Digital Commons Network^™

Determination Of Trace Amounts Of Pb2+ And Cu2+ Ions In The Ohio River With Anodic Stripping Voltammetry And Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy To Test Water Contamination From Factories., Eliana Purcell

The Cardinal Edge

In this project, water near factories in Rubbertown, Louisville, KY were tested to see if a significant enough amount of waste is deposited in the Ohio River that the concentrations of Pb2+ and Cu2+ exceed the maximum contaminant levels the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have set in place. Waste from industrial factories may contain contaminants that have negative effects on aquatic ecosystems and even human health, so two potentially harmful metal ions were tested. The concentration of Cu2+ in water samples was detected through flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS), and the concentration …

Leaf Droppage Delayed In Sugar Maple Trees On An Urban To Rural Gradient, Isabella S. Bastien, Isabella Bastien

The Cardinal Edge

This study investigates the timing of leaf abscission in Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) trees along an urban-to-rural gradient in Louisville, Kentucky, to determine how proximity to urban environments influences leaf drop. We hypothesized that urban trees would retain their leaves longer than suburban or rural trees due to environmental stressors and tested this using weekly leaf collection and canopy cover measurements from three locations—urban, suburban, and rural. Results showed that urban trees exhibited delayed leaf drop and slower canopy opening compared to suburban and rural trees. These findings suggest that urban stressors significantly alter tree phenology, which may signal underlying …

The Silent Epidemic: How E-Cigarettes And Policy Gaps Endanger Public Health, Fizzah Syed, Saumya Sikhwal, Priya Viswakumar

The Cardinal Edge

No abstract provided.

The Developing Role Of Ai In Modern Engineering Research, Rianna Pais

The Cardinal Edge

No abstract provided.

Targeting Glioblastoma: Mechanistic And Clinical Perspectives From Uofl Research, Swetha Senthil Nathan

The Cardinal Edge

Glioblastoma (GBM) remains one of the most aggressive and treatment-resistant brain tumors, with median survival lingering at 12–15 months despite surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. This article explores cutting-edge research and clinical efforts at the University of Louisville aimed at improving GBM treatment outcomes. Dr. Joseph Chen investigates the tumor microenvironment, revealing how physical properties such as stiffness and porosity drive GBM cell proliferation, migration, and resistance to apoptosis. His lab’s findings suggest that porosity, rather than stiffness alone, may be a more accurate predictor of tumor invasion and progression-free survival. Additionally, his research highlights the role of hyaluronic acid and …

The Cyber Deterrence Dilemma: Parallels Between Cyber And Intelligence Special Operations, Jorge R. Kravetz Msc

Joint Force Quarterly

The dilemma of cyber deterrence, alongside its potential failures, has gained increasing academic attention, though its parallels with traditional special operations remain less examined. Cyber and special operations—often covert activities involving espionage, sabotage, and subversion, generally linked to strategic or military intelligence—typically evade standard deterrence mechanisms. Drawing on a theoretical framework of deterrence, academic literature, historical cases, and qualitative analyses, this article argues that deterrence tends to fail when deterrers manage to destabilize an adversary without causing significant strategic impacts on the target’s power, economic, or social dynamics, as well as on international relations. Retaliation, shaped by implicit agreements or …

Fabrication At The Tactical Edge, Aubry J. Eaton, Dustin T. Thomas

Joint Force Quarterly

This research reviews empirical evidence of rapid battlefield fabrication efforts and proposes potential new uses of this technology. It recommends that the joint force must undergo a paradigm shift to view battlefield manufacturing as an inherent component of force projection with potentially decisive impact across the spectrum of conflict. It proposes a doctrinal concept for Fabrication At The Tactical Edge (FATE), defining the technologies that enable this concept. FATE offsets adversary capabilities by imposing asymmetric costs while making U.S. forces difficult to predict. Unlike prior studies on military innovation, this research focuses on manufacturing itself as a weapon system. If …

Influence By Design: A Network Strategy For Integrated Deterrence, Robert S. Hinck

Joint Force Quarterly

Confronting the complexity of the future security environment requires new concepts to coordinate efforts for maximum effect. The 2022 National Defense Strategy appropriately identifies integrated deterrence as the centerpiece of these efforts but criticisms regarding its strategic application remain. While integrated deterrence is associated with one set of national security strategies, its points of emphasis will endure. This essay addresses current limitations of the concept by offering a tangible and theoretically grounded approach connecting the ends, ways, and means by which the Joint Force and interagency, in combination with US allies and partners, can enact integrated deterrence across the spectrum …

Joint Force Quarterly, Issue 119, 4th Quarter 2025, National Defense University Press

Joint Force Quarterly

Joint Force Quarterly (JFQ) 119 examines the evolving challenges and innovations shaping the U.S. joint force and professional military education. Key themes include tactical-level manufacturing (“Fabrication at the Tactical Edge”), the ongoing debate over curriculum focus in professional military education (“Breadth or Depth in PME”), and the transformative role of artificial intelligence in decisionmaking for military operations. Together, these articles and others highlight the dynamic intersection of technology, strategy, and education in modern defense. This issue highlights how digital transformation, industrial capability, and intellectual agility are vital to maintaining strategic advantage across domains of competition and conflict.

Evaluating Assistive Technology-Mediated Hepatitis B Education On At-Risk Behaviours Among In-School Adolescents With Hearing Impairment In Oyo State, Nigeria, Suen. E. Olalekanmi, J. O. Odelola, O. O. Isaiah

The 2026 Assistive Technology for Persons with Intellectual and Physical Disabilities Conference

Background: Adolescents with hearing impairment experience heightened vulnerability to health risks, largely due to limited access to accurate, accessible, and comprehensible health information. Communication barriers often restrict their understanding of disease prevention, resulting in inadequate health literacy and increased engagement in behaviours that may expose them to preventable infections such as HB. Despite the availability of effective vaccines and preventive measures, HB remains a significant public health concern in Nigeria. This situation underscores the urgent need for researchers, educators, and healthcare professionals to develop and prioritise inclusive health education strategies that address the unique communication needs of adolescents with hearing …

Full Issue - Mend V.4, Project Mend

Mend

No abstract provided.

What Survives When Hope Dies, Anya Blakeley

Mend

No abstract provided.

An Experience Of Grief, Michael Daigre

Mend

No abstract provided.

Section Intro: To Grieve, Tony Eiland, Molly Mcconnell, Ava Savino, Shiloh Winters

Mend

No abstract provided.

History Does Not Repeat Itself, But It Often Rhymes: Comparing The Messaging Of Adolf Hitler And Donald Trump, Elaina Varney

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

With the growing divide between the left and right, many on the left have raised alarms that Donald Trump is a fascist. My research paper compares Donald Trump’s messaging to Adolf Hitler’s messaging to find any similarities between the two in order to determine if Trumpism is a precursor to fascism. This study begins by looking at previous scholars’ research into whether or not Trumpism is a precursor to fascism and then I proceed to draw on primary sources such as speeches, Mein Kampf, and Trump’s TruthSocial posts, particularly those related to immigration and minorities, attacks on and suppression …

When Women Weep: The Gendered Politics Of Lamenting And Death In Early Irish Literature, Catherine Van Wey

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Early Irish literature of the ninth through thirteenth centuries encodes gendered assumptions about women’s emotion through narratives in which grief, sorrow, and shame repeatedly lead to female death. Focusing on the thirteenth-century hagiographic text Tales of the Elders of Ireland, feminist standpoint theory is applied to reveal how male-dominated authorship shapes literary portrayals of women as emotionally excessive, dependent on men, and narratively expendable once those men are lost. Situated within the cultural tradition of female lamentation or caoineadh, these portrayals show how women’s ritual roles as mourners were mythologized and reworked into literary mechanisms that reinforce patriarchal authority. Within …

Craft, Love, And Loathing: Anthropology Of Hair Art In The Twenty-First Century, Eugene Kauffman

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

When hair is cut off and used in art, many people find it disgusting, but when attached, hair is seen as beautiful. Over time, these ideas have changed; in the Victorian Era, people had more tolerance and appreciation for different types of hair art, such as sculptures and accessories. In order to analyze these changes and why hair is seen as repulsive, we must look at theories of disgust and abjection. In addition, we must look at the history of bodily art and the connections it had to death and mourning. The understanding and recognition of abject mediums such as …

Handwritten Histories: Exploring Identity Through Personal Correspondence, Savana Hauck

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

This project examines handwritten correspondence as a site of gendered and sexual self-discovery, intimacy, and historical continuity. Developed for HIST 2708W - Gender, Women, and Sexuality in Modern Europe - , it centers on a collection of contemporary “snail mail” letters written in response to reflective prompts about participants’ lived experiences of gender and sexuality. These personal narratives are presented in a physical, scrapbook-style format that emphasizes slowness, care, and trust as methodological and ethical practices.

By placing these contemporary letters in dialogue with historical examples of correspondence—including an 1882 letter sent to German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing, the intimate …

How Laws And Systems Contributed To The Masking And Expansion Of The Verdingkinder System And Targeted Jenisch People, Max Gmuender

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Did Switzerland have slavery? What did it look like? These were the questions that led me investigate the history of “Verdingkinder,” or contract children, who were placed as indentured laborers primarily on Swiss farms from 1850 to 1950. As I dug deeper, I discovered a more targeted campaign within this broader system: the “Kinder der Landstrasse” (Children of the Road) program, which ran from 1926 to 1973 and specifically removed children of the Jenisch ethnic community from their families.

This discovery raised a critical question that has driven my research: How did legal frameworks and institutional systems in Switzerland facilitate …

System And Method For Achieving Deterministic Recovery And Reconciliation In Distributed Transactional Data Pipelines, Soumendra Kumar Mishra

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure describes system and method for achieving deterministic recovery and reconciliation in distributed transactional data pipelines. The system introduces a deterministic control architecture that captures anomaly signals through an event recording mechanism and executes reproducible corrective actions via coordinated agentic components. A recovery engine reconstructs missing or partially processed data by analyzing distributed execution artifacts, restoring consistent intermediate states, and materializing affected partitions. A reconciliation engine deterministically merges late or unprocessed records with previously processed datasets using strict deduplication rules, cut aligned aggregate re-computation, and version preservation policies. The system ensures that any recovery or reconciliation action, regardless of …

Gci Invention #258-B: Whirlybird V3.0 – High-Wind Autorotating Fire Suppression & Nutrient Delivery System, Michael Victor Caldwell Mr.

Defensive Publications Series

GCI Invention #258-B describes WHIRLYBIRD v3.0, a passive boundary-layer controlled (PBLC) autorotating samara-wing system for ballistic delivery of fire suppressants and precision nutrients in 70+ mph crosswind conditions.

Aerodynamics: Asymmetric high-camber samara wing with spanwise-zoned vortex-grate perforations (root/mid/tip density gradient), geometric twist, and tip micro-tabs for stable LEV, TSR ≈2.2, and 550-650 RPM autorotation. Chordwise stiffness gradient enables passive gust-load shedding (FoS ≥2.5 ultimate, ≥1.5 fatigue). Central high-inertia core provides gyroscopic stability.

Dispersal: RPM-altitude dual-trigger centrifugal release (550-650 RPM + 15m AGL) with internal vanes for 15m uniform ground coverage. Hybrid pellets (outer Purple-K for flame knockdown + inner MAP/polyphosphate …

The Vortex–Acoustic Bio‑Refinery (Vabr): A Modular Low‑Pressure System For Converting Sewage Sludge Into Astm‑Compliant Biodiesel, Michael Victor Caldwell Mr.

Defensive Publications Series

The Vortex–Acoustic Bio‑Refinery (VABR) is a conceptual modular system designed to convert municipal sewage sludge into ASTM‑compliant biodiesel using a combination of vortex‑based solids concentration, dual‑frequency acoustic processing, and catalyst‑assisted chemical transformation. The invention proposes a low‑pressure, low‑temperature alternative to high‑pressure hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), with the goal of reducing mechanical complexity, improving operator safety, and enabling decentralized deployment at wastewater treatment facilities. The VABR concept integrates fluid‑dynamic separation, acoustic disruption of organic structures, and catalyst‑supported biodiesel‑compatible reactions. This disclosure outlines the scientific principles, conceptual system architecture, and potential advantages of the VABR compared to existing waste‑to‑fuel technologies. It is released …

Dynamic Memory Management System For Distributed Data Processing Environments, Katyayani Kiranmayee Kolluru, Shivam Mohan, Ravi Shanker Kumar Sinha, Hardik Jain

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for dynamically managing memory allocation in a distributed data processing platform. The system includes a plurality of workers executing tasks with varying memory requirements, each equipped with a memory sentinel monitoring runtime parameters. A risk engine computes a risk score from telemetry data received from the memory sentinels to anticipate out-of-memory conditions and adjust resource profiles accordingly. When a high risk is detected, the system requests larger resource profiles from a resource manager, provisions new larger workers, and reallocates memory-intensive tasks while preserving their state through a state transfer plane. This …

Method And System For Optimizing Memory Utilization In Computing Environments, Satyam Raj, Shivam Mohan, Ravi Shanker Kumar Sinha, Pradeep Choube

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for optimizing memory utilization using a reinforcement-learning-driven, bidding-based page-replacement algorithm in computing environments. The method involves monitoring memory usage patterns from multiple processes through a memory management unit, calculating an affinity score for each page in a buffer cache based on access characteristics (including recency, frequency, tenure, working-set membership), page-fetch/IO cost, job-submission timestamps, and physical block identifiers, and determining page-eviction decisions via a bidding process in which pages with lower affinity scores are selected for eviction. The system comprises a buffer cache for rapid data access, an affinity calculator for assigning …

Synchronized Synthetic Global-Shutter And Rolling-Shutter Camera Images, Zheng Huai, Sazzadur Rahman, Chao Guo

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure describes a method and wearable system for generating synchronized synthetic images from heterogeneous cameras, including a global-shutter (GS) camera and a rolling-shutter (RS) camera, within a simulated environment. GS cameras capture all pixels simultaneously, while RS cameras capture images sequentially row by row, causing different rows to correspond to different capture times and making synchronization difficult. The disclosed method addresses this challenge by reconstructing a rolling-shutter image using multiple global-shutter images generated at calculated timestamps. Using rolling-shutter parameters such as exposure time and readout time, the system computes row-level timestamps relative to a center-of-exposure (COE) reference time associated …

Simulating Custom Environment For Augmented Reality Or Extended Reality System, Vikram Auradkar

Defensive Publications Series

This document describes a framework for simulating immersive computing environments, specifically targeting augmented reality (AR) and extended reality (XR) development. The system utilizes a dual-input architecture comprising a 3D scene file, such as a Graphics Library Transmission Format (glTF) file, and a corresponding scene information file containing semantic metadata. This metadata defines environmental elements including planar surfaces like floors and ceilings, vertical walls, and spatial anchors for immovable or movable objects. By incorporating configurable visibility conditions—including field-of-view (FOV) triggers, distance thresholds, and ambient lighting levels—the framework simulates the dynamic discovery of scene information by virtual hardware sensors that would be …

Terra² System, Vesa Olavi Lius

Defensive Publications Series

This document constitutes a formal Defensive Publication establishing worldwide Prior Art for the ALLFROMAIR® TERRA² Tri-Generation Platform. The system produces three simultaneous utilities from a single hardware unit and a single electrical connection: (1) purified drinking water meeting EU Directive 2020/2184 and WHO Guidelines 2022, (2) district heating at 4th-generation temperatures (35–60°C), and (3) district cooling and server cooling via evaporative vapor-pressure-gradient mechanisms. The core process is a Two-Module Three-Stage Rocket architecture (Charge–Harvest–Cool) operating an internal process temperature of ~50°C, independent of ambient conditions. Spray water applied to heat exchangers HX2, HX3 and HX_B undergoes natural vapour-phase desalination, enabling seawater, …

Method And System For Adaptive Routing Of Machine Learning Inference Requests Based On Health Scores, Hao Qin

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure relates to a method and system for adaptive routing of machine learning inference requests using composite health scores. The method involves maintaining a dynamic health score for each inference engine instance based on multiple performance factors including latency, success rate, timeout occurrence, error rate, saturation, and staleness. Instances are organized in a priority queue according to their health scores, with the instance having the lowest score selected for processing requests. A fairness adjustment is applied to prevent overloading any single instance. Instances that meet specific quarantine criteria are isolated and subject to periodic health assessments, while successfully …

Mathematical Play: The Game Of Cycles, Benjamin Gaines

Journal of Math Circles

In the Play chapter of Mathematics for Human Flourishing by  Francis Su, he introduces the Game of Cycles. This is a game played on a graph consisting of vertices, non-overlapping edges connecting those vertices, and the two-dimensional cells enclosed by those edges.  This lesson plan will help organizers use this game to lead an activity touching on the basics of combinatorial game theory, strategizing and think ahead, and how anyone can start exploring uncharted mathematical ground! This activity is suitable for middle school, high school, and undergraduate students, with no specific math background necessary.

Free Vibration Of Sandwich Panels With Re-Entrant Auxetic Core: A Numerical And Analytical Investigations, Nabaa Alaa Aldeen, Sadeq Hussein Bakhy, Mohsin N. Hamzah

Engineering and Technology Journal

In this paper, an analytical study is performed along with a numerical method to analyze free-vibration behavior of sandwich panels composed of aluminum face sheets and a polymer-based re-entrant auxetic core. An analytical model based on Classical Plate Theory (CPT) was formulated using equivalent orthotropic elastic properties derived from the re-entrant unit-cell geometry. Theoretical predictions were validated using three-dimensional finite element simulations in ANSYS 2025 R1, with SOLID186 elements under supported boundary conditions. The results indicate that if the core thickness is increased from 4 mm to 12 mm, there is roughly a 90% increase in the fundamental natural frequency. …