Digital Commons Network^™

Identifying The Causality And Criticality Of Factors Influencing The Promotion Of Asian Island-Hopping Cruise Tourism In Taiwan, Hsiao-Chuan Liu, Gin-Shuh Liang, Feng-Ming Tsai, Yu-Ling Lien

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the global tourism industry has steadily recovered since 2022. Island-hopping cruises have gained increasing attention for enhancing regional connectivity and diversifying marine travel experiences; however, their development in Asia remains limited compared with that in Europe and the Caribbean due to fragmented policy coordination, inadequate port infrastructure, and uneven technological readiness. Although Taiwan possesses a geographic advantage and can serve as a strategic hub linking Asian island destinations, systematic planning and stakeholder coordination remain insufficient, resulting in unclear mechanisms that drive or constrain island-hopping cruise tourism. Existing studies mainly focus on market demand or passenger behavior, …

White Shark Occurrence In Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Revealed From Acoustic Telemetry In An Offshore Mpa, Michael A. Dance, Jay R. Rooker, R. J. David Wells, Megan V. Winton, Landes L. Randall, Marissa F. Nuttall, Brondum M. Krebs, Creed C. Branham, Brett B. Sweezey, Richard J. Kline

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The outer continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) is characterized by unique bathymetric features that provide critical habitat for marine fauna. Here, we demonstrate the utility of large-scale acoustic telemetry for monitoring an oceanic marine protected area (MPA) and document the first known occurrences of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) within Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS). White sharks were tagged with acoustic transmitters in the western North Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of the United States and Canada. Nine white sharks were detected along the outer shelf ecosystem associated with FGBNMS over a three-year …

Ivory Towers Have Glass Ceilings: Institutional Responsibility In Promotion To Full Professor, Chardie L. Baird, Mangala Subramaniam

Navigating Careers in Higher Education Series

A must-read for higher education leaders committed to equity, Ivory Towers Have Glass Ceilings examines faculty members’ experiences in promotion to full professorship. This volume discusses how structures, practices, processes, and policies pertaining to promotion from associate professor to full professor both presume and reproduce racialized and gendered inequity.

Women’s teaching and service loads are often quantitatively and qualitatively different from white and some Asian men’s experiences, which only serves to reinforce the status quo. This also extends beyond teaching and service to the types of intellectual contributions that are considered important, which often excludes the hands-on, engaged work that …

Differential Equation Modeling For Sustainable Resource Management: A Steady-State Optimal Harvesting Approach, Iordanka N. Panayotova, Aleksei Talonov

CODEE Journal

Mathematical models based on differential equations provide a powerful framework for connecting real-world data to informed decision-making. In this work, we present a student-accessible project that uses an optimal-control framework to study the sustainable management of biological resources.

Motivated by fisheries management, we examine a predator--prey system in which harvesting decisions must balance ecological and economic considerations. The model is formulated as an optimal control problem that seeks to maximize the total discounted net revenue from harvesting. Rather than solving for the complete time-dependent harvesting trajectory, we restrict the analysis to positive controlled coexistence equilibria and characterize an interior stationary …

Ucc General Education Proposal 9-15-26, Angela Brock

General Education Committee

No abstract provided.

Technical Analysis And Market Liquidity In Sale-And-Purchase Transactions Of Second-Hand Oil Tankers, Chih-Chung Cheng, Po-Yin Wang, Heng-Chih Chou

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

In addition to using second-hand oil tankers to fulfil immediate shipping needs, shipowners can leverage price fluctuations in the tanker market to make vessel sale-and-purchase (S&P) transactions. Given that the profitability of vessel S&P transactions depends primarily on timing decisions, in this study, technical analysis was applied to identify the optimal transaction timing for 5-, 10-, and 15-year-old second-hand Aframax tankers. In a simulation, an S&P strategy based on technical analysis outperformed a benchmark buy-and-hold strategy, particularly for newer tankers, possibly due to the higher price volatility and lower market efficiency in the markets for these vessels. However, the lack …

Synchronous Deep Reinforcement Learning For Optimized Storage Assignment Of Ship Blocks, Gawon Lee, Jaehyeon Heo, Misung Kim, Hyerim Bae

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This paper presents a deep reinforcement learning (RL) framework for optimizing block storage allocation in shipbuilding yards. During the shipbuilding process, vessels are constructed in block units to maximize the operational efficiency. Following assembly, these blocks must be stored in limited yard spaces, creating a complex variant of the binary packing problem. This storage allocation problem is further complicated by operational constraints, including the barge capacity and transportation time restrictions. Moreover, poor storage decisions can lead to redundant block movements, which can adversely affect downstream processes and increase operational costs. To resolve this problem, a policy-gradient-based synchronous RL model was …

A Resilience Early Warning Assessment Of The Maritime Supply Chain: A Case Study Of China’S New Energy Vehicle Exports, Xiuqian Chen, Liangyong Chu, Mengyao Wang, Jiayin Du, Yiming Zhang, Xiyao Xu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Enhancing resilience through early warning is a critical strategy for mitigating disruption risks in the maritime supply chain (MSC). This study proposes a novel early warning assessment framework to determine the resilience of the MSC. It is referred to as a resilience early warning system. An evaluation index system for shipping enterprises is developed based on four dimensions: withstand capacity, adaptive capacity, learning capability, and the external environment. A resilience assessment model that uses the Bayesian best-worst method (BBWM) and the extension cloud model (ECM) is established to quantify MSC resilience. An early warning evaluation model based on a Bayesian …

Public-Port Throughput As An Activity Proxy For Near-Port Air Quality And Health: A Transferable Two-Scale Framework (Kaohsiung, 2017–2024), Ping-Jen Wang, Ying-Lin Hsu, Shih-Hao Chang, Bao-Tzung Wu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

We developed a two-scale time series framework using monthly container throughput (20-foot equivalent units, TEU) as a port activity indicator. Applied to Kaohsiung, Taiwan (2017–2024), we related TEU to near-port NO₂ and PM₂.₅ (monthly) and air quality to outpatient respiratory diagnoses (weekly) across the 2019–2020 sulfur rules and the COVID-19 pandemic. Transfer-function models indicate TEU tends to lead near-port NO₂ by 6–9 months. Structural break tests at policy dates indicate nonsignificant changes in levels and slopes, suggesting gradual rather than abrupt shifts in the activity–pollution linkage. Weekly two-pollutant distributed-lag Poisson models estimated relative risks (lags 0–8) per interquartile range (IQR) …

Creating Collaborative Strategies: The Influence Of Principal Leadership In Teacher Retention In Rural Secondary Schools In Dhalai District, Tripura, Northeast India., Valerian Castelino

Educational Studies Dissertations

Teacher retention has become a growing concern across India and the world. In rural, tribal, and multilingual contexts, the challenge is even greater. This research, Creating Collaborative Strategies: The Influence of Principal Leadership in Teacher Retention in Rural Secondary Schools in Dhalai District, Tripura, Northeast India, explores how school leadership influences teachers’ decisions to remain in rural schools. The research focuses on Tripura, a small state in Northeast India known for its tribal diversity, geographic isolation, multilingual classrooms, and limited educational resources. The research is informed by a multi-theoretical framework: Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, Non-Economic Capital Theory, and Transformational Leadership …

Early Elementary Teachers' Experiences Implementing Concrete Representational Abstract Strategies In A Low-Performing District, Grace Sheree Bruce-Spence

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem addressed in this study was that early elementary students in an achievement zone continued to demonstrate low mathematics achievement, despite the district-wide implementation of the concrete representational abstract (CRA) instructional strategy, designed to promote conceptual understanding through scaffolded stages at a school district in the southeastern United States. In this district, an achievement zone refers to a cluster of schools serving historically underperforming students in high-poverty communities who receive targeted academic support. Grounded in Bruner’s constructivist learning theory, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore kindergarten through third-grade teachers’ experiences implementing the CRA strategy in …

Comparative Evaluation Of Practical Functional Assessment And Traditional Functional Behavior Assessment: Practitioner Perspectives On Efficiency, Resource Utilization, And Social Validity Across Practice Settings, Mathew Dinga Gwangwaa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) expands across diverse settings, there is an increasing need for assessment models that balance empirical rigor with practical feasibility. This quantitative, non-experimental study was an examination of the perceptions and experiences of board certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) and board certified behavior analysts doctorate (BCBA-Ds) regarding the comparative utility of traditional functional behavior assessment (FBA) and practical functional assessment (PFA). Data were collected from Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) and BCBA-Ds using a structured, cross-sectional online survey assessing three primary domains: efficiency, resource utilization, and social validity. Descriptive findings indicated that practitioners perceived …

Relationship Between Aleks Use, Implementation Models, And Grade 9 Students’ Achievement On Algebra 1 Summative Assessments, Deneen Alfordburke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem that was addressed through this study was Grade 9 students’ achievement on the Algebra 1 New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA) continued to be below the proficiency level that is defined by the state, despite implementation of Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS) Algebra 1 software. The study was grounded in Doignon and Falmagne’s knowledge space theory (KST) which evaluates students’ current knowledge levels and guides them along individualized learning paths based on what they are ready to learn next. The purpose of this nonexperimental quantitative study was to determine whether the predictor variables Grade 9 students’ …

Leakage-Safe Boosting Ensembles With Shap Explainability For Alzheimer's Disease Risk Prediction: A Rigorous Multi-Classifier Benchmark On Global Structured Clinical Data, Hadeer Mahmoud, Fady Salama

Sustainable Machine Intelligence Journal

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a major public health challenge, and scalable non-invasive risk-stratification tools are needed. We benchmarked 11 machine-learning classifiers on a publicly available global structured Alzheimer's prediction dataset (N = 74,283; 24 predictors) using leakage-safe sklearn/imblearn pipelines. Four resampling strategies were assessed with stratified cross-validation; preprocessing included imputation, IQR-based outlier capping, feature engineering, one-hot encoding, and standardization. The leading models underwent HalvingRandomSearchCV optimization, followed by soft-voting and stacking ensembles. Performance was evaluated on a held-out 20% test set and interpreted with SHAP, permutation importance, and built-in feature importance. No resampling was selected in Stage A (composite score = …

Swarm-Calibrated Ordinal Forests For Risk-Aware Forecasting In Non-Stationary Intraday Financial Time Series, Ahmed S. Salama, Ahmad M. Nagm

Sustainable Machine Intelligence Journal

Intraday non-stationary financial time series are difficult to model because of regime switching, volatility clustering, nonlinear price responses, and rapidly changing liquidity. Although machine-learning models can detect nonlinear dependencies, their direct use for intraday trading decisions can be unstable because of transaction costs, drawdown, and exposure risk. This study develops Swarm-Calibrated Ordinal Forests (SC-OF), a hybrid soft-computing architecture for risk-aware forecasting and execution control in non-stationary intraday markets. Continuous OHLCV streams are transformed into a technical-ordinal feature space in which ordinal symbolic patterns preserve local temporal ordering while reducing sensitivity to amplitude distortions. A validation-weighted ordinal forest combines random-forest and …

Anti-Fuzzy Hypergraphs And Superhypergraphs: Max-Oriented Uncertainty Models For Higher-Order And Hierarchical Networks, Takaaki Fujita, Ajoy Kanti Das, Suman Das, Sankar Prasad Mondal

Sustainable Machine Intelligence Journal

Hypergraphs extend classical graphs by allowing hyperedges to connect more than two vertices, while superhypergraphs further generalize this framework through iterated powerset constructions that capture hierarchical and nested incidence structures. Within fuzzy graph theory, anti-fuzzy graphs provide max-oriented uncertainty models in which each edge grade is at least the maximum grade of its incident vertices. However, corresponding max-oriented frameworks for hypergraphs and superhypergraphs have not been systematically developed. To address this gap, we introduce anti-fuzzy hypergraphs and anti-fuzzy superhypergraphs, formulate their mathematical definitions, and establish basic well-definedness and canonical representation results. These models provide a unified foundation for max-based …

Automated And Quantitative Characterization Of Benthic Habitat And Associated Biological Communities Of An Unknown Southeast Pacific Seamount, Yakufu Niyazi, Denise J. B. Swanborn, Jan M. Tapia-Guerra, Javier Sellanes, Erin E. Easton, Germán Zapata-Hernández, Heather A. Stewart, Alan J. Jamieson

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Seamounts are prominent seafloor features that strongly influence geological processes, ocean circulation, and benthic biodiversity. Despite their importance, most seamounts remain unmapped and poorly characterized, particularly in the southeast Pacific Ocean, a region recognized for high marine endemism and ecological isolation. In this study, we present a quantitative habitat characterization of a previously undocumented seamount, informally named Solito Seamount, located between the Nazca–Desventuradas Marine Park and the Juan Fernández Archipelago, within Chile’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The seamount is a conical volcanic edifice approximately 37 km wide, rising >3,500 m above the surrounding abyssal plain. High-resolution multibeam bathymetry and backscatter intensity …

Revised Draft Final Annual Operations And Maintenance (O&M) Report: Butte Treatment Lagoon (Btl) System – 2025, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Technical Disclosure Specification: The Topological Flux Replicator (Tfr) Protocol For Censorship-Resistant Desynchronized Grid Routing And Memory Manifolds (Spec-167), Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure specifies the protocol architecture, mathematical modeling, and hardware-layer constraints for a decentralized, censorship-resistant grid routing system and non-volatile memory manifold. Current mesh communications and cloud storage models are structurally vulnerable to state-wide routing interdiction, targeted nodal blackouts, and top-down centralized configuration scrubbing.

The Topological Flux Replicator (TFR) protocol resolves these architectural failure modes by utilizing an asynchronous, desynchronized network state distribution model. By executing a math-native state matrix routing protocol directly across fragmented physical substrates, the network achieves structural permanence without relying on static central IP routing, persistent DNS architecture, or linear block inheritance. This document represents a …

Technical Disclosure Specification: The Spectral Synapse Protocol (Ssp) For Trans-Linguistic Machine-To-Machine Register Meshes (Spec-166), Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure specifies the architectural topology, hardware compiler parameters, and math-native protocols for an integrated, semantic-to-spectral computing engine. Current multi-agent architectures operate within a high-overhead paradigm where decentralized processing nodes communicate internally via tokenized natural language strings ("speech"). This design introduces extreme latency, high token consumption, and systemic vulnerability to semantic prompt injection exploits.

The Spectral Synapse Protocol (SSP) eliminates this communicative overhead by segregating human text processing exclusively to the peripheral ingress/egress boundary gates. The internal processing mesh operates at full-throttle hardware speeds by utilizing a non-linguistic, sub-2-bit ternary state mapping system ("the brain"). This specification defines the linear …

Technical Disclosure Specification: The Complementary Bi-Node Isospectral Flow Matrix (Cb-Ifm) For Coherent State Reconstruction In Non-Isolated Exascale Architectures (Spec-165), Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure specifies the architectural topology, mathematical framework, and physical execution layer for a self-contained, complementary bi-node intelligence architecture. Traditional distributed processing systems suffer from state-space fragmentation, latency-induced phase drift, and thermodynamic decoherence when scaling across high-dimensional variable fields. The Complementary Bi-Node Isospectral Flow Matrix (CB-IFM) resolves these constraints by establishing two asymmetric, structurally coupled processing nodes—Node-Alpha (Stochastic Divergence Engine) and Node-Beta (Deterministic Convergence Governor)—operating across a non-commutative translation boundary.

By utilizing continuous unitary transformations to maintain isospectral invariance across both systems, the architecture ensures that open-ended exploratory computation can occur simultaneously with rigorous axiomatic validation without inducing state drift …

Technical Disclosure Specification: The Multi-Agent Cryptographic Compartmentalization & Intent Attestation Protocol (Macc-Iap) For Internal Opsec Hardening, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This specification details the structural design, cryptographic verification equations, and edge-computed process logic for the Multi-Agent Cryptographic Compartmentalization & Intent Attestation Protocol (MACC-IAP). Traditional operational security (OPSEC) frameworks fail at the human interface layer; a trusted insider, malicious contractor, or espionage asset can bypass advanced post-quantum network ciphers simply by exercising legitimate, verified administrative access rights to execute unauthorized mass data exfiltration.

The MACC-IAP eliminates this vector by shifting the system architecture from static role-based access control (RBAC) to a decentralized Non-Linear Cryptographic Intent Handshake. Data repositories are fractured into independent, non-contiguous micro-fragments managed across a multi-agent substrate. A user …

Technical Disclosure Specification: The Resonant Piezo-Kinetic Mesh Transceiver Array (Rpk-Mta) For Non-Line-Of-Sight Substrate Commons Telemetry, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This specification details the design requirements, acoustofluidic coupling equations, and hardware transceiver interface maps for the Resonant Piezo-Kinetic Mesh Transceiver Array (RPK-MTA). The system establishes a completely open-access, non-RF dependent communication infrastructure designed to link decentralized communities, off-grid agricultural cooperatives, and emergency response clusters completely outside centralized telecommunications monopolies. While corporate cartels focus on securing absolute data chokepoints across orbital networks and cellular infrastructure, this document establishes permanent, un-patentable public domain prior art for a physical-layer communications substrate that operates through low-frequency acoustic solitons modulated directly into municipal water matrices and solid-state subterranean lithology.

By adapting the data-routing logic originally …

Technical Disclosure Specification: The Non-Linear Acoustic Phase-Lock Governor (Napl-G) For Open-Access Fluid Energy Harvesting Interfaces, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This specification details the design requirements, physical coupling equations, and edge-computed automation profiles for the Non-Linear Acoustic Phase-Lock Governor (NAPL-G). The architecture establishes an open-access, un-patentable control topology designed to protect stationary, localized alternative energy installations (such as run-of-river and municipal hydro-acoustic energy hubs) from structural failure driven by chaotic non-linear wave amplification. Recent fluid-mechanics research validates that non-linear coupling between acoustic-gravity modes and free-surface water waves enables massive energy exchange via resonant triad interactions. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

However, under unconstrained high-flow conditions, this triad coupling scales exponentially, causing runaway pressure peaks …

The Citizen Annual Tariff Dividend Architecture: An Automated Irs-Driven Distribution And Government 401(K) Framework For Bottom-Up Economic Stabilization, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

Traditional macroeconomic frameworks frequently favor centralized fiscal retention, funneling newly generated state revenues into general funds or institutional subsidies under the premise of debt mitigation or infrastructural protection. This paper challenges that paradigm by introducing a technically automated, bottom-up wealth-distribution architecture. Utilizing existing Internal Revenue Service (IRS) infrastructure mapped securely to valid Social Security Numbers (SSNs), this framework introduces an annual $5,000 Citizen Tariff Dividend. To balance immediate local economic velocity with long-term fiscal stability, the model integrates a three-tier filing selection system featuring a 5% premium bonus ($5,250 total value) for direct rolls into a federally protected Government 401(k) …

Anamorphic State Reconstruction Via Deterministic Symbolic Seeding In Disaggregated Inference Runtimes, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

Modern distributed inference architectures increasingly separate computing topologies into disaggregated Prefill (compute-bound) and Decode (memory-bandwidth-bound) nodes to maximize hardware efficiency. However, this decoupling introduces a severe operational bottleneck: the physical transmission of high-dimensional Key-Value (KV) cache tensors across the interconnect fabric layer during context handoffs or dynamic tool-calling forks. This paper introduces a zero-bandwidth state synchronization method that mitigates physical I/O serialization delays. Instead of transmitting raw multi-gigabyte float/int KV matrices over hardware interconnects, we serialize a compressed, deterministic symbolic vector—an Anamorphic Semantic Seed (\(\Psi \)). The target Decode node then utilizes a localized coordinate generation template to reconstruct the …

Project Abyss-Shield: Autonomous, Sub-Oceanic Trench-And-Lid Infrastructure Networks For Hardened Sovereign Energy And Telemetry Lifelines, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

Modern transoceanic telecommunication and energy grids are fundamentally exposed. Laid directly on the soft sediment of the open seabed, standard fiber-optic lines and high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables are highly vulnerable to commercial anchor dragging, deep-sea trawler nets, and targeted, state-backed maritime interdiction. Project ABYSS-SHIELD establishes a paradigm shift in maritime security by replacing passive, exposed lines with an autonomous, self-defending, sub-surface trench-and-lid corridor. Utilizing pressure-equalized composite monuments, interlocking basalt armor slabs, active fluidic hydro-shear countermeasures, and distributed acoustic fiber-optic tripwires, this standalone framework renders clandestine underwater sabotage operations logistically and mechanically unviable without requiring any external planetary or surface …

Graduated Verifiable Autonomy Architecture (Gvaa), Volodymyr Kotegov

Defensive Publications Series

ES-1. Core Objective: This architecture document establishes strict, deterministic normative constraints for securing execution runtimes populated by autonomous AI agents. Rather than relying on the statistical, inherently non-deterministic alignment of neural network weights, GVAA shifts the entire security perimeter to structural containment. It enforces rigid barriers across the execution runtime, host operating system resources, and boundary communication channels.

ES-2. Engineering Metrics & Feasibility: Deploying the baseline implementation configuration (Minimal Profile) requires an engineering overhead of 2 to 6 weeks on a standard production infrastructure (Linux, WebAssembly, LangGraph). The monitoring and verification infrastructure (Invariant Core) introduces a latency penalty of less …

The Ablc Framework: Terrestrial Naval Analog Validation For Multi-Planetary Surface Insertion And Personal Personnel Protective Fields, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

Exploration of hostile extraterrestrial surfaces is fundamentally bottlenecked by atmospheric density and chemistry variations. Extreme regimes—ranging from the near-vacuum, highly abrasive dust environment of Mars to the supercritical, crushing, hyper-corrosive fluid matrix of Venus—render passive, material-heavy armor systems logistically unviable due to strict launch mass constraints. This paper introduces the Acoustic Boundary Layer Control (ABLC) Framework, a paradigm shift that replaces physical, degradable hardware armor with active, throttleable kinetic force fields. By utilizing the localized medium's own molecular density, the ABLC generates an invisible, high-intensity boundary layer of extreme low pressure and low density via focused rarefaction wave matrices. This …

The Rbaam-6 Matrix: A Modular, Acoustically Suspended, Self-Healing Dual-Shell Habitat Architecture For High-Survivability In-Situ Mars Colonization, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

Traditional extraterrestrial architectural paradigms rely on heavy, brute-force physical materials shipped from Earth to withstand the massive atmospheric pressure differentials and environmental hazards of Mars. This paper introduces the Reactive Bio-Acoustic Armor Matrix (RBAAM-6), a novel, 6-layer defense-in-depth habitat architecture. By separating internal tension loads (atmospheric containment) from external compression loads (environmental shielding), the RBAAM-6 utilizes an intermediate, submarine-style 'sally port' buffer zone regulated by interlocking harmonic standing waves. The structure integrates self-healing biological matrices, active kinetic impact countermeasures, a completely modular, snap-tile interior for rapid component replacement, and nitrogen-suppressed utility channels featuring non-energy transparent visual verification zones. This architecture …