Digital Commons Network^™

Heterogeneous Boid Swarm Performance Under Environmental And Neighbor Communication Link Variability, Jonathan C. Oxborrow

Theses and Dissertations

Artificial swarms are of growing interest in numerous fields and use cases. As their utilization increases drones and robots with different capabilities will be required to coordinate for task completion thus creating heterogeneous swarms. Swarm individuals generally communicate with all neighbors inside their sensor range generating a significant amount of message traffic. Previous research of a heterogeneous group in a non-physical environment has shown that restricting communication to only one neighbor of each different capability maintained performance. This work applies that finding to a heterogeneous boid swarm with the addition of varied environmental conditions. The swarm is comprised of three …

Graph Neural Network-Based Uav Coverage Planning For Robust And Efficient 3d Environments, Gal Tsfaty

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addresses the challenge of generating optimized UAV waypoints for complete coverage of complex 3D environments, utilizing graph-based computational techniques. The proposed framework replaces computationally intensive steps—triangulation and three-coloring—within the Vantage Waypoint Set Generation Algorithm (VWSGA) pipeline with Graph Neural Networks (GNNs). By learning structural patterns, the GNN achieves scalable and robust triangulation and node classification, enabling enhanced coverage planning in irregular geometries. A novel penalty mechanism ensures alignment with graph structure during adjacency prediction. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of GNNs in balancing accuracy, computational efficiency, and adaptability, advancing UAV coverage optimization.

Immersive Virtual Reality Heavy Equipment Simulator Training Effectiveness And Participant Performance Comparison, Zachary E. Calderon

Theses and Dissertations

Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) simulator training is an interactive form of computer-based training that can positively promote the transfer of skills from training to trainees. Even at a lower physical fidelity IVR simulators may more effectively train individuals on the operation of virtual heavy equipment compared to written, demonstrative, and oral computer-based training. IVR simulator training may also be beneficial for implementation of heavy equipment operation training as a means to promote familiarization of controls and foster self-efficacy and confidence in trainees. A multi-stage IVR simulator was created for this study that both trained participants on wheel loader operations and …

Visual Segmentation For Autonomous Aircraft Landing On Austere Runways, Alissa M. Owens

Theses and Dissertations

Autonomous aircraft must land without human intervention, but existing methods rely on GPS or marked runways, which may be unavailable in austere environments. This paper presents a vision-based approach using semantic segmentation to detect runways and estimate aircraft pose by comparing camera and satellite imagery. We detail the model’s training and demonstrate its effectiveness with simulated and real UAV data.

An Analysis Of Development Phase Nre/Rec Costs In Dod Acquisition Efforts, Jason Aristizabal

Theses and Dissertations

Estimating Nonrecurring Engineering (NRE) and Recurring Engineering (REC) costs in defense acquisition programs remains challenging, especially in development. While production costs are studied, NRE/REC ratios in development receive little attention. This study analyzes NRE/REC ratios across WBS elements, commodity types, and time periods using defense program data. Results show significant variability, challenging the assumed 1:1 ratio. System Level, PME, and ST&E elements follow distinct trends, highlighting shifting cost structures. These findings stress the need for adaptive methodologies, enabling cost analysts to refine estimates based on historical trends and program-specific factors for improved resource planning.

Managing Beyond Water: Utilizing Community Well-Being Interviews In The Upper Yakima River Basin, Usa, For Climate Change Adaptation, Rebecca Gustine, Alexander Theophilus, Courtney G. Flint, Jessica D. Ulrich-Schad, Emma Epperson, Claudia Mendez Wright, Jennifer C. Adam

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Student Research

In contemporary, natural resources dependent and specialized communities, community well-being is connected to the environment. Understanding the local connections between community well-being and the environment can provide a more complete understanding of how to manage social-ecological systems and promote community resilience. Herein, we combine semi-structured community well-being interviews with hydrologic modeling using the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model to suggest climate adaptation pathways for a diverse set of community interests. We found that community well-being across the Yakima River Basin was connected to water, snow, and the environment through recreation opportunities, aesthetics, livelihoods, and having clean water and air. Additionally, …

Trauma-Informed Judicial Practice Meets Therapeutic Jurisprudence: Compassionate Written Judgments In Child Protection Cases, Shelley Kierstead

Articles & Book Chapters

Trauma arises from profoundly distressing life events, and manifests in a range of often overwhelming physical and psychological symptoms. The legal community is increasingly recognizing that clients living with trauma need trauma-informed services—that is, services that “recognize, understand and minimize” the long-term impact of trauma. A trauma-informed approach acknowledges that “effective interventions with people require both the avoidance of retraumatization and the presence of respectful and supportive interventions that help people rebuild their lives.”

The Clinical Phenotype Of Motor Neurone Disease In A Kenyan Hospital – Based Population, Effie Nailah Kamadi

Master of Medicine in Internal Medicine

Introduction: Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a rare, disabling and incurable illness marked by relentless degeneration of motor neurons with loss of voluntary motor function and eventual death. In the West, patient demographics and clinical characteristics are well documented. Available African research is mostly for North, West and South Africa with a knowledge gap existing on the East African illness. This study characterized MND phenotype in a Kenyan population.

Objectives: To describe the clinical phenotype and outcomes of MND in a Kenyan hospital-based population.

Methods: The medical charts of all adult MND patients assessed at AKUHN between …

The Prevalence And The Predictors Of Diabetes Distress In Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Attending Diabetes Clinics At A Tertiary Private Hospital In Nairobi, Kenya., Soulthy Azamkhan Mohamed

Master of Medicine in Family Medicine

Background Diabetes distress encompasses a spectrum of emotional and psychological challenges faced by individuals managing diabetes, including anxiety, stress, depression, frustration, and feelings of helplessness. This distress arises from the constant demands of monitoring blood sugar levels, managing medications, adhering to dietary restrictions, engaging in regular physical activity, and navigating potential complications. Social and emotional factors such as stigma, discrimination, and concerns about future health further contribute to this burden. Factors like fear of hypoglycemia, financial strain, fluctuating blood sugar levels, anxiety about complications, and impacts on personal relationships exacerbate diabetes distress. Left unaddressed, diabetes distress can lead to poor …

How Can Foreign Commercial Vehicle Manufacturers Succeed In India?, Debjit Roy, Shubham

Asian Management Insights

Seven steps to achieve market entry based on lessons from recent market exits. New entrants need to tailor their trucks for India's geography, infrastructure, and conditions to improve acceptability and market share. Boost demand by building an export-driven business model in India to counter the threat from inadequate and stagnant domestic demand. Align service offerings with customer expectations to gain greater vehicle acceptability.

Table Of Contents, Editorial Board, Law School Faculty And Administration, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas -- William S. Boyd School Of Law

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Smoking Guns In The Rearview Mirror: Defending Washington's Firearm Regulations With Historical Analogues, Hyejin Lee

Washington Law Review

Mass shootings and gun violence are inescapable facts of American life. America is the only developed country where mass shootings occur almost daily. Despite the widespread sentiment of hopelessness surrounding this problem, state and local governments have been enacting various gun restriction laws. However, in a series of recent cases, the U.S. Supreme Court established an originalist standard for evaluating Second Amendment claims that poses significant challenges to the constitutionality of state and local gun laws. To survive constitutional muster, gun laws today must share common regulatory purpose and mechanism with historical analogues from the period between the founding and …

The Guardian The Month Of March 2025, Wright State Student Body

The Guardian Student Newspaper

News articles from The Guardian for the Month of March 2025. The Guardian is the official student-run newspaper for Wright State University. It has been published regularly since March of 1965.

Peripheral Lives, Central Meanings: How The Global South Can Participate In Reimagining Psychology For The Future, Nandita Chaudhary, Mila Tuli, Punya Pillai

Online Readings in Psychology and Culture

Emerging from an invited lecture presentation at the APA conference in 2024, this article discusses how communities of the Global South can actively participate in the future of psychology theory, research, practice and publication. It is abundantly clear that psychology is a product of Euro-American academic practice, with the transportation of knowledge from this region to the rest of the world. Inevitably, there have been many concerns about this transfer of the model to regions that are vastly different in their ontological orientations. After a brief overview of the key issues in this global epistemic imbalance, we raise some critical …

No Knock? No Case: Prosecutorial Deterrence As A Countermeasure To No-Knock Warrants, Tamika Griffin Moses

Utah Law Review

The high-profile deaths of Amir Locke and Breonna Taylor ignited a national debate surrounding the legitimacy of no-knock warrants. Their deaths are part of a cycle of reaction and inaction that permeates this debate. As the impacted communities and segments of the populace respond by demanding that federal and state legislatures abolish or severely restrict the use of no-knock warrants, they are met with inaction. The legislative bodies have failed to pass laws banning the warrants and judges continue to sign them. This inaction continues to undermine the public’s trust in law enforcement and challenges the legitimacy of a democracy …

The Pro-Defense Constitution, Zamir Ben-Dan

Utah Law Review

The pro-defense Constitution envisioned by the framers had its shortcomings. State power was unconstrained by it. More importantly, the Constitution’s protections only applied to white people; African Americans had no legal rights. The drafters of the Reconstruction Amendments attempted to change this reality in the field of criminal law by making the Bill of Rights applicable to the states. Put another way, the pro-defense Constitution was to protect all persons charged with crimes in the United States. The author avers that this vision of the Constitution must be reclaimed.

Online Reviews: Myths, Tips, And Tricks, Anish Gupta D.D.S.

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Online reviews are a source of reputation marketing which are valuable to the practice of dentistry. Reviews bring patients in and provide social proof for your practice. We discuss what makes a good review, tips to get reviews, and dispel certain myths regarding online reviews.

Informal Removal Of Students With Disabilities In Tennessee, Tennessee. Comptroller Of The Treasury.

Office of Research and Education Accountability

No abstract provided.

Shelby County Criminal Justice System, Tennessee. Comptroller Of The Treasury.

Office of Research and Education Accountability

No abstract provided.

Helping Future Teachers Do History Through Digitized Primary Sources, Jeremy Rinder

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of using the National Archives DocsTeach program on preservice teachers enrolled in a social studies methods course. Candidates completed a document-based question and a perception survey about history before completing one activity within the DocsTeach program for four classes. Anecdotal observations focusing on collaboration and engagement were collected during the unit. At the conclusion, participants completed another document-based question, a perception survey about history, and an exit interview. It was determined that the DocsTeach program had a positive impact on the participants’ historical thinking and perceptions of history.

Elevating Black Voices: The Impact Of College Preparatory Programs On First-Year Success And Retention Of Black College Students, Fabiola Jean

Education Doctoral

In 2019, the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reported that Black college students had a graduation rate of just 40%. Minoritized students in general, and Black students in particular, ranked lowest on most statistical measures of success in higher education, despite numerous notable efforts to increase college access. Contributing factors included students' lack of academic engagement, stereotype threat, and experiences with racial microaggressions. First-year completion served as a pivotal predictor of long-term educational attainment, particularly for Black students who faced unique challenges. Studies showed that first-year completion and retention rates significantly …

Intellectual Humility Without Limits: Magnanimous Humility, Disagreement And The Epistemology Of Resistance, Brandon Yip

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this paper, I provide a characterisation of a neglected form of humility: magnanimous humility. Unlike most contemporary analyses of humility, magnanimous humility is not about limitations but instead presupposes that one possesses some entitlement in a context. I suggest that magnanimous intellectual humility (IH) consists in a disposition to appropriately refrain from exercising one's legitimate epistemic entitlements because one is appropriately motivated to pursue some epistemic good. I then shown that Magnanimous IH has an important role to play in contexts of disagreement and oppression. It calls on knowing parties to refrain from pressing their epistemic entitlements to facilitate …

Diversities Within Diversities, Sor-Hoon Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This chapter adds to the perspectives from Chinese philosophical traditions on the issues of ecological and economic inequalities by drawing attention to recent works on Daoism offering views on ecological problems that differ from Tongdong Bai’s chapter. It also highlights a common theme that is found in several chapters in this volume: the importance of relationship. Starting from Confucian relational ethics, it offers a different perspective from Bai and others who defend Confucian hierarchy by questioning the opposition between egalitarianism and hierarchy. It argues that Confucianism strongly objects to certain kinds of inequalities, which would put it in sympathy with …

The Convergence Of World Prosperity And Afterlife Salvation: Neoliberalism And Political Islam In Turkey, Muhammad Andi Firmansyah

Jurnal Politik

This article investigates why Turkey’s middle-to-low-income earners, the segment of the population that has suffered the most from the neoliberal policies of the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party AKP), have continued to support the party for so long. Using a case study approach based on secondary data, this article argues that the source of the AKP’s enduring legitimacy lies in their skill in utilising political Islam to consolidate neoliberalism. They strategically framed neoliberal restructuring in an Islamic spirit, generating not only loyal cross-class support but also obedience to neoliberal political projects with all their destructive consequences. The …

When Civil Society Defends Authoritarianism: Thai Bhakdi, We Support Prayuth, And Thailand’S Democratic Decline, Igastya Hagarayu Sapta, Luthfi Makhasin

Jurnal Politik

Civil society is often regarded as an essential foundation for democratic consolidation, but in Thailand, civil society also plays a crucial role in maintaining authoritarian rule. This article analyzes how pro-authoritarian civil society movements—Thai Bhakdi and “We Support Prayuth”—emerged and operated in the context of the historical relationship between the military and the monarchy and political polarisation since the 2006 coup. Using the authoritarian civil society (ACS) framework and a comparative historical analysis approach, this study traces how the long-standing divide between reformist and conservative forces created fertile ground for these movements. Thai Bhakdi, rooted in monarchist nationalism, …

Religious Parties And The Construction Of Political Identity: A Comparative Study Of Indonesia And Türkiye, Athifa Sharanda Putri Tabina, Adhi C. Fahadayna, M. Faishal Aminuddin

Jurnal Politik

This study examines the influence of religious-based political parties on political identity by comparing Indonesia and Türkiye. The background of this research lies in the role of religious parties in shaping political identity in Muslim-majority countries, where these parties must balance their adherence to religious doctrine with democratic values. The research problem examines how religious-based parties, such as PKS in Indonesia and AKP in Türkiye, construct their political identities within differing political systems. Using a quantitative approach with a comparative design and linear regression analysis, the study tests the impact of variables such as religious representation, associational networks, political education, …

The Accuracy Of Artificial Intelligence In The Diagnosis Of Soft Tissue Sarcoma: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Feras Al-Obeidat, Asrar Rashid, Wael Hafez, Hayssam Gibbaoui, Gilbert Ayoub, Sokiyna Al Ameer, Arun Kumar Venkatachalapathi, Munier Gador, Surra Hassan, Mahmad Anwar Ibrahim, Nouran Hamza, Ivan Cherrez-Ojeda

All Works

Introduction Soft-tissue sarcomas (STSs) constitute a rare group of malignancies. Diagnostic biopsies require experts and are invasive with long diagnostic intervals. Artificial intelligence (AI)-based STS models may serve as accurate detection and categorization tools; however, their diagnostic performance remains questionable. Method The PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched for related studies published until January 10, 2024. Studies that developed or used AI-based models to diagnose STS were included. Results Nine studies were included in this meta-analysis. The common effects model yielded an accuracy of 0.8923 [0.8831; 0.9016], and the random effects model yielded an accuracy of 0.8524 …

Stimulating Environmental And Health Protection Through Utilizing Statistical Methods For Climate Resilience And Policy Integration, Sanaa Kaddoura, Rafiq Hijazi, Nadia Dahmani, Reem Nassar

All Works

Climate change, a critical global challenge, is evident in rising global temperatures, shifting precipitation trends, and extreme weather events, including floods, heatwaves, and rising sea levels. The impacts of climate change not only endanger physical health but also affect mental well-being, particularly among populations experiencing frequent or severe climate-related events. Understanding individual perceptions of climate risks and adaptive capacities is crucial for developing strategies that promote health resilience and environmental protection. This paper examines how risk perceptions, direct experiences with extreme weather, and perceived adaptive capacities influence climate change protection measures and support for relevant policies. Data were gathered from …

Age Discrimination And Depression Among Older Adults In South Korea: Moderating Effects Of Exercise, Hyun Kang, Emily S. Ihara

Department of Social Work - Faculty Scholarship

Background

The Ultra (And Nearly Ultra) Locality Rules Persist! Why Continue To Ignore Modern Medicine And Contort The Standard Of Care?, Marc D. Ginsberg

Journal of Law and Health

The use of the locality rule to define or modify the medical standard of care is inconsistent with modern medicine. Nevertheless, various states in the U.S. continue to adhere to a locality rule. This paper revisits this topic, about which I have previously written, by focusing on Idaho, Nebraska, Tennessee and Arkansas. The paper concludes by suggesting that locality rules should be eliminated in favor of a national standard of care.