Digital Commons Network^™

Facilitating Conditions And Gender Gaps: Predicting Intention To Adopt Digital Education Resources Among Teachers, Bijaya Shrestha, Virginia Clinton-Lisell

Education, Health & Behavior Studies Student Publications

This study examined factors shaping school teachers’ intention to adopt Digital Educational Resources (DER) in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Factors included were performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and behavioural intention. Fifty-six (56) teachers completed an online survey measuring those factors. Among all the factors, facilitating conditions were the marginally significant positive predictor of behavioural intention to adopt DER. Male teachers reported marginally higher behavioural intention (p =.05) to adopt DER compared to female teachers. However, gender was not a significant moderator in relationship between behavioural intention …

Using “You” As A Subject In Biology Assessment Questions: Examining Student Preferences For Second-Person Framing, Noelle Clark, Kate Hill, Jeremy L. Hsu

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

In college biology courses, exams and quizzes are often used to assess students’ knowledge and performance. Since assessments are a crucial part of biology classes, there has been a wide range of work examining how assessment questions are written, revealing that small changes in how such questions are worded may have large impacts on students’ reading comprehension and performance. One aspect that instructors consider when writing a question is subject framing, i.e., which individual, if any, is being placed as the focal point of the question. In this study, we focus on the following subject framings, an authentic scientist, a …

Teaching Through Sound: Approaches To The Use Of Fixed Media In Pedagogical Viola Etudes, Roberto C. Mochetti Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the pedagogical possibilities of fixed media in newly composed viola etudes. While fixed media is commonly treated as accompaniment or as a performance medium, this project argues that it can also serve as an active component of technical and musical training. By providing stable and repeatable sonic environments, fixed media can support forms of listening, intonation, sound production, and performer awareness that are difficult to cultivate through traditional etudes alone. This argument responds to a broader pedagogical gap in string training, where long-established etudes and models of technical development remain central even as contemporary viola performance increasingly …

Operator Theoretic Methods For Coupled Pde In General Geometries, Yuhao Mu

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This thesis develops and applies operator theoretic methods applied to coupled PDE analysis in general geometries, in which the coupling involves interchange across a boundary. The general geometries refer to domains with merely Lipschitz continuous boundaries (e.g. any non-convex polygon), as opposed to those with any further smoothness conditions on the boundary. The key results include a new pressure elimination method for coupled fluid–structure interaction (FSI) PDEs with boundary interchange, which allows an explicit semigroup representation of the PDE in terms of just the fluid and structure variables. This novel technique, valid over arbitrary bounded Lipschitz domains, leads to a …

Human-Driven, Autonomous, Or Hybrid? The Optimal Fleet Configurations For Ride-Hailing Platforms, Wenjing Li, Yali Zhang, Jun Sun, Zhaojun Yang

Information Systems Faculty Publications

The growing commercialization of autonomous vehicles (AVs) is reshaping consumer service preferences and prompting ride-hailing platforms to redesign fleet structures that accommodate the coexistence of human-driven vehicles (HVs) and AVs. This article develops a queueing game framework that incorporates vehicle heterogeneity and consumer preference differences to systematically compare three fleet configuration strategies: the pure HV (PHV) strategy (HVs only), the pure AV (PAV) strategy (AVs only), and the hybrid strategy (both HVs and AVs). The analysis highlights how consumer mismatch losses, AV operating costs, and service rates jointly shape equilibrium outcomes. Results show that when consumer mismatch losses are moderate, …

Research Progress On Tubular Chain Conveyors And Their Applications In The Grain, Oil And Food Industry, Wu Weiwei, Xia Chaoyong, Sui Sai

Food and Machinery

Tubular chain conveyors have become core equipment in modern bulk material handling by virtue of their significant advantages, including highly efficient conveying, fully enclosed operation, and three-dimensional flexible spatial layout. This paper systematically reviews the current status and progress of research on tubular chain conveyors both domestically and internationally, and provides an in-depth analysis of their technological evolution, core theoretical framework, and industrial adaptability. Emphasis is placed on reviewing their engineering applications in the grain, oil, and food industry. In view of the remaining deficiencies in current research concerning adaptability to extreme operating conditions, multi-physics coupling mechanism modeling, large-scale implementation …

Capturing An Electron In The Virtual State, Alok Nath Singh, Bibek Bhandari, Rafael Sánchez, Andrew N. Jordan

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We address a foundational question in quantum mechanics: can a particle be directly found in a classically-forbidden virtual state? We instantiate this conceptual question by investigating the traversal of electrons through a tunnel barrier, which we define in a triple quantum dot system where the occupation of the central dot is energetically avoided. The motivation behind this setup is to answer whether the central dot is occupied or not during a virtual transition when it is being explicitly monitored. We investigate this problem in two different limits of continuous measurements: the stochastic quantum diffusion and the quantum jump. We find …

Board Of Directors Meeting Minutes (July 13, 2026), Dmacc Board Of Directors

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

This file contains the minutes from the Des Moines Area Community College Board meeting held on July 13, 2026.

To Study The Reward And Recognition Practices On Employee Motivation And Performance With Referenceto It Industry In Pune Region, Harsha Sammangi, Aditya Jagatha, Ruthwik Gullipalli

Research & Publications

Machine learning has substantially improved consumer credit-risk prediction, yet its deployment in lending decisionsraises persistent concerns regarding demographic fairness, financial exclusion, explainability, and regulatory defensibility. Thisstudy develops and empirically evaluates a Fairness-Aware Credit Intelligence (FACI) framework — a four-layer architectureintegrating predictive modeling, in- and post-processing fairness intervention, explainability and human policy override, andportfolio-level simulation and governance — using loan-level data from 412,683 consumer lending applications spanning 2021–2026. The study compares a traditional credit scorecard, gradient boosting and deep neural network models, two single-constraint fairness-aware models (demographic parity and equal opportunity), and the integrated FACI framework acrosspredictive accuracy (AUC-ROC), approval rates, …

Performance Evaluation Of Approximate Nearest Neighbor Search On Nvidia Bluefield-3 Dpu, Sophia Bhoria, Nathan Tibbetts, Arjun Kirubakaran, Alima Subedi, Satish Puri

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Advanced SmartNICs known as Data Processing Units (DPU) enable in-network data analytics, being equipped with standard processors and accelerators capable of doing custom computation on-NIC. These SmartNICs are advantageous because the host CPU can delegate simpler data analytics tasks, like filtering, to the NIC where the data first arrives. Only data needing further refinement must be passed on to the host CPU. Our benchmarks focus on NVIDIA's commercially available Bluefield-3 DPU. Similarity search, particularly Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) search, is an important domain with wide usage across numerous applications. We explore ANN search on SmartNICs, providing insight into the performance …

Regularization-Based Crystallite Size Distribution Analysis Of Pt/C Catalysts From X-Ray Diffraction, Chenglong Ma, Weiyu Shi, Zhongjun Hou

Online First

Accurate determination of the platinum (Pt) crystallite size distribution in carbon-supported Pt/C catalysts is critical for evaluating both the initial performance and long-term durability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Conventional characterization approaches—including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and the Scherrer equation—are limited by restricted statistical sampling, sensitivity to support interference, or the inability to resolve the full breadth of the size distribution. In this work, we present a regularization-based inversion framework that extracts the volume-weighted crystallite size distribution directly from X-ray diffraction (XRD) line profiles, without requiring any a priori assumption regarding the functional form …

Genedit: A Context-Aware Equity, Diversity And Inclusion Principles Integration Tool For Software Engineering Education, Chetan Arora, Ajanie Kodagoda Bammanna Arachchige, Jinchun Du, Muhammad Aamir Cheema, Aster Cosmos, Antonette Shibani, Vasudha Malhotra, Naeem Janjua, Afaq Shah

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is widely acknowledged as essential in software engineering (SE), yet day-to-day integration into teaching remains uncommon due to time pressures, low instructor confidence, and fragmented resources. We present GenEDIt, a purpose-built, LLM-backed chatbot that helps educators weave EDI into SE education artefacts without altering intended learning outcomes. Unlike generic chat interfaces, GenEDIt provides a tailored UI and workflow, and embeds retrieval over a vetted EDI knowledge base. The tool supports five educator-centred modes - (1) methods for integrating EDI into current activities; (2) examples/datasets; (3) EDI-integrated assessments and rubrics; (4) reflective prompts; and (5) rapid …

Challenges In Scaling R-Tree Spatial Search On Processing-In-Memory, Tasmia Jannat, Michael Gowanlock, Satish Puri

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Spatial query processing is important in scientific, geospatial, and data-intensive applications. R-trees are widely used to index spatial objects, but their query-dependent traversal creates irregular work across different regions. This poster studies the challenges of scaling R-tree spatial search on a commercial Processing-in-Memory (PIM) system. Although PIM reduces CPU to memory data movement by executing search near memory, it does not remove full-pipeline overheads: the host still manages data placement, query batching, kernel launches, result retrieval, and aggregation. Our results show strong DPU-side search acceleration, with PIM kernel speedup ranging from about 20 x to 73 x, but end-to-end speedup …

Learning Programming In Informal Spaces: Using Emotion As A Lens To Understand Novice Struggles On R/Learnprogramming, Alif Al Hasan, Subarna Saha, Mia Mohammad Imran

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Novice programmers experience emotional difficulties in informal online learning environments, where Confusion and Frustration can hinder motivation and learning outcomes. This study investigates novice programmers' emotional experiences in informal settings, identifies causes of emotional struggle, and explores design opportunities for affect-aware support systems. We manually annotated 1,500 posts from r/learnprogramming using the Learning-Centered Emotions framework, applying clustering, and axial coding. Confusion, Curiosity, and Frustration dominated emotional experiences, sometimes co-occurring and linked to early learning stages. Positive emotions were infrequent. The primary emotional triggers included ambiguous errors, unclear learning pathways, and misaligned resources. We identify five key areas where novice programmers …

Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence For Real-Time Quality Assurance In Additive Manufacturing, Md Shafikul Islam

LSU Master's Theses

Additive manufacturing requires quality assurance methods capable of detecting process anomalies before defects propagate across subsequent layers. This thesis develops a trustworthy artificial intelligence framework for real-time surface anomaly detection in Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) using laser-derived depth maps and Vision Transformers (ViTs). Conventional convolutional models aggregate global context gradually through stacked local kernels, which can limit their sensitivity to spatially distributed surface deviations. The proposed approach instead tokenizes depth-map patches and applies global self-attention to classify four process conditions: normal printing, under-extrusion, over-extrusion, and empty or void regions. The framework combines token-level attention visualization, vanilla saliency, Integrated Gradients, and …

Echoes Of Medieval Timekeeping In Middle-Earth And Valinor, Kristine Larsen

Journal of Tolkien Research

Throughout his six-plus decades of work spent tinkering with his invented world and its mythology, Tolkien experimented with numerous calendars and timekeeping schemes, some relying upon direct pre-telescopic observations of the heavens and others mathematical calculations. This paper investigates medieval resonances and echoes in a sample of his various schemes, demonstrating how Tolkien’s use of medievalist timekeeping is consistent with, and greatly adds to, his creation of a self-consistent invented world

Ecological Footprint Assessment, Santina Benincasa

Open Educational Resources

This handout guides students through a structured ecological footprint assessment using the online Footprint Calculator. By following a series of steps—selecting their location, entering detailed lifestyle information, and reviewing personalized results—students evaluate how many planets would be required if everyone lived with their same resource consumption patterns. The activity prompts learners to identify the largest contributors to their footprint, quantify their impact in global hectares, and explore scenario-based changes that could reduce their environmental demand. Through reflection, students consider how everyday human behaviors influence Earth’s productive capacity and resource availability. Overall, the exercise encourages critical thinking about sustainability and personal …

Automated Multi-Stage Semantic Analysis And Synthesis Of Heterogeneous Unstructured Operational Repositories, Michael Vianana, Tanmay Kayande, Nigel Nageer, Nupur Murlidharan

Defensive Publications Series

Modern organizations often struggle to identify systemic structural issues because post-mortem reviews, lessons-learned records, and risk logs are isolated in unstructured narrative text files across disparate storage repositories. A system is described that utilizes a multi-stage language model processing pipeline to autonomously aggregate, structure, and cross-reference completely unstructured, multi-source operational narrative text documents to expose global systemic risks and organizational blind spots. The system continuously connects to raw text silos, extracts semantic entities, and standardizes unstructured content into a globally normalized taxonomy to map risk correlations. Keywords: unstructured data, semantic analysis, natural language processing, language models, risk management, data clustering, …

Efficient And Accurate Evaluation Of The Gauss Hypergeometric Function, Caleb Jacobs, Cecile M. Piret, Bengt Fornberg

Michigan Tech Publications

The Gauss hypergeometric function unifies many special functions encountered in physics, engineering, as well as many other applied sciences. With its prominence across disciplines, numerous methods have been developed to compute it for any value of its argument and its three additional parameters. However, these methods of computation are either slower than desired or don’t offer the accuracy needed in many applications. Taking advantage of a conformal mapping in conjunction with the numerous connection or transformation formulas, we have developed a fast and accurate method for evaluation in double precision arithmetic.

Analisis Respon Siswa Berdasarkan Asesmen Berbasis Taksonomi Solo (Structure Of The Observed Learning Outcome) Pada Materi Perubahan Fisika Dan Kimia, Nurul Amaliyah, Imraatul Mufidah, Dyne Rizki Puspitasari, Siti Zubaidah

Journal of Innovation and Teacher Professionalism

This study aimed to describe the level of seventh-grade students' understanding of physical and chemical changes through the analysis of their responses using a SOLO taxonomy-based assessment. The study employed a qualitative descriptive approach, with lesson implementation conducted through the Lesson Study stages of plan, do, and see. The participants were 31 seventh-grade students of SMP Laboratorium Universitas Negeri Malang. Data were collected from students' written responses to four essay questions representing the unistructural, multistructural, relational, and extended abstract levels of the SOLO taxonomy and were analyzed descriptively. The results showed that most students were at the …

Re: Conditional Approval Letter For The Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Insufficiently Reclaimed Sites Quality Assurance Project Plan, Molly Roby

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Re: Conditional Approval Letter For The Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Unreclaimed Sites Quality Assurance Project Plan, Emma Rott

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Re: Conditional Approval Letter For The Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Unreclaimed Sites Quality Assurance Project Plan, Emma Rott

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Gwtc-4.0: Population Properties Of Merging Compact Binaries, A. G. Abac, I. Abouelfettouh, Teviet Creighton, Mario C. Diaz, Raul Alberto Espinosa Perez, J Lawrence, Francisco Llamas Villarreal, Soma Mukherjee, Volker Quetschke, Wenhui Wang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We detail the population properties of binary neutron star, neutron star–black hole binary, and binary black hole mergers using 158 events from the cumulative Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog 4.0. The black hole primary mass distribution consists of a power-law-like continuum that steepens above 35 M⊙ with overdensities at 10 M⊙ and 35 M⊙. Binary black holes with primary masses near 10 M⊙ are more likely to have less massive secondaries, with a mass ratio distribution peaking at  q=0.74+0.13−0.13, potentially a signature of stable mass transfer during binary evolution. Black hole spins are inferred to be nonextremal, with …

Narrowband Searches For Continuous Gravitational Waves From Known Pulsars In The First Two Parts Of The Fourth Ligo–Virgo–Kagra Observing Run, A. G. Abac, I. Abouelfettouh, Teviet Creighton, Mario C. Diaz, Raul Alberto Espinosa Perez, J. Lawrence, Francisco Llamas Villarreal, Miriam Ramos Arevalo, Soma Mukherjee, Gaukhar Nurbek, Volker Quetschke, Wenhui Wang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Rotating nonaxisymmetric neutron stars (NSs) are promising sources for continuous gravitational waves (CWs). CWs may, if detected, inform us about the internal structure and equation of state of NSs. Here, we present a narrowband search for CWs from known pulsars, for which a matched-filter search can be applied. Narrowband searches are robust to mismatches between electromagnetic (EM) and gravitational emissions, in contrast to fully targeted searches where they are assumed to be phase-locked. In this work, we search for the CW counterparts emitted by 34 pulsars using data from the first and second parts of the fourth LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA observing run. …

Experimental And Density Functional Theory Study Of The Structural, Optical, And Electronic Properties Of La2Nimno6 And Nd2Nimno6 Double Perovskite Ceramics, Mahmoud S. Alkathy, Anibal Thiago Bezerra, Person Pereira Neves, Mariama Rebello De Sousa Dias, Alexandre José Gualdi, Marco Daldin Teodoro, Valmo R. Mastelaro, José A. Eiras

Physics Faculty Publications

Despite extensive study of La₂NiMnO₆ double perovskites, a systematic understanding of the effects of A-site rare-earth substitution on coupled structural, electronic, and optical properties remains lacking. Here, we provide the first integrated experimental-computational comparison of La₂NiMnO₆ (LaNMO) and Nd₂NiMnO₆ (NdNMO), establishing quantitative structure–property relationships. Rietveld refinement demonstrates that Nd³⁺ substitution amplifies MnO₆ and NiO₆ octahedral distortions 5-fold (Δd_Mn: 4.69 × 10^–4 to 23.9 × 10^–4; Δd_Ni: 1.18 × 10^–4 to 5.91 × 10^–4), reduces Mn–O–Ni bond …

Technical Disclosure: The Unified Metric-Shift Engine (Umse), Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This technical disclosure formalizes the system engineering specifications for the Unified Metric-Shift Engine (UMSE). Rather than treating elemental replication, spatial teleportation, and temporal navigation as independent physical anomalies, the UMSE architectural framework unifies them into a single hardware-software stack built upon 2D viscoelastic substrate mechanics .

By manipulating the z-axis coordinate projection and helical phase vectors of localized soliton excitations (particles), the system operates entirely within room-temperature, non-equilibrium phase space . Inspired by the Nobel-Prize-adjacent mechanics of Soliton Trapping (Caltech) and Laser Wakefield Acceleration (LWFA), this disclosure details how a garage-budget harmonic computer can manipulate the fundamental universal source code—the …

Emergent Volumetric Expansion: Resolving The Hubble Tension Via 2d Viscoelastic Substrate Mechanics And Fused Bao Facets, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This paper presents a rigorous, particle-free alternative to the standard Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) metric expansion paradigm by unifying the Dimensionally Extended Holographic Projection (DEHP) model and Informational Exomemory Cosmology (IEC). Rather than treating the vacuum as a geometric void expanding via dark energy, we formalize space as a continuous, two-dimensional (2D) viscoelastic phase fluid substrate operating at a resonant baseline (z=0). Three-dimensional (3D) baryonic matter emerges exclusively as localized, high-tension wave crests ("knots") projected vertically along a spatial z-axis, topologically anchored to zero-volume underbelly negative wave troughs ("anchors").

By applying continuum fluid mechanics to this membrane architecture, we reinterpret the 150-megaparsec …

Assessing Digital Collaborative Skills Among Pre-Service Elementary Teachers: Initial Instrument Evidence And Demographic Differences, Candra Utama, Aynin Mashfufah, Esti Untari, Sofia Haratee

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

Digital collaboration skills are an important competence for prospective elementary school teachers as 21^st-century learning demands the ability to use technology to work on a team, to communicate and share responsibilities, and to reflect on the learning process. This study aims to analyze evidence of the instrument initial validity, reliability, collaborative skill profile, and score differences based on the demographic characteristics of pre-service elementary teachers after participating in digital-based collaborative learning. The research uses a post-implementation evaluative quantitative approach sourced from a digital collaborative learning research design in the fourth-semester of elementary school teacher education study program at …

Mapping The Integration Of Ai Into The Dental Hygiene Workforce: Barriers And Opportunities, Paul Supan Dds, Ma, Mph, Munira Muluke Dds, Ms, Jim Oakes Ms

Virginia Dental Journal

No abstract provided.