Digital Commons Network^™

Place-Based Education: A Rural Solution For Student Achievement, James A. Chamness

College of Education

Rural secondary students in the United States continue to demonstrate lower academic outcomes on standardized assessments compared to their non-rural peers, highlighting the need for contextually responsive instructional approaches. This concurrent mixed methods study examined the relationship between place-based education (PBE) and academic achievement among rural secondary students and explored rural teachers’ perceptions of PBE. Guided by social cognitive theory, the study investigated differences in ACT composite scores between students exposed to PBE and those receiving traditional instruction, as well as perceived challenges and opportunities associated with PBE implementation. Quantitative data included archived ACT scores, which were analyzed using descriptive …

Backscattering By Particles Of Sizes <0.2 Μm In Seawater, Xiaodong Zhang, Yuanheng Xiong

Faculty Publications

We measured the angular scattering functions at 517 nm in different size fractions, including bulk and very small particles (VSP for diameters <0.2 μm), in a variety of waters ranging from coasts to open oceans and from surface to depths as deep as 3,000 m. The measurements revealed a strong covariation in backscattering between VSP and bulk particle populations. The fractional contribution by VSP decreases from 60% in clear oceanic water where bulk particle backscattering coefficient bbp is on the order of 0.001 m⁻¹ to <2% in turbid coastal water where bbp ∼0.1 m⁻¹. An empirical model is developed (r² = 0.89) to estimate bbp for VSP from the bulk bbp, which can now be routinely obtained from satellite observations.

Modulating Electronic Structure With Linearly Fused Pyrazine Units For High-Voltage And Stable Zinc-Organic Batteries Cathode, Min-Jian Zhao, Li-Bin Zhang, Jin-Tao Wang, Kun Ding, Hai-Mei Liu, Yong-Gang Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

High-voltage n-type organic cathode materials are critical for constructing zinc-organic batteries (ZOBs) with high energy density and long cycle life. However, the intrinsically unfavorable electronic structures and relatively high LUMO energy levels of most n-type materials often lead to sluggish kinetics, high solubility, and suboptimal discharge voltages (< 0.8 V). Here, we design a small molecule, quinoxalino[2’,3’:5,6]pyrazino[2,3-f][1,10]phenanthroline (DPQP), as a ZOB cathode by introducing locally electron-deficient motifs into the conjugated backbone of aromatic compounds. The linearly fused pyrazine units extending the pyrazine–benzene framework effectively optimize the electronic structure, thereby significantly enhancing the discharge voltage. Meanwhile, the expanded π-conjugated plane suppresses dissolution and accelerates charge-transfer kinetics. Benefiting from these features, the DPQP electrode exhibits an exceptional increase in average operating voltage from 0.61 V to 1.07 V (vs. Zn²⁺/Zn) at 0.1 A·g^–1, with an overpotential of only 140 mV. Notably, no discernible voltage decay occurs as the current density increases, indicating rapid and highly reversible redox kinetics. Furthermore, the DPQP cathode delivers outstanding cycling stability, maintaining over 2000 h of continuous operation at 0.1 A·g^{–1 …}

(Co,Ni,Mn,Cu,Zn)O High-Entropy Oxide Nanotubes As Efficient Bifunctional Electrocatalyst For Oxygen Evolution And Hydrazine Oxidation Reactions, Pan-Yan Chen, Wan-Wan Wu, Heng Bian, Wei-Wei Li, Xin-Sheng Zhao, Lu Wei

Journal of Electrochemistry

High-entropy oxides (HEOs) present significant scientific challenges in both design and synthesis due to their multielement and high-entropy nature, which involves complex combinations of multiple metal cations and oxygen anions, typically arranged in equimolar ratios to achieve structural stability. Herein, one-dimensional (Co,Ni,Mn,Cu,Zn)O high-entropy oxide nanotubes (HEO-NTs) are fabricated by means of a gradient electrospinning strategy with a tailored polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) molecular weight distribution and controlled pyrolysis. Benefiting from the HEO features and the synergistic effect of multicomponent sites, the as-synthesized (Co,Ni,Mn,Cu,Zn)O HEO-NTs exhibit exceptional bifunctional electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen evolution and hydrazine oxidation reactions (OER/HzOR). This study offers …

Integrating Local Ethnobiology Into Sustainable Forest City Development In Indonesia's New Capital City, Tri Atmoko, Mukhlisi Mukhlisi, Bina Swasta Sitepu, Ulfah Karmila Sari, Eko Herwanto, Deny Adi Putra, Tri Rizkiana Yusnikusuma

Forest and Society

The Nusantara new capital city has been a national strategic program based on Indonesian's sustainable forest city concept. In the future, there will be a migration of 1.9 million people from different islands, indigenous, and religions, carrying their own cultures. It will suppress the existence of local cultures. Local culture lives in harmony with nature, but massive development will impact the presence of forests and their culture. This research aims to document various local cultures related to ethnobiology (plants and wildlife) of the indigenous in the Nusantara region and its surroundings (Dayak, Paser, and Kutai). The research was conducted through …

The 1st International Workshop On Foundations And Architectures For The Agentic Web, Boualem Benatallah, Pradyumna Chari, Abul Ehtesham, Abderrahmane Maaradji, Luca Muscariello, Fatma Outay, Ramesh Raskar, Yacine Sam, Sabrina Senatore, Aditi Singh

All Works

The Agentic Web is emerging as billions of AI agents discover, communicate, and coordinate across the open Web, shifting from isolated models to Web-Inetgrated entities. This workshop explores the state of the art, open challenges, and emerging research directions in the foundations and architectures of the Agentic Web. It provides a forum for researchers and practitioners to examine interoperable architectures, protocols, and standards enabling AI agents to operate as first-class Web entities. Beyond technical interoperability, it also adresses economic and societal mechanisms including reputation, governance, accountability, and large-scale coordination.

Powerful Radio Sources In The Southern Sky. Iv. Observations Of The G4jy-3cre Catalog With The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, Siegfried A. Gawenda, Juan P. Madrid, Francesco Massaro, Sarah V. White, C. C. Cheung, C. Mazzucchelli, Abigail García-Pérez, I. Andruchow, V. Chavushyan, Ralph P. Kraft

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

A recent 2023 paper by Massaro et al. introduced the G4Jy-3CRE, a new catalog of the brightest radio sources in the Southern Hemisphere that serve as a southern equivalent to the Third Cambridge Catalog Revised (3CR). The G4Jy-3CRE catalog selected 264 sources from the GLEAM-4Jy survey based on the same criteria used to select the sources in the 3CR. In this paper, we present new Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) continuum imaging of the G4Jy-3CRE catalog. We use the three most recent data releases from the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS), covering the sky south of +30° decl.: RACS-low1, …

Panda-Plus-Bench: A Clinical Benchmark For Evaluating The Robustness Of Ai Foundation Models In Prostate Cancer Diagnosis, Joshua L. Ebbert, Dennis Della Corte

Faculty Publications

Artificial intelligence foundation models are increasingly deployed for prostate cancer Gleason grading, where GP3/GP4 distinction directly impacts treatment decisions (active surveillance vs. intervention). However, these models may achieve high validation accuracy by learning specimen-specific artifacts rather than generalizable biological features, limiting real-world clinical utility. We introduce PANDA-PLUS-Bench, a curated benchmark dataset derived from expertly annotated prostate biopsies designed specifically to quantify this failure mode. The benchmark comprises nine carefully selected whole slide images from nine unique patients containing diverse Gleason patterns, with non-overlapping tissue patches extracted at both 512 × 512 and 224 × 224-pixel resolutions across eight augmentation conditions. …

Applicability Of Diatom Indices And Phytoplankton Functional Groups To Assessment Of Water Quality In The Coastal Egyptian Mediterranean Estuary, Fatma A. Zaghloul, Soha H. Shabaka

Blue Economy

This study provides the first application of diatom-based water quality and eutrophication assessments in Egypt, focusing on the El Mex Bay situated along the Mediterranean Coast of Egypt, providing a comprehensive evaluation of how diatom assemblages can serve as reliable bioindicators for ecological monitoring in this heavily impacted coastal system. It analyzes two distinct periods: monthly from 2003-2004 and seasonally from 2020-2021. Diatom community composition shifted significantly between the two decades. The earlier period hosted 109 diatom species, which declined to 69 species in the later period. Concurrently, overall abundance decreased from 1,071 x 10³ to 728 x 10³ cells/L. …

The Relationship Between Synchronous Online Training Preference And Online Student Engagements, Saida Ulfa, Rex Bringula

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

Online training during the pandemic was commonly held using the synchronous learning method. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between synchronous online training preference, gender difference, and online student engagements (OSE). This study was analyzed with Structural Equation Model (SEM) by using SmartPLS 3 software. The participants of this study involved 35 online training participants and produced the following findings (1) synchronous online training preference has a positive relationship with OSE variables, (2) The relationship between OSE variables is positive, (3) a gender has a positive relationship with skills, participation, and performance, while gender has a …

Phenotypic Plasticity In A Stochastic Environment: Modeling Three Phenotypes And Environments, Sarah P. Williams, Marissa C. K. Douglas, Stephen C. Adolph

Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics

Phenotypically plastic organisms are capable of adjusting their phenotypes in a variable environment. Padilla and Adolph (1996) modeled this process and included a time lag between detection of an environmental change and the responding change in phenotype. We extended the Padilla and Adolph model from two to three discrete environments and phenotypes and analyzed the model computationally. Our results were consistent with their findings: the fitness advantage of phenotypic plasticity is higher when (1) the lag time is shorter, (2) the probability of environmental change is lower, and (3) the fitness disadvantage of mismatched phenotypes and environments is more severe. …

Modeling The Impact Of Treatment During An Ongoing Tuberculosis Outbreak, Bach Le, Anna Robicheaux, Jude Shive, Alana Wells, Erin N. Bodine

Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics

In response to a significant tuberculosis outbreak in Wyandotte and Johnson Counties, Kansas, this study presents a compartmental model of ordinary differential equations to evaluate the impact of standard antibiotic treatment. The model incorporates latent, active, and treated disease states. Parameter values were informed by epidemiological data and uncertain parameter value ranges were explored systematically through uncertainty analysis using constrained Latin hypercube sampling. Cumulative infections and deaths, and the basic reproduction number, were computed over a five-year simulation period. Sensitivity analyses using partial rank correlation coefficients identified symptomatic treatment rate and transmission rate as primary drivers of cumulative infections and …

Belonging As The Bedrock Of Learning, Gloria Mcdaniel-Hall, Nina Weisling

i.e.: inquiry in education

The reasons why we teach are intensely personal. We give our hearts and souls to “the work,” though it is so much more than work to us. It is a calling, felt deep in our souls, to correct wrongs, to bend the “arc of the moral universe” all the way to justice, to realize the dreams that have been deferred at best and stamped out and denied at worst. Because at the core of each day, we find humans, students, families, and colleagues who are inherently worthy of learning, loving, and living a fulfilling life. Yet, for far too many …

Living With Ai Within The Context Of Higher Education, Terry Jo Smith

i.e.: inquiry in education

This autoethnographic study examines how generative AI has entered higher education, reshaping teachers’ and students’ inner lives, relational practices, and institutional ecologies. Drawing on the author’s embodied experiences within the higher education landscape, the analysis consists of plugging in theory, research, policy, and current events as a means to connect individual experience with broader concepts, events, and structures (Jackson & Mazzei, 2022). The paper maps affective responses such as awe and anxiety, pedagogical tensions such as assessment, transparency, and trust, and political-economic drivers such as capitalism and policy. The study foregrounds methodological reflexivity, arguing that critical autoethnography can surface situated …

Exploring Ai In Higher Education: Reflections On Research-Informed Practices For Teaching And Learning, Angela Elkordy, Stuart I. Carrier, Jack Denny, Donna Wakefield, Ayn F. Keneman

i.e.: inquiry in education

This article examines how faculty at a college of education are integrating generative AI tools into graduate and doctoral educator preparation programs. Drawing on faculty inquiry and course-based observations across multiple contexts — including early childhood education, secondary education, special education, and doctoral programs in education — the article synthesizes emerging lessons and practices of  AI literacy development, pedagogical approaches, and instructional design. We present an evidence-informed, reflective account of faculty practice through the lens of the scholarship of teaching, exploring how educators are navigating AI content, literacy, and practices in real courses, what students are learning, and what instructional …

Scaffolded Generative Ai In Instructional Planning: Supporting Teacher Candidates’ Culturally Responsive Teaching, Dr. Eun Kyung Ko, Xiaoning Chen, Vishodana Thamotharan, Julie Sidarous

i.e.: inquiry in education

As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) becomes increasingly embedded in instructional planning, teacher education programs must move beyond efficiency-oriented adoption toward equity-centered, pedagogically grounded integration. This mixed-methods longitudinal study examines a year-long, scaffolded approach to integrating GenAI within an early childhood teacher residency program, with a specific focus on culturally responsive teaching (CRT) instructional planning. Guided by the AI/I-TPACK and CRT frameworks, fourteen bilingual teacher candidates (TCs) participated in this study. Data sources included pre- and post-surveys of CRT self-efficacy, lesson plans and instructional artifacts, reflective coursework, and focus group interviews. Quantitative analyses revealed statistically significant gains in TCs’ CRT self-efficacy …

When The Output Looks Like Learning: Tertiary Algorithmicity, Unproductive Success, And The Case For Pedagogical Friction In K–12 Schools, Micah J. Miner

i.e.: inquiry in education

The rapid adoption of generative artificial intelligence in K–12 schools has outpaced educators' capacity to evaluate its effects on learning. This conceptual article argues that the dominant institutional responses treating AI as either an integrity threat or a productivity tool share an unexamined assumption that the fundamental nature of learning remains unchanged. Drawing on Walter Ong's media ecology and extending it through the concept of tertiary algorithmicity, the article offers a theoretical framework for understanding generative AI as a qualitative shift in the symbolic environment of schooling. For the first time, the prevailing communication technology ctively generates symbolic content, enabling …

Making Ai An Intelligent Tool For Our Schools: Using The Perceptions Of Administrators And Teachers In A Midwestern School District To Help Shape Our Educator Preparation Program, John A. Huss

i.e.: inquiry in education

This qualitative practitioner research study explored the attitudes and perceptions of administrators and teachers in a high-performing Midwestern school district regarding the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in K-12 education. While AI has rapidly emerged as a transformative force in society, its implementation in schools remains inconsistent, with limited policies, training, and usage. Semi-structured interviews with nine educators (three principals and six experienced teachers) revealed widespread interest in AI, but also significant uncertainty and uneven adoption. Educators reported using AI for administrative and instructional tasks, such as grading and resource generation, yet expressed concern over student overreliance and diminished critical …

Multi-Layer Agentic Manifold For Autonomous Recursive Economic Threat Modeling And Dynamic Baseline Normalization, N/A, N/A

Defensive Publications Series

Cybersecurity risk analysis often faces challenges integrating diverse financial and engineering data to quantify economic threat and may rely on probabilistic models. Additionally, static risk baselines may not adapt to evolving system environments and threat landscapes, resulting in outdated assessments. A multi-layered autonomous agentic system, the cyber threat and risk quantification agentic manifold (CRAM), is presented to address these challenges. The system autonomously ingests and correlates heterogeneous financial and engineering data to generate a revenue at risk (RAR) model that performs deterministic computations without relying on probabilistic inputs. For dynamic baseline normalization, a drift normalization agent continuously recalibrates risk baselines …

Early Childhood Educators’ Perceptions Of Changes In Student Executive Function Skills And Challenging Behaviors Post-Covid-19, Sofia Cicero, Raquel Plotka

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted children’s lives in a multitude of ways, including their educational and social lives. Many children had to switch to online learning platforms or follow social distancing rules. There is a lack of research exploring the lasting impact that the isolation period has left on young children, specifically those in early childhood (3-7 years old). The purpose of this study was to explore whether teachers witnessed changes in student executive function skills and challenging behaviors after the pandemic. In addition, play-based learning has been shown to improve executive function and behavioral outcomes. This study also attempted …

Predicting The Outcome Of Ischemic Hepatitis With Real-Patient Data Using Machine Learning Tools, Christiana Beard, Madison Utterback, Olcay Akman, Priya Kohli, William M. Lee, Aditi Ghosh

Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics

Ischemic hepatitis (IH) results from shock-related conditions that impair oxygenated blood flow to the liver, causing hepatocyte death. Diagnosis relies largely on clinical history due to the absence of specific diagnostic tests and limited ability to predict outcomes. This study applies machine learning methods to real-world IH patient data to improve outcome prediction. Biomedical indicators analyzed include creatinine, international normalized ratio (INR), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), and bilirubin. Data were collected from multiple U.S. centers through the Acute Liver Failure Study Group (ALFSG), a multicenter network focused on this rare condition. We implemented logistic regression, regression tree methods …

An Induction Cooking Hob, Urban Simu, Alex Viroli, Valerio Verdoliva, Ricardo Morgado, Filippo Milanesi, Nicola Valpiani, Massimo Zangoli

Defensive Publications Series

The disclosure relates to an induction cooking hob (1) comprising at least one cooking area (2,3) being defined by having three induction coils (4,5,6), wherein in the respective cooking area (2,3) has a row-shape, and wherein the three induction coils (4,5,6) each are associated to an interaction area (7) having a particular size (8,9). The size (8) of one induction coil (4) is larger than the size (9) of the other two induction coils (5,6) of that respective cooking area (2,3).

The induction cooking hob proposed here enables cost-efficient and energy-efficient use thanks to optimized magnetic coupling.

Distance Calculations Of Faint Dwarf Galaxies Through Surface Brightness Fluctuations, Blake A. Richesin, Guinevere Herron, Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil

Wetterhahn Science Symposium Posters

This study aims to test the effectiveness of the surface brightness fluctuations (SBF) technique in determining the distance to three distinct galaxy targets. The targets were dwarf galaxies Tucana B, Kamino, and Hedgehog. The technique used image masking, Sérsic profiles, and convolving with point spread functions (PSF). The study showed that redder, quenched galaxies are prime candidates for the SBF technique, while bluer, star-forming galaxies are more difficult to constrain the distance of.

Measuring Modulation Envelope Of A Pound Drever Hall Feedback Loop, Josh S. Lee

Physics and Astronomy Undergraduate Senior Theses

From improving qubit readout to real world medical technology, fast and ultrasensitive electrometry has many real world applications. The primary goal of the overarching project is to improve ultrasensitive charge detection using methods involving cavity-embedded Cooper pair transistor (cCPT) devices. This project hopes to accomplish this by using the gate-tunability of the cCPT to reduce the 1/f-noise, a type of low-frequency noise that can interfere with the cCPT’s measurement operability. By using a Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) feedback loop-inspired scheme that can adjust the cCPT gate, this project hopes to improve the stability of the cCPT’s resonant frequency against the 1/f-noise, in …

Traveling Wave Fronts For Sir Epidemic Models With Nonlocal Dispersal And Delayed Effects, Ashley Evette Embry

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates traveling wave solutions for two classes of delayed nonlocal dispersal susceptible--infected--recovered (SIR) epidemic models incorporating biologically realistic mechanisms such as delayed infectivity, delayed dispersal, nonlocal transmission, demographic turnover, and nonlinear incidence effects. These models extend classical spatial epidemic frameworks by allowing long-range population movement through nonlocal dispersal operators and incorporating temporal memory into both diffusion and transmission processes. The primary objective is to establish the existence of traveling wave solutions connecting disease-free equilibria to endemic states and to characterize threshold conditions governing epidemic propagation. The simultaneous presence of nonlocal dispersal, multiple delays, and non-monotone nonlinear incidence terms …

”Wet Floodplains” Protect Carbon Sequestration Hot Spots: How Carbon Sequestration Varies Across The Floodplain, Jacob Schnell, Joshua Landis, Jordan Fields, Carl Renshaw

Wetterhahn Science Symposium Posters

Carbon hot spots (peats) store 2̃0x more carbon, and at a faster rate than any other area on the Dead Diamond floodplain. The fluxes found in this study give us a reference template for how river restoration could proceed, including how current techniques might be actively mismanaging these hot spots.

An Informationally Novel Sense Of Triviality For Harman’S Clutter Principle, Joseph D. Rasmussen

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Gilbert Harman (1986) argues that we ought not believe some logical consequences of our beliefs. To do this, he uses the Clutter Principle—that we should not clutter our minds with trivialities—and claims that some logical consequences are in some sense trivial. I show that interpreting Harman’s argument using an interest-driven sense of triviality (e.g. what Friedman calls junk) conflicts with a plausible epistemic norm. In light of this, epistemologists have turned the Clutter Principle into a norm on inquiry. This, however, loses the strength of the Clutter Principle in Harman’s argument. In this paper, I provide an alternate sense of …

Classical-Correlation-Enhanced Weak-Value Amplification Resilient To Persistent Noises, Xu-Song Hong, Gong-Chu Li, Lei Chen, Si-Qi Zhang, Hua-Qin Xu, Yuancheng Liu, Shengshi Pang, Andrew N. Jordan, Geng Chen, Chuan-Feng Li, Guang-Can Guo

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Weak measurement (WM) offers the advantage of amplifying small signals at the cost of postselecting a small portion of the probes. This so-called weak-value amplification effect makes it compare favorably with conventional techniques (without postselection) to overcome various technical noises. However, certain types of technical noise, such as jitter and pixelation, present insurmountable limitations for both WM and conventional techniques. In this work, we propose an advanced variant of WM that incorporates time-momentum correlation (TMC) into biased weak measurement (BWM). By employing the Fisher information metric, we theoretically show that TMC-BWM can overcome jitter and pixelation, and meanwhile extract significantly …

From Film Club To Football: Revisiting The Denial Of Due Process Protections To Public School Students, Heather Trick

LSU Law Journal for Social Justice & Policy

No abstract provided.

A Distinctly Christian Understanding Of The Technical Details In Engineering, Paul Griffioen

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Within engineering disciplines, much attention has been given to developing pedagogical techniques and practical applications that are distinctly Christian. However, not as much attention has been given to understanding technical engineering content from a distinctly Christian perspective. The main reason is that the technical details of engineering seem to be the same for both Christians and non-Christians. After all, does being a Christian have any impact on the content of specific technical details like integration and finite element analysis? Since the vast majority of time in engineering jobs, research, and teaching is spent on specific technical details, this is a …