Digital Commons Network^™

Building Engaged Readers: Fostering Students Engagement And Motivation, Breanna R. Gierak

Masters Projects

Student engagement and motivation are essential components of literacy development and academic achievement in elementary classrooms. However, research indicates that many elementary students are becoming disengaged due to a variety of factors, including increased technology use, decreased motivation, limited family involvement, and fewer opportunities for meaningful interactions around literacy. This masters project is grounded in research that examines the importance of fostering engagement and motivation in elementary literacy and synthesizes current research on the instructional practices that promote positive reading experiences. The literature highlights the influence of supportive classroom environments, teacher-student relationships, collaborative learning, purposeful technology integration, and storing family-school …

Calibrated Simulations For Dynamic Focusing Of Ultrasound Through The Temporal Window, Ehsan Dadgar-Kiani, Vibha Hebbale, Malachy W. Newman, Grace Attalla, John L. Alvarez, Suraya Dunsford, Kevin A. Caulfield, Cameron H. Good, Andrew D. Krystal, Leo P. Sugrue, Joline M. Fan, Elsa Fouragnan, Charles F. Caskey, Samuel Pichardo, Kim Butts Pauly, Keith R. Murphy

School of Psychology

Focused ultrasound can be delivered through the temporal window to modulate heterogeneously located brain areas. Acoustic simulations allow for safety assessments when dynamically targeting brain structures, but the mismatch between simulation and measured focal pressure can vary across the steerable range due to mechanically inaccurate assumptions made about the skull and transducer. Here, we describe efficient methods for simulation-measurement calibration using axisymmetric projections and sparse sampling across a 3D steerable subspace encompassing deep brain targets across 157 subjects. To address the simulation-reality mismatch in skull transmission, we used the measured and predicted pressure values through eight human temporal window fragments …

Behavior Of Magnetic Reconnection In The Relativistic Regime Under The Presence Of Shear Flows And Guide Field, Sarah Peery

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Magnetic Reconnection is a ubiquitous phenomenon in plasma, where magnetic energy is released into plasma thermal and kinetic energy through the rearrangement of magnetic topology. In this study we derive fluid scaling models to predict the steady state and onset behavior of magnetic reconnection in the highly magnetized (relativistic) regime, in the presence of plasma shear flows and a (out-of-plane) guide field. We use 2.5D kinetic particle-in-cell simulations to motivate and validate these models. We find that, similar to the non-relativistic regime, shear flows parallel to the reconnecting magnetic field will delay reconnection onset and slow outflow jets. They can …

A Case For Color: Reclaiming Beauty In Reformed Worship, Kyle J. Dieleman

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"For Reformed Christians, reclaiming color in our worship spaces and in our experiences with God reflects God’s own colorful revelation in the Bible and can awaken us to awe and wonder at the glorious works of our Creator God."

Posting about how color is God's design in In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

A Case for Color: Reclaiming Beauty in Reformed Worship

Longing In The Poetry Of Al-Sharif Al-Radi: A Thematic Study, Hani Bin Hamad Al-Alouni

UB Journal for Humanities

This research presents a profound analysis of the phenomenon of longing as a central structure and a semantic axis in the Diwan of Al-Sharif al-Radi. The study relied on the thematic approach, which transcends impressionistic readings to analyze recurring “themes” as recurrent intellectual obsessions, in order to uncover the creative vision of the poet.

The scholarly material was distributed over a preliminary introduction and three chapters:

• The first chapter reviewed the motives of longing: being an emotion of love, an experience of loss, or a nostalgia.

• The second chapter came as an analysis of the manifestations of this …

Palmnet: Confidence-Calibrated Edge-Cloud Ai For Field Diagnosis Of Date Palm Diseases, Muntadher Kareem, Raed Majeed

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is a cornerstone crop for Iraq and the wider MENA region, yet reliable in-field diagnosis of leaf disorders remains slow, labour-intensive, and constrained by a limited pool of agronomists. This paper presents PalmNet, a full-stack diagnostic system that classifies nine leaf conditions through a calibrated edge-cloud framework. The system is developed and evaluated on a public dataset of 3,089 field images spanning the nine classes, using a 70/15/15 stratified split. A ShuffleNetV2 student network, distilled from a ConvNeXt-Tiny teacher, is deployed on two complementary edge endpoints: a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W field station …

Numerical Parametric Assessment Of Lap-Spliced Reinforced Concrete Beams With Steel, Gfrp, And Hybrid Reinforcement, Salah Mohsen, Mohamed H. Makhlouf, Marwa I. Badawi, Gamal Ismail

Mansoura Engineering Journal

This study presents a numerical parametric investigation into the flexural performance of reinforced concrete beams incorporating different reinforcement types and lap splice configurations, based on finite element modeling using ABAQUS and benchmarked against ACI 440 design provisions. Sixteen beam models were developed and analyzed under four-point bending to evaluate the influence of reinforcement type (steel, GFRP, and hybrid), splice length, and number of spliced bars on the global structural response. The results indicate that splice detailing plays a governing role in controlling failure mode and ductility. Beams without lap splices exhibited enhanced ductile behavior, whereas shorter splice lengths and higher …

Modeling The Clonal Rosette Composition Of A Bromeliaceae Genet: A Combinatorial Approach, Layla K. Lammers, Erin N. Bodine

Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics

Bromeliaceae, a neo-tropical plant family encompassing over 3,000 species, exhibit two modes of reproduction: sexual reproduction via flowers and seeds, and asexual reproduction via genetically identical clonal rosettes. The vegetative bodies of bromeliads form rosettes with new leaves emerging from the center and clonal rosettes emerging above a single leaf in the rosette, resulting in a genetic individual consisting of a seed-grown rosette and multiple iterations of clonal rosettes. This research develops a combinatorial model of probability that a single genetic individual will include at least n clonal rosettes when a single rosette can produce at most 1 or 2 …

Community School Hubs: A Path To Literacy For English Learners And Families, Elizabeth Ortiz-Wright

The Reading Professor

This qualitative narrative study examined the perceptions of community school hub members and Hispanic English learner parents at an elementary school in a suburban district. Eighty-four percent of the students at the study site were economically disadvantaged. The inquiry drew on sociocultural theory and Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory to explore how these hubs support families. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and field observations and analyzed using Quirkos software. The findings demonstrate the overall value of community school hubs in addressing basic needs, increasing the potential for academic success. However, a significant lack of clarity exists; many parents were unaware …

Beyond The Deficit Lens: Black Family Literacy As Social, Cultural, And Historical Practice: Implications For Literacy Teacher Education, Tasean D. Baldwin

The Reading Professor

Literacy education in the United States has long centered on standardized English and formal classroom instruction. While intended as a universal benchmark, this approach systematically overlooks and delegitimizes the rich literacy history and traditions rooted in Black families and communities. Through the application of frameworks such as New Literacy Studies, Gee's Theory of Discourse Communities, Yosso's Community  Cultural Wealth model, and Critical Race Theory, this article reframes Black family literacy through a social, cultural, and historical lens. It is forged and perpetuated by resistance to racial oppression, through the intergenerational exchange of knowledge, and oral traditions within the community. This …

Interrupting The Retention Cycle: The Impact Of Relationship-Centered One-To-One Literacy Tutoring On Affective And Cognitive Outcomes For At-Risk Third-Grade Readers, Amy Nussbaum

The Reading Professor

Third grade serves as a critical literacy benchmark in Indiana, where students who do not pass the Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination (IREAD) assessment may face retention. The consequences of retention are particularly pronounced for students living in high-poverty communities, where inequitable access to literacy opportunities often compounds existing academic challenges. This article examines a six-week, relationship-centered literacy intervention implemented at an underserved Catholic school in South Bend, Indiana. Through a partnership with Tutor-ND, trained community tutors provided one-to-one, evidence-based literacy instruction to students at risk of retention following unsuccessful performance on IREAD. Drawing upon research related to high-impact tutoring, …

It All Begins With A Dream, Eileen M. Riley

Undercurrents: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Composition

Eileen is an English major from a military family near Fort Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts. Her interest in vintage fashion led her to research representations of women in early 20th century advertisements for the Maidenform bra for her Composition II class. Impressed by the beautiful artwork she discovered in these depictions, Eileen was intrigued by the portrayals of women in roles that were traditionally held by men. Her essay explores how “these ads fed women’s desires for the gender norm dictates of that post-war time in America [and] went beyond these norms by depicting aspirational scenarios.” Eileen lives in Dorchester, …

Profanity And Perceptions, Elizabeth Lefrancois

Undercurrents: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Composition

Lizzie is an Exercise and Health Science major from Blackstone, Massachusetts. Assigned by her Composition II instructor to research an aspect of language that interested her, Lizzie chose to research swearing, which was never allowed in her home. Lizzie’s research enabled her to “open [her] eyes and see much more than a lack of vocabulary” when she heard others using profanity. She explains, “I felt as if I was programmed to think that swearing was this terrible thing that no one should do, and, because of that, I never thought about the positive side of this language.” Lizzie’s essay explores …

Solar Cell Innovations For Renewable Research Frontiers, Ayad Abbood Abdulhasan, A. M. Mustafa, Mohanad Muzahem Khalaf, Hussain Zuhailawati

AUIQ Conference Proceedings

Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology stands at the forefront of the global renewable energy transition, offering a scalable, clean, and increasingly cost-competitive pathway to electricity generation. This article presents a comprehensive review of solar cell innovations within the framework of the science-energy (sci-energy) nexus, encompassing the full spectrum of photovoltaic material platforms from mature crystalline silicon to emerging perovskite, organic, and multi-junction architectures. Advanced device engineering strategies including tandem cells, heterojunction designs, light management techniques, and charge transport optimization are critically assessed. System-level considerations spanning grid-connected photovoltaics, building-integrated PV (BIPV), off-grid deployment, and hybrid renewable integration are examined alongside technical challenges …

Green Hydrogen In The Sci-Energy Nexus: A Review Of Renewable Pathways, Technologies, And Research Frontiers, Wan Nor Roslam Wan Isahak, Lina M. Shaker

AUIQ Conference Proceedings

Green Hydrogen has emerged as a pivotal vector in the global transition toward sustainable and low-carbon energy systems. This article provides a comprehensive review of Green Hydrogen within the framework of the science-energy (sci-energy) nexus, encompassing renewable production pathways, electrolysis technologies, system integration strategies, and emerging research frontiers. Solar, wind, hydropower, and biomass resources are examined as primary drivers of Green Hydrogen production, followed by a detailed analysis of alkaline water electrolysis (AWE), proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis, and solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) technologies. The article further addresses integration challenges including hydrogen storage, power-to-hydrogen systems, grid balancing, and coupling …

Saudi Heart Association Scientific Statement On Cardiovascular–Kidney–Liver-Metabolic (Cklm) Syndrome, Waleed Alhabeeb, Abdulhalim J. Kinsara, Ahmed Mitwalli, Ali A. Alshehri, Faisal Aba-Alkhail, Ismail Raslan, Khalid Aljohani, Mohammed Arafah, Muthana Sahlawi, Saud Alsifri, Suleiman M. Kharabsheh

Journal of the Saudi Heart Association

Background: Cardiovascular, kidney, metabolic, and liver diseases are closely interconnected and frequently coexist. While the cardiovascular–kidney–metabolic (CKM) framework provides a unified model, increasing evidence supports a central role for hepatic disease, particularly metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), in this continuum. The Saudi Heart Association (SHA) therefore aimed to introduce the cardiovascular–kidney–liver–metabolic (CKLM) syndrome as an expanded framework and provide expert guidance on its pathophysiology, staging, screening, and management, with relevance to the Saudi population.

Methods: A multidisciplinary expert panel convened under the auspices of the SHA conducted a comprehensive, non-systematic literature review and developed consensus-based recommendations through iterative discussion …

Proactive Deep Q-Learning Approach For Anomaly Detection In Iot Idss, Hawraa A. Habeeb, Mehdi E. Manaa

Journal of Intelligent Informatics, Networking, and Cybersecurity

Breach rates and unparalleled vulnerabilities are a constant feature of the cyber landscape these days, and the increasing complexity of the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) nodes is to be expected. With these challenges, the conventional intrusion detection systems (IDS) are proven to be unable to deal with the extensive and varied data streams. Such systems can be fundamentally attributed to the classical nature of these systems, which are lacking in flexibility to analyze traffic in real-time and thus have no proactive capabilities of identifying patterns of unknown attacks. Considering these technical barriers, in this paper, an offensive-defensive system …

Greenovation As A Strategic Leverage For Sustainable Competitive Advantage, Amiya Kumar Mohapatra, Anil Kumar, Yiğit Kazançoğlu

Management Dynamics

Greenovation is the new currency of the global economy which focuses on ‘green and innovation’ that generates environmental benefits through reduced resource consumption, lower carbon emissions, and improved ecological performance aligned with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Greenovation focuses on long-term value creation by integrating environmental externalities, resource circularity, and multi-stakeholder governance and accountability structures. Greenovation integrated with corporate strategies can provide greater strategic competitive advantages which is also termed as green competitive advantage. By systematically integrating product and process improvements through Greenovation, firms can attain competitive advantage for long-term value creation for both internal and external stakeholders. It is imperative …

Integrated Llm-Powered Framework For Real-Time Monitoring In Machining Using Smartphone And Ai Agent Orchestration, Mustafa H. Hadi, Hussam L. Alwan, Atiya Al-Zuheri, Sang-Heon Lee, Yousef Amer

Engineering and Technology Journal

Reliable tool condition monitoring is essential for maintaining machining quality, reducing production downtime, and preventing unexpected tool failures. Conventional tool condition monitoring systems can accurately detect tool wear but typically provide limited support for automated diagnosis and maintenance decision-making. To address this limitation, this paper proposes an economical AI agent-driven maintenance framework for milling operations that integrates smartphone-based vibration sensing, one-dimensional Convolutional Neural Networks (1D-CNNs), and Large Language Model (LLM)-powered AI agents. Vibration signals acquired using a smartphone-embedded accelerometer are preprocessed and analyzed using a 1D-CNN to classify tool conditions into fresh and worn states. The classification results are then …

Occurrence And Distribution Of Polychlorinated Naphthalenes In Consumer Products And Landfill Matrices: A First Assessment In South Africa, Vhodaho Nevondo, Raissa Okwuosa, Okechukwu Jonathan Okonkwo

Engineering and Technology Journal

Polychlorinated Naphthalenes (PCNs) are persistence organic pollutants (POPs) which have been used extensively and continue to be a source of environmental and human health issues in spite of the international ban on their production. This work represents the first report of PCNs in consumer goods, landfill leachate, and sediment samples in South Africa. In this study, a total of 24 consumer goods belonging to eight categories were analyzed along with landfill leachates and sediments from the Hatherly and Goudkoppies landfills, Gauteng Province, South Africa, for some selected PCN congeners by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Quality assurance procedures and …

Investigation Of Plasma-Induced Surface Modification Of Pmma Using Nd:Yag Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, Shaimaa S. Mahdi, Asmaa J. Kadhim, Zainab Salam Khaleefah

Engineering and Technology Journal

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) plays an important role in many applications, including biomedical, industrial, and optical applications. Due to its surface properties, which are essential to its performance. The PMMA samples were exposed to a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) air plasma with a duration time of 300 s. In this investigation, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in combination with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to study the surface properties of exposed to plasma samples. The laser pulses were set to (60, 80, and 100) mJ. The resulted spectra were recorded over a wide spectral range from 200 to 1100 nm. …

Bim-Safety Integration In The Nigerian Construction Industry Using The Unified Theory Of Acceptance And Use Of Technology (Utaut) Model, Ranti T. Adebiyi, Ganiyu Amuda-Yusuf, Olubola Babalola, Nurudeen A. Bello, Aminat D. Amuda, Kaosarat A. Olowookere

Engineering and Technology Journal

Health and Safety (H&S) challenges are a significant concern in the Nigerian construction industry, largely due to the lack of a reliable national accident database and the persistence of a fatalistic safety culture. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a transformative digital framework that enables visual hazard identification and proactive risk simulation; however, its use in site safety management remains limited and inconsistent. This study investigates the behavioural, social, and structural determinants influencing the adoption of BIM-based H&S practices among construction professionals, utilising the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). A hypothetical multi-level design was used to model …

Macro-Scale Ultra-Vacuum Containment Vaults (Uvcv) And Detached Robotic Logistics Logs For The Absolute Elimination Of Interfacial Oxidative Degradation, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This specification formalizes the macroscopic architectural layout, atmospheric seal metrics, and automated robot-to-machine routing protocols required to establish an external environmental guardrail for high-throughput Elemental Transmutation Replicator (ETR) industrial nodes. Prior art (Paper 128) details the micro-scale electro-hydrodynamic lamination of edible protective polymer skins over hyper-accelerated macro-nutrient streams. However, mechanical nozzle failures or unexpected microfluidic backpressure cascades introduce an operational vulnerability: transient exposure to ambient atmospheric oxygen (O₂) and water vapor (H₂O) can cause instant material degradation and structural collapse during high-velocity extrusion passes.

This disclosure resolves this structural vulnerability by placing the entire replication assembly inside a sealed, structural …

Dynamic Harmonic Resampling And Ternary Fluid-Canvas Operating Networks For The Elimination Of Volumetric Washout In High-Throughput System Interfaces, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This specification establishes the software-hardware architecture, fluid-canvas compilers, and low-level dynamic phase-alignment algorithms required to eliminate the downstream Acoustic Wave-Saturating Washout bottleneck within the Phase 2 Macro-Texture Structure Matrix of the Elemental Transmutation Replicator (ETR) framework. Prior art (TDC #11772, Paper 126) breaks the thermal limits of Phase 1 Synthesis, yielding a continuous, hyper-accelerated volumetric stream of unorganized liquid protein and lipid emulsions. Under static acoustic conditions, this accelerated flow rate sweeps away stationary ultrasonic nodes, preventing successful macro-texture cross-linking and fiber folding.

This disclosure resolves this fluid-dynamic constraint by deploying a Distributed Ternary Fluid-Canvas Operating Network governed by Module …

System Architecture For Ai-Synchronized Phononic Suppression Matrices And Solitonic Disruption Of The Exothermic Bonding Barrier In Atomic Layer Deposition Cores, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This specification formalizes the architectural integration, hardware layouts, and predictive real-time control algorithms required to transition the Phase 1 Ultra-Vacuum Synthesis Bed of the Elemental Transmutation Replicator (ETR) framework (Prior Art: TDC #11772) from an assembly-throttled safety regime to a hyper-accelerated, continuous-flow manufacturing matrix. Prior art (CART-CE #12157) establishes that instantaneous molecular synthesis yields extreme, localized exothermic enthalpy spikes (ΔH°f) that overwhelm the passive thermal conductivity (κ) of Silicon Carbide (SiC) dampening hulls, triggering automated laser throttling and dropping system velocity to protect structural interfaces.

This disclosure resolves this structural material bottleneck by implementing an AI-Governed Active Phononic Dampening Field. …

Method And System For Adaptive Multi-Channel Employee Performance Assessment With Dynamic Data Source Weighting And Entropy-Based Filtering, Vladimir Gorobtsov

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure describes a method and system for comprehensive employee performance assessment using adaptive multi-channel data integration. The system collects data from at least three independent sources (psychometric tests, physical activity monitoring, operational workload metrics, communication activity, and behavioral logs). It employs Shannon entropy-based filtering to exclude noisy sources, Tukey's interquartile range method for outlier removal, and sliding-window normalization. Dynamic weights are calculated daily based on statistical dependence between each data source and actual employee productivity. An integrated performance index is computed with seasonal adjustment. The system is scalable, computationally efficient, and reduces processing load by up to 40%. …

Technique For Solar Energy Monetization In Autonomous Electric Vehicles, James Douglass Kirk, Ruchira Ghosh, Gregory Miller

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure relates to an energy delivery system for an autonomous electric vehicle (EVs) designed to facilitate Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) energy transactions. The system includes a V2G communication interface that allows the autonomous EVs to supply solar-generated energy to the electrical grid. Additionally, the system features a payment credential linkage mechanism connecting employer-provided payment credentials to the vehicle during travel. It also incorporates a solar energy collection unit for capturing solar energy and a transaction processing module that communicates with a payment network to update the financial balance associated with the linked credentials, enabling business travellers to monetize the collected …

The Everyday Monument: Architectural And Spatial Transformations Of Rome's Nasoni, 1874–Present, Sandra L. Santos

McNair Summer Research Program

Rome's nasoni are small public drinking fountains that have provided free water throughout the city since 1874. There are approximately 2,500–2,800 nasoni in Rome, actively supplying people with free drinking water. Although they are usually understood as ordinary and mundane hydraulic infrastructure, their persistence across different political periods makes them useful objects for examining the relationship between architecture, public service, and political meaning. This research asks how the forms, materials, and spatial contexts of late-nineteenth-century nasoni differed from fountains constructed or modified during the Fascist era.

Over my three weeks of fieldwork in Rome, I documented seventy-five public drinking fountains …

Promoting Safety And Confidence: Standardizing Intimate Partner Violence Screening And Improving Staff Screening Confidence In A Predominantly Latinx Community Health Center, Jordan Jiang

Master's Projects and Capstones

Objective: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prevalent public health problem that is screened far less consistently than comparably common conditions and disproportionately affects vulnerable groups, including low-income, Spanish-speaking, and undocumented individuals. This quality improvement project was conducted in an outpatient community health center serving a primarily Latinx, Spanish-speaking population in San Francisco, where screening across the Adult Health, Women's Health, and Teen Clinics was inconsistent, with a baseline rate of 4.1% in June 2026. Aim: The project aimed to increase overall IPV screening by 10 percentage points, from 4.1% to 14.1%, by July 31, 2026. Methods: Rogers' Diffusion of …

Urine Good Care: Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection Prevention At The Bedside, Ruby Yost

Master's Projects and Capstones

Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTIs) have been associated with increased morbidity, mortality, healthcare costs, and length of stay and is one of the most common healthcare-acquired illnesses accounting for up to 40% of hospital-acquired infections (Rubi et al., 2022). Because 65-70% of CAUTIs are preventable, reducing the incidence has become a focus area for infection control and nursing quality management among hospital organizations (Tang et al. 2025). CAUTIs are urinary tract infections that occur in patients with indwelling urinary catheters and are typically associated with bacterial colonization of the urinary tract. The aim of this QI Project is to increase …