Digital Commons Network^™

Resurrecting The Past: Engineering Ancestral Enzymes For Modern Bacterial Applications, Gregory M. Gladkowski Iii, Masa Watanabe

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction (ASR) is a computational technique that infers and resurrects ancient protein sequences to explore molecular evolution and enable protein engineering. By integrating phylogenetics and statistical modeling, ASR produces stable, mutation-tolerant enzymes ideal for directed evolution. This poster presents a workflow for reconstructing enzymes from pathogenic bacteria and highlights ASR’s value in uncovering novel functions and advancing applications in drug discovery and synthetic biology.

Spring 2025, Humayun Islam

PMI Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Long Live The Good King: Arthur’S Niebuhrian Kingship And Pursuit Of Justice In The Once And Future King, Camille Bewley

Harding Undergraduate Research Conference

The classic The Once and Future King, written by T.H. White, is a selection of four fantasy novels with one, linear plot: the story of Arthur, the mythological King of England. Reinhold Niebuhr’s book Moral Man and Immoral Society details the Christian realism of a world in need of justice without the ability to achieve perfect application. Through good education, Arthur is well endowed with Niebuhr’s requirements for a functional society: knowledge, honor, wisdom, and compassion. Such king-like qualities make him one of the most influential mythological characters in history, and a grand exemplar for maintaining ethical goals and personal …

Annual Faculty Research Symposium 2025, Oakwood University

Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Sdrc Update (Volume 6, Issue 3), Joanna Cayton

SDRC Publications

No abstract provided.

Courage In Context: An Ethic Of Leadership In A Changing Church, Maximilian Zehner

Doctor of Ministry Projects and Theses

It is my belief that the Church universal, and the United Methodist Church in particular, are both living within a very vulnerable period. Increasingly, reports suggest that there are more people who consider themselves non-religiously affiliated than there are members of religious groups. More specifically, the United Methodist Church has been experiencing a slow decline in membership since its creation. And perhaps worse than church members losing their religion, some younger clergy are leaving the ministry, while other younger church members are resisting a potential call to ministry in the first place. Meanwhile, the average age of United Methodist clergy …

Building Bridges Of Knowledge, Cuny Innovative Teaching Academy (Cita)

Open Educational Resources

Building Bridge of Knowledge (BBK) is a CUNY-wide faculty fellowship project, aiming to help students use generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools ethically, responsibly, and effectively. Funded by Lumina Foundation in 2024-25, the project was executed by the CUNY Innovative Teaching Academy (CITA) of the Office of Faculty Affairs at CUNY Central Office, with 25 Faculty Fellows in five disciplinary areas (Education, Health, Humanities, Social Sciences, and STEM) chosen from across CUNY’s senior and community colleges. Each disciplinary cohort was led by a CUNY faculty member with expertise in the use of AI. The final materials, described and linked in this …

Zooplankton Protect Viruses From Sunlight Disinfection, J. A. Wang, O. Aryal, L. N. Brownstein, H. Shwwa, A. L. Rickard, A. E. Stephens, M. Lanzarini-Lopes, Niveen S. Ismail

Engineering: Faculty Publications

Sunlight disinfection is an important inactivation process for enteric viruses in water. Understanding how dark biotic processes, such as zooplankton filter feeding, impact sunlight disinfection for viruses has important implications for public health. This research quantifies the uptake of MS2, a model for enteric viruses, by the filter feeder Branchionus plicatilis (rotifer) and the effects of such uptake on subsequent sunlight inactivation of MS2. Experiments co-incubating MS2 with rotifers showed 2.6 log viral removal over 120 hours. Viable virus was recovered from rotifer bodies after co-incubation, indicating incomplete viral inactivation via ingestion. When live rotifers were co-incubated with MS2 and …

Computer-Aided Integrated Rehabilitation For Post-Stroke Patients Using Deep Learning Techniques, Kaichen Tang

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability, often requiring intensive rehabilitation and frequent clinical assessments such as the Fugl-Meyer Assessment. However, traditional in-person evaluations are resource-heavy and difficult to scale, limiting access for many patients. Additionally, monitoring vital signs like blood pressure and oxygen saturation typically depends on specialized equipment, leading to fragmented care and incomplete recovery insights. Even when assessments and monitoring are available, patients often struggle to maintain high-quality, intensive exercise routines without supervision, further limiting rehabilitation outcomes.

To address these challenges, this dissertation proposes an AI-driven, smartphone-based framework that integrates automated motor function assessment, non-invasive vital …

Leveraging And Advancing The Foundation Models For Clinical Trajectory Analysis Based On Electronic Health Record Data, Jianping He

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Enhancements in foundation models have provided significant potentials for clinical applications. This dissertation leverages and advances foundation models for a range of clinical tasks using electronic health record (EHR) data, demonstrating their applicability in Clinical Temporal Relation Extraction (CTRE), disease prediction, and patients trajectory analysis.

Aim 1 is to efficiently adapt large language models (LLMs) for CTRE in both full data and few-shot settings. This study leveraged four LLMs: GatorTron-Base, GatorTron-Large, LLaMA3.1, and MeLLaMA. The proposed fine-tuning strategies include: (a) standard fine-tuning; (b) hard-prompting; (c) soft-prompting; (d) Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA). We found that nearly all proposed fine-tuning strategies outperformed existing …

Hybrid Treatment Method Of Biofiltration Preceded With Advanced Oxidation Process For The Removal Of Emerging Contaminants From The Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent, Anjali Mohan Payathuparambil

Theses

The global demand for potable quality water has been on a continuous rise. Consequently, water reuse is now considered as an alternative to significantly expand supplies of freshwater in communities facing water shortages. Most of the conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are not efficient in the removal of emerging contaminants from the water, which will cause serious issues to the environment, human and animal life. This research investigated the possibilities of treating wastewater for reuse. First, the feasibility of utilizing a biofiltration system without pre-treatment for removing emerging contaminants from the WWTP effluent was investigated. Two types of biofilter media- …

Culex Quinquefasciatus Mosquitoes In Abu Dhabi Emirate: Assessing Deltamethrin Insecticide Resistance And Associated Microbial Communities, Amgdsayed Ismat Ali

Theses

Culex quinquefasciatus is a major vector of West Nile virus, lymphatic filariasis, and arboviruses, which represent public health risk. Widespread application of pyrethroid insecticides has increased resistance in mosquito populations threatening the effectiveness of control strategies. This study aims to (1) assess deltamethrin resistance in Culex quinquefasciatus populations across the Abu Dhabi Emirate, (2) characterize the microbial communities associated with these mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes from sites around the Abu Dhabi Emirate were collected and genomic DNA extracted for molecular analysis. PCR and allele-specific primers were used to detect knockdown resistance (kdr) mutations in the sodium channel gene, classifying mosquitoes as susceptible …

Construction Of Stock Portfolios By Machine Learning Methods, Alfan Gehad Abulehia

Theses

We study the theory and application of two machine learning (ML) algorithms: Long-Short Term Memory Network (LSTM) and Random Forest. The study begins by providing an overview of mathematical foundation, highlighting the significance of mathematics in machine learning. We study and explain the mathematical details involved in these two algorithms. We also study closely related subjects which include but not limited to gradient descent, automatic differentiation, and recurrent neural network. The main ideas behind these topics form the foundation of any ML algorithms.

As an application of the ML algorithms, we focus on the U.S. stock market. We build stock …

A Personalized And Adaptive Distribution Classification Of Actigraphy Segments Into Sleep-Wake States, Austin G. Vandegriffe, V. A. Samaranayake, Matthew S. Thimgan

Research Data

Wearable actimeters have the potential to greatly improve our understanding sleep in natural environments and in long-term experiments. Current technologies have served the sleep community well, but they have known weaknesses that introduce errors that can compromise reliable and relevant clinical and research sleep and wakefulness profiles from these data. Newer data collection technologies, such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), offer opportunities to gather movement data in different forms and at higher frequencies, making new analytical methods possible and potentially advantageous.

We have developed a novel statistical algorithm, called the Wasserstein Algorithm for Classifying Sleep and Wakefulness (WACSAW), that is based …

From Ruin To Reconstruction: Words Shaping Identity In Undertow And Uncultured, Hannah Harvey

English Senior Capstone

Undertow by Charlene Edge and Uncultured by Daniella Mestanyek Young each document the rise and fall of a religious cult—The Way International and The Children of God, respectively—and the authors’ personal experiences with cult indoctrination. Both works discuss cult leaders’ use of psychologically manipulative language to strip members’ agency and individuality, and both works demonstrate how Edge and Young reclaimed their sense of self by processing their experiences in writing. An examination of their memoirs supplemented by selections from Emily Dickinson’s poetry reveals the power of words to destroy and create, to be used by cult leaders to obliterate the …

Ibl To Increase Curiosity, Creativity And Critical Thinking, Ryan Mclnroy

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

In the contemporary educational landscape, students face challenges due to a lack of essential skills needed to navigate the complexities of the 21st century, traditional educational practices have chosen to prioritize memorization and standardized testing over experiential learning. This research aims to investigate the potential of Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) strategies to increase creativity, critical thinking, and curiosity among secondary art students. Additionally, the study will look at how the implementation of IBL can enhance student engagement and motivation. By centering the study within a secondary school art classroom, the research focuses on the implementation of a structured inquiry-based project, …

The Magazine, Spring 2025, Morehead State University. Office Of Communications & Marketing.

Morehead State Alumni Association Publications

The Magazine of Morehead State University from spring of 2025.

Carnegie Foundation For The Advancement Of Teaching: Elective Classification For Community Engagement 2026 Re-Classification, Andrew Sexton

Morehead State College Histories

A report published by the Morehead State University Carnegie Committee that applied for reclassification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for the campus' community engagement program in 2025.

Polymorph V. “Stochastic Parrot”, Lin Allen

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

This mock trial script is based on Thaler v. Perlmutter, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, (2025), which upheld the ruling that artificial intelligence cannot be classified as an “inventor”, rendering AI ineligible for copyrighting. The futuristic scenario is based on the case being adjudicated before a fictional court: The Adjudicator of Artificial Intelligence. Plaintiff will be represented by “Polymorph,” aka Stephen Thaler, An Individual Appellant, and Respondent will be represented by “Stochastic Parrot,” aka Shira Perlmutter, in her official capacity as Register of copyrights and Director of the United States Copyright Office and U.S. …

Using Camera Stations To Investigate Occupancy Probability And Habitat Associations Of Island Spotted Skunks (Spilogale Gracilis Amphiala) On Santa Rosa And Santa Cruz Islands, Desirae Thomaier

Master's Theses

The California Channel Islands are unique in that two islands (Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz) support two endemic mesocarnivores, the island fox (Urocyon littoralis) and the island spotted skunk (Spilogale gracilis amphiala). Following the near-extinction of island foxes in the early 2000s, island spotted skunk populations increased significantly. Now that foxes have recovered, skunk captures have precipitously declined - possibly due to interspecific competition with foxes who have a similar diet but a larger body size and wider temporal niche. It has been proposed that skunks selectively use canyon bottoms and drainages with high vegetation cover and that these areas …

Csbs Kudos, Spring 2025, University Of Northern Iowa. College Of Social And Behavioral Sciences.

CSBS Kudos

Contents:

--- Faculty Accolades
--- CSBS Awards
--- Promotions
--- Retirements: Robert Dise; Carolyn Hildebrandt
--- Scott Peters talks civics education on "Iowa Press"
--- Kelli Snyder receives Iowa Athletic Trainers' Society Educator of the Year Award
--- Nancy Kertz named to 2025 Great Iowa Nurses
--- Bill Henninger receives Fulbright U.S. Scholar award for spring 2025
--- A legacy of leadership
--- UNI Center for Civic Education hosts naturalization ceremony
--- PATCVP hosts inaugural Dan Marburger MVP Advocacy Awards
--- UNI public health students earn top honors at national competition
--- UNI expands access to offer Master’s in History …

Chalmers Library Research Award Winner 1 2025, Tasnim Islam Orco

Chalmers Library Research Award

No abstract provided.

Open Educational Resources For A More Just Romanticism, Leila Walker

Publications and Research

Efforts to diversify the field of Romanticism, long overdue, have intensified

recently, and many Romanticist organizations now sponsor programmes

aimed at amplifying Black and Brown voices. Most of these efforts have

focused on content: how to present Romanticism as a global movement

and include non-white authors in our anthologies and syllabi. While these

much-needed changes address some of the field’s traditional blind spots,

they do little to materially benefit our most vulnerable students or to

address the structural barriers that maintain Romanticism’s exclusionary

status quo. Open educational resources, or OERs, are one way to begin

productively transforming the way the …

“Left, Right, Your Left”: Marching Towards Equality In The U. S. Army, Zachary C. Creekmore

Honors Theses

The United States Army has transformed from a force shaped by exclusion to one striving for inclusion. This thesis explores the Army’s ongoing journey toward equality, focusing on how historically marginalized groups—such as racial minorities, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals—have fought for and gained the right to serve. It examines the impact of these changes on the Army’s structure, culture, and institutional identity.

Guided by four core questions, the research investigates: How have protected groups gained equality, and how has that affected the Army? Are all soldiers treated fairly under current policies? Should individuals once disqualified for mental health conditions be …

The Impacts Of Maternal Mental Health On Fetal Development, Kaitlyn R. Tudor

Honors Theses

Depression and anxiety are among the most prevelent mental health disorders affecting women during the perinatal period. While often diagnosed postpartum, conditions such as postpartum depression and generalized anxiety disorder originate during pregnancy, affecting fetal brain and body development. This liturature review explores the distinct and combined impacts of prenatal anxiety and depression, highlighting the need for early detection and comprehensive care. It also examines predisposing factors, diagnostic tools, and interventions used to manage these conditions. Furthermore, the review considers how intersecting social factors- such as race, low socioeconomic status, education, culture, and barriers to healthcare- contribute to disparities in …

Resilient Learning For Anomaly Detection In Smart Living Systems, Sahar Abedzadeh

Dissertations

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) rely on anomaly-based detection methods to ensure the integrity and security of critical infrastructures such as smart grids, smart water metering systems, and advanced metering infrastructures (AMI). Anomaly detection methods are commonly used to identify deviations from normal system behavior by establishing learned profiles and thresholdbased distinctions between benign and anomalous events. However, conventional frameworks often fail to account for adversarial data poisoning attacks, unlabeled unsafe events, and environmental noise—factors that distort training data, degrade detection accuracy, and increase false alarms. This dissertation proposes a resilient learning framework that mitigates these biases by integrating quantile regression, M-estimation …

Nonparametric Finite Mixture Of Ising Graphical Models, Manal Hamadi Alloqmani

Dissertations

Statistical applications in fields such as bioinformatics, genomics, speech processing, image processing, and communications often involve large-scale models in which thousands or millions of random variables are linked in complex ways. Graphical models provide a general methodology for approaching these problems, and indeed many of the models developed by researchers in these applied fields are instances of the general graphical model formalism. This formalism gives a nice framework for capturing complex dependencies among the random variables and building a large-scale model for high-dimensional data. Recently, high-dimensional data are more assumed to come from one population and follow a parametric or …

Utilizing Drainage Induced Pfas Enrichment In Cascade Generated Foam For Efficient Removal At Wastewater Treatment Plants, Ethan Samuel Coffin

Dissertations

Observed trends in municipal solid waste landfills reveal a distinct disparity between per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) composition entering in waste, mostly as diPAP and FTOH, and leaching out as FTCA and PFCA. These patterns are elucidated by compiling PFAS compositions in paper, textiles, and carpet, with known precursor transformations that generate FTCA and PFCA in leachate. Landfill leachate is commonly discharged to wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), which are ineffective at degrading PFAS and only serve as key conduits and discharge points for PFAS to the environment. Foam fractionation has been identified as a promising technology for concentrating and …

Turbulence And Energetic Ion Production In The Partially Magnetized Hollow Cathode Plume, Margaret Mary Mooney

Dissertations

Hall effect thrusters (HETs) are the most widely used electric propulsion (EP) device for in-space satellite propulsion. EP devices provide high efficiencies for extended mission lifetimes and low thrust for precision maneuvers. The hollow cathode is a critical HET component and undergoes extensive lifetime testing in addition to the lifetime testing of the full HET. Significant density gradients, non-Maxwellian electron behavior, and magnetic fields sufficiently strong enough to magnetize electrons in hollow cathode plumes create favorable conditions for the formation of plasma instabilities, which have an impact on cathode lifetime. Cathode qualification testing is typically conducted independently and includes a …

A High-Efficiency Ldo Regulator With Adaptive Psrr And Transient Enhancements, Daniel Zeznick

Theses

Reliable power delivery is essential for all computing systems, particularly those operating with limited or constrained energy sources, such as batteries. Power management circuits must provide energy efficiency, stability, and resilience to disturbances to support accurate and consistent system performance. This thesis presents a high-efficiency low-dropout (LDO) regulator featuring adaptive power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) and transient response enhancement techniques. By leveraging adaptive analog design strategies, the proposed regulator dynamically boosts performance at high load currents, maintaining optimal efficiency across the full load range while circumventing key trade-offs inherent to conventional LDO architectures. The design incorporates several novel circuit techniques …