Digital Commons Network^™

Developing A Southern Ocean Marine Ecosystem Model Ensemble To Assess Climate Risks And Uncertainties, Kieran Murphy, Denisse Fierro-Arcos, Tyler Rohr, David Green, Camilla Novaglio, Katherine Baker, Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, Tyler D. Eddy, Cheryl S. Harrison, Simeon L. Hill, Patrick Eskuche-Keith, Camila Cataldo-Mendez, Colleen M. Petrik, Matthew Pinkerton, Paul Spence, Ilaria Stollberg, Roshni C. Subramaniam, Rowan Trebilco, Vivitskaia Tulloch, Juliano Palacios-Abrantes, Sophie Bestley, Daniele Bianchi, Philip Boyd, Pearse J. Buchanan, Andrea Bryndum-Buchholz, Marta Coll, Stuart Corney, Samik Datta, Jason D. Everett, Romain Forestier, Elizabeth A. Fulton, Vianney Guibourd De Luzinais, Ryan Heneghan

Faculty Publications

Climate change could irreversibly modify Southern Ocean ecosystems. Marine ecosystem model (MEM) ensembles can assist policy making by projecting future changes and allowing the evaluation and assessment of alternative management approaches. However, projected changes in total consumer biomass from the Fisheries and Marine Ecosystem Model Intercomparison Project (FishMIP) global MEM ensemble highlight an uncertain future for the Southern Ocean, indicating the need for a region-specific ensemble. A large source of model uncertainty originates from the Earth system models used to force FishMIP models, particularly future changes to lower trophic level biomass and sea-ice coverage. To build confidence in regional MEMs …

Modelling The Effects Of Vegetation Distribution And Density On Hydrological Connectivity And Water Age In A River Delta, Madoche Jean Louis, Matthew Hiatt

Faculty Publications

Water transport timescales (WTTs) quantify how long it takes for water to travel through or remain in a system and are often cast as indicators of ecosystem function and health. Such timescales are known to be affected by vegetation in various environments. We quantify the impact of floodplain vegetation on WTTs within the Wax Lake Delta (WLD), a river delta system in Louisiana, USA, using a high-resolution Delft3D Flexible Mesh (DFM) model incorporating vegetation-induced flow resistance. We show that increased vegetation density leads to extended WTTs within vegetated sections of WLD while fostering flow localization and accelerating transport within distributary …

The Artificially Intelligent Rps Negotiation And Mediation Coach, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This document describes the artificially intelligent RPS Negotiation and Mediation Coach (“RPS Coach”) tool, which is an outgrowth of the Real Practice Systems (RPS) Project. It is designed to help many different users perform numerous tasks including (1) attorneys anticipating challenges, strategizing, and representing clients, (2) mediators enhancing preparation, communication, and decision-making, (3) disputing parties making better decisions, (4) ADR program administrators developing clear rules, policies, and materials, (5) educators and trainers teaching practical theory and skills, and (6) students and trainees learning practical theory and skills.

RPS theory and practice is designed to help attorneys and mediators help their …

Modulators Of Energy Expenditure Accuracy In Adults With Overweight Or Obesity: E-Mechanic Secondary Analyses, Rachel Matthews, Christoph Höchsmann, Melissa L. Erickson, James L. Dorling, Guillaume Spielmann, Neil M. Johannsen, Timothy S. Church, Corby K. Martin

Faculty Publications

Purpose American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) metabolic equations are used to estimate energy expenditure (EE) of physical activity and prescribe aerobic exercise to meet EE requirements. Limited evidence supports their accuracy in sedentary adults with overweight or obesity during controlled exercise interventions. The purpose of this study was to compare EE estimated by the ACSM walking equation versus EE measured by indirect calorimetry during a 24-wk aerobic exercise intervention, and identify potential modulators for their accuracy. Methods Data from the exercising groups (8 or 20 kcal·kg body weight-1·wk-1) of the E-MECHANIC study were utilized in this ancillary analysis (N …

From The Mountains To The Beach: Water Purification Ecosystem Services And Recreational Beach Use In Puerto Rico, Maya Corridore, Rebeca De Jesús Crespo, Mariam Valladares-Castellanos, Thomas Douthat

Faculty Publications

Recreational beach use is important for coastal economies and is influenced by water clarity, a trait that may be maintained by water purification ecosystem services (ESs). However, few studies have addressed these linkages. In this study, we ask the following questions: (1) Do watershed-scale water purification ecosystem services influence coastal water quality? (2) Does coastal water quality help explain beach visitation rates? To address these questions, we focused on Puerto Rico (PR), where coastal tourism has economic and cultural importance. We estimated water purification ESs using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST), coastal water quality using long-term …

A 3d Superposition Approximation For Gamma Knife Dose Calculation, Payton H. Stone, Lam M. Lay, Raymi Ramirez, Daniel Neck, Connel Chu, Joyoni Dey, David Solis

Faculty Publications

Effective dose calculation is essential for optimizing Gamma Knife (GK) stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) treatment plans. Modern GK systems allow independent sector activation, enabling complex dose distributions per shot. This study presents a dose approximation method designed to account for shot flexibility and generate 3D doses external to GammaPlan. A treatment plan was created with the TMR10 calculation for individual sector activations using a Radiosurgery Head Phantom. The resulting dose arrays established a basis set of sector-specific distributions, which were then referenced by shot parameters from the plan, allowing dose accumulation through superposition. This superposition approximation (SA) was compared to the …

Ixpe Observation Of The Low-Synchrotron Peaked Blazar S4 0954+65 During An Optical-X-Ray Flare, Pouya M. Kouch, Ioannis Liodakis, Francesco Fenu, Haocheng Zhang, Stella Boula, Riccardo Middei, Laura Di Gesu, Georgios F. Paraschos, Iván Agudo, Svetlana G. Jorstad, Elina Lindfors, Alan P. Marscher, Henric Krawczynski, Michela Negro, Kun Hu, Dawoon E. Kim, Elisabetta Cavazzuti, Manel Errando, Dmitry Blinov, Anastasia Gourni, Sebastian Kiehlmann, Angelos Kourtidis, Nikos Mandarakas, Nikolaos Triantafyllou, Anna Vervelaki, George A. Borman, Evgenia N. Kopatskaya, Elena G. Larionova, Daria A. Morozova, Sergey S. Savchenko, Andrey A. Vasilyev, Ivan S. Troitskiy, Tatiana S. Grishina

Faculty Publications

The X-ray polarization observations, made possible with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), offer new ways of probing high-energy emission processes in astrophysical jets from blazars. Here, we report the first X-ray polarization observation of the blazar S4 0954+65 in a high optical and X-ray state. During our multi-wavelength (MWL) campaign of the source, we detected an optical flare whose peak coincided with the peak of an X-ray flare. This optical-X-ray flare most likely took place in a feature moving along the parsec-scale jet, imaged at 43 GHz by the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). The 43 GHz polarization angle …

Post-Wildfire Mobilization Of Organic Carbon, Travis Numan, Srinidhi Lokesh, Abrar Shahriar, Anil Timilsina, Myron L. Lard, Justin Clark, Yasaman Raeofy, Qian Zhao, Simon R. Poulson, Paul S. Verburg, Jocelyn A. Richardson, Robert L. Cook, Vera Samburova, Yu Yang

Faculty Publications

Wildfires significantly alter watershed functions, particularly the mobilization of organic carbon (OC). This study investigated OC mobility and the physicochemical characteristics of wildfire-impacted soils and ashes from the northern California and Nevada fires (Dixie, Beckworth, Caldor). Organic carbon in wildfire-derived ashes (9.2–57.3 mg/g) generally exceeded levels in the background soils (4.3–24.4 mg/g), except at the Dixie fire sites. The mobile OC fraction varied from 0.0093 to 0.029 in ashes and 0.010 to 0.065 in soils, though no consistent trend was observed between the ashes and soils. Notably, the ash samples displayed lower OC mobility compared with the soils beneath them. …

Church Leaders’ Health Behaviors And Program Implementation In The Faith, Activity, And Nutrition Program In The United States, Kelsey R. Day, Sara Wilcox Phd, Lindsay Decker, John Bernhart Ph.D., Mph, Ches, Meghan Baruth, Andrew T. Kaczynski Ph.D., Christine A. Pellegrini Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Objectives: Church leaders are important to the success of faith-based health promotion interventions through the role modeling of health behaviors. However, clergy may be at a higher risk of chronic disease than their congregants and their health is understudied. This study examined church leaders’ health-related behaviors, differences in health behaviors by socio-demographic characteristics, and associations between health behaviors and church-level implementation of an ecological intervention. Methods: Pastors (n = 93) and church coordinators (n = 92) reported body mass index (BMI), self-rated health, fruit and vegetable consumption (F&V), and physical activity (PA) at baseline and 12 months post-training in the …

The Contemporary Distribution Of Scincine Lizards Does Not Reflect Their Biogeographic Origin, Aniruddha Datta-Roy, Matthew C. Brandley, Christopher C. Austin, Aaron M. Bauer, David James Harris, Salvador Carranza, Kanishka D.B. Ukuwela, Anslem De Silva, Krystal A. Tolley, K. Praveen Karanth, Maitreya Sil

Faculty Publications

Aim: We assess the systematic relationships and historical biogeographic patterns in the subfamily Scincinae, a group of lizards that primarily inhabits the Afro-Madagascan and Saharo-Arabian regions with isolated lineages in Europe, North America, East Asia, India and Sri Lanka. The contemporary distribution of these lineages on the historical Laurasian and Gondwanan landmasses make scincines an ideal system to study the roles of vicariance and dispersal on a geologic scale of tens of millions of years. Location: Global. Taxon: Subfamily Scincinae (Family Scincidae). Methods: We conducted biogeographic analyses on a reconstructed, time-calibrated species tree of scincine genera, including members of the …

Time-Series Data-Driven Pm2.5 Forecasting: From Theoretical Framework To Empirical Analysis, Chunlai Wu, Ruiyang Wang, Siyu Lu, Jiawei Tian, Lirong Yin, Lei Wang, Wenfeng Zheng

Faculty Publications

PM2.5 in air pollution poses a significant threat to public health and the ecological environment. There is an urgent need to develop accurate PM2.5 prediction models to support decision-making and reduce risks. This review comprehensively explores the progress of PM2.5 concentration prediction, covering bibliometric trends, time series data characteristics, deep learning applications, and future development directions. This article obtained data on 2327 journal articles published from 2014 to 2024 from the WOS database. Bibliometric analysis shows that research output is growing rapidly, with China and the United States playing a leading role, and recent research is increasingly focusing on data-driven …

Religious Nationalism: Narendra Modi’S 2019 Election Victory Speech, Nihar Sreepada

Faculty Publications

The ideology of nationalism is permeating and ascending across societies, eventually manifesting materially in several nations across the world. In this essay, I analyze the religious manifestation of nationalism within the context of India’s Hindu nationalism. I argue that Modi, in his 2019 election victory speech, constructs a grand narrative of Hindu nationalistic unification by positioning himself as a Hindu sanyasi (ascetic) and by alluding to Hindu mythologies. First, I present the historical context of India’s Hindu nationalism (Hindutva). Second, I explicate the formation of an ideological discourse through Kenneth Burke’s focus on identification and the constitutive rhetoric of calling …

Rural–Urban Differences In Substance Use During Pregnancy, Emma Kathryn Boswell, Olivia M. Hinds, Cassie Odahowski Phd, Mph, Elizabeth L. Crouch, Peiyin Hung Ph.D, Christina M. Andrews Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Purpose: Drug overdoses are now a leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States. Despite evidence of rural–urban disparities in substance use, there has not yet been a nationally representative examination of rural–urban differences in perinatal substance use. This study provides a comprehensive examination of rural–urban disparities in perinatal substance use. Methods: This study uses cross-sectional data to examine 3499 pregnant women from the 2015–2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Rural (nonmetro)–urban (metro) differences in past-month tobacco use, alcohol use, binge drinking, illicit drug use, and marijuana use were examined using Rao–Scott chi-square tests and multivariable …

Modifiable And Non-Modifiable Risk Factors For Dementia Among Non-Hispanic White And Black Populations Aged 50-64 In The United States, 2006-2016, Jingkai Wei, Matthew C. Lohman Ph.D., Monique J. Brown, James W. Hardin, Chih-Hsiang Yang, Anwar T. Nerchant, Daniela B. Friedman

Faculty Publications

Background and Objectives

Research Design and Methods

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Resilience, And Syringe Services Program Attendance Among Persons Who Inject Drugs In Northeast Georgia, Usa: A Mediation Analysis, Mohammad Rifat Haider, Samantha Clinton, Monique J. Brown, Nathan B. Hansen

Faculty Publications

Background: Syringe services programs (SSP) are evidence-based venues offering harm reduction services to persons who inject drugs (PWID), such as sterile syringes, STI/HIV testing, and linkage to care to decrease drug use-related morbidities and mortalities. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked with reduced resilience, while increased resilience can help PWID attend SSPs. This study examined the potential mediating role of resilience between ACEs and SSP attendance among PWID.

Methods: Data were collected from adult HIV-negative PWID in northeast Georgia, between February-December 2023 (N = 173). Data were collected on SSP attendance (Yes vs. No), resilience, and ACEs. Covariates included …

Geographic Disparities In Unpaid Caregiving, Emma Kathryn Boswell, Monique J. Brown Ph.D., Mph, Lorie Donelle Phd, Rn, Fcan, Nicholas Yell, Taryn Farrell, Peiyin Hung Ph.D., Elizabeth Crouch Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Purpose: An updated, nationally representative examination of rural–urban differences in the experiences, health, and well-being of caregivers is needed; previous research on this topic uses older data or has limited generalizability. This study examines rural–urban differences in the characteristics, experiences, and health of caregivers. Methods: The 2021–2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (n = 44,274 unpaid caregivers) was used, with rurality defined according to the 2013 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Urban-Rural Classification Scheme. Chi-square tests compared rural–urban differences in these caregivers’ characteristics, including demographic factors, caregiving intensity (e.g., weekly hours spent caregiving, reason for caregiving, past-month ADL/IADL assistance), …

Race, The Academy, And The Constitution Of The War On Drugs, Bennett Capers, Jeffrey Bellin

Faculty Publications

The war on drugs is widely viewed as a policy failure. Despite massive government intrusions on personal liberty, drug addiction, overdoses, and drug-related violence have only increased since the war was declared in 1971. David Pozen’s new book, The Constitution of the War on Drugs, reveals a constitutional failure as well. Pozen chronicles a host of constitutional arguments that American litigants deployed to protect a “right” to use drugs with surprising, if fleeting, success. Pozen asks what might have been, exploring why the courts backtracked and effectively removed the Constitution as a meaningful obstacle to drug prohibitions.

This Review …

Is Bullying Associated With Health Risk And Quality Of Life Behaviors In Adolescents?, Ana Beatriz Pacífico, Eliane Denise Araújo Bacil, Thiago Silva Piola, Michael Pereira Da Silva, Fabio Fontana, Jhonatan Gritten Campos, Ademar Avelar, Wagner De Campos

Faculty Publications

This study assessed the practice of bullying, health risk behavior and quality of life in adolescent boys and girls from the city of Maringá, Paraná. A representative sample of 1,020 adolescents participated in the study to assess the association between bullying, health-risk behavior, and quality of life factors through self-reported questionnaires. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were obtained using both crude and adjusted binary and ordinal logistic regression, with a significance level of p< 0.05. Male bullying perpetrators were 2.2 (95%CI=1.4-3.4) and 2.0 (95%CI=1.2-3.2) times more likely to consume alcohol and engage in physical activity compared to non-bullying males. Female bullying perpetrators were 2.1 (95%CI=1.3-3.5), 3.6 (95%CI=1.3-10.1), 1.8 (95%CI=1.1-2.9), and 2.7 (95%CI=1.1-6.3) times more likely to smoke, use illicit drugs, be addicted to smartphones, and have poorer sleep quality. These girls also had a 60% higher chance of having a worse perception of quality of life, respectively, compared to non-bullying females. The conclusion drawn is that bullying may be associated with health risk behaviors for both boys and girls.

Increasing A-Type Co32− Substitution Decreases The Modulus Of Apatite Nanocrystals, Stephanie Wong, Abigail Eaton, Christina Krywka, Arun Nair, Christophe Drouet, Alix Deymier

Faculty Publications

Biological apatite mineral is highly substituted with carbonate (CO₃²⁻). CO₃²⁻ can exchange for either phosphate, known as B-type, or hydroxyl groups, known as A-type. Although the former has been extensively studied, A-type CO₃²⁻ substituted apatites are poorly understood. Therefore, A-type CO₃²⁻ apatites with biologically relevant levels of CO32− (1.7–5.8 wt%) were prepared and characterized. The addition of A-type CO₃²⁻ into the apatite structure caused the predicted expansion of the a-axis and contraction of the c-axis in the unit cell. This was accompanied by a significant modification in the atomic …

A Standardized Methodology For Evaluating A Digital Badging System [ Data Package ], Benjamin T. Pederson, Mark G. Reith, Ralucca Gera, David S. Long, Edward D. White, Jonathan Zemmer

Faculty Publications

Digital badges, a form of micro-credentials, have grown in popularity over the past decade. However, few standard processes exist to assess the potential of digital badging systems within an organization. This study proposes a generalizable methodology for comparing a badging system with other methods of recording skills and competencies. The experimental design is tested using the military's cyber operations community as the target organization. Finally, mixed-method data from thirty-six participants is analyzed in accordance with the methodology. Based on the results, digital badging systems are perceived to be more valuable and usable than a current method of military talent management. …

Trends In Scholarly Communication, Eleta Exline

Faculty Publications

Slides from a presentation on scholarly communication developments to the UNH Retired Faculty Association.

Materiality In The Csr-Investor Reaction Relationship: A Replication And Extension Of Flammer (2013), Steven D. Kofford, Myles Melancon, Ben W. Lewis

Faculty Publications

We replicate and extend Flammer’s (2013) event study of investor reaction to environmental corporate social responsibility (CSR). Flammer found that investors reacted positively to eco-friendly events and negatively to eco-harmful events from 1980-2009 and that reaction to positive events decreased while reaction to negative events increased over time. We find similar results for Flamer’s original sample and an expanded sample including the same type of firms (U.S.-listed public firms) from 1980-2019. We then extend Flammer’s results by examining how materiality affects investor reaction over time. We find that investors only react to material events and that positive reaction to material …

Lab: Developing Explainable Multimodal Ai Models With Hands-On Lab On The Life-Cycle Of Rare Event Prediction In Manufacturing, Chathurangi Shyalika, Ruwan Wickramarachchi, Revathy Venkataramanan, Dhaval Patel, Amit Sheth

Faculty Publications

In the age of Industry 4.0 and smart automation, unplanned downtime is costing industries over $50 billion annually. Even with preventive maintenance, industries like automotive lose more than $2 million per hour due to downtime caused by unexpected or "rare'' events. The extreme rarity of these events makes their detection and prediction a significant challenge for AI practitioners. Factors such as the lack of high-quality data, methodological gaps in the literature, and limited practical experience with multimodal data exacerbate the difficulty of rare event detection and prediction. This lab will provide hands-on experience to learn how to address these challenges …

Urbanization Impacts Dissolved Organic Matter Concentration And Quality In A Southeastern United States Watershed, Gwendolyn M. Hopper, Erik M. Smith, Jade Dormoy-Boulanger, Claudia R. Benitez-Nelson

Faculty Publications

Blackwater rivers are named due to their exceptionally high concentrations of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM). They are the predominant lotic ecosystem in the United States Southeastern Coastal Plain, a region experiencing some of the nation’s highest rates of development. This study assessed variability in DOM concentration and composition across forested to urbanized blackwater systems in coastal South Carolina, U.S. Dissolved organic carbon and nutrient concentrations as well as absorbance and fluorescence optical properties reveal that urban sites have lower concentrations, elemental ratios, and less complex DOM. In contrast, forested blackwater sites have concentrations an order of magnitude higher, elevated …

Legal Residency Status And Its Relationship With Health Indicators Among Syrian Refugees In Lebanon: A Nested Cross-Sectional Study, Marie-Elizabeth Ragi, Hala Ghattas Ph.D., Berthe Abi Zeid, Hazar Shamas, Noura Joseph El Salibi, Sawsan Abdulrahim, Jocelyn Dejong, Stephen J. Mccall, The Caep Study Group

Faculty Publications

Background Failure to possess or renew legal residency permits increases the burden on a vulnerable refugee population. It risks detention or deportation, and hinders access to basic services including healthcare. This study aimed to examine the association between legal residency status and health of Syrian refugees living in Lebanon.

Methods Data were from two independent nested cross-sectional studies collected in 2022 through telephone surveys. In the first study, all Syrian refugees aged 50 years or older from households that received humanitarian assistance were invited to participate. The second included all adult Syrian refugees residing in a suburb of Beirut. The …

Assessing Information Literacy In The Age Of Generative Ai: A Call To The National Conference Of Bar Examiners, Amy A. Emerson

Faculty Publications

Information literacy is crucial to satisfying a lawyer’s duty of technology competence by virtue of its inherent role in conducting legal research—a skill now recognized by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) as a priority as it prepares for the NextGen Bar Exam. In light of the rapid rise in the number of attorneys facing disciplinary issues across the country, it is the NCBE’s responsibility to draw upon its rich history to address information literacy as a technological competency on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam to protect the public from newly licensed lawyers’ incompetent use of generative artificial intelligence.

Impact Of Voluntary Exercise On Systemic Inflammation In A 2? Hit Model Of Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction, Heather Quiriarte, Eunhan Cho, Youyoung Kim, Jake E. Doiron, Gregory Davis, James Stampley, Robert C. Noland, Zhen Li, Sanjiv J. Shah, Brian A. Irving, Guillaume Spielmann, David J. Lefer, Timothy D. Allerton

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Predicting Diabetes Self-Management Education Engagement: Machine Learning Algorithms And Models, Xiangxiang Jiang, Gang Lv, Minghui Li, Jing Yuan, Z Kevin Lu

Faculty Publications

Introduction Diabetes self-management education (DSME) is endorsed by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) as an essential component of diabetes management. However, the utilization of DSME remains limited in the USA. This study aimed to investigate current DSME participation among the older population and to identify comprehensive factors of DSME engagement through employing various machine learning (ML) models based on a US nationally representative survey linked to claims data.

Research design and methods Data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey were employed, and this study included data on US Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes from 2017 to 2019. Comprehensive variables following the …

Toward Quantifying Interpolation Uncertainty In Set-Line Spacing Hydrographic Surveys, Elias Adediran, Christos Kastrisios, Kim Lowell, Glen Rice, Qi Zhang

Faculty Publications

The oceans remain one of Earth’s last great unknowns, with about 74% still unmapped to modern standards. Consequently, interpolation is employed to create seamless digital bathymetric models (DBMs) from incomplete hydrographic datasets, but this introduces unquantified depth uncertainties. This study aims to estimate and characterize uncertainties arising from set-line spacing hydrographic surveys, which are important for nautical charting, navigational safety, and many other applications. By sampling at different line spacings four complete coverage testbeds that vary in slope and roughness, the study interpolates across entire testbed areas using Spline, Inverse Distance Weighting, and Linear interpolation. The resulting interpolation uncertainties are …

How Do Preservice Teachers Plan To Respond To Perpetrators And Victims Of Bullying? A Qualitative Investigation, Molly Dawes Ph.D., Emily Lohrbach

Faculty Publications

Bullying is a critical problem for schools with teachers serving as key agents in antibullying efforts. To evaluate preservice teachers’ readiness to deal with bullying in the classroom, the current study assessed how preservice teachers plan to respond to perpetrators and victims of bullying using a qualitative design. Using a sample of preservice teachers (N = 68, 82.4% female, 73.5% White) drawn from an initial teacher education program, we thematically analyzed their responses to bullying vignettes. A wide range of intervention responses were found that fell within three broad themes: no intervention, passive/indirect responses, and active/direct responses. Comparing preservice …