Digital Commons Network^™

Bridging The Global Divide In Ai Regulation: A Proposal For A Contextual, Coherent, And Commensurable Framework, Sangchul Park

Washington International Law Journal

As debates on potential societal harm from artificial intelligence (AI) culminate in legislation and international norms, a global divide is emerging in both AI regulatory frameworks and international governance structures. In terms of local regulatory frameworks, the European Union (E.U.), Canada, and Brazil follow a “horizontal” or “lateral” approach that postulates the homogeneity of AI, seeks to identify common causes of harm, and demands uniform human interventions. In contrast, the United States (U.S.), the United Kingdom (U.K.), Israel, and Switzerland (and potentially China) have pursued a “context-specific” or “modular” approach, tailoring regulations to the specific use cases of AI systems. …

Learning And Planning In Stochastic Interactive Environments With The Presence Of Sparse Dependence Structures, Zihao Deng

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

When interacting with an environment, an agent would want to make decisions on the fly based on the input of the dynamically changing environmental factors, so as to maximize the rewards or minimize the risks. In order to achieve that, one would want to learn the dynamics of the environment and employ efficient planning based on what has been learned about the environment. However, when the environment is large and convoluted, the planning and learning algorithms can easily become computationally intractable in general. In this thesis, we first quantitatively show that this type of problems is indeed hard to solve …

Role Of Vegfa In Intervertebral Disc Pathoanatomy And Low Back Pain, Ryan Potter

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Chronic low back pain (LBP) affects more than 80% of Americans and causes significant disability and staggering public health costs. Despite this astonishing prevalence, there are currently no disease modifying therapies. Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration accounts for a considerable proportion of LBP, but the precise mechanisms driving the painful pathoanatomy are not understood. The degenerating IVD exhibits a complex array of inflammatory and physiologic changes, and many are associated with the presentation of LBP. For example, the presence of nerves and blood vessels in degenerate IVDs have been identified in patients and animals presenting with LBP symptoms. However, no studies …

Control Design And Motion Planning For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: A Data-Driven Scheme, Yunshen Huang

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), initially developed for military applications, have now become indispensable tools across various civilian sectors. To accomplish flight tasks efficiently and effectively, two aspects of design are necessarily involved. At the low level, the intricate controller governs the UAV's immediate response to dynamic inputs and disturbances, ensuring stability, maneuverability, and precise trajectory tracking. Meanwhile, at the high level, strategic motion planning algorithms coordinate complex flight trajectories, taking environmental constraints, mission objectives, and dynamic obstacles into account. Recognizing the challenges posed by UAV dynamics and environment, this thesis deals with controller design and motion planning by harnessing available …

Development Of A Balloon Mission To Test Flight A Novel Mini-Dilution Refrigerator And A Tes Gamma-Ray Detector Array, And New Measurement Of The Spin Of The Black Hole Cygnus X-1, Md. Arman Hossen

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Transition-edge sensor (TES) detectors have become increasingly common in X-ray and gamma-ray astrophysics due to their high resolving power and feasibility of fabricating thousands of pixels within a compact area. In the framework of my thesis, I have tested a 32-pixel microwave multiplexed TES detector array, a smaller version of the SLEDGEHAMMER (Spectrometer to Leverage Extensive Development of Gamma-ray TESs for Huge Arrays using Microwave Multiplexed Enabled Readout) gamma-ray detector developed by NIST to perform X-ray and gamma-ray observation on a balloon mission known as DR-TES. DR-TES is scheduled to be launched from Fort Sumner, New Mexico, in the fall …

Prototypically Small: An Exploration Of Consumers’ Small Business Prototypes, Michael R. Jenkins

Publications

Purpose

As consumers interact with various small businesses, they develop a mental image, called a prototype, to represent what small businesses are as a generalized, conceptual category. However, prior research has said little about what this small business prototype entails. Thus, the aim of this study is to explore consumers’ perceptions of the prototypical small business by identifying common attributes among small businesses that differentiate them from large businesses.

Design/methodology/approach

This study undertakes a thorough review of the relevant consumer research literature for the attributes that consumers use to evaluate small businesses. Then, using a contemporary parallel analysis approach, it …

Sustainable Transportation: Transforming Utah Through Community Action, Isabella Erwin, Kendall Becker, Patrick A. Singleton, Scott Hotaling

All Current Publications

Transportation in the United States accounts for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Over half of these emissions come from on-road vehicles. Nationwide, Utah has the third highest rate of car ownership, and the resulting air pollution from on-road vehicles has significant implications for the climate and public health. This fact sheet provides information on how Utah’s government and other entities are working to expand modes of transport that minimize harm to communities and the environment.

Simulation Of Crispr-Cas9 Editing On Evolving Barcode And Accuracy Of Lineage Tracing, Fengshuo Liu, Xiang Zhang, Yipeng Yang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

We designed a simulation program that mimics the CRISPR-Cas9 editing on evolving barcode and double strand break repair procedure along with cell divisions. Emerging barcode mutations tend to build upon previously existing mutations, occurring sequentially with each generation. This process results in a unique mutation profile in each cell. We sample the barcodes in leaf cells and reconstruct the lineage, comparing it to the original lineage tree to test algorithm accuracy under different parameter settings. Our computational simulations validate the reasonable assumptions deduced from experimental observations, emphasizing that factors such as sampling size, barcode length, multiple barcodes, indel probabilities, and …

Analysis Of The Effect Of Vaccination, Efficient Surveillance And Treatment On The Transmission Dynamics Of Cholera, Loyinmi Adedapo Chris, Ajala Adebisi Shukurat, Alani L. Ijaola

Al-Bahir

In this study, we presented a modified SIR-SI model to investigate the dynamics and potential controls for cholera transmission, with an incident rate equipped with a saturation factor to investigate the combined impact of three vital measures which include effective surveillance, vaccination campaign and proper treatment in case severity. We established among other things, the qualitative analysis of the model to validate the results. Furthermore, the reproduction number (R0) was found to be less than unity (1), through the stability analysis. Additionally, finite different scheme was utilized in solving the differential equations of the model. MATLAB software was used for …

Ga-Gesrgan: Document Images Super Resolution Using Gabor Filters, Esrgan Models And Genetic Algorithms, Zakia Kezzoula, Djamel Gaceb, Ayoub Titoun

Emirates Journal for Engineering Research

In the last decade, we have witnessed significant progress in image super-resolution, thanks in particular to the emergence and improvement of deep learning models, which can adapt to the complexity of tasks and improve image quality. This article presents a novel approach to image super-resolution GA-GESRGAN to enhance the quality of document images through a multi-step methodology. Initially, document images are processed using Gabor filters to extract features across various spatial frequencies. These extracted features are then utilized to train Enhanced Super-Resolution Generative Adversarial Network (ESRGAN) models. Once improved images are obtained through ESRGAN models, a Genetic Algorithm combines these …

Co-Design To Evaluate The Impact Of Gender Equality Initiatives: Lessons For Practitioners, Evaluators And Researchers, Helen Taylor, Sue Williamson

The Qualitative Report

Achieving gender equality is an ongoing challenge in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) disciplines in universities globally, including in Australia, where our study was located. As institutions that deliver research and teaching in STEMM, universities have committed to a range of initiatives and programs to address this challenge. The Athena Swan Institutional Award is one such program, operating as an accreditation process that measures progress towards gender equality, and is reliant on demonstrating impact. The work required to meet accreditation standards is extensive. Very little academic literature has advanced qualitative methodology suited to delivering the evaluation of gender …

Cudos To The Teachers: Using Merton’S Norms Of Scientific Practice To Guide Lessons In Critical Thinking, Inez Z. Ponce De Leon

Department of Communication Faculty Publications

Professors are often exhorted to foster an atmosphere in critical thinking in their classes, and there is a wide variety of lessons and activities that college students can be given in order to keep their questioning spirit alive. In this paper, the researcher sets critical thinking against the framework of Merton’s Norms of scientific practice. Robert Merton’s work has been used in the philosophy and sociology of science as a way to discuss what constitutes a scientific culture. The norms are summarized in the acronym CUDOs: Communalism (scientific knowledge is open to all), Universalism (that the practice of science is …

A Configurable Real-Time Event Detection Framework For Power Systems Using Swarm Intelligence Optimization, Umar Farooq, Midrar Adham, Mohammed Alsaid, Robert B. Bass

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Power system balancing authorities are routinely affected by sudden frequency fluctuations. These frequency events can take the form of negligible frequency deviations or more severe emergencies that can precipitate cascading outages, depending on the severity of the disturbance and efficacy of remedial action schema. It is imperative to arrest such disturbances quickly by activating primary frequency control measures. This manuscript proposes a configurable event detection framework using optimization methods to tune a detection algorithm to detect events as specified by experts from a Balancing Authority. The utility of the detection framework is demonstrated using a regression-based frequency event detection algorithm …

An Accountant’S Case Against Merging The Accounting Major With Stem Education, Harvey Gilmore B.S., M.S., J.D., Ll.M (General Business), Ll.M. (Taxation)

Lincoln Memorial University Law Review Archive

As many of us know, “STEM” is the acronym for academic programs in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Over the last couple of years, two House Resolutions have sought to adopt the accounting major into the STEM family: the Accounting STEM Pursuit Act of 2021, and the Accounting STEM Pursuit Act of 2023. The Senate has also introduced similar legislation, the STEM Education in Accounting Act of 2021.I was a practicing accountant for nearly ten years, with my area of specialization being in tax, which I have taught for nearly twenty-six years now. I also went to a STEM high …

The Road To Equity- Have Women Made Adequate Progress?, Renalia Dubose B.S, M.S., Ed. S., J.D.

Lincoln Memorial University Law Review Archive

The United States Department of Education, via The Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994, implemented national standards for measuring student achievement throughout the United States. For the first time, the federal government examined data regarding the progress of all students. The determination of adequate progress caused a national reckoning as the No Child Left Behind movement put the spotlight on data associated with a group of children who were previously hidden from public view, underachieving and underserved students. For the first time, the federal government gave clarity to a previously vague term, adequate progress. Women's rights advocacy has been at …

Socio-Historical Construction And Representation Of Space In The Schieffelin Expedition, Simon G. Kerscher

Arctic and Northern Studies

America’s continental expansion tells a story of conquest coined by settlers and supported through natural resources that Indigenous peoples used sustainably since time immemorial. Exploratory prospecting ventures and their tools of achievement are at the forefront of bringing about change to these landscapes gazed upon by the rapacious nation. For prospectors like Edward Schieffelin, remote spaces, such as the interior of Alaska, exert a daring pull to strike it rich or find self-discovery in nature. Schieffelin’s expedition employed and introduced new technologies - the sternwheeler and dry plate photography, allowing for the integration of Alaska's interior into the nation's commercial …

Metabolism And Thermogenesis In The Hibernating Arctic Ground Squirrel, Moriah M. Hunstiger

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Arctic Ground Squirrels (AGS) tolerate up to eight months of fasting, inactivity, and large fluctuations in body mass. AGS utilize their fat stores Fat stores, which account for 25-50% of the total body mass, as a fuel source through the hibernation season to maintain a heterothermic body temperature pattern. Body temperature covers a 42°C range, requiring tight regulation to ensure survival. There are two main groupings of heat production that contribute or may contribute to temperature regulation: shivering and non-shivering thermogenesis (NST). The latter includes uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) and sarcolipin (SLN) uncoupling of the sarcoendoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA). …

Exploring The Covid-19 Infodemic In Alaska, Emily Maxwell

Interdisciplinary Studies

The onset of the COVID-19 global health crisis coincided with an unprecedented rise in health misinformation and false narratives related to the disease. This simultaneous spread of accurate and inaccurate information, referred to as an infodemic, has had observable impacts on the trajectory of the pandemic and the future of public health. While health misinformation has been a factor in previous outbreaks, the increased prominence of social media as an information platform allowed misinformation to spread more widely and rapidly than ever before. This investigation aims to assess the impacts of COVID-19 misinformation in Alaska using a mixed methods approach. …

Utilizing Different Machine Learning Algorithms To Progress Geomagnetic Field Modeling From Solar Wind Drivers For Geomagnetically Induced Current Detection And Prevention, Matthew Blandin

Physics

Geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) are capable of damaging existing infrastructure on the ground with the fear of prolonged and extensive global damage. We aim to predict when and where these GICs may occur with a lead time sufficient to provide preventative actions to mitigate the damage of GICs. We utilize different machine learning algorithms, as part of the Machine-learned Algorithms for GICs in Alaska and New Hampshire (MAGICIAN) team, to create both localized and global predictions of the geomagnetic field from solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field data. In my first paper, I utilize Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) neural networks …

@Egan Newsletter 2024 Convocation Edition, Egan Library University Of Alaska Southeast

Egan Library News

No abstract provided.

Inferring Eruption Dynamics From Seismometer-Derived Ground Tilt Measurements: A Case Study Of Two End-Member Volcanic Systems, Michael Christoffersen

Geosciences

Modern broadband seismometers are inertial sensors, and are sensitive to ground tilt as a conse­ quence of this design. We use broadband seismometers positioned on Mt. Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica, and Augustine Volcano in the Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska, to recover tilt measurements during individual volcanic explosions to investigate the magmatic system configuration of each volcano. At Mt. Erebus, thought to be an end-member open conduit volcanic system, we find no evidence of tilting associated with the Strombolian explosions produced by the volcano. Because tilt preceding Strombolian explosions has been observed at other volcanoes, we interpret the lack of …

Isotopic, Geochemical And Petrographic Analysis Of The Otuk Formation, Northern Alaska, Robin M. Carbaugh

Geosciences

The Triassic-Jurassic boundary is associated with one of the big five Phanerozoic mass extinction events and is characterized by global negative δ13C excursions, indicating a major disruption in the carbon cycle. The end-Triassic extinction event was caused by Central Atlantic Magmatic Province volcanism, that initiated the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea. Abundant greenhouse gas emissions, including CO2 and CH4, from the volcanic activity, affected multiple environmental factors. Global warming, ocean acidification, deoxygenation, mass mortality, and lithological change are documented across the boundary. These environmental fluctuations are also observed due to human-induced global climate change, making understanding the end-Triassic extinction significant. …

Continuous Landfast Ice Climatology From 1996-2023 And Interferometric Classification Of Landfast Ice Stability Along The Outer Alaska Continental Shelf, Andrew H. Einhorn

Geosciences

Landfast ice in Alaska is experiencing rapid changes in extents and duration, impacting the safety and utility of the ice for Arctic coastal communities. This study presents findings from an updated landfast ice dataset spanning from 1996 to 2023, comprising 7797 Seaward Landfast Ice Edge (SLIE) images derived from a combination of sources including prior work by Mahoney et al. (2014) and new analysis of operational ice charts produced by the National Weather Service Alaska Sea Ice Program (ASIP) and National Ice Center (NIC). We referred to this new dataset as the EM2024 dataset. Analysis of the entire EM2024 dataset …

Pinpointing Magma Processes In Time And Space, Jamshid Akbar Moshrefzadeh

Geosciences

Volcanic eruptions pose major threats to society, including loss of human life, negative economic impacts, and environmental ramifications. As the global population continues to grow, so does the amount of people living in proximity to volcanoes. Volcanic eruptions are often triggered by perturbations in the magmatic system, which are caused by a variety of magmatic processes, such as magma recharge, magma ascent, and magma mingling. We applied diffusion chronometry, the technique of modeling chemical diffusion across mineral zones, to the 2009 eruption of Redoubt, and the 2016-2017 eruption of Bogoslof, in order to determine and date the pre- and syn-eruptive …

Towards Reciprocity In Common Ravens, Corvus Corax, Near Anthropogenic Food Sources In Interior Alaska During Winter, Amelia Rose Beausoleil

Biological Sciences

Ravens, Corvus corax, and other corvids are intelligent birds that are the focus of many studies, such as in-depth dives into potential facial recognition and tool use to name a few. Despite these numerous behavioral studies, ravens lack an accessible basic universal ethogram and have rarely been observed in their undisturbed, natural state. Due to this, my study focuses on free-roaming common raven behavior in Fairbanks, Alaska, for which I utilize exploratory analysis to identify patterns in collected data. In doing so, I show how data mining and machine learning can further support behavior research with a systems perspective in …

Lessons From The Old School: Phenological Responses Of The Horsetail Equisetum Arvense To Experimental Air And Soil Warming In Interior Alaskan Boreal Forest, Will Q. Hendricks

Biological Sciences

Although there are many studies on plant phenological shifts due to climate change, few of them focus on the phenological responses of seedless vascular plant species to warming climate. The boreal forest biome contains ~ 30% of the carbon stored by forests globally and horsetails with their circumboreal distribution are abundant in the boreal forest. Understanding the phenological response of horsetails to warming air and the timing of ground thaw is an important component for understanding how much carbon will be fixed by plants in the boreal biome in the future warmer climate. To examine the effects of air and …

The Effect Of Permafrost Thaw On Merucry- And Methane-Cycling Microbes And Their Potential Interactions, Rebecca Olson

Biological Sciences

In this study, I investigated potential interactions between methane and mercury cycles in boreal forest soils. Additionally, I examined the changes in these cycles relative to shifts in soil moisture along an environmental soil moisture gradient. This investigation is pertinent due to the escalating rate of permafrost thaw driven by climate change in Arctic and subarctic ecosystems. Permafrost thaw leads to increased soil moisture, fostering favorable conditions for anaerobic microbial processes such as mercury methylation, methanogenesis, and anaerobic methanotrophy. Microbial mercury methylation creates monomethylmercury, a neurotoxin that accumulates in aquatic food webs. Methane cycling results in the production of greenhouse …

Body Condition Of Pacific Common Eiders Breeding Along The Beaufort Sea Coast Of Alaska, Elyssa M. Watford

Biological Sciences

Pacific common eiders (Somateria mollissima v-nigrum; common eiders) are capital breeding seaducks that fast throughout their ~26 day incubation period. The incubation fast includes three metabolic phases: (I) a transition from feeding to using energy stored during the pre-breeding season, (II) the use of stored lipids for energy, and (III) the use of stored protein for energy as lipid reserves near depletion. With limited energy reserves for incubation, common eiders are more vulnerable to factors that increase the metabolic demands of reproduction, such as climate change or disturbance. We assessed the following metrics of body condition: mass, packed-cell volume, β-hydroxybutyrate, …

Adaptive Strategies And Energetic Profiles Of Bacteria In Permafrost And Temperate Environments: A Comparative Study, Hannah Woody

Biological Sciences

Exploring microbial life in extreme conditions has not only challenged our definition of habitability but is expanding our understanding of where extraterrestrial life may occur. Permafrost, which covers approximately 27% of Earth’s surface, offers a unique window into microbial resilience in an extreme sub-zero environment, which is considered analogous to environments found on icy planets like Mars. Despite such harsh conditions, permafrost sustains diverse and active microbial communities. However, the energy dynamics and genomic adaptations that enable their survival remain largely unexplored. Here, we compare the maintenance energy requirements and genomic traits of permafrost-derived bacteria with bacteria from temperate environments …

Survival, Harvest, And Abundance Of Waterfowl Populations Using Tag-Recoveries, Harvest Data, And Bayesian Estimation, Cody Deane

Biological Sciences

Annual harvest, survival, and abundance are three of the most monitored vital rates of waterfowl populations in North America. Annual harvest and survival probabilities are estimated from harvest tag-recovery data, which is a form of capture-mark-recapture data, while abundance estimation varies with species. While tag-recovery models were parameterized over 30 years ago, modern applications of these models often estimate harvest and survival probabilities as random effects drawn from Normal distributions. We evaluated tag-recovery models for reliable parameter estimation relative to different 1) monitoring scenarios varying by total individuals tagged annually, 2) prior distributions for the standard deviations of random effects, …