Digital Commons Network^™

Assessment Of Countermovement Jump In Athlete Status And Monitoring, Michael David Delong

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Utilizing a CMJ to test athlete physical abilities and training program efficacy is popular, as it is simple, noninvasive, and has significant relations with sport qualities. However, assessments often use discrete outcome measures. This research explored strategy-based measures accounting for eccentric power and time and may explain athlete status more effectively. The research objectives are to analyze the use of the mean power rate of the CMJ to compare athletes' playing ability and its usefulness in monitoring during off-season training. Additionally, power-time curve analysis added location and timing of effects due to fatigue or fitness adaptation. Proper testing and monitoring …

The Impact Of Ai Service Workers On Opportunistic Complaint Behavior, Chelsi J. Baker

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Consumer complaint behavior research has traditionally focused on interactions between customers and human employees, leaving open questions about how these behaviors may change when the service agent is artificial intelligence. This research looks at whether customers are more likely to engage in opportunistic complaint behavior when interacting with AI service agents and explores what might explain that behavior. The results show that customers are more likely to behave opportunistically when interacting with AI service agents than with human employees. Perceived morality helps explain this relationship, as more human-like service agents increase the extent to which exaggerating a complaint is seen …

Back To The Office Or Out The Door: The Impact Of Return-To-Office Mandates On Employee Well-Being And Turnover Intention, Charlotte Renee Nelson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The widespread adoption of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered traditional workplace arrangements. As organizations increasingly implement RTO mandates, questions have emerged about how these changes affect employee well-being and turnover intentions. Guided by the Job Demands–Resources framework, this study examined the relationship between RTO mandates and two employee outcomes: employee well-being and turnover intention. The study also tested whether work engagement mediated these relationships and whether perceived organizational support and work stressors moderated the relationship between RTO mandates and work engagement.

A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional survey design was employed. Data were collected from 229 U.S. employees working …

A Scalable Distillation And Metric-Learning Pipeline For Adaptive Weed Classification On Edge Devices, Abderrezak Allalen, Omar El-Gayar

Research & Publications

Smart agriculture increasingly relies on automated weed detection to reduce inputs and labor. Deploying deep learning on edge devices is difficult due to limited compute and evolving weed classes. We propose a pipeline that combines partial fine-tuning of an EfficientNet-B7 teacher, embedding level distillation into lightweight students (MobileNetV3, ShuffleNetV2, EfficientNet-B0), and semi-hard triplet metric learning. The system learns 2048D embeddings and is evaluated with N-way/K-shot episodes to mimic a few-label condition. Dynamic INT8 quantization enables CPU-only inference with minimal accuracy loss. The approach adapts rapidly to novel species with few labels while meeting real-time edge constraints, supporting sustainable herbicide management …

Mini-Track Introduction: Augmented/Virtual/Mixed Reality: A Paradigm For Immersive And Collaborative Computing, Christopher Kreider, Omar El-Gayar

Research & Publications

This mini-track focused on Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality (VR/AR/MR/XR) technologies which change many of the traditional assumptions about computing while enabling unprecedented capabilities in immersion and collaboration. As these technologies have gained in adoption, understanding how their differences and unique capabilities interact with human users and collaborative process has the potential to shed light on the unique capabilities, and provide direction for future advances in these technologies.

Genai–Supported Python Programming Education: A Design Science Research Approach, Sunny Sun, Omar El-Gayar

Research & Publications

The growing use of GenAI tools in programming education raises concerns about student over-reliance and the potential adverse impact on the development of foundational skills. This research-in-progress adopts a Design Science Research (DSR) approach to propose the GRE Model, a pedagogical artifact for Python programming education. The model structures learning into seven modules aligned with Bloom’s Taxonomy and integrates AI-supported guidance, reflective practice, and evaluation. The paper contributes a design-oriented framework that supports the responsible integration of GenAI while promoting critical thinking, engagement, and core programming competencies.

Agentic Ai As A System Within Systems: A Process Model Of Organizational Embedding., Aravindh Sekar, Deb Tech

Research & Publications

The emergence of Agentic AI systems is reshaping organizational processes through continuous adaptation, autonomous coordination, and real-time operational execution. Unlike traditional artificial intelligence applications focused on discrete decision-making tasks, Agentic AI systems operate continuously and interact dynamically with organizational environments. Existing AI ethics literature has primarily emphasized issues such as fairness, bias, transparency, and accountability within static or decision-centric AI contexts. Similarly, traditional AI alignment research has largely focused on ensuring that AI systems pursue intended goals and remain controllable under specified operational conditions. However, these approaches may be insufficient for explaining how ethical risks evolve with continuously operating autonomous …

Provider Perspectives On Sociotechnical Alignment Of Intelligent Clinical Decision Support Systems, Andrew Behrens, Cherie Noteboom, Patti Brooks

Research & Publications

Intelligent Clinical Decision Support Systems (ICDSS) are increasingly integrated into healthcare settings to enhance clinical decision-making, efficiency, and patient safety. Despite advances in artificial intelligence-enabled decision support, ICDSS adoption remains inconsistent, particularly in complex clinical environments where professional autonomy, workflow alignment, and accountability are critical. This study examines healthcare providers’ perspectives on ICDSS through a grounded theory approach informed by established Information Systems theories, including the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Diffusion of Innovation (DOI), and the Human-Organization-Technology fit (HOT-fit) framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 providers within a large, integrated …

Provider Perspectives On Sociotechnical Alignment Of Intelligent Clinical Decision Support Systems., Andrew Behrens, Cherie Noteboom, Patti Brooks

Research & Publications

Intelligent Clinical Decision Support Systems (ICDSS) are increasingly integrated into healthcare settings to enhance clinical decision-making, efficiency, and patient safety. Despite advances in artificial intelligence-enabled decision support, ICDSS adoption remains inconsistent, particularly in complex clinical environments where professional autonomy, workflow alignment, and accountability are critical. This study examines healthcare providers’ perspectives on ICDSS through a grounded theory approach informed by established Information Systems theories, including the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Diffusion of Innovation (DOI), and the Human-Organization-Technology fit (HOT-fit) framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 providers within a large, integrated …

Exploring Shared Experiences As Citizen Sport Diplomats: A Collaborative Self-Ethnography, Randall J. Griffiths, Jacob K. Tingle, Angela Breidenstein

School of Business Faculty Research

Research purpose: This study was a critical analysis of the lived experiences of three American university professors who served as volunteer citizen diplomats in a bi-lateral U.S. State Department sport exchange program with North Macedonian volleyball coaches.

Research methods: With the aim of capturing the experience of serving as citizen sport diplomats and making sense of it to inform future practice, this research utilized a collaborative self-ethnography approach. This reflexive approach brings together: (a) analytic autoethnography as individuals themselves are engaged in the ethnography and study, and (b) collective ethnography as a team collects and makes sense of shared data …

Genocide And Politicide: The Psychology Of State Terrorism, Clark Mccauley

Psychology Faculty Research and Scholarship

This chapter reviews the psychologies that enable mass killing of civilians by government (politicide). A typology of perceived threats is advanced, with special attention to contamination threat and essentializing the enemy. Three groups of actors are distinguished: perpetrators, leaders, and the mass public that leaders and actors claim to represent. Predictors of genocide are considered, highlighting the importance of means and opportunity.

Two-Pyramids Model Of Radicalization To Terrorism, Clark Mccauley, Sophia Moskalenko

Psychology Faculty Research and Scholarship

This chapter reviews the origins and developments of the Two-Pyramids Model of radicalization, which distinguishes between the radicalization of opinions and the radicalization of actions. The Radicalization of Action Pyramid categorizes individuals from passive (inert) to those committing terrorist acts, while the Radicalization of Opinion Pyramid progresses from neutrality to a personal moral obligation to act violently for a cause. Empirical studies, including the Activism and Radicalism Intention Scales (ARIS), support the model’s distinction between activism and radicalism as separate dimensions. The chapter highlights the importance of group dynamics, diagnostic and prognostic frames, and the role of public opinion in …

Brainstem Encoding Of Speech In The Extended High Frequencies And Its Behavioral Correlates, Sajana Aryal, Fan-Yin Cheng, Srikanta K. Mishra, Spencer Smith

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Whether the auditory nervous system can extract and use speech information carried in the extended high-frequency (EHF; >8 kHz) range is an unresolved question in auditory neuroscience. Although EHF sensitivity is increasingly recognized as important for speech perception, it is unclear whether EHF hearing is directly or indirectly involved in real-world listening. This study examined brainstem neural encoding of EHF speech components and the relationship between EHF hearing sensitivity and both neural and perceptual speech processing. Envelope following responses (EFRs) to broadband and high-pass filtered (>4 kHz and >8 kHz) speech stimuli, along with digits-in-noise speech recognition thresholds under …

Aac In Schools: How District Infrastructure And At Specialists Shape Implementation Practices, Grace T. Clark, Lesley Rytel, Endever* Corbin, Madison Skibicki, Gabriella Pesantes

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose

Research on barriers to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) implementation in schools has focused primarily on individual clinician factors rather than district infrastructure. This clinical focus article examined how the presence or absence of a dedicated assistive technology (AT) specialist was associated with differences in AAC implementation and the use of AAC as a Tier 1 support.

Method

Eighteen educators, including AT specialists, SLPs, and a special educator, from 17 U.S. school districts participated in a 75-minute structured Zoom focus group. They rated 11 statements about district AAC practices using a 4-point Likert scale and discussed their responses in …

Building Interprofessional Competency-Based Education Into Graduate Program Clinical Experiences: A Childhood Apraxia Of Speech And Sensory Processing Disorder Case Study Analysis, Kate Nealon, Zahava L. Friedman

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Supporting interprofessional competency-based education requires embedding educational opportunities within coursework and clinical experiences. This education prioritizes student engagement and learning from, with and about other professionals to support collaboration and communication amongst clinicians (CAIE, 2020). While the provision of interprofessional clinical opportunities is recommended, it is challenging to implement effectively in professional and pre-professional settings. Academic settings have the unique ability to provide interprofessional collaborative clinical experiences for students. This pilot study focuses on Speech Language Pathology (SLP) and Occupational Therapy (OT) clinical assessment experiences, specifically in the context of pediatric motor speech and sensory processing disorders. These disorders often …

In Search Of The Soul Of Creativity: Authorship, Agency, And Meaning In Refractive Collaboration With Generative Ai, Fatima Nazir

Theses and Dissertations

When images can be generated in seconds, what remains uniquely human in the act of creation? In Search of the Soul of Creativity: Authorship, Agency, and Meaning in Refractive Collaboration with Generative AI investigates where authorship, agency, and meaning reside within design practices mediated by generative AI. Rather than using AI to produce predictable results, this research deliberately relinquishes control to observe how generative systems interpret language through their own learned associations. Through a practice-led investigation across four generative models within the Higgsfield platform, user prompts were progressively shortened from full sentences to single words, revealing recurring patterns and cultural …

Stabilized Multi-Objective Optimization For Camouflage Attack In Remote Sensing, Omid Rajabi Rostami, Kazi Aminul Islam, Liuwan Zhu, Rui Ning, Chungsheng Xin, Hongyi Wu, Jiang Li

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We investigate the vulnerability of multi-task maritime surveillance systems in which object detection and semantic segmentation operate concurrently. We propose Stabilized Multi-Objective Optimization (SMO), a framework that jointly targets Mask R-CNN and U-Net with a single universal adversarial texture in a digital white-box setting, with additional cross-model transfer evaluation. SMO combines a logarithmic-inversion loss transformation, feature inconsistency, and a systematic comparison of six optimization strategies for seven heterogeneous objectives. The loss transformation controls loss-dependent gradient scaling, while a U-Net generator supplies a spatially coherent texture and a hull-aligned application function accommodates target geometry without explicit Expectation over Transformation (EoT) sampling. …

Calvin Theological Seminary Academic Catalog 2026-2027, Calvin Theological Seminary

Seminary Academic Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Graphene Oxide On The Upconversion Photoluminescence Behavior Of Er/Yb Co-Doped Pvdf-Go Composite Nanofibers, Saptasree Bose, Jack Ryan Summers, Bhupendra B. Srivastava, Karen Lozano, Victoria Padilla-Gainza

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Upconversion photoluminescence (UCPL) materials, particularly rare-earth (RE) doped nanoparticles, have garnered significant attention due to their ability to convert near-infrared (NIR) excitation into visible emission, offering benefits such as high photostability, long lifetimes, low autofluorescence, and deep tissue penetration. Among various platforms, polymer-based one-dimensional (1D) nanofibers with in-situ lanthanide doping remain relatively unexplored, despite their superior mechanical flexibility, processability, and potential for improved luminescence performance. In this study, we report the fabrication and UCPL quenching behavior of Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) nanofibers incorporated with graphene oxide (GO), synthesized for the first time using the scalable Forcespinning® technique. PVDF, a …

Assigning Library E-Books As Textbooks: An Examination Of Collection Development Policies And User Education Practices At Minority-Serving Institutions, Michelle Ehrenpreis

Publications and Research

Assigning library e-books as course textbooks can help to alleviate the financial burden of college for many students. Accordingly, libraries include e-books in their collection development policies and strive to educate users on the availability of these texts via the use of library research guides. Previous studies discuss library collection strategies and intentions to use e-books as textbooks, but do not discuss continuous or permanent plans. This study examined library policies at Hispanic Service Institutions (HSI’s) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) to evaluate how these libraries approach and document their acquisitions of library e-books. Research guides at the …

Special Tribute To Dean R. Tyndall, Ma, Otrl, Faota

OJOT Sponsor Profiles

No abstract provided.

Undermining Discretion: The Selective Attacks On Progressive Prosecutors, Angela J. Davis

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Prosecutors are the most powerful officials in the criminal legal system. They decide whether to bring criminal charges and what those criminal charges should be. These decisions are totally within their discretion. The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently protected the power and discretion of prosecutors in making these decisions, and legal challenges to the exercise of prosecutorial discretion have been largely unsuccessful.

In recent years, a growing number of individuals have successfully run for chief prosecutor on platforms of reducing the prison and jail populations, consistent with public safety. They pledged to use their power and discretion to implement policies …

Misinformation And The Law, Gustavo Ribeiro

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This Article bridges critical gaps between the growing body of social science research on misinformation and the persistent challenges jurors face in evaluating potentially unreliable evidence in courtrooms. Misinformation—a pervasive issue undermining decision-making in democratic societies—mirrors the difficulties jurors encounter in distinguishing truth from falsehood amid compelling but unreliable evidence. The consequences of such challenges are dire: wrongful convictions, racial disparities, and the erosion of public trust in the legal system.

This Article is the first piece of legal scholarship to provide a comprehensive discussion of current research on the psychological mechanisms underlying susceptibility to misinformation—such as the illusory truth …

The New Neccesity, Ezra Rosser

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

According to the U.S. Supreme Court, cities are free to criminalize homelessness. The 2024 case City of Grants Pass v. Johnson is the most important homelessness case in decades and was a significant blow to advocates for the unhoused. The conservative majority rejected the idea that city ordinances criminalizing sleeping in public amounted to cruel and unusual punishment insofar as they penalized status. There is no sidestepping the loss. But within the faint glow of the embers of the oral argument and of the decision itself, there is the possibility that a new understanding of necessity, supported by the same …

Application Of Organic Geochemistry To The Characterization Of Hydrochar And Biochar: Insights Into Composition And Optimization, Michael A. Kruge, Teresa A. Centeno, Alvaro Amado-Fierro, José Manuel González-Lafuente, Rubén Forján, José Luis Gallego

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Hydrothermal carbonization has garnered significant attention in recent studies due to potential applications of the hydrochar produced, which overlap with those of torrefied biochar, including soil improvement, carbon sequestration, and energy production. However, unlike the relatively uniform properties of biochar, hydrochar characteristics can vary greatly depending on the feedstock used. Advanced characterization techniques are essential to better understand these materials and enhance their practical applications. Research on hydrochar requires a multi-faceted approach, including molecular-level studies, to optimize production processes and identify specific applications.

In this regard, analytical methods commonly used in organic geochemistry could play a crucial role in deepening …

Workforce Development Academy For Youth, Hassan Hashemian

Mineta Transportation Institute

To address the need for a diverse workforce in the 21st century and create an awareness of the career paths and opportunities that exist in the transportation industry, the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology at the California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) has created the Workforce Development Academy for Youth (WDAY). The goal of this program is to build a pipeline of diverse, well-qualified young professionals for the transportation industry. The program works with high school students and teachers to offer academic courses, basic skills, workforce readiness training, internships, extracurricular activities, and career placements to prepare students and …

Examining The Current And Potential Impacts Of Erosion, Flooding, And Permafrost Thaw On Small Businesses In The Lower Kuskokwim Basin, Alaska, Dela Yao Agbagba

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Climate change has intensified hazards such as flooding, erosion, and permafrost thaw in Arctic Communities, threatening small business buildings, disrupting operations, and reducing income. Small businesses are important to these communities because they provide essential goods and services and support local economic activity. Understanding their vulnerability and adaptation needs is therefore important for sustaining communities in the Lower Kuskokwim Basin, Alaska.

This study used GIS spatial analysis and content analysis as its two main methods, supported by a limited number of semi-structured interviews. A spatial database of 78 businesses across seven Alaska Native Communities was developed, and flood susceptibility was …

The Influence Of Scale In Modeling Social Vulnerability And Disaster Assistance, Sina Razzaghi Asl, Oronde Drakes, Eric Tate, Samuel Brody, Wesley Highfield, Kayode Atoba

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Understanding how social vulnerability relates to disaster impacts is critical for addressing social equity, yet the role of spatial scale in this relationship is often overlooked. Most studies use aggregated data, risking ecological fallacy-misinterpreting individual outcomes from group-level data. This study examines how spatial scale influences the relationship between social vulnerability and federal disaster assistance after Hurricane Harvey. Using spatial econometric models at both household and census tract levels, we assessed the strength of key vulnerability indicators in explaining disaster assistance. Results show that disability, housing tenure, household size, and income predict assistance at the household level, but their influence …

Beyond Discrete Indicators: Modeling Intersectional Flood Vulnerability, Sina Razzaghi Asl, Eric Tate, Christopher T. Emrich, Md Asif Rahman, Kaeleb Royster

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Social vulnerability to flooding is shaped by intersectional social marginalization, yet most quantitative assessments employ indicators of single populations. This study applies spatial machine learning to examine how the intersectional social vulnerability indicators of poverty-race, poverty-housing tenure, and race-housing tenure compare with traditional discrete indicators of single populations in predicting flood exposure in California. Using geographically weighted random forests and partial dependence plots, we model spatial heterogeneity and non-linear relationships between social vulnerability and exposure. We quantified flood exposure using a population-adjusted measure derived from building footprints and modeled 500-year fluvial and pluvial flood hazard. The results reveal distinct explanatory …

Africa As A Strategic Arena: How Great Power Rivalry Is Reshaping Security Governance, Chick Edmond

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

The rising importance of Africa as a key battleground in great power rivalry is an important shift in global politics that will have significant impacts on security governance in Africa. This article will explore the ways in which increased competition between the U.S., China and Russia will affect African states and regional organizations, and how economic dependency, regional security architecture and diplomatic strategy will influence the overall security environment in Africa. Using recent case studies and academic research, along with current policy analysis, it will analyze whether or not African countries and regional organizations will be able to mitigate potential …