Digital Commons Network^™

Efficiency Improvement In A Two-Dimensional Axial Diffuser By Passive And Active Flow Control Methods, Muthana M. Ali, Qusay Jihad, Ali L. Ekaid

Engineering and Technology Journal

This paper presents a combined numerical and experimental investigation of the effects of boundary-layer bleeding and thermal control on flow behavior and separation within a two-dimensional rectangular diffuser having an inlet cross-section (7 × 25) cm. The experiments were conducted under fully developed flow conditions over a wide range of Reynolds numbers, based on the hydraulic diameter, from (3.4×¹⁰4-1.64×¹⁰5) and for diffuser divergence angles varying from (5^∘ to 20^∘) .To accurately predict the velocity field, pressure distribution, and boundary-layer development, the incompressible Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations were solved using the finite volume method …

Effect Of Graphite-Mwcnt Hybrid Nanofluid Mql On Cutting Force During Turning Of Ti-6al-4v Alloy, Abbas Ibrahim Khwakaram, Yassin Mustafa Ahmed, Muhammed Tahir Muhammed

Engineering and Technology Journal

Titanium alloys are popular in the aerospace and medical fields because they are very robust but difficult to work with. The study was carried out on a hybrid nanofluid (graphite and MWCNTs, in sunflower oil) under minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) conditions. Unlike conventional lubrication methods, hybrid nano-additives reduce cutting forces during turning. The Taguchi L18 orthogonal array was employed to study the effects of cutting speed, feed rate, and cooling conditions on cutting force. The ``smaller-is-better'' rule was applied to convert the average cutting force into signal-to-noise S/N ratios. ANOVA was used to determine the extent to which each factor …

Diagnostic And Clinical Management Performance Of Large Language Models In Pediatric Infectious Diseases: A Multi-Model Comparative Cross-Sectional Study With Healthcare Professionals And Medical Students, Sait Ramazan Gülbay, Muhammed Yusuf Ozan Avcı, Muhammed Nezih Koç, Hanife Tutan, Sümeyye Koç, Ömer Adil İlhan, Metin Doğan

Journal of Pediatric Infectious Diseases

Objective: Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly investigated to support clinical decision-making. However, their comparative performance against human expertise in pediatric infectious diseases remains insufficiently characterized. This study compared diagnostic accuracy and management score between healthcare professionals, medical students, and multiple LLM configurations. Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted using 30 standardized pediatric infectious disease cases stratified by difficulty (6 easy, 12 medium, 12 difficult). Each case included three multiple-choice questions: a diagnostic gateway question and two management questions. A conditional scoring framework was applied: management questions were scored only when the diagnostic gateway question was answered correctly. The …

Prevalence And Factors Associated With Depression In Pediatric Epilepsy Patients At Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital, Paneeta Panjanya, Manachawee Maneeratchakit, Vitchayaporn Emarach Saengow

Journal of Child Science

Background: Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder commonly associated with depressive symptoms, which can negatively affect quality of life. Early identification through screening is therefore important in pediatric epilepsy care. Objective: To determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms and associated factors among pediatric patients with epilepsy at Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients aged 10–15 years with epilepsy attending the Pediatric Epilepsy Clinic between May 2024 and June 2025. A total of 141 participants were included. Demographic, family, and epilepsy-related data were collected. Depressive symptoms were screened using the Thai version of the Children’s …

Physical Development Of Children Born From Adolescent Mothers: A Descriptive Evaluation Compared To World Averages, Sebahat Aydos, Aysel Köksal Akyol

Journal of Child Science

Background: Adolescent motherhood is a globally prevalent phenomenon that has been the subject of scientific research for many years. However, comprehensive scientific studies focusing on the physical development of children born to adolescent mothers remain quite limited. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the height, weight, and head circumference development of infants and children born to adolescent mothers with the World Health Organization Multicenter Growth Reference Study (WHO MGRS) data. Methods: The study sample consisted of 2,209 infants and children born to adolescent mothers in Turkey, whose records were extracted from the Infant/Child Follow-up Data Set of …

Smart-Twin: Systematic Modeling And Real-Time Transportation With Digital Twins, Hovannes Kulhandjian

Mineta Transportation Institute

Urban transportation networks are increasingly affected by everyday congestion, non-recurring disruptions, and limited real-time visibility into what is happening on the road. Transportation agencies require advanced tools that support faster, proactive management and data-driven infrastructure decisions rather than passive monitoring. This report presents SMART-TWIN, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)–driven Digital Twin framework designed for real-time traffic operations, disruption detection, and performance-based decision-making support. The SMART-TWIN architecture integrates microscopic traffic simulation (detailed traffic modeling), long-horizon synthetic demand generation simulating real travel patterns, supervised machine learning, and performance analysis within a unified and reproducible workflow. A corridor-scale Digital Twin was developed for the …

Cultivating Narratives: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Higher Education Student-Led Farms And Gardens, Maximilan Sherard, Marc T. Sager

Publications

Despite extensive research on community agriculture, little attention has been paid to student-led farms or gardens (SFGs) in higher education contexts. SFGs represent a unique site for community agriculture due to their diverse stakeholders, academic affiliations, and the institutional policies they navigate. This study examines online promotional materials from 42 SFGs located on land-grant higher education campuses across the United States. Using critical discourse analysis, we (1) map these organizations’ practices and (2) identify competing discourses about community and agriculture within their promotional narratives. We identify and explain four core practices (membership, growing, distribution, and purpose) and connect these practices …

Fair + Equitable July 2026, International Association Of Assessing Officers

Fair + Equitable

The July F+E issue reviews how eliminating the property tax would impact local budgets.

Also in this issue:

• An updated Annual Conference session schedule
• The President’s Column
• IAAO launches national campaign to explain the value of the property tax
• Longtime IAAO director retires
• The 2026 conference charity
• IAAO Library hot topics
• New IAAO designees
• Meet A Rep

Pressure Injury Prevention Bundle Implementation In An Acute Care Unit, Hannah K. Pobi

All Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects

Problem: Pressure Injuries are quality indicators that reflect the quality of care delivered to patients. With a hospital-acquired pressure injury rate above 12%, the project site exceeded the national benchmark average of 5-8% for acute inpatient settings. The cost of managing hospital acquired pressure injury ranges from $20,900 to $151,700 per patient, compounded by complications in a patient’s treatment plan.

Aim of the Project: To reduce the prevalence of HAPIs in a step-down unit to below 8% by implementing the Pressure Injury Prevention bundle. The PIP bundle, an evidence-based intervention, primarily aimed to educate the nursing team on its …

How Important Is Clean Energy To Utahns?, Elizabeth Brunner, Stacia Ryder

Utah People and Environment Poll (UPEP)

Utah's energy mix has changed significantly over the past several decades as it has moved to cleaner forms of generation. For example, according to the Energy Information Administration, in 2024, coal fueled about 45% of Utah's total electricity net generation, down from 75% in 2015. As can be seen in the chart below, the state anticipates demand growth, with further reductions in coal alongside a significant increase in solar, storage, and natural gas by 2032. Though not represented in these charts, plans for nuclear power generation have been proposed in Brigham City as well as outside of Green River. Utah …

Leader Election System For An Unmanned Ground Vehicle Swarm, Milan Chhetri, Brendan Beas, Paul Levin

Electrical Engineering

This senior project presents the design and implementation of a leader-election system for a leader-follower unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) swarm using embedded control and wireless communication. The objective of the project is to improve the robustness and mission longevity of a multi-agent robotic system by allowing the swarm to dynamically select the most suitable leader during operation. Each UGV is equipped with an ESP32 microcontroller, DWM1000 Ultra-Wideband (UWB) ranging modules, an MPU-6050 inertial measurement unit (IMU), motor drivers, and supporting power electronics to enable communication, sensing, and autonomous control. A battery monitoring subsystem was developed using the ESP32's built-in Analog-to-Digital …

Maximum Power Point Tracker And Dc/Dc Converter, Isabel Aguas, Madeline Steiner, Haley Blouin, Tristan Asquith, Ellijah Garcia

Electrical Engineering

The product is a solar Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) with an integrated DC-DC converter for efficient power extraction from a solar module. The MPPT optimizes solar energy, sourcing power to a 12V battery which is the source of a DC-DC converter operating as a variable voltage output for various applications, capable of providing voltage greater or less than the voltage supplied by the solar module. The DC-DC converter outputs a manually adjustable DC voltage within the range of 5-50V. Both MPPT and the DC-DC converter are functional for standard solar modules with power ratings ranging from 50-400W, open circuit …

Archimedean Spiral Antenna Array With Klopfenstein And Exponential Tapered Balun Feeds, Leo Joseph Alvelais Iv, Paul Obrecht, Naguib Abdulla, Preston Mavady, Collin Fan

Electrical Engineering

This project presents the design, fabrication, and experimental evaluation of a broadband 3x3 Archimedean spiral antenna array tile for 2.8-3.8 GHz. Each element combines a two-arm spiral on Rogers RO4350B, a printed 50 to 150 Ω tapered balun, and a conductive backplane. Klopfenstein and Exponential feed implementations were modeled in Ansys HFSS, generated and tuned with automated scripting, fabricated, and evaluated with calibrated network and anechoic-chamber measurements. The Klopfenstein-fed hardware met the -10 dB input-reflection criterion across the project band. The exponential array provided a broad matched response but reached approximately -8 dB near 2.95 GHz. Measured center-element patterns retained …

Vision-Based Autonomous Tracking Rover, Alejandro Ahumada, Erick Ayala, Jonathan Chavez

Electrical Engineering

AAC Vision designed and constructed a vision-based autonomous tracking rover capable of exploring an indoor environment, avoiding obstacles, generating a two-dimensional LiDAR map, detecting a standard orange basketball, and approaching the target without manual steering. The rover uses a Raspberry Pi 4, an Intel RealSense D435 RGB-D camera, an RPLIDAR C1, four JGB37-520 Hall-encoder motors, dual H-bridge motor drivers, a 12 V battery, and a custom aluminum chassis measuring approximately 8 in by 12 in and weighing 6.7 lb. The final mission emphasized reliable target discovery rather than travel between predetermined points. The software integrates Python, OpenCV, Ultralytics YOLO, RealSense …

A Rationale For Social Return On Investment, Catherine Ipsen, Christopher Clapp, Jordan A. Costello

Employment

This fact sheet compares the utility of two different return on investment (ROI) models for assessing the value of VR services. In this fact sheet, the research team compares data from the Virginia VR program to demonstrate differences between the social and taxpayer ROI models and makes a case for using social ROI for assessing VR services.

Crustal Structure Of The Vøring Plateau And Vøring Spur From Joint Refraction And Reflection Travel-Time Tomography, Anika Nawar Mayeesha

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Crustal architecture of the Vøring Plateau and Vøring Spur in the mid-Norwegian continental margin remains debated because the geophysical data in the area do not uniquely constrain whether the crust is continental, oceanic, or transitional. This study reanalyzes wide-angle ocean-bottom seismometer data from Profile 11-03 across the Vøring passive continental margin using joint travel-time tomography of crustal refractions and Moho reflections. A total of 6,760 first-arrival picks and 542 PmP picks from sixteen instruments were inverted for P-wave velocity and reflector depth. Three starting models were inverted independently to test sensitivity to the initial crustal configuration. The first two used …

Observing System Simulation Experiments To Investigate Impacts Of Deep-Tropospheric Uas Flights On Forecasts, Kenneth Alexander Swan

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Uncrewed aircraft systems have emerged as a promising option to address meteorological gaps in observations in the lower troposphere. With recent advancements, UAS may be able to address gaps aloft in areas that lack coverage from radiosondes and commercial aircraft. UAS have shown the potential to significantly benefit NWP forecasts from profiles in the lowest 2 km AGL, but the impact of UAS profiles to the tropopause has yet to be quantified. Additionally, the impacts of hazardous flying conditions that UAS would encounter need to be addressed to guide future UAS capabilities. To address these questions, we designed an observing …

Older Medicare Beneficiaries’ Use Of Long Term Services And Supports, 2015-2021, Yvonne Jonk Phd, Heidi O'Connor, Erica C. Ziller Phd

All Maine Rural Health Research Center Publications

By 2040 the adult population age 65 and older is projected to grow from 48 million in 2014 to over 83 million people.1 This is due to aging Baby Boomers, as well as increased longevity associated with favorable shifts in health behaviors such as an overall decline in smoking and alcohol consumption.2 Yet, physical inactivity and substance use are contributing to higher incidences of obesity and chronic health conditions. The combination of aging populations with chronic conditions is expected to increase the demand for long term services and supports (LTSS). These services include home and community-based services (HCBS) and services …

When Muscle Matters: Skeletal Muscle Mass And Surgical Outcomes, Lauren G. Schumacher

Summer Interdisciplinary Research Symposium

Objective: The goal of this project was to explore the relationship between skeletal muscle mass and postoperative complications in order to evaluate how muscle-based surgical risk assessment could lead to actionable preoperative plans for adult surgical patients.

Methods: A literature review was conducted using ScienceDirect and Research Rabbit to identify studies examining skeletal muscle and surgical outcomes. Full text studies involving adult surgical patients and evaluating skeletal muscle characteristics were included, while studies involving pediatric, non-surgical populations, lacking postoperative follow-up, or published before 2020 were excluded. Five total studies consisting of meta-analyses, retrospective cohort studies, a systematic review, and a …

Following Her Footsteps: The Life’S Work Of A Historian: A Journey Into Dominican Memory, M. Dougherty Professor Emerita

History and Political Science | Faculty Scholarship

A personal account of Sr. Patricia Dougherty’s discovery of the life of Mother Mary Goemaere before she founded the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael—a journey that began in personal curiosity and unfolded into a ministry, a responsibility, and ultimately, a calling.

Jwst-Tst High Contrast: First Direct Spectroscopy Of Gj 504 B Reveals Clouds And Possible Metal Enrichment, Aneesh Baburaj, Jean-Baptiste Ruffio, Marshall Perrin Perrin, Jerry W. Xuan, William O. Balmer, Yayaati Chachan, Quinn M. Konopacky, Travis S. Barman, Mathilde Mâlin, Kielan K.W. Hoch, Emily Rickman, K. Ward-Duong, Laurent Pueyo, Julien H. Girard, Isabel Rebollido, Nikole K. Lewis, Jeff Valenti, Sara Seager, Chris Stark, Rémi Soummer, Jay Anderson, Charles-Philippe Lajoie, Mark Clampin, C. Matt Mountain

Astronomy: Faculty Publications

Characterizing the coldest directly imaged companions through direct spectroscopy has only recently become possible with the James Webb Space Telescope. We present moderate-resolution (R ∼ 2700) spectroscopic observations of the directly imaged planetary-mass companion (PMC), GJ 504 b, using the JWST/NIRSpec. The coldest imaged PMC of the pre-JWST era GJ 504 b is too faint for ground-based spectroscopy, with only photometric observations possible. Leveraging advanced postprocessing techniques with a forward-modeling framework, we detect the companion at high signal-to-noise (S/N > 300). We also present the first successful point-spread function (PSF) subtraction with angular differential imaging (ADI) in the NIRSpec point …

Preparing General Education Teachers For Implementing Accommodations In Inclusive Classrooms, Katherine J. Ramirez

PhD in Education

The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of general education teachers and their perceptions of preparedness to implement accommodations after attending specialized, targeted training. The study included one research question, which focused on the teachers’ perceived preparedness to implement accommodations after attending specialized training. The study was influenced by the work of Mezirow (1997) and Meyer et al. (2014) and incorporated transformative learning theory and universal design for learning (UDL) elements. The researcher used convenience sampling to select seven general education teachers who taught inclusion classes in Central Florida to participate in the study. …

Block Kinematics, Interseismic Coupling And Fault Slip Rates In The Aegean Region From Gps And Earthquake Slip Vector Data: 1. Upper Plate Structures, Konstantinos Chousianitis, Sotiris Sboras, Volkan Özbey, Robert Mccaffrey, Semih Ergintav

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

We represent the active deformation of the Aegean region with an elastic‐kinematic block model composed of a finite number of rotating crustal blocks whose boundaries coincide with major active structures. A total of 832 GPS velocities and 146 earthquake slip vectors were inverted to provide estimates of block rotations and interseismic locking on block‐bounding faults so as to best reproduce the observed deformation field. Our regional model allowed us to derive a self‐consistent set of geodetic slip rates for upper plate faults and the Hellenic subduction system, the results of which are presented in a companion paper, and to determine …

Learning About Gujarati: Cultural Identity And Family Language, Vritti Sodha

Florida Atlantic Undergraduate Research Journal

Language loss is a prevalent problem that is occurring in immigrant families in the United States. Since regional languages such as Gujarati are not used outside of households and community gatherings, it is not given much importance to learn. In order to combat this problem, community centers hold Gujarati classes for students of all ages to help preserve the language, but the lack of motivation to learn the language still remains. This is because a student needs to have a connection to the language to be motivated to learn it, which can be made through active learning. This study examines …

Man, Cut The Crop: Effects Of Cropectomies On Survival And Behavior In Drosophila Melanogaster, Emily Peraza

Florida Atlantic Undergraduate Research Journal

The gut-brain axis mediates communication between the digestive and nervous systems to regulate physiology and behavior. Its dysfunction profoundly impacts human health and causes disease. Region-specific hormones and neurotransmitters in the digestive system respond to several processes to signal the brain, but the mechanisms of gut-brain signaling are not fully defined. Drosophila melanogaster is a powerful model for studying gut biology by showing remarkable similarity to mammalian digestive systems, as both regulate energy by distributing nutrients. We refined a minimally invasive surgical protocol to remove the crop from adult flies. We then utilized the Activity Recording CAFE (ARC) and Drosophila …

Unwilling Consent Or Ravishment? Sexual Violence In Late Seventeenth-Century London, Susan Hernandez

Florida Atlantic Undergraduate Research Journal

No abstract provided.

A Comprehensive Overview Of The Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm, Vincent Stafford

Florida Atlantic Undergraduate Research Journal

As quantum computing research advances, the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) has emerged as a leading approach to harnessing current quantum hardware for solving complex combinatorial optimization problems. This pedagogical, expository paper outlines the mathematical foundations of QAOA, explains its step-by-step implementation from first principles in a manner accessible to advanced undergraduate students and non-specialists, and explores real-world applications such as protein folding and job scheduling. We also examine the algorithm’s performance challenges, including barren plateaus and circuit depth limitations.

System Integration And Validation Of The Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator Mk. Iv, Bricen S. Rigby

Master's Theses

The Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator (SADS) is an ongoing project that seeks to enable the simulation and validation of sensors, actuators, and control logic related to spacecraft attitude control. The SADS platform rests atop a spher- ical air-bearing device which allows for nearly frictionless rotation in all three axes. The orientation of the platform is controlled by four reaction wheels arranged in a pyramidal configuration. Over the past few years, there have been significant updates to the reaction wheel subsystem, as well as requests for a more capable central com- puter. Therefore, a new system architecture for the …

Colonial Futures: Ngaio Marsh, War, And The End Of Empire, Heather M. Robinson

Publications and Research

Between the years of 1941 and 1945, Ngaio Marsh published three New Zealand-focused whodunnits; all three of these stories explore the impacts of the Second World War to some degree. What is curious is not that Marsh wrote about the war, but her sustained focus on New Zealand and New Zealanders, given that Marsh’s fiction usually took place in London or its surrounding counties. It marks the impact on Marsh of the global conflict that was changing the world, and shaking the foundations of colonialism and modernity as they had been known before 1939. In this essay, I explore how …

Existence And Uniqueness Of Positive Solutions For Hilfer–Hadamard-Type Fractional Differential Equations With Γ-Concave And Sub-Homogeneous Operators, Hasan Rasouli, Hojjat Afshari, Martin Bohner

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this research, we present necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of positive solutions for a class of Hilfer–Hadamard-type fractional differential equations with boundary value problems, including those with integral boundary conditions. The obtained results are conditional on a specific set of strong assumptions, which substantially narrow the class of admissible nonlinearities, coefficients, and boundary data. Thus, the present work extends the Hadamard-type framework to the Hilfer–Hadamard setting only within this restrictive regime, rather than providing a full extension to all Hilfer–Hadamard systems. We utilize the properties of (Formula presented.) -concave and sub-homogeneous operators along with two …