Digital Commons Network^™

Formative Uncertainty And Community Perception In Social Engagement Projects Using Neutrosophic Z Numbers, Carlos Vélez, Carla Espinoza, Manuel Espinoza, Fabrizzio Andrade Zamora, Óscar José Alejo Machado

Neutrosophic Sets and Systems

This research addresses the gap of measuring social learning of social community projects, a controversial topic stemming from the subjectivity of all involved actors. It's a relevant topic because eventually, all community projects will need to be assessed for effective educational and social gains to ensure meaningful existence for sustainability purposes. However, the literature does not provide such assessments because actions are fuzzy or blended with communities and non-deterministic learning outcomes. This research attempts to assess the measurement of social learning of social community projects using Neutrosophic Z Numbers to bring uncertainty into the measurement equation. Beginning with a proposed …

Law Enforcement, Reproductive Health Information, And The Hipaa Privacy Rule, Stacey A. Tovino

Faculty Articles

On April 26, 2024, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) promulgated a final rule (Final Rule) amending the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. The Final Rule prohibits HIPAA covered entities and business associates from using and disclosing protected health information (PHI) to conduct criminal, civil, or administrative investigations into an individual for the mere act of seeking, obtaining, providing, or facilitating lawful reproductive health care. The Final Rule also prohibits HIPAA covered entities and business associates from using and disclosing PHI to impose criminal, civil, and administrative liability on any individual, or to …

Governance In The Absence Of Government, Tracy Hresko Pearl

Faculty Articles

Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing at an unprecedented pace, with generative systems exerting growing influence over social, economic, and political life. While Al offers opportunities for innovation and efficiency, it also poses risks ranging from misinformation and job displacement to existential threats if highly autonomous systems evade human control. Across industry, government, and civil society, there is broad consensus that Al requires oversight.

Yet traditional U.S. regulatory approaches face six significant barriers: (1) technology outpacing legislation, (2) limited Al expertise among policymakers, (3) regulatory capture, (4) political gridlock, (5) outdated governance structures, and (6) the inherent complexity of Al. Combined …

Phi 172 Contemporary Moral Issues, Naomi Zack Phd

Open Educational Resources

An ethical situation or an ethical aspect to something involves human harm or well-being or life or death. Human well-being and life are universally considered important and valuable. This course will present classical ethics writings in Philosophy, contemporary moral/ethical topics, and tools for reading, thinking, speaking, and writing about ethics. In order to apply ethics to current issues, we need to know what Philosophy has contributed to ethical/moral thinking. This course develops that knowledge. Included are: philosophical moral systems of virtue ethics, deontology, utilitarianism and existentialism. Contemporary issues include animal rights, the life of the mind in college, upward social …

Introduction: Dreaming The Daily Darg, Corey Gibson

Studies in Scottish Literature

Describes the scope of the Carnegie Trust -funded project on Working Lives in Scottish Writing since 1918, discusses the topics and theoretical perspectives explored in the research phase, noting both change and continuity from the treatment dominant in early and mid-20th century Scottish literary studies, and introduces the essays in this special issue and their contributions to the wider project theme.

Masthead - Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, Vol. 32 (2025-26)

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Burying Weapons Under The White Pine Tree: Reducing Nuclear Weapons And Using The Monetary Savings To Compensate Native Peoples Injured By The U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex, William Y. Chin

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Can The Free Speech Clause Protect Transgender Expression From The Trump Administration?, Daniel Cooper

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

This Article explores how the Free Speech Clause can provide protection to speakers implicated by the Trump administration's executive orders restricting gender-related speech. Part I will provide an overview of how the Trump administration has directed executive authority to stifle gender-non-conforming identity and expression, how those efforts fit within the larger context of right-wing efforts to marginalize transgender people, and why the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is not currently a useful tool for the protection of trans rights. Part II will examine efforts to regulate government employees' pronoun usage, focusing on whether …

Investigating Driver Perceptions Of Semi-Autonomous Vehicle Sensing And Response Characteristics, Molly Mersinger

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

As semi-autonomous vehicle (SAV) technologies become increasingly integrated into modern transportation, understanding how the public perceives their capabilities is essential for ensuring safe and effective human-automation interaction. This study examined drivers’ perceptions of SAV detection and discernment abilities across 28 driving conditions and how those perceptions related to expected vehicle behaviors in 17 corresponding scenarios. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses identified three perceptual dimensions: Traffic Infrastructure and Vehicle Recognition, Dynamic Roadway Hazards and Vulnerable Road Users, and Human Interaction and Contextual Cues. Moderate overlap between the first two dimensions suggested that participants viewed certain structured and dynamic roadway features as …

Resilience Engineering Via Bifurcation And Ecological Network Analysis: Demonstrated In An Electric Power Case Study, Rogelio Gracia Otalvaro

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Modern systems are increasingly complex, interconnected cyber-physical systems that combine digital controls with physical infrastructure. This integration, along with the constant introduction of new technologies and actors into the network, enables reliable operation but introduces vulnerabilities to unexpected and varied disruptions and cascading failures, making resilience a critical concern. Traditional risk management and resilience assessment methods often struggle with the nonlinearity and dynamic behavior of these systems. This dissertation proposes a novel approach combining Bifurcation Analysis (BA) and Ecological Network Analysis (ENA) to enhance the understanding and improvement of system resilience. BA, a mathematical method from dynamical systems theory, is …

The Weight Of Stigma, Rebekah A. King, Michael S. Sinha

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

Many health care providers, both implicitly and explicitly, perpetuate stigma in their treatment of patients classified as obese. While medical professionals understand that a one-size-fits-all approach to treatment is ineffective, patients classified as obese are frequently offered limited treatment options that fail to account for their unique needs. Access to a range of effective treatment options has historically been limited, but new GLP-1 receptor agonist medicines like Wegovy (semaglutide) and Zepbound (tirzepatide), have shown incredible promise in addressing the obesity crisis. Unfortunately, these transformative drugs are costly, in high demand, and not widely covered by insurance, rendering them inaccessible for …

Bridging The Rural Telehealth Divide, Deborah Farringer

Law Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the historical development, regulatory landscape, and post-pandemic future of telehealth in the United States, with a particular focus on its original purpose: improving access to care for rural populations. Although Congress first authorized Medicare reimbursement for telehealth in 1997 to alleviate rural health disparities, federal and state regulatory frameworks—especially restrictions on originating sites, licensure rules, and HIPAA-driven technology requirements—significantly limited adoption for more than two decades. The COVID-19 public health emergency triggered sweeping temporary waivers that removed geographic limitations, permitted the use of common communication technologies, liberalized supervision and prescribing rules, and allowed audio-only encounters. These changes …

Flies: Nature’S Hidden Helpers, A Science Literacy Project Exploring Beneficial And Pest Insects, Natalie Johnston

Department of Entomology: Distance Master of Science Projects

A science literacy project for elementary learners exploring beneficial and pest insects with a focus on flies, nature's hidden helpers.

This project demonstrates that science literacy can be cultivated through experiential and interdisciplinary teaching. Future developments could include digital tools for compost monitoring, citizen science participation, or expanded studies of other decomposer species. Cross-curricular collaboration with language arts and art education can further strengthen the integration of creativity and evidence-based reasoning.

Ultimately, this work reaffirms that even small organisms—like flies—can inspire big learning outcomes. By integrating science literacy with sustainability education, we prepare students to think critically about ecological relationships …

Experimental Insights Into High Background Radiation: Reduced Cancer Risks In A Murine Model Study, S. M.J. Mortazavi, M. Arshadi, B. F. Baha'addini Baigy Zarandi, J. S. Welsh, H. Mozdarani, M. Haghani, N. Jooyan, S. Nematollahi, Negar Azarpira, Lembit Sihver

Informatics and Engineering Systems Faculty Publications

Background: Natural background radiation varies geographically and has potential implications for cancer development. High-level natural radiation areas (HLNRAs), like Ramsar, Iran, offer unique opportunities to study the biological effects of radiation exposure. This study investigates the relationship between high background radiation and tumor progression in a murine model. Materials and Methods: Thirty-two C57BL/6 mice were exposed to varying levels of natural radiation (0.097 μSv/h to 9.24 μSv/h) for two months, simulating conditions in Ramsar. Mice were divided into four groups based on radiation intensity. After exposure, 1106 B16-F10 melanoma cells were injected subcutaneously, and tumor growth was monitored for 24 …

Video Deep Fake Detection Based On Spatiotemporal Analysis, Muna Ghazi Abdulsahib

Iraqi Journal of Computers, Communications, Control and Systems Engineering

Deep fake videos are a threat to information integrity by using advanced deep learning techniques to manipulate visual content and make it hard to distinguish from real videos. This includes videos where a person’s image is changed or replaced using deep learning techniques. In this paper, we propose a hybrid approach for deep fake video detection that combines spatial and temporal features. We use a pre-trained VGG16 to extract deep spatial features from individual frames, and then global average pooling at both spatial and temporal level to convert variable length video sequences into fixed dimensional representations. A fully connected classifier …

A Review Of Post-Quantum Digital Signature Schemes Applicability And Performance In Various Environments, Marwa M. Hamood, Arwa A

Iraqi Journal of Computers, Communications, Control and Systems Engineering

The emergence of quantum computers, coupled with relentless advancements in technology, calls for the immediate transition from classical to modern cryptography for efficient data transfer across optic fibers. This paper assesses different proposed post-quantum signature schemespertaining to their plausibility of being useful against quantum computers’ capabilities. The ability of quantum computers to solve mathematical equations at speeds significantly faster than those of classical computers is remarkable. Existing cryptographic frameworks that depend on discrete logarithms and integer factorization are seriously threatened by this exceptional efficiency. In order to protect sensitive data in a post-quantum world, it may be necessary to reevaluate …

Emotion Recognition From Upper-Body Movements With A Pose Collage Cnn Architecture, Gheed Tawfeeq Waleed, Shaymaa Hameed

Iraqi Journal of Computers, Communications, Control and Systems Engineering

Emotion recognition through body movement presents a compelling alternative to traditional facial and vocal analysis in the field of emotion recognition . This study introduces a deep learning-based framework that utilizes upper-body movements features to classify emotional states using ConVolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). The system is trained and evaluated on the Body Language Dataset (BoLD) dataset, targeting seven primary emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, joy, and disgust. The proposed model achieves a classification accuracy of 95.72%, significantly outperforming existing methods in bodybased emotion recognition. The result highlights the potential of body posture as a reliable and standalone modality for …

Jet Impingement And Vortex/Swirl Cooling Of Different Inlet And Outlet Geometrical Configurations For Turbine Blade Leading Edge Cooling, Irfan Ahmad Sheikh

Dissertations

Gas turbine blades operate in extreme environments, exposed directly to high-temperature combustion gases that cause severe thermal stresses, weaken material integrity, and may lead to structural failure. Proper cooling is crucial to lower blade temperatures, reduce thermal stresses, prevent failure, and improve overall engine efficiency. This work presents a detailed numerical study of various cooling configurations by applying two advanced leading-edge cooling methods, jet impingement and swirl cooling, across different inlet mass flow rates and jet Reynolds numbers (Rej) ranging from 1,000 to 20,000 to evaluate their cooling performance.

Several advanced leading-edge cooling configurations are proposed and compared with the …

The Advocate (Fall 2025), Lewis & Clark Law School

The Advocate

No abstract provided.

Richmond Law Magazine: Autumn 2025

Richmond Law Magazine

Danielle Stokes and the energy discussion

Beyond the page

The mentorship web

Check Out The Library, 2025 Fall Issue, Cal Poly Humboldt Library

Library Publications

Issue 20

Personal Finance Education In Florida: Teaching The Teachers, Jessica Morey

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods action research study with an explanatory sequential design investigated teacher financial capability and financial well-being in advance of a mandate that will require high school students in Florida to take a semester-long personal finance course, taught by social studies teachers. Survey results from 47 participants—teachers at a large suburban high school and high school social studies teachers across a Florida school district serving just over 29,000 students—indicated that while most teachers can answer basic financial literacy questions, many lack the financial self-efficacy to ensure their financial future. Teachers had varying experiences with financial socialization. While many had experienced …

Writers Helping Writers: The Power Of Peer Feedback In Student Writing, Heather Palmer

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research study was to improve students’ engagement with the writing process by focusing more intently on peer feedback. The study occurred in my sixth-grade classroom in an affluent suburb of a large U.S. city. As an insider to the setting, I used mixed methods to address a problem of practice, having noticed that students were not engaging in revision between their first and final drafts. Through the lens of social constructivism, I examined data collected through surveys, semi-structured interviews, and writing samples. Being both reviewers and recipients of feedback had positive yet distinct impacts on …

The Role Of Language Ideologies In Saudi Elementary English Education: Efl Teacher’S Perspectives And Experiences, Ghanem Saad S Alghuwainem

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how Saudi elementary English teachers understand and enact language ideologies in a period of rapid educational change and national reform. Using a comparative case study of five teachers in Al-Ahsa, the study triangulates semi-structured interviews, classroom audio recordings, and teaching materials to compare stated beliefs with observable practice. The analysis is guided by the theories of English hegemony and language and gender ideology, which together illuminate how global linguistic hierarchies are localized through teachers’ beliefs and practices. Findings reveal that teachers occupy an ideologically complex position as they balance the national push for English proficiency under Vision …

Too Much Of A Good Thing? Can Students Be Too Behaviorally Engaged, Rosemary Louise Odem

Theses and Dissertations

Student engagement in school is a key determinant of students’ academic success. Student engagement is commonly conceptualized as a meta construct comprised of three dimensions: emotional, cognitive, and behavioral engagement (Fredricks, 2015). Behavioral engagement, the focus of this study, is defined by positive conduct, involvement in learning and academic tasks, and participation in school-related activities (Fredricks et al., 2004). Some researchers have suggested that psychological strengths, like engagement, can be overused and result in maladaptive consequences (Niemiec, 2019; Oishi et al., 2007). This study addressed this notion using archival data from a sample of 422 students from one Southeastern US …

A Qualitative Study Exploring Teachers’ Beliefs And Practices Supporting African American Male Readers, Rhonda Douglas Sumter

Theses and Dissertations

Despite decades of educational reform, African American male students continue to experience persistent disparities in reading achievement. This qualitative case study explores the beliefs and pedagogical practices of three elementary educators identified as effective in supporting the reading development of African American males. Drawing on the frameworks of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995) and Critical Race Theory (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012), the study seeks to illuminate how educators affirm students’ identities, maintain rigorous expectations, and create responsive learning environments that foster academic success.

Data sources included in-depth teacher interviews and classroom observations. Thematic analysis revealed three interconnected practices across cases: …

Parental Attitudes And Expectations Regarding Piano Study For Their Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Lin Zhong

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates parental attitudes and expectations regarding piano study for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Although music has been recognized for its therapeutic and educational benefits among individuals with ASD, research examining these outcomes from the perspective of parents has been limited. This study focuses on in-depth interviews with nine parents of children with ASD enrolled in the Carolina LifeSong Initiative, a specialized piano program serving students with diverse developmental disorders.

The interviews explored parents’ motivations for initiating piano study, expectations for both musical and non-musical outcomes, and observations of their children’s growth and challenges through music. Parents reported …

Computational Analogies In The Era Of Large Language Models, Amarakoon Mudiyanselage Thilini Wijesiriwardene

Theses and Dissertations

Analogical reasoning is an important part of human cognition requiring the integration of abstract reasoning, pattern recognition, and background knowledge. Despite significant advances in language modeling, the capacity of current methods to accurately identify, model, and evaluate analogies remains fundamentally underexplored.

Analogies enable individuals to perceive deep similarities between superficially different situations. Effective analogy-making requires integrating knowledge about the external world with abstract reasoning and pattern recognition capabilities. While current language models (LMs), trained on massive textual corpora using autoregressive or masked objectives, achieve impressive performance across Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks such as text generation, summarization, and classification, their …

Teaching With Nature: Place-Based Learning And Outdoor Education Toward Healing In The K-2 Setting, Isaac Hart

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Outdoor education and place-based learning hold rich histories and futures. This project at large set out to explore the stories and possibilities of outdoor education and place-based learning within the K-2 landscape. The research question being addressed in this project is: How can we use meaningful place-based learning and outdoor education in the K-2 setting as a means of healing relationships with schooling and with the rest of the natural world? Through personal and professional framing, an exploratory literature review, an educator resource toolkit project, and a reflective conclusion, this work presents outdoor education and place-based learning as having myriad …

Unleashing The Research Superpowers Of Ap Students, Lindsey Douglas, Suzanne Rook Schilf, Camille Cooper, Jennifer Groff

Presentations

No abstract provided.