Digital Commons Network^™

Lattice And Continuum Anomalies : Bridging The Gap, Arnab Pradhan

Dissertations - ALL

In this thesis, we explore anomalies both in the continuum and on the lattice, and attempt to establish a connection between the two frameworks. In the continuum limit, we work with Kähler-Dirac fields, while in the discrete setting, we focus on staggered fermions. To facilitate insights relevant to the growing field of quantum computing, we consider a Hamiltonian formalism in addition to the path integral. Anomalies offer a concrete bridge between ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) physics, understanding how anomalies manifest on the lattice versus in the continuum provides a powerful predictive framework. By numerically studying lattice gauge theories, we …

Designing A Data Collection And Visualization Toolkit For Scalable Tensor Algebra In Quantum Chemistry Applications, Epiya J. Ebiapia

LSU Master's Theses

Large-scale quantum chemistry computations, such as those executed with the Tensor Algebra for Many-body Methods (TAMM) framework, require careful configuration of runtime parameters to achieve high performance and cost efficiency in high-performance computing (HPC) and cloud environments. Without effective performance analysis tools, researchers risk inefficient use of computational resources, leading to longer runtimes and higher costs.

To address this challenge, this thesis presents the design and implementation of a performance profiling and visualization toolkit for TAMM, developed as part of the DOE TEC4 project in collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Microsoft, and Louisiana State University. The toolkit collects detailed …

Wbd-Yolo-Am: Yolov8 With Attention Module And Iot-Based Wild Boar Detection And Deterrence System For Safeguarding Small Millets, Aditya Joshi, Neha Pandey, Manoj Diwakar, Prabhishek Singh, Achyut Shankar, Fayez Alqahtani

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Small millets are traditional and climate-resilient food crops that can grow in adverse weather conditions. Animal intrusion, specifically from wild boars, is a main threat to the production of small millets, which reduces interest in the cultivation of small millets and affects farmers’ incomes. To address the problem of wild boar attack on agriculture land, an improved YOLOv8 is proposed, with an attention module based on WBD-YOLO-AM and that works from the collection of data, its preprocessing, attention mechanism to improve the feature maps, training then building the model, after that the models hyperparameter are tuned to boost the performance …

How To Study 30-Day Readmissions: A Framework For Risk Stratification And Methodological Rigor, Mckenna Gervais, Kayley Anderson, Jana Wardian, Jayme Dowdall

Medical Student Research Showcase

Background: The 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) catalyzed a shift toward value-based care. This introduced reimbursement penalties tied to hospital performance metrics, such as the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP) which deducts reimbursement for institutions with excessive 30-day readmission rates. Although more than 25% of hospital readmissions are considered potentially avoidable, the methods of evaluation are often inconsistent, and overlook medically complex patients and those who experience recurrent readmissions.

Objective: To identify methodologies used in current 30-day readmission studies and to propose improved methodological framework for population inclusion, demographic considerations, and statistical analysis to allow for proper risk stratification.

Methods: …

Prediction Of Drug-Induced Cardiotoxicity Using Machine Learning Analysis Of Hipsc-Cm Contractile Profiles, Anthony Allan Watt

Theses - ALL

Drug-induced cardiotoxicity remains a critical concern in pharmaceutical development as failed drug candidates result in lost time and resources that could be better spent on viable candidates. We believe that a robust in vitro model that accurately captures human cardiac physiology is an applicable model for examining drug candidates. In addition to those models, there is a need for quick and effective predictive models to analyze data obtained from the model to classify drugs based on their potential for cardiotoxicity. In this study, we conduct a functional analysis of human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) and pass the data collected …

In Defense Of Metaphysics: A Defense Of The Value And Methodological Soundness Of Metaphysics Understood As Structural Modeling, Sean Nalty

Dissertations - ALL

The aim of this dissertation is to provide a defense of the value and methodological soundness of contemporary analytic metaphysics against a variety of recent anti-metaphysical and scientistic critiques. In Chapter 1, I attempt to answer (at least provisionally) a surprisingly difficult question: what is metaphysics, anyway? I suggest seven adequacy constraints on an answer to this question, and then test five historically and contemporarily influential candidate characterizations of metaphysics against these constraints. Finding each candidate lacking, I close by proposing an ecumenical conception of metaphysics — what I call the structural modeling conception — according to which metaphysics aims …

Increasing Nursing Professional Development Specialty Certification Rates Amongst The Nursing Professional Development And Informatics Department, Nicole L. Cockerill

Group: Nebraska Methodist College

Problem: Nursing specialty certification promotes professionalism, demonstrates commitment and accountability for lifelong learning and professional development, is associated with improved knowledge and skills, and is linked to improved organizational and patient outcomes. Despite these benefits, certification rates remain low, and nurses still face barriers in obtaining certification.

Intervention: The project intervention was to offer a one-hour introductory class followed by three weekly one-hour Nurse Professional Development (NPD) certification prep courses through Microsoft Teams to the NPD and Informatics Department. The prep course followed the blueprint of the exam and focused on different topics each week.

Measures: Through pre- and post-surveys, …

Staff Education To Nursing Leadership On Implementation Requirements Of A Nurse Residency Program, Sherri Ulfig

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nurse residency programs provide new graduate nurses with a solid foundation to support their transition into practice. The DNP students completed a staff education project to educate nurse leaders on the implementation requirements of a nurse residency program at a not-for-profit hospital in the Midwest. The identified practice problem was that the organization paused its nurse residency program during the COVID-19 pandemic due to critical staffing needs, and the leaders wanted to redesign the program to meet current practice standards. The educational project question addressed whether education for site leaders would increase their knowledge of the implementation requirements of a …

Committee's Response On Lack Of Standing

Catholic Dioceses in Bankruptcy

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of Bat Species (Mammalia: Chiroptera) In Canubas Cave, Kibawe, Bukidnon, Philippines, Jurriel Mari D. Alce, Jasmine Rouida M. Abenes, Leo Gabriel Cervantes, Matthew Eli K. Llacer, Von Zhyrus P. Oche, Ian Jay P. Saldo, Jhovel Roy D. Calo

Sinaya: A Philippine Journal for Senior High School Teachers and Students

Bats, flying mammals, are essential to ecosystems, playing vital roles in pollination, seed dispersal, and insect control. Despite their ecological importance, no prior bat research exists for Canubas Cave, Kibawe, Bukidnon. This study aimed to assess the bat species at the site, documenting their morphometric data, diversity and richness indices, and conservation statuses. A purposive sampling design was implemented by setting up mist nets inside and outside the cave. A total of 13 individuals were identified, comprising three species from two families: Rousettus amplexicaudatus and Eonycteris spelaea (family Pteropodidae, fruit bats), and Miniopterus schreibersii (family Miniopteridae, bent-winged bats). Based on …

Assessing Cervical Cancer Health Literacy Among Karen Women In The Omaha Area, Grace E. Berentson, Michaela Bartels, Jennifer Liu, Monica Angeletti

Medical Student Research Showcase

Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of death among Karen women, a predominant ethnic group in Myanmar. One of the largest and fastest growing Karen populations in the United States is located in Omaha, Nebraska. The objective of our study is to evaluate cervical cancer health literacy among Karen women and explore potential knowledge gaps that could be addressed with an educational intervention in the future. A survey was given to Karen women at the Karen Student Association at the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) and members of the Karen Christian Revival Church in Omaha, NE. The survey …

A Framework For Advancing And Strengthening The Veteran Entrepreneur Ecosystem, Rosalinda V. Maury, Adam Pritchard

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is designed for funders, program leaders, and policymakers working to build stronger veteran entrepreneurship ecosystems. This paper brings together insights about veteran entrepreneurial ecosystems from Military Entrepreneurship Forum (MEF) roundtable conversations, the National Survey of Military-Affiliated Entrepreneurs (NSMAE), and other entrepreneurship research. Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution, this paper lays out a set of components that communities can use to strengthen their own ecosystems. Veteran entrepreneurship is a lens into broader questions of economic mobility, local resilience, and civic leadership. But systems matter. With veteran-serving organizations facing revenue declines and donor fatigue, coordinated entrepreneurial ecosystems are a …

Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptor 1: Implications For Precision Medicine And Rett Syndrome Therapeutics, Mackenzie Smith

Dissertations

Rett syndrome (RTT) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder caused by mutations in the gene coding for methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2). Currently, there is no cure for RTT and few effective treatment options to address the social, cognitive, motor, and respiratory symptoms that patients face. With the goal of identifying novel targets, our lab performed RNA-sequencing experiments in human autopsy samples and found decreased levels of the M1 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor. We have established that potentiation of this receptor in a Mecp2+/- mouse model of RTT rescues social, cognitive, and respiratory phenotypes, providing support for using drugs that act on …

A Systematic Review Of Participant Adherence To Writing Self-Monitoring Interventions, Alec Ryan Goldstein

Dissertations - ALL

Writing is a highly versatile tool that can be used to achieve various goals and serves as an effective means for learning (Bangert-Drowns et al., 2004; Graham, 2007). One widely adopted intervention to enhance student writing is self-graphing, which enables students to compare their current performance with previous efforts, thereby potentially increasing their motivation to improve subsequent performances (Harris et al., 1994; Hirsch et al., 2013; Sheehey et al., 2016; Wells et al., 2017). Self-graphing interventions require students to engage in self-directed self-assessments, which presents opportunities for noncompliance or errors. This necessitates the examination of participant adherence, or the likelihood …

The Impact Of Adhd On Entrepreneurship Through A Gender Lens Three Essays, Mi Hoang Tran

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation investigates how neurodiversity, specifically attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), relates to entrepreneurial behaviors and outcomes, with a specific attention to gender as a moderating factor. The first essay provides a comprehensive meta-analytic review of 44 empirical studies, synthesizing 261 effect sizes to assess the relationship between ADHD and different stages of the entrepreneurial process: attitudes, behaviors, and post-launch outcomes. Results reveal that hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms are positively associated with entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviors but unrelated to post-launch outcomes, while inattention symptoms are negatively associated with outcomes. These findings offer evidence that ADHD’s impact is phase-specific and contingent. The second essay draws …

Quantify The Impact Of Occupant Behavior On Building Retrofits To Achieve Net-Zero Target Under Future Climates, Pratik Raj Pandey

Dissertations - ALL

It is estimated that about 40% of all the electricity generated in the United States is consumed by the building sector. This scale of energy use by buildings can be understood by the fact that the U.S. alone consumes approximately 20% of all the energy produced globally, despite having only about 4.23% of the world's population. Given the threats posed by climate change, it is necessary to curtail the energy demand of this sector. Additionally, global climate change has increased the frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme climate events like heat waves, cold waves, hurricanes, floods, and droughts. Given the …

An Examination Of The Opt Out Movement In New York State, Selene M. Cammer-Bechtold

Dissertations - ALL

Public state education systems are required by federal law to assess student learning in order to receive certain federal funding for the state’s education system. Typically, the metric are standardized testing regimes. New York State is no exception and requires students in grades 3-8 to take annual English Language Arts and Mathematics exams to meet that requirement. However, New York State is a unique case, as it has the highest Opt Out rate, or noncompliance on taking the exams, in the country. While the majority of the literature on the Opt Out Movement has focused on who is more likely …

Technological Revolutions And Advertising: Historical Innovation Cycles, Ai, And The Future Of Platform Power, Christopher J. Lorusso

Dissertations - ALL

This study explores the future of advertising amidst a digital landscape increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence (AI). Leveraging Carlota Perez’s Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital framework, it examines how AI is poised to further disrupt the advertising ecosystem through the key elements of automation, user data, and inventory. Collectively, these dynamics have become key drivers of platform power, with implications for user behavior, competitive strategy, and the societal diffusion of AI technology more broadly. Employing a thematic analysis across historical and contemporary cases of advertising technology, the research identifies five themes worthy of strategic and scholarly consideration. Two primary themes—Dependency …

A Multimodal Approach To Assess A Liposomal Carrier’S Biodistribution, Stability, And Clearance, Cayla A Wood, Claire E Jones, Ananthakrishnan Soundaram Jeevarathinam, Riley Watson, Sangheon Han, Jennifer Meyer, Konstantin V Sokolov, Richard R Bouchard

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Liposomal carriers, used for site-specific drug delivery, are being investigated for diagnostic approaches by replacing the therapeutic with an imaging contrast agent, exploring potential for selective treatment planning. There remains a critical need to improve in vivo assessment of biodistribution, stability, and clearance kinetics of liposomal carriers. This pilot study presents a multimodal approach in which liposome-encapsulated J-aggregated indocyanine green (ICG) dye (Lipo-JICG) is imaged with high spatial resolution using both in vivo photoacoustic (PA) imaging, to assess the absorbance characteristics of JICG and monomeric ICG, and ex vivo cryofluorescence tomography (CFT), to measure ICG fluorescence. An in vitro assay …

Ectopic Adipose Tissue In Subsistence Populations With Minimal Coronary Disease, Large Left Atria, And Very Low Rates Of Atrial Fibrillation, Randall C. Thompson, Benjamin C. Trumble, Daniel K. Cummings, Angela D. Neunuebel, Paul L. Hooper, Samuel Wann, Adel H. Allam, Frances Neunuebel, Benjamin D. Gans, Samantha I. King, Edmond Seabright, Caleb E. Finch, Margaret Gatz, Kenneth Buetow, Michael I. Miyamoto, Guido P. Lombardi, M. Linda Sutherland, James D. Sutherland, Christopher J. Ward, Madeleine J. Lee, Ashna Mahadev, Daniel Eid Rodriguez, David E. Michalik, Chris J. Rowan, Tianyu Cao, Jonathan Stieglitz, Cameron M. Quick, Gregory S. Thomas, Jagat Narula, Damini Dey, Michael Gurven, Hillard Kaplan

ESI Publications

Background

Methods

Impact Of Retrieval Augmented Generation And Large Language Model Complexity On Undergraduate Exams Created And Taken By Ai Agents, Erick S. Tyndall, Colleen Gayheart, Alexandre Some, Joseph Genz, Torrey J. Wagner, Brent T. Langhals

Faculty Publications

The capabilities of large language models (LLMs) have advanced to the point where entire textbooks can be queried using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), enabling AI to integrate external, up-to-date information into its responses. This study evaluates the ability of two OpenAI models, GPT-3.5 Turbo and GPT-4 Turbo, to create and answer exam questions based on an undergraduate textbook. 14 exams were created with four true-false, four multiple-choice, and two short-answer questions derived from an open-source Pacific Studies textbook. Model performance was evaluated with and without access to the source material using text-similarity metrics such as ROUGE-1, cosine similarity, and word embeddings. …

Targeting Fear Of Cancer Recurrence With Internet-Based Emotional Freedom Techniques (Ieft) And Mindfulness Meditation Intervention (Immi) (Bgog-Gyn1b/Remote), Laura Tack, Lore Mertens, Marte Vandeweyer, Fien Florin, Emma Pauwels, Thaïs Baert, Tom Boterberg, Christel Fontaine, Kurt Geldhof, Caroline Lamot, Christine Langenaeken, Jeroen Mebis, Laure-Anne Teuwen, Katherine Vandenborre, Heidi Van Den Bulck, Florence Van Ryckeghem, Mohammad Najlah, Patricia Schofield, Philip R. Debruyne

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Approximately one-third of cancer survivors report a need for professional help to cope with Fear of Cancer Recurrence (FCR). In the REMOTE trial, we aim to investigate the efficacy of two internet-based mind-body techniques to address this currently unmet medical need. Cancer survivors, screened using the Cancer Worry Scale (CWS), are randomly assigned to one of the three study groups: (1) internet-based emotional freedom techniques (iEFT) (n = 113), (2) an active control condition internet-based mindfulness meditation intervention (iMMI) (n = 113), or (3) a wait-list control group (WLC) (n = 113). The interventions iEFT and iMMI are conducted remotely …

Capturing Processes Of Influence In Students' Social Interactions: Examining A Two-Part Strategy To Detect Patterns Of Reinforcement In Continuous Real-Time Observations In The Classroom, James Lamar Delaney Iii

Dissertations and Theses

Students' active engagement in learning activities is presumed to be influenced by their interactions with social partners in the classroom setting, like teachers and peers. For instance, statements of support or affirmation from teachers or peer group members are assumed to encourage positive behaviors for struggling students, while statements of disapproval are assumed to discourage and undermine active classroom behaviors. Extant research examining these processes typically tries to demonstrate significant interaction patterns or show influence over time by way of indirect behavioral measures, such as survey-based assessments. It is an open question whether these processes of influence can be directly …

Putting It Together, Bit By Bit: Partimenti For Guitarists, James Renwick

Soundboard Scholar

A review of Fenaroli's Musicali per i principianti di cembalo [Naples, 1775], edited for guitarists by Nicola Pignatiello, with translations of Fenaroli’s text by Robert Gjerdingen (Independently published, 2023), PDF available online.

Characteristics And Effectiveness Of Premarital Thalassaemia Educational Interventions Worldwide: A Scoping Review, Maisarah N. Anwar, Nik Nairan Abdullah, Dalila Roslan, Aimi N.M. Ruzlin

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Thalassaemia, a hereditary blood disorder, remains under-recognised due to limited awareness, particularly among young people. This scoping review aimed to evaluate the characteristics and effectiveness of premarital thalassaemia educational interventions globally. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, six databases were searched for English-language studies targeting adolescents and young adults. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria, and data were extracted using a standardised form adapted from the Joanna Briggs Institute, focusing on intervention characteristics, outcomes and key findings. Most studies involved school students and young adults from culturally diverse, resource-limited settings. The interventions—traditional, technology-based or culturally adapted—consistently improved knowledge (P < 0.001). However, behavioural outcomes, such as increased uptake of screening, were inconsistent. While educational strategies enhanced knowledge effectively, socio-cultural barriers limited the translation into behavioural changes. These findings support the need for future interventions to integrate behavioural change theories, leverage digital tools and address cultural sensitivities to improve their overall impact.

Threats In Adopting Financial Technologies: Unlocking The Role Of Technological Literacy, Shahbaz Tariq, Najabat Ali Dr., Muhammad Nauman Sadiq

Business Review

Financial technologies have been considered a transformative strategy in the contemporary world, paving the way for high-quality, time-convenient, and affordable financial services to individuals, businesses, and institutions. Despite the increasing security and financial risk, the perception of cyber threats remains unchanged. We conducted this study to analyze the perception of cyber threats, factors related to cybersecurity, and the behavior of customers adopting financial technologies through banking channels. To understand the behavior of individuals and business corporations, we developed a theoretical framework based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Technology Acceptance Model. A convenient sampling method was used, and …

Enhancing Research Training Curricula Through The Ethical Integration Of Ai-Powered Tools: Opportunities And Challenges For Counselor Educators, Joshua C. Watson, Chris Leeth, Kevin Wong, Justen Schroeder

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

This article reviews existing training models used to teach research courses and facilitate researcher identity development in counselor education curricula and suggests how generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) can be incorporated into these courses as an instructional aid that improves researcher efficiency. Various GenAI tools used across stages of the research process are introduced with a discussion of their ethical implications and how they can be integrated into exiting lesson plans.

Mathematics And Mental Health: An Interdisciplinary Analysis Of Ai In Counselor Education, Jennifer M. Hightower, Catrina A. May

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

Although use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in mental health care has become increasingly common, many professional counselors remain under informed about foundational components of AI. Fundamental issues associated with AI, including model bias and the Black Box Problem, must be considered as these tools become integrated into the counseling profession. This manuscript provides an interdisciplinary, theoretical analysis of AI use in counseling and counselor education grounded in foundational knowledge of AI and the American Counseling Association’s recommendations for the ethical integration of AI (Butler et al., 2023). The paper summarizes these recommendations, establishes accessible definitions of AI terms, explains the …

Artificial Intelligence In Counselor Education: Innovative Strategies For Teaching, Supervision, And Clinical Training, Shannon Shoemaker, Nikki Freeburg, Kevin Duquette

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms mental health and education, counselor educators must prepare future practitioners to engage with these technologies ethically and effectively. This article presents a systematic framework for incorporating AI into counselor education through three key approaches: AI-generated content, AI analysis, and AI interactions. The framework addresses critical considerations including ethical implementation, prompt engineering, and cultural competence while maintaining alignment with professional standards. Drawing from current literature and ethical guidelines, we provide structured guidance for implementing AI across various content delivery styles, with emphasis on preserving clinical judgment and therapeutic relationships. Comprehensive appendices include implementation guides, assessment rubrics, …

Understanding Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning: Foundational Concepts For Counselor Education, Eunae Han, Jihoon Shin

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

The purpose of this manuscript was to introduce key concepts in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to counselor educators and counseling researchers. As AI continues to play an increasingly significant role in various fields, counseling professionals need to develop a foundational understanding of AI, including ML. The first section of this manuscript outlined basic concepts in AI and ML, with study examples that utilize specific algorithms in mental health and counseling-related fields. Next, the second section explained the general process of building an ML model, illustrating it with a real-world dataset example for counseling professionals. The manuscript also …