Digital Commons Network^™

Powers' Conjecture On The Third Largest Eigenvalue Of A Graph, Kevin Schmidt

Master's Theses

In 1989, David Powers conjectured that for any connected graph G on n vertices, the k-th largest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix satisfies λk(G) ≤ ⌊n/k⌋ for every 1 ≤ k ≤ n/2. The conjecture has since been resolved case by case, in the sharper form λk(G) ≤ n/k − 1: the case k = 1 is classical, k = 2 was settled independently by Hong and by Powers in 1988, and k ≥ 4 was shown to fail by Nikiforov and Linz. This thesis surveys the resolution of the remaining case, k = 3, achieved in March 2026 by …

Imsa 2026 Profile, Office Of College And Academic Counseling

IMSA Profile

The nationally-ranked Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) develops creative, ethical leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. As a teaching and learning laboratory created by the State of Illinois, IMSA enrolls academically talented Illinois students in its tuition-free residential Academy for grades 10-12. Students are challenged with a rigorous curriculum designed to develop them into problem solvers and critical thinkers. Notable IMSA students include YouTube Co-Founder Steve Chen, PayPal Co-Creator Yu Pan, Yelp Co-Founder Russell Simmons, SparkNotes and OkCupid Co-Founder Sam Yagan, and Hearsay Social Founder Clara Shih.

Therapeutic Outcomes Of Oral Antibiotics For The Treatment Of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Urinary Tract Infections: A Multisite, Retrospective Cohort Study Of Linezolid, Trimethoprim–Sulfamethoxazole And Doxycycline, Ryan Mccall, Elena Gatskevich, Steven E. Fiester, Michael Floren, Elisabeth Chandler

Chemistry Publications

Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) urinary tract infections (UTIs), while relatively uncommon, pose a unique challenge in treatment as only specific intravenous (IV) options are typically utilized, with the efficacy of oral antimicrobials being poorly defined. Methods: The multi-site retrospective cohort study described herein therefore aims to characterize outcomes associated with oral administration of linezolid, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX), or doxycycline for the treatment of MRSA UTIs. Study participants were adults with culture-positive MRSA UTIs receiving one of the three oral therapies. Exclusion criteria included polymicrobial UTI, concomitant MRSA outside the urinary tract, receipt of non-study anti-MRSA agents for greater than or …

Access In Teaching Stem Subjects To The Blind, Ashley E. Neybert

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

There are still many gaps in the literature regarding the difficulties faced by instructors of students who are blind and low vision and who teach Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) subjects. We surveyed 26 K-12 STEM teachers about accessible materials they are aware of versus which accessible materials they use in their classrooms, their thoughts on how common challenges identified in the extent literature affect them in their teaching, and their perspective on how much extra time may be required for blind and low vision students (if any) to effectively learn STEM subjects.

Transforming Military Spectrum Management With Spectrack, Rachel Mccoy, Rafa Gould, Abby Fornadel

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

The U.S. military faces operational and financial challenges due to inefficient electromagnetic spectrum
management. This poster and accompanying research statement introduce our minimum viable product, SpecTrack, which we created in response to a challenge presented by the U.S. Department of Defense's Joint Spectrum Agency. SpecTrack centralizes and visualizes spectrum requests to offer insights, streamline communication, and reduce costs. It integrates with current tools like Spectrum XXI and HUNSWDO while enhancing usability through a visual Common Operating Picture (COP). Our user-centered design process included stakeholder interviews and site visits to Germany. The result: a scalable platform that modernizes and simplifies military …

System And Method For Asynchronous Network Simulation Telemetry, Topological Environment Remediation, And Generative State-Machine Security, N/A

Defensive Publications Series

An automated, state-aware network orchestration and evaluation platform provides asynchronous security exercise assessment and environment management. The platform initializes isolated virtual guest environments by executing guest agent software that dynamically generates unique boot-time cryptographic artifacts and sends them to a centralized evaluation engine to dynamically compile a grading rubric. User submissions are evaluated using a dual-pipeline generative language model configured with a strict schema contract that concurrently determines semantic equivalence and detects structural anomalies or prompt injection attempts. Trainee progression across simulation objectives is tracked using a topological directed acyclic graph that triggers automated hypervisor commands to mutate guest environment …

An Experimental-Verification Program For The Corpus Mechanisms Of The Register Of Anticipated Ai Failure Modes, Volodymyr Kotegov

Defensive Publications Series

Companion document to the Register of Anticipated AI Failure Modes.

Purpose: to turn each of the register's 12 domains from a general statement that "experimental verification is needed" into a concrete, honestly bounded plan — stating what is testable now, by what means, at what stage, and what is categorically not testable by a small group at present.

Program design: (1) each proposed experiment carries an explicit evidence-class label, separating results that can move a domain’s Mapping status from results that only confirm a mechanism’s internal logic in isolation; (2) Phase 0 is limited to the one item in this …

Register Of Anticipated Ai Failure Modes, Volodymyr Kotegov

Defensive Publications Series

This register collects twelve classes of AI failure that are documented today, in published research or in reproducible experiments, at a level of generality above any single system in the author's corpus. It exists because the author's own architecture documents — Verifiable Trust, the Charter of Procedural Standing, GVAA, BRAA, Physical Oracles, and the Local Multi-Scale Contour specification — each address a subset of these failure classes from within their own scope, and no one of them shows how the classes interact across system boundaries.

The existence of this register reduces the probability that a failure class is simply forgotten. …

Fear, Threat, And Google Searches: Examining Ideological Shifts Using Big Data, Erin M. Cerasaro

Master's Theses

In their review of research on factors that affect political conservatism, Jost et al. brought together research from several theoretical viewpoints. This produced a model of psychological needs and motives in individuals which react with stimuli that make them feel fearful and threatened (F/T), increasing adherence to conservative ideology. While some research supports these claims, evidence shows that in some contexts these variables increase ideological polarization overall, but may also have a greater impact on conservative attitudes specifically. Researchers have had difficulty in investigating these relationships in naturalistic settings due to an inability to manipulate events that precipitate this ideological …

Epidemic Dynamics Under Pulse Population Exchange, Hannah Kravitz, Christina Durón, Moysey Brio

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many epidemiological models assume either closed populations or continuous demographic turnover. We consider an intermediate setting in which exchange occurs through discrete pulses. In this paper, we introduce a population-conserving compartmental epidemiological model with pulse population exchange at a set of prescribed times. At each pulse, a fraction of the population in each compartment is replaced by a combination of susceptible and immunized individuals. In contrast to typical pulse birth or pulse vaccination models where only a single compartment undergoes a pulse population change, the pulses in this model have competing effects: removing infectious individuals reduces the force of infection, …

Spartan Daily, September 24, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 167, Issue 15

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Final Reclamation Improvement Field Sampling And Investigation Plan: Bres No. 68 – Little Mina-2, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Final Reclamation Improvement Field Sampling And Investigation Plan: Bres No. 160s – Syndicate Pit Dumps, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Final Reclamation Improvement Field Sampling And Investigation Plan: Bres No. 57 – Little Mina-1, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Final Reclamation Improvement Field Sampling And Investigation Plan: Bres No. 9 – Clark Street Dump, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Final Reclamation Improvement Field Sampling And Investigation Plan: Bres No. 75 – National Dump, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Final Reclamation Improvement Field Sampling And Investigation Plan: Bres No. 180 – Tullamore Dump, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Implementation Of The Trojan Sex Chromosome Approach In The San Juan River: Investigation And Validation Of Feminization Methods For Channel Catfish, Chad Teal

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Hybrid Deep-Machine Learning For Butterfly Species Image Classification, Maha A. Rajab, Wisal Hashim Abdulsalam, Firas A. Abdullatif, Tole Sutikno

Baghdad Science Journal

Classifying butterfly species is crucial in biodiversity studies and environmental monitoring. However, manual classification is often a laborious process that requires specialized expertise and is prone to error, especially when species have similar visual characteristics. To address these drawbacks, this paper presents a hybrid approach that combines machine learning with deep learning for feature extraction. To enhance the visibility of important features, preprocessing techniques such as background removal and binarization are applied to butterfly images. Feature extraction was performed using the SqueezeNet convolutional neural network, pretrained on the ImageNet dataset. By discarding the final classification layer, the network produced discriminative …

Deepfinsec: Advancing Online Financial Fraud Detection Via Structural Similarity-Based Graph Embedding, Diksha Sharma, Robin Prakash Mathur, Manmohan Sharma

Baghdad Science Journal

The frequent use of digital technology has significantly increased the use of online transactions. Most financial activities are conducted electronically. Financial fraud involves deceiving individuals or businesses for monetary gain. The proposed graph node embedding technique, FA-Struc2vec, is applied to the financial transaction network to extract graph node features based on their structural similarity and generate node embeddings. The node embeddings serve as input to DeepFinSec, which classifies transactions into desired classes. DeepFinSec is a proposed DL-based model that is a hybrid of CNN and LSTM. CNN processes transaction data and extracts local and high-level abstract features while LSTM captures …

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Final Reclamation Improvement Field Sampling And Investigation Plan: Bres No. 171 – Blaine Center, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

An Ion-Neutral Reaction To Form Cyanobenzene And Ethynylbenzene In Titan’S Atmosphere, Rachel M. Huchmala, Vincent J. Esposito

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The ion-neutral reaction between cyanoacetylene (HC₃N) and phenyl anion (C₆H₅^–) leads to the formation of cyanobenzene (C₆H₅CN) and the ethynyl anion (C₂H^–) via a submerged, exothermic pathway. Through a different mechanism, the same two reactants also form ethynylbenzene (C₆H₅C₂H) and CN^–. These new reactions can be a foundation for the production of substituted benzenes using molecules currently present on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Cyclic aromatic molecules like C₆H₅CN and C₆H_{5 …}

A Systematic Approach For Controlling Tem Sample Thicknesses, Monte Kozell

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Historically, TEM prep has been an artisan craft without a systematic workflow that ensures quantified control over TEM sample thickness. Over- and under-thinning is a significant problem in the TEM prep process. A direct measurement process was demonstrated to control the final thickness of the TEM lamella. Final lamella thickness was controlled by directly measuring lamella thickness in real time using a 10–15 kV SEM while performing secondary electron imaging at the mill position, allowing for (human-mediated) closed-loop processing. We demonstrated the utility of this technique by systematically thinning five TEM samples to discretely target thicknesses ranging from 100 nm …

Multi-Solution Ternary Grover’S Algorithm For Logic-Based Quantum Machine Learning With Pseudo-Kronecker Reed–Muller Form Minimization, Sophia Lee, Ali Al-Bayaty, Marek Perkowski

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Optimization problems in machine-learning (ML) applications can be computationally challenging for classical methods, particularly when they involve large, unstructured search spaces. Quantum computing offers a promising approach to combinatorial optimization by utilizing quantum superposition and amplitude amplification. This paper presents a new methodology using logic-based quantum machine learning (QML) as a complete framework for employing a multi-solution ternary Grover’s algorithm to minimize incomplete binary functions represented by Pseudo-Kronecker Reed–Muller (PKRO) expansions, consistent with Occam’s razor principle. Unlike previous quantum approaches based on Kronecker Reed–Muller (KRO) or fixed-polarity Reed–Muller (FPRM) representations, our work introduces the first Grover-based optimization framework for PKRO …

Fault-Tolerant Concurrent Data Retrieval And Processing Engine Using Acyclic Dependency Graphs, Davide Cazzin, Valentin Mercier

Defensive Publications Series

A lightweight, embedded computational graph engine provides fault-tolerant, concurrent data retrieval and processing across heterogeneous data backends. Operational tasks and data pipelines are modeled as execution nodes organized within a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG). Programmatically defined task dependencies are dynamically resolved using topological sorting, allowing independent nodes to execute concurrently via a thread pool executor. Data payloads, represented as state mappings, are transferred between completing nodes and downstream dependent nodes to facilitate automated aggregation, joining, and transformation. Granular fault tolerance is achieved by classifying execution nodes as either critical or non-critical. When a non-critical node fails, the failure is caught, …

Dynamic Glare Reconstruction For Adaptive Displays, Hp Inc

Defensive Publications Series

A system and method for dynamic environmental light reconstruction and dual-directional optical compensation are disclosed. The system utilizes a multimodal fusion engine combining a dual-engine vision processor (macro-facial shading and micro-corneal reflection) with a hardware hinge-angle sensor. By accurately reconstructing a 3D environmental light vector and correlating it with real-time device kinematics, the system simultaneously predicts physical glare points on the display and direct flare incidents on the camera lens. The system then executes localized display compensation based on a joint gaze-glare probability map, while predictively tuning camera image signal processor (ISP) parameters to ensure optimal visual readability and video …

From Learning Outcomes To Assessment : Integrated Model For Assessing Creative Problem-Solving Skills In Higher Education Students, Metinee Tanongkit, Sirirat Janyarat, Tippawan Dechsong, Sarawut Trisri, Patcharee Preedasuriyachai

Journal of Education Studies

This academic article aims to present an integrated model for assessing creative problem-solving skills among higher education students, particularly in the contexts of general education courses and large classes. Creative problem-solving is a soft skill characterized by a process-oriented and multidimensional structure, involving understanding problems, generating ideas, making decisions, and developing solutions for action. Therefore, it cannot be comprehensively assessed through a single instrument or solely through end-point outcomes. The academic article proposed model functions as a mechanism for translating learning outcomes into assessment by connecting six components: defining the skill, identifying behavioral indicators, designing learning activities, specifying assessment evidence, …

Disciplinary Literacy : An Approach For Enhancing Reading Literacy Among Thai Students, Suphanat Detraksa, Santiwat Chandai

Journal of Education Studies

The results of the PISA 2022 reading literacy assessment indicate a critical crisis in the reading abilities of Thai students. Only 35% of lower secondary school students were able to read at the baseline level, while the remaining 65% performed below it. This situation underscores the urgent need for effective instructional approaches to improve students’ reading abilities at both policy and practical levels. This article proposes the concept of disciplinary literacy to accomplish this. The core principle of disciplinary literacy is the application of discipline-specific strategies authentically employed by experts in each field to comprehend texts. The article begins by …

Effects Of Learning Activities Based On The Stem Education Concept On The Problem-Solving Skills And Learning Management Design Abilities Of Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers, Saowaphak Wongkrai, Parichart Poophakdee

Journal of Education Studies

The objectives of this research were to: 1) determine the effectiveness of the STEM education lesson plan in accordance with the 75/75 efficiency criteria 2) compare students' knowledge of STEM education before and after by using STEM education-based learning activity. 3) compare students' problem-solving skills before and after by using STEM education-based learning activity. 4) study the students' ability to design learning by using STEM education-based learning activity. This study employed experimental research designing to evaluate learning activities based on the STEM education concept. The sample consisted of 27 third-year pre-service mathematics teachers. The sample was selected through cluster random …

Contents Vol. 54 Issue 3, ศูนย์นวัตกรรมทางการศึกษา สื่อสิ่งพิมพ์ และสื่อออนไลน์ จุฬาฯ

Journal of Education Studies

No abstract provided.