Digital Commons Network^™

Enhancing Graph Representation Learning Through Self-Supervision: An Augmentation Perspective, Jianyuan Bo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Graph representation learning has become fundamental in various domains, from social networks to molecular structures, enabling extraction of meaningful patterns from graph-structured data. While deep learning approaches, particularly graph neural networks, have shown promising results, their effectiveness is often limited by the scarcity of labeled data. This challenge is particularly acute in graph domains where annotation requires specialized expertise and is prohibitively expensive. Self-supervised learning has emerged as a promising direction to address this limitation by creating auxiliary tasks from unlabeled data, with augmentation strategies playing a crucial role in their success.

Current graph self-supervised learning methods face several critical …

Autism Care Continuum: Exploring Specialty Services Across The Lifespan Within U.S. Academic Medical Centers, Alexis Khuu

Theses and Dissertations

Autistic people—particularly adults—experience high rates of co-occurring mental health problems and often report unmet service needs. Although several barriers to accessing quality care are well-documented, the broader landscape of autism-specific services across the lifespan remains under-researched. This two-part thesis aimed to address this gap by examining the availability of autism-specific services, as well as patterns in service utilization and associated costs, among autistic children and adults. The first study employed a systematic web-scraping protocol and data extraction procedure to identify and characterize autism specialty services offered by U.S. academic medical centers. This work revealed a general lack of autism specialty …

Exploring The Dynamics Of Human-Robot Interaction: Robot Error, Sentiment Analysis, And Politeness, Krishna Kodur, Manizheh Zand, Matthew Tognotti, Sean Banerjee, Natasha Kholgade Banerjee, Maria Kyrarini

Electrical and Computer Engineering

As robots become more integrated into daily life, understanding natural human communication is essential for developing user-friendly human-robot interaction (HRI) systems. While prior research focuses on robot-initiated behaviors, little is known about how user-initiated politeness, sentiment, and communication patterns influence perceptions of robots in real-world tasks. This study addresses this gap by analyzing interactions between 35 participants and Alex, a mobile manipulator that understands unscripted speech, during a collaborative cooking task. The study explores four hypotheses: 1) The average number of words per command used for instructing the robot is affected by how the person perceives the robot’s interaction., (2) …

Introduction To Circuit Design And Architecture For Emerging Nanoscale Technologies, Adam Jalyo, Sarah Frost

Idaho Conference on Undergraduate Research

This research addresses the critical challenge of sustaining advancements in computational performance and energy efficiency in the wake of Moore’s law reaching its physical limits.

Since computer systems face increasing demands driven by data-intensive applications such as artificial intelligence workloads, alternative nanoscale design paradigms are essential. This study discusses Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA) as a potential post-CMOS technology, offering a different approach to circuit design based on quantum dot arrangements and electron interactions governed by Coulomb repulsion. The investigation begins with a foundational understanding of QCA’s building blocks, including cell architecture, binary encoding mechanisms, and majority gate logic. To illustrate …

Exploring Satellite-Derived Indices For Assessing Crop Field Performance In The Hangman Creek Watershed, Jade Mokry, Sarah Olson, Mariana Dobre, Erin Brooks, Tyler Opp, Laura Laumatia

Idaho Conference on Undergraduate Research

For generations, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe has maintained a deep relationship with Hangman Creek, relying on its natural resources for both physical and spiritual sustenance. As non-Native settlers began occupying Tribal lands, so did widespread Western agricultural development, resulting in losses of culturally significant plants and animals, such as camas and red-band trout. Land-use changes have replaced native Palouse vegetation with crops such as wheat, chickpeas, and lentils, leading to topsoil loss, increased erosion, and declining water quality. Consequently, the Tribe aims to restore areas of cultural importance suitable for removal from agricultural production. Crop yield is highly correlated with …

Sidesense: Robust Physiological Motion Detection Via Mmwave Joint Communication And Sensing Systems With Multiple Beams, Mohammed Shadman Ishrak, Jannatun Noor Sameera, Alvin Yang, Yanjun Pan, Yao Zheng, Olga Boric-Lubecke, Victor M. Lubecke

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

A 28-GHz multibeam joint communication and sensing system called SideSense is presented, in which a line-of-sight (LoS) beam is used to maintain reliable communication, while other sensing beams are used to enhance physiological motion detection. SideSense decodes the motion frequency and shape from the channel state information (CSI) by first tuning the gain ratio and phase differences between the LoS communication beam and non-LoS (NLoS) beam to maximize the sensing signal-to-noise ratio (SSNR) without significantly degrading the communication channel capacity (CCC). Analytical results based on a bistatic model are presented to show a gain ratio of around 1 and a …

Enhancing Power System Operation: Hydrogen, Dc Transmission Systems, And Robust Optimization, Anping Zhou

Electrical Engineering Theses and Dissertations

The increasing penetration of renewable energy sources (RESs) has brought considerable economic and environmental benefits to power system operations. However, it also introduces several critical challenges that should be addressed to ensure system reliability and efficiency. First, from the generation side, energy curtailment remains a persistent issue due to the random and intermittent nature of RESs. Second, from the transmission side, delivering power from remote RESs (e.g., offshore wind farms) requires substantial infrastructure investment and careful planning. Third, from the operation side, the inherent uncertainty and variability of RES generation create operational difficulties that necessitate advanced mathematical optimization tools for …

Teaching Pathographies Of Mental Illness, Nathan Carlin, Angela Gomez, Margarita Ortiz

Faculty and Staff Publications

This paper describes the content and evolution of a fourth-year course for medical students on teaching pathographies of mental illness. (It is a follow-up to Nathan Carlin's Pathographies of Mental Illness that appeared as an Element in the Bioethics and Neuroethics series published by Cambridge University Press.) The course originally centered on classic (and some contemporary) memoirs; however, responding to student evaluations, newer material now ensures more diversity, with material written by women and people of color, and describes the difference that can make.

Heartlines Issue 6 (Fall 2025), Student Literary Magazine Creative Writing And Art

HeartLines

No abstract provided.

Full Issue - Spring 2025 - Volume 112, Issue 1, Colby College

Colby Magazine

04. Planting Seeds to Grow a Stronger Community
16. Retiring Provost McFadden: Colby’s ‘Special Sauce’ is What Makes it Great
24. Pulver Scholars Explore Scientific Possibility
32. A Warm Wilderness Welcome for New Colby Students
42. Dare Northward is Shaping Colby as a Global Leader
48. Bringing Them All Back Home

Mapping Co-Benefits And Cultural Values For Nature-Based Solutions: Palcencia, Belize (Report No. 9), J. M.S. Delevaux, R. K. Zarger, C. Dario, K. Hinds, N. Batista, J. M. Olaya-Restrepo, W. A. Webb, D. Mcdougall, M. Vernon, N. Gibson, R. Mckenna, M. A. Trotz

Strong Coasts Collection

On October 24th and 25th, 2024, 58 persons gathered in Placencia Village for a collaborative workshop aimed at sharing knowledge on priority areas for Nature-Based Solutions and co-benefits pertaining to mangroves and coral reefs, including mapping and valuing fisheries supply chains, and socio-cultural values pertaining to Nature-Based Solutions.

This two-part workshop was part of the Strong Coasts Coastlines and People (CoPE) project which studies the co-benefits of Nature-Based Solutions in terms of contributions to Habitat Extent & Health, Carbon Sequestration, Education, Erosion, Fisheries, Flood Reduction, Heritage, Recreation, Tourism, and Water Quality. The workshop was organized by project partners from the …

Estimating How Much Children Work: Questionnaires Versus Time Use Diaries, Juana Lamote De Grignon Pérez, Wenbin Wang, Tanay Kasyap, Matthew Henglong Luo, Jialu Tang

Discussion Papers

Current estimates of child labour often rely on questions such as, “How many hours did you work last week?” While biases in adult self-reports are well-documented in high-income countries, there is limited evidence on the accuracy of children’s responses in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Using data from nine LMICs, including China and India, this paper shows that time diaries report more than twice as many work hours as standard questionnaires. This discrepancy suggests that current estimates may significantly understate child labour. Moreover, certain forms of work—such as collecting water or firewood—appear to contribute to these measurement gaps.

Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 37. What About Wallace On Vaccination . . . ?, Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Best known for his natural history studies on evolution and biogeography, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823−1913) had a significant second career as a social critic. One of his most controversial stances was his position on (smallpox) vaccination. Anti-vaxxers of the present frequently bring up his name as a resource for their side, but the situation is not so easily reducible to that.

Volume 109, Number 1 (2025)

Judicature

No abstract provided.

Nsu Kpcom Link - Summer 2025 - Volume 4.2, Nova Southeastern University

NSU Florida Link Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Freeman Honors – The Annual Newsletter: Fall 2024-Spring 2025, Texas Southern University, Thomas F. Freeman Honors College

Honor's College Newsletters

Annual 2024-2025 Newsletter

Syntax-Enhanced Boundary-Aware Named Entity Recognition Model, Chuanming Yu, Bin Deng, Zhengang Zhang

Journal of Scientific Information Research

[Purpose/significance] This study addresses the issue of inadequate perception of entity boundaries in traditional character-level modeling-based named entity recognition models by integrating syntax information containing entity boundary features into the task using a multi-head graph attention network with dense connections. This integration enhances the effectiveness of named entity recognition.

[Method/process] This study proposes a Syntax-enhanced Boundary-aware Named Entity Recognition Model (SynBNER), which utilizes BERT for text semantic representation and integrates syntax information using a dense-connected graph attention network. This integration incorporates implicit entity boundary information from syntax information into word representations, thereby enhancing the model's entity boundary perception capability.

[Result/conclusion] …

Educational Technologist Perceived Self-Efficacy During Emergency Remote Teaching Due To A Nonpharmaceutical Intervention, Katherine R. Rapp

Dissertations

This paper discusses the challenges and opportunities of educational technologists (ETs) during emergency remote teaching (ERT) in a non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI), due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was guided by Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory and self-efficacy framework. The study highlights the positive and negative reflections of self-efficacy for ETs during the transitions to different strategies in classroom teaching. It acknowledges the positive and negative effects on ETs from self-regulation, observational learning, and reciprocal determinism. The study design used was qualitative, aiming to identify the perceived self-efficacy of ETs during ERT in an NPI. Eight ETs from rural school …

Investigating Contaminant Removal From Water Using Polymeric Alginate/Tio2 And Pla/Tio2 Nanocomposites, Tahzjayee Gaymon, Sarah Nealy, Aliaksandr Kraskouski, Eugenia Kharlampieva

Expo Student Presentations

2025 Summer Expo Poster Presentation

• Physical & Applied Sciences

Undergraduate And Graduate Course Descriptions, Summer 2025, Wright State University

Course Descriptions

Wright State University undergraduate and graduate course descriptions from Summer 2025

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter, July 2025, University Of Northern Iowa. Iowa Waste Reduction Center.

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter

Contents:

--- 150th Anniversary & Homecoming Kickoff
--- SQG re-notification requirement
--- Introducing the Food, Beverage & Organics Team
--- A Historic First in Corrosion Control
--- Important Reminders
--- Industry News

Social Emotional Learning: Strategies, Curriculum, And Perspectives In Elementary Schools, Erin Martindale

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Social emotional learning is essential for all students to be equipped with the life skills to help them be successful. There are many students that struggle with emotional regulation, social skills, and relationship building. Research has shown the importance of having SEL time in student’s daily schedule to meet the needs of these skills. This inquiry-based research study aims to determine if social emotional learning can help students gain skills on all the areas of SEL to improve their daily life. The study utilized a qualitative approach, using a survey from educators in Iowa. The findings revealed social emotional learning …

Summer 2025, Echoes Staff

Rose Echoes

No abstract provided.

Groundwater In Nebraska, Troy E. Gilmore, Jesse T. Korus Dr.

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

What is groundwater? Groundwater is water that fills and moves between spaces in underground rocks, gravel, sand, or other materials.

Utilizing Pharmacogenomics To Improve Students' Self-Perception On The Interprofessional Competencies Of Roles And Responsibilities, And Teams And Teamwork, Amanda Brown, Moom R. Roosan, Robert Goldsteen, Scott D. Ochs, Reza Taheri

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Introduction

Pharmacogenomics (PGx) is an emerging discipline with the potential to revolutionize personalized medicine, but its successful implementation requires interprofessional collaboration. To address this need, a virtual interprofessional education (IPE) session was designed for student pharmacists and medical students to engage in a case-based learning experience.

Objective

The primary objective was to develop and implement an IPE activity focused on a patient case requiring PGx-guided dual antiplatelet therapy and to assess students' perceptions of two Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Version 3 Core Competencies. A secondary objective was to identify key lessons from the session.

Methods

Pharmacist and physician faculty collaboratively …

Sustainability Of Recycling Perovskite Solar Cells: Economic And Environmental Perspectives, Juan P. Herrera Meza

Dissertations and Theses

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are among the most promising next-generation photovoltaic technologies due to their high efficiency and low production costs. Nonetheless, concerns about the toxicity of lead-based absorbers and the lack of standardized recycling protocols present substantial environmental and economic challenges. This thesis provides a comparative life-cycle environmental and economic evaluation of eight state-of-the-art PSC recycling processes. This assessment adheres to ISO 14040/44 standards and combines environmental and cost analyses. Solvent reuse is explicitly modeled for recovery of each functional layer (back contact, absorber, hole-transport, and TCO/glass) to reflect industrial practices. The results show that while most methods reduce …

Synthesis Of Inorganic Actinide Compounds With Neptunium, Plutonium, And Americium, Travis Kelly Deason

Theses and Dissertations

There is a rush of countries around the world making the switch to greener energy sources. Nuclear energy power plants are an integral part of the shift from fossil fuels, but there are concerns over the best way to handle nuclear waste. Most of the nuclear waste is currently disposed of by incorporating the waste into a glass form through vitrification, but research into alternative waste forms, such as promising crystalline materials, could provide a more robust method of containment. Research on actinide materials is lacking due to the dangers of working with radioactive material and there are few labs …

Examining Coping, Individual Resilience, And Family Resilience As Strengths-Based Factors For Lgbtq+ Individuals, Elizabeth Moriarty Combs

Theses and Dissertations

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, and More (LGBTQ+) individuals are part of a diverse and complex community that has unique considerations regarding physical and mental health. While there is ongoing health equity research regarding LGBTQ+ individuals, the focus is often on health disparities. A strengths-based approach to helping LGBTQ+ individuals through research and other avenues may be beneficial. This multi-manuscript dissertation includes two studies that explored the current literature on strengths-based factors such as coping, individual resilience, and family resilience within LGBTQ+ individuals, as well as determined the feasibility of utilizing these factors to assist LGBTQ+ individuals with health and …

Non-Traditional Socio-Environmental And Geospatial Determinants Of Alzheimer's Disease-Related Dementia Mortality, Skanda Moorthy, Jean-Eudes Dazard, Zhuo Chen, Shruthika Palanivel, Salil Deo, Sanjay Rajagopalan

Student Scholarship

Importance: Recent data point to the impact of non-traditional environmental and social factors on Alzheimer's Disease-Related Dementias (ADRD) mortality. Our study aimed to determine the extent to which antecedent air pollution, social vulnerability, and geospatial features in the environment associate with ADRD mortality. Design: This was a cross-sectional study conducted across the mainland United States. County level Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5) were linked to ADRD mortality. Patient Rule Induction Method (PRIM) was used for delineating and characterizing “bumps” or spikes in mortality. SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) values were used to rank variables by predictivity and …

2025 July - Tennessee Monthly Climate Report, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Monthly Reports

Hi All,

The main story for July was the high heat and humidity that spread across the state for the second half of the month. Most counties in the state saw at least 1 day with a heat advisory or extreme heat warning issued by the National Weather Service due to a combination of high temperatures and humidity that sent heat index values above advisory/warning criteria. The western half of the state saw higher heat index values and were impacted by the heat wave for a longer period of time than the eastern half of the state. Some part of …