Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of A Natural Language Processing Application For Lgbtq+ Status In Mental Health Records, Margaret Heslin, Jaya Chaturvedi, Anne Marie Bonnici Mallia, Ace Taaca, Diogo Pontes, Charvi Saraswat, Charlotte Woodhead, Katharine Rimes, David Chandran, Jyoti Sanyal, Ruimin Ma, Robert Stewart, Angus Roberts

School of Psychology

BackgroundLesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and related community (LGBTQ+) individuals have significantly increased risk for mental health problems. However, research on inequalities in LGBTQ+ mental healthcare is limited because LGBTQ+ status is usually only contained in unstructured, free-text sections of electronic health records.AimsThis study investigated whether natural language processing (NLP), specifically the large language model, Bi-directional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT), can identify LGBTQ+ status from this unstructured text in mental health records.MethodUsing electronic health records from a large mental healthcare provider in south London, UK, relevant search terms were identified and a random sample of 10 000 strings extracted. …

Between Sound And Theology: Timbral Performativity In Brazilian Religious Musicking, Marcell Silva Steuernagel

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

This article explores the performativity of timbre, summarizing key perspectives from the English-language scholarship on the topic and setting them in conversation with Latin American perspectives on timbre. In addition, it examines a performance of “500 Graus” (500 degrees), a song performed by Brazilian Pentecostal artists Cassiane and Shirley Carvalhaes, to demonstrate how the performativity of timbre unfolds within a particular expression of Latin American religious musicking. In doing so, it investigates the phenomenon of timbre between music and sound studies, and theology and church music studies, providing insights relevant to the study of timbre and the study of religious …

Timbre — A Transcendent Paradox?, Eugenia Siegel Conte

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Timbre, as ethnomusicologist Cornelia Fales writes, is “paradoxical” precisely because it is one of the most exacting processes in which the human body may sense and comprehend the source of a sound even as that comprehended sound is impossible to describe outside of metaphor or comparison. As one of the more recognizable qualities of sound but the most difficult to describe, timbre allows us to consider physical/emotional (affective) experiences of sound as a key aspect of faith and meditation. In this article, I examine physical-affective intersections of faith and meditation that often are key to praxes of worship, and show …

Singing A Wide Heart: Timbre And Sung Prayer In Senegal’S Layène Community, Margaret L. Rowley

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Layène sung prayer (called sikkar) is embedded within the religious practices of the Layène community, a minority Sufi order in Dakar, Senegal. This article explores the functions of Layène sung prayer, focusing especially on its loud, vibrational timbre. Both men and women vocalists in call-and-response sing loudly, using wide vibrato and electronic amplification to ensure that the sikkar reaches the inhabitants—both human and non-human—in the surrounding community. This article demonstrates that the distinctive timbre of Layène sung prayer serves the spiritual functions of binding the community together in spiritual and social cohesion, increasing individual and collective generosity, and demarcating …

Live Wires: The Angelus Temple And The Timbre Of Power, Catherine Provenzano

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

This article is a media history and contemporary case study of The Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, founded by Aimee Semple McPherson in 1923. My analysis of the Angelus insists upon the centrality of a hyperaudible paradigm of worship that uses media to maximize the legibility of a Christian message, and, more than this, imagines that media itself as a living soul in need of redemption. Many contemporary megachurches employ savvy applications of sound and sound transmission as instruments of belonging as well as action, and these rely on high-budget investments in church infrastructure, software and personnel. I argue that …

Performing "Manly" Worship Music: Gender And Timbre At Mars Hill Church, Maren Haynes Marchesini

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Ten years ago, Mars Hill boasted fifteen campuses and 15,000 members. Amid mounting allegations of abuse and mismanagement leveled against founding pastor Mark Driscoll, the church famously collapsed, closing its doors at the end of 2014. Driscoll had built Mars Hill’s core brand around his opposition to the perceived feminization of the Christian mainstream, and appointing himself the “leader of a heterosexual male backlash” in the church and broader culture. While Driscoll’s muscular Christianity stands in a wide historical stream, Mars Hill long led the charge in establishing a youth-oriented, hipster brand of hypermasculine Calvinism. And while rhetoric and theology …

A Sunlit Ambience: How Reverb Pedals Influence The Contemporary Worship Music Imagination, Dylan Crosson

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

With the recent proliferation of scholarship on the musical elements of Contemporary Worship Music (CWM) in addition to ethnographies exploring the tradition’s inner machinations, readers now enjoy unprecedented levels of insight into the actions of human actors and their music. But what of CWM’s non-human actors? Could the instruments and musical equipment used by CWM practitioners, for example, impact evangelical piety? In this article, I entertain this question by arguing that the materiality of reverb pedals—devices used by guitarists to add artificial reverberation to their sound—influences how evangelicals conceptualize elements of their faith by introducing new imagery or enriching pre-existing …

From The Heaviest, Dirtiest Depths To The Washy Ambient Clouds: Guitar Timbre In/As Schismogenesis In North American Christianity, Joshua K. Busman, Nathan Myrick

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

This essay argues that within the socio-cultural context of North American Christianity, the timbral qualities of electric guitar, with its long lineage as a site of cultural values conflict and identity negotiation, serves a theological function in the emerging and cohering sonority of digital worship. Using as comparative case studies the timbral qualities of delay and ambience as promoted and sold by Worship Tutorials as representing normative sonic values for these Christians, on the one hand, and the dialectic and schismatic deployment of distortion by the band My Epic on the other, we suggest that these timbral qualities become important …

Empirical Methods For Support System Design In Deep Serpentinite Excavations: A Critical Evaluation, Anas Driouch, Redouane Oubah, Abdelaziz Lahmili, Latifa Ouadif

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Underground mining excavations in fragile serpentinite rock masses represent a significant challenge today. The complicated features of these rock formations, especially at great depths, make it difficult to classify them using commonly employed methods. This paper focuses on the application of empirical methods for the classification of serpentinite rock masses and the design of support systems in underground mining excavations. Specifically, it concerns an access tunnel excavated entirely in serpentinite at a depth of 460 m. Geomechanical classification systems indicate that the Tunnelling Quality Index (Q-system) and Rock Mass Rating (RMR) evaluate serpentinites as rock masses of exceptionally poor to …

Vinyl Noise, James Kelly

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

In this talk, audio engineer, composer, and record collector Dr. Kelly will explore the fascinating intersection of sound, technology and perception through the lens of vinyl records and their inherent noisiness. Vinyl noise, or surface noise, refers to the sounds on vinyl records that aren’t part of the music itself. Drawing from both production and listening perspectives, Dr. Kelly will offer insights into how records are made, the noisiness inherent to the medium, and how listeners engage with these unwanted sounds - whether by ignoring, finding them distracting, or embracing them as part of the medium’s texture.

Combatting Road Accidents And Fatalities : The Colonial State, Voluntary Organisations, And Road Safety In Northern Rhodesia, 1940s-1964, Mbozi Santebe

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) experienced an increase in the use of motor vehicles from the late 1920s. Consequently, there was a rapid increase in the occurrence of road accidents from the 1940s onwards. The rise in cases of accidents attracted attention of the colonial state and other stakeholders that embarked on measures to improve road safety. Using a corpus of archival sources, this article examines the measures that the colonial state and voluntary organisations undertook to improve road safety in Northern Rhodesia from the 1940s to 1964. It contributes to scholarly works on the use of motor vehicles in Africa …

Engineering Inefficiencies And Technical Dependency : A Vital Lens In Understanding Power Outages In Postcolonial Tanzania, 1960s-1990s, Emanuel L. Mchome

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

This article examines how the construction of power infrastructure in the 1960s-1980s shaped the future functioning of the Tanzanian power grid from the 1990s. The article is based on oral sources and archival material collected from the Swedish National Archives in Stockholm, the Tanzania National Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO), the East Africana Section of the Wilbert Chagula Library at University of Dar es Salaam, the Rufiji Basin Development Authority (RUBADA) and the World Bank online sources. The article argues that engineering inefficiencies of some Western planners and builders of TANESCO’s power grid who failed to consider local ecological issues …

25 Conference Program - Electrophoretic Deposition Viii: Fundamentals And Applications, Aldo R. Boccaccini, Begoña Ferrari, Andrew J. Pascall, Fabien Grasset, Kiyofumi Katagiri

Electrophoretic Deposition VIII: Fundamentals and Applications (EDP)

No abstract provided.

Urban Air Mobility Vertiports: A Bibliometric Analysis Of Applications, Challenges, And Emerging Directions, Yannan Lu, Weili Zeng, Wenbin Wei, Weiwei Wu, Hao Jiang

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Vertiports, as the foundational ground infrastructure for Urban Air Mobility (UAM), have garnered increasing scholarly attention in recent years. To examine how the existing literature has reviewed and summarized vertiport-related knowledge, this study conducts a bibliometric analysis of publications (2000–2024) from four major databases, including Web of Science and Scopus, using VOSviewer and CiteSpace. By analyzing co-citation and keyword co-occurrence patterns, the results suggest that vertiport research frontiers are shifting toward facility location, network planning, airspace and scheduling management, scalable infrastructure, and integration with ground transport systems. Scholars and institutions in the United States, China, Europe, and South Korea have …

Bifusenet: A Multimodal Network For Estimating Blood Alcohol Concentration Via Bidirectional Hierarchical Fusion, Abdullah Tariq, Arooba Maqsood, Martin Masek, Syed Zulqarnain Gilani

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Drunk driving remains a significant public safety challenge, demanding innovative alternatives to conventional methods such as field sobriety tests and breathalysers. Estimating a driver's level of intoxication through facial cues is particularly challenging due to the subtle and person-specific nature of alcohol-induced behaviours. In this paper, we present BiFuseNet, a 3D spatio-temporal multi-modal network designed to classify alcohol impairment levels into three categories: sober, moderate, and severe. Unlike prior approaches that rely on either uni-modal RGB video or hand-crafted facial features, our method exploits complementary physiological cues from RGB and infrared (IR) facial videos. We introduce a Bi-directional Hierarchical Fusion …

Cortenmm: Efficient Memory Management With Strong Correctness Guarantees, Junyang Zhang, Xiangcan Xu, Yonghao Zou, Zhe Tang, Xinyi Wan, Kang Hu, Siyuan Wang, Wenbo Xu, Di Wang, Hao Chen, Lin Huang, Shoumeng Yan, Yuval Tamir, Yingwei Luo, Xiaolin Wang, Huashan Yu, Zhenlin Wang, Hongliang Tian, Diyu Zhou

Michigan Tech Publications

Modern memory management systems suffer from poor performance and subtle concurrency bugs, slowing down applications while introducing security vulnerabilities. We observe that both issues stem from the conventional design of memory management systems with two levels of abstraction: a software-level abstraction (e.g., VMA trees in Linux) and a hardware-level abstraction (typically, page tables). This design increases portability but requires correctly and efficiently synchronizing two drastically different and complex data structures, which is generally challenging.We present CortenMM, a memory management system with a clean-slate design to achieve both high performance and synchronization correctness. Our key insight is that most OSes no …

Designing Assignments For Non-Traditional Students In Higher Education Using Andragogical Principles, Ajit Bhattarai, Beixi Li

Online Journal for Workforce Education and Development

This conceptual paper explores assignment design for non-traditional students in higher education, guided by andragogical principles. Recognizing the increasing presence of adult learners, the paper emphasizes the need for tailored educational strategies. Drawing upon Malcolm Knowles' assumptions of andragogy, it highlights self-directed learning, practical application, and relevance as key considerations. The paper discusses how assignments can be designed to engage adult learners by acknowledging their prior experiences and fostering a sense of ownership in their learning. This study contributes to the ongoing conversation on improving educational practices for non-traditional students, advocating for approaches that recognize them as students who bring …

Exploring Customer Satisfaction Drivers In The Automotive Sector: A Study Of Volkswagen In Chennai, Sridhar M, Karthik Rajan C S

Management Dynamics

This study examines the key drivers of customer satisfaction among Volkswagen car owners in Chennai, a major metropolitan market within India’s rapidly evolving automotive sector. As competition intensifies and consumer expectations shift, understanding the multidimensional aspects of satisfaction spanning product quality, performance, after-sales service, brand perception, and pricing has become essential for enhancing customer retention and loyalty. Employing a structured questionnaire administered to 100 Volkswagen customers, the study uses both descriptive and inferential statistical tools to identify significant satisfaction determinants. Findings reveal that while customers express high satisfaction with product performance and driving experience, concerns persist regarding service accessibility, mechanical …

Improved Streamflow Forecasting Through Swe-Augmented Spatio-Temporal Graph Neural Networks, Akhila Akkala, Soukaina Filali Boubrahimi, Shah Muhammad Hamdi, Pouya Hosseinzadeh, Ayman Nassar

Computer Science Student Research

Streamflow forecasting in snowmelt-dominated basins is essential for water resource planning, flood mitigation, and ecological sustainability. This study presents a comparative evaluation of statistical, machine learning (Random Forest), and deep learning models (Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU), and Spatio-Temporal Graph Neural Network (STGNN)) using 30 years of data from 20 monitoring stations across the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB). We assess the impact of integrating meteorological variables—particularly, the Snow Water Equivalent (SWE)—and spatial dependencies on predictive performance. Among all models, the Spatio-Temporal Graph Neural Network (STGNN) achieved the highest accuracy, with a Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) of 0.84 …

Positioning Domestic Capital Markets For Emerging Companies, Ishrat Husain Dr.

Faculty Research - Talks, Speeches, & Discourse

The current macroeconomic context is not very conducive to the growth of capital markets. Stagnant per capita incomes, high inflation, declining investment, large fiscal deficit, severe energy shortages, current account imbalances and drying up of foreign investment do not provide an appetizing menu of options for the savers, investors and issuers. Strong borrowing needs of the government have increased banks’ exposure to government paper. As banks account for 95 percent of the total financial assets private sector credit has there shrunk. The share of net advances has dropped from 57 percent to 44 percent between Dec 2008 and June 2011. …

Precision Assessment Of Facial Asymmetry Using 3d Imaging And Artificial Intelligence, Mohamed Adel, Katie Jo Hunt, Daniel Lau, James K Hartsfield, Hugo Reyes-Centeno, Cynthia S Beeman, Tarek Elshebiny, Lina Sharab

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Objectives: There is a growing interest among practitioners in employing artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the precision and efficiency of diagnostic methods. The objective of this study is to assess the precision of an AI-based method for facial asymmetry assessment using 3D facial images. Methods: The study included 130 patients (84 female, 46 male), analyzing 3D facial images from the Vectra ® M3 imaging system using both manual and AI-based methods. Seven bilateral facial landmarks were identified for manual analysis, calculating the asymmetry index for facial symmetry assessment. An AI-based program was developed to automate the identification of the same …

Chplx: The Hpx Solution For Bridging Chapel And C++, Shreyas Swanand Atre

LSU Master's Theses

Historically, domain scientists faced steep learning curves due to low-level programming models and fragmented tooling. Between 2003 and 2008, Cray, now part of HPE, introduced the Chapel language as part of DARPA’s High Productivity Computing Systems (HPCS) program. Today, Chapel remains under active development and is used across research and production projects. In parallel, the STE||AR Group has advanced C++-based parallel programming through HPX, a standards-conforming runtime that provides lightweight tasking, futures, and distributed execution while abstracting much of the algorithmic “heavy lifting.” Yet for many domain scientists, C++ presents a steeper learning curve than Chapel. To close this complexity …

"What's A Computer?" Exploring Insurance Agents' Role In Small Business Cyber Insurance Transactions, Dalton A. Crabtree

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods study examined how insurance agents' role identity impacts cyber insurance transactions, addressing gaps in professional practice and academic literature. Small businesses increasingly rely on cyber insurance for protection as cyber risk continues to evolve. The study employed sequential explanatory methodology with 25 interviews across three groups: insurance agents (n=15), corporate cyber insurance professionals (n=5), and small business owners (n=5). Thematic analysis using Katz and Khan's Role Episode Model informed development of the Cyber Insurance Role Identity Scale (CIRIS), tested with 100 agents. Six themes emerged. Key findings reveal that successful cyber insurance transactions require agents to transition from …

Genetic Engineering Of Esophageal Organoids: Crispr-Based Knock-In For Cell Lineage Tracing, Kyung-Pil Ko, Jae-Il Park

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Esophageal organoids serve as powerful systems to study epithelial lineage hierarchies and cancer biology. Gene manipulation in these organoids has traditionally involved overexpression or knockout strategies. However, CRISPR-/Cas9-based knock-in (KI) approaches now enable precise cell lineage tracing and live imaging. Here, we describe protocols to generate fluorescent KI organoids from murine esophageal epithelium by tagging Krt13 (BFP) and Sox2 (mNeon). These dual-reporter organoids allow direct monitoring of growth dynamics and differentiation trajectories. We outline CRISPR/Cas9 design, donor construction using homology-independent approaches (CRISPaint), delivery into organoid cells, enrichment and single-clone isolation, and validation by fluorescence. For organoids, homology-directed repair (HDR) can …

Artificial Intelligence In Education: The Power And Dangers Of Chatgpt In The Classroom, Muhammed Parviz

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education has accelerated significantly in recent years, fundamentally shaping pedagogical practices and learning experiences. Among these advancements, OpenAI’s ChatGPT stands out as a sophisticated language model capable of generating human-like text. This capability opens new avenues for educational applications, such as personalized learning experiences and automated assessments. By embedding ChatGPT into e-learning platforms, educators can provide instantaneous feedback and foster interactive language learning. However, the deployment of ChatGPT in educational contexts presents challenges, particularly ethical issues related to data privacy and the potential for inherent biases in AI models.

In this context, the …

Vision 2050: India’S Path To Becoming A Global Player, Balasubramanian Mahadevan Dr

Journal Of Indian Physician Associates

This study examines India’s strategic plan to become one of the top three global economies by 2050 through data-driven analysis and comparisons of economic indicators from 2024 to 2050, utilizing data from trusted sources such as the Reserve Bank of India and NITI Aayog. We analyze India’s economic growth in relation to other major emerging economies, focusing on technology, manufacturing, and service sectors. Findings suggest that with strategic policy reforms, investment in innovation, and enhanced infrastructure, India can achieve significant GDP and productivity growth. This article concludes with actionable policy recommendations for local and global stakeholders.

Revolutionizing Digital Health In Rwanda: Progress Toward Universal Health Coverage, Roméo Bananeza Mr

Journal Of Indian Physician Associates

Rwanda is an African country that is making rapid progress in all sectors, including digital health. This review explores Rwanda’s transformative journey in digital health, highlighting key achievements, ongoing challenges, community involvement, and future prospects. Rwanda’s commitment is evident in using electronic health records, telemedicine, and mobile health applications. Rwandan institutions, including Rwanda Biomedical Center, Rwanda Ministry of Health, Rwanda Health Information Exchange, Rwanda Development Board, Partners in Health, universities, and several nongovernmental organizations, have made significant contributions to revolutionize digital health in Rwanda. However, the country continues to face barriers, including limited digital infrastructure, financial constraints, and disparities in …

Evaluation Of Different Design Standards For The Design Of Axial Loaded Concrete Filled Steel Tube Columns Under Fire, Ebtsam Youssef Ibrahim Abd El Ghaffar, Nabil Said Mahmoud, Fikry A. Salem, Mohammed. M. Ghannam

Mansoura Engineering Journal

This paper compares various codes and standards for the behavior of “Concrete-Filled Steel Tubes” (CFST) columns under fire and axial load. The codes evaluated include European standards (EC4.2 and EC3.2), the American standard (AISC 360), and the Australian standard (AS/NZS 2327). The fire resistance of Concrete-Filled Steel Tubular (CFST) and steel hollow (SH) columns was assessed using a computer program developed with Visual Studio .NET. The program's results were compared with previous experimental data to evaluate the accuracy of various codes and standards in predicting the behavior of these columns under fire conditions. This study highlights the importance of selecting …

Eleanor Arnason’S Fantastic Mitochondrial Humor, Sandra J. Lindow

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Eleanor Arnason’s Fantastic Mitochondrial Humor

In this essay I explore Brian Attebery’s description of mitochondrial fantasy to explain how humor works in Eleanor Arnason’s short fantastic fiction. Mitochondria are the energy powerhouses in cells. They are symbiotic creatures that once were separate but became an evolutionary part of a female egg cell, providing a history that can be traced to a Mitochondrial Eve. In Fantasy: How It Works, Attebery uses mitochondria metaphorically to explain how fantastic ideas evolve. Attebery describes fantastic mitochondria as “a cellular dynamo that lives within the tissues” of a story (91). He demonstrates how stories lead …

Unknowing In Tolkien's Legendarium And The Agnosia Of The Elvish Tradition, Benjamin Blakeslee-Drain

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

The many layers of Unknowing in Tolkien’s legendarium make some of the most profound statements in his work. Unknowing creates space for the reader to have a more active and intimate experience with the text, and supports the central Christian moral message in The Lord of the Rings. The theme of Unknowing ties the legendarium to a larger set of scriptural and Christian writings, including the Book of Job, Mystical Theology, and The Cloud of Unknowing. Finally, Unknowing is shown to be a function of the legendarium reflecting a dominantly Elvish perspective. By dismissing the assumed authority of that perspective, …