Digital Commons Network^™

2026 Safety Belt Usage Survey In Kentucky, Erin Lammers-Staats, Derek S. Young, Kenneth R. Agent

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

No abstract provided.

Gender Disparities In Sheltered Status And Systemic Drivers Of Homelessness In Johnson City, Tennessee, Preet Patel, Dr. Opal Frye-Clark

Journal of Appalachian Health

The article examines the homelessness crisis in Johnson City, Tennessee, a mid-sized Appalachian city. First, analysis of Point-in-Time (PIT) counts from 2023 to 2025, conducted in 2025, showed persistently high unsheltered rates (35.88% – 47.17%), with men comprising 60 – 65% of the unhoused population. Men experiencing homelessness also had approximately half the odds of being counted as sheltered compared with women, indicating a gender disparity in sheltered status. Second, an interview with an experienced public health practitioner from the Appalachian Region contextualized these findings by identifying systemic drivers, including the regional housing crisis and policy restrictions, and supporting equitable …

School-Centered Tobacco Retailer Exposure And Neighborhood Opportunity Across Urban And Rural Tennessee, Sima Namin Dr, Jacob Black, Jennifer Ferris, Robert E. Heidel Dr

Journal of Appalachian Health

Introduction: Tobacco retailer availability contributes to youth tobacco use, and retailers are concentrated in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. However, few studies have examined how school-centered retailer exposure intersects with neighborhood opportunity in a predominantly rural Appalachian state.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the association between neighborhood opportunity and school-centered tobacco retailer exposure across Tennessee (TN), including differences by rurality and Appalachian status.

Methods: We constructed a tract-level, school-centered youth tobacco exposure index for TN using tobacco retailer locations and public and private K-12 school data. The index incorporated retailer proximity, density, and distance-decay accessibility measures. Child Opportunity …

The Separation Of Election Contest Powers, Casey Parker-Bell

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Kentucky's Alford Predicament: The Case For Curbing Qualified Guilty Pleas In The Commonwealth, Ben Whatley

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Right To Have Rights In United States Territories, Anthony M. Ciolli

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Immigration Detainers, Local Law Enforcement, And Constraints On Bureaucratic Discretion: Recent Trends Under The Second Trump Administration, Richard T. Middleton, Sheridan Wigginton

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

From Militarization To Military Enforcement: The U.S. Armed Forces And Immigration Control In The Second Trump Administration, Kit Johnson

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Immigration Bridges, Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Duty To Develop Imperative In Immigration Proceedings, Sabrineh Ardalan, Tiffany J. Lieu

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Deportation After Death By Incarceration: A Right To Redemption, Jennifer Lee Koh, Tin Nguyen

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Sherbert Colored Lens: Apache Stronghold And The Uphill Battle For The Recognition Of A Substantial Burden For Indigenous Plaintiffs, Emma P. Collins

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Enforcement Mechanisms For Supreme Court Ethics Codes: Applying State Models To Scotus, Katherine Nipper

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Hope In The Holler: How Eminent Domain Can Bring Economic Justice To Central Appalachia, Matthew B. Chaney

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

History And Tradition Of Inequality, Advocacy, And Progress, Teri Dobbins Baxter

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Birth Of Creditor Qualified Immunity, Daniel M. Tavera

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

States Strip Local Governments Of Authority To Govern Causing Some Rural Communities To Suffer, Terence J. Centner

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Much Ado About Nothing: The Effect Of The "Nullity Rule" On Purported Pro Se Litigants In Federal Court, John T. Lambert

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Consumer Bankruptcy: A "Gem" Of The Legal Profession But A Diamond In The Rough, Tori Harris

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Arbitration Clause Expansion, Hossein Fazilatfar

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The New Parens Patriae, Meredith Johnson Harbach

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Against First Amendment Traditionalism, Jacob M. Schriner-Briggs

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Development Of Reduced Conflict U-Turn (Rcut) Guidance In Kentucky, Travis Thompson, Duane Thomas, Jill Asher, Jeff Jasper

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

A reduced conflict U-turn (RCUT) intersection eliminates left-turn and through movements from the minor road. Instead, drivers must turn right onto the main road and complete a U-turn at a downstream median opening. Recognized by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) as a proven safety countermeasure, RCUT intersections have reduced fatal and injury crashes 22 – 63%. Despite more than 35 RCUT intersections in operation across Kentucky, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) lacked specific guidance for their planning, design, construction, and operation.

This project, conducted by the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) in cooperation with KYTC, addressed this gap through a comprehensive …

Chameleon Carriers In Trucking: Detection, Enforcement, And Financial And Safety Impacts, Brian Howell, Drew Law, Andrew Martin

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Chameleon carriers are motor carriers that evade regulatory enforcement by dissolving and reregistering under new corporate identities. This study, commissioned by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), examined how states characterize, detect, and respond to chameleon carrier activity and assessed its financial and safety impacts in Kentucky from 2020 through 2025. The research team conducted a literature review of existing agency practices and relevant stakeholder perspectives, reviewed administrative codes and statutes across 13 pilot states, and administered two structured surveys to state motor carrier credentialing officials examining carrier characterization and enforcement practices. An analysis of KYTC's carrier data flagged by CVIEW …

Evaluation Of Kentucky’S Work Zone Speed Camera Pilot Program: Speed And Crash Analyses, Xu Zhang, William Staats, Eric Green

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Kentucky introduced automated speed enforcement in work zones to mitigate hazards and improve the safety of motorists and workers. This study describes the impacts of automated speed enforcement at five pilot sites. Researchers analyzed speed data and crash data from pilot sites and paired control sites. The control sites and pilot sites had similar traffic volumes, lane configurations, and functional classifications. Analysis drew on over 15 million individual speed records captured using automated enforcement cameras as well as segment-level speed data from HERE.  Active enforcement at pilot sites was associated with lower mean, 85th-percentile, and 99th-percentile vehicle speeds. Average vehicle …

Kytc’S Digital Project Delivery Phase 2 Summary, Catherine Keathley

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Begun in 2020, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s (KYTC) Digital Project Delivery (DPD) Initiative is working to expand the use of digitally formatted plan and project information throughout transportation asset life cycles. A primary goal of the initiative is to provide users with access to accurate data on design intent, as-built records, and maintenance operations in a connected data environment. This report reviews work completed during Phase 2 of the initiative. Thirteen pilot projects are ongoing or have been completed. In response to the initiative’s growth, the Division of Professional Services no longer issues formal requests for proposals to solicit pilot …

Utility Of The Recombinase Driver Cx3cr1-Ert2 Rat Strain In Nicotine Self-Administration, Ashley M. White, Ashley J. Craig, Daryl L. Richie, Christa L. Corley, Percell T. Kendrick, Kathleen R. Mcnealy, Michael D. Scofield, Cassandra D. Gipson

Psychology Faculty Publications

Smoking remains a leading preventable cause of death, and nicotine is the primary substance responsible for maintaining use of tobacco products. Preclinical rodent models have shown that neuroimmune signaling is dysregulated by nicotine self-administration (SA) within the nucleus accumbens core (NAcore). Microglia are the resident brain immune cell and prior studies have shown that they play an important role in nicotine-related behaviors. However, while transgenic mouse lines allow for specific evaluations of microglia to determine their role in neurobiology and behavior, there are fewer tools available for rats as a model species, thus limiting our ability to evaluate specific contributions …

Effectiveness Of Irrigated Pastures, Nikolai Gavrilovich Andreev

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Irrigated pastures are of greatest relevance to stabilizing the general fodder situation, for reasons of the high yield and low cost of pasture forage. If irrigation and fertilization are pro­vided, best yields may be expected from forage plant mixtures which consist of five species: three grasses and two legumes. Fertilizer appli­cation must be quantified, depending on the soil nutrient status and in conformity with agrochemical test results and soil maps. The use of slurry obtained from livestock farms is useful not only for higher pasture forage yields but also for better protection of ground water and surface water. Irrigated pastures …

Current Aspects Of Eco-Physiological Studies Of Meadow Plants, Momcilo Konic

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Basic parameters applied in eco-physiological studies of meadow plants are: water balance (hydration, transpiration intensity, amounts and forms of water, water deficit, etc.), assim­ilation balance (CO2 balance, assimilation performance, compensation effect), matter pro­duction. Eco-physiological studies should be followed by microclimatic measurements and the anatomical analysis of the meadow plants under study. Eco-physiological studies of meadow plants, if performed in a complex and systematic way, constitute the safest basis for detennining the characters of the entire meadow plant com­munity under the concrete conditions of natural factors prevailing in terms of natural condi­tions and human influence.

The Breeding Of Tetraploid Alsike Clover (Trifolium Hybridum L.) For Mowing And Grazing, Vladimir Malashenko, Svetlana Cheprasova, Antonina Fadeeva

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

An account is given of the long-range im­portance that should be attributed to the use of No. 701 tetraploid alsike clover as an early ­maturity, fast-growing, high-yield competitive leguminous plant for irrigated pastures and arable forage cultivation.

Leguminous plants are of very great im­portance to forage production at large. They actually constitute a major source for nitrogen supply. This underlines their decisive role in grassland farming as a device by which to get to grips with the nitrogen deficit. Pasture pro­ductivity can best be improved by proper arrangement of plant associations with forage crop partners of the legume family which …