Digital Commons Network^™

Videoshot: Automatic Video Summarization And Information Extraction, Paula Marques

Defensive Publications Series

While videos are a popular source of information, it is difficult to extract usable information from a video, e.g., a list of ingredients and set of steps from a recipe video. While screenshots and manual notetaking can be performed, these are cumbersome. This disclosure describes the use of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques for automatic extraction of information from video content (performed in accordance with controls set by the video creator) and transfer of such information to an appropriate downstream application. A user can trigger information extraction by performing a suitable action and optionally, can indicate their task. Artificial intelligence techniques …

New Contrast-Based Metrics For Roadway Lighting Design, Amira R. Abouelhamd

Thesis/ Dissertation Defenses

Roadway lighting standards specify design targets of horizontal illuminance or luminance at the roadway surface for various roadway types. Although the luminance and illuminance method to roadway lighting standards incorporate some factors that affect human visibility, other important factors, such as the target’s contrast and size, are not examined in these standards. Roadway lighting standards should consider how the human visual system detects objects and provides comfortable approaches to improve visibility for drivers. As luminous contrast has a crucial impact on visibility measures, recent studies have been directed to propose new approaches that utilize it. This research aims to propose …

The Minutes Of The Marshall University Board Of Governors Meeting, June 11, 2025, Marshall University Board Of Governors

Board of Governors Minutes

No abstract provided.

Navigating Campus Partners, Dymond Bush, Sarah Campbell, Olivia Seymour

Library Staff Publications, Presentations & Journal Articles

Demonstrating the value of the library’s resources to campus partners can be challenging for librarians. In this session, learn how Bryant University Research and Instruction Librarian Dymond Bush built relationships with the Athletics Department to bring this community into the library. Olivia Jones with Salve Regina University’s McKillop Library will discuss her partnership with the Office of Multicultural Programs and Retention and their Inclusive Reading Club. Sarah Campbell, Research and Instruction librarian at JWU will explore how developing partnerships with the graphic design department and the Center for Teaching and Learning created new opportunities for instruction and pedagogy-focused professional development. …

Impact Of Nitrogen Fertilizer Application Rates On Plant Growth And Yield Of Organic Kale And Swiss Chard In Vertical Farming System, Andruw Jones, Sai Prakash Naroju, Dilip Nandwani, Anthony Witcher, Shahidullah Chowdhary

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

To support the growing global population, sustainable farming methods like vertical farming must complement traditional agriculture. This study evaluated the effects of various nitrogen fertilizer application rates (N_low (1055.3 ppm), N_rec (1640.9 ppm), N_high (2811.3 ppm), and N_0 (469.9 ppm)) on organic kale (Brassica oleracea L. var. acephala ‘Lacinato’) and Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris subsp. Vulgaris ‘Ruby/Rhubarb Red’), grown in a vertical growing system installed in a high tunnel during the spring and fall season of 2023 at the organic farm of Tennessee State University. Growth parameters studied included fresh weight, Brix, chlorophyll, plant height, and leaf count. Most parameters …

Situational Analysis Of Child Labour In Coastal And Marine Activities In Zanzibar, Tanzania, Happiness Anold Moshi, Rukia Kitula

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This study analyses the situation of child labour in coastal and marine activities in Zanzibar, Tanzania, by examining activities carried out by children, the major driving factors for engaging in child labour, as well as the associated impacts to children’s schooling and wellbeing. Questionnaire survey, focus group discussions (FGDs), participant observations, and key informant interviews (KII) were all used to collect data for the study. The study involved a total of 90 children, who were randomly selected among working children in coastal and marine activities. It was found that most of the working children were involved in fishing, fish descaling, …

Keynote Address: The Future Of Environmental Enforcement, David M. Uhlmann

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

A Beacon Trying To Signal Heading: The Ninth Circuit Interprets The California Whistleblower Protection Act In Killgore V. Specpro Professional Services, Llc, Naseem Memari

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Higher-Order Exceptional Points In A Non-Reciprocal Waveguide Beam Splitter, Hamed Ghaemidizicheh, Shahram Dehdashti, Andreas Hanke, Ahmed Touhami, Janis Nötzel

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Non-Hermitian systems have attracted significant interest because of their intriguing properties, including exceptional points (EPs), where eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenstates coalesce. In particular, quantum systems with EPs exhibit an enhanced sensitivity to external perturbations, which increases with the order of the EP. Therefore, higher-order EPs hold significant potential for advanced sensing applications, but they are challenging to achieve due to stringent symmetry requirements. In this work, we study the dynamics of a generalized lossy waveguide beam splitter with asymmetric coupling by introducing non-reciprocity as a tunable parameter to achieve higher-order EPs even without dissipation. Moreover, we analyze the evolution …

The Rise Of Faint, Red Active Galactic Nuclei At Z > 4: A Sample Of Little Red Dots In The Jwst Extragalactic Legacy Fields, Dale D. Kocevski, Steven L. Finkelstein, Guillermo Barro, Anthony J. Taylor, Antonello Calabrò, Brivael Laloux, Johannes Buchner, Jonathan R. Trump, Gene C.K. Leung, Guang Yang, Mark Dickinson, Pablo G. Pérez-González, Fabio Pacucci, Kohei Inayoshi, Rachel S. Somerville, Elizabeth J. Mcgrath, Hollis B. Akins, Micaela B. Bagley, Rebecca A.A. Bowler, Laura Bisigello, Adam Carnall

Pacific Faculty Work

We present a sample of 341 “little red dots” (LRDs) spanning the redshift range z ∼ 2-11 using data from the CEERS, PRIMER, JADES, UNCOVER, and NGDEEP surveys. Unlike past use of color indices to identify LRDs, we employ continuum slope fitting using shifting bandpasses to sample the same rest-frame emission blueward and redward of the Balmer break. This enables the detection of LRDs over a wider redshift range and with less contamination from galaxies with strong breaks that otherwise lack a rising red continuum. The redshift distribution of our sample increases at z < 8 and then undergoes a rapid decline at z ∼ 4.5, which may tie the emergence of these sources to the inside-out growth that galaxies experience during this epoch. We find that LRDs are ∼1 dex more numerous than X-ray- and UV-selected active galactic nuclei (AGN) at z ∼ 5-7. Within our sample, we have identified the first two X-ray-detected LRDs. An X-ray spectral analysis confirms that these AGN are moderately obscured with log ( N H / cm 2 ) of 23 . 3 − 1.3 + 0.4 and 22.7 2 − 0.16 + 0.13 . Our analysis reveals that reddened AGN emission dominates their rest-optical light, while the rest-UV originates from their host galaxies. We also present NIRSpec observations from the RUBIES survey of 17 LRDs that show broad emission lines consistent with AGN activity. The confirmed AGN fraction of our sample is 71% for sources with F444W < 26.5. In addition, we find three LRDs with blueshifted Balmer absorption features in their spectra, suggesting an outflow of high-density, low-ionization gas from near the central engine of these faint, red AGN.

Multi Trajectory Guided Model Inversion Attacks, Indrajit Nandi

Master’s Dissertations

Recent advancements in deep learning have brought significant concerns regarding the privacy of training data due to overfitting and memorization, as well as a lack of defense mechanisms. In model inversion attacks, where Attackers aim to reconstruct original private training samples (i.e images) just by using the DNN model’s last layer output. Traditional black-box MI attacks face three key challenges: (1) Non-convex optimization landscapes often trap reconstructions in poor local minima, degrading output quality. (2) Black-box scenarios require excessive queries to approximate gradients, raising detection risks. (3) Unconstrained pixel-space optimization generates unrealistic artifacts since the inverse mapping lacks natural image …

Assessment Of Walkability Of University Campus And Communities: Associations With Perceived Safety & Student Retention, Wendy Bjerke

Exercise Science Faculty Publications

Introduction: Approximately 80% of Americans do not meet minimum guidelines for regular physical activity. Among ways to promote physical activity is to optimize the Built Environment to promote and increase access to walking and cycling. Walkable and accessible university campus environments and proximal communities can promote physical activity and are assessed and compared in this study. Purpose and Methods: Approximately 20 million students attend colleges and universities in the United States with over 100,000 students enrolled in the state of Connecticut. These students can potentially engage in physical activity within a campus or around the surrounding communities for university related …

An Examination Of How Technological Universities Develop Cultural Capital Through Active Learning, Emma Carroll Dr, Orla Watson, Aisling M. Burke

Irish Journal of Academic Practice

Drawing on Bourdieu’s (1986) framework of embodied, objectified and institutionalised capital, this paper explores how technological universities (TUs) support the development of students’ cultural capital through active learning approaches. The formation of technological universities in Ireland marked a notable shift in the higher education landscape, with an emphasis on these institutions meeting the regional and economic needs of the location in which they operate. Currently, there is a dearth of studies pertaining to cultural capital and TUs. Consequently, there is an impetus for a conceptual study to help guide researchers towards understanding how active learning practices within Ireland’s TUs can …

Measurement Of Moisture Levels In Oils And Lubricants Using A Novel Moisture Sensor, Aaron Swartz, Ronak Ali

Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Research

It is very challenging to measure moisture levels in oils. There is not a good method to measure it. Using the novel moisture sensor invented by Dr. Zhi David Chen, we tried various methods to measure the moisture levels in oils. The initial trials are to immerse the sensor chip into the oils to see any sensor reading changes with the change of moisture levels in oils. It was observed that the sensor reading was unstable even after immersion into the oil for two weeks. The idea for immersion of the sensor chip into the oils failed due to the …

Santa Clara Radio Astronomy Project (Scrap) Iv - Data Processing, Noah Abe, Wesley Durbano

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

The Santa Clara Radio Astronomy Project (SCRAP) IV: Data Processing is the fourth year of a multi-year project that aims to provide SCU with a fully functioning radio telescope in a costefficient manner. The project aims to provide this radio telescope as a hands-on tool that can be used not just for scientific discovery, but also for SCU academic use in a wide variety of different subjects, such as electrical engineering and physics. This year, our SCRAP team aimed to bolster the long-term operation of the telescope, which is a key feature it must have for it to be considered …

Western Kentucky University Stormwater Utility Survey 2025, Warren Campbell

SEAS Faculty Publications

This survey provides data on 2147 U.S. and 82 Canadian stormwater utilities. The data is intended to provide useful data to communities that wish to enact stormwater utilities. Different fee systems are examined with the goal of avoiding legal exposure. Recently, the major source of pre-disaster mitigation funds was eliminated. States should consider state-wide stormwater utilities to make up for this loss.

Second Language Learning Among Pre-Primary School Children: A Bibliometric Analysis Of Global Research Trends, Fabiola Hassan, Reuben Sungwa

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This bibliometric study investigates global research trends on phonological awareness in second language learning (SLL) among pre-primary school children from 2014 to 2023. The study utilizes data from the Dimensions database, and is guided by three objectives: analysing publication volume trends, identifying leading contributors (countries, institutions, authors, journals), and mapping dominant research themes. It employs the VOSviewer—a software tool for constructing and visualizing bibliometric networks—to conduct co-authorship, co-citation, and keyword co-occurrence analyses. The results show a steady increase in research output, peaking in 2021, reflecting a growing scholarly interest. The United States and United Kingdom dominated research contributions, with institutions—like …

Influence Of Tropical Cyclones, Southwest Monsoon, And Tropical Cyclone-Enhanced Southwest Monsoon On Rainfall Variability Over The Western Coast Of The Philippines, Alwin Bathan, Lyndon Mark Olaguera, Faye Abigail T. Cruz, Jose Ramon T. Villarin, Joel T. Maquiling, Maria Obiminda L. Cambaliza, John A. Manalo, Jun Matsumoto

SOSE Affiliate: Manila Observatory

This study investigates the processes driving interannual variability of rainfall over the western coast of the Philippines during the peak southwest monsoon (SWM) months (July–September) from 1961 to 2022. Specifically, it describes how tropical cyclones (TC), SWM, and TC-enhanced SWM influence SWM rainfall variability. Rainfall measurements from 11 stations along the western coast of the Philippines were classified into three types: direct TC rainfall (PD), indirect TC rainfall (PI), and SWM rainfall (PSM). The yearly contributions of PD, PI, and PSM to SWM rainfall were estimated to be 15.4 %, 33.1 %, and 51.5 %, respectively. Furthermore, four rainfall variability …

Strategies For Reducing Cost Overruns On Government-Funded Infrastructure Projects In Jamaica, Owen Whitely

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cost overruns involving government-funded infrastructure projects have the potential to lead to adverse economic and social outcomes. Project managers and government administrators are concerned with cost overruns as they often lead to delays, resource misallocation, and decreased public trust. Grounded in the theory of constraints, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry was to explore strategies project managers use to reduce cost overruns for government-funded infrastructure projects in Jamaica. Participants were five project managers working on large-scale infrastructure projects with experience effectively mitigating cost overruns in Jamaica. Data were collected through in-depth semistructured interviews, government documents, and public records. Five …

Pathways To Efficient And Equitable Solutions For Large-Scale Routing Problems, Abhay Sobhanan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses large-scale optimization problems in transportation emerging from hierarchical decision-making, equitable workload allocation, and innovative routing logistics. It presents three sets of contributions, each detailed in a separate chapter, and offers computational tools and insights to advance both the theory and practice of transportation systems.

The first work introduces a deep learning-enhanced genetic algorithm framework for solving the Hierarchical Vehicle Routing Problems (HVRPs). Traditional optimization approaches to such problems require extensive evaluation of multiple lower-level routing solutions and are computationally intensive. Our innovative method integrates a genetic algorithm with a pretrained graph neural network, which is trained on …

Navigating Campus Partners - Helin Annual Conference 2025, Sarah N. Campbell, Dymond Bush, Olivia Jones

Library Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Monochromatic Empty Triangles In Two-Colored Point Sets, Adrish Paik

Master’s Dissertations

A key problem in combinatorial geometry is the identification of properties of a subset of a point set which has properties like convexity, monochromaticity, and emptiness. This thesis actual works on this sides of combinatorial geometry: efficiently finding empty monochromatic triangles in two-colored point sets on the plane. While earlier research focused on counting empty triangles in point set without any color, our work takes an optimal algorithm to explicitly detect them. By using geometric insights and visibility-based techniques. We then address a relaxed but equally compelling variant: monochromatic triangles containing at most one point of the opposite color. For …

Detection Of Fake News In Short Videos: A Multimodal Approach, Mona Kumari

Master’s Dissertations

The rise of generative models and affordable video editing tools has fueled the spread of fake and manipulated videos, undermining information reliabilityespecially on social media. Traditional detection methods, focused on single modalities like visual artifacts or text cues, often struggle with diverse, user-generated content. This dissertation presents a unified framework for fake video detection that integrates multimodal semantics, narrative structure, and propagation behavior. Visual, audio, text, and OCR features are extracted using pretrained models (CLIP, Wav2Vec2), and segment-level graphs are built to model narrative flow using Graph Attention Networks (GATv2Conv). User engagement dynamics are modeled via a bidirectional LSTM. A …

Highly Adaptable Dendrimer Gel Nanoparticles With Dual Targeting Of Upar And Ribonucleotide Reductase R2 For Better Retention And Improved Therapeutic Outcomes In Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, Hsin Yin Chuang, Da Huang, Lin Qi, Vidit Singh, Anna Chernatynskaya, Yue-Wern Huang, Hu Yang

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for approximately 15% of breast cancers and lacks estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), rendering it unresponsive to hormonal or anti-HER2 therapies. Due to its poor prognosis and limited treatment options, there is an urgent need for targeted therapies. In this study, we developed highly adaptable polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer-based gel nanoparticles with dual-targeting capabilities against urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) and ribonucleotide reductase R2 (R2). These nanoparticles were designed to target both TNBC cells and cancer-associated stromal cells by leveraging uPA-uPAR interactions and delivering the antisense oligonucleotide …

Electric Weed Control—How Does It Compare To Conventional Weed Control Methods?, Catherine Borger, Miranda J. Slaven

Journal articles

Weed management practices in agroecosystems mainly rely on herbicide, mowing, or tillage. Electric weed control offers a novel alternative, with a range of commercially available products for weed management in agricultural environments. However, electrical weed control efficacy has not been effectively compared with conventional weed management practices. Further, electrical weed control products may have a fire risk, as highlighted but not assessed in prior studies. The current study evaluated an electric weed control machine (Zasso™ XPower) for weed management in four vineyard sites (in 2022 and 2023) in comparison to mowing and herbicide applications. Weed control tactics were applied in …

Inactivation Of The Fusobacterium Nucleatum Rnf Complex Reduces Fada-Mediated Amyloid Formation And Tumor Development, Timmie A Britton, Ju Huck Lee, Chungyu Chang, Aadil H Bhat, Yi-Wei Chen, Rusul Mohammed Ali, Chenggang Wu, Asis Das, Hung Ton-That

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The Gram-negative anaerobe Fusobacterium nucleatum is an oral oncobacterium that promotes colorectal cancer (CRC) development with the amyloid-forming cell surface adhesin FadA integral to CRC tumorigenesis. We describe here molecular genetic studies uncovering a novel mode of metabolic regulation of FadA-mediated tumor formation by a highly conserved respiratory enzyme known as the Rnf complex. First, we show that genetic disruption of Rnf, via rnfC deletion, significantly reduces the level of fadA transcript, accompanied by a near-complete abolishment of the precursor form of FadA (pFadA), reduced assembly of FadA at the mature cell pole, and severe defects in the osmotic stress-induced …

Green Technologies For Isolating Bioactives From Plant-Based Food And Their Applications In Human Health And Longevity, Vibha Gajbe, Azza S. Naik, Roji Waghmare, Shuchi Midha

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

No abstract provided.

Citrullinated Eno1 Vaccine Enhances Pd-1 Blockade In Mice Implanted With Murine Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells, Ricardo A León-Letelier, Alejandro M Sevillano-Mantas, Yihui Chen, Soyoung Park, Jody Vykoukal, Johannes F Fahrmann, Edwin J Ostrin, Candace Garrett, Rongzhang Dou, Yining Cai, Fu-Chung Hsiao, Jennifer B Dennison, Eduardo Vilar, Banu K Arun, Samir Hanash, Hiroyuki Katayama

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background/Objectives:Cancer vaccine targets mostly include mutations and overexpressed proteins. However, cancer-associated post-translational modifications (PTMs) may also induce immune responses. Previously, our group established the enzyme protein arginine deiminase type-2 (PADI2), which catalyzes citrullination modification, is highly expressed in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), promoting antigenicity.

Methods: Here, we show the workflow of designing citrullinated enolase 1 (citENO1) vaccine peptides identified from breast cancer cells by mass spectrometry and demonstrate TNBC vaccine efficacy in the mouse model. Immunized mice with citENO1 peptides or the corresponding unmodified peptides, plus Poly I:C as an adjuvant, were orthotopically implanted with a TNBC murine …

Nonprofit Marketing Strategies To Target A Specific Client Population, Daniel Curtis Grant

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American females are the fastest-growing demographic in the United States contracting HIV. Nonprofit executives are concerned that, without effective marketing campaigns, African American females are not seeking the education or testing proven to reduce the chance of contracting HIV. Grounded in the integrated marketing communications theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies that nonprofit executives use to design and execute effective marketing campaigns targeted to a specific client population. The participants were four senior leaders from a nonprofit healthcare clinic located in the south-central Region of the United States who have 10 or …

Surface-Bound Fxiii Enhances Deposition And Straightness Of Fibrin Fibers, Myra Awan, Maya Papez, Ankita P. Walvekar, Sang Joon J. Lee, Kinjal Dasbiswas, Anand K. Ramasubramanian

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Cross-linked fibrous networks are central to maintaining the structural integrity and functional relevance of many biological and engineered materials. Fibrin networks are the building blocks of blood clots, mediators of tissue injury and repair, and synthetic wound sealants. Cross-linking of fibrin fibers is catalyzed by the activated form of transglutaminase enzyme FXIIIa, which becomes available in plasma but is also readily presented on the surface of activated platelets and macrophages. The contribution of surface-bound FXIIIa to fibrin structure has not been well understood. In this work, we investigated the role of surface-bound FXIIIa on the formation and structure of fibrin …