Digital Commons Network^™

Searching For Nooks And Crannies: Geometric And Mechanistic Perspectives On Transformer Language Model Interpretability, Anna Marbut

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable linguistic capabilities, but the internal mechanisms driving their performance and behavior remain poorly understood. This dissertation investigates the interpretability of transformer-based language models from two complementary perspectives: the geometric organization of model internals in encoder-only models, and the mechanisms underlying safety behavior in decoder-only generative models.

In Part I, we address the challenge of measuring geometric properties in high-dimensional latent spaces, proposing and evaluating alternative measures of data spread that improve upon commonly used metrics. We then apply these measures alongside quantization-based metrics to examine the relationship between latent space geometry and downstream …

Lake As Body: Ecofeminism And Animacy At The Great Salt Lake, Shae Barber

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Water shapes cultural, social, and ecological systems. Yet, dominant economic, political, and academic frameworks often treat water as a backdrop or passive resource, ignoring it as an active participant in meaning-making and relationship-building. Viewing water as “nonliving” obscures how it participates in and co-creates relationships, limiting understanding about impacts of and responses to climate change and environmental degradation.

This thesis takes a mixed-methods and participatory approach including semi-structured interview, photovoice, and participatory mapping to examine relational practices between environmental advocates and the Great Salt Lake, a desiccating saline lake in Utah, U.S. As the lake continues to decline, dominant Western …

Continental Violence And The "Oregon Question": George Frederick Ruxton And The Nineteenth-Century Pacific Northwest, Rory Orion Johnson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper builds on recent efforts to depict Indigenous polities across North America in their international relations with European and Euro-American colonists and their centralized governments. It examines George Frederick Ruxton, a private English citizen and former army lieutenant, as he developed his response to the U.S.-British Oregon dispute while living in London in early 1846. He concluded that continental warfare was imminent and took overt steps to influence British policy, which he believed could halt U.S. expansion and definitively resolve the “Oregon Question.”

Race, Sexual Danger, And The Moral Logic Of Punishment In The Registry Era, Edith Meade

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Sex offender registries represent one of the most expansive and punitive criminal justice interventions in modern American history, yet public support for these policies remainsunderi nvestigated. Scholarly debate has questioned whether punitive attitudes toward sexual offenders reflect principled moral judgments, racial threat perceptions, or both. This study addresses that question by examining how offender race, offender age, offense severity, victim age, and offender-victim relationship shape public attitudes toward sexual offenders in the contemporary registry era. Drawing on theories of racialized sexual threat, group position, and retributive impulses, the study uses a nationally representative conjoint survey experiment administered through YouGov (N …

Beyond The Indian Act: Restoring Traditional Government In Kahnawà:Ke Through Haudenosaunee Law, Brandon Montour

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The Kanien’kehá:ka of Kahnawà:ke have been subjected to the Indian Act since 1889. Its forceful imposition has eroded ancestral governance systems and severed vital threads of cultural and social life. In 2024, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke—the Indian Act band council—declared its intent to restore traditional governance and unilaterally end the Indian Act’s reach within the territory. This work is presently underway in Kahnawà:ke. Against this backdrop, and in light of generations of collective experiences of trauma brought on by the forces of settler-colonialism, this article considers what role Haudenosaunee law can play in bringing community members together to build …

Chancellor’S Award For Excellence In Teaching (Caet) Committee, State University Of New York At Cortland

Minutes

No abstract provided.

Space Mining, Richard Painter

Articles

The Trump Administration and U.S. Congress are promoting new ventures to extract valuable minerals from outer space. This Article does not dismiss the idea out of hand, but explores reasons for caution, including practical problems with space mining, its environmental impact, the likelihood that the United States could violate international law, and the risk of armed conflict. These problems are exacerbated by financial conflicts of interest in our government with a handful of billionaires, who have a financial interest in space mining work. The promotion of their agenda could involve wasteful government spending on subsidies for private ventures, with a …

Jurisdiction And Citizenship, Ilan Wurman

Articles

This Article makes a series of interventions into the existing literature on birthright citizenship. It makes three historical claims about the common law rule and its development. First, the Article centers the importance of parental status. The relevant status was not the citizenship of the parents, however, but whether they were under the protection of, and owed allegiance to, the sovereign. The common law rule therefore did not depend on descent, but the modern belief that the rule depended solely on place of birth is also mistaken. Second, it reveals through an examination of safe-conducts and English statutes from the …

In Recalling Things Past, I Strengthen My Heart: Bill Ringle Imagining Colonial Yucatán, Jennifer P. Mathews

Sociology & Anthropology Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Guacamole And Beyond: Reflections On Cooking 19th Century Avocado Recipes, Jennifer P. Mathews

Sociology & Anthropology Faculty Research

The Archives and Special Collections Library at the University of Texas at San Antonio holds more than 3000 historical Mexican cookbooks, providing a rich resource for understanding Mexican foodways. I selected 20 recipes from the collection, dating from 1808 to 1930, that include avocado leaves or fruit as an ingredient. Over several months, I adapted the handwritten recipes for a 21st-century kitchen and cooked the historic dishes using traditional ingredients and culinary tools. This paper will report the lessons learned from the cooking process, the use of avocado as an ingredient in different forms, and insights into the recipe creators …

The Journey Of High School Teachers Evolving Into Career Educators, Diane B. Ried

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Teacher attrition has been a major challenge in the United States for decades, but more so after covid. This case study explored and expanded the understanding of the different levels of environmental impact on high school teacher retention in a Florida high school as they evolved into career educators. The present study used Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) Ecological Systems Theory to examine the teacher’s retention in a county in northcentral Florida. In order to better understand the experience of career development, this study used Savickas’ Career Construction Theory (2019). This case study investigated strategies, supports, and diversity related initiatives impacting a …

Increasing Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates At A Federally Qualified Health Center: A Quality Improvement Project, Kaeli H. Mcphee

DNP Scholarly Projects

Abstract 

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is on the rise and is currently the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States (Wender, 2022). CRC screening rates are below national goals, particularly among underserved populations. At Lowell Community Health Center (LCHC), only 41.9% of eligible adults were up to date with CRC screening as of 2024.

Purpose: This quality improvement project aimed to increase CRC screening rates among average-risk adults aged 45 to 75 by implementing a multifaceted, low-burden intervention targeting both provider and patient behaviors.

Methods: Guided by the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework, the intervention included: (1) provider and …

Nurse Leader Burnout: Exploring Ways To Improve Wellness And Resilience, Kimberly Leger Kenney

DNP Scholarly Projects

BACKGROUND: Burnout among nurse leaders is a growing concern, driven by increasing workload, operational demands, and challenges with work-life balance. Addressing burnout is critical to maintaining stability within the leadership team and to delivering high-quality patient care.

LOCAL PROBLEM: Prior to the development of the QI proposal, engagement survey results showed scores 0.11 points below the benchmark in leadership responsiveness, and more than 50 nurse leader positions have turned over in the past 5 years. The specific aims of this project include: 1. 75% of nurse leaders report that they would implement an activity from the toolkit. 2. Fewer than …

Reducing Healthcare Provider Stigma Toward Opioid Use Disorder: Evaluating An Asynchronous Multimedia Training In Primary Care, Ashley M. Holmes

DNP Scholarly Projects

Background: Stigmatizing attitudes among healthcare providers toward individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) represent a critical barrier to care, treatment retention, and equitable healthcare utilization.

Local Problem: A primary care practice in Lewiston, Maine, serving a medically underserved region heavily impacted by the opioid crisis. Community Health Needs Assessment identified healthcare provider stigma and treatment access gaps as primary obstacles to OUD in this county.

Methods: Utilizing a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) quality improvement framework, an asynchronous, multimedia-driven educational curriculum was implemented among primary care clinicians (N = 7 invited; n = 4 completed). A mid-stream pivot from an in-person to asynchronous …

Pocus Implementation Via Multiprofessional Training Workshop With Mixed Didactic And Simulation Guided Intravenous Access In The Nicu For Quality Improvement, Kristen Carrierfenster, Eileen Hollis, Rehman Chowdhry

DNP Scholarly Projects

Background. Rapid evolving technology and the use of Point-of-Care (POCUS) for Intravenous (IV) access requires a foundational understanding of ultrasound imaging, gadgetry, along with a basic understanding of anatomy and physiology. Initially, there is a steep learning curve; this is reduced with standardized training and techniques that will improve overall procedural performance. Designing educational frameworks is necessary as technology innovation expands to improve the way we prevent, screen, diagnosis, and treat patients.

Problem Statement. The national standard of care and best practice in pediatrics allows two attempts per provider for IV access. Unsuccessful IV attempts lead to patient discomfort and …

Coarse-Grained Models For Microbial Metabolisms And Biological Interactions, Meng Gao

Open Access Dissertations

Microorganisms are microscopic, typically unicellular organisms widely distributed across the world’s environments.  In the global ocean, they account for the majority of primary production and decompose organic matter to drive nutrient cycles. Through their metabolic processes, including photosynthesis, dinitrogen (N₂) fixation, sulfur oxidation, and methanogenesis, microbes contribute to global biogeochemical processes, and establish their ecological niches in suitable habitats. Their biological interactions, including competition, symbiosis, and grazing, are important links among different functional groups in marine communities. Consequently, quantifying microbial metabolisms and their biological interactions is important to investigate their ecological functions in marine ecosystems and the global …

Unified Bayesian And Machine Learning-Based State Of Charge Estimation In A Pv Battery System, Showrov Rahman

Open Access Dissertations

The state of charge (SOC) of a battery indicates the remaining charge in the battery relative to its nominal maximum charge capacity. The accurate estimation of SOC is of utmost importance for efficient energy management as it indicates the level of energy stored in the battery.

Bayesian and machine learning (ML) approaches represent two distinct estimation strategies for battery state estimation. Bayesian filters, such as the Kalman filter (KF) and particle filter (PF), operate sequentially by incorporating physical models of battery dynamics. In contrast, ML-based methods are data-driven, and their performance largely depends on the quantity and quality of training …

Points Of Interest: Implementing Simulation-Based Storm Hazard Consequence Prediction, Samuel W. Adams

Open Access Dissertations

During major ocean storms (hurricanes, tropical storms, nor’easters), coastal communities often experience negative outcomes that local emergency managers (EMs) did not anticipate or sufficiently prepare for. Local EMs often have difficulty obtaining specific, local forecast data and consequence predictions they can act on to prevent losses and minimize avoidable consequences. Despite tremendous advances in forecasting science, uncertainty remains a constant in storm decision making, requiring local EMs to make critical response choices under pressure of limited time and incomplete information. Rising sea levels, more frequent and intense storm events, growing coastal populations, and increasing societal dependence on complex infrastructure are …

Optimizing Poultry Production And Enhancing Egg Nutrient Composition Through Kelp Supplementation In Laying Hens, Meghan Clifford

Open Access Dissertations

The development of sustainable feed supplements is a crucial component in addressing the current global need for resilient and environmentally responsible food systems. This dissertation has explored the potential of brown algae (Saccharina latissima) as a sustainable feed supplement for poultry with the potential to benefit production efficiency, product quality, and the global food supply. With both controlled feeding trials and a producer-based survey, the work in this dissertation investigates the nutritional, biological and practical implications of adopting kelp into poultry diets.

Chapter one provides a comprehensive overview of the current literature surrounding the use of marine sources …

Ecce Leadership Development: Supports, Barriers, And Identity Formation, Andrea Weidele

Open Access Dissertations

Early childhood care and education (ECCE) leadership development is not given the attention it deserves. Despite the proven link between high-quality ECCE programs and positive societal outcomes, leadership development within the sector is significantly under-resourced. Because program quality is inherently tied to leadership efficacy, there is an urgent need to investigate the supports and structures that foster effective ECCE leadership. This study addressed that gap by using a qualitative multiple case study to explore how six ECCE program leaders of licensed ECCE programs from a New England state describe their leadership development, including supports and barriers they encountered and how …

Protective Behavioral Strategies On Alcohol And Cannabis Co-Use Occasions, Sabrina Todaro

Open Access Dissertations

Simultaneous use of alcohol and cannabis, or co-use (i.e., the use of both substances so that effects overlap), is an increasingly significant public health concern among young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 in the U.S. (SAMHSA 2025; Terry-McElrath & Patrick, 2018). Protective behavioral strategies (PBS; i.e., tactics used to modify or limit substance use related harm; Pearson, 2013) have been robustly linked to fewer negative outcomes (e.g., lower use quantity, frequency, and consequences) for alcohol- and cannabis-only occasions (Bravo et al., 2016; Bravo et al., 2017; Bravo et al., 2019; Pearson, 2013; Pedersen et al., 2016; Pedersen …

Extending Low-Frequency Traveling-Wave Propagation In A Water-Filled Cylindrical Waveguide Using Active Impedance Control, William Slater

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation investigates extending the frequency range over which a one-dimensional, plane traveling wave can be generated in a water-filled, steel-walled waveguide under ocean temperature and hydrostatic pressure conditions. The wave guide considered is a thick-walled, steel cylinder filled with a water/glycol mixture with a transducer at each end and a hydrophone array along the length. One transducer excites a plane wave while the other cancels reflections, resulting in a traveling wave in the waveguide. The current (open-loop) measurement system is advertised to generate traveling waves for low frequencies where only 3.4% of a wavelength can be measured (kL …

Linking Phytoplankton Physiology And Ecology To Global Biogeochemical Cycles: A Modeling Approach, Margaret Bernish

Open Access Dissertations

Phytoplankton, or microscopic primary producers, contribute to carbon export through the biological transformation of carbon dioxide into organic molecules. Phytoplankton are responsible for approximately half of global net primary production, while only contributing minimally to total photosynthetic biomass. Despite their important role in the global cycling of nutrients, phytoplankton physiology and ecology are often highly simplified in global biogeochemical models. This dissertation elucidates the role of phytoplankton physiology and ecology within biogeochemical cycles, allowing for better characterization of marine microbial distribution and better representation of nutrient cycling for interpretive and predictive models. The development of formulations that link physiological responses …

Information Asymmetry: A Configurational Perspective In Buyer-Supplier Relationships, Soode Vaezinejad

Open Access Dissertations

Information asymmetry in buyer-supplier relationships has been linked to several influencing factors. However, these factors are often examined in isolation, limiting understanding of their synergistic effects. Grounded in agency theory, signaling theory, and transaction cost economics, this study adopts a configurational perspective to examine which combinations of factors lead to high information asymmetry. Using a three-part study design, we first conduct a systematic literature review to identify relevant factors, which are then refined and prioritized through a Delphi study. Building on this foundation, fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) is applied to survey data from 385 buyer managers to uncover equifinal …

Disability And Accessibility In The Voice Studio: An Open Educational Resource, Katherine Meizel, Anne Slovin

Open Educational Resources

Disability and Accessibility in the Voice Studio is the first collection of its kind, bringing together seventeen singers and voice teachers to share personal and professional experience with disability. The editors envision it as an entry point to disability for students and instructors of voice pedagogy courses, as well as for singers and teachers. It is designed to allow users to choose from a variety of topics presented in diverse styles, and in multiple learning modes—and in the process it illustrates important forms of accessibility. The overall purposes of the resource include: 1) to support a larger movement toward the …

Ultrafast Vibrational Dynamics In Important Wide-Bandgap Semiconductors, Dielectrics And Energetic Materials, Dinusha Madushanka Senarathna

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation applies time-resolved coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (tr-CARS), to measure ultrafast vibrational dynamics in technologically important solid-state and van der Waals molecular systems. The central goal is to use time-domain Raman methods to resolve mode-specific phonon and vibrational dephasing processes with high temporal precision, high spectral selectivity, and sufficient experimental flexibility to probe materials ranging from wide-bandgap semiconductors and oxide crystals to energetic molecular crystals. Across the work, I show that carefully designed tr-CARS measurements can access vibrational lifetimes from hundreds of femtoseconds to several picoseconds, enabling direct observation of decay pathways, relaxation mechanisms, and dispersion effects that shape …

Volatiles In Mantle Sources At Mid-Ocean Ridge And Intraplate Settings, Rebecca Lippitt

Open Access Dissertations

Volatiles play an integral role in upper mantle processes and the eruptive styles of volcanoes. Although we know the importance of volatiles to volcanic systems, processes like melting, crystallization, and degassing alter the volatile abundances of mantle melts, making it difficult to quantify mantle source compositions and the extent to which volatiles influence melting processes. Additionally, volatile content may be a key factor in setting the oxidation conditions of mantle source rocks and subsequently changing those conditions in a body of magma as it ascends through the crust and is erupted at the Earth’s surface. Recent work, however, has identified …

Passive Communication Across Diverse Swarm Formations And Scales Utilizing Wake Signatures For Messaging And Object Inference, Bryan Varela

Open Access Master's Theses

Passive wake signatures in fluid flows can support perception and low-rate communication in swarms. In cluttered or contested underwater environments, conventional acoustic, radio, and optical links can be power-hungry, intermittent, or undesirable when low observability is required. Wake-mediated cues offer a local, directional channel that does not require line of sight because each agent naturally sheds coherent vortices that persist downstream and can be sampled by followers with only a small number of probes.

This study evaluates whether sparse downstream probes are sufficient to infer agent attributes and decode simple messages from wakes generated by established source shapes. Computational fluid …

Impact Of Water Quality And Gear Type On Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica) Growth In Narragansett Bay, Ri, Jacqueline Rosa

Open Access Master's Theses

Oyster aquaculture is expanding in Rhode Island, yet key farming regions in the lower West Passage of Narragansett Bay (WPNB) lack the in-situ, high-temporal resolution monitoring needed to evaluate emerging stressors and support production. At the same time, the industry is undergoing rapid technological development aimed at improving production while reducing labor and overall costs. In recent years, a low-maintenance, alternative surface gear was introduced in WPNB; however, its impact on oyster performance relative to traditional cultivation methods has not been quantified. This study established a 1.5-year continuous water quality time series in WPNB and paired these observations with …

Development Of An Active Heave Compensation System On A Cost Effective Microcontroller For A Fiber Optic Tether Management System, Frances Truong

Open Access Master's Theses

Fiber optic tether systems are used for real-time data transmission to remotely operated vehicles (ROV) due to their ease of deployment and light weight, but are prone to damage from tension loads. An active heave compensation system applied to a fiber optic tether system can address these challenges by actively managing the tether payout to reduce peak loads. Tether management systems with active heave compensation have been in use for larger systems such as work class vehicles and offshore oil rigs, but few are developed for small maritime systems. This work focuses on the development and incorporation of an active …