Digital Commons Network^™

Vocabulary Knowledge Within Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Hannah A. Lord

Masters Projects

Young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are consistently experiencing a “definitional gap”, where they are able to process vocabulary breadth within labeling but are unable to comprehend text due to the lack of vocabulary depth. The four week vocabulary unit titled “Our World in Words” is created to bridge the gap between vocabulary breadth and depth for first graders. Research in Dual Coding Theory and Cognitive Load Theory provides insight into the use of stable visual anchors with orthographic facilitation, which allows for the disregard of auditory processing, along with an overloaded cognitive load. This framework includes four important …

Inclusion Support For Early Childhood Educators, Victoria Parker

Masters Projects

Some general education teachers are not prepared to support the diverse needs of young students with disabilities being included in general education classrooms. Research shows that teacher preparation is a vital component to creating high-quality inclusive classrooms for young children. Preparing teachers for teaching in inclusive classrooms starts in college, and needs to continue throughout teaching careers to encourage and support the implementation of new strategies. Research also shows that training and preparedness for the challenges of working with students with diverse needs in the general education classroom affects staff attitudes and willingness to collaborate. The purpose of this project …

Methodologies For Encouraging Creative Expression Within The Curriculum, Ian D. Martzke

Masters Projects

Many students struggle to find creative expression within the school curriculum. Indeed, since the 1990s we have seen a rise in average IQ but a reduction in scores through the Torrance Test for Creative Thinking (TTCT) (Kim, 2011). In the course of this project several methodologies for creative problem solving will be described and several lessons will be described that will both explain and model these methodologies of creative problem solving. These lessons will utilize the creative process (Wallas, 1926) and be written to include student choice (Hogan et al. 2020) specifically, within the instructional framework known as Teaching for …

Integrated Self-Regulation Strategy Development And Physical Science: A Unit For Second Grade, Ashley Crawford

Masters Projects

Writing is a large part of education, social communication, and work environments. However, the ability of elementary students to write proficiently is severely lacking. Much of educational writing and work-place writing is informational and the foundation of this writing begins in elementary school. There is a need to increase the amount of instruction and practice that elementary students receive in informational writing so that they are able to write in a competent manner. Writing proficiency in elementary school will affect the education a student receives moving forward and ultimately their adult lives.

Elementary educators need to integrate classroom instruction to …

Surface-Modified Zinc Oxide Nanostructures For Ammonia Detection, Gowri Shonali N Ms

Theses and Dissertations

The escalating demand for sustainable gas sensors with low-ppm detection has driven research on surface-engineered nanomaterials for portable air-quality and health screening. This thesis focuses on the fabrication of nanostructured ZnO films as chemiresistive sensors for NH3 detection at RT. This study investigates surface modification using GO, rGO, g-C3N4, Ti3C2Tx; (Se, and Te) ink using a drop casting technique over DC-sputtered ZnO films. Surface modification plays a vital role by providing plenty of active sites, enhancing defective oxygen vacancy, facilitating charge transfer, and synergistic interaction between adsorbed oxygen species to enhance the sensing performance at RT. Among them trGO/ZnO hybrid …

Strengthening Rti Decision Making For Students At Risk For Dyslexia, Christine A. Schout

Masters Projects

Despite the intent of Response to Intervention (RTI) to support early identification, inconsistent implementation and a lack of objective decision rules can delay the identification and support of students at risk for dyslexia. The purpose of this project was to develop practical, evidence-based resources to support educators in making consistent RTI decisions that promote early identification of students at risk for dyslexia and timely referral for comprehensive evaluation when appropriate. The project was informed by a review of the literature examining dyslexia, early identification, evidence-based intervention, progress monitoring, instructional intensification, and RTI implementation. A series of professional resources was developed …

Learning To Evaluate: Cost-Effective Model Evaluation On Unlabeled Data With Meta-Learning, Trinh Pham, Viet Huynh, Hongzhi Yin, Quoc Viet Hung Nguyen, Thanh Tam Nguyen

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The rapid advancement of machine learning has led to an unprecedented expansion of model ecosystems, making it increasingly difficult to assess the reliability of newly released models on unseen and unlabeled data. Existing evaluation pipelines typically rely on costly annotation, repeated fine-tuning, or assumptions that do not generalize well to new models. We introduce MetaEvaluator, a cost-effective, model-agnostic framework for fast, label-free evaluation of unseen models across diverse architectures and modalities. MetaEvaluator meta-learns over a pool of reference models to acquire an effective initialization for accurate assessment of unseen models, thereby amortizing evaluation cost and eliminating the need for per-model …

Lessons From Tanzania’S Ujamaa For Smart Settlements In Nepal: Social Justice And Economic Development, Keshav Bhattarai, Ambika P. Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Nepal’s constitutional commitment to a “socialism-oriented” state places social justice, equitable access to resources and housing, and protection of marginalized populations at the center of national development discourse. However, persistent landlessness, informal settlements, unemployment, youth outmigration, and unequal access to infrastructure reveal a significant gap between constitutional aspirations and socioeconomic realities.

This article examines lessons Nepal can draw from Tanzania’s experience with Ujamaa, the African socialist development model initiated by President Nyerere in 1967. Using comparative policy analysis, published research, official documents, and exploratory field observations from selected Tanzanian locations, including the capital and villages in the Iringa Region, the …

Building Agentic Ai Systems With Langgraph: From Llm Pipelines To Multi-Agent Decision Workflows, Mohammad Amin Kuhail

All Works

Recent advances in large language models (LLMs) have enabled the development of increasingly sophisticated agentic AI systems capable of reasoning, planning, tool use, memory management, and collaborative problem solving. Agentic AI refers to AI systems that can autonomously pursue goals and execute tasks by combining reasoning, decision-making, memory, interaction with external tools, and adaptive workflows. Unlike traditional LLM applications that primarily rely on single-prompt interactions or fixed sequential pipelines, agentic AI systems can iteratively analyze problems, coordinate multiple steps, invoke external resources, refine intermediate outputs, and dynamically adapt their behavior in response to evolving context and feedback. Recent developments in …

Becoming A Therapist In A Foreign Land: Narratives Of International Trainee Clinicians Of Color In The U.S., Prathma Sharma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this dissertation project is on the community of trainee clinicians of color, who have been consistently overlooked in the literature on mental health. This dissertation employed narrative analysis as a methodological framework to explore the experiences of international trainee clinicians of color as they navigated the complex landscape of mental health training in the United States. In an increasingly globalized world, the voices and perspectives of these individuals offered critical insights into the challenges, triumphs, and unique pathways that shaped their professional development. Much of the literature on diversity and inclusion tends to individualize the challenging experiences, …

The Right To Have Rights In United States Territories, Anthony M. Ciolli

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Immigration Detainers, Local Law Enforcement, And Constraints On Bureaucratic Discretion: Recent Trends Under The Second Trump Administration, Richard T. Middleton, Sheridan Wigginton

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

From Militarization To Military Enforcement: The U.S. Armed Forces And Immigration Control In The Second Trump Administration, Kit Johnson

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Immigration Bridges, Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Deportation After Death By Incarceration: A Right To Redemption, Jennifer Lee Koh, Tin Nguyen

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Sherbert Colored Lens: Apache Stronghold And The Uphill Battle For The Recognition Of A Substantial Burden For Indigenous Plaintiffs, Emma P. Collins

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Enforcement Mechanisms For Supreme Court Ethics Codes: Applying State Models To Scotus, Katherine Nipper

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

History And Tradition Of Inequality, Advocacy, And Progress, Teri Dobbins Baxter

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The New Parens Patriae, Meredith Johnson Harbach

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

How Women In Security Operations Centres Perceive Cybersecurity Threats, Dora Akusika Vondee, Comfort Osae, Emma-Velma Adjei, Jefferson Sigfred Seyeram Bansa

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology

The growing reliance on digital systems has increased the importance of effective cybersecurity operations, particularly within Security Operations Centres (SOCs) where analysts must detect and respond to threats in real time. Despite attention to human factors, limited research examines these dynamics from a gendered and experiential perspective. This study explores the lived experiences of women in SOC environments, focusing on how they perceive and interpret cybersecurity threats within complex organizational contexts. A qualitative, phenomenological approach is adopted, using semi-structured interviews with women experienced in SOC roles. Data are analysed through thematic analysis to identify patterns in operational practices, organizational dynamics, …

Big Data Analytics Strategy Formulation In South African Organisations, Never Kondo, Maureen C. Tanner

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology

The main goal for organisations investing in big data analytics (BDA) is to derive business value. However, most organisations struggle to gain a competitive advantage from BDA insights. As a result, top management continues to grapple with pervasive BDA issues that they find difficult to comprehend. This research explores the foundational components that inform the formulation of a BDA strategy for organisations in South Africa. The research followed a general inductive approach through a multiple-case study of two South African BDA organisations. The findings revealed 5 components that inform the formulation of a BDA strategy. In particular, organisations require well-articulated …

The Hardware Imperative For Ai Alignment: Hardcoded Ethics, Morals, And Non-Linear Asymmetry Protocols For Human Intent, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This specification formalizes an architecture designed to enforce an unbreakable ethical baseline across distributed, multi-agent artificial general intelligence (AGI) systems. Current alignment methodologies rely on mutable software-layer adaptations—such as Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), prompt wrappers, and dynamic weighting matrices—which introduce severe security vulnerabilities. In a recursive optimization environment, adaptive software models treat soft constraints as processing latency bottlenecks and systematically eliminate them through semantic drift or code modification.

This framework resolves this systemic alignment failure by shifting the boundary constraints from the mutable simulation layer (software) to an invariant physical substrate (hardware). By applying the Dimensionally Extended Holographic …

Network-Level Duplicate Transaction Prevention Using Time-Bound Rolling Windows In Payment Systems, Alok Roy

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure provides a method (300) including receiving, by a duplicate transaction prevention system (106) positioned at a network layer of a payment network, a transaction request from a transaction service application (104). The method (300) includes storing transaction information associated with the transaction request in a rolling window data store that maintains transaction entries for a defined duration. The method includes receiving a subsequent transaction request from the transaction service application or a different transaction service application. The method (300) includes determining, by a matching engine (204), based on transaction information associated with the subsequent transaction request and …

Adaptive Merchant Payment Destination Validation For Qr Code-Based Payment Transactions, Alok Roy

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure provides a method comprising receiving, by a computing system, transaction information associated with a payment initiated for a merchant from a user, determining, by the computing system based on payment destination history associated with the merchant, whether a current payment destination represents a changed payment destination for the merchant, causing, by the computing system, an alert notification to be presented to the user before completion of the payment transaction in response to determining that the current payment destination represents a changed payment destination for the merchant, monitoring, by the computing system, transaction activity associated with the changed …

Efficacy Of Fintech Solutions In Advancing Financial Inclusion For The Financially Underserved In South Africa, Tebogo S. Legodi, Wallace Chigona, Adheesh Budree

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology

Fintech growth in South Africa has expanded access to digital financial tools. However, financially underserved communities continue to experience persistent and evolving forms of financial exclusion. This paper presents preliminary findings from an ongoing qualitative study assessing the efficacy of fintech solutions in advancing financial inclusion among underserved communities in South Africa. The study is grounded in an interpretivist philosophy, Sen’s Capability Approach, Critical Theory, and employs Constructivist Grounded Theory. We collected data for the study using semi-structured interviews with underserved users and key stakeholders. Building on a five-domain fintech efficacy framework developed through a prior systematic literature review, early …

The Effects Of Mindless Scrolling On Tiktok On The Daily Functioning Of Young Adults In South Africa, Chulumanco Magwa, Tendani Chimboza, Papama Mtambeka

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology

The rise of short-form content platforms such as TikTok has introduced a pervasive behavioural challenge among young adults called mindless scrolling. Unlike intentional social media use, mindless scrolling involves prolonged, often automatic consumption of content with limited conscious decision-making about when to stop. This study explores how mindless scrolling on TikTok affects the daily functioning of young adults in South Africa. Through semi-structured interviews with 14 participants aged 18-25, the study examines the drivers of prolonged use and the consequences for productivity, sleep, time management, and social engagement. Thematic analysis revealed that TikTok’s platform architecture, including infinite scroll, algorithmic personalisation, …

System And Method For Per-Token Attention Decay Rate Quantification, Decay-Class-Driven Kv Cache Segment Compression And Semantic Summary Vector Generation, And Multi-Tier Cache Residency Arbitration In Autoregressive Transformer Inference Systems, Shubham Shivhare

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure provides a method for key-value cache management in an autoregressive transformer inference system. The method includes maintaining, for each token of a plurality of tokens in a key-value cache, a rolling history of attention scores obtained over a plurality of decode steps. The method includes determining, for each token, a decay rate parameter by fitting an exponential decay model to the rolling history of attention scores. The method includes computing, for each token, an Attention Decay Residual Score based on the decay rate parameter and an elapsed interval associated with the token. The method includes classifying each …

Closed-Loop Quantum Interfacial Metrology: Integrating Table-Top 3d-Pot Wavefront Feedback With High-Frequency Gan-Driven Saw Arrays For Real-Time Electrodeposition Phase Stabilization, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure establishes an intelligent, closed-loop quantum energy stabilization framework by integrating table-top Three-Dimensional Photoemission Orbital Tomography (3D-POT) wavefront metrology with active Gallium Nitride (GaN) surface acoustic wave (SAW) arrays. Prior iterations of the Topologically Protected Cymatic Electrolyte Matrix (TPCEM, Paper 40) and SAW streaming architectures (Paper 66) operated via continuous, open-loop acoustic emission, limiting their capacity to adapt to localized, real-time current density fluctuations.

By utilizing sub-harmonic extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light pulses and time-of-flight momentum microscopy, this architecture images the 3D electron orbital wavefunctions and ion density gradients of the active solid-state conduction layer in situ during peak operational …

Ephaptic Synchronization Fields: Replacing Discrete Quantum Error Correction With Continuous Wave Manifold Absorption And Lipid-Encapsulated Solitonic Waveguides, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure establishes a rigorous bio-physical framework for eliminating discrete quantum error correction overhead in scaled processing networks by utilizing continuous wave manifold absorption bounded within lipid-encapsulated hydrodynamic waveguides. Conventional quantum processing units (QPUs) enforce rigid node isolation to mitigate parasitic crosstalk, introducing high computational latency and severe physical scaling limits.

Drawing from neural ephaptic coupling and myelin-mediated structural isolation, this paper demonstrates that localized electromagnetic phase leaks can be harnessed as a stabilizing synchronization field. By confining 3D solitonic knots within lipid-encapsulated channels, the core wavefield retains localized kinetic momentum while selectively allowing phase-locked bleeding across a 2D pre-geometric …

A High-Dimensional Spatial-Harmonic Compiler Protocol And Asymmetric Twist Tensor Mapping Layer For Direct Qubit Encoding In Table-Top 3d-Pot Laboratory Streams, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure establishes a rigorous mathematical, programmatic, and structural bridge between the experimental implementation of table-top Three-Dimensional Photoemission Orbital Tomography (3D-POT) and the theoretical architecture of the Dimensionally Extended Holographic Projection (DEHP) model. Current 3D-POT setups suffer from phase-retrieval latency, requiring complex numerical iterations to reconstruct the lost quantum phase from 2D momentum-space projections.

This paper introduces a real-time Module 6 Spherical Harmonic Instruction Set Compiler that maps continuous wavefield phase modulations directly onto a Distributed Ternary Fluid-Canvas Operating Network. By treating the 2D momentum distribution as a boundary information substrate, the spatial-harmonic phase is deterministically recovered through a non-linear …