Digital Commons Network^™

Using Large Language Models To Analyze Political Texts Through Natural Language Understanding, Kenneth Benoit, Scott De Marchi, Conor Laver, Michael Laver, Jinshuai Ma

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Large language models (LLMs) offer scalable alternatives to human experts when analyzing political texts for meaning, using natural language understanding (NLU). Qualitative NLU methods relying on human experts are severely limited by cost and scalability. Statistical text-as-data methods are scalable but rely on strong and often unrealistic assumptions. We propose a systematic, scalable, and replicable method that can extend existing qualitative and quantitative approaches by using LLMs to interpret texts meaningfully rather than as mere data. Our ensemble means of LLM-generated estimates of party positions on six key issue dimensions correlate highly with equivalent mean ratings by country specialists. When …

When Stress Matters Most: Developmental Timing And Socio-Ecological Stressors Among Mexican-Origin Adolescents From Low-Income Immigrant Families, Ka I Ip, Wen Wen, Sujin Lee, Wei Xiang Sim, Su Yeong Kim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This study investigates the dynamic, time-varying associations between multiple socio-ecological stressors and internalizing symptoms among Mexican-origin youth from low-income immigrant families. Grounded in a socioecological framework and employing time-varying effect modeling (TVEM), we examine how stressors at the interpersonal, family, and neighborhood levels differentially influence anxiety and depressive symptoms across early adolescence (ages 11–13), middle adolescence (ages 14–17), and late adolescence/emerging adulthood (ages 18–20). Participants included 604 Mexican-origin adolescents (54% female) from low-income immigrant families, assessed across three waves spanning nine years. Five distinct stressors were identified: discrimination, foreigner stress, economic stress, language brokering stress, and neighborhood violence/non-safety. Results from …

Molecular Lung Imaging Following Exposure To Radiation Predicts Long-Term Survival In Rats, Anne V. Clough, Kathrina Mpala, Taheri Pardis, Laura Norwood Toro, Andreas M. Beyer, Tracy Gasperetti, Ming Zhao, Sarah Kerns, Heather A. Himburg, Said H. Audi

Mathematical and Statistical Science Faculty Research and Publications

Delayed effects of acute radiation exposure (DEARE), including radiation pneumonitis (lung-DEARE), develop weeks to months after radiation exposure. Pathway-targeted biomarkers that capture early oxidative stress and cell death could improve risk stratification and provide objective measures of mitigator efficacy. The objective was to test whether molecular lung imaging predicts long-term survival and mitigator response after irradiation. Rats received 13.5 Gy leg-out partial-body irradiation with a subset treated with the radiation-injury mitigator lisinopril. Rats underwent lung imaging at weeks 2 and 4 post-irradiation with ^99mTc-duramycin (cell death) and ^99mTc-HMPAO (oxidative stress). Plasma mitochondrial damage-associated molecular patterns (mtDAMPs) were also …

The Health Of Latinos In Massachusetts: Inequality In Health Behaviors And Chronic Health Conditions, Phillip Granberry, Alejandro Alvarez, Florita Coto Tristán

Gastón Institute Publications

This report provides a portrait of adult Latino health in Massachusetts by exploring and describing selected social indicators and health outcomes. This report is a companion to a 2021 report on Latino children in the state, which found that Latino children are more likely to have asthma, be overweight, and show symptoms of anxiety and depression, and less likely to be engaged in physical activity when compared to Non-Latino children. The foregoing findings suggested that Latino children are not developing in an environment that promotes health behaviors compared to Non-Latinos in Massachusetts.v The collective health of Latinos is said group …

Human-Centered Design Of Patient Interviews: Capturing The Experiences Of Patients Recovering From Emergency Abdominal Surgery, Jenna L Marquard, Christie L Martin, Elizabeth C Wick, Amanda C Trofholz, Matthew S Loth, Suhyun Park, Genevieve B Melton

The Brown Foundation: Institute of Molecular Medicine

Objectives: Recognizing the challenges of at-home recovery following a truncated presurgical pathway for emergency laparotomy (EL) patients, we sought to identify barriers and facilitators to optimal recovery. This study aimed to develop a human-centered interview guide to capture the experiences of patients recovering at home after EL.

Methods: We employed an iterative human-centered design (HCD) approach to interview guide development, structured across 3 cycles. Each cycle refined the interview guide based on mock interviews and feedback from an interdisciplinary team. In cycle 1, we focused on creating a patient-centered, understandable guide. In cycle 2, we introduced a preinterview survey to …

Risk Factors For Early-Onset And Late-Onset Dementia: A Prospective Cohort Study, Katherine Giorgio, John J Stephen, Maxwell Mansolf, Elizabeth A Peterson, Alden L Gross, Emily M Briceño, Deborah A Levine, Catherine Helmer, Stéphanie Debette, Aïcha Soumaré, M Arfan Ikram, Frank J Wolters, Sudha Seshadri, Claudia L Satizabal, Jayandra Jung Himali, Lenore J Launer, David Li, Djass Mbangdadji, Donald M Lloyd-Jones, Farzaneh A Sorond, Lihui Zhao, Oscar L Lopez, Suzanne E Judd, Timothy M Hughes, Vilmundur Guðnason, Allison E Aiello, Alison Fohner, Archana Singh-Manoux, Behnam Sabayan, James S Pankow, Paul S De Vries, Kristine Yaffe, Alexa Beiser, Abbas Dehghan, Rachel Zmora, Denise Scholtens, Pamela L Lutsey, Norrina B Allen, Richard Maclehose, Sanaz Sedaghat

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Early-onset dementia (onset before age 65 years) is an important health concern, but much of our understanding of its risk factors is inferred from studies of late-onset dementia (onset after age 65 years). We investigated associations between several demographic, clinical, and lifestyle factors with early-onset dementia and compared those estimates against their associations with late-onset dementia.

Methods: Data from five community-based longitudinal cohort studies from the UK and USA were pooled and rigorously harmonised: UK Biobank, Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, Framingham Heart Study, Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, and Whitehall II Study. Dementia was ascertained via hospitalisation and death …

Marginal Dispositions And Shared Decision-Making Among Older Adults In The Ed: A Prospective Cohort Study, Adrian D Haimovich, Anita Chary, Laura Burke, Alexander T Janke, Adam Rodman, Bruce Landon, Nathan I Shapiro, Aanand D Naik, Elizabeth Schoenfeld, Kei Ouchi, Mara A Schonberg

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: ED disposition decisions for older adults are complex and often uncertain, yet studies rarely capture emergency physicians' real-time perspectives.

Objective: To assess patient outcomes based on emergency physician-perceived need for admission.

Design: Single-site prospective cohort study conducted between July and November 2024.

Setting: A Boston-area academic tertiary care ED.

Participants: Patients aged 65 and older dispositioned by attending physicians, excluding patients who were handed off, left without being seen, or eloped.

Measurements: Physicians rated admission need using a 5-point Likert scale (2-4 considered marginal). Primary outcome was ED disposition stratified by rating. Secondary outcomes were hospital length-of-stay (LOS), 7-day …

Dental Rankings: Relevant Or A Psychological Rollercoaster?, Stuart L. Segelnick Dds, Ms

The New York State Dental Journal

It may take a village of dentists honing in on their own rankings to reverse the profession’s downward trend.

Improving Equity Within The Holistic Admission Process Through Race-Neutral Holistic Review: A Before And After Cross-Sectional Study, Megan Eikenberry, Kylie Scott, Jaime González, Josh Subialka, Lacey Frankland, Patrice Ayala, Mark Kargela, Byron Russell

Physical Therapy Faculty Publications

Introduction: The US Physical therapist (PT) workforce lacks racial and ethnic diversity, which may contribute to health disparities. Holistic review (HR) admission methods may improve workforce diversity by evaluating applicants' academic metrics, experiences, and personal attributes. Holistic review processes must adapt following the 2023 Supreme Court ruling prohibiting race-based admission criteria.

Review of literature: Holistic review criteria are program-specific and align with institutional and programmatic goals. While HR is shown to improve student body diversity, most PT education programs heavily emphasize academic metrics, which may disadvantage racial and ethnic minority (REM) applicants from acceptance. This study examines the racial and …

Imaging-Guided Interventional Management Of Chronic Pelvic Pain:Patient Characteristics And Procedural Utilization Among Responders, Ayushi Vashishtha, Joseph E. Patruno Md

USF-LVHN SELECT

No abstract provided.

Shaping The Future Of Vertical Bone Augmentation: A Detailed Review Of Additive Manufacturing And 3d Biodegradable Scaffolds, Sleem Abdelstar Farag, Refaie Ahmed Omar, Salah A. Salman, Ahmed Barhoum, Gomaa A. Abdalla, Abdalla Abdal Hay Ali

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Achieving effective alveolar bone augmentation in the vertical dimension presents a significant challenge in periodontal tissue regeneration, particularly for optimizing dental implant procedures. Sufficient alveolar bone height is crucial for successful implant placement. To achieve this, several surgical approaches—such as autologous bone block grafting, distraction osteogenesis, and guided bone regeneration (GBR)—are commonly used, often in combination with natural or synthetic grafting materials. However, these conventional methods face limitations, including morbidity, dimensional instability, structural weaknesses, handling difficulties, and high failure rates. Recent advancements in additive manufacturing, present innovative solutions by enabling the creation of 3D porous scaffolds with essential properties for …

Social Skill Program Development For Adults With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Clayton Stapert

Capstone Projects

This doctoral capstone experience (DCE) was completed at the Center for Disability Services (CDS) and focused on developing and implementing a social skills program for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Many existing social skills programs focus on general or work-related skills, but there is a need for programs that help individuals apply social skills during real-life community activities. This project aimed to address that gap by creating a structured, occupation-based program within an adult day skill-building day center.

The program included education, group discussion, role-playing, and community outings to help participants practice skills such as interacting with cashiers, …

Safety Searches, Shifting Standards, And The Need To Balance Competing Interests, Colton Fehr

UBC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Prisoner Grievance System: Administrative Justice Or Grey Hole?, Kate Mitchell

UBC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Empirical Comparisons Of Partial Dimension Reduction Algorithms In High-Dimensional Regression, Nathan Greenfield

Master's Theses

In high-dimensional regression problems, dimension reduction methods are often used to address the challenges of multicollinearity and estimation instability. Partial dimension reduction extends these ideas by applying dimension reduction to a subset of the predictors, while the remaining predictors are modeled without compression. This approach is particularly useful when it is important to retain variability and interpretability in certain predictors.

This thesis investigates the empirical performance of partial dimension reduction algorithms and introduces a novel algorithm, Iterative Partial Residual (IPR). Two algorithms are considered: a baseline algorithm, Marginal Residual (MR), and the proposed IPR method. Their predictive performance is evaluated …

Undergraduate Health And Wellbeing Course And Study Away Program To Alaska, Lorraine S. Wallace, Steven J. Mousetes, Jennifer Bickley

Journal of Global Education and Research

High-impact practices, such as diversity/global education, have been shown to positively contribute to student development, engagement, and success. As the US is both culturally and linguistically diverse, domestic study away programs can offer students impactful multicultural educational experiences without leaving the country. The purpose of this study was to describe the design of a health and well-being academic course and accompanying study away program to Alaska for undergraduates at The Ohio State University (OSU). The authors (1) describe the application of the backward design process in guiding ELOs development, (2) provide a sample of course assignments and student responses, and …

Globalizing The Engineering Job Market: Optimizing Engineering Career Expos To Serve International Students, Hailey A. Hesseltine

Journal of Global Education and Research

As the United States hosts approximately one million international students annually, it becomes imperative that on-campus resources are tailored to meet the needs of this diverse student population. One on-campus resource that is crucial to student success is career services, especially considering the aspirations of many international students to secure employment post-graduation. To address this, this study aimed to understand the satisfaction levels of international engineering students with an engineering career expo in Hawaiʻi. Utilizing a combination of surveys and interviews using a neo-racism framework, international students shared their experiences from the career expo through discussion and assessment. Information given …

Impact Of Femalized Kinesthetic Learning Model On African American Middle School Girls’ Career Interest, Mercy F. Fash, Andrea Ofori-Boadu

Journal of Global Education and Research

Engaging African American middle school girls in out-of-school-time (OST) Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) programs can boost interest in male-dominated AEC careers. This study adopts Lent’s Social Cognitive Career Theory to evaluate the impact of an OST feminized AEC kinesthetic learning model (fAEC-KLM) on the career interests of this demographic. Through a qualitative research approach, fourteen (14) African American middle school girls from Guilford County, NC, completed pre- and post-interviews on how fAEC-KLM interactions influenced their AEC career interests. Inductive thematic analysis was carried out on transcribed interviews. Results show that effective components, such as lectures on AEC, bridge construction …

Stock Market Price Prediction Using Big Data Models Comparison Analysis, Vibhor Pal

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

The stock market consists of complex financial datasets, and achieving stock price real time prediction needs an efficient big data framework for processing. This paper compares big data distributed data processing frameworks for forecasting stock prices using Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) - Apache Flink and Apache Spark. We analyze 70 publicly traded companies’ monthly data for the last 5 years from Yahoo Finance, ranked by Price-to-Earnings (P/E). In the companies’ datasets, there may be a connection or similarity between companies, and this can lead to similar stocks’ price behavior. These interfirm relationships are maintained by GNNs models, and their output …

Evaluating Software-Based Hardware Abstraction As A Fault Injection Countermeasure, Tristan Clark, J. Todd Mcdonald

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

Despite how theoretically secure a system may be, it can be compromised if an adversary has physical access to the device. This can be done by injecting hardware corruptions directly into the physical system, which is called a fault injection (FI) attack. To combat this, there is a need for robust fault-tolerant countermeasures. One such countermeasure is obfuscating the program to introduce redundancy and complexity, particularly through software-based hardware abstraction (SBHA).

This research proposes using SBHA as a countermeasure to fault injection attacks. By transforming point-function password programs, the proposed countermeasure aims to increase the difficulty of conducting successful FI …

Text Corpus Combined Method And Tools For Music Textual Analysis, Yuwei Lu

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

While there has been a great deal of research conducted on how to search images and video using text, there has been less focus on how to retrieve music using multiple facets such as mood and lyrical content. or its features This is due in part to the historical lack of available musical corpuses. A musical corpus is a specialized text corpus specifically designed to capture information about music. Recently, several musical corpora for music information retrieval have been built and made available. However, these corpora and the tools designed to exploit them are typically designed to facilitate only one …

Effects Of Asphalt Or Concrete On Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer, Yuou Peng, Daniela Wolter Ferreira Touma

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer (DWPT) allows measurements should be done for 100 kHz and 77 kHz. electrical energy to be transferred wirelessly to a moving object, and it also possesses the ability to charge vehicles continuously while they are traveling down a specially equipped road.

A method of embedding the coils in the surface course shows that all coils achieve more than 54 kW of power at an efficiency of 95% in the power transmission evaluation. Advantage: Ability to charge vehicles continuously while they are traveling down a specially equipped road. Objective: Investigation of physical and structural feasibility of embedding …

Cellebrite Reliability In Digital Forensics, Christina Huynh

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

Forensic tools like Cellebrite are commonly used in court to gather and interpret raw data for evidence. Cellebrite does not only collect data but creates and interprets the artifacts of data to create a scene of the process it has been through. With this, evidence can be influenced by software designs and not just the data on the mobile device. Courts and police use Cellebrite to gather evidence and reconstruct it to create an easily readable dataset. These tools lack reproducibility, transparency, integrity, and chain of evidence command. Cellebrite is often used in court and by police without further vetting …

Brain Computer Interfaces: Enhancing Low-Cost Eeg Performance Through Deep, Anwar Rassoul

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

The field of Brain Computer Interfacing (BCI) has traditionally been confined to clinical and research environments due to the high cost and complexity of medical-grade EEG systems. However, the emergence of low-cost hardware exemplified has catalyzed a shift toward accessible, portable BCI applications. While these devices lower the barrier to entry for developers and researchers, they often suffer from a lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This increased noise makes it difficult to extract the clean neural signatures required for high-accuracy control, particularly when operating in non-shielded, real-world environments.

This research focuses on Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials (SSVEP), a robust BCI paradigm …

Algorithm For Detecting Luks2-Encrypted Containers In Forensic Images, Nicholas Flynn, Michael Black

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

As technology becomes increasingly integrated into daily life, the way in which society interacts with digital content continues to rapidly change. Though there is growth in advancements that help the average user, there is a similar upward trend in crimes committed involving a computer. Figure 1 illustrates the growth in research across many disciplines of digital forensics reflecting the demand for tools which can combat a wide variety of cyber crimes.In the past two decades, with a massive spike since 2017, there has been much literature produced in response to this demand. It can be inferred from the Federal Bureau …

Improving Consensus In Blockchain, Nelson Navas

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

Called the 4th industrial revolution, Industry 4.0 is the latest paradigm for implementing industrial applications. This new approach relies heavily on increased automation, smart machines, human-machine interaction, AI, and telecommunications. Industry 4.0 applications introduce the idea of the smart factory. The integration of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) is a key factor that promotes efficiency in the supply chain. All this is predicated in the generation, sharing, and storage of large quantities of data and transactions to facilitate management, traceability, and control of industrial processes. Increased reliance on interconnectedness causes cybersecurity challenges. Access to machinery, infrastructure, IT systems, …

Machine Learning On The Edge: Performance And Security Evaluation Of Cnn Implementations In Embedded Systems, Krista Stacey

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

Embedded systems increasingly integrate Machine Learning (ML) for real-time decision-making across loT, infrastructure, and critical systems. However, ecosystems differ significantly in: Latency, Throughput, Energy use, Accuracy of Models Security exposure. Most research evaluates performance or security, not both together. There is a need for a unified cross-platform performance-security evaluation framework

Trophic Structure And Mercury Bioaccumulation In Walleye And Yellow Perch In The Upper And Lower Red Lake Basins, Marissa Pribyl

Biology Graduate Theses

Mercury is a persistent global contaminant that biomagnifies through aquatic food webs, with dietary and environmental factors serving as the primary drivers of accumulation in fishes. Trophic structure and methylmercury dynamics in Walleye (ogaa; Sander vitreus) and Yellow Perch (asaawens; Perca flavescens) were investigated in the Upper and Lower Red Lake basins in Red Lake, Minnesota, during 2024-2025. Diets of Walleye and Yellow Perch were assessed through stomach dissections, and tissue samples from both species were analyzed for total mercury concentrations. Additional analyses included shiners (gigoozens; Notropis spp., Hudsonius spp.) along with a variety of freshwater fish and …

Fare-Free Public Transportation: A Systematic Review Of Outcomes, Joseph S. Lightner, Nancy Ziegler, Tyler Prochnow, Sammi Ford, Jordan A. Carlson, Mallory Moon, Jannette Berkley-Patton, Steven Chesnut, Amanda Grimes

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Introduction

Methods

Wayne E. Sabbe Arkansas Soil Fertility Studies 2025, Nathan A. Slaton

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

Rapid technological changes in crop management and production require that the research efforts be presented in an expeditious manner. The contributions of soil fertility and fertilizers are major production factors in all Arkansas crops. The studies described within will allow producers to compare their practices with the university’s research efforts. Additionally, soil-test data and fertilizer sales are presented to allow comparisons among years, crops, and other areas within Arkansas.