Digital Commons Network^™

Task Prioritization In Concurrent Speaking And Visuomotor Tasks In Younger And Older Adults, Naomi Wynn

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the ability of younger and older adults to prioritize one task over another under divided attention conditions. The speech task involved the repetition of sentences that included specific vowel targets, and the non-speech task was a visuomotor pursuit rotor task which required tracking a moving target on a computer. The participants were twenty young adults between the ages of 18 and 30 and twenty older adults above the age of 60. They performed each task on its own and both tasks concurrently, prioritizing one or the other task. Audio recordings were analyzed with software to extract …

Speech Motor Learning In Divided And Undivided Attention Conditions, Garrett Barnes

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effect of dual tasking on speech motor learning. Forty young adult participants (20 male, 20 female) practiced speaking nonsense words containing non-English consonant clusters. Half of the participants practiced the words while also completing a shape identification task. After practice, the two groups produced the words in a retention task both with and without the shape identification task. They returned the next day to produce the words again with and without the shape identification task. Acoustic analysis of the consonant cluster and word duration was used as an index of motor learning. Statistical analysis revealed that …

Creativity In Large Language Models, Robert Kenneth Morain

Theses and Dissertations

As artificial intelligence systems approach human-level performance across a wide variety of domains, creative domains remain a critical yet underexplored area of research. Unlike traditional AI tasks with well-defined objectives, creative tasks rely on inherently subjective measures, making them particularly challenging for machines that lack human experiential context. This dissertation establishes the fundamental importance of creativity in AI systems and presents methods for improving and evaluating the creative capabilities of LLMs on the pathway toward AGI. This work addresses and examines key limitations in current LLM creativity through model innovations, development frameworks, and comparative studies. The dissertation develops novel architectural …

Productive Energy, As Determined By Arkansas Net Energy, Predicts Broiler Processing Weights, Carcass Market Value, And Gross Profit, Diego A. Martinez, Nawin Suesuttajit, Cole Umberson, Craig N. Coon

Poultry Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study assessed the sensitivity of Productive Energy (PE) to breast meat production, feed efficiency, and broiler economics, developed models for processing traits and economics, and examined economics dynamics. The experimental design involved 96 pens, 12 per block and eight blocks, with each pen within block receiving one of 12 dietary treatments for one week. Treatment diets, varying in amino acid concentrations, starch, and energy densities, were control-fed. The weights of processing body parts and net energy for gain (NEg) were determined with Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry, and fed heat production, fasting heat production (FHP), and net energy for maintenance (NEm) …

C2prober: A Framework To Identify And Label C2 Frameworks, Subash Adhikari

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

Fingerprinting refers to the process of identifying detailed information about a system, a technique employed by both defenders and attackers. Active fingerprinting is crucial for identifying dynamic and short-lived Command and Control (C2) infrastructure. Although passive fingerprinting techniques are widely used in security, active fingerprinting enhances visibility by directly interacting with target systems and servers. Existing detection methods, whether passive monitoring or active probing, identify servers as malicious but rarely attribute them to a specific framework. This study aimed to design and validate an active fingerprinting artifact, C2PROBER, capable of identifying and labeling open-source C2 frameworks through HTTP and TLS …

Detection Of Malicious Office Document Macros Using Large Language Models, Mahesh Kalappattil

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

Microsoft office document malwares are prevalent today even though some of the macros were developed 30 years ago. The office macros are used as droppers or downloaders for emerging malwares. Though various models have been developed to detect the office document macros, the interpretability and attribution of the model results are not gained attention. Also, even though the models provide high accuracy, the probabilistic uncertainty the models are not addressed either.

This research provides a novel method to classify malicious office document macros measuring interpretability, attribution and probabilistic uncertainty. Our approach combines the function semantics and keyword contexts to leverage …

Adaptive And Scalable Edge-Based Weed Classification Through Distilled Mixture Of Experts And Metric Learning, Abderrezak Allalen

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

Modern agricultural vision systems must identify weeds reliably while working with very little labeled data and under strict limits on compute and memory. This dissertation introduces a few-shot weed recognition framework that combines a mixture of experts student with a strong teacher through knowledge distillation and task-conditioned routing. The teacher is a partially fine-tuned EfficientNet-B7 that produces high-quality embeddings. The student consists of lightweight expert backbones drawn from MobileNetV3, ShuffleNetV2, and EfficientNet-B0. A routing gate summarizes the support set of each episode into a compact context vector and uses that context together with image features to select the most suitable …

Advancing Cybersecurity Assurance: A Novel Outcome-Based Approach For Evaluating Cybersecurity Controls, Yousuf M. Muhammad

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

The growing frequency and complexity of cyberattacks pose a serious and escalating risk to both individuals and organizations. Current cybersecurity assurance approaches often fall short in effectively measuring the adequacy of cybersecurity controls in terms of mitigating risks and providing measurable value to organizations. The current approaches are often focused on measuring compliance with predetermined requirements as defined in government regulation or an industry standard, thereby overlooking the need for a holistic approach that incorporates all aspects of security. This dissertation is an attempt to address this gap by developing a novel outcome-based cybersecurity assurance approach.

The research problem focused …

Logging And Telemetry Gap Identification Of Remote Vulnerability Exploitation, Ryan Holeman

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

This research study conducts an analysis and provides a method for the measurement of the effectiveness of various logging standards through a design science methodology with an applied experimentation evaluation. The design science method of this research introduces a purpose-created tool, the Security Exploit Telemetry Collection (SETC) framework, to provide a robust lab environment that records rich, repeatable, and highly configurable security telemetry of attacks against vulnerable services. The framework achieves the collection of security telemetry by hosting and exploiting vulnerable services in a controlled container environment. The applied experimentation component of this research utilizes data produced by SETC to …

Insect-Foundation: A Foundation Model And Large Multimodal Dataset For Vision-Language Insect Understanding, Thanh-Dat Truong, Hoang-Quan Nguyen, Xuan-Bac Nguyen, Ashley Dowling, Xin Li, Khoa Luu

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Multimodal conversational generative AI has shown impressive capabilities in various vision and language understanding through learning massive text-image data. However, current conversational models still lack knowledge about visual insects since they are often trained on the general knowledge of vision-language data. Meanwhile, understanding insects is a fundamental problem in precision agriculture, helping to promote sustainable development in agriculture. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel multimodal conversational model, Insect-LLaVA, to promote visual understanding in insect-domain knowledge. In particular, we first introduce a new large-scale Multimodal Insect Dataset with Visual Insect Instruction Data that enables the capability of learning the multimodal foundation …

Women Peacebuilders At Risk: Analysis Of Threats Received In 2024, Briana Mawby, Arenne Taylor Flanders

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

This policy brief is drawn from the 2025 annual Women Waging Peace report, which serves as a guide for policymakers and funders and draws directly from the recommendations and priorities of women peacebuilders around the world. These findings have been provided by peacebuilders across countries, conflict contexts, types of peacebuilding work, and across age, sexual orientation, education level, disability and migration status. This report leveraged the perspectives and experiences of 106 women peacebuilders from 43 countries to identify peacebuilding priorities for 2025, reflect on the challenges and achievements of 2024, and provide the following recommendations for how international partners can …

Building Peace From Afar: Women-Led Peacekeeping From The Diaspora (Case Study: Afghanistan), Sveto Muhammad Ishoq

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

This case study examines the challenges, tactics and tools of Afghan women activists in the UK in their peacebuilding efforts for Afghan women and girls post-Taliban takeover. It shows how operating from exile, these activists employ innovative strategies to amplify Afghan women’s voices, advocating internationally and providing support despite facing complex security, funding, and community unity issues.

Building Peace From Afar: Women-Led Peacebuilding From The Diaspora, Elena B, Stavrevska, Sveto Muhammad Ishoq, Shadi Rouhshahbaz, Kay Soe, Briana Mawby, Carolyne Komen

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

Diaspora communities have long played critical roles in peacebuilding efforts in their countries of origin, yet the contributions of women within these communities remain significantly underexplored and underappreciated. This report seeks to address this gap by focusing on the unique roles, challenges and contributions of women in diaspora-led peacebuilding initiatives. Women in the diaspora — often navigating complex identities and facing distinct challenges — are vital actors in promoting peace, reconciliation and social change in their homelands.

Drawing on a comprehensive review of literature, research interviews, and detailed case studies, this report provides a nuanced understanding of how diaspora women …

Building Peace From Afar: Women-Led Peacekeeping From The Diaspora (Case Study: Burma/Myanmar), Kay Soe

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

This case study highlights the role and strategies of Burmese/Myanmar’s women in the diaspora in the US in contributing to political transformation in their homeland. It shows how through advocacy, mobilization, women’s networks and different types of organizing, these women navigate structural and cultural challenges, leveraging their diasporic networks and unique perspectives to support democratic ideals and envision an inclusive, federal future for Burma/Myanmar.

Growing South Dakota (Fall 2025), College Of Agriculture, Food And Environmental Sciences

Growing South Dakota (Publication of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences)

[Page] 2 Mesonet at SDState: A benefit to every South Dakotan
[Page] 6 Governor’s Ag Ambassador — Glenn Muller
[Page] 8 Precision agriculture cooperative agreement signed with University of Debrecen
[Page] 10 Students experience international agriculture, culture in Vietnam, New Zealand
[Page] 12 Legen-dairy! SDSU students claim national judging awards
[Page] 13 SDSU Rodeo Team continues storied rodeo tradition at nationals
[Page] 14 SDSU wheat breeders helping feed the world
[Page] 20 SDSU drone holds promise for soil, leaf sampling
[Page] 22 Don't be a fish out of water
[Page] 24 A passion for academic advising
[Page] 25 One takeaway …

Teacher Mindfulness In Classrooms And The Association With Student Mindfulness And Anxiety, Abagail Graeser, Brianna Pacquette, Caroline G. Richter

Expo Student Presentations

2025 Fall Expo Online Poster Presentation

• Works in Progress

Nbc Peacock North Fall 2025 Newsletter, Peacock North Staff

NBC Peacock North Newsletter

Highlights include: Marilyn's Page--John Filippelli Receives NATAS Governors’ Award-- Dateline Marks 3,000th Show-- Sheinelle Jones Returns to Today Show-- Mike and Suzanne Noseworthy Celebrate Al Rice at 90-- A New Era Begins: Inside News 4 New York & Telemundo 47’s Brand New Newsroom-- Tributes to Silent Microphones: Lenny Basile, Bob Trumpy, Karen Sullivan, Carol Aerenson,--We Get Letters & Pictures

October 1, 2025 Blazer Weekly, University Of Alabama At Birmingham

Blazer Weekly (student newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Unlocking The 7 Intelligences: Applying Multiple Intelligences In Rsl Training, Erin Ryan

Goal 3: Interpersonal Intelligence Narrative

The purpose of this resource is to inform student leaders about the different ways information can be presented and the diverse ways individuals learn. It introduces the idea that people may think and process information differently, and that these differences do not prevent learning or engagement.

This resource is intended to support student leaders in developing more inclusive and effective presentation styles. By understanding multiple approaches to learning, student leaders can adapt how they share information to better reach a wider audience.

Additionally, this resource introduces a student development theory based on the work of Howard Gardner and his theory …

Sleep Hygiene, Paige Howland, Taylor Jones, Mckenzie Shaffer - Kay, Natasha Rossi

Goal 2: Life Skills Narrative

The purpose of this presentation was to educate students on sleep hygiene and the importance of getting proper sleep each night.

Co2 Storage On Public Lands, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Fact sheet on how CO₂ can be stored beneath public lands and the role the Bureau of Land Management plays in authorizing and overseeing projects. It includes information on pore space and the differences between dedicated CO₂ storage and storage associated with enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

Part 1: Mathematical Alchemy, Corey Brady, Luis Moreno-Armella

The Mathematics Enthusiast

In this set of four articles, we invite Calculus teachers to encounter some of the ideas that shaped and motivated the innovation of the subject, presented in story form. We find that in traditional treatments of these topics, the dramatic tension between ways of thinking, representations, and phenomena in the world can be lost in a sea of calculations, procedures, and partially-understood formal proofs. However, the fundamental ideas and insights can be identified in nascent form in students’ ways-of-thinking about Calculus, and in their struggles to connect Calculus with their prior mathematical experiences.

We are honored to contribute these Stories …

Part 2: Sailor On The Seas Of Infinity, Luis Moreno-Armella, Corey Brady

The Mathematics Enthusiast

Mathematics is the result of a long process of research with the instruments of rationality that each age makes available to its members. Euclidean geometry crystallizes an impulse of deductive rationality. But this impulse has not always been the dominant one. At other times, such as the one we are going to explain in this part, a form of inductive reasoning has been given primacy. We will see the development of ideas that today constitute the foundations of the Calculus and that indicated the future task of its deductive consolidation. Our protagonist, the bold sailor, was identified as one who …

David Tall: Some Personal Reflections, Matthew Inglis

The Mathematics Enthusiast

Matthew Inglis’s memories of David Tall.

A Tribute To The Life And Work Of David Tall, Sepideh Stewart

The Mathematics Enthusiast

David Tall was my academic grandfather, a wonderful mentor, and a brilliant mathematics educator. He earned two PhD degrees in mathematics and mathematics education. His edited book, Advanced Mathematical Thinking, and many of his publications that followed carved the path to shape many advances in mathematics education. His work on the framework of the three worlds of mathematics resonated well with mathematicians, giving them a language to express their thought processes as they reflected on their teaching and research. His latest framework, A Meaningful Long-term Framework for Mathematical Thinking, extended his ideas further and captured more on the complexity of …

Memorial - Simon Goodchild (1950-2024), Raymond Bjuland

The Mathematics Enthusiast

Raymond Bjuland’s tribute to Simon Goodchild.

Memories Of Simon Goodchild, Paul Ernest

The Mathematics Enthusiast

Paul Ernest’s recollections of Simon Goodchild.

Simon Goodchild Recollected, Kenneth Ruthven

The Mathematics Enthusiast

Kenneth Ruthven’s recollections of Simon Goodchild.

First-Year University Students’ Mathematics Capital And Identities, Paola Valero, Lisa Österling, Nhu Truong, Anna Danielsson, Bruna Nunes, Maria Berge

The Mathematics Enthusiast

Based on a survey of 150 respondents and 16 timeline interviews with first-year university mathematics students in Sweden, we explore how the material resources and conditions available to them —mathematics capital— connect to their mathematical identities. We found that mathematics capital has bearing on how early in life students start to consider doing mathematics. We also found individually different trajectories among students with low mathematics capital into university mathematics. The study expands both existing theoretical and methodological ways of researching the material bearings of identity and opens up for new ways of understanding and exploring the conditions that may facilitate …

From Problem Solving To Problem Posing: Two Classroom Examples, Suzana Antunović, Ljiljana Arambašić, Anđa Valent

The Mathematics Enthusiast

In this paper, we present two examples of classroom activities on divisibility and mathematical induction that combine problem solving and problem posing. In our activities, standard tasks of the form ’Prove that the statement holds’ were transformed into ’Think of similar examples,’ with the meaning of ’similar’ left for the students to interpret. This approach not only helps develop problem-solving skills but also teaches students how to pose problems themselves.