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Learning from non-stationary data streams
No full textThe rapid growth of data from sources such as mobile applications, sensors, and network monitoring has increased the need for machine learning algorithms capable of handling non-stationary data streams. However, learning from such streams presents significant challenges due to their evolving nature and the presence of concept drift. One of the most complex issues is learning from imbalanced data streams, where shifting data distributions, combined with feature space drifts, complicate continuous adaptation. These challenges become even more pronounced in multi-class scenarios, which are common in real-world applications. Detecting concept drift in such contexts is particularly demanding, as it requires tracking changes across multiple classes. Moreover, obtaining labels for all instances in practical settings is often infeasible, making it crucial to determine which instances to label and when to do so to optimize performance while minimizing costs. This dissertation explores various aspects of data stream learning, analyzing its key challenges and proposing solutions to enhance the field. The primary objective is to advance data stream research by highlighting its complexity and diversity. Through comprehensive experiments and benchmarks, the proposed contributions demonstrate their effectiveness in addressing non-stationary, multi-class, imbalanced, and partially labeled data streams. Overall, the developed methods and strategies provide valuable insights into data stream learning and contribute to the creation of more accurate, adaptive, and efficient machine learning algorithms for real-world applications
The Red Scare
Full text linkGrand prize winner in the 2025 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.
The Masked Moth, scourge of supervillains and protector of artists from censorship, battles his greatest foe yet—The Red Scare, who emits a scream so terrifying it sends people into a paranoid, anti-Communist frenzy.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/jurgen/1024/thumbnail.jp
Task Analysis for Google\u27s Looker Studio
Full text linkThis is a secondary resource associated with an article that will appear in the Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability. The task analysis breaks down, through text and visuals, the process of constructing an interactive display of assessment results using Google\u27s Looker Studios
Examining multiple stakeholder perspectives on the acceptability of pain-mitigation as a tool to manage needle fear
Full text linkNeedle fear affects up to 63% of the global adult population and is associated with significant fear-based medical care avoidance (e.g., blood donation refusal, vaccine hesitancy, insulin injection adherence). Current behavioral treatments have low acceptance in this population, and often fail to address the experience of pain associated with needle procedures. Despite the existence of evidence-based pain-mitigation for needle procedures, these interventions are not commonly used in clinical settings. The current study used qualitative methods to examine patient and provider perceptions of: 1) current methods of needle fear management, and 2) the acceptability of pain-mitigation as an effective tool to manage needle fear. To gain patient and healthcare provider insights into needle fear management in clinical settings, four focus groups were conducted with patients (n = 25) and in-depth interviews were conducted with health care providers (e.g., phlebotomists, nurses; n = 9). Four themes emerged from patient focus groups pertaining to needle fear experiences and management: negative experiences sustain anxiety, knowledge and management, medical engagement, and communication. Among providers, the primary theme that arose regarding current management of needle fear was lack of knowledge. Both patients and providers expressed cautious support for pain-mitigation tools. This caution was primarily associated with concerns of product effectiveness and a need for more administrative and institutional support for implementation. Findings suggest that patient and provider education about needle fear is needed to address stigma and management barriers in clinical settings. Additionally, engagement of institution leadership and administrative staff is required to overcome administrative barriers (e.g., costs, clinic policies) associated with the implementation of pain-mitigation interventions
Sex-Specific Regulation of MASH and Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Role of SphK2 in Females
Full text linkMetabolic Dysfunction-Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD) is characterized by excessive fat accumulation in the liver, with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) representing a more severe form that can progress to cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The sphingosine kinases and the S1P signaling pathway are key regulators of MASH and HCC progression. While much is known about the mechanisms contributing to MASH-HCC in males, less is known for females. Nevertheless, we previously identified sphingosine Kinase 2 (SphK2) to protect females from MASH-driven HCC. This study first performed differential gene expression analysis on human liver cohorts to examine sex-specific differences in gene expression between males and females and their corresponding canonical pathways. Notably, comparing MASH to MAFL patients found many key characteristics of MASH similarly regulated in both sexes for Cohort 1, whereas protein translation and metabolism were reduced in males. In addition, analysis of Cohort 3 patients with low and high risk of HCC identified high-risk females to exhibit impaired mitochondrial RNA processing. Next, differential expression analysis was performed for female wild-type (WT) and SphK2 knockout (KO) mice from our MASH-HCC model. Comparing Cohort 3 with the mice cohort revealed four upregulated genes in high-risk females and SphK2 KO mice, all of which are associated with poorer survival in liver cancer patients. Overall, this study identified genes and pathways potentially contributing to sex-specific differences in human MASH and MASH-associated HCC, and further revealed genes upregulated in both high-risk females and SphK2 KO mice linked to poorer survival in liver cancer
‘Train Up a Child in the Way He Should Go’: Investigating the Roles of Religiosity and Spirituality in Racial Socialization for Black Families
No full textBackground. Prior research has identified mechanisms of effective racial socialization (RS) transmission among Black families. Recent scholarship emphasizes the role of RS competency; however, less is known about how caregivers\u27 sociocultural factors, namely religiosity and spirituality, contribute to their RS competency. Former studies find that Black adolescents with religiously engaged parents demonstrate higher religious/spiritual involvement and psychological well-being (e.g., Butler-Barnes et al., 2017). Accordingly, the present study assessed 1) how caregivers’ religiosity/spirituality informed the content and 2) competency of their RS communication. Further, this study investigated 3) how caregivers’ religiosity/spirituality influenced the relation between RS competency and adolescents’ racism-related coping behavior.
Method. This study utilized data from Black/African American caregiver (N = 199; Mage = 43.17; 85% female) and adolescent (N = 199; Mage = 14.97; 56.3% female) dyads. Aims 1 and 2 were assessed using hierarchical linear regressions (HLR). Aim 3 was assessed using HLR models with interactions between caregivers’ religiosity/spirituality and RS competency as predictors and adolescent coping behaviors as outcomes. Caregivers’ gender, age, household income, and religious affiliation (Christian or Other) were entered as covariates in each model.
Results. Caregivers’ religiosity and spirituality were associated with RS content, with religious coping being associated with each message type. Caregivers’ spirituality and religious coping were associated with their confidence and skills with RS. While there were several main effects on adolescent coping, there were no significant interaction effects between religiosity/spirituality and RS competency on adolescent coping.
Conclusion. The present study demonstrates that religiosity/spirituality contribute to the content and competency of RS communication. Findings inform advancements for future research, measure development, clinical practice, and policy initiatives for Black families
A Mixed Methods Study of Health Care Transition Readiness in Parents of Adolescent and Young Adult Survivors of Pediatric Cancers
No full textThis study’s purpose was to better understand health care transition (HCT) readiness in parents of adolescent and young adult (AYA) survivors of pediatric cancers. Aims included assessing feasibility and acceptability of studying HCT readiness in this parent population, identifying factors that predict HCT readiness in survivors’ parents, performing exploratory factor analysis on the Transition Readiness Inventory- parent version (TRI-P), qualitatively exploring parents’ experiences around HCT, and integrating the quantitative and qualitative findings for a richer understanding of parental HCT readiness. Participants, recruited through social media, completed an electronic quantitative survey and, afterwards, indicated their willingness to participate in semi-structured virtual interviews. Integration of findings took place during interpretation. Twenty-two parents completed the survey. While feasibility was not confirmed, acceptability was. Small sample size precluded factor analysis. Stepwise regression yielded a model including parental perceived stress and AYA age as predictive factors for HCT readiness in the sample. Twelve parents participated in semi-structured interviews, and conventional content analysis produced several themes: uncertainty related to HCT, parent roles during treatment, parent-AYA roles now/future, relationships with providers, and survivors’ mental health challenges. Integrating the results found that most themes aligned with TRI-P subscales, while survivors’ mental health challenges were not reflected in the TRI-P. While findings were somewhat aligned with those of studies in other parent groups, nuances seen in parents of AYA survivors of pediatric cancer may warrant more attention. Further study, with a larger, less homogeneous sample, could illuminate opportunities for potential interventions for parents of AYA survivors
From Ink to Code, From Binary to Boundless Reality—Until All Returns to Emptiness
No full textThis thesis explores the entangled relationship between language, memory, and technology through the lens of immigrant experience. Moving from programming to visual storytelling, I investigate how dyslexia, bilingualism, and cultural displacement have shaped my ways of reading, writing, and coding.
Beginning with personal reflections on switching from computer science to art, I trace how code offered a form of clarity and expression where written language had once failed me. Yet as I ventured into real-time simulation and XR storytelling, I encountered new forms of mistranslation—where narratives dissolved, mutated, or resisted coherence altogether.
Through a series of experiments in code-driven art, culminating in the XR project Ideal Home, I examine the possibilities and limitations of machine translation for human emotions. By fine-tuning GPT-4 on collaboratively gathered immigrant stories, Ideal Home stages an encounter between fractured memories and algorithmic interpretation, inviting participants to wander through a ghostly landscape of drifting texts and partial recollections.
Drawing inspiration from thinkers like Gayatri Spivak, Svetlana Alexievich, and Pauline Oliveros, I propose mistranslation not as failure but as a generative space—a terrain where hybrid identities and unfinished memories can unfold. In a world shaped by linguistic and technological thresholds, perhaps an ideal home is not a destination but a moment of shared uncertainty: a fleeting agreement between human and machine to continue searching, even when no final understanding is possible.
From ink to code, from binary to boundless reality—until all returns to emptiness
The Cut Worm Forgives The Plow
Full text linkThe explorations in this thesis writing are centered on William Blake’s proverb “The cut worm forgives the plow.” It has been reinterpreted as an allegory of history and energy. A theory of their relation is proposed based on forgiveness, a theory that accepts the palimpsest of orders as evidence for the abundance of the present moment. The writing focuses on questions of proportionality, scale, archaeological screening methods, planar cutting, and a critique of entropy as grounds for this theory. Some of its subjects include the Statue of Liberty, Kate Raworth’s donut economic model, sashimi, triangulation, Joseph Beuys’ “7,000 Eichen,” semiconductors, Incan “Paccha” vessels, quantum superposition, Danh Vo’s “We the People,” Elizabeth Fisher’s carrier bag theory, and flintknapping
Into Thick Air: Adapting Cultural Practices Into Solutions For Modern Wicked Problems
Full text linkInto Thick Air argues that cultural practices can inspire solutions
to challenging modern problems. This project employs the Basant
festival as a case study to critically reimagine kite flying as a
collective practice with the potential to contribute to the reduction
of air pollution in Lahore, a city consistently ranked among those
with the poorest air quality globally. By building kites from fabric
treated with nanoparticle coatings, Into Thick Air transforms a
traditional community activity into an accessible, citizen-driven
method for removing pollutants from the air. The treated kites
empower Lahoris to take charge of their environment while
encouraging collective action and community-driven change. Into
Thick Air proposes a framework for linking cultural practices to
innovative solutions, demonstrating how local traditions can inspire
effective responses to wicked problems