Digital Commons Network^™

Out Of The Silo: Agronomic Stem, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

This curriculum explores STEM topics in the context of agronomy, the science and technology of producing and using plants for food and fuel. Students will investigate plant genetics, soil science, crop management systems, new technologies, and other issues at the forefront of agronomic research. Data analysis, policy development, efficient process design, and problem-solving will engage learners in a deeper understanding of the role of agriculture in Illinois and the world.

Mars: Manifest Destiny, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

Students will consider the enormous challenge of planning a permanent, sustainable colony on Mars. To do so, students will explore gravity and orbital mechanics, the environmental conditions on Mars, and spaceflight hardware currently in development. They will also participate in citizen science projects, analyzing actual imagery from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and other platforms to apply engineering design principles to propose their own spaceflight hardware, and apply project management techniques to develop their own mission architecture.

Engineering: Design & Build, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

Student led teams conceptualize, build, test, and acquire knowledge while becoming familiar with the engineering design process. Using an open-ended inquiry approach students are able to foster their creativity. Students learn to apply multiple skills and develop the habits of innovators. Now available in Spanish!

Fighting Fire With Stem, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

Students become cadets of Fire Academy Rescue and embark upon an exploration of the concept of fire, tactics, forensics and innovations in fire rescue. Students engage in hands-on activities that help construct their knowledge on how fire starts and how to manage it. Students will use strategic thinking and mathematics when calculating distances between locations for fire rescue and develop writing skills as they analyze and create shift reports.

Materials Science – Living In A Material World, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

Students are on an eight thousand year journey to see how the development of Materials Science has shaped the course of human civilization. Explore the world of man-made objects by examining relationships between molecular structure and materials properties. From Stone Age tools to modern carbon nanostructures, students will test, analyze, and create complex materials from simple building blocks.

Climate Change, Illinois Math And Science Academy

IMSA Fusion Curricula

This unit engages participants in a variety of investigations to help establish basic understandings regarding climate science literacy. Exploration through real-time and virtual experiments, the use of web based applications, as well as modeling and engineering experiences will help participants identify the facts, issues, and actions they wish to take. Now available in Spanish!

Identification Of At-Risk Rail Network Segments And Development Of Fragility-Based Resilience Metrics, Haizhong Wang, Brian M. Staes, Benyamin Ghoreishi

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report presents a multi-hazard risk and resilience assessment of the U.S. rail network. The research identifies at-risk rail segments exposed to flash flooding, riverine flooding, extreme heat, and landslides using historical hazard records, federal accident and incident data, and meteorological datasets spanning 2000–2024. Flood exposure is mapped nationally by linking storm records to rail alignments and estimating the frequency and intensity of events at the segment level. For extreme heat, a fragility analysis of 153 documented thermal buckling derailments reveals that a significant share of failures occurred under relatively mild environmental conditions, pointing to infrastructure and maintenance factors rather …

Describing Preservice Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Critical Statistical Literacy Habits Of Mind Enactment, Nina G. Bailey, Allison W. Mcculloch

Department of Mathematics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Globally, school standards documents increasingly emphasize statistical literacy from the consumer orientation (making sense of real-world data representations). This orientation requires the adoption of a Critical lens (e.g., focus on power and equity) because how statistics are used (e.g., decision making) cannot be separated from the fact that social issues operate within systems of marginalization, privilege, and power. This study aims to explore how preservice secondary mathematics teachers enact critical statistical literacy habits of mind (CSLHM) when presented with data representations from the media. Findings reveal that preservice mathematics teachers typically emergently enact CSLHM, and some robustly. There is no …

Extending W-Event Differential Privacy To The Publish-Subscribe Framework, Jacob Jerome Olinger

Dissertations and Theses

Internet of Things (IoT) devices have become ubiquitous, permeating both enterprises and homes, and they increasingly rely on publish-subscribe (pub-sub) frameworks that give subscribers real-time, high-fidelity access to device data. For privacy and confidentiality, however, today's pub-sub systems largely stop at channel-level authentication, encryption, and access-control lists. These protect data in transit and restrict who may receive it, but place no quantitative limit on what a subscriber with legitimate access to messages can infer about its publishers.

We close this gap by extending w-event differential privacy to the pub-sub setting. We generalize it from count queries to any aggregate …

Analysis Of Needs For Web-Based Mobile Learning Development Based On Universal Design For Learning For Students With Special Needs, Murni Winarsih, Mayasari Manar, Rohmah Ageng Mursita, Mita Septiani

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

Higher education institutions still have substantial challenges when it comes to accommodating students with special needs, especially those who are visually or aurally impaired. Access to learning resources is still an issue, as are the limitations of adaptive learning media and the dominance of more conventional verbal and visual methods of information transmission. Hence, not all pupils are given the same chances throughout the learning process. With its emphasis on providing a variety of representational, interactive, and expressive tools, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) aims to meet the requirements of students with a wide range of learning styles. In order …

A New Bubblegum Coral From The Nazca Ridge Reveals Chitin As The Structural Scaffold Of Skeleton-Less Paragorgia Colonies, Juan Armando Sánchez, Erin E. Easton, Nayeli Elizavet Garcia, Yony Román-Ochoa, Julia Kaled Cáceres, Javier Sellanes

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Bubblegum corals (Paragorgia; Corallidae) form among the largest branching colonies in deep-sea environments despite lacking an axial skeleton. How these octocorals maintain structural cohesion using only sub-millimeter sclerites has remained unexplained. Here we describe Paragorgia quitinosa Sánchez & Easton n. sp., collected at 670 m depth on the Nazca Ridge (southeastern Pacific) during the Schmidt Ocean Institute RV Falkor (too) expedition FKt240708, and report the first evidence of visible chitin in octocoral tissues. The new species is diagnosed by autozoids and siphonozoids retracted on prominent, rounded mounds, large 8-derived radiate capstan sclerites (mean 0.095 mm), and canal walls …

Advances In Theoretical Calculations And Machine Learning For Solid-State Electrolytes, Wang Yan, Sui Xiaojing, An Yan, Guo Bangjun, Lei Yanhua

Dianchi(Changsha)

No abstract provided.

Advances In Machine Learning-Assisted Design Of Cathode Materials, Chu Yanuo, Zhang Dengkai, Zhao Zixin, Zeng Qingchao, Yan Guangquan, Meng Jing, Shen Jixue

Dianchi(Changsha)

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of The Power Battery Transportation Industry In 2024-2025, Wu Jinzhong, Zhang Shun, Yan Lun, Zhang Ping, Liu Xingliang

Dianchi(Changsha)

No abstract provided.

Coupled Analysis Of Electric Bicycle Fire Risk Based On The N-K Model, Wei Weiling, Wu Zhouying, Zhang Ying, Mao Binbin

Dianchi(Changsha)

No abstract provided.

When Does Global Search Pay For Itself? A Measured Exploration Cost And Energy Break-Even Analysis Of A Metaheuristic Search Controller In Solar Energy Systems, Mohamed Ali Muammar Ezgour

Communications of the IIMA

Autonomous energy systems increasingly delegate the choice of operating point to embedded search algorithms, trading a fast local optimizer that can settle on a wrong point against a slower global search that guarantees the right one at a measurable cost. This paper reframes maximum power point tracking under partial shading as that decision and measures its economics on a fixed photovoltaic plant in MATLAB/Simulink. A Hippopotamus Optimization global search handed over to incremental conductance is compared with incremental conductance alone across seventeen initial duty cycles and thirty random seeds. The hybrid reached the global peak in all thirty seeds, whereas …

Hydrothermal Alteration Mapping Of The Northern Coongan Greenstone Belt Using Remote Sensing Imagery, Meaza Bogale, Elias Woldeyohanis

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Archean greenstone belts are well known for their ore deposits, diverse lithostratigraphy, and well-preserved evidence from the early Earth. The Northern Coongan Greenstone Belt is an Archean greenstone belt that is part of the Eastern Pilbara Craton of Western Australia. The rock units of this area have the potential to be sources of valuable mineral deposits, which could be economically beneficial for extraction. Studies have been conducted in the northern Coongan greenstone belt, mostly using geological field methods and geophysical interpretations, excluding remote sensing methods for mapping mineral indices. Therefore, this study aims at providing surface mineral distribution maps and …

Sedimentary Dynamics In Tubular Sandstone Caves, Porto União, Southern Brazil, Leandro Bianchini, Julio Cesar Paisani

International Journal of Speleology

Clastic sedimentation in sandstone caves remains poorly understood, particularly in systems with tubular morphology. This study investigates sedimentation, reworking, and sediment removal dynamics in the Legru Cave system, southern Brazil, based on the integrated analysis of sedimentary facies, microstructures, and microfeatures, combined with optically stimulated luminescence dating. The results indicate that conduit infilling is dominated by high-density flows, including cohesive debris flows, partially diluted multiphase flows, and flows with intermediate rheological behavior between mud flow and hyperconcentrated flow, in addition to shallow flow alternations. Sediment supply is predominantly allochthonous, related to hillslope-derived material delivered by overland flow and mud flows, …

Cyberspace Collaborative Awareness: A Model For Unity Of Effort In Homeland Defense, Mike Knapp, Sean Atkins, Matthew Mclaughlin

Joint Force Quarterly

The increasing frequency and severity of cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure continue to confound homeland defense efforts. Defending against state cyber campaigns that threaten the nation’s most critical systems requires a new awareness model that can enable unity of effort across public and private actors. Examining homeland defense awareness in other domains reveals principles and approaches that can inform the development of a collaborative awareness model in cyberspace. This new framework acknowledges the interconnectedness of government and commercial networks and the independent goals of each player in the domain. Doing so provides a viable path to achieving shared domain awareness …

From Data To Victory: The Race For Analytic Superiority In Warfare, Robert Grossman, Emily Goldman

Joint Force Quarterly

Artificial intelligence technologies have reached a tipping point after decades of development. They are diffusing widely across defense and national security applications. Twenty-first century warfighters rely on analytic models in all systems, at all echelons, and in all domains. As more powerful models built on ever larger data sets become ubiquitous, militaries are in a new competition to deploy artificial intelligence. Operational art must embrace “analytic superiority.” This is the operational advantage from collecting and ingesting data, building robust models and computing infrastructure, deploying the models into operational systems, and denying adversaries' ability to do the same

This article explains …

How Euler Could Have Done It: Euler And An Integral Of Ramanujan, Alexander Aycock

Euleriana

We present a derivation of a definite integral discovered by Ramanujan (1887–1920) in his 1915 paper "Some Definite Integrals," from formulas and ideas already developed by Euler (1707–1783). Additionally, it is argued why Euler did not discover Ramanujan's integral himself, although he had all tools required for this task at his disposal.

A Note On Euler's Definition Of The Sum Of A Divergent Series, Alexander Aycock

Euleriana

We outline Euler's theory of divergent series and present another approach he could have taken to sum his ``factorial series". Finally, we address the contradictions that arise from his concept of a sum of a divergent series.

Euler's Explorations Of Extremal Ellipses, Jonathan David Evans

Euleriana

In the 1770s, Euler wrote a series of papers (E563, E691 and E692) about finding the ellipse with minimal area or perimeter in the family of all ellipses passing through a fixed set of points. This is a translation of all three papers from the original Latin, together with a commentary which discusses Euler's results and an appendix which addresses a question from E691 which Euler left for others to consider.

Arithmetic Theorems, Demonstrated By A New Method: An English Translation Of E271, Brendon Lasell

Euleriana

After defending in general terms the value of arithmetic demonstrations, where, according to Euler, the force of genius shines more brightly than in any other kind of demonstration, he goes on to let the force of his own genius shine forth in demonstrating the fact that, for any pair of relatively prime numbers a and N, a^ϕ(N) − 1 is always divisible by N, where we anachronistically denote by ϕ(N) the number of numbers less than N that are relatively prime to it. He approaches this theorem by considering the remainders that result when the numbers in an arithmetic …

On Double Integral Formulas: An English Translation Of E391, Thomas W. Polaski

Euleriana

In this paper, Euler investigates the theory of double intergrals to uses them to find areas, volumes and surface areas. He considers transformations of variables in double integrals. After showing that simple multiplication of the transformed differentials is not appropriate, he derives the formula for a change of variables in double integrals. Euler then uses such changes of variables to investigate areas and volumes, and then turns his attention to the so-called ``Florentine problem.'' This problem requires one to remove four equal windows from a hemispherical surface so that the remaining area is equal to the area of a square. …

Eulerian Problem Solving, Christopher Goff, Erik Tou

Euleriana

An introduction to the contents in Volume 6 (Issue 2) of Euleriana.

Bitseat: Reimagining The Financing For Airliners Using Nonfungible Tokens (Blockchain Technology), Edwin S. Ongola

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

This essay describes how blockchain technology, particularly nonfungible tokens, can be used to raise funding for airliners. The essay begins with a brief overview on the costs, categories, and acquisition methods of airliners. After that, the essay introduces concepts on blockchain technology, tokens, and smart contracts. The essay then touches on how nonfungible tokens can be used to facilitate fractional ownership of airliners. From there, the essay discusses Bitseat, a conceptual nonfungible token for fractional ownership of airliners, covering its overall design, appeal, marketplace alternatives, and challenges. Finally, in the discussion, the essay summarizes the overall concept and outlines its …

Adaptive Knowledge Utility-Driven Rag Ingestion Optimization For Minimizing Time-To-First-Useful-Answer Through Progressive Knowledge Availability, Anupam Mukherjee, Prasad N Kamath

Defensive Publications Series

A system is proposed herein for reducing the time between upload of enterprise knowledge and a first useful answer in a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) environment. The system makes a newly uploaded document rapidly searchable through lightweight text extraction, chunking, metadata extraction, and lexical indexing while semantic enrichment continues in the background. Pending ingestion work is decomposed into document-type-aware tasks and prioritized using document characteristics, live query demand, retrieval-quality signals, expected knowledge utility, processing cost, service-level objectives, and tenant fairness. A global multi-tenant scheduler can continuously reprioritize embedding, optical character recognition (OCR), table extraction, entity extraction, summarization, image understanding, and related …

Gci-Vabc-R+ Continuous Acoustic-Inertial Bio-Purification Engine, Michael Victor Caldwell Mr.

Defensive Publications Series

Elevated levels of Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] represent an independent, genetically determined causal risk factor for cardiovascular disease and aortic stenosis, affecting approximately 20% of the global human population. Current therapeutic interventions face severe trade-offs: pharmacological antisense oligonucleotides (e.g., Pelacarsen) have demonstrated sub-threshold event reduction in large-scale outcomes trials (Lp(a)HORIZON) due to depth-of-lowering limits (~72–80%), whereas existing apheresis platforms non-selectively deplete all Apolipoprotein B (ApoB) particles via non-specific adsorption. This disclosure details the full bench-scale prototype specifications, fluid dynamics models, electrical schematics, and testing protocols for the GCI-VABC-R+ Research Engine.

The GCI-VABC-R+ integrates Dean-flow secondary inertial focusing, high-frequency Bulk Acoustic Waves (BAW), …

Architectural Specification Of A Local Multi-Scale Contour For Stable Recursive Self-Improvement, Volodymyr Kotegov

Defensive Publications Series

This document describes a practical architecture for stable recursive self-improvement limited to programming, algorithms, and mathematics. The system runs as a bare core and does not require broad world knowledge or data-center resources. It is designed for 1 to 5 high-end local workstations (Mac Studio class or equivalent with 128–192 GB unified memory). The design combines aggressive evolutionary search with strong conservative safeguards: multiple time scales, a shadow reference copy, orthogonality based on execution traces, an immutable control core, and specification changes that depend on measured success density.