Digital Commons Network^™

Portrait Shadow Removal Via Self-Exemplar Illumination Equalization, Qian Huang, Cheng Xu, Guiqing Li, Ziheng Wu, Shengxin Liu, Shengfeng He

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We introduce the Self-Exemplar Illumination Equalization Network, designed specifically for effective portrait shadow removal. The core idea of our method is that partially shadowed portraits can find ideal exemplars within their non-shadowed facial regions. Rather than directly fusing two distinct classes of facial features, our approach utilizes non-shadowed regions as an illumination indicator to equalize the shadowed regions, generating deshadowed results without boundary-merging artifacts. Our network comprises cascaded Self-Exemplar Illumination Equalization Blocks (SExmBlock), each containing two modules: a self-exemplar feature matching module and a feature-level illumination rectification module. The former identifies and applies internal illumination exemplars to shadowed areas, producing …

Trace: Securing Smart Contract Repository Against Access Control Vulnerability, Chong Chen, Lingfeng Bao, David Lo, Yanlin Wang, Zhenyu Shan, Ting Chen, Guangqiang Yin, Jianxing Yu, Zibin Zheng, Jiachi Chen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Smart contract vulnerabilities have led to billions of dollars in economic losses. Among these, improper Access Control, which allows unauthorized users to execute restricted functions, is particularly prevalent and has caused significant financial damage. Smart contract repositories contain source code, documentation, configuration files, and other artifacts necessary for building and deploying smart contracts. GitHub hosts numerous open-source repositories of this kind, which serve as intermediate artifacts in development and require compilation and packaging to produce deployable contracts. Third-party developers often reference, reuse, or fork code from these repositories during custom development. However, if the referenced code contains vulnerabilities, it can …

Super Lidar Intensity For Robotic Perception, Wei Gao, Jie Zhang, Mingle Zhao, Zhiyuan Zhang, Shu Kong, Maani Ghaffari, Dezhen Song, Chengzhong Xu, Hui Kong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Conventionally, human intuition defines vision as a modality of passive optical sensing, relying on ambient light to perceive the environment. However, active optical sensing, which involves emitting and receiving signals, offers unique advantages by capturing both radiometric and geometric properties of the environment, independent of external illumination conditions. This work focuses on advancing active optical sensing using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), which captures intensity data, enabling the estimation of surface reflectance that remains invariant under varying illumination. Such properties are crucial for robotic perception tasks, including detection, recognition, segmentation, and Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). A key challenge with …

Managing Reproducibility Debt In Scientific Software: A Practical Framework, Zara Hassan, Christoph Treude, Graham Williams, Michael Norrish, Alex Potanin

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Scientific software includes end-user applications, modelling tools, research software for publications, and production systems for real users. It plays a key role across various scientific disciplines by enabling large-scale computation, simulation, and data analysis. Unlike commercial software, scientific software is often developed in dynamic research environments with limited engineering practices, documentation, or testing. This makes it fragile and difficult to reproduce results, even when code and data are available, conditions in which Reproducibility Debt (RpD) accumulates. This paper presents the Reproducibility Debt Management Framework (RpD-MF), which is grounded in evidence from a systematic literature review, practitioner interviews, and a global …

Llmqua: Practical Backdoor Injection On Large Language Model Quantization, Xiangxiang Chen, Peixin Zhang, Jun Sun, Jin Song Dong, Wenhai Wang, Jingyi Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Quantization is widely used to enable local deployment of large language models (LLMs) on resource-constrained devices. Recent work (e.g., QuRA) shows quantization can be exploited via rounding manipulation to implant backdoors. However, such an attack has been evaluated only on small models and does not directly apply to LLMs due to three key constraints: (1) limited poisoning data from small, task-agnostic calibration sets; (2) layer-wise quantization restricting adversarial access to global representations; and (3) lack of gradient access in quantization pipelines, blocking gradient-based attacks.We propose LLMQuA, a practical quantization-phase backdoor attack tailored to the LLM setting. LLMQuA (i) injects backdoors …

Approaches And Barriers To Cultivating Critical Thinking Skills For Effective Clinical Decision Making, Yousif Abdulraheem

Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

Clinical decision-making is a complex process that involves gathering information, analyzing data, making informed judgments, and taking appropriate actions for a patient's care. Critical thinking (CT) is a vital component of this process, as it enables healthcare professionals to evaluate information, identify biases and assumptions, and make informed decisions (1). It requires careful consideration of multiple factors, including the patient's age, gender, medical history, physical exams, and diagnostic test results, health status, lifestyle, and even preferences, to develop a diagnosis and treatment plan. In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of promoting CT skills in …

The Incidence, Clinico-Epidemiological Features, And Prognosis Of Neuroblastoma. A Retrospective Study In Al-Imamain Al-Kadhumain Medical City, Hadeer Jasim, Sawsan Sati Abass

Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

Background: The neuroblastoma (NB) burden varies from region to region. Its presentation is variable, and its prognosis is hugely variable.Aims: The present study aims to evaluate the incidence, clinico-epidemiological characteristics, and prognosis of children with NB receiving treatment and follow-up in Al-Imamain Al-Kadhumain Medical City, a pediatric cancer center.Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective study involving NB patients managed at Al-Imamain Al-Kadhumain Medical City. The present study was conducted for 14 months between April 2021 and May 2022. The data about age, sex, primary site, metastases, signs and symptoms, staging, and follow-up were extracted from patient files in the …

Detection Of Bacterial Contamination In Single-Donor Platelets Using Bact/Alert And Vitek Systems, Samah Maidi, Haithem A-Rubaie, Yaqoob Saleh

Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

Background: Bacterial contamination of platelet units is a serious concern in transfusion medicine, potentially leading to septic transfusion reactions, which can be life-threatening. Due to their storage at room temperature (20–24°C) with constant agitation, platelet concentrates are particularly susceptible to bacterial growth, especially from skin flora introduced during blood collection or processing. Common contaminants include Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative staphylococci, and Gram-negative organisms such as Escherichia coli. Contamination may result from inadequate aseptic techniques, faulty collection equipment, or undetected donor bacteremia. Early detection and the application of pathogen reduction strategies are critical for ensuring transfusion safety. Aim: This study aimed to …

Predictive Frax Score Value Of Dexa System Among Patients Screened For Osteoporosis In Al -Hilla City, Najlaa Mohammed

Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

BACKGROUND:Osteoporosis is a disease which makes bones weak and fragile. This greatly increases the risk of breaking a bone Even after a minor fall or bump. The disease has no obvious symptoms, so many people don’t know they have osteoporosis until they suffer a fracture. Fractures can be life-altering, causing pain, disability and loss ofindependence. That’s why it’s important to prevent osteoporosis.OBJECTIVE:The aim of this study was to evaluate the fracture risk predictions based on calculations prepared with bone mineral density (BMD) values using the Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX®). PATIENTS AND METHOD:This descriptive, cross-sectional study included male and female …

Viral Hepatitis As A Public Health Concern: A Review About The Situation In Iraq From 2021-2023, Muthanna Abdulkareem, Yousif Abdulraheem, Sahar Dhaher, Hussein Naji

Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

Background: Viral hepatitis, caused by distinct viruses (Hepatitis AVirus , Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus , Hepatitis D Virus, Hepatitis E Virus, and Hepatitis G Virus), is a major public health concern. In Iraq, many cases remain asymptomatic or underdiagnosed, making the true burden difficult to assess. Highlighting its impact is essential for informed public health action.Objectives: To determine the pattern of viral hepatitis from all Iraqi governorates-through the period of study-from the first May 2021 to the 30th of April 2023.Methods:A retrospective study of people infected with viral hepatitis through the records available in the main Community Disease …

Pathological Evaluation Of Surgical Specimens After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Of Breast Cancer In A Sample Of Iraqi Females, Farah Matti, Ayser Latif

Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

Background: Breast cancer remains the most common malignancy among women worldwide. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is increasingly used to downstage tumors and improve surgical outcomes. The Residual Cancer Burden (RCB) system has emerged as a reliable tool to quantify treatment response across various breast cancer subtypes. Objective: This study aimed to assess clinicopathological features of breast cancer patients before and after NACT, evaluate treatment response using RCB class categories, and examine the associations between RCB classes and clinicopathological parameters. It also explored the impact of NACT on axillary lymph node retrieval and surgical trends in Iraq. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study …

Rates Of Aki And Evaluation Of Estimated Gfr In Covid-19 Patients, Jafar Alsalamy, Arif Malik

Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

BackgroundCovid 19 was reported in Wuhan China in 2019, it is the third coronavirus infecting people from animals, increasing evidence indicate that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is companied by renal dysfunction.ObjectiveTo evaluate the rate of acute kidney injury in patient diagnosed with covid 19 through serial evaluation of EGFR using the most accurate equation and serial changes in urine output and serum creatinine in order to elicit the diagnosis of acute kidney injury.Patients and MethodsOne hundred patients were randomly selected from isolation centers and consultation clinic and were followed in a period of 2 weeks and evaluated for the occurrence …

Effect Of Ursodeoxycholic Acid In Lowering Neonatal Indirect Hyperbilirubinemia, Raza Husain

Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

Background: Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is one of the most frequent conditions in newborns. Around 60% of term and nearly 80% of preterm infants show visible jaundice during the first postnatal week.Aim: This study evaluated whether adding ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) to conventional phototherapy accelerates the decline of indirect bilirubin in neonates.Methods: A randomized controlled trial was carried out in the Neonatal Care Unit at Sulaimani Pediatric Teaching Hospital between February 2014 and February 2015. Two hundred neonates with indirect hyperbilirubinemia were enrolled and randomly assigned to: - Group A (n=100): Oral UDCA 10 mg/kg/day in two divided doses plus phototherapy. - Group …

Perceptions Of Resident Doctors In Baghdad Medical City Toward The Role Of Artificial Intelligence In Medicine, Ghufran Jimaa, Ghaith Mohammed

Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being integrated into healthcare, with the potential to improve diagnosis, treatment, and patient outcomes.Aim of the study: The aim of this study is to investigate the perception of resident doctors in Medical City hospitals, Baghdad, Iraq, regarding the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in individual patient care and its impact on ethics and medical education.Participants and method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 200 resident doctors in Medical City hospitals, Baghdad, Iraq, in 2024. The survey included questions about the respondents' demographics, knowledge about AI in medicine, attitudes toward AI, perception of AI in …

Development Of Holographic Recording Techniques For Optical Couplers Designed For Solar Collection From Windows, Dipanjan Chakraborty

Doctoral

The main purpose of this research is to explore volume holographic optical couplers and investigate their potential for use as solar collectors in glass building structures. Such couplers are from the family of volume holographic optical elements (VHOEs) and their primary function is to re-direct the incident light so that it is trapped by Total Internal Reflection (TIR). They have been proposed for different waveguiding applications such as solar collection, head-up displays, and optical communication. Since the Sun is a non-stationary light source, often at a high altitude, couplers designed for non-normal incidence are crucial.

Ultimately, this work will address …

Pseudo-Bartter Syndrome In A Pancreatic Insufficient Infant With Cftr, Dnah9, Lyst And G6pd Variants, Diana Marangu‐Boore, Doris Kinuthia, Janet Maranga, Peter Ngwatu, Joel Lessan, Rita Boateng

Pathology, East Africa

No abstract provided.

World Health Organization Classification Of Tumours Of The Breast 6th Edition 2026, Cecily Quinn, Puay Tan, Kimberly Allison, Edi Brogi, Sunil Lakhani, Stuart Schnitt, Stephen Fox, Shabnam Jaffer, Aysegul Sahin, Shahin Sayed

Pathology, East Africa

The 6th edition of the WHO Classification of Breast Tumours introduces both major and minor changes based on recent advances in our understanding of breast biology, developments in diagnostic modalities, identification of specific molecular targets and new treatment regimens necessitating modifications to pathology reporting and tumour biomarker categorisation. This review summarises the main changes that strive towards a classification of global relevance. In invasive carcinoma, predictive factors increasingly inform modern breast cancer treatment. The 6th edition provides an update on HER2 reporting categories following the DESTINY-Breast 04 and 06 trials. Terminologies used to classify invasive tumours are clarified, with the …

Exploring Stakeholder Awareness, Institutional Support, And Implementation Of Co-Design In Higher Education: Challenges And Ai Readiness, Shrikant W. Ramteke

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Purpose In this paper, the gap between the discussion of co-design in the theory and its application in the higher education practice is identified. By contrasting the level of knowledge that the stakeholders possess regarding co-design, the support that the institutions provide them, and their implementation of co-design in practice, it leaves a few general trends, attitudes, and problems.

Design/methodology/approach We were given a structured survey, which measured composite indices of awareness, institutional support, implementation and AI readiness. The study used non-probability purposive sampling technique since it will address the stakeholders who have firsthand experience in the participatory design …

Library 5.0 And Predictive Intelligence: A Conceptual Literature Review, Shrikant Ramteke

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Purpose In this paper, the author will explore the nature of predictive intelligence developed in modern libraries as part of the overall progression of libraries toward Library 5.0. It aims to give a conceptual clarity of what predictive services are, how they have been influenced by technology and ethics, and how they fit into existing traditions of librarianship.

Design/methodology/approach This paper utilizes a qualitative, conceptual literature review method as a scholarly inquiry. Approximately 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and institutional reports published after 2018 and before 2025 were purposively sampled from leading databases in library and information science and information …

Academic Libraries As A Platform For Indigenous And Agricultural Knowledge Sharing In Rural Communities: A Conceptual And Review-Based Approach, Jenifer Yesmin Laskar, Pradip Kumar Singha

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Agriculture and traditional knowledge are the roots of rural economy, particularly in biologically sensitive areas with diverse cultures. Preserving traditional knowledge in terms of local farming practices is an activity that is generally associated with cultural practices in these areas. The potentiality of academic libraries in terms of bridging roles for dissemination, curation, and sharing of Indigenous knowledge as well as Agriculture knowledge in the respective areas remains largely overlooked. It is an attempt to explore, indicate, and address through the theoretical approaches based upon an understanding of library science concepts, Indigenous studies, community development, sustainability studies, the roles of …

The Territorial Continuum: American Samoa, Criminal Adjudication, And Territorial Administration, Emmanuel Hiram Arnaud

Faculty Scholarship

The standard account of American territorial expansion posits that territorial acquisition moved along a spectrum of sovereignty. The federal government acquired new inhabited land through conquest or purchase, and the Constitution tasked Congress with organizing and administering the new territories until they were ready to become states. That pattern came to an abrupt halt in 1898 when, at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War, the Supreme Court, fearing the extension of citizenship to, and the permanent integration of, non-White populations into the American polity, suddenly pronounced that the Constitution authorized the holding of colonies. The Court thus sentenced new territories, …

Borderplex Business Barometer, Volume 10, Number 4, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Corporate Venture Capital On Financing And Innovation In Academic Entrepreneurial Firms, Tingting Luo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Amid the ongoing advancement of China’s innovation-driven development strategy, the effective transformation of scientific research into industrial impact has become a central concern. Corporate Venture Capital (CVC), as a strategic investment mechanism connecting industrial capital with entrepreneurial ventures, is increasingly viewed as a critical external resource for high-technology start-ups. At the same time, Academic Entrepreneurship Firms (AEFs), characterized by their deep research capabilities and original technological trajectories, play a distinctive role as knowledge suppliers in uncertain, emerging industries. However, whether AEFs can effectively attract CVC support and convert it into innovation performance remains an open empirical and theoretical question.

This …

The Impact Of Genai Guidance Strategies On Employee Ai Acceptance: A Field Experiment Based On Private Domain Marketing, Mai Chen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

As a novel technological instrument for content production and customer communication, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has garnered significant attention for its value in private domain marketing. However, enterprises frequentlyencounter a paradox of high initial introduction rates coupled with a lackof substantive application. Employee apprehensions regarding the qualityof AI-generated content (AIGC) and organizational guidance strategies are critical factors impeding the realization of technological value. Drawing upon the technologyacceptance model (TAM), the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology(UTAUT), and the task-technology fit (TTF), the study constructs a theoretical model positioning corporate AI guidance strategies as the independent variable andemployee AI …

The Determinants And Consequences Of Green Credit In Commercial Banks: A Dual-Pillar Perspective Of Asset Quality And Esg, Jianmei Xia

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

As China’s “dual carbon” strategy advances, green credit has increasinglybecome a crucial financial instrument driving the green transition of China’s industrial structure. From a dual perspective of asset quality and ESGperformance, this paper systematically examines the determinants andconsequences of green credit practices among commercial banks. Employing a multiple-method approach that combines comparative case study, in-depthinterview, and large-sample empirical analysis, this study aims to address twocore questions: First, what are the key factors driving commercial banks toprovide green credit, and what is the logic behind their differentiated decision- making? Second, how does green credit affect banks’ financial and non-financial performance? This …

Generative Ai In Enterprises: Optimizing Applications With Large Language Models, Donghao Huang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation investigates how to deploy Large Language Models (LLMs) effectively in enterprise settings, where accuracy, reliability, cost, privacy, and operational constraints often matter more than benchmark performance alone. Drawing on seventeen peer-reviewed publications (eleven published and six accepted for publication), the work develops and validates optimization strategies across three connected themes: retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), agentic AI for workflow automation, and deployment guidelines for real-world enterprise environments.

First, we study RAG optimization through systematic evaluation of open and proprietary models, highlighting conditions under which efficient open-weight models can match or exceed proprietary alternatives. To address a pervasive failure mode in …

Pitch Perfect: From Neural Perspective To Behavioural Outcomes—Live, Online, And Brochure, Randy Sison De Guzman

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Business presentations have long been a cornerstone of persuasion in business-to-business (B2B) markets. Yet, the rapid shift to virtual communication in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has left managers to grapple with a pressing question: Do online presentations measure up to traditional in-person meetings, or can asynchronous formats like brochure-only communication truly take the place of real-time pitching? While this question has clear relevance for everyday business practice, there is still relatively little empirical research to guide these decisions.

This dissertation draws on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to suggest that the way information is delivered shapes how people …

Ai-Assisted Thematic Analysis On Consumer Acceptance Of Upcycled Food In Asia, Oon Ling Lee

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Food waste overuses natural resources and is responsible for a considerable share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Coupled with the growing global food insecurity, food wastage appears even more irresponsible and showcases the inefficiencies of the current food system. These escalating global environmental concerns and strained planetary resources have necessitated sustainable food innovation (James & Sheena, 2025; Upadhyay, 2025), particularly the production of upcycled food (UF), a novel food product category transformed from production byproducts such as Okara, barley grain, and beer spent grain (Zhang et al., 2023). This upcycling process supports waste reduction, achieves a circular bioeconomy (Ribeiro et …

The Impact Of Brand Authenticity And Innovation On Stakeholder Behaviours, Jacky Xu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This study employs a dual-perspective questionnaire survey, collecting data separately from corporate employees and brand consumers, and uses multiple regression analysis to test the hypotheses. The findings reveal the following: (1) both brand authenticity and innovation have significant positive effects on employee brand citizenship behaviour and consumer purchase intention; (2) brand commitment plays a negatively moderating role in these relationships, such that when stakeholders’ commitment levels are relatively low, the positive effects of brand authenticity and brand innovation on behaviour are stronger, whereas under conditions of high commitment, these effects are weakened, reflecting a substitution effect between emotional attachment and …

Enhancing Market Acceptance Of Sports Rehabilitation Services: A Perspective Of Public Health Literacy And Information Acquisition, Na Li

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This article takes public health literacy as its point of departure, constructs a theoretical model of “Health Literacy–Health Information Acquisition–Market Acceptance”, and introduces rehabilitation experience and service accessibility as moderating variables, in order to systematically examine the formation pathways and underlying mechanisms of market acceptance in the sports rehabilitation service sector.

This study adopts a combination of questionnaire survey and empirical analysis, collecting data from public samples across multiple regions and conducting statistical tests. The findings indicate that, Firstly, public health literacy has a statistically significant positive influence on the market acceptance of sports rehabilitation services. As the level of …