Digital Commons Network^™

The Idea Design Scaffold: Empowering Novice Designers With Systemic And Sustainable Design Education, Ioannis Xenakis, Despoina Grigoreli

Learn X Design Conference Series

Designing for complex sociotechnical systems challenges novice designers, requiring them to align abstract systemic priorities with actionable functional goals. The IDEA Design Scaffold (IDEAS) addresses this by integrating hierarchical goal-setting, systemic affordances (SysAf), and iterative feedback loops into a structured framework. At its core, the Iterative Innovation Cycle (IIC) guides designers through iterative exploration and refinement, enabling the evolution of foundational affordances into innovative solutions that balance operational clarity with systemic priorities. IDEAS organizes design goals across Systemic Levels (SL), helping students deconstruct high-level objectives into actionable subgoals while maintaining systemic alignment. SysAf emerges dynamically, linking functional feasibility with broader …

Social Action, Service Learning, And Youth Development, Joan Arches

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

University service-learning students worked with middle school youth in a social change project addressing positive youth development and civic engagement. Based on their knowledge of positive youth development theory and British Social Action, they facilitated a weekly group in which the youth identified combatting oppression by teachers (adultism) for their project. They discussed the problem, designed surveys, analyzed the data, and presented their findings. The youth demonstrated individual competencies and connected with adults while they learned to work collectively in a community change project.

Book Review: Building Playgrounds, Engaging Communities: Creating Safe And Happy Places For Children. Lima, M. (2013) Baton Rouge, La: Louisiana State University Press., Don Rogers

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Dispositions Of Higher Education Faculty Toward K-12 Community Outreach, Brett L. Bruyere, Marcos Roybal, Rebecca Thomas

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This study assessed the preparedness and willingness of faculty at a land-grant university to conduct outreach to youth about science. Using a mixed-methods design, faculty were aware of some components of effective youth outreach, but fail to acknowledge the importance of other critical pieces such as linking outreach to educational standards. This study has implications for higher education administrators, particularly those who perceive our universities as a resource for addressing the low science achievement in the United States.

Releases Of Liability For Service-Learning Programs: Effective, Innocuous, Or A Waste Of Time?, Franklyn P. Salimbene

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This paper examines the enforceability of releases of liability relating to college and university students engaged in service-learning. It reviews cases where universities were sued for injuries incurred by students and where signed releases were offered in defense. It then examines key guidelines that courts apply in determining whether such releases are adequate. The paper concludes by offering service-learning educators a number of practical suggestions for drafting and utilizing releases with students engaged in service-learning.

Consortium, University, And Program Impact On Regional Economy And Community, Sean Creighton, Robert J. Sweeney, Katherine Cauley

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Community engagement in higher education has become increasingly widespread. As a consequence, universities find themselves learning how to integrate community engagement on their own, from each other, and, hopefully, from their community partners. This article discusses three distinct cases–a consortium, university, and program–and their impacts on a regional economy and community. In addition to illustrating intentional macro to micro community engagement practices, the article notes key findings from regional institutional collaborations. Further, the article recommends benchmarks for evaluating the quality and effective practice of community engagement.

Working Across Cultures: Outcomes Of An Initiative To Improve Student Capacity And Institutional Coordination Related To Global Engagement, Karen E. Kun, Suzanne Mason, Jennifer Foster, John E. Mcgowan, Courtney N. Coleman, Cornelia Lindenau, Edward L. Queen Ii

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

The Working Across Cultures Initiative was developed at Emory University to improve undergraduate and graduate student capacity and institution-wide coordination related to global engagement. The Initiative contributed to enhanced student knowledge and skills as well as changes in institutional policies and procedures. It may thus have implications for other institutions of higher education grappling with how best to prepare students for global engagement and how to bring about the changes in the institutional policies and procedures that would best support, enable, and engage students in these activities.

A System For Providing Language Models With Contextual Guidance Discovered From Software Library Packages, Michael Bleigh

Defensive Publications Series

Large language model (LLM) based coding agents may exhibit inconsistency when using software libraries, for example, by referencing outdated APIs from training data or generating calls to non-existent APIs. Some existing mechanisms for providing supplemental context may involve manual discovery and configuration by the user. A described system and associated standard allows library authors to package guidance, which may be specific to language models, directly within their distributable software package, for instance, in a dedicated directory. Tooling can be configured to discover this guidance across a project's dependencies, aggregate it, and provide it to a coding agent in a structured, …

A Method For Assessing Token Importance In Code-Switched Text Through Language Boundary Analysis, Mithun Kumar S R

Defensive Publications Series

Existing explainable AI (XAI) attribution methods for natural language processing (NLP) models may have difficulty determining token importance in code-switched text, potentially leading to explanations that do not fully capture the emphasis conveyed by switching languages or the structural role of words at language boundaries. A method is described that can address this by performing token-level language identification to locate boundaries between languages in an input text. A contextual weighting engine can then assign weights to tokens within a code-switched segment and to boundary tokens adjacent to the switch. These weights may be used to modulate raw attribution scores generated …

A System For Synchronizing Artificial Intelligence Model Context With External Data Sources, Colby Hawker, Piyush Arora

Defensive Publications Series

Artificial intelligence (AI) models that depend on context from external data sources may produce outdated responses as underlying information, such as database schemas or web content, changes over time. The described system compartmentalizes AI model context into static and dynamic components. A static context may comprise fixed rules, safety policies, and format requirements. A dynamic context can be populated by a user-provided script configured to run at a specified frequency. This script can fetch, structure, and cache data from external sources, for instance APIs or databases, using stored credentials. This method allows AI models to operate with more current information …

System For Recommending Ai Model Configurations With Human-In-The-Loop Oversight, Piyush Arora, Adam Glazier, Colby Hawker, Jaime Sonoda, Sönke Rohde

Defensive Publications Series

Configuring and optimizing artificial intelligence (AI) models for specific tasks can be a complex process that may involve deep technical expertise and iterative manual experimentation. This disclosure describes a system, which may be implemented as a self-improving AI agent, that can assist in automating this process by interpreting a user's intent to recommend a suitable AI model and configuration. The agent can analyze available models and propose settings, for example, system instructions, grounding data, and operational parameters. The system can also perform background evaluations to provide empirical data and a rationale for its recommendation. A human-in-the-loop component may be included …

A Method For Converting Business Process Models Into Orchestrated Ai Agent Workflows, Leonid Kuligin, Max Tschochohei

Defensive Publications Series

Automating complex business processes with large language models (LLMs) can present challenges, as monolithic prompts containing extensive domain-specific information and instructions can be difficult to develop and evaluate, and LLMs may lack certain adaptive business logic capabilities. The described method can address such challenges by transforming standard business process flowcharts (for example, decision trees or business process diagrams), into an orchestrated workflow. In this approach, a node of the flowchart can be converted into a distinct step for execution by a dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) sub-agent. The sub-agent may receive a targeted prompt containing relevant context from the flowchart's descriptions …

Utilising Ai And Industrial Engineering Tools In Legal Systems: A Case Study On Oman’S Labour Law, Mahmood Al Kindi

The Journal of Engineering Research

A significant opportunity to modernise and enhance the efficiency of legal systems is presented by the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly within the context of national legal reforms. In this study, the application of AI techniques to the New Oman Labour Law of 2023 is explored, a comprehensive legal framework that impacts a wide range of interconnected legal domains, including commercial, social security, and immigration laws. The complex interdependencies between legal articles are uncovered through the employment of Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK) for Arabic text processing, custom-designed regular expression patterns, network analysis, and visualisation tools. How AI can be …

Uncovering Optimal Gains In Hotel Mergers In The Presence Of Correlated Inputs: An Integrated Owa-Inverse Dea Framework, Amar Oukil, Ahmed-Amin Soltani

The Journal of Engineering Research

Though Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) are strategic transactions that have long been intertwined with the hospitality sector, the application of data envelopment analysis (DEA) to hotel M&A has been largely overlooked. In this paper, we introduce a new methodological framework that integrates inverse DEA (IDEA) and the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator to evaluate pairwise consolidations among hotels in the event of strong input correlation. While IDEA enables effective identification of all productive post-merger hotels, i.e., hotel mergers with potential input gains, the OWA aggregation is essentially prompted by the possible occurrence of inputs’ correlation. Rather than discarding inputs arbitrarily, …

Evaluating The Thermal Properties And Compatibility Of High-Density Polyethylene Micro/Nano-Hydroxyapatite Composites For Advanced Material Applications, Mohammed S. Al Owiemri, Moosa S.M. Al Kharusi, Farooq Al Jahwari

The Journal of Engineering Research

This study investigates the thermal behaviour and compatibility of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) composites reinforced with micro- and nano-scale hydroxyapatite (HA) particles, aiming to optimise their application in biomedical environments. Comprehensive thermal analyses were conducted using Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) to evaluate the influence of HA fillers on thermal stability and crystallisation behaviour. TGA results revealed that HDPE/micro-HA composites exhibit enhanced thermal stability, with decomposition initiating at approximately 300 °C and concluding near 450 °C. Micro-HA demonstrated superior performance in delaying degradation compared to nano-HA, attributed to its larger particle size and chain mobility restriction. DSC analyses …

Harnessing Wind Energy For A Green Hydrogen Revolution In Oman: Potential, Challenges, And Economic Viability, Navid Nasiri, Morteza Mohammadzaheri, Rayyan Muhammad Rafikh, Maryam Farrizi, Hooman Nasiri, Intisar Al-Busaidi, Sulaiman Al-Hashmi

The Journal of Engineering Research

This study is the first to comprehensively evaluate green hydrogen production from wind energy across 14 geographically diverse sites in Oman, filling a critical research gap in the MENA region where wind-to-hydrogen feasibility remains underexplored. Unlike prior studies focused on Europe (Dincer & Acar, 2015) or solar-heavy MENA projects (Mohammed et al., 2024), this simulation-based analysis leverages Oman’s unique wind resources and arid climate to pioneer regionspecific insights. Using Weibull distribution for wind resource assessment, we calculate Capacity Factor (CF), Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH), annual hydrogen yields, and CO₂ emission reductions. Results highlight …

Fostering Students’ Ethical Engagement By Employing Online Interactive Platforms For Engineering Ethics Education, Waleed Ahmed, Rihab Hamza, Omar Alkhatib, Essam Zaneldin

The Journal of Engineering Research

This study examines the integration of online interactive tools in engineering ethics education to enhance student engagement, critical thinking, and ethical decision-making. These platforms allow students to generate and respond to questions based on ethical concepts and real-world case studies, turning traditional instruction into a dynamic, student-centred experience. Key features such as gamification, self-paced learning, and collaborative discussions foster healthy competition and motivation. The tools also support knowledge retention through peer discussions, quizzes, and interactive exercises, while multimedia resources and instant feedback help students refine ethical reasoning and apply professional standards. To evaluate the impact, student performance was assessed over …

Effective Maintenance Management Framework Through A Health Index: A Case Study In The Oil And Gas Industry, Khalid Al Fahdi, Hakan Gultekin, Emad Summad

The Journal of Engineering Research

The oil and gas sector is transforming rapidly, driven by global energy demand and the need to address climate change. Effective maintenance management is critical for ensuring asset reliability and operational safety in this sector, where predictive and proactive strategies replace traditional reactive maintenance practices. This paper introduces a comprehensive health maintenance management framework designed to enhance oil and gas industry maintenance practices. The proposed framework includes six essential stages: asset registration, maintenance strategy selection, capability promotion, maintenance implementation, reporting, and continuous improvement. A key innovation of the framework is using a Health Index (HI), which provides a quantitative and …

Recycling And Utilization Of Fiberglass–Resin Powder From Waste Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (Gfrp) For The Production Of Sustainable Phenolic Molding Products (Spmp), Hussein Antar Hussain Murad Bakhsh Al Balushi, Pradeep Kumar Krishnan, Mohamed Siddiq Mohamed Al-Balushi, B. M. Sangeetha, Thiyagu M, Megavannan Murugaiyan Mani

The Journal of Engineering Research

This study investigates the mechanical properties and sustainability implications of phenolic moulding compounds (PMCs) formulated with varying compositions of waste glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) powder and additives. By utilising waste GFRP from the composite pipe industry in Oman, the research aims to develop environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional Bakelite materials. The mechanical performance of these sustainable PMCs was assessed through compressive strength and hardness evaluations, revealing promising results that highlight the potential for improved material properties when incorporating treated GFRP powder. The findings suggest that these sustainable phenolic moulding products can be effectively utilised in various industries, including automotive, …

Design And Fabrication Of Vacuum-Assisted Compression Mould For Thermoplastic Polymers With Experimental Validation, Said A. Al Mufarraji, Farooq Al Jahwari, Mahmoud Al-Kindi, Tasneem Pervez, Imad Murtadha Ali

The Journal of Engineering Research

The manufacturing of thermoplastic materials, particularly polypropylene, is crucial for various industrial applications due to their lightweight, versatile, and durable properties. Compression moulding is a favored method for producing high-strength components; however, traditional open mould systems often result in defects such as air bubbles and voids, which weaken the mechanical integrity of the final product. This research introduces an advanced vacuum-assisted closed mould system designed to enhance the compressive strength and overall mechanical performance of polypropylene specimens. By applying vacuum, entrapped air is effectively removed, ensuring uniform material flow and reducing defects. Experimental results show a substantial improvement in mechanical …

Native Americans, Part Ii, Kevin Abourezk

Truth and Reconciliation History Project

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s – aimed at abolishing legalized racial segregation and discrimination across the United States – found expression in Nebraska in many ways. From college protests to marches in Lincoln, the movement found a home within the youth and counterculture communities of Lincoln and Omaha. But less known is the way the movement impacted Native American populations, especially those in remote Nebraska communities. “Just as young Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans across the nation were learning the lessons of the black experience of the 1960s and expressing their identity as they sought to …

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Minutes September 22, 2025, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• Call to Order
• Approval of Minutes - August 25, 2025
• University Business
• Faculty Senate Business
• Information
• EPC Report - September 4, 2025
• Report
• EPC Annual Report
• Old Business
• New Business
• Adjourn: 4:30 pm

Performance Of A Two-Body Wave Energy Converter With An Annular Heave Plate, Raj Tamakuwala, Muhammad Usman, Nathan Tom, Hassan Masoud

Michigan Tech Publications

We theoretically examine the performance of a two-body wave energy converter (WEC) featuring a floating sphere and a submerged annular heave plate, connected by a power take-off (PTO) system. Utilising linear wave theory, we derive the system's frequency-domain response to regular plane waves and analyse the impact of varying disk porosity on power generation. Our results suggest that annular disks can enhance power extraction efficiency in various cases compared with solid heave plates. Additionally, permeable plates can broaden operational conditions by reducing oscillation amplitudes and decreasing the mechanical strain on the PTO system without substantially compromising the power conversion efficiency. …

Global Transport Emissions 1850–2020: Historical Drivers And Lessons For Transport Decarbonization, Bernardo Tostes, Sofia T. Henriques, Matthew Kuperus Heun, Paul E. Brockway, Tânia Sousa

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

This study analyzes global transport CO2 emissions from 1850 to 2020 using the LMDI method, offering, for the first time, a decomposition over such a long timespan and global scope. Emissions are split into technological and demand-related drivers using a new dataset. Transport efficiency is divided into final-to-useful efficiency and useful energy intensity, a novel distinction. Key findings include: (1) efficiency improvements avoided 9067 Gt CO2 by 2019, with peak impacts in 1950–1973 (-1.62 %/yr) and 2008–2020 (-3.63 %/yr), respectively; (2) these gains were insufficient to counter rising demand, which led to 8252 Gt CO2 in cumulative emissions; (3) demand …

Applied Linear Regression Techniques To Biomedical Research And Detecting Change-Points To Enhance Model Flexibility By Improving Interpretability And Applicability, Hoang Vu

Student Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines change-point detection in statistical models through the framework of two-way truncated linear regression with threshold effects. Our work is based on Two-Way Truncated Linear Regression Models with Extremely Thresholding Penalization (TWT-LR with ETP) by Teng and Zhang (2022) which is an innovative approach extends traditional linear regression by incorporating potential change-points in both intercept and slope parameters, effectively handling multiple change-points through a specialized penalization technique that shrinks small coefficients to zero. This methodology demonstrates remarkable effectiveness in identifying significant change-points while maintaining computational efficiency. We propose a framework that models both upper and lower thresholds in …

Education Pandemonium: A Phenomenological Study Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Middle School Teacher-Parents’ During The Covid Crisis, Harold Wayne Stanfield

Student Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative, phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of middle school teacher-parents (MST-Parents) during the COVID-19 pandemic in an urban school district in southeastern Mississippi. The research investigated how educators balance professional responsibilities with familial obligations during a public health emergency. Semi-structured interviews with eight participants identified role ambiguity, deficits in institutional support, and resource limitations as significant stressors. To balance their dual role demands, participants depended significantly on the assistance of colleagues. Numerous findings aligned with the study's theoretical framework; however, a notable limitation in participant feedback, particularly about instructional and technical support from their children's schools, necessitated additional …

The Impacts Of The Lack Of Access To Information And Communication Technologies (Ict) On African American Students, Alisha Shanta Williams

Student Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study is to examine the relationship between the lack of access to information and communication technologies and the grade point averages among African American students in Arkansas Rural Delta schools. The problem addressed in this qualitative phenomenological study is limited access to technology among African American students in the Rural Arkansas Delta and its influence on grade point averages and overall academic success. This research strived to explore and portray the experiences of students facing extenuating circumstances and barriers with technological resources and the effect on their achievement. The methodology used is qualitative, and …

Heat Transfer Enhancement In Cold Plate Heat Exchangers With Trapezoidal Vortex Generators, Montgomery Miller

Student Theses and Dissertations

An experimental investigation was carried out to study the effects of trapezoidal vortex generators (VGs) as a method of thermal enhancement within cold plate heat exchangers. Three different cold plates were imbedded with VGs in the bottom of the flow passage of varying sizes (h/H = 0.195, 0.253, 0.36) and quantity, as well as a cold plate with no VGs to be used as a comparative baseline. Testing was conducted under the laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow regime (Re = 1000 to 5500) using distilled water as the coolant. Experimental results indicate that the addition of VGs provide a positive …

Investigation Of Micronized Rubber Powder As An Alternative To Polymer Modifiers In Asphalt Pavement, Md Torikul Islam

Student Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have increasingly focused on polymer additives to enhance asphalt pavement performance. Crumb rubber (CR), derived from waste vehicle tires, has emerged as a potential modifier. This study investigates Micronized Rubber Powder (MRP), smaller than 75 μm, as an alternative to polymer modifiers. A PG 64-22 binder was modified with 5%, 10%, and 15% MRP (by weight), and the properties were compared with those of an SBS-modified PG 70-22 binder. Physical, mechanical, and chemical properties were assessed. The results indicated that MRP significantly increased viscosity and required higher processing temperatures. MRP-modified binders demonstrated improved rutting resistance, creep recovery, high-temperature performance, …

Achieving Low Greenhouse Gas Emissions In Non-Flooded Rice Through Effective Nitrogen Fertilizer Management, Nikki Arivel Larazo

Student Theses and Dissertations

Rice cultivation offers many opportunities including secure food supply, support livelihoods and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), particularly methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). This study evaluated the impact of irrigation method and nitrogen (N) fertilizer type on GHG emissions and yield in drill-seeded rice from 2022 to 2024. A field study was conducted to compare the impacts of flooded and furrow irrigation with either Urea or sulfur-enriched urea (Urea-S) at 168 kg N ha⁻¹ on rice yield, N use efficiency and GHG emissions. Gas samples were collected using flux vented chamber method and analyzed via gas chromatography. Furrow irrigation …