Digital Commons Network^™

Ora (Oneball Robotic Arm), Isabella Murillo, Juan Pablo Fernandez Garza, Gabriel Kotab, Catherine Epstein

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Confined spaces are dangerous and awkward to navigate environments, often putting those who work in them at risk. To reduce effort and human exposure to these hazards, robotic systems can be used to navigate and inspect these areas to limit, or even eliminate the need for human presence in confined spaces. This project proposes an autonomous robot that can navigate confined spaces while sending data back to the user. The robot features a spherical body that is capable of a zero rotational axis, with an external, magnetically attached head. This head contains scanners or tools that the user can remotely …

In Re: Milton Thomas

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

When School Culture Excludes: Deficit Discourse, Microaggressions, And The Mental Health Of Marginalized Students – A Conceptual Framework With Implications For School Psychology Practice And Equity Policy, Modupe Mercy Oyewunmi

Publications

Deficit-laden language like ‘behavior problem,’ ‘not college material,’ ‘won’t fit in’, ‘not a cultural fit’, operates as a systemic form of implicit bias and microaggression in school settings. Despite decades of research on school belonging and well-being, school psychology has yet to integrate these exclusionary discursive practices into a coherent health-determinant model that also accounts for the current anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policy environment. This conceptual paper proposes a testable framework linking deficit discourse and school-based microaggressions to student identity suppression, academic impostor phenomenon, and educator moral injury, with downstream effects on school mental health outcomes. We situate these …

Gesture Control Reminder Device, Ian Kennar, Ryan Kiniris, Veronica Saltanov

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Individuals with special needs or attention deficit disorders struggle to maintain structured daily routines independently, yet existing reminder technologies rely on visual interfaces, touchscreens, and fine motor control that make them inaccessible to this population. The Gesture-Controlled Reminder Device addresses these shortcomings through a compact, wearable assistive technology that eliminates these barriers entirely.

Teachers and caregivers can record personalized voice reminders directly onto the device, which are delivered to the user through haptic vibration and interacted with via simple hand gestures to repeat, snooze, or dismiss them. By processing all interactions on a custom PCB built around the Raspberry Pi …

Studyscape, Sanaa Ahmed, Zach Anderson, Joshua Colleran, Tiffany Doan, Andrew Pritchard

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Finding suitable places to study or work on a college campus can be challenging due to fluctuating noise levels and overcrowding in shared spaces. This project, titled StudyScape, aims to help students identify optimal study environments by providing real-time information on ambient noise and room occupancy in campus buildings. The system deploys edge-based sensing nodes in selected indoor locations, each equipped with a microphone and camera. Audio signals are processed locally to estimate noise levels, while computer vision techniques are used solely for accurate occupancy counting; no video or image data is stored or transmitted, ensuring user privacy. A mobile …

A Peer Evaluation Of Safety At Signalized Intersections, Auzton Mitchell Stutts

Theses and Dissertations

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has made significant efforts to reduce crashes at signalized intersections and is constantly seeking to improve safety across the state. The purpose of this research is to quantify and evaluate the safety rates and frequencies at signalized intersections in Utah compared to other states. Once the crashes have been quantified, the secondary purpose is to determine why there may or may not be differences. A survey was developed to understand how states analyze, prioritize, and implement safety at signalized intersections, including different policies, procedures, and countermeasures. Crash data from eight states were analyzed and …

Brain Reward Function In Young People With Cannabis Use Disorder: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study, Martine Skumlien, Lisa‐Marie Greenwood, Arush Honnedevasthana Arun, Isabella Goodwin, Anastasia Paloubis, Tribikram Thapa Rana, Marianna Quinones Valera, Eugene Mctavish, Gabrielle Abbott, Suraya Dunsford, Antonio Verdejo‐Garcia, Jessica Ramamurthy, Mark M. Schira, Nadia Solowij, Chao Suo, Valentina Lorenzetti

School of Psychology

Background and Aims: Cannabis use disorder (CUD) affects ~50 million people globally. Neuroscientific theories suggest that a blunted neural response to non-drug rewards is a hallmark of substance use disorders; however, this remains untested in CUD. The current study tested whether brain reward system responses to the anticipation and feedback of monetary rewards differed in people with CUD and controls. Design: Observational study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Setting: Participants were recruited from universities and the community in Wollongong, Australia. Participants: Sixty-four individuals with CUD (20 female) and 28 controls (9 female), aged 18–32 years. Measurements: Participants completed a …

Usa V. Kevin Neysmith

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Maximizing Room-Temperature Red Phosphorescence In Contorted Hexabenzocoronene Derivatives, Marko R. Ivancevic, Moses D. Ogbaje, Jesse A. Wisch, Daniel G. Oblinsky, Alice S. Fergerson, Emily C. Davidson, Gregory D. Scholes, Barry P. Rand, Chad Risko, Quinn C. Burlingame, Yueh Lin Loo

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Organic molecules exhibiting second-scale room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) in the red/near-infrared are particularly rare because low-energy excited states that are characteristic of these chromophores are susceptible to nonradiative deactivation. Here, we observe second-scale red RTP from contorted hexabenzocoronene (cHBC) embedded in a rigid polymer. This RTP is uniquely efficient as approximately 23% of the steady-state photoluminescence originates from triplets. We propose that this efficient triplet generation stems from intersystem crossing (ISC) that outcompetes symmetry-forbidden fluorescence. Density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory calculations suggest that ISC occurs from the lowest energy singlet state of cHBC into a nearly resonant triplet …

Vamorolone Safety, Pharmacokinetics, And Exploratory Efficacy In Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: A Phase Ii, Nonrandomized, Multiple-Dose Study In 2–<4-Year-Old Boys, Jean K. Mah, Hernan D. Gonorazky, Elisa Nigro, Hanns Lochmüller, Alberto Alemán, Amanda Yaworski, Maryam Oskoui, Anne Marie Sbrocchi, Kathryn A. Selby, Ana De Vera, Rashmi Mathur, Ekaterina Gresko, Aki Linden, Catherine Dutreix, Eric P. Hoffman

Pharmacy Faculty Scholarship

Background and Objectives: Vamorolone is a dissociative corticosteroid (CS) approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2023 for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). This study evaluated the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics (PK) of vamorolone in young boys with DMD; exploratory objectives included efficacy and patient-reported outcomes. Methods: A 12-week, phase II, open-label, multiple-dose study (VBP15-006) enrolled CS-naive boys with DMD aged 2–< 4 years in Canada. Participants received 2 or 6 mg/kg/d oral vamorolone. An ongoing expanded access protocol (EAP) provided longer-term data. Primary end points were the occurrence of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) and changes from baseline to week 12 in height, weight, and body mass index (BMI); other end points included PK and effects of vamorolone on muscle function. Results: Twenty boys (mean age [SD] 3.4 [0.39] years) with similar baseline characteristics were enrolled; all completed VBP15-006 and 19 continued to receive vamorolone through EAP Canada. TEAEs were mostly mild, with no deaths, serious TEAEs, or TEAEs leading to drug discontinuation during VBP15-006. TEAEs were more frequent with 6 mg/kg/d vamorolone than with 2 mg/kg/d, with gastrointestinal disorders and infections/infestations, respectively, most reported. Vamorolone use was associated with morning serum cortisol reductions in all patients, more pronounced with 6 mg/kg/d. Stable growth trajectories were observed at both doses throughout VBP15-006 and the EAP Canada follow-up period, with a total median (Q1; Q3) exposure to vamorolone of 2 years (1.7; 2.3). By EAP Canada last visit, 8/19 patients had weight and BMI z-scores changes >0.5, suggestive of excessive weight gain over time. Vamorolone displayed a dose-dependent PK profile with rapid absorption and no accumulation. Dose-dependent improvements in motor function (measured by Bayley-III gross motor scaled score) were observed. Glucose metabolism …

Publisher Correction: Whole Genome Sequence Analysis Of Pulmonary Function And Copd In 44,287 Multi-Ancestry Participants, Wonji Kim, Xiaowei Hu, Kangjin Kim, Sung Chun, Peter Orchard, Dandi Qiao, Ingo Ruczinski, Aabida Saferali, Francois Aguet, Lucinda Antonacci-Fulton, Pallavi P Balte, Traci M Bartz, Wardatul Jannat Anamika, Xiaobo Zhou, Junyi Duan, Jennifer A Brody, Brian E Cade, Martha L Daviglus, Harshavadran Doddapaneni, Shannon Dugan-Perez, Susan K Dutcher, Christian D Frazar, Stacey B Gabriel, Sina A Gharib, Namrata Gupta, Brian D Hobbs, Silva Kasela, Laura R Loehr, Ginger A Metcalf, Donna M Muzny, Elizabeth C Oelsner, Laura J Rasmussen-Torvik, Colleen M Sitlani, Joshua Smith, Tamar Sofer, Hanfei Xu, Bing Yu, David Zhang, John Ziniti, R Graham Barr, April P Carson, Myriam Fornage, Lifang Hou, Ravi Kalhan, Robert Kaplan, Tuuli Lappalainen, Stephanie J London, Alanna C Morrison, George T O'Connor, Bruce M Psaty, Laura M Raffield, Susan Redline, Stephen S Rich, Jerome I Rotter, Edwin K Silverman, Ani Manichaikul, Michael H Cho

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This corrects the article "Whole genome sequence analysis of pulmonary function and COPD in 44,287 multi-ancestry participants", 28.

Lyasia Ashley V. Eric Bradley

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

The 2026 Sc Administrator Working Conditions Survey, Angela Starrett, Brian Cartiff, Svetlana Dmitrieva

Reports

The SC Administrator Working Conditions Survey (SCAWCS) was developed to systematically examine the work environments of school leaders. Grounded in the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, the survey conceptualizes administrator working conditions as a balance between the demands of the role and the resources available to support it. The JD-R framework emphasizes that high job demands, such as workload and accountability pressures, can contribute to stress and burnout when not sufficiently offset by job resources. In contrast, robust resources can buffer these demands and promote engagement, resilience, and long-term commitment to the profession. Designed by SC TEACHER, the SCAWCS measures 13 …

Volunteers' Motivation And Better Volunteer Recruitment In Nonprofit Organizations, Ashley Denise Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Integrating Production And Repair Operations Through Data Driven Defect Flow Analytics For Yield And Resource Optimization In Pcba Manufacturing, Ali Tahmasebi, Yingge Zhou, Daryl Santos, Sai Srikanth Reddy Kolli, Edward Wong

Systems Science and Industrial Engineering Student Scholarship

In Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) manufacturing, maintaining a closed loop connection between production and repair operations is critical to improving product quality and operational efficiency. However, in the manufacturing environment that motivated this work, production and repair data are often managed separately, and repair findings are not systematically fed back to production teams, limiting visibility into defect routing patterns and repair workload drivers. This study developed a data-driven framework that integrates production and repair data streams to analyze defect flow and support repair resource planning. The framework applies descriptive statistics, cross tabulations of repair inflow by product/project and repair …

The Invisible Disease Made Visible: A Qualitative Inquiry Into The Lived Experience Of Cold Agglutinin Disease Patients, Paul Mowry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of the phenomenological study was to better understand the lived experience of Cold-Agglutinin Disease (CAD) patients. Eleven white female participants who had moderate to severe symptoms of CAD were recruited via a CAD support group on Facebook and were prompted with a series of open-ended questions about their lived experience with CAD. Interview questions focused on how vital life domains (i.e., mental and physical health, family, community, and work) are impacted by CAD, how CAD patients experience the medical and mental health system, CAD patients’ perceptions of the medical healthcare they received, and their recommendations for how medical …

“Your ‘Magic Dick’ Won’T Fix Us”: The Lived Experience Of Women With Vaginismus, Alisun Fiona Hughes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Genito-Pelvic Pain/Penetration Disorder, or what is commonly referred to as Vaginismus, is a pelvic floor dysfunction which causes penetration of the vagina to be painful or impossible. This qualitative study examines the lived experiences of women living with vaginismus, looking specifically at how they were socialized to perceive sex and how they navigate their condition. Grounded in theories such as Sexual Scripts Theory, Stigma Theory and Gender as Performance, this research analyzes how this condition is not just a biological trait, but also a socialized phenomenon that often causes a “spoiled identity”. Data was collected through an open-ended online survey …

A Text Message Health Intervention For Cervical Cancer And Hpv Education And Behavioral Intentions Related To Screening And Vaccination, Carla G. Mercer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study examined the effectiveness of a technology-based educational intervention delivered exclusively through text messaging to increase knowledge of cervical cancer and HPV infection and behavioral intentions to obtain Pap test screening and HPV vaccination. A two-arm randomized controlled trial with a pretest-posttest structure was administered to 33 enrolled college students ages 18–26 years, with 29 participants completing both assessments and included in the final analysis. Participants were randomly assigned to a treatment group, which received a one-week text message-based health intervention, or a control group, which received no intervention. Pretest and posttest surveys evaluated knowledge regarding cervical cancer and …

Dept Of Hous. Preserv. & Dev. Of The City Of N.Y. V. Silvershore Props. 95 Llc

All Decisions

In this HP proceeding brought by HPD for repairs, penalties, and harassment, the court issues a lengthy decision involving a consent order signed by landlords' attorney (Ben Epstein), by which landlords agreed to pay $37,500 in civil penalties, with a provision allowing entry of a $375,000 judgment upon default. After landlords defaulted and judgment was entered, two named respondents moved to vacate the consent order claiming their attorney lacked authority. The court denies the motion, finding the attorney had apparent if not actual authority, and permits service upon the business address filed with HPD pursuant to CCA § 110(m). The …

Decorin Promotes Nascent Proteoglycan Retention In Cartilage Matrix By Strengthening Collagen Ii-Aggrecan Integration, Thomas Li, Gabriela Canziani, Yuchen Liu, Neil Patel, Biao Han, Mingyue Fan, Annie Porter, Bryan Kwok, Chao Wang, Qing Li, David E. Birk, Renato V. Iozzo, Irwin M. Chaiken, X. Lucas Lu, Robert L. Mauck, Lin Han

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM), a hydrated collagen II-aggrecan composite, undergoes dynamic turnover during both normal homeostasis and disease-associated remodeling. This study elucidates a crucial role for decorin in promoting the retention and stability of nascent aggrecan within this matrix. By applying bio-orthogonal click-labeling, we demonstrate that loss of decorin accelerates the release of nascent aggrecan under both physiological and inflammatory conditions, without affecting its preferential localization to the pericellular matrix. Conversely, supplementation with exogenous decorin mitigates inflammation-induced loss of nascent aggrecan, supporting its potential as a therapeutic target. At the molecular level, decorin exhibits strong binding affinity for aggrecan, and …

In Vivo Orf Overexpression Screening Identifies Ccn4 As A Regulator Of Glioblastoma Growth Validated Across Multiple Models, Pushan Dasgupta

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Despite current multimodal therapies for glioblastoma (GBM), its prognosis remains grim. Thus, a tremendous need exists to identify new genetic drivers that may serve as potential therapeutic targets in glioblastoma (GBM). We describe an in vivo overexpression screening strategy to identify drivers of glioblastoma where we have leveraged TCGA datasets to conduct a functional genomics screen of prioritized open reading frames (ORFs) that are overexpressed and/or amplified in GBM. To interrogate these potential drivers within a more relevant physiological context, the screening was accomplished in vivo in an orthotopic patient-derived glioma stem-like cell (GSC) model. Among 5 positive "hits" from …

Right Ventricular–Pulmonary Artery Coupling Predicts Early Myocardial Strain Improvement In Sglt2 Inhibitor-Treated Hfref, Mohammad Ali Hammad, Ramy Magdy Elgamal, Arwa Mohsen Abouelkhir, Osama Abouelfetouh Elshaer, Mohamed Shokry Fahmy, Reda Nabil Dawoud, Reda Biomy, Mohamed Kamal Salama

Journal of the Saudi Heart Association

Background: While sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors clearly benefit left ventricular recovery in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), their rapid effects on right ventricular (RV) function remain poorly characterized. This prospective observational study investigated the timeline and markers of biventricular changes shortly after SGLT2 inhibitor initiation.

Methods:In this prospective observational study, 50 adults with HFrEF (LVEF

Results:After 3 months, NT-proBNP levels decreased significantly (1116.5 vs 913.5 pg/mL, P

Conclusions: In this prospective observational study without a control group, SGLT2 inhibitor initiation was associated with coordinated biventricular improvements within three months in HFrEF patients. The baseline TAPSE/PASP ratio …

Tempo Calibration Status And The Path Thus Far, D. E. Flittner, X. Liu, Heesung Chong, W. Hou, J. Carr, L. E. Flynn, S. Marchenko, B. Baker, James Lasnik, Dennis Nicks

The Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing Annual Meeting (CALCON)

The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) was selected in late 2012 as the first cost-capped and schedule constrained project for Earth Venture Instrument (EVI-1). Launched in April 2023 aboard the Intelsat (now SES) IS40E satellite, it is the first space-borne hyperspectral imaging spectrograph measuring backscattered sunlight over North America in a geostationary orbit (91 West longitude). It serves as the de facto North American element of the atmospheric composition – virtual constellation geo-ring. The instrument’s focal plane has two charge-coupled device (CCD) detectors covering the spectral ranges 293–494 and 538–741 nm with resolutions of 0.53–0.63 nm. It was designed …

Image Uniformity Evaluation Of Landsat Oli Using Detector Overlap Statistics Of Earth Scenes, Raviv Levy, Cibele Teixeira Pinto, Jeffrey A. Miller, Kurtis Thome

The Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing Annual Meeting (CALCON)

The Operational Land Imager (OLI) instruments on Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 collect hundreds of Earth scenes per day, covering a wide mix of surface types and signal levels. This report demonstrates that detector overlap statistics can be used to directly characterize non-uniformity at the focalplane boundary zones inherent to the OLI focalplane design and correct for these non-uniformities in image data products. Detector pairs of coregistered pixels within boundary zone represent measurements of the same ground target collected at the same time but with minor view angle differences. The use of multiple pairs of detectors offers varying scene types …

Development Of A Software-Based Lock-In Amplifier With Linearity Of 0.004 % (K=2) Using A 24-Bit, Fpga-Based Digitizer, Howard W. Yoon, Michael P. Braine, Vladimir Khromchenko

The Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing Annual Meeting (CALCON)

Lock-in amplifiers (LIA) are used to measure signals from noisy sources or detectors and for measuring AC-mode devices such as pyroelectric detectors. In infrared radiometry, LIAs are often used in both detector and radiometer calibrations where gain linearity directly impacts the measurement uncertainties. In applications such as BRDF measurements where large signal ratios are used to determine reflectance factors, knowledge of LIA linearities is critical since large signal ratios much be known with very low uncertainties.

At present, most commercial LIAs are limited by their 16-bit or 18-bit amplitude resolution, maximum input voltage of 1 V and nearly 1 % …

Living Through Misinformation: An Autoethnography Of Autism In Chinese Communities, Joy Lu

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This critical autoethnographic essay examines how misconception, misinformation, and disinformation shape understandings of autism within Chinese communities and produce tangible harm for autistic individuals and their families. Drawing on lived experience, advocacy work, digital observation, and cross-cultural analysis, it explores how language, medical practices, social media, and professional authority sustain persistent misrepresentation.

The essay argues that this misinformation is not merely the result of ignorance, but a socially reinforced and institutionally supported system of knowledge. By situating personal encounters within broader cultural and structural contexts, it highlights the interconnected roles of language, power, and exclusion in shaping autistic lives. It …

Pretty Much From Scratch: A Braided Essay On Autistic Diagnosis, Creativity, Identity, And Community, Jenée Stanfield

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This braided essay uses memoir and research to explore autistic diagnosis, creativity, identity, and community. It examines how the misinformation around these topics harm and “other” autistics: the fallacy of diagnostic objectivity/neutrality, the dual myths of autistic hyper- and hypo-creativity, and autism as an identity defined solely by medical professionals. The memoir sections play with point of view and genre.

Jenée is a late-realized autistic with ADHD and OCD, who identifies as neurodivergent and neuroqueer. She lives in Washington state with her spouse and dog. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and is currently a Master …

The Unexpected Gift: Using Hip-Hop And Autoethnographic Methods To Challenge The “Symbolic Death” Discourse Of A Child’S Autism Diagnosis, Adam Ellis

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This article explores the social construction of autism through an autoethnographic account of parenting an autistic child in Canada. Drawing on Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s grief model, neurodiversity scholarship, and post-traumatic growth theory, the paper examines how parents may experience grief, uncertainty, and the collapse of imagined futures following an autism diagnosis, while also arguing that much of this distress is produced by ableist and deficit-oriented social systems rather than autism itself. Using arts-based research, including a rap song and music video, the article explores: (1) what it is like to receive an autism diagnosis as a parent; (2) the grieving process …

When Distress Is Misread: Autistic Credibility And The Politics Of Interpretation, Katrine Callander

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

Misinformation about autism is often understood as a problem of inaccurate facts, stereotypes or public misunderstanding. This essay argues that misinformation also operates through dominant interpretive frameworks that shape how autistic experiences are recognised, understood and believed. Drawing on participatory narrative research with autistic women, the essay examines how institutions frequently reinterpret experiences of harm as personality dysfunction, emotional instability or individual deficit rather than recognising them as relational and socially produced. Autistic forms of communication and storytelling are often treated as signs of unreliability, shaping whose accounts are considered credible within clinical and institutional contexts. By reframing these patterns …

Learning From Inexperienced Users’ Early Engagement With Food Tracking, Isil Oygur, Saadet Tikac Andic

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Current food tracking applications are largely designed to support behaviour change among users who track their food intake to meet predefined goals. As a result, individuals who are curious about food tracking but do not have specific goals remain underserved, limiting the potential of these tools for preventive care. To address this gap, we conducted a three-phase interview study using an existing food journaling application as a probe to reimagine food tracking experiences for inexperienced users. Thirty-one participants used the app for 14 days and discussed their views on healthy eating, food practices, and their tracking experiences. Our analysis identified …