Digital Commons Network^™

Assessment Of Thickness-Dependent Recombination Mechanisms And Realistic Performance Limits In Csbi₃I₁₀ Lead-Free Perovskite Solar Cells, Samiul Sadek, Ayan Saha, Jegadesan Subbiah, Mohammad Tariqul Islam, Mohammad Junaebur Rashid, Mohammad Aminul Islam, Gufran Umar Alam Shaikh, Wan Zulhafizhazuan Bin Wan Jusoh, Mohammad Nur-E-Alam, Puvaneswaran Chelvanathan, Mohd Adib Ibrahim

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Lead-free perovskite solar cells (PSCs) offer a promising, environmentally sustainable alternative to their lead-based counterparts, yet their performance is often constrained by charge transport and recombination limitations. This study presents a comprehensive numerical investigation into the thickness-dependent performance of lead-free bismuth-based PSCs employing CsBi₃I₁₀ as the absorber layer. Through systematic variation of the absorber, electron transport layer (ETL), and hole transport layer (HTL) thicknesses within a planar FTO/TiO₂/CsBi₃I₁₀/Spiro-OMeTAD/Ag architecture modeled using SCAPS-1D, an optimal absorber thickness range of 0.5–1.0 µm is identified. Under idealized conditions, a peak power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.62% is predicted, primarily to illustrate thickness-dependent trends. …

Development, Performance Analysis And Application Of Polymer Inclusion Membranes: A Critical Review, Shayan Abrishami, Mahsa Golmohammadi, Matthew Myers, Masoumeh Zargar, Antonia Pérez De Los Ríos, Francisco José Hernández-Fernández, Amir Razmjou

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Polymer Inclusion Membranes (PIMs) have emerged as sustainable separation platforms that integrate carrier-mediated selectivity within stable polymeric matrices, eliminating drawbacks of conventional solvent extraction such as solvent loss and emulsion formation. This review examines the fundamental principles, recent developments, and performance characteristics of PIMs, emphasizing design, fabrication, and operational optimization. The three essential components, base polymers, plasticizers, and carriers are systematically analysed alongside their synergistic effects on membrane stability, selectivity, and transport efficiency. Emerging materials including ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents as dual-function plasticizers/carriers receive particular attention. Preparation methods are critically evaluated, including solution casting, phase inversion, and thermal …

Online Safety (Relief And Accountability) Bill: Further Experiments In Balancing Rights And Responsibilities, Siyuan Chen, Zavier Yu Wu, Jie Ting Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Singapore’s latest legislation to address online harms, the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Bill, was passed in Parliament in November 2025. The legislation, which takes a complainant-centric approach, provides the Commissioner of Online Safety a broad range of powers so that timely redress can be given for reports of online harms such as image abuse, sexual harassment, doxxing, and stalking. Various torts that impose duties on administrators and platforms have also been created. Legislation of this nature invariably raises issues about whether an appropriate balance between freedom and responsibility has been struck. This Legislative Comment analyses some of the more …

Negotiating At A Distance: The Impact Of Communication Media And Negotiator Traits, Dorcas Quek Anderson, Tra My Ngo

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Purpose – Prior research has yet to provide a coherent theoretical framework explaining how communication media hinder or advance negotiation success, and many dated studies are unlikely to be relevant. This study aims to examine the impact of four communication media on negotiation outcomes. It also examines the potential moderating effects of the following negotiator characteristics: conflict management style, personality traits and indirect communication style.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 400 participants formed 200 dyads to negotiate a mixed- motive relational conflict through face-to-face (FTF) interaction, videoconferencing, audio call or synchronous text messaging. Linear mixed regression was used to assess the …

Commentary: If You’Re Unhappy At Work, A Hasty Job Change May Not Help, Nick Chiam

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Finding joy at work isn’t about having the perfect job, but seeing work as part of the larger story of a life well lived, says SMU lecturer Nick Chiam.

Australian Best Practice Recommendations For Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt (Tips) In Portal Hypertension: A Consensus Statement, Eric Kalo, Jacinta Holmes, Purnima Bhat, Winita Hardikar, Nishita Jagarlamudi, Wai See Ma, Cositha Santhakumar, Scott Read, Alicia Braund, Fei Wen Chen, Rohit Gupta, Kate Collins, Anouk Dev, John Grieve, Jim Koukounaras, Shivendra Lalloo, Vi Nguyen, Tim Mitchell, Nigel Mott, Ashok Raj, Dinesh Ranatunga, Caroline Tallis, Edmund Tse, Zina Valaydon, Marcus Robertson, Diederick De Boo, Enoka Gonsalkorala, Rashid Muddassir, Thao Lam, Jonathan Tibballs, Jonathan Mitchell, Penny Fox, Adam Doyle, Rozemary Karamatic, Gerry Macquillan, Christopher Rogan, Jacob George, Nick Shackel, Stuart Roberts, John Olynyk, Barbara Leggett, Siddharth Sood, Simone Strasser, Radha Popuri, John Lubel, Miriam Levy, Jane Li, James O’Beirne, Avik Majumdar, Golo Ahlenstiel, Gastroenterological Society Of Australia (Gesa)

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) is one of the preferred interventional radiology techniques for reducing clinically significant portal pressures in patients with cirrhosis and complications from portal hypertension when pharmacological therapy or endoscopic interventions have failed or been insufficient. Recent advances in TIPS procedural techniques and stent technology, along with emerging indications for TIPS, warrant a review of current practices and establishment of consensus recommendations in Australia, where TIPS remains underused. This TIPS consensus statement is the first such guideline in Australia. It outlines 69 evidence-based practice recommendations and the evidence underlying them. The recommendations are intended for use …

Dynamic Knowledge Practices In Tourism Village Development: An Activity Theory Perspective, Xianyang Hu, Jie Chen, Songshan (Sam) Huang

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This study investigates why tourism village development models often fail to replicate success despite cultural and geographic similarities. Using activity theory and knowledge management concepts, we analyze two adjacent Chinese villages to trace explicit knowledge flow and examine disrupted tacit and indigenous knowledge practices. Findings show that while surface-level knowledge transfer occurs, contradictions within activity system elements, especially the marginalization of indigenous knowledge and community capacity, hinder effective knowledge application. Knowledge flow is inherently nonlinear and deeply context-dependent. We develop a comparative activity system model that highlights how success hinges less on knowledge transfer and more on the integration of …

Overservice Backfires: The Impact Of High Robot Attentiveness On Tourists' Discontinuous Usage Intentions, Jinwei Wang, Yingzong Tang, Xin Chen, Songshan (Sam) Huang

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

AI-powered robots can meet both functional and emotional consumer service needs through proactive engagement. Yet, excessive attentiveness may produce unintended negative outcomes. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this research employs four studies and a single-paper meta-analysis to investigate how highly (vs. moderately) attentive robotic service influences tourists' intentions to discontinue use. Results show that highly attentive robotic service increases discontinuous usage intentions, and this effect unfolds sequentially through perceived threat to freedom and emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, information sensitivity and technology anxiety moderate the relationship between robotic attentiveness and discontinuous usage intentions. These findings offer strategic insights for tourism practitioners …

Morocco’S Liquid Gold: The Actual And Potential Role Of International Ip Law In The Protection Of The Traditional Knowledge Of Argan Oil, Christen Smith

Student Scholarship

This paper examines the actual and potential role of international intellectual property law in the protection of the traditional knowledge associated with argan oil, a product linked to the cultural heritage of the indigenous people in Morocco and increasingly commercialized globally. The paper starts with a background on the argan forest and the cultural significance of the argan tree. Then, the traditional production method used to extract argan oil is discussed. The paper also covers the rise of women’s cooperatives and how the argan oil industry has economically transformed in recent decades. The next section identifies problems in protecting traditional …

Corporate Jurisdiction Competition In The United States: Delaware’S Dominance And The Rise Of Segmented State Competition, Leonardo Lupiano

Student Scholarship

Delaware has long dominated the American market for corporate charters, supported by its flexible corporate statute, specialized Court of Chancery, deep body of precedent, and strong network effects. Recent developments, however, suggest that Delaware’s dominance is facing more serious pressure than it has in decades. High-profile reincorporations, growing concern over Delaware litigation, and new statutory and judicial developments in other states have created a more active market for corporate law.

This Article examines that shift through five representative jurisdictions: Delaware, Nevada, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. Delaware remains the baseline, but Nevada, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming now of er distinct models …

Evaluating Human Rod Photoreceptor Function Using Pixelwise Intensity-Based Optoretinography, Gao Yang, Mina Gaffney, Robert F. Cooper

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose: More than 50 inherited retinal diseases are known, with rod photoreceptor functional loss serving as an early indicator in nearly half of them. The “optoretinogram” is a relatively new assay that detects optical changes in cells in response to stimuli. This tool has excellent potential for providing insights into the earliest functional changes of rod photoreceptors, with the potential to assist in the early detection, monitoring, and treatment of retinal diseases.

Methods: In this work, we obtained intensity-based optoretinograms (iORGs) from rod photoreceptors using an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope. We explore the necessity of both individual rod identification …

Severity And Duration-Dependent Aortic Stiffening In A Rabbit Coarctation Model Identifies Constitutive Material Parameters As Promising Regional Biomarkers For Hypertension Progression, Arash Ghorbannia, Jamasp Azarnoosh, John F. Ladisa Jr.

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Coarctation of the aorta (CoA) alters hemodynamics and drives regional remodeling, yet the influence of severity and duration on constitutive properties is undefined. We quantified mechanical responses from CoA to identify constitutive parameters capturing stiffening across clinical severities and durations. Mild (≤ 12 mmHg), intermediate (13–20 mmHg), and severe (> 20 mmHg) CoA was created in rabbits for short, long, and prolonged durations (~ 1, 3, or 22 weeks, respectively). Stress–stretch curves from proximal and distal regions were fit with multiple constitutive models (Linear Elastic, Neo-Hookean, Yeoh, Ogden, Mooney–Rivlin, Holzapfel). Model performance was evaluated by normalized RMSE and R², with …

Development And Acceptability Of A Patient Decision Aid For People With Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: An International Mixed-Methods Study, Andrew R. Gamble, David B. Anderson, Marnee J. Mckay, Benjamin M. Davies, Sophie Macpherson, James Van Gelder, Tammy Hoffmann, Kirsten Mccaffery, Samuel X. Stevens, Carlo Ammendolia, Rohil V. Chauhan, Carl M. Zipser, Timothy F. Boerger, Lindsay A. Tetreault, Michael G. Fehlings, Elanor Dustan, Carolyn Nugent, Helen Holmgren, Andreas K. Demetriades, Justin M. Lantz, Rana Dhillon, Chris G. Maher, Joshua R. Zadro

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Objectives To develop and user-test a patient decision aid for people diagnosed with degenerative cervical myelopathy and who are considering surgery.

Design Mixed-methods study describing the development of a patient decision aid.

Setting A draft decision aid was developed by a multidisciplinary steering group (including study authors with degenerative cervical myelopathy, health professionals and researchers) informed by the best available evidence, authorship consensus and existing patient decision aids.

Participants Patient-participants and health professional-participants who manage people with degenerative cervical myelopathy were recruited through social media and the steering group’s research and practice network. Quantitative questionnaires were used to gather baseline …

How Can Learning Management Systems Positively Impact Student Engagement In Online Courses?, Jerald P. Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The topic of this dissertation is learning management systems, specifically Canvas. Research has proven that student engagement is a strong factor in student achievement in both online and inperson courses. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a deficit in instructors’ ability to acquire and maintain student engagement in online courses. This study details why this problem exists and how instructors have successfully addressed it in higher-level online courses. The primary purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to examine how learning management systems, specifically Canvas, can increase student engagement in online courses in higher education. Qualitative research was the chosen paradigm for …

Identifying The Barriers Bilingual Parents Face In The Special Education Process, Miranda Leah Hernandez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasing parental involvement in the special education process means parents, teachers, and school administrators can unite to educate the children. The problem that the researcher identified was that emergent bilingual families struggle to become meaningful participants in their children’s individualized education plans. This was a qualitative case study that identified the barriers that bilingual parents face within the special education process and the recommendations from bilingual parents on how to help them become more meaningful members of their child’s individualized education plan. The population within the research included bilingual families with children in the greater Houston, Texas area who have …

Life Cycle Costing Of Modular Timber Residential Construction, Logan Micah Hammel

Construction Management

This study examines the economic feasibility of modular residential construction using life-cycle costing (LCC) and life-cycle assessment (LCA) approaches to assess the sustainability and maintenance costs of modular construction. Using the structures and documents from the Gateway Decathlon project as the subject, we applied LCC formulas and programs to assess their economic performance. These calculations were conducted manually in Excel and modeled using the OpenLCA platform to compare traditional and software-based approaches. The study aims to identify cost drivers across building scopes, such as building materials and electrical and mechanical systems, and to evaluate how modular construction performs over its …

Bridging Bug Localization And Issue Fixing: A Hierarchical Localization Framework Leveraging Large Language Models, Jianming Chang, Xin Zhou, Lulu Wang, David Lo, Bixin Li

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Automated issue fixing is a critical task in software debugging and has recently garnered significant attention from academia and industry. However, existing fixing techniques predominantly focus on the repair phase, often overlooking the importance of improving the preceding bug localization phase. As a foundational step in issue fixing, bug localization plays a pivotal role in determining the overall effectiveness of the entire process. To enhance the precision of issue fixing by accurately identifying bug locations in large-scale projects, this paper presents BugCerberus, the first hierarchical bug localization framework powered by three customized large language models. First, BugCerberus analyzes intermediate representations …

Patchgpt: Multi-Agent Patch Backporting Without Model Fine-Tuning, Ye Liu, Ruidong Han, Chengyan Ma, Yuqing Niu, David Lo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Patch backporting is crucial and prevalent in the maintenance of modern open-source software such as Linux kernels and forked repositories. However, porting patches across program versions remains a challenging problem due to the complexity of synergizing diverse patches with divergent program versions. In this paper, we propose PatchGPT, an agentic patch backporting framework for fine-grained patch generation. PatchGPT encompasses three agents: Miner for decomposing a sequence of atomic change steps as the original patch plan, Adapter for adapting the patch plan, and Executor for executing the adapted patch plan according to predefined change semantics. We conduct experiments on the PPatHF’s …

Discrete Diffusion For Bundle Construction, Teng Tu, Ai Li, Yunshan Ma, Shuo Xu, Xiaohao Liu, Haokai Ma, Liang Pang, Tat-Seng Chua

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

As a central task in product bundling, bundle construction aims to select a subset of items from large item catalogs to build an entire bundle or, more practically, complete a partial bundle. Existing methods often rely on the sequential construction paradigm that predicts items one at a time, nevertheless, this paradigm is fundamentally unsuitable for the essentially unordered bundles. In contrast, non-sequential methods model a bundle as a set, but still face two dimensionality curses: the combinatorial space grows exponentially with both bundle length and catalog size. Accordingly, we identify two technical challenges: 1) how to effectively and efficiently model …

Visual Loop: Bridging The Cognitive Gap In Software Development Through Visual-Ai Collaboration, Luis Filipe Fernandes Gomes, Xin Zhou, David Lo, Rui Abreu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Software development remains predominantly text-centric, despite decades of evidence showing that developers think and communicate visually. While sketches and diagrams externalize developers’ mental models, they remain disconnected from source code and quickly become outdated. Recent advances in foundation models, capable of both code and visual reasoning, create an opportunity to unify these representations. In this vision paper, we introduce Visual Loop, a continuous visual development environment that keeps code and informal sketches in bidirectional synchronization. Our prototype connects a code editor with a tablet-based visualization workspace, allowing developers to explore, annotate, and modify systems through freehand sketches interpreted by multimodal …

Understanding Codebase Like A Professional! Human-Ai Collaboration For Code Comprehension, Jie Gao, Yue Xue, Xiaofei Xie, Junming Cao, Soemin Thant, Erika Lee, Bowen Xu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Understanding an unfamiliar codebase is an essential task for developers in various scenarios, such as during the onboarding process. Especially when the codebase is large and time is limited, achieving a decent level of comprehension remains challenging for both experienced and novice developers, even with the assistance of large language models (LLMs). Existing studies have shown that LLMs often fail to support users in understanding code structures or to provide user-centered, adaptive, and dynamic assistance in real-world settings.To address this, we propose learning from the perspective of a unique role, code auditors, whose work often requires them to quickly familiarize …

Rethinking Artifact Evaluation For Software Engineering In The Age Of Generative Ai, Christoph Treude, Christopher M. Poskitt, Rashina Hoda

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Peer review in software engineering research operates under tight time constraints, while generative AI has substantially reduced the human effort required to produce polished research narratives. Reviewer attention is often spent on aspects of submissions such as writing quality or literature positioning that have become relatively less effort-intensive to address, rather than on evaluating the scientific substance of a paper. At the same time, assessing whether methods are implemented correctly, analyses are sound, and claims are supported by evidence remains effort-intensive and dependent on human expertise. In software engineering research, this substance is frequently embodied in artifacts, including code, data, …

Modeling Of Aggregate Losses Of Metastatic Cancer Using Katz Family (A, B, 0) Distributions, Cynthia M. Mwau, Howard Omukami

Institute for Educational Development, East Africa

The incidence of metastatic cancer over the years has gradually increased. This can be due to delayed quality treatment, attributed to insufficient funds. Models that can more accurately price cancer insurance policies incorporating its metastatic nature would enable insurance firms to develop affordable and profitable cancer insurance policies. Effectively marketed and reasonably priced insurance policies can enhance the uptake of cancer specific insurance, thereby alleviating the financial strain linked to cancer treatment. To capture the impact of metastatic cancer on overall cancerrelated losses, we construct Katz recursive models grounded in the Katz family of distributions, specifically the (a, b, 0) …

Reimagining Incarceration: Scandinavian-Inspired Policy Innovation In Pennsylvania And California, Isabel M. Mallory

College Honors Program

The United States’ decentralized system of incarceration leaves individual states largely responsible for criminal justice policy, yet the country continues to maintain the highest incarceration rate in the world, prompting growing interest in reforms that both reduce incarceration and improve outcomes. One such approach emphasizes rehabilitation over traditional goals such as deterrence and incapacitation, drawing on the example of Scandinavian prison systems as an evidence-based practice. This thesis examines how states, as laboratories of democracy, are experimenting with rehabilitation-centered models of incarceration through different mechanisms of policy change. Focusing on two case studies – Pennsylvania’s Scandinavian Prison Project as a …

On Predicting And Stopping Dystopia, Evan Selinger, Woodrow Hartzog

Faculty Scholarship

Is it reasonable to be dystopian about how the future will likely unfold? We think so. For some time, we have been arguing that facial recognition technology is a perfect tool of oppression, and that its pernicious affordances are leading society down a slippery slope toward the evisceration of privacy by obscurity. This is a soft form of “determinism”—the notion that while technology is not an unstoppable force and the future is not preordained, there nevertheless are identifiable factors, such as the invitingness of affordances, human nature, and incentives that drive technology in certain directions and make some social outcomes …

The Human Right To A Healthy Environment: Corporate Responsibility In Critical Mineral Extraction, Erika George

Faculty Scholarship

This paper argues that the emerging human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment should guide the governance of critical minerals by incorporating the corporate responsibility to respect human rights throughout supply chains to ensure a racially just energy transition. It frames the climate crisis within the history and political economy of racial capitalism, contending that without rights-based guardrails, mineral supply chains risk reproducing the extractive harms and racialized disparities of the fossil fuel era, including labor abuses, displacement, water depletion, and violence disproportionately borne by racialized and Indigenous communities. Methodologically, the paper combines doctrinal analysis of international norms …

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, …

A Model Intercomparison Study To Investigate Mixing Characteristics In Non-Precipitating Stratocumulus Clouds, Fan Yang, Kyoung Ock Choi, Kamal Kant Chandrakar, Fabian Hoffmann, Pei Hou, Steve Krueger, Chunsong Lu, Mikhail Ovchinnikov, Yangze Ren, Shin Ichiro Shima, Peng Wu, Chongzhi Yin, Zeen Zhu, Seong Soo Yum

Michigan Tech Publications

Recent aircraft observations of marine stratocumulus clouds consistently showed that cloud microphysical relationships vary with altitude, indicating inhomogeneous mixing characteristics near cloud top and homogeneous mixing characteristics in mid-levels of clouds. Here, we conduct model intercomparison of an idealized, non-precipitating stratocumulus cloud to evaluate model consistency and examine whether simulations can reproduce the observed mixing characteristics. The results show that eleven large-eddy simulations with various dynamics and microphysics schemes show good agreement on the thermodynamical, microphysical, and dynamical properties of the stratocumulus-topped boundary layer in a steady state. The inter-model spread in steady-state liquid water path is significantly reduced compared …

Zombie Litigation: Claim Aggregation, Litigant Autonomy And Funders' Intermeddling, Maya Steinitz

Faculty Scholarship

The main debate surrounding litigation funding in recent years has focused on the question of disclosure of funding agreements.  While the issue is important, predominantly because of its effects on the course and outcome of individual cases, far more important are bigger, interrelated questions that have systemic effects on the civil justice system, the legal profession, and the nature of the attorney-client relationship.  The rise of litigation funding has had profound effects.  The subsequent rise of portfolio funding—which I here propose to  view as a new form of undisclosed and unregulated claim  aggregation—has broader-still effects including clients’ potential, and at …

Birthdate Phaseout To A Nicotine Free Generation, Katharine B. Silbaugh

Faculty Scholarship

This Article explores the Nicotine Free Generation ("NFG") policy, an emerging endgame strategy for tobacco products that employs a completely novel legal design. Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death, killing almost half of its users and imposing $600 billion in social costs each year. We see two basic choices for regulating sales: prohibition or a legal age-gate, such as twenty-one, for retail sales. NFG charts a third way. Recognizing the dire harm of tobacco and the serious consequences of abrupt prohibition, NFG lays the groundwork for a gradual transition to a sales sunset. In place of the twenty-one …