Digital Commons Network^™

Neural Network-Based Energy Management System For Standalone Pv Systems With Hybrid Battery–Supercapacitor Storage, Muizzudin Saifulrehan, M Fakhizan Romlie

Platform: A Journal of Engineering

Standalone photovoltaic (PV) systems are essential for off-grid applications but suffer from solar intermittency, resulting in an unreliable power supply. Batteries are commonly integrated into PV systems to provide energy storage; however, they are less effective in handling rapid power fluctuations. To overcome this limitation, hybrid energy storage systems (HESS) combining batteries and supercapacitors are employed to utilise their complementary characteristics. This study proposes a neural network-based energy management system (EMS) for standalone PV systems using a hybrid battery-supercapacitor HESS. The objectives are to develop a neural network-based controller for optimal power sharing between battery and supercapacitor, and to evaluate …

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa: A Rare Cause Of Necrotizing Fasciitis, Carrine S. Kogulan, Oluwafemi Ajibola

Student Publications

Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a rare but life-threatening soft tissue infection characterized by rapid progression, systemic toxicity, and high mortality. While Group A Streptococcus is the most common pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an uncommon cause, typically reported in immunocompromised patients.

We present the case of a 77-year-old male with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), chronic kidney disease, and other comorbidities who initially presented to an outside facility with three days of fever and left lower extremity pain. He was admitted with presumed cellulitis, and blood cultures grew Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Despite appropriate antibiotic therapy with vancomycin and ceftriaxone, the patient developed …

Provider And Caregiver Perspectives On Vision Services For Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Qualitative Study, Asha Parvathaneni, Luke Zabotka, Jacob Strelnikov, Allison J L'Hotta, Matthew J Ehrhardt, Maria Montoya, Kyathi Thallapureddy, Robert J Hayashi, Margaret Reynolds, Sara Malone

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSE: This study qualitatively explored barriers and facilitators to accessing supportive vision services for childhood cancer survivors with vision deficits and identified current service-delivery contexts from the perspectives of community professionals and caregivers. METHODS: Participants included caregivers and professionals who completed semi-structured interviews. Provider questions focused on patient identification and assessment, follow-up protocols, and available resources, while caregiver questions addressed navigating survivorship care, academic needs, and goals for their children. Transcripts were thematically analyzed following inductive and deductive coding. RESULTS: Six caregivers and 10 professionals completed interviews. Thematic analysis resulted in three contexts for barriers and facilitators: school settings, community …

Organic Management Of Pillbugs And Sowbugs In Strawberries And Other Fruits, Briger Carey, Marion Murray, Emilie Demard, Jennifer R. Reeve

All Current Publications

Pillbugs and sowbugs are collectively known as isopods that typically feed on soil organic matter, but under certain conditions, they can be a pest of many young plants and berries. This fact sheet reviews identification, life cycle, damage, and organic management strategies for pillbugs and sowbugs.

Lifting Constraints: Venezuelan Oil And Global Market Adjustment, Niloofar Adel, Andrea A. Bastianin, Luca Pedini, Marta Visconti

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Papers

We quantify the contribution of Venezuela’s oil sector collapse to changes in global oil market responsiveness after 2007. We extend the multi-country structural model of Baumeister and Hamilton (2024) by modeling Venezuela explicitly and constructing a counterfactual production path that abstracts from the 2007 institutional shift. This counterfactual isolates the mechanical contribution of Venezuelan supply and provides an upper bound on its impact. We document a sharp decline in global short-run supply elasticity and a more than doubling of the oil price multiplier after 2007. Decomposition results show that this increase is driven primarily by a reduction in the effective …

Intellectual Virtue And Artificial Intelligence, Bayan R. Alazab

SPARK Symposium Presentations

This paper presents a clear argument that artificial intelligence in education is not inherently detrimental, but rather that its impact depends on how it is used. Drawing on Aristotle’s concept of intellectual virtue and the Golden Mean, it argues that AI can either hinder or enhance learning. When students rely on AI as a substitute for their own reasoning, they undermine the development of critical thinking skills essential to intellectual virtue. In contrast, when used in moderation, AI can function as a tool that deepens understanding and supports cognitive growth.

The paper also highlights a key inconsistency within educational institutions. …

Couples Neutrality, Marriage Neutrality, And Two-Earner Deductions, Daniel Shaviro

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

Tax policy discussions of how to tax married couples, as compared to singles, often focus on the by now much-criticized norms of “marriage neutrality” and “couples neutrality.” While these norms are largely unpersuasive, they do offer a useful analytic starting point, because of both (a) how they relate to more validly expressed concerns, and (b) the significance of the empirical reasons why they generally do not hold.

In evaluating the proper relative tax treatment of different married couples, one of the most important factors that the federal income tax law fails to recognize is the difference between one-earner and two-earner …

Employing Effective Solution Methods For Caputo-Based Sequential Fractional Models, Eman A. A. Ziada, Mohamed F. Abouelenein, Hijaz Ahmad, Monica Botros

Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Simulation with Applications

This paper investigates a class of nonlinear sequential singular fractional differential equations (FDEs) involving Caputo derivatives. This type of equation has several key advantages that enhance its value, such as capturing memory and hereditary effects. Viscoelastic materials and anomalous diffusion, as well as biological systems, can take advantage of this feature. In addition, fractional derivatives possess a sequential structure that enables the implementation of multiscale processes and hierarchical memory responses. Moreover, it provides an effective and flexible framework for solving differential equations compared to classical differential equations. It can therefore be used to model complex systems in physics, biology, and …

Optimal Control Strategies For Infectious Diseases: A Numerical Simulation Approach, M. Abu Salek, Jannatun Nayeem, Romana Yesmin, M. Haider Ali Biswas, M. Humayun Kabir

Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Simulation with Applications

Various infectious diseases, such as Tuberculosis and Hepatitis B virus (HBV), caused by Mycobacterium bacteria and hepatitis B virus, respectively, pose serious threats worldwide. This paper examines the spread of these diseases using a mathematical model that incorporates control measures, including vaccination and awareness programs. We use a system of differential equations with control variables and apply Pontryagin's principle to determine optimal control strategies. The stability of the Disease Free Equilibrium (DFE) has been analysed and demonstrated to be both locally and globally asymptotically stable when the basic reproduction number remains below unity, thereby ensuring disease elimination. Furthermore, the Endemic …

On The Scientific Stature Of Data Science: The Epistemological Unicorn, Ernest Fokoue

Articles

Data Science has ignited unprecedented academic, industrial, and pedagogical fervor, yet its status as a \textit{science} in the classical sense---comparable to physics or biology---remains profoundly unsettled. This article interrogates the epistemological foundations of Data Science by examining its hybrid theoretical lineage, from the Universal Approximation Theorem to the No-Free-Lunch Theorems, with special emphasis on the fundamental Bayesian optimality results for both regression and classification. We argue that Data Science is in a vigorous \textit{gestational period}, characterized not by an absence of principles but by a creative tension between empirical pragmatism and deep mathematical theory. The Cross-Validation score emerges as the …

Learning Ordinal Geometry: Semantic–Aware Kernels For Ordered Categorical Data, Ernest Fokoue

Articles

Ordinal data arise ubiquitously in survey research, psychology, medicine, economics, and recommender systems, yet kernel methods for such data typically rely on either nominal encodings or arbitrary numeric codings. The former discards order information; the lat- ter imposes a fictitious metric structure. This paper develops a principled framework for kernel design on ordinal scales and introduces a new class of Semantic–Aware Ordinal Ker- nels (SAOK) that simultaneously capture ordinal order and semantic proximity between categories. We begin by formalizing order–preserving embeddings of finite chains and characterizing a broad family of chain distances that are conditionally negative definite. Through Schoen- berg …

Saturated Hierarchical Atomic Incremental Learning (Shail): A Behavioral Learning Perspective On Staged Mastery And Saturation, Ernest Fokoue

Articles

We introduce Saturated Hierarchical Atomic Incremental Learning (sHAIL), a learning paradigm in which complex tasks are approached through a sequence of simpler atomic subtasks, each mastered to saturation before progression. The central mechanism is a saturation criterion that detects when learning dynamics enter a plateau region, triggering consolidation and subsequent ascent to a higher level of task complexity. We develop a theoretical framework for sHAIL and show that it naturally gives rise to \emph{staircased convergence}: alternating phases of rapid improvement and genuine plateau. Within each level, classical convergence guarantees apply under standard smoothness conditions, while the hierarchical transitions are driven …

No Intelligence Without Statistics: The Invisible Backbone Of Artificial Intelligence, Ernest Fokoue

Articles

The rapid ascent of artificial intelligence (AI) is often portrayed as a revolution born from computer science and engineering. This narrative, however, obscures a fundamental truth: the theoretical and methodological core of AI is, and has always been, statistical. This paper systematically argues that the field of statistics provides the indispensable foundation for machine learning and modern AI. We deconstruct AI into nine foundational pillars—Inference, Density Estimation, Sequential Learning, Generalization, Representation Learning, Interpretability, Causality, Optimization, and Unification—demonstrating that each is built upon century-old statistical principles. From the inferential frameworks of hypothesis testing and estimation that underpin model evaluation, to the …

On Fibonacci Ensembles: An Alternative Approach To Ensemble Learning Inspired By The Timeless Architecture Of The Golden Ratio, Ernest Fokoue

Articles

Nature rarely reveals her secrets bluntly, yet in the Fibonacci sequence she grants us a glimpse of her quiet architecture of growth, harmony, and recursive stability \citep{Koshy2001Fibonacci, Livio2002GoldenRatio}. From spiral galaxies to the unfolding of leaves, this humble sequence reflects a universal grammar of balance. In this work, we introduce \emph{Fibonacci Ensembles}, a mathematically principled yet philosophically inspired framework for ensemble learning that complements and extends classical aggregation schemes such as bagging, boosting, and random forests \citep{Breiman1996Bagging, Breiman2001RandomForests, Friedman2001GBM, Zhou2012Ensemble, HastieTibshiraniFriedman2009ESL}. Two intertwined formulations unfold: (1) the use of normalized Fibonacci weights -- tempered through orthogonalization and Rao--Blackwell optimization -- …

Law Journal Vol. 50 Winter 2026 Masthead

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Policy - Vol. 50, Winter 2026

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Mark-Brian Kline V. Alien Property Custodian Representative

2026 Decisions

USDC for the District of New Jersey

Efficiency Comparison Of Reduced Graphene Oxide (Rgo) Composite-Incorporated Polyacrylonitrile Nanofibrous Filters For Respirable Crystalline Silica Dust And Coal Dust, Mahsa Moradi, Ashish Kakoria, Lina Zheng, Guang Xu

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The health of miners working in underground mines is greatly threatened by their exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) found in coal dust. While coal dust includes RCS, it is important to know the specific filtration efficiency for RCS particles compared to coal dust to improve protective measures. This study compares the filtration efficiency of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composite-incorporated Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibrous filters at four different concentrations of rGO (0, 2, 6, and 10 wt.%) for RCS particles and coal dust. The filters were made using the electrospinning method. They were tested separately with RCS particles and coal dust …

Impeachment By Conviction With Crimes Of Dishonesty Or False Statement: The Automatic Admit Feature In Rule 609(A)(2), David Crump

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Examining The Role Of The Cbn's Agent Banking Policy In Its Financial Inclusion Drive From A Mechanism Design Theory Perspective, Umar Yakub Yakub Mr

Bullion

This paper analyses CBN’s Agent Banking policy and its role in promoting financial inclusion through the lens of mechanism design theory. It sought to evaluate how effective the policy has been in bringing together the incentives of key stakeholders—customers, agents, and banks—with the ultimate goals of the Bank’s financial inclusion policy. The scope covers the design and evolution of the policy, the incentives of the different stakeholders, and finding potential information asymmetries, moral hazard, and adverse selection issues. It assesses the impact of the policy based on available evidence and concludes with mechanism design-informed recommendations for improving the policy’s effectiveness …

Ten Years After Windsor And Obergefell: The Inequalities Of Marriage Equality, Anthony C. Infanti

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

Looking back over the decade that has elapsed since the Supreme Court’s landmark marriage equality decisions in United States v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges, this article explores the complex relationship between legal and social change through the prism of the impact that these decisions have had on the tax landscape for the LGBTQ+ community. The article examines the gap between the promise of “equal” treatment and respect for members of the LGBTQ+ community embodied in these legal decisions and a social reality in which discrimination—tax and otherwise—stubbornly persists.

The article begins by examining how the Court’s marriage equality …

Cardozo Law Introduces New Course On Theatre Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Archive

Cardozo School of Law introduced Theatre Law, the first law school course devoted entirely to the legal framework of the live stage industry. Taught by Adjunct Professor Ben Feldman, the course explores contracts, intellectual property, labor relations, licensing, financing, and other legal issues unique to theatrical productions, providing students with specialized training in entertainment law.

Jonathan Difraia V. Kevin Ransom

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Children’S Perspectives On Playfulness: A Child-Centred Qualitative Study, Risa Rylander, Stephanie Burns, Jocelyn Dautel

International Journal of Playwork Practice

This qualitative study examines children’s lived experiences of play and playfulness through interviews and creative methods with 10 children aged 8–11 in a Playwork setting. Thematic analysis identified three core themes: playfulness as an internal experience; the contextual nature of playfulness; and Playwork theory in practice. Children described play as joyful, immersive, and intrinsically motivated, shaped by factors such as comfort, outdoor access, social relationships, and autonomy. They valued adult support that preserved freedom. Findings challenge narrow definitions of playfulness, emphasizing calm, solitary, and open-ended play, with implications for designing responsive, child-centred play environments.

Future Prospects Of Pediatrician Talent Development: Focusing On Early Childhood Health To Pioneer A New Chapter In Pediatric Care, Yueh-Ping Liu

Journal of Medical Education

Taiwan's declining fertility rate is reshaping the pediatric care landscape. The demands of child health care encompass acute and critical care, chronic disease management, complex diagnostic conditions, as well as developmental and mental health support. In response, the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Program for Excellence in Child Health Care and the Project of Holistic Physicians for Young Children represent a strategic transition toward proactive, community-anchored child health stewardship. By integrating preventive services, developmental surveillance, case management, and cross-sector coordination, these initiatives strengthen early detection and timely intervention while redefining pediatricians as key actors within the social safety net. Embedding …

Mapping Clinical Competency Assessment: Comparing Taiwanese Dpt Tools To The U.S. Clinical Performance Instrument, Szu-Hua Teresa Chen, Che-Hsuan Lin, Kayleigh Plumeau, Yueh-Hsia Chen, Yen-Tzu Wu, Chia-Ling Chen, Chieh-Yu Yang

Journal of Medical Education

Background: To align Taiwan's physical therapy clinical education with international standards, this study aimed to: (1) map Taiwan's clinical assessment tools—the Ability-Based Professionalism Assessment (ABPA) and the Mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (Mini-CEX)—to the competency domains of the United States (U.S.) Clinical Performance Instrument (CPI) 3.0; (2) examine longitudinal changes in student clinical performance; and (3) explore whether developmental patterns correspond to competencies emphasized by the assessment framework.

Methods: This study integrated qualitative framework mapping and quantitative longitudinal analysis. Thirty-four fifth-year students enrolled in a six-year Doctor of Physical Therapy program at National Taiwan University who completed clinical internships during the 2022–2023 …

The Effects Of Interactive Instruction In Medical Education On Learners' Motivation, Technology Acceptance, And Learning Satisfaction, Bo-Yuan Lin

Journal of Medical Education

Purpose: Medical education is characterized by complex content and high cognitive demands, which often challenge learners. motivation and engagement. With advances in educational technology, interactive teaching approaches have gained increasing attention for their potential to enhance learning experiences. This study aimed to investigate the effects of integrating an Interactive Response System (IRS) into a medical education course on learners. learning motivation, technology acceptance, and learning satisfaction.

Methods: A single-group posttest design was employed. Participants were 23 healthcare professionals specializing in respiratory therapy who attended a professional training course on the clinical application of high-frequency ventilators. During the 50-minute instructional session, …

Taiwan Healthcare Professionals' Perception, Attitudes, And Experience About Balint Groups: A Two-Stage Pilot Study, Ing-Tiat Tiunn, Chung-Han Ho

Journal of Medical Education

Background: Balint groups have been widely implemented to support medical training in many countries. However, no empirical study has yet been conducted in Taiwan to evaluate their effectiveness.

Methods: An introductory presentation on Balint groups was held at a medical center in southern Taiwan, followed by a survey assessing attendees' perceptions and attitudes toward Balint work. Subsequently, a six-session Balint group was offered to healthcare professionals who volunteered to participate. All participants completed the 25-item Resilience Scale before and after the intervention. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze qualitative data.

Results: A total of 44 healthcare professionals attended …

From Time-Based To Competency-Based: A Decade-Long Transformation Of Medical Radiation Technologist Education In Taiwan And Its Implications For System-Level Cbme Reform, Yao-Ting Lu, Shu-Yu Wen, Chiao-Ling Tsai, Cheng-Heng Liu, Wen-Tao Huang, Chia-Hung Chen, Chih-Wei Yang

Journal of Medical Education

Competency-based medical education (CBME) has reshaped physician training, yet system-level implementation in allied health professions is rarely described. In this Perspective, we examine Taiwan's decade-long national reform of medical radiation technologist (MRT) education led by the Taiwan Association of Medical Radiation Technologists (TAMRT) and distill lessons for system-level CBME. Beginning in 2012, TAMRT adapted the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) core competencies and introduced workplace-based assessments across diagnostic radiography, radiation therapy, and nuclear medicine. Early national accreditation cycles revealed persistent variability in assessment quality and highlighted the limitations of time-based advancement. TAMRT therefore shifted from adding isolated tools …

An Innovative, Structured Standardized Patient Training Model For Gender Diversity: Curriculum Design And Preliminary Evaluation, Yu-Wen Wang, Ching-Ting Lien, Ching-Chung Lin, Chau-Shoun Lee, Min-Shu Wang

Journal of Medical Education

Background: Despite increasing emphasis in medical education, LGBTQ clinical sensitivity and care competencies remain insufficient. This study developed a structured Standardized Patient (SP) training model replacing traditional lecturing. It aims to alleviate role boundary blurring and psychological stress SPs face with highly sensitive topics while enhancing their professional comprehension.

Objectives: To develop and evaluate a structured SP training model that integrates psychological safety mechanisms to mitigate role confusion and stress in handling gender diversity topics, while enhancing SPs' professional role interpretation and cultural sensitivity.

Method: The course was implemented through systematic integration of the ``Introspection, Empathy, Deconstruction'' three-phase model: (1) …