate its impact on patients, families, and society. Timely identification of subclinical heart disease can significantly improve outcomes by allowing earlier implementation of preventive strategies.

This Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project implemented a primary care–based protocol for the early detection of coronary artery disease (CAD) using the Coronary Artery Calcium (CAC) score. The CAC score, a non-invasive imaging modality, …

Orpheus: A Uk-Led Space Mission To Characterize The Space Domain And Advance Future Concepts For Defense, Kit Grange, Alexander Agathanggelou, Gemma Attrill, Alex Gannon, Christine Mccullough, Graham Routledge, Andy Wells, Andrew Nicholas, Bruce Fritz, Daniel A. Lavigne, Robert Boucher

Small Satellite Conference

The ORPHEUS mission is a collaborative research mission between the UK Defence Science Technology Laboratory (Dstl), the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), and the Canadian Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) to characterise the space domain and advance future concepts for defence.

The ORPHEUS mission comprises two CubeSats flying in a lead-trail configuration in a near-polar low earth orbit and aims to launch in 2027. This is a follow-on mission to the Coordinated Ionospheric Reconstruction Cubesat Experiment (CIRCE) and Prometheus-2 CubeSat missions that were lost due to a launch failure at the start of 2023, combining and updating the payload …

Canadian Space Agency Satellite Operations For The Quantum Encryption And Science Satellite (Qeyssat) Mission, Tyler Hrynyk, Patrick Irvin, Christian Carrié, Maude Robichaud, Philippe Méhu, Éric Gloutnay, Étienne Boulais, Alexander Koujelev, Lydia Philpott, Alexey Tikhomirov, Stéphane Routhier, Hicham Safoine

Small Satellite Conference

The Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) Quantum EncrYption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat) mission launching in late 2026 will be the first demonstration of ground-to-space Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) in Canada. For this system, the receiving platform is a microsatellite in low earth orbit and the photon source is hosted in a ground based Optical Quantum Ground Station (OQGS). Together, they will enable the creation and exchange of cryptographic keys, establishing secure quantum communications at a minimum distance of 500 km. In the first year of operations, experiments will be performed to demonstrate QKD as an uplink via Weak Coherent Pulse (WCP) …

Escape, Plasma And Acceleration Dynamics Explorers (Escapade) – Enabling A Low-Cost Mars Mission, Jeffrey S. Parker, Andrew Kohler, Mitchell Rosen, Lauren De Moudt, Robert Lillis, David Curtis, Ellen Taylor, Sasha Courtade, Daniel Cosgrove, Christophe Mandy, Antoine Bichara

Small Satellite Conference

The Escape, Plasma and Acceleration Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission will provide a comprehensive picture of how solar wind energy flows through Mars’ unique hybrid magnetosphere to drive ion and sputtering escape. The mission has undergone several transformations to accommodate evolving launch constraints, highlighting its resilience and offering valuable insights for designing low-cost, adaptable Mars missions. This paper describes why and how ESCAPADE has pivoted, how the mission design accommodated the change, and what lessons have been learned. The objective is to illuminate how to design launch resiliency into a low-cost Mars mission.

Acmes: The Next-Generation Of Advanced Lwir Observations Of The Earth, Lucas Anderson, Michael Kirk, Chad Fish, Bruno Mattos, Charles Swenson, Miguel Nunes, Robert Wright

Small Satellite Conference

The Active Cooling for Multispectral Earth Sensors (ACMES) program is an advanced Long-Wave IR (LWIR) remote observation Earth Science Small Satellite mission scheduled to launch in 2026 to a high-inclination 550 km Sun synchronous (SSO) orbit. ACMES will host several novel payloads and technologies, including the Hyperspectral Thermal Imager 2.0 (HyTI 2.0), the Filter Incidence Narrowband Infrared Spectrometer (FINIS), the Planar Langmuir Impedance Diagnostic (PLAID) probe, and the Active Thermal Architecture (ATA) system. ACMES will serve a one-year primary mission focused on technology demonstration, followed by a three-year science-based mission to provide valuable LWIR observations of the Earth’s surface. The …