Digital Commons Network^™

Face Card Declined: The Deepfake Threat To Biometric Security In Financial Systems, Hazel Fernandez

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Once limited to entertainment and disinformation, deepfakes are now extending into the financial sector, where voice and facial impersonations exploit biometric authentication systems to facilitate fraudulent transactions. This evolution exposes gaps in existing legal and regulatory frameworks, raising critical questions about consumer protection and institutional safeguards. This Note argues for a reconceptualization of deepfake harms as both a privacy and a financial security issue. It examines the illusion of consent generated by synthetic impersonation and insufficient statutory protections. The analysis examines the patchwork of federal, state, and international laws governing data privacy and artificial media, highlighting the gaps that allow …

Water-Based Logic: The Water Heritage Of Greater Nanning And Its Role In Urban Authenticity, Tiansheng Li

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

Water heritage plays a pivotal role in establishing Greater Nanning as a central city in the upper Pearl River basin of southern China. However, this heritage has largely been overlooked due to an urban narrative dominated by land-centrism. This article explores methods to create a comprehensive understanding of the water heritage of Greater Nanning and discusses how it can be integrated into the concept of urban authenticity. It argues that both tangible and intangible water heritages are essential elements to safeguard urban authenticity and promote sustainable cultural development. This study adopts an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, combining quantitative analysis with …

Evaluating Semantic Representations In Multimodal Word Grounding, Saima Shaukat, Amir Aly, Thomas Wennekers, Angelo Cangelosi

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Word grounding tasks aim to associate individual words withcorresponding elements in visual scenes, enabling machines to link language with perception for effective human–machine interaction. However,existing grounding models struggle to generalize to synonyms or unseenlexical variants, limiting their performance in open-domain scenarios. Inthis paper, we present a Bayesian multimodal grounding model that incorporates word embeddings as priors within a probabilistic generativeprocess to improve robustness under lexical variation. We compare theeffects of static FastText and contextual BERT embeddings on grounding accuracy by conditioning word–visual associations on their semanticrepresentations. Experiments use CLEVR-generated 3D scenes pairedwith structured compositional descriptions to test the grounding of …

Facilitating Bedroom Recording Practices, Christopher William Bulgren, Jason C. Fick

Journal of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction

An increase in access to recording technology has expanded opportunities for teachers and students. One approach, bedroom recording, involves the use of low-budget hardware and software in common, untreated spaces, often in one’s home. Bedroom recording practices significantly impact the sense of place and workflow in the industry for both professionals and amateur music makers. As an art form that thrives on mobility, bedroom recording is a natural pathway for music students to achieve low-cost, self-guided recordings. The purpose of this study was to explore best practices and student interactions related to a bedroom recording project. Participants were 17 Music …

Renting As An Actively Conducted Business Under Secs. 346 And 355: An Economic Concept, Robert H. Whitten Jr.

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Salary Report, 2025 November, Eastern Michigan University

EMU Salary Reports

No abstract provided.

Speculative Automated Refactoring Of Imperative Deep Learning Programs To Graph Execution, Raffi Khatchadourian Ph.D., Tatiana Castro Vélez, Mehdi Bagherzadeh, Nan Jia, Anita Raja

Publications and Research

Efficiency is essential to support ever-growing datasets, especially for Deep Learning (DL) systems. DL frameworks have traditionally embraced deferred execution-style DL code---supporting symbolic, graph-based Deep Neural Network (DNN) computation. While scalable, such development is error-prone, non-intuitive, and difficult to debug. Consequently, more natural, imperative DL frameworks encouraging eager execution have emerged but at the expense of run-time performance. Though hybrid approaches aim for the "best of both worlds," using them effectively requires subtle considerations. Our key insight is that, while DL programs typically execute sequentially, hybridizing imperative DL code resembles parallelizing sequential code in traditional systems. Inspired by this, we …

Speculative Automated Refactoring Of Imperative Deep Learning Programs To Graph Execution, Raffi Khatchadourian Ph.D., Tatiana Castro Vélez, Mehdi Bagherzadeh, Nan Jia, Anita Raja

Publications and Research

Efficiency is essential to support ever-growing datasets, especially for Deep Learning (DL) systems. DL frameworks have traditionally embraced deferred execution-style DL code---supporting symbolic, graph-based Deep Neural Network (DNN) computation. While scalable, such development is error-prone, non-intuitive, and difficult to debug. Consequently, more natural, imperative DL frameworks encouraging eager execution have emerged but at the expense of run-time performance. Though hybrid approaches aim for the "best of both worlds," using them effectively requires subtle considerations. Our key insight is that, while DL programs typically execute sequentially, hybridizing imperative DL code resembles parallelizing sequential code in traditional systems. Inspired by this, we …

Open-Source Collaboration For Industrial Software Innovation Catch-Up: A Digital–Real Integration Approach, Yuntao Long

Double Helix Methodology

In the era of digital–real integration, open-source collaboration has become a strategic pathway for accelerating the innovation catch-up of China’s industrial software. This study employs an exploratory multi-case design, focusing on the China Automotive Operating System open-source project and the FastCAE open-source domestic CAE software integrated development platform to examine how open-source strategies shape collaborative mechanisms and innovation outcomes. The analysis reveals that firms adopt both formal (behavioral and outcome coordination) and informal (relationship and empowerment coordination) strategies, fostering high-level complementary collaboration in data, technology, institution, and human resources. These mechanisms significantly enhance R&D efficiency and quality, drive technological innovation, …

Physics-Informed Deep Learning Reveals Climate-Driven Snowpack Decline And Threatens Ecological Water Availability In A Californian Snow-Fed Catchment, Surendra Maharjan, Wenzhao Li, Rejoice Thomas, Shahyar Fazli, Arshad Ansari, Hesham Morgan, Ali Elgendy, Mohamed Allali, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Mountain snowpack functions as a critical natural reservoir, and its gradual melt sustains streamflow for downstream ecosystems, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. Climate warming is disrupting these historical patterns by shifting precipitation from snow to rain and accelerating melt, creating an urgent need for robust ecological forecasting tools that can anticipate threats to water availability. Physics-informed machine learning (PIML) offers a powerful approach to this challenge by integrating domain knowledge into flexible data-driven models. This study evaluates and compares the performance of three hydrological modeling approaches: (i) a calibrated process-based Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), (ii) a data-driven …

Control As A Constitutional Threshold: Moody V. Netchoice And The Case For Human Authorship, Giselle Goad

Northwestern University Law Review

The Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Moody v. NetChoice, LLC left a critical question unanswered: when do algorithmic outputs on social media platforms, such as recommended posts and videos, constitute the platform’s protected speech under the First Amendment? This Note contends that courts and litigants should borrow from the First Amendment’s speech-promoting partner, copyright law, and its authorship framework when answering that question. Copyright doctrine has already begun to grapple with how much human control is required over expressive outputs generated with the aid of technology, including AI, in order for an author to receive copyright protection over those outputs. …

The Search Of A Search: Moderating Reverse Internet Keyword Warrants, Tui Rademaker

Northwestern University Law Review

Statistics show that Americans consistently turn to Google and other search engines to answer their most personal and private concerns, yet a new investigative tool risks law enforcement having vast discretion in the access of this data. With a keyword warrant, law enforcement can request from a search engine provider (usually Google) a list of probative search queries that users made over a specified time period. Such warrants are beginning to face legal challenges, and so far, courts seem reluctant to recognize the constitutional implications—instead leaving law enforcement with greater potential discretion over their use.

This Note assesses the constitutionality …

Improving Access To Menopause Care Through Emr Integration And Provider Education, Laura Nickerson

Capstones

Abstract

Perimenopause and menopause represent universal, transformative life stages that affect more than 63 million women in the United States. Yet, this phase remains among the most neglected areas in women’s health. Despite robust evidence supporting the safety and effectiveness of both hormonal and non-hormonal therapies, millions of women remain undiagnosed or undertreated due to fragmented healthcare systems, limited provider education, absence of EMR screening prompts, and inconsistent insurance coverage.

This Capstone Project synthesizes current research and population health data to evaluate how integrating a standardized menopause SmartSet within the electronic medical record (EMR), coupled with structured provider education, can …

Data For Fermentation Research Guide Analysis, Laura Guengerich

Morris Library Data Sets

No abstract provided.

Generation And Characterization Of A Knockout Mouse Of An Enhancer Of Ebf3., Emily Cordova Hurtado, Janine M Wotton, Alexander Gulka, Crystal Burke, Jeffrey K Ng, Ibrahim Bah, Juana Manuel, Hillary Heins, Stephen A Murray, David U Gorkin, Jacqueline K White, Kevin A Peterson, Tychele N Turner

Faculty Research 2025

Genomic studies of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) have identified several relevant genomic variants. EBF3 is a gene with an excess of protein-coding de novo variants and underlies Hypotonia, Ataxia, and Delayed Development Syndrome. We previously identified noncoding de novo variants in an enhancer of EBF3 and further found enrichment of deletions of this enhancer in NDDs. In this study, we generated a novel mouse line that deletes the highly conserved, orthologous mouse region within the Rr169617 regulatory region, and characterized the molecular and phenotypic aspects of this mouse model. We found a deviation from Mendelian expectation (P=0.02) with significant depletion of …

Secret Key Generation Based On The Physical Layer Characteristics For Iot Networks, Abdullah Dakhlallah Alshamdayn

Doctoral Dissertations

The rapid expansion of low-resource devices, coupled with advances in telecommunications, has significantly increased the number of connected devices and enabled the development of affordable, energy-efficient, portable, and high-performance sensors for diverse applications. However, this convenience comes with security and privacy concerns related to the reliability of hardware, software, and communication infrastructure. The extensive interconnectivity of limited-resource devices and the transmission of large data volumes pose significant security challenges in wireless networks. The future wireless technologies, such as 5G, will enable the transfer of critical data, including personal, financial, military, and industrial information, necessitating secure communication in wireless networks. Generally, …

Advanced Plant Growth Using Halloysite Nanotubes (Hnts) And Waste Extraction For Medical Applications, Zeinab Jabbari Velisdeh

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents an integrated research framework that bridges nanotechnology, green chemistry, and sustainable agriculture, aiming to address two critical global challenges: enhancing plant growth under resource-limited conditions and valorizing agricultural waste for bioactive compound extraction. The study is divided into three major projects that together highlight the innovative application of magnesium oxide-coated halloysite nanotubes (MgO-HNTs) and the development of environmentally conscious extraction methods for high-value phytochemicals. The first component of this work investigates the design, fabrication, and functional evaluation of MgO-HNTs as advanced nanocarriers for promoting seed germination and early root development in tomato plants. MgO-HNTs were synthesized via …

Towards Robust Autonomous Systems: Handling Multi-Modal Uncertainties In Gps-Denied Environments, Vivya Kalidindi

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on designing a robust and uncertainty-aware framework for autonomous systems operating in GPS-denied environments, such as indoor infrastructures, underground tunnels, and lunar surfaces. The proposed framework addresses the challenges posed by multi-modal uncertainties, including sensor noise, distributional shifts under adverse conditions, and conflicting decision-making preferences. These challenges compromise the reliability and adaptability of autonomous platforms. To overcome these challenges, the proposed framework adopts a layered architecture that integrates advanced methodologies across the sensing, perception, and decision-making layers. At the sensing layer, an Edge-Kalman Filter combined with a density ratio-based update mechanism is employed to reduce aleatoric uncertainty …

Investigation Of Electrochemical Corrosion Fatigue Mitigation Strategies For Mild Carbon Steel, Joel Andrew Hudson

Doctoral Dissertations

Corrosion fatigue remains a critical durability challenge for steels used in boiler tubes and other safety-critical components, where the interaction of cyclic stresses and corrosive environments accelerates material degradation. This dissertation comprises three experimental studies aimed at advancing mitigation strategies and test methodologies: (1) enhancing corrosion resistance through electrodeposited Fe-Ni anodic coatings, (2) inducing synthetic crack closure to suppress fatigue crack growth, and (3) developing an accessible, low-cost, automated testing system to investigate environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) under controlled laboratory conditions. The first study examined the corrosion behavior of Fe and Fe-Ni electrodeposits synthesized from sulfate-based baths and applied to …

Development Of New Design Criteria For Coastal Highway Embankment Under Wave-Induced Loading, Udaya Bilas Panta

Master's Theses

In the face of intensifying hurricanes and rising sea levels, Louisiana’s coastal highways, lifelines for communities and commerce, stand increasingly vulnerable. This thesis introduces a pioneering methodology for designing geosynthetic-reinforced highway embankments capable of withstanding wave-induced loading and rapid drawdown scenarios, the most critical failure condition identified in coastal environments. By integrating statistical wave modeling, advanced numerical simulations using SEEP/W and SLOPE/W, and a comprehensive parametric analysis, the study develops a novel hybrid regression formula that accurately predicts optimal reinforcement lengths based on site-specific geotechnical and hydraulic parameters. Validated against Hurricane Katrina data and real-world soil profiles from Cameron Parish, …

The Potential Co-Occurrence Of Perfectionism, Food Insecurity, And Gpa With Orthorexia Nervosa Risk, Samantha Kay Gould

Master's Theses

There are indeterminate risk, prevalence, and correlation data on orthorexia nervosa (ON) as shown by current literature on disordered eating (Rodgers et al., 2021). As a roughly defined disordered eating pattern, ON may be better understood after identifying associations among other attributes in a college student sample (Abdullah et al., 2020; Mavrandrea & Gonidakis, 2023; Parra-Fernández, 2019; Rogowska et al., 2021). A cooccurrence and influence of perfectionism, food insecurity, and grade point average (GPA) with ON risk was hypothesized since current literature suggests college students exhibit each of these characteristics independently (Abdullah et al., 2020; Ambwani et al., 2019; Caferoglu …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Virtual Reality Learning Through Use Of Visual Eye-Tracking Analytics (Veta) And Biological Measurements, Mckinley Anne Sherman

Master's Theses

Virtual Reality (VR) offers an immersive and interactive platform for experiential learning. The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate the relationship between physiological responses and cognitive workload within a VR learning environment and to explore VR as an effective instructional tool. This research compared participant engagement, stress, and learning performance within a 6th-grade science module developed in VR by incorporating biometric data collected via Polar H10 heart rate monitor and Varjo Areo VR headset eye-tracking. Thirty-three participants completed a pre-lesson demographic survey, post-lesson survey, VR sickness questionnaire, and the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). While completing the lesson, the …

Rethinking Schedule Quality Risk Assessment, Michael E. Oliver, Patrick T. Rodjom

Beyond the Project Horizon: Journal of the Center for Project Management Innovation

Critical Path Method schedule reliability is dependent on exhibition of specific qualities. Failure to exhibit these qualities (i.e., schedule defects) increases project risk exposure. Although current schedule quality assessment methods provide diagnostic remediation insights, they do not provide a meaningful singular assessment value that characterizes the nature and magnitude of schedule quality risk nor do they enable parity when comparing schedule quality across multiple schedules of disparate size (e.g., number of tasks) or complexity (e.g., number of concurrent paths, degree of merge bias). This study employed a design science research approach to address current schedule quality assessment practice dilemmas through …

Reviving Pan-Africanism For The 21st Century: A Framework For Youth-Led Continental Governance Reform, Ugochukwu Mercy Prince-Ifoh

Young African Leaders Journal of Development

This paper explores the historical trajectory, current stagnation, and potential revival of PanAfricanism with a strong emphasis on youth leadership as the engine of governance reform across the African continent. By tracing the intellectual and political contributions of renowned leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, and Thomas Sankara, the study identifies foundational principles of unity, sovereignty, and collective progress. The paper critically evaluates the Agenda 2063 of the African Union (AU), highlighting opportunities and limitations for youth participation. It also conducts a comparative analysis of regional youth governance structures and proposes practical frameworks to institutionalize youth-led reforms. The paper …

Interpretable Machine Learning Frameworks For Detecting And Characterizing Adaptive Processes In Genomic Data, Md Ruhul Amin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Detecting genomic regions influenced by adaptive processes is fundamental to understanding adaptation and its connection to modern human traits. Traditional summary-statistic and likelihood methods capture only simple evolutionary scenarios, while deep learning models such as convolutional neural networks, though powerful, often lose spatial information and lack interpretability. This dissertation introduces three complementary frameworks that overcome these limitations by integrating interpretable machine learning with spatially structured genomic data. The first framework, T-REx employs tensor decomposition to extract informative features from haplotype alignment images, enabling accurate classification of selective sweeps with classical learning models. The second framework, α-DAWG applies wavelet and curvelet …

Advances In The Discovery Of Active Natural Products By Large Fragment Cloning, Dandan Zeng, Jiayu Chen, Tianlu Mo

Journal of Food Science and Biotechnology

Active natural products have diverse structures and activities and can be a major source of small molecule drugs.Given the emergence of multi-drug resistant bacteria and superbacteria,there is an urgent need to develop new active natural products.Large fragment cloning has been an important tool for the discovery of active natural products in recent years,and it has demonstrated obvious advantages in obtaining the biosynthetic gene clusters of active natural products.This approach,combined with efficient cluster-targeted screening methods,has significantly accelerated the discovery of active natural products.This review summarizes a wide variety of active natural products.Furthermore,this paper elaborates on the principles and applications of several …

Preparation And Application Of A Polyclonal Antibody To Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii Rsp 10, Chan Lu, Yuanyuan Zhang, Ye Tao, Zhenchuan Fan, Yanxia Liu

Journal of Food Science and Biotechnology

[Objective ] This study aims to explore the cilium assembly of the radial spoke protein RSP 10 and develop a highly specific polyclonal antibody to RSP 10.[Method ] Firstly,the prokaryotic expression vector pMal-C 2X-rsp10 was constructed,and the expression of MBP-labeled RSP 10 was induced in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3).After the fusion protein was purified,and the MBP label was excised.The obtained protein was used to immunize New Zealand male white rabbits,and the antibody titer in the anti-serum was determined by indirect ELISA.[Result ] The rabbit anti- Chlamydomonas reinhardtii RSP 10 antibody with high specificity and high sensitivity was obtained after purification …

Fabrication And Antioxidant Property Characterization Of Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester-Loaded Nanoparticles, Yaqiong Chen, Yumeng Li, Hui Wu, Hongdong Song, Xiao Guan

Journal of Food Science and Biotechnology

[Objective ] This study aims to improve the dispersion and utilization of caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE ) in aqueous solutions.[Method ] CAPE-loaded hordein (CAPE-HD ) nanoparticles were constructed via an anti-solvent precipitation method.The physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles were characterized,and the antioxidant properties of the nanoparticles within Caco- 2 cells were investigated.[Result ] The components within the CAPE-HD nanoparticles interacted through non-covalent bonds,such as hydrogen bonding,resulting in an altered state of CAPE upon nanoparticle formation.The CAPE-HD nanoparticles exhibited near-spherical morphology with an average particle size of 193.93 nm,an average polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.26,and average Zeta potential of 14.50 …

Bacterial Diversity In Milk And Traditionally Fermented Dairy Products In Balin Right Banner, Lijuan Liu, Gaowa Bai, Jinghe Yu, Fang Wang, Youyi Zhang, Li Zhu, Dalai Wuyun

Journal of Food Science and Biotechnology

[Objective ] This study explored the bacterial diversity in milk and traditional fermented dairy products in Balin Right Banner,aiming to lay a foundation for the development and utilization of bacterial resources in the milk and traditional fermented dairy products in this region.[Method ] A total of 32 samples of cow milk,milk tofu,and sour fermentation supernatant of milk tofu were collected from Balin Right Banner,and their bacterial diversity was analyzed by 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing.[Result ] The diversity and abundance of bacterial communities varied among the milk and traditional fermented dairy products in Balin Right Banner.The dominant bacterial phyla were Firmicutes …

A Zif- 8 Electrode Immobilizing Enzyme For Detection Of Glucose Solution In Food, Tingmei Ma, Shouxin Tang, Wenpan Shi, Yuchen Ma, Haijun Du

Journal of Food Science and Biotechnology

[Objective ] The aim was to construct an electrochemical sensor based on a metal-organic framework-modified electrode for the highly sensitive detection of glucose solution in beverages.[Method ] An electrochemical sensor based on ZIF- 8 composite carbon nanotubes and immobilizing glucose oxidase (GOx ) was prepared by in-situ synthesis and immobilized enzyme technology.The microstructure and morphology of the material were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD ),scanning electron microscopy (SEM ),UV-Vis spectroscopy,and infrared spectrometry (IR).The electrochemical performance of the electrode immobilizing enzyme was tested by electrochemical workstation.[Result ] The prepared electrode immobilizing enzyme showed excellent detection performance for glucose solution,with a limit …