Digital Commons Network^™

Does Chatgpt-Permitted Assessments Help Students Generate Better Answers And Learn More?, Michelle L. F. Cheong, Yun-Chen Chen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We discuss our methodology and implementation of ChatGPT-permitted assessments for a university-level spreadsheets modelling module. Through our quantitative data analysis, our students rated ChatGPT’s answers to be incorrect on average and thus will not help them generate better answers directly, representing low “Perceived usefulness” (PU), while they rated ChatGPT 3.5 with relatively high “Perceived ease of use” (PE). They gave a good “Behavioural intention” (BI) rating indicating that they were motivated to use it in future as they could still learn more about this module by using ChatGPT 3.5. We found that both PU and PE affected BI positively, with …

Verification Of Bit-Flip Attacks Against Quantized Neural Networks, Yedi Zhang, Lei Huang, Pengfei Gao, Fu Song, Jun Sun, Jin Song Dong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In the rapidly evolving landscape of neural network security, the resilience of neural networks against bit-flip attacks (i.e., an attacker maliciously flips an extremely small amount of bits within its parameter storage memory system to induce harmful behavior), has emerged as a relevant area of research. Existing studies suggest that quantization may serve as a viable defense against such attacks. Recognizing the documented susceptibility of real-valued neural networks to such attacks and the comparative robustness of quantized neural networks (QNNs), in this work, we introduce BFAVerifier, the first verification framework designed to formally verify the absence of bit-flip attacks against …

On Generalization Across Environments In Multi-Objective Reinforcement Learning, Jayden Jing Xiang Teoh, Pradeep Varakantham, Peter Vamplew

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

No abstract provided.

Pearl: Towards Permutation-Resilient Llms, Liang Chen, Li Shen, Yang Deng, Xiaoyan Zhao, Bin Liang, Kam-Fai Wong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The in-context learning (ICL) capability of large language models (LLMs) enables them to perform challenging tasks using provided demonstrations. However, ICL is highly sensitive to the ordering of demonstrations, leading to instability in predictions. This paper shows that this vulnerability can be exploited to design a natural attack - difficult for model providers to detect - that achieves nearly 80% success rate on LLaMA-3 by simply permuting the demonstrations. Existing mitigation methods primarily rely on post-processing and fail to enhance the model's inherent robustness to input permutations, raising concerns about safety and reliability of LLMs. To address this issue, we …

Ada-Gen: Iterative And Incremental Generation Of Full-Stack Apps For Learning Agile/Devops Software Development Practices, Nguyen Binh Duong Ta

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

To learn Agile/DevOps practices effectively, students need to apply them in an actual software development project. This is challenging if students are mostly from non-computing backgrounds and they do not have time in the curriculum to learn programming and related tools. Therefore, it is important to help students who do not possess programming foundations to develop fully functional software during the process of learning Agile/DevOps concepts. We noted that existing low-code/no-code app development platforms have not been designed to teach Agile/DevOps practices. On the other hand, recent AI-based tools for code generation such as GitHub Copilot have been built mainly …

On Unraveling Student Resilience And Academic Performance In Higher Education, Aldy Gunawan, Ee-Peng Lim, Audrey Tedja Widjaja, William Tov, James Foo, Lieven Lode E. Demeester

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The transition period from pre-tertiary to higher education levels is critical. We explore the role of resilience by conducting a survey to investigate students’ resilience and the relationship with overall academic performance, learning experience, and well-being. This effort is part of an initiative to develop strategies for better student engagement in the academic program, enhance their resilience, and prepare them for a competitive job market. We conclude that (i) high-resilience students are associated with better life satisfaction and are likely to perform well academically, (ii) a favorable learning environment supports students to study and perform well in the university, and …

A Selective Vehicle Routing Problem For The Bloodmobile System, Aldy Gunawan, Samuel Alan Darmasaputra, Sy Hoang Do, Vincent F. Yu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Mobile blood collection has the advantage of greater reach compared to blood drives at fixed donation sites and is preferable for individuals with limited time or means of transportation. Bloodmobiles are widely used in healthcare logistics to increase the number of donors and donation frequency and to better match blood demand with collection. Bloodmobiles are stationed at predetermined locations, while shuttles are assigned to visit these locations to collect the donated blood. This problem is formulated as the Selective Vehicle Routing Problem under the Bloodmobile System (SVRP-BM). This research extends the Selective Vehicle Routing Problem with Integrated Tours problem (SVRPwIT) …

Capo: Cooperative Plan Optimization For Efficient Embodied Multi-Agent Cooperation, Jie Liu, Pan Zhou, Yingjun Du, Ah-Hwee Tan, Cees Snoek, Jan-Jakob Sonke, Efstratios Gavves

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this work, we address the cooperation problem among large language model (LLM) based embodied agents, where agents must cooperate to achieve a common goal. Previous methods often execute actions extemporaneously and incoherently, without long-term strategic and cooperative planning, leading to redundant steps, failures, and even serious repercussions in complex tasks like search-and-rescue missions where discussion and cooperative plan are crucial. To solve this issue, we propose Cooperative Plan Optimization (CaPo) to enhance the cooperation efficiency of LLM-based embodied agents. Inspired by human cooperation schemes, CaPo improves cooperation efficiency with two phases: 1) meta-plan generation, and 2) progress-adaptive meta-plan and …

Ivyapc: Auditable Generalized Payment Channels, Ming Li, Yuxian Li, Jian Weng, Yingjiu Li, Jiasi Weng, Junzuo Lai, Robert H. Deng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Payment channels are a cornerstone of a scalable blockchain infrastructure that enables transacting parties to lock assets on the blockchain and perform rapid off-chain updates with minimal latency and overhead. These protocols dramatically reduce on-chain interaction and improve throughput, with blockchain consensus only invoked in the event of disputes or final closure. While widely adopted in single-chain settings—such as in the Lightning Network for Bitcoin—existing constructions have several limitations, in particular they suffer from at least one of the following limitations: 1. No cross-chain. They do not enable fast trading of assets that reside on multiple isolated blockchains. 2. Non-optimal …

How Developers Interact With Ai: A Taxonomy Of Human-Ai Collaboration In Software Engineering, Christoph Treude, Marco A. Gerosa

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Artificial intelligence (AI), including large language models and generative AI, is emerging as a significant force in software development, offering developers powerful tools that span the entire development lifecycle. Although software engineering research has extensively studied AI tools in software development, the specific types of interactions between developers and these AI-powered tools have only recently begun to receive attention. Understanding and improving these interactions has the potential to enhance productivity, trust, and efficiency in AI-driven workflows. In this paper, we propose a taxonomy of interaction types between developers and AI tools, identifying eleven distinct interaction types, such as auto-complete code …

One-For-All: Towards Universal Domain Translation With A Single Stylegan, Yong Du, Jiahui Zhan, Xinzhe Li, Junyu Dong, Sheng Chen, Ming-Hsuan Yang, Shengfeng He

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we propose a novel translation model, UniTranslator, for transforming representations between visually distinct domains under conditions of limited training data and significant visual differences. The main idea behind our approach is leveraging the domain-neutral capabilities of CLIP as a bridging mechanism, while utilizing a separate module to extract abstract, domain-agnostic semantics from the embeddings of both the source and target realms. Fusing these abstract semantics with target-specific semantics results in a transformed embedding within the CLIP space. To bridge the gap between the disparate worlds of CLIP and StyleGAN, we introduce a new non-linear mapper, the CLIP2P …

Dual Operation Aggregation Graph Neural Networks For Solving Flexible Job-Shop Scheduling Problem With Reinforcement Learning, Peng Zhao, You Zhou, Di Wang, Zhiguang Cao, Yubin Xiao, Xuan Wu, Yuanshu Li, Hongjia Liu, Wei Du, Yuan Jiang, Liupu Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With the widespread adoption of Internet Protocol (IP) communication technology and web-based platforms, cloud manufacturing has become a significant hallmark of Industry 4.0. Integrating graph algorithms into these web-enabled environments is crucial as they facilitate the representation and analysis of complex relationships in manufacturing processes, enabling efficient decision-making and adaptability in dynamic environments. As a key scheduling problem in cloud manufacturing, the flexible job-shop scheduling problem (FJSP) finds extensive applications in real-world scenarios. However, traditional FJSP-solving methods struggle to meet the efficiency and adaptability demands of cloud manufacturing due to generalization issues and excessive computational time, while reinforcement learning-based methods …

Minimum Multi-Service Fleet Size Problem: Shareability Graph And Network Flow Approach, Dingtong Yang, Yubin Liu, Hai Wang, Jinhua Zhao, Hamsa Balakrishnan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

On-demand, vehicle-based services—such as ride-hailing, food, grocery, and parcel delivery—have become ubiquitous over the past decade. These services can be categorized into four types (Sun et al., 2023): passenger mobility, goods delivery, information acquisition (e.g., probe vehicle for traffic conditions), and mobile server (e.g., vehicle displaying advertisements). Passenger mobility and goods delivery are typically fulfilled by separate fleets, each dedicated to a single service. However, if various services can be pooled and handled simultaneously by a multi-functional fleet while maintaining service quality, the total number of required vehicles and overall vehicle mileage could be significantly reduced. This exciting potential motivates …

Alphaedit: Null-Space Constrained Knowledge Editing For Language Models, Junfeng Fang, Houcheng Jiang, Kun Wang, Yunshan Ma, Jie Shi, Xiang Wang, Xiangnan He, Tat‑Seng Chua

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Large language models (LLMs) often exhibit hallucinations, producing incorrector outdated knowledge. Hence, model editing methods have emerged to enabletargeted knowledge updates. To achieve this, a prevailing paradigm is the locatingthen-editing approach, which first locates influential parameters and then edits themby introducing a perturbation. While effective, current studies have demonstrated that this perturbation inevitably disrupt the originally preserved knowledge within LLMs, especially in sequential editing scenarios. To address this, we introduce AlphaEdit, a novel solution that projects perturbation onto the null space of the preserved knowledge before applying it to the parameters. We theoretically prove that this projection ensures the output …

Scuzer: A Scheduling Optimization Fuzzer For Tvm, Xiangxiang Chen, Xingwei Lin, Jingyi Wang, Jun Sun, Jiashui Wang, Wenhai Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The concept of Deep Learning (DL) compiler was proposed to deploy DL models more efficiently on diverse hardware through optimization techniques. As one of the most popular DL compilers, TVM incorporates three levels (high-level, schedule, and low-level) of optimizations, which can inadvertently introduce code logic bugs and build failure bugs. Among these optimizations, scheduling optimization is the core component of DL compilers, which ensures the acceleration of models on all devices. However, the existing works only focus on the testing of high-level and low-level optimizations in TVM, fail to take the most important and challenging intermediate scheduling optimization layer into …

Can Industrial Agriculture Be Resilient To External Shocks? Industrial Agriculture In Diversified Clusters In Rural China, Qian Forrest Zhang, Zhanping Hu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We propose a new model – “industrial agriculture of smallholders” – to conceptualize the agri-food system in China. These smallholders are embedded in “diversified clusters” in rural China, which also include rural industries and extensive rural-urban linkages. Their relationships with markets are more complex and dynamic than what is often portrayed under the linear framework of “commodity chains”. As an alternative to the globalized model of industrial agriculture, we argue that “industrial agriculture of smallholders” has greater resilience to external shocks. Using a village in northern China during the COVID-19 pandemic, we illustrate how economic diversity within this “diversified cluster” …

New Policy Tools And Traditional Policy Models: Better Understanding Behavioural, Digital And Collaborative Instruments, Michael Howlett, Sarah Giest, Ishani Mukherjee, Araz Taeihagh

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The study of policy tools has been undertaken for several decades. This work has isolated and examined many different types of instruments or levers utilized by governments to implement their policies and examined in detail how they are arranged into mixes, packages, or portfolios of tools. However, recent developments in society and technology have highlighted the potential to use new or previously underutilized policy instruments for both traditional tasks and to address new challenges associated with emerging technologies and other contemporary issues. These tools include social media platforms, collaboration, behavioral insights, and data-driven approaches to policy-making and policy design using …

Dipl 6611/4611 International Relations Of Southeast Asia, Ann Marie Murphy Ph.D.

Diplomacy Syllabi

This class examines the international politics of Southeast Asia from a systems perspective. As secondary states geographically located in an area of great power interest, Southeast Asian countries have traditionally operated in an international system in which the "rules of the game" were largely written by great powers. These rules, in turn, create the context within which Southeast Asian states operate. This course explores how and why Southeast Asia evolved from a region of Western colonies to Cold War dominos, and later to one of economic dynamos. It then examines the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, changes in the balance …

The Myth Of The Best Interest Of The Child, Victoria Mikesell Mather

West Virginia Law Review

One of the basic tenets of Family Law as applied to children is consideration of “best interest of the child” in making decisions. Standards for custody, termination, adoption, and all other matters affecting children are overlaid with consideration of best interest. Unfortunately, the promise of best interest is lost in the actual mechanics of making these critical decisions involving children. This Article explores the disconnect between the ideal of using the best interest of the child as a key factor in legal decisions affecting children and the practicalities of competing interests. The Article first explores the common concern of the …

What Are The Games For?: The Hunger Games And Reality Tv, Audrey Perez

Senior Honors Theses

In Suzanne Collins’ series, The Hunger Games, a dystopian Capitol holds an annual televised gladiator-style competition in which child participants fight to the death. These Games function as a psychological tool of propaganda that influence both viewers and participants to sustain an oppressive government. Collins prominently explored the Games’ medium as a reality television show through the way it reinforces an ideology of oppression and control through visual messaging and emotional complicity to create division between classes of people. Real world reality TV also has ideological underpinnings that can negatively influence both viewers and participants through its depiction of a …

Exophonic Literature: Why And How Authors Write In A Second Language, Jonathan M. Bost

Senior Honors Theses

Milan Kundera, Julio Cortázar, Joseph Conrad, Rigoberta Menchú, and James Joyce are just some of the multitudinous authors who wrote in languages that are not their mother tongue. This phenomenon is called “exophony,” and it is more common than many would expect. There are various reasons why authors write exophonic literature: James Joyce wrote to a friend that he was at the end of English (1957), and Menchú’s editor Elizabeth Burgos-Debray claims Menchú wrote in Spanish to use the language of her oppressors against them. This thesis will investigate case studies of various exophonic authors, relate advice such authors have …

Put Me In, Coach: Constitutional Concerns Of Judicial Activism And Legislating From The Bench, Jacob M. Elliott

Senior Honors Theses

Unrestrained judicial activism and legislating from the bench at the Supreme Court level place federalism and freedom in jeopardy. By ignoring crucial doctrines like jurisdiction, deference, and independence, the Supreme Court has demonstrated a tendency toward reinterpreting existing Constitutional precedent as they see fit, basing judgments on extra-legal influences, and supplanting Constitutional principles with their own personal policy preferences.

Numerous cases demonstrate the looming threat of judicial overreach; these cases are often considered some of the most damaging and injurious decisions in the history of the American federal judiciary. One potential solution is to appoint justices who will operate …

Mindful Parenting: The Impact On Parental Stress, Self-Efficacy, And Self-Compassion, Maureen Helm

Senior Honors Theses

Parents face additional pressures as they deal with the challenge of their own lives as well as stressors associated with caring for their children. While some stress may serve as necessary motivation, too much stress can adversely impact one’s health, work and relationships. Research indicates that many parents have increased stress and emotional distress, as well as decreased self-efficacy and self-compassion which impacts their overall well-being and abilities as parents. With this in mind, it is essential to study healthy and effective coping strategies to combat these detrimental factors. One potential intervention that has been shown to impact parental stress …

Code Of Faith: Programming Spirituality In The Digital Age, Caleb Martin

Senior Honors Theses

With the increasing pervasiveness of technology in our daily lives, it is critical to consider the potential effects on an individual's religious practices and beliefs from software applications developed within a religious framework. This thesis delves into the relationship between software development and religious experiences, examining the manner in which the creation, operation, and application of religious technology can mold and impact an individual's spiritual development. This thesis aims to inform the implementation of technologies with a nonsecular application, ensuring that they are developed with a deep respect for the nuances of religious experience. The findings of this study will …

Life And Death In The First Clod Incantation Of The “Ashur Dream Ritual Compendium”, Alan Lenzi

Pacific Faculty Work

No abstract provided.

Negotiating Power: The Influence Of Women In Shaping Colonial Barbados And Jamacia, From 1750-1833, Giselle Rivera

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

This study investigates the roles of European, Mulatto, and African women in colonial Barbados and Jamaica from 1750 to 1833, arguing that these women were not passive recipients of colonial structures but active agents in shaping and contesting them. Drawing on a wide array of primary sources including personal journals, legal documents, medical texts, maps, and colonial artwork this paper explores how women negotiated the intersecting hierarchies of race, class, and gender in both rural and urban contexts. In plantation settings, European women exercised informal authority within patriarchal confines, often reinforcing racial and gendered oppression, while enslaved African women navigated …

Library Post Partnerships: A Solution To Increase Access To Public Library Facilities In The Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, Wendy Rein

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

Resource deserts are areas with residential populations that lack access to public amenities. Current standards in the field of Library and Information Sciences recommend a two-mile buffer zone around public libraries in order to ensure access and use of facilities. In the Las Vegas metropolitan area, multiple library deserts can be identified overlapping with areas designated for community development. This research shows that public libraries provide resources that can improve community metrics, notably educational and vocational outcomes, but that many neighborhoods in the region lack access to a facility. Increasing the distribution of public libraries as they are currently architecturally …

The Blood Moon, Omar Shafi

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

What turns someone into a monster? Is it their nature—or what the world has taken from them? These are the questions at the heart of The Blood Moon, a short story that reimagines the origin of the werewolf myth through a tragic lens. Created for an upper-division honors course titled Monsters and Monstrosity, this project draws from literary research, folklore, and cultural analysis to examine how trauma, grief, and unresolved hatred can transform even the most innocent among us.

Set in a mythic past, The Blood Moon follows Warrei, a young, wolf-like creature known as a Wolven, who loses everything …

Black Women & Feminism: Sncc, The Second Wave, And Balancing Identities Of Gender & Race, Olivia Sinkevitch

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

This research paper discusses American Black women’s interactions with feminist movements with a focus on the story of one civil rights group, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The paper tells the account of how advancing feminist thought in the 1960s was met with different reactions among SNCC’s racially diverse membership. With ideologies such as Black Power also gaining in popularity at this time, rifts among racial lines were created within SNCC that would echo later racial disparities in the second-wave feminist movement of the 1970s. The thesis of the paper largely speaks to the issue of intersectionality and how …

A Review Of The National Partnership For Student Success (Npss) Voluntary Quality Standards: A Resource For Community-Based Organizations In Southern Nevada, Benita R. Brooks, Omolola A. Odejemi,, Carolina Clavel, Amy Wolfe

National Institute for the Advancement of Education (NIAE)

This literature review examined how three nonprofits—Saga Education (high-impact tutoring), MENTOR (high-quality mentoring), and Communities In Schools (wraparound/integrated student supports)—aligned their programs with the National Partnership for Student Success (NPSS) Voluntary Quality Standards. By leveraging empirical research and data analysis, these organizations have developed evidence-based practices that improve academic outcomes, enhance student well-being, and create more supportive learning environments. The review evaluated the impact of each program on student outcomes, offering insights into how research-driven approaches in tutoring, mentoring, and wraparound student support contribute to student success. The NPSS initiative and its Voluntary Quality Standards provide a comprehensive framework for …