Digital Commons Network^™

A Taxonomy-Driven Modular Defense Against Non-Canonical Language In Vision-Language-Action Models, Viraj Samson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models have recently achieved strong performance across manipulation benchmarks, but these benchmarks rely on highly templated instructions on which the models are typically fine-tuned, leaving their behavior under realistic language-side perturbation unclear. It remains an open question whether the linguistic flexibility inherited from vision-language pretraining survives this fine-tuning, or whether the resulting policies become narrowly tuned to benchmark phrasing and brittle to the intent-preserving language variation that real users naturally produce. We address this gap with a systematic study of VLA robustness under non-canonical instructions, comprising three components: a structured taxonomy of intent-preserving variations spanning linguistic, orthographic, and …

Fast And Sustainable Video Anomaly Detection With Continual Learning, Preethi Amasa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Real-time video anomaly detection systems deployed in surveillance, healthcare, and industrial environments face continuous distribution shifts in lighting, viewpoint, and activity patterns. Existing models often experience performance degradation under these conditions and may suffer catastrophic forgetting when adapting to new environments. This thesis proposes RegiGrow, a parameter-efficient continual adaptation framework built on the Flashback retrieval pipeline. RegiGrow integrates Mixture-of-Experts Low-Rank Adaptation into a frozen ImageBind encoder, enabling sequential domain adaptation without modifying the pretrained backbone. A lightweight router maps visual regime features to a distribution over LoRA experts, each specializing in a distinct normal operating regime. The central contribution is …

Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation Of In-Situ Plasma- Assisted Cold Spray, Lucas Degen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cold spray is a solid-state form of additive manufacturing with high versatility and widespread applicability, especially in relation to metal coatings. Many applications exist within the fields of aerospace, defense and energy systems to obtain sustainable, temperature and corrosion resistant, robust coatings. High-strength alloys and refractory metals generally encounter challenges with regards to cold spray coating adhesion and overall deposition efficiency. Heat induced methods of post-processing or in-situ treatment have been explored to encourage particle softening in the cold spray plume, as well as coating recrystallization to enhance material properties. These approaches have primarily been limited to an experimental approach, …

Improving Human Dimensions Of Conservation Planning: Challenges And Opportunities For Sustainable Conservation Outcomes, Vivian Hulugh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conservation planning is important to ensure both ecological and social benefits of natural resources, including the maintenance of functional ecosystems and stable wildlife populations as well as the provision of resources that communities rely on. Yet, the integration of the human dimensions of conservation planning remains limited in practice. This thesis examines conservation planning in South Dakota and within Joint Venture (JV) partnerships, using qualitative methods to identify challenges and opportunities for more effective and coordinated planning. In chapter one, I examine how collaboration, public participation, and the use of climate information are integrated conservation planning in South Dakota and …

The Spacetime Finite Element Method For Investigations Into Physics Ghost Systems And Time Parallel Preconditioning, Jax Wysong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work operates on two fronts, focusing on interesting physical phenomena before turning our attention to an interesting numerical math problem. First, using the spacetime finite element method (FEM), we investigate a PDE system consisting of two Klein Gordon equations, which are coupled nonlinearly through the potential energy. The system contains a ghost (negative kinetic energy term). Systems such as these are generally deemed physically unstable, resulting in infinite energy in finite time. However, recent work has shown that this is not always the case. We investigate multiple scenarios arising from different initial conditions to characterize if/when a ghost system …

Transcriptomic And Epigenetic Analysis Of Dormant Grape Buds During Chilling Fulfillment, Imasha Thilakarathna

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of Perennial Clover Living Mulch And Reduced Tillage Effects On Weed Suppression, Crop Metrics, And Yield Of Organic Cabbage And Sweet Corn In The Northern Great Plains, Kristina Harms

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vegetable farmers often face weed management and soil health challenges, such as nitrate leaching, soil compaction, and top-soil loss. Sustainable agriculture is a forefront of innovation compared to conventional agriculture. Living mulches, non-cash crops grown alongside cash crops, have demonstrated weed suppression and impact on the promotion of sustainable agriculture. Yet studies have not evaluated established living mulch systems on cash crop quality and yield. This study conducted in 2023, 2024, and 2025 at SDSU Southeast Research Farm, Beresford, SD, USA evaluates the impact of established ‘Dynamite’ red clover (Trifolium pratense), ‘Domino’ white clover (T. repens), and ‘Aberlasting’ white × …

The Monstrosity Of “Deor”: Apophasis In Character And Form, Ada Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

T. A. Shippey once referred to “Deor” as “that most perfect of Old English poems.” And indeed, the poem cannot help but inspire the reader to deep contemplation, even as it baffles scholars in so many ways. From its rare stanzaic structure to its anomalous refrain—“þæs ofer eode þisses swa mæg”—the elegy has inspired much debate within the scholarship. In fact, one of the few agreements among the scholars of “Deor” is the poem’s capacity to undermine all interpretations. The poem has the remarkable quality of mentioning many well-known legendary and historical figures while, at the same time, denying the …

Assessing The Impact Of Local–State Revenue Shares And Property Tax Structure On Effective Farmland Tax Rates: Panel Evidence From Seven Midwestern States, 2009–2022, Imtiaz Amin Chy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Property taxes are the primary revenue instrument of local governments in the United States, yet the burdens they impose are distributed unevenly. Farmland, because it cannot be relocated, often absorbs a disproportionate share. This paper examines two related questions: what fiscal factors determine how heavily agricultural land is taxed, and do those tax rates capitalize into farmland asset values? Using an annual panel of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin from 2009 to 2022, we first document how each state allocates property tax revenue across four major spending categories (education, public welfare, health, and utilities) finding that all …

Production, Characterization, And Diagnostic Application Of Monoclonal Antibodies Against The N-Protein Of Avian Metapneumovirus Subgroup B, Ravi Gupta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Avian metapneumovirus (aMPV) is a respiratory pathogen that causes Turkey Rhinotracheitis (TRT) in turkeys and Swollen Head Syndrome (SHS) in chickens. The infection leads to facial swelling, nasal discharge, reduced egg production, and poor growth. This virus is classified into four subgroups: aMPV-A, B, C, and D, with two other novel subgroups, in which aMPV-A, B, and C are most prevalent in the commercial flocks. In early 2024, aMPV-A and B outbreaks have been reported in the US, resulting in severe economic losses. An economic assessment estimates around $112 million in losses in Minnesota and up to $434 million in …

Managing The Mood: How Managerial Communication Shapes The Experience Of Emotional Labor Among Restaurant Employees, Brynn Olverson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Restaurant work is emotionally demanding work for servers and bartenders. Organizational Support Theory (Eisenberger et al., 1986) suggests that employees’ perceptions of their organizations’ support can bolster the negative side effects of such work. However, past instruments used to measure these perceptions do not distinguish between types of emotional experience, nor separate perceptions of emotional support from other forms of support. Likewise, OST notes that supervisors play a key role in influencing perceptions of organizational support, but more work is needed to determine specific communicative behaviors that can increase perceptions of organizational support. The study at hand proposes that managers' …

Data-Driven Optimization Of Memory Effects And Critical Components In Cascading Failure Interaction Networks, Md Farhan Tanvir

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cascading failures are a major concern for modern power systems‚ where a small failure can cascade through the network to create a large blackout. Because such an event could have catastrophic economic and social costs it is important to understand cascading failures‚ how to model them‚ and the possibility of reducing them. In this thesis‚ we develop a data-driven framework based on actual utility outage data to model and reduce cascading failures. The proposed methodology is based on generation-dependent interaction models and in this study interaction matrices obtained from historical outage events are used to describe the interaction between generations. …

The Fertilization President: A Rhetorical Analysis Of The United States’ Rebirth Of Pronatalism, Kara Vetch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United States experienced one of the lowest birth rates in decades in 2024 and has been blamed by policymakers for poor economic and societal outcomes. To combat this, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to encourage healthcare insurances to lower the cost of fertility treatments. Policies encouraging more births align with pronatalist ideologies, the belief that higher national birth rates are better for society. Furthermore, Vice President JD Vance and social media influencers, Malcolm and Simone Collins, have built a strong resurgence of pronatalist ideologies through public addresses and interviews long before Trump’s executive order. For an in-depth …

Computational Modeling Of Biophysical Transport: Respiratory Drug Delivery And Tissue-Level Physics, Md Tariqul Hossain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The nasopharynx, the upper part of the pharynx located at the back of the nose serves as a critical hotspot for initial respiratory infections via inhaled transmission, largely due to the presence of specific surface receptors that pathogens can exploit for cell invasion, combined with a relatively sparse local mucociliary substrate. To enhance the therapeutic efficacy against certain pathogens, such as the SARS and Influenza viruses, it is therefore essential to improve the targeted delivery of drugs to the nasopharynx. This study explores the use of intranasal sprays as a method for drug administration and models the transport of sprayed …

Numerical Investigation Of Injector Location And Equivalence Ratio In A Flame‐Holder Cavity Scramjet, Matthew Sorenson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a CFD-based parametric study of injector location and fuel rate in an ethylene-fueled flame-holder cavity scramjet using STAR-CCM+. Simulations are performed for three injector locations (x/D = 18, 36, and 54) and nine equivalence ratios spanning from ϕ = 0.2 to 1.0 in 0.1 increments. The study aims to determine how injector placement and fueling level alter scramjet performance across a broad operating sweep. The results show a clear regime change between ϕ = 0.2 and ϕ ≥ 0.3. At ϕ = 0.2, combustor behavior is weakly sensitive to injector location compared to the higher-fueling cases. For …

Sustainable State: A Location-Based Analysis Of Recycling Habits On A University Campus, Valentyna Labrie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Universities are mini communities for the younger generation. Their role in advancing sustainable waste management practices is very valuable. That is why it is crucial to promote pro-environmental behavior, monitor consistent sorting accuracy, and maintain positive recycling indicators such as contamination and diversion rates. The research aim was to explore the impact of spatial context and visual communication strategies on recycling accuracy, contamination, and diversion rates at South Dakota State University (SDSU). The research analysed the impact of proximity to food service areas on waste composition. Another research interest was the impact of educational signage and stickers on recycling behavior …

Cyber Security Related To Agricultural Data Encryption Using Edge Computing Devices, Mohammad Ashik Alahe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Smart Agriculture increasingly relies on image-based sensing, edge computing, and artificial intelligence to support data-driven decision-making in modern farming systems. While these technologies improve productivity and resource efficiency, they also introduce significant cybersecurity risks, particularly agricultural images transmitted and processed in real-time on resource-constrained edge devices. Unauthorized access, data manipulation, and interception of image data can lead to incorrect agronomic decisions and severe economic consequences. Despite this risk, efficient and practical cybersecurity solutions for real-time agricultural imaging remain limited. This study addresses these challenges by developing and evaluating encryption-based cybersecurity frameworks tailored for real-time agricultural image protection on edge computing …

Strong Foundations: Supporting Mental Well-Being In School-Age Youth, Skylar Simpson

Occupational Therapy | OTD Capstone Projects

School-age youth in the United States increasingly face stressors that disrupt their overall mental well-being, highlighting a need for accessible preventative interventions. To address this gap, this doctoral capstone project developed a program titled Strong Foundations: Supporting Mental Well-Being in School-Age Youth, an evidence- and occupation-based program consisting of various interventions designed to enhance the well-being of youth attending a San Francisco Recreation and Park (SFRPD) community-based summer camp. Through embedding occupational therapy-based programming into an environment that currently lacks dedicated mental well-being promotion methods, the Strong Foundations aims to foster mental well-being among school-age youth through occupational engagement that …

Access Resource Guide For Bay Area Cultural Arts Organizations Developed In Collaboration With People With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Clarissa Junio

Occupational Therapy | OTD Capstone Projects

Background: Hidden access barriers persist within cultural arts organizations. As a result, people with IDD continue to experience reduced levels of community participation, limiting the associated benefits to health, well-being, and quality of life. Organizational-level occupational therapy (OT) consultation can address barriers and expand organizational capacity to meet the needs of people with IDD.

Purpose: The project aimed to strengthen organizational capacity of Bay Area cultural arts organizations and expand existing accessibility resources by co-developing a resource guide centered on lived experience to maximize community social participation for people with IDD. The guide was disseminated to cultural arts …

The Role Of Occupational Therapy In Developing Aquatic Programs For Children Diagnosed With Autism, Giavanna Stavros

Occupational Therapy | OTD Capstone Projects

There is a need for inclusion in therapeutic aquatic programming for children diagnosed with autism (ASD), as their increased participation in aquatic interventions and activities promotes safety and well-being for this population. Pediatric occupational therapists (OTs) are vital to fill this gap in skill, as pediatric OTs consistently work with children diagnosed with ASD (Jaicks, 2024), and core principles of the occupational therapy (OT) profession include enhancing one’s safety and well-being (American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), 2025). Children diagnosed with ASD must have the opportunity to engage in swimming and aquatic therapy, as this population is at a higher risk …

Promoting Postpartum Maternal Self-Efficacy Through Prenatal Pelvic Floor Health And Sensory Modulation Education, Cate Smith

Occupational Therapy | OTD Capstone Projects

Pelvic floor therapy, also called pelvic floor health care, is an emerging field for occupational therapy practitioners. Pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) is a common health outcome after pregnancy and childbirth. Although most women receive consistent prenatal health care, they do not receive the education they need to manage symptoms of PFD such as incontinence, pain, and sensory dysregulation during the postpartum period. Occupational therapy can play a meaningful role in educating and supporting women during the prenatal period, postpartum healing, and role acquisition. This doctoral capstone project researched educational strategies to improve self-efficacy among perinatal women. Albert Bandura defines self-efficacy …

Sensory Modulation For Adults With Developmental Disabilities: An Occupational Therapy Approach For Adult Day Programs, Aveen Dulai

Occupational Therapy | OTD Capstone Projects

This occupational therapy (OT) doctoral capstone project focused on the development and implementation of a proactive sensory modulation program with the use of Assistive Technology (AT) for adults with Developmental Disabilities (DD) at an adult day program. Adults with DD have diverse needs such as - motor, communication, behavioral, cognitive, and sensory processing challenges. These varying abilities often require AT and environmental adaptations to afford meaningful participation in occupations.  Providing customized and accessible programing for adults with DD arediversity, equity, inclusion, justice and accessibility (DEIJA) issues (Kripke, 2018). Often, adult day programs are limited in OT services, including accessible sensory …

Strengthening Communication And Collaboration Between The Student Support Triad (Teachers, Caregivers, And Health Professionals) In Schools, Jasmine E. Henley

Occupational Therapy | OTD Capstone Projects

Teachers, caregivers, and health professionals, who are key stakeholders that form a student support triad, each face a range of challenges and barriers that impact their ability to communicate and collaborate with one another, therefore impacting the student and their ability to access and participate in meaningful occupations. Though these challenges and barriers for each stakeholder are well-documented individually, there is limited evidence on solutions to strengthen communication across the triad and solutions that center the student and their engagement in meaningful occupations. This project aims to bridge this gap, despite the greater systemic barriers, by developing remedial solutions that …

Sensory Friendly Summers: Designing Inclusive Camp Experiences For Children With Sensory Processing Challenges, Isandla Blanc

Occupational Therapy | OTD Capstone Projects

Children with sensory processing challenges may experience barriers to participation in everyday activities. While summer camps offer opportunities for social development, play, and growth, staff may have limited training and resources to support children with different sensory needs. This can create challenges to participation and inclusion within traditional summer camp environments. The purpose of this capstone project was to develop, implement, and evaluate a staff training program aimed at increasing staff understanding of sensory processing and providing practical strategies to support campers with sensory processing challenges.

A project-level needs assessment was conducted through informal staff conversations, observations of daily camp …

Occupational Therapy’S Role In Promoting An Accessible Playground Environment For Parents With Physical Disabilities, Molly M. Busby

Occupational Therapy | OTD Capstone Projects

Limited implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility standards and concepts of universal design in the playground environment restrict parents with physical disabilities' engagement in the co-occupation of visiting the playground with their children. The outdoor playground environment promotes the child’s physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development and has positive benefits on the mental health of the parent. Local community park organizations have the power to make accessibility changes to playgrounds in the community but often they lack the knowledge to do so. The purpose of this capstone project is to facilitate increased inclusivity and physically accessible playground …

A Digital Resource To Support Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Students And New Graduates In Applying Occupation-Based Practice In Inpatient Adult Settings, Alyssa Vessel

Occupational Therapy | OTD Capstone Projects

Occupation-based practice is a core concept within the occupational therapy profession. However, Level II fieldwork students and new graduate occupational therapists may struggle to translate their knowledge of occupation-based practice into clinical practice. This doctoral capstone project aimed to support the implementation of occupation-based practice in adult inpatient settings by developing a website with educational and practical resources. Stakeholder needs and existing evidence on barriers and supports to occupation-based practice informed project development. A questionnaire was distributed to Level II fieldwork students, while discussions with new graduate occupational therapists provided an informal needs assessment. Findings guided the development of website …

Challenging Stem Learning Spaces: The Paradigm Of Contemplative Traditions As The Bedrock Of Creativity And Healing, Raaghav Pandya, Christopher Emdin

Publications and Research

As the post-pandemic classroom and pedagogy evolve to remedy oppressive norms, young people’s mental health and alienation has taken front stage (Rahmani & Zitouni, 2022). Traditional STEM learning spaces often teach inquiry as a linear, non-deviated approach to problems about self and nature (Hrisa & Psillos, 2022). Furthermore, because our classrooms often strip students and educators of their inherent creative abilities through constant assessments, improvement scales, and market-driven expectations, classrooms cease to become places of healing (Pandya, 2021). Eastern wisdom traditions and their associated philosophies provide a unique pedagogical lens that emphasizes a deep inquiry into self, empathy, and creativity …

Ancient Wisdom & Its Cultural Relevance: Reimagining Deeper Learning In Science Classrooms Through The Lens Of Yoga And Vedānta, Raaghav Pandya

Publications and Research

Contemporary calls to reconceptualize how science is taught and understood have brought deeper learning to the forefront of education at-large for its emphasis on critical perspectives, creativity, and student-centered inquiry. Yet this paper argues that its prevailing framework remains constrained by Cartesian dualism, a materialist foundation that disassociates the individual from self, other, and nature, and falls short of addressing the mental health, environmental, and cultural challenges facing youth today. To address this limitation, this paper proposes a complementary convergence between deeper learning and the contemplative traditions of Yoga and Vedānta, whose ancient paradigms of self-inquiry, interconnectedness, and well-being offer …

A Brief Measure Of Decisional Balance For Health Equity Engagement Among Health Professionals, Amanda Lee Almond

Publications and Research

Racial health and healthcare inequities are sustained in part by health professionals’ beliefs about the benefits and costs of equity-focused action, yet no validated decisional balance measure exists for this domain. This study introduces and evaluates the Health Equity Decisional Balance (HEDB) scale. Eighty-eight health professionals completed the scale of ten proposed items assessing perceived pros and cons of engaging with health and healthcare equity work, along with a measure of Anti-Racist Efficacy (ARE) (Eschmann et al., 2023). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to test the latent structure of the scale and its predictive validity. A …

Baking In The Disposition: The Wac/Wid World Through Translational Lenses, Joseph Franklin

Publications and Research

In a global perspective for WAC and other writing programs, the singular identifier of the nation still holds a dominance in articles, books, and conference presentations. But, how we understand relationships between different programs on the global writing studies map often demands a more nuanced unpacking than stable nation-markers can offer. Jonathan Hall (2023) calls us to take up “thinking with trans-” in WAC (p. 13). This chapter answers this call first by locating different pieces of global writing program scholarship along a spectrum from those that aim to establish a single, stable identity for a particular (often national) writing …