Digital Commons Network^™

Bridging Content, Practice, And Pedagogy In K–12 Computing Education: A Review Of Computer Science In K–12: An A To Z Handbook On Teaching Programming, Matthew Priem

Essays in Education

This book review examines Computer Science in K-12: An A to Z Handbook on Teaching Programming, a resource designed to support K-12 computer science educators. Bringing together contributions from forty authors, the book integrates content knowledge, computational practices, and pedagogical strategies for teaching programming across grade levels. The review highlights the text’s emphasis on addressing student misconceptions, connecting research to practice, and balancing teacher guidance with student autonomy. Although the alphabetical organization may not always reflect pedagogical progression, the modular structure allows for flexible use. Overall, the handbook is a valuable professional resource for both aspiring and practicing computer …

Tracing Caribbean Narratives At The Intersection Of Language, Identity, And Social Media, Juan-Carlos M.E. Goilo

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article delves into how the creole language of Papiamentu navigates the complexities of cultural identity and decolonial praxis within the social media landscape. Drawing from literature reviews, digital ethnography, content analysis, and an interview with social media influencer Gerald Lijde, I explore Papiamentu’s deep-rooted colonial ambivalence—a legacy that shapes its contemporary online use. While digital platforms offer new avenues for celebrating and formalizing Papiamentu, they also risk commodifying its radical, anti-colonial roots into tourist-friendly narratives. By linking online content production to theories of agency and digital culture, the article illuminates Papiamentu’s enduring role as a vessel of resistance and …

Theoretical Model For A Poroelastic Membrane Under Uniform Load, Minh Duc Nguyen

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Flexible membrane wings appear throughout both natural and engineered flyers — parachutes, sails, birds, and bats — and are known to confer favorable aerodynamic characteristics through deformation in response to the surrounding flow. To date, flexibility and porosity have largely been studied in isolation, yet in a poroelastic membrane the two are coupled: as the membrane extends under load, its pores stretch with the surface. This study takes the first step toward analyzing that coupling by characterizing how the effective elasticity of the membrane depends on its porosity under uniform static pressure. Circular clamped membranes were simulated across a range …

Effects Of A Low-Dosage Bilingual Oral Language Intervention On Language Outcomes Among Dual Language Learners, Dana S. Melik

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Dual language learners (DLLs) represent one of the fastest-growing populations in the United States, and many continue to receive English-language instruction with limited bilingual language support (Lindholm-Leary, 2022). Because oral language development is associated with later academic outcomes (Spencer & Petersen, 2020), evidence-based bilingual oral language interventions are needed, particularly in underserved schools where staffing and resources are limited. The present study examined the effects of Story Champs Bilingual Edition 2.0 (SCBE2.0), a narrative-based Spanish-English oral language intervention, on language outcomes among Spanish-English DLLs when delivered by trained nonteacher personnel at a low dosage. English and Spanish oral language outcomes …

Open-Source Software For Computing Code Automorphisms, Mateo Fernandez-Tyson, Gianna Baker

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

An error-correcting code is a mathematical structure that models the flow of information through a noisy communication channel and seeks to mitigate errors through redundancy. These codes have a wide range of uses spanning from satellite transmissions to cryptographically secure communication schemes. An automorphism of a code is a permutation of the coordinate positions that preserves the code, and these symmetries are useful in helping to answer questions of code equivalence, classification, and decoding. Our work focuses on implementing and testing algorithms for code automorphism computation using GAP and the GUAVA package. We present an efficient algorithm for generating all …

On Shrinkage Estimators For Pareto Ii Parameters For Right Censored Type Ii Data, Jubran Abdulameer Labban, Hadeel Alkutubi

Iraqi Journal for Computer Science and Mathematics

The aim of this study is to estimate the first two shrinkage estimators for the parameters of the Pareto II distribution with right-censored Type II data. The methods we used in this study are: maximum likelihood and Bayesian. In the Bayesian method, we use non-informative priority, which is Jeffries priority, and we use the squared error loss function. These estimators were compared through Monte Carlo simulation to indicate preference based on the mean square error criterion.

Context-Aware Personalization, Kate Strudwick, Zoe Schladow

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure describes an automated process for transparent algorithmic profiling and data shaping that allows an individual to actively curate environmental and physiological data to dynamically guide and personalize machine learning models. By moving beyond rigid history logs or binary input structures, the techniques of the disclosure enable a traceable, user-directed taste profile that maps real-world context onto digital preferences and actively seeds future recommendation behaviors to counteract algorithmic flattening. The disclosed system helps Artificial Intelligence (AI) models, including foundation models, generative AI models, and/or large language models (LLMs), capture and interpret multifaceted human data streams to accurately personalize user …

Weibull-Aft And Random Forest Hybrid Modeling Of Diesel Generators In Burkina Faso, Zoewendbem Alain Ilboudo, Frédéric Bationo

Engineering and Technology Journal

Diesel thermal power plants are an essential link to ensure energy security in the countries of the Sahel, despite the development of renewable energies. In Burkina Faso, these plants contribute greatly to electricity production. However, their operation is influenced by a particularly restrictive environment characterized by ambient temperatures up to 49 °C, humidity variability greater than 70% and high exposure to dust. These conditions accelerate equipment degradation, reduce reliability and increase unexpected failures. This study proposes a contextualized predictive maintenance tool. Indeed, it is based on a Contextualized Global Risk Index (GPRI) combining a climate risk indicator, a probability of …

Identify User Navigation Patterns And Digital Experience Deficiencies Using Probabilistic Sequence Modeling And Llm-Driven Synthetic Personas, Hp Inc

Defensive Publications Series

Understanding how users navigate complex digital platforms is essential for improving conversion, usability, and overall experience. Raw clickstream data generated by web platforms is highly granular, sparse, and noisy, which makes direct URL-level analysis unreliable and computationally unstable. In addition, traditional analytics approaches rely on aggregate metrics or predefined funnels that fail to capture sequential dependencies and heterogeneous user intent. This disclosure describes a method for identifying navigation inefficiencies, behavioral drop-off patterns, and experience deficiencies by combining probabilistic modeling of user navigation sequences with AI-driven synthetic personas. The method models user sessions as discrete-time Markov processes over a reduced semantic …

Evidence-Based Guidance System For Data Science Teams Using Generative Ai Under Uncertainty, Kristoffer Ahlstrom-Vij

Defensive Publications Series

A method for implementing evidence-based guidance for a data science team using generative artificial intelligence under uncertainty is provided. The method includes reviewing existing evidence on generative AI in knowledge work, including empirical literature on productivity effects, cognition and skill formation, and human factors research on automation complacency and cognitive offloading. The method includes evaluating the existing evidence across parallel considerations and deriving a plurality of principles from the existing evidence. The principles include an accountability principle stating that accountability for work cannot be self-certified, an aggregation principle directing to read more but not think less, a writing reservation principle …

Zero-Enrollment Target Speaker Extraction, Zhi Li, Xuelin Huang

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure describes a new framework for isolating a specific person's voice from background noise, often called Target Speaker Extraction (TSE), speech isolation, voice separation, audio unmixing, voice filtering,  target audio filtering, speaker segregation, acoustic filtering, vocal isolation, target voice retrieval, or speech decoupling for devices equipped with artificial intelligence. Traditional voice recognition systems require users to manually record their voice in a quiet room, which is frustrating and often fails to recognize natural changes in a person's voice like sickness or morning voice. Rather than requiring the user to perform this manual process, the new framework described herein enables …

A Method For Multi-Modal Tensor Distillation And Non-Perturbative Phase Retrieval Inside Decentralized Anamorphic Substrates, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

When decentralized edge agents implement Continuous Online Local Plasticity via an Anamorphic Memory Lattice (AML), the local elastic weight layer (\(\Phi _{t}\)) experiences rapid structural saturation under high-velocity multi-modal data streams. This saturation triggers localized impedance mismatches, where the model can no longer distinguish between environmental noise and high-fidelity operational tool telemetry, degrading the system back into an chaotic, ungrounded state.

This paper introduces a standalone technical method for Multi-Modal Tensor Distillation and Non-Perturbative Phase Retrieval inside decentralized anamorphic substrates. By implementing a phase-locked spatial-harmonic filter directly over the elastic parameter layer, this framework allows the model to continuously compress …

A Method For Continuous Local Plasticity And Catastrophic Forgetting Mitigation Via Anamorphic Memory Lattices And Dynamic Weight Partitioning, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

Current autoregressive transformer scaling laws dictate that foundation model weights must remain static post-training to prevent catastrophic forgetting and alignment drift. Consequently, modern edge agents are restricted to volatile, stateless context manipulations (e.g., Retrieval-Augmented Generation), erasing environmental experiences at every context flush and halting true progression toward decentralized Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

This paper introduces an architectural blueprint for Continuous Online Local Plasticity utilizing an Anamorphic Memory Lattice (AML) paired with Dynamic Weight Partitioning (DWP). By structurally separating a model's network topology into a frozen global baseline core (\(W_{\text{global}}\)) and an elastic, orthogonal local substrate (\(W_{\text{local}}\)), decentralized agents can permanently …

A Method For Algorithmic Entropy Mitigation And Context Window Equilibrium In High-Dimensional Transformer Architectures, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

High-dimensional Autoregressive Transformer architectures scale linearly or quadratically in computational, thermodynamic, and financial overhead relative to context window saturation. In continuous multi-turn token processing, models suffer from "Prompt Gravity"—a compounding mathematical distortion of the Softmax attention matrix driven by localized token accumulation. This distortion shifts in-context token weights, resulting in structural degradation, diminished operational return on investment (ROI), and severe "sandbox sycophancy" where factual grounding collapses into localized linguistic coherence.

This paper introduces a decentralized, low-entropy architecture designed to decouple structural grounding from active token processing. By utilizing localized, high-entropy open-weight nodes (e.g., legacy Llama architectures) to simulate an offline, …

Fmea-Based Risk Assessment And Improvements For Vascular Access Education In Hemodialysis, Nai-Hua Hsiao

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

This study evaluates and improves the patient education and care process before and after arteriovenous fistula surgery in hemodialysis patients. Inadequate implementation of this process may lead to multiple clinical risks. Currently, Southern X Hospital lacks a standardized patient education protocol, resulting in duplicated, omitted, or inconsistent content. These deficiencies negatively affect patients' comprehension and adherence, potentially leading to resource waste and reduced dialysis quality. To address these issues, this study applies Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) to systematically identify potential failure modes within the education and care continuum. The CRITIC (Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation) method is used …

The Self-Aware Room: A Framework For Operational Self-Awareness In Evolvable Blended Environments, David B. Smith

Publications and Research

The Self-Aware Room (SAR) is a room-scale research environment developed within the larger Balanced Blended Space and Blended Reality Performance System research trajectory. Rather than treating the room as a conventional “smart” environment composed of fixed automation technologies, SAR approaches it as an evolvable blended environment made from physical, virtual, conceptual, sensory, computational, and performative relationships. Its defining feature is not any particular sensor, model, or output device, but the set of transformations through which physical activity becomes structured observation, bounded representation, interpreted state, governed decision, and mediated response.

This paper develops the conceptual and methodological foundations of SAR as …

2026 Convocation, Dr.Evan Glazer, Dr.Angela Rowley, Dr.Katie Berger, David Kung

Convocation

No abstract provided.

Addressing Knowledge And Data Gaps That Limit Pesticide Risk Assessment For Managed Solitary Bees Used For Alfalfa Pollination, Kimberly J. Hageman

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Acetylcholinesterase Immobilization On A Natural Thin Membrane For Stable Biocatalyst Design, Si̇nem Öztürk, Ceyhun Işik, Mustafa Teke

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

This study involved the immobilization of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) onto a natural thin membrane extracted from the inner epidermal layer of Allium cepa, with the aim of enhancing the enzyme’s stability, activity, and reusability for potential biotechnological applications. The membrane, composed of biocompatible polymers and naturally occurring functional groups, was used as a sustainable support in a combined strategy involving adsorption followed by glutaraldehyde-mediated cross-linking. Immobilization conditions were optimized by evaluating key factors such as enzyme concentration, membrane quantity, cross-linker dosage, and contact time to achieve maximal catalytic efficiency. Structural and morphological changes on the membrane surface were assessed via scanning …

Folic Acid-Targeted Polymeric Complex Imprinted With Doxorubicin And Quercetin For Controlled Drug Delivery In Cancer Therapy, Ceren Türkcan, Emi̇rhan İşeri̇

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

​Cancer therapy is often limited by the systemic toxicity and dose-dependent adverse effects of conventional chemotherapeutic agents such as doxorubicin (DOX). In this study, a folic acid-functionalized molecularly imprinted polymeric complex based on poly(HEMA) crosslinked with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate was synthesized for the controlled release of DOX in combination with quercetin (QUE), a flavonoid known for its antioxidant and chemosensitizing properties. The aim of this work was to develop and physicochemically characterize a preliminary targeted drug delivery platform at a material-design level. The polymeric complex was synthesized via free-radical polymerization following a DOX–QUE precomplex formation step. Structural characterization was performed …

Antifungal Activity Of Isolated Compounds From Centaurea Salicifolia Var. Salicifolia Against Candida Species, Including Multidrug-Resistant C. Auris, C. Inconspicua, And C. Dubliniensis, Seli̇n Tufan, Di̇lek Şatana, Nur Tan

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

Natural compounds obtained from plants have always held great potential for drug discovery and, as such, have drawn the attention of researchers as novel antifungal molecules that can be effective against fungal resistance. The antifungal activity of sesquiterpene lactones has been extensively investigated against various fungal strains, but there is limited data on their antifungal activity against Candida species. Sesquiterpene lactones are abundant in the Asteraceae family, and 90% of identified sesquiterpene lactones have been isolated from members of this family. Three extracts obtained from the aerial parts of Centaurea salicifolia var. salicifolia, which had not been investigated prior to …

Electrochemical Determination Of Terbutaline Using A Sno2 Nanoparticle-Modified Carbon Paste Electrode, Rauf Gulamov, Şenol Alpat, Si̇bel Kilinç Alpat

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

Terbutaline hemisulfate (THS), a selective beta-2 agonist, is preferred as a bronchodilator for the treatment of asthma and bronchitis, as well as a tocolytic agent to delay labor in acute situations during premature birth. The use of beta-2 agonists above a certain dose is considered doping in sports competitions. Therefore, it is important that they be determined with high sensitivity and selectivity within a short analysis time. In this study, a SnO2 nanoparticle-modified carbon paste electrode was developed for the determination of THS. Cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry were employed as electrochemical methods. The operating conditions of the developed …

Sensitive Electrochemical Sensor For Simultaneous Determination Of Epinephrine And Norepinephrine By Sio2np@Mwcnt-Cooh Nanoparticle-Modified Spces​, Merve Yilmaz Çilçar, Meli̇ke Bi̇lgi̇ Kamaç, Ayşenur Yilmaz Kabaca, Şahi̇n Toparli, Faruk Terzi̇oğlu, Emi̇r Ateş

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

Epinephrine (EP) and norepinephrine (NEP), both neurotransmitters, are two important biomolecules that play critical roles in the body, from the central nervous system to metabolic processes. They are also important biomarkers for clinical diagnosis and monitoring. In this study, a novel, fast, practical, and high-performance electrochemical sensor based on a SiO2NP@MWCNT-COOH nanocomposite was developed for the simultaneous determination of EP and NEP. The nanocomposite was modified onto the surface of screen-printed electrodes (SPCEs) and its characterization was performed (SEM-EDX, XRD, FTIR, CV, DPV, and EIS). The individual and simultaneous determinations of EP and NEP were performed using square-wave voltammetry, yielding …

Chitosan Microparticle-Based Antibacterial Nasal Barrier Formulation And In Vivo Evaluations, Güli̇z Ak, Ayça Erek, Tuğba Karakayali, Şadi̇ye Çeti̇n, Şenay Şanlier

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

Microorganisms remain a major cause of infectious diseases, emphasizing the need for alternative and complementary antimicrobial strategies. In this context, plant-derived materials have attracted increasing attention for their antimicrobial and protective properties. Chitosan, a biocompatible and cationic biopolymer, has emerged as an effective carrier system for encapsulating such plant-derived components. In this study, chitosan microparticles were prepared through ionic gelation followed by spray drying and loaded with thyme oil and olive leaf extract. The resulting microparticles exhibited an average size of approximately 1.8 μm and a total phenolic content of 23 mg GAE/g. These microparticles were incorporated into a glycerin–starch …

A Poly-L-Lysine-Functionalized Electrochemical Immunosensor Enables Highly Sensitive Detection Of Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor-Associated Protein 1, Berfi̇n Vural, Mustafa Kemal Sezgi̇ntürk

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

Tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated protein 1 (TRAP-1), a member of the mitochondrial heat shock protein family (HSP90), is essential for protein homeostasis, stress response, and cell cycle. TRAP-1 not only optimizes cellular energy production but also prevents cell death, thereby supporting the survival and proliferation of tumor cells. In addition to cancer, TRAP-1 has been associated with Parkinson’s disease, certain autoimmune disorders, and abnormalities in the kidney and urinary tract. In this study, a unique and useful indium tin oxide-polyethylene terephthalate (ITO–PET)-based electrochemical biosensor is described for detecting the biomarker TRAP-1. The ITO–PET electrode, selected as the working electrode, is …

Aptamer–Gold Nanoparticle-Based Lab-In-A-Tube Colorimetric Detection Of Malathion: Evaluation With Classical And Digital Readout Techniques, Emi̇ne Güler Çeli̇k

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

Colorimetric biosensing devices represent an important class of point-of-care (POC) diagnostics due to their ability to provide visible test outputs, their ease of integration with smartphone-based sensing, and their portability for field testing. In the context of agrifood safety, there is a growing need for portable, robust, and cost-effective detection devices. Pesticide residues can be present in a wide range of environmental and food samples, from water resources to fruits and vegetables, resulting in an increasing global demand for on-site testing. Colorimetric assays, when combined with smartphone-based sensing, can effectively address these needs. In this work, the aggregation-induced color change …

Surface Co-Crystallization With An Organic Single Crystal Enables Vapochromic And Luminescent Detection Of Phenols., Ivan Bondarenko, Kaleb Hood, Elani J. Cabrera-Vega, Aminata Dioume, Alaric Shaw, Josephine Bicknell, Simon J. Teat, Nicholas S. Settineri, Andrea M. Goforth, Stephanie S. Lee, Jun Jiao, Gonzalo Campillo-Alvarado

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present a novel approach for the vapochromic and luminescent detection of phenols through surface co-crystallization with single crystals of 9,10-bis(()-2-(pyridin-4-yl)vinyl)anthracene BP4VA. Upon exposure to 2,4,6-trifluorophenol (2,4,6-TFP), 3,4,5-trifluorophenol (3,4,5-TFP), and phenol (PhOH) vapor, BP4VA crystals exhibit significant changes in color and fluorescence intensity, offering a sensitive detection method. Detailed structural insights into intermolecular interactions are obtained from single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, as well as FT-IR and H NMR spectroscopies. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy demonstrate the reversibility of these changes, with crystal morphology and surface composition nearly returning to near-pristine single crystals of BP4VA after annealing. …

The Lottery You Do Not Want To Win: The Role Of Local Institutional Quality In Brazil's Fight Against The Persistent Transmission Of Poverty, Adaye Sosthene Yvan N'Guettia

Economics Honors Projects

When does improving local institutions increase the poverty-reducing effectiveness of transfers? This paper examines whether federal oversight strengthens municipal administration of anti-poverty programs in Brazil. I develop a governance model in which incumbents allocate resources across diversion, effort, and institutional investment under audits and incentives. Using exogenous variation from Brazil's random CGU audit lottery across 5,500 municipalities, I find audits reduce irregularities, strengthen capacity, improve nutritional monitoring and school infrastructure, and reduce extreme poverty — with effects largest in municipalities with weakest institutions. A marginal-value-of-public-funds analysis confirms the program is self-financing. Results show the poverty-reducing power of transfers depends critically …

Ruins And Remedies: Hospital Site Archaeology In Medieval Southeast Asia, Karen Hill

Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Equity In Evaluation: Examining Grading Practices And Student Experiences In Speech-Language Pathology Education, Jennifer Essig

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

Traditional grading practices remain the norm in communication sciences and disorders (CSD) education, despite evidence these systems may exacerbate inequities and affect motivation and perceptions of learning. This study examined how traditional and alternative grading practices are experienced by undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in CSD programs. Using a convergent mixed-methods design, survey data were collected from 73 students regarding perceptions of grading, motivation to learn, and emotional responses to assessment. Quantitative analyses indicated that students in alternatively graded classrooms reported significantly higher perceptions of fairness, clarity, and learning than those in traditionally graded settings. Qualitative analysis revealed contrasting emotional …