Digital Commons Network^™

Towards Secure And Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning Systems, Han Liu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, machine learning (ML) has advanced at an unprecedented pace, driving the widespread adoption of increasingly sophisticated models across a broad range of real-world applications, including healthcare, finance, autonomous systems, and critical infrastructure. While these models have delivered remarkable benefits and transformed numerous industries, they remain inherently vulnerable to a variety of security and privacy threats. Given their growing role in safety-critical domains, ensuring their security and privacy has become imperative. Systematically addressing these vulnerabilities requires comprehensive adversarial analyses to uncover weaknesses and inform the design of robust defenses. This dissertation systematically investigates ML vulnerabilities in adversarial settings …

Osteoarthritis As A Multi-Factorial Disease: Exploring Piezo Ion Channels And Adipose Tissue As Therapeutic Targets, Erica Valentine Ely

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a complex disease involving mechanical and inflammatory factors that affect both the joint and systemic environments. Despite its prevalence as a leading cause of pain and disability worldwide, no disease-modifying OA drugs (DMOADs) are currently available. This dissertation focuses on exploring key targets and developing innovative tools to combat OA, addressing its mechanical and inflammatory drivers both independently and in combination. First, we investigated the role of mechanosensitive ion channels Piezo1 and Piezo2 in OA pathogenesis using a murine destabilization of the medial meniscus (DMM) model. Our findings demonstrated that knocking out Piezo1, Piezo2, or both in …

Trustworthy Autonomy Through Robust Control And Alignment, Junlin Wu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

As artificial intelligence systems are increasingly applied in safety critical domains such as robotics, autonomous driving, and decision making under uncertainty, ensuring their trustworthiness has become a central challenge. This dissertation addresses two major facets of trustworthy AI: reliable control through formal guarantees and alignment against adversarial manipulation. The first part of the dissertation focuses on provably stable, robust, and safe control for nonlinear systems using learning based methods. We introduce the first general framework for synthesizing neural Lyapunov controllers in discrete time systems. This method combines a sound verifier based on mixed integer linear programming with gradient based counterexample …

Understanding And Mitigating Timing Issues In Autonomous Systems, Ao Li

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Autonomous systems, such as self-driving cars and drones, have become a part of our daily lives. Since these systems operate in and interact with the physical world, their correctness depends on both functional and temporal aspects. However, the increasing complexity of modern computing hardware and software often leads to unpredictable timing behavior in these systems, making temporal properties particularly challenging to ensure. This dissertation proposes novel approaches to specify and enforce temporal properties based on a comprehensive empirical study of real-world issues. The first half of this dissertation presents an empirical study that dissects the timing issues. The dissection begins …

Understanding The Behavioral Health Of Children In Child Protective Services: Prevalence, Community Context, And System Involvement Using Administrative Data, Tzu-Hsin Huang

Brown School Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the behavioral health of children involved in the U.S. child welfare system through a three-paper approach. Amid rising concerns over youth mental health, suicide rates, and ADHD diagnoses, this study explores how these issues manifest among children reported for maltreatment – a population at elevated risk and often underserved. Paper 1 estimates the prevalence of behavioral health problems using national administrative datasets (NCANDS and AFCARS), providing insight into trends over time and disparities by age, race/ethnicity, sex, geographic context (urban vs. rural), and system involvement (CPS investigation vs. foster care). Paper 2 leverages county-level data to examine …

Cognitive Interviews With Emergency Physicians To Understand Disposition Decisions With People With Dementia With Borderline Cases, Anita N Chary, Annika R Bhananker, Rebecca Franks, Adrian Haimovich, Aanand D Naik, Maura Kennedy, Kei Ouchi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

People with dementia are often hospitalized from the emergency department (ED) for "borderline cases," where outpatient or inpatient management may be clinically reasonable. We sought to investigate how ED physicians make and communicate about decisions in borderline cases. Through cognitive interviews, we asked attending ED physicians from an academic hospital to share their approach to scenarios representing borderline cases with people with dementia and verbalize communication about ED disposition with patients and care partners. We deductively coded responses related to patient/care partner engagement and key features of communication and then elucidated themes related to content and phrasing of communication. Of …

Sustained Growth-Promoting Effects Of Vosoritide In Children With Achondroplasia From An Ongoing Phase 3 Extension Study, Ravi Savarirayan, Melita Irving, William R Wilcox, Carlos A Bacino, Julie E Hoover-Fong, Paul Harmatz, Lynda E Polgreen, Katja Palm, Carlos E Prada, Takuo Kubota, Paul Arundel, Yumiko Kotani, Antonio Leiva-Gea, Michael B Bober, Jacqueline T Hecht, Janet M Legare, Sue Lawrinson, Andrea Low, Ian Sabir, Alice Huntsman-Labed, Jonathan R S Day

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Vosoritide is a C-type natriuretic peptide analog that addresses an underlying pathway causing reduced bone growth in achondroplasia. Understanding the vosoritide treatment effect requires evaluation over an extended duration and comparison with outcomes in untreated children.

Methods: After completing ≥6 months of a baseline observational growth study and 52 weeks in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03197766), participants were eligible to continue treatment in an open-label extension (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03424018) wherein all received 15 μg/kg vosoritide daily. Data from the CLARITY achondroplasia study provided an external untreated control population and reference data.

Findings: The population comprised 119 participants. …

Three Cases Of Adolescent Orf Virus Skin And Soft Tissue Infection In Southeast Texas, Margaret Taylor Danner, Caroline A Schrodt, Alexandra Tuttle, Victoria Shelus, Brendan Sullivan, Ankhi Dutta, Claire Bocchini, Denver Niles

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

We report 3 adolescents who presented to a tertiary care hospital in Houston, Texas, with cutaneous skin lesions after contact with sheep and/or goats. The cases presented a diagnostic challenge initially but were later suspected or confirmed as orf virus infection after consultation with infectious diseases specialists.

Sustained Growth-Promoting Effects Of Vosoritide In Children With Achondroplasia From An Ongoing Phase 3 Extension Study, Ravi Savarirayan, Melita Irving, William R Wilcox, Carlos A Bacino, Julie E Hoover-Fong, Paul Harmatz, Lynda E Polgreen, Katja Palm, Carlos E Prada, Takuo Kubota, Paul Arundel, Yumiko Kotani, Antonio Leiva-Gea, Michael B Bober, Jacqueline T Hecht, Janet M Legare, Sue Lawrinson, Andrea Low, Ian Sabir, Alice Huntsman-Labed, Jonathan R S Day

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Vosoritide is a C-type natriuretic peptide analog that addresses an underlying pathway causing reduced bone growth in achondroplasia. Understanding the vosoritide treatment effect requires evaluation over an extended duration and comparison with outcomes in untreated children.

Methods: After completing ≥6 months of a baseline observational growth study and 52 weeks in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03197766), participants were eligible to continue treatment in an open-label extension (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03424018) wherein all received 15 μg/kg vosoritide daily. Data from the CLARITY achondroplasia study provided an external untreated control population and reference data.

Findings: The population comprised 119 participants. …

Reply To: Is Gauchian Genotyping Of Gba1 Variants Reliable?, Marco Toffoli, Anthony H V Schapira, Fritz J Sedlazeck, Christos Proukakis

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Development And Evaluation Of A Multiple Sclerosis-Related Suffering Index, Carolyn A. Wilder, Jennifer Gravesa, Salem O. Dehomb, Amanda L. Goodinga, Elizabeth J. Taylor

Dissertations

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, progressive neurological disease characterized by complex physical, psychological, and emotional challenges that profoundly impact patients’ quality of life. Despite advances in symptom management, the multifaceted suffering experienced by individuals with MS remains inadequately measured, understood, and addressed. This study aimed to develop and validate the Wilder Multiple Sclerosis Suffering Index (WMSSI), a novel tool designed to quantitatively measure the unique dimensions of suffering in this population.

“The Best Storyteller In The World:” Gwydion, Court Poetry, And Statecraft In The Fourth Branch Of The Mabinogi, Abigail Fathauer '25

Senior Scholarly and Creative Symposium

Gwydion, the trickster protagonist of The Mabinogi, orchestrates the plot and manipulates those around him. His trickery ultimately results in political shifts, changes, and even wars, reflecting his role as a powerful player in the text. Moreover, Gwydion's use of poetry, knowledge, and words to enact his schemes and manipulations reflects the power of poets in medieval Welsh courts. My thesis argues that Gwydion's use of poetry to manipulate the politics around him reflects the power of poetry to craft nation states, as medieval Welsh poets did.

Tax Trends, Nicholas J. Fiore

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Just War, Pacifism, And Inevitability Of Conflict: Tolkien’S Changing Attitudes To War, Alexander Retakh

Journal of Tolkien Research

Tolkien’s approach to war is often considered through the lens of “just war” theory. Its main principles are the necessity of a just cause for war, proper conduct in battle, and the use of proper weapons; if possible, war should be avoided. The Lord of the Rings suggests an ethical framework inspired by this theory; however, the earlier Legendarium is more accepting of military conflicts and their harsh reality. Tolkien's attitude to war appears to shift in the mid-late 1930s, the time of intense debates about just war and pacifism among British Catholics. This paper discusses the evolution of his …

State Right To Appeal: Has Maine Been Too Cautious?, David J. Corson

Maine Law Review

The Legislature of the State of Maine recently passed an act relating to appeals by the State on questions of law in criminal cases. The Governor's approval of the act on January 29, 1968, was the culmination of some three years of research and debate. The purpose of this comment is to examine the form and scope of the act in light of the continuing controversy in other jurisdictions over the conflict of interests between the people and the accused in what may be characterized as a trend toward more comprehensive state appeal laws, to the end of concluding whether …

How Post Is Post-Conviction Relief In Maine?, Charles L. Cragin Iii

Maine Law Review

In a recent case the Maine Supreme Judicial Court delineated the prerequisites for relief under Maine's post-conviction relief statute. The court declared that actual or constructive custody is necessary for relief. In Thoresen v. State, petitioner was convicted of a felony in Maine in 1959. He had been represented by retained counsel, and had elected to plead guilty to an information charging him with grand larceny. His sentence was suspended by probation and he was permitted to leave the state. Formally complying with all the regulations of his probation, he was given a total discharge in 1961. In 1967, he …

The Academy’S Responsibility In Undergraduate Medical Spanish: Educating Future Bilingual And Culturally Competent Health Professionals, Diana Galarreta-Aima, Andrea Nate, Alyssia Miller De Rutte

International Journal on Responsibility

Language concordance is vital in providing quality healthcare for growing Spanish-speaking communities in the United States. As such, higher education institutions are responsible for preparing future health professionals who demonstrate linguistic proficiency and cultural competence when caring for Spanish-speaking patients. Furthermore, Spanish language instructors and academic departments are responsible for fostering enrollment by providing quality courses and programs that prepare students to use Spanish in their future careers. This article presents the results from surveys of Medical Spanish students on their views on assessment in their Medical Spanish courses and programs. The researchers administered a survey to 44 undergraduate students …

Contributors, Editors

Marvels & Tales

No abstract provided.

Reviews, Editors

Marvels & Tales

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Norms And Limits Of Fairy-Tale Transgression, Alessandro Cabiati, Lewis C. Seifert

Marvels & Tales

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Tenor of Our Times

No abstract provided.

Maine's Educational Television Network: Legal Difficulties, Charles L. Cragin Iii

Maine Law Review

Maine's educational television network (ETV) cannot pride itself in achieving broad goals and, in fact, cannot attempt to achieve them because of legislation of questionable legal validity which has become an anachronistic barrier to innovations consistent with a keener awareness of the utility of educational television. This note focuses on the state-controlled system servicing northern Maine and points out the conflicts between the system's enabling legislation and the manner in which the system currently operates, and between the enabling legislation and federal laws and regulations. Additionally, it recommends, in a statutory format, the manner in which the system should be …

Right To Jury Trial: Lemieux V. Robbins, Stephen R. Sunenblick

Maine Law Review

A sagacious English liveryman named Tobias Hobson allowed each customer to choose the horse nearest the door, thereby presenting these customers with no real alternative. The State of Maine made a like proposition in Lemieux v. Robbins by implementing a novel criminal procedure whereby a defendant has a "choice" of either accepting his district court misdemeanor conviction as final, or appealing for a de novo trial by jury in superior court and possibly being convicted of a felony for contravening the same statute under which he was originally charged. The implementation of this procedure began with a complaint filed in …

Procedural Rights Of The Military Accused: Advantages Over A Civilian Defendant, Homer E. Moyer Jr.

Maine Law Review

The Supreme Court recently decided in O'Callahan v. Parker that the military lacks jurisdiction to try servicemen for crimes that are not "service-connected." Justice Douglas, in rendering the majority opinion, was highly critical of military justice and criminal procedures in the court-martial system, which he characterized as "a system of specialized military courts, proceeding by practices different from those obtaining in the regular courts and in general less favorable to defendants . . . . .” The opinion further added that "courts-martial as an institution are singularly inept in dealing with the nice subtleties of constitutional law . . . …

The Civilianization Of Military Law, Edward F. Sherman

Maine Law Review

Military law in the United States has always functioned as a system of jurisprudence independent of the civilian judiciary. It has its own body of substantive laws and procedures which has a different historical derivation than the civilian criminal law. The federal courts have always been reluctant to interfere with the court-martial system, as explained by the Supreme Court in 1953 in Burns v. Wilson: "Military law, like state law, is a jurisprudence which exists separate and apart from the law which governs in our federal judicial establishment. This Court has played no role in its development; we have exerted …

Institutional Betrayal And Suicidal Thoughts And Behaviors: A Retrospective Examination Of Lgbtq School Experiences, Mavis L. Gallo, Mark A. Hammond, Stephanie Luther, Geovanna Rodriguez, James Sinclair, Rhonda N.T. Nese, Marielena R. Mcwhirter Boisen, Skylar Steffes, James R. Muruthi, John R. Seeley

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Extant literature has established an elevated risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB) among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer (LGBTQ) youth when compared to their non-LGBTQ peers. Not yet studied is the impact of institutional betrayal on STB among LGBTQ youth. Institutional betrayals refers to misconduct carried out by an institution upon individuals reliant on the institution. Using retrospective data from 229 LGBTQ adults, we examined: (a) whether institutional betrayal was associated with STB among LGBTQ individuals in grades 5 through 12, (b) whether the association between institutional betrayal and STB was significant after controlling for the covariates, and …

Beaulieu V. Beaulieu: An Obituary For Lex Loci And An Approach To Interest Analysis, David C. Shonka

Maine Law Review

Clifford Beaulieu, a guest in his father's automobile, was injured when the vehicle struck a telephone pole in Massachusetts. Both parties were residents of Maine. The trip had originated in Maine and was to terminate there. The son filed an action against his father in the Maine Superior Court, alleging negligent operation of the vehicle. On an agreed statement of facts, the case was reported to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court where the defendant argued for dismissal of the action on the grounds that the doctrine of lex loci delictus, the law of the place of the tort, was applicable …

Conservation, Policy And The Role Of Counsel, David J. Halperin

Maine Law Review

The conservation interests in the State of Maine have been roused to a furor by the decision of Maine's highest court in State v. Johnson. The case, in substance, holds that Maine's Wetlands Act is unconstitutional when applied to prohibit the filling of a specific segment of salt water marsh. While both the decision and the underlying statute are of considerable substantive interest, the case deserves particular study for the light it sheds on the role of counsel in helping the legal process accommodate new policy concerns. A note of caution must, of course, be sounded before seeking to generalize …

De Novo Juries, Misdemeanor Counsel, And Other Problems: Changes Ahead For The Maine District Courts?, Pierce B. Hasler

Maine Law Review

The Maine judicial system has two levels of criminal courts, the superior court having exclusive trial jurisdiction over felony prosecutions and the district court operating with concurrent trial jurisdiction for misdemeanors. The district court also processes the preliminary phases of felony cases; included in this function are bail hearings, initial appearances (arraignments), and preliminary hearings. To provide jury trials in misdemeanor prosecutions state law permits all district court convictions to be appealed to the superior court for trial de novo to a jury. The accepted reason for unlimited de novo trials is that the state constitution requires a jury in …

The Constitutional Law Of Remedies In Welfare Litigation, Donald F. Fontaine

Maine Law Review

It is becoming increasingly obvious that the problems of poor people in the United States are dependent, more than those of other classes, upon the proper administration of government agencies. The contact of poor people with government agencies involves most of their chief concerns in life: Welfare, social security, adequate health care, adequate income from work, a safe and healthy place to live, whether privately or publicly owned, and schools that provide real education without racial or economic discrimination. Where payments are improperly withheld from a presumably destitute recipient, the need for a speedy and adequate remedy should be obvious. …