Digital Commons Network^™

Social Cognition As A Mediator Between Neurocognition And Functional Outcome In Early Course Schizophrenia, Anju Kotwani, Jessica A. Wojtalik, Douglas D. Gunzler, Wilson J. Brown, Rochanne L. Honarvar, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Social cognition is an established mediator between neurocognition and functional outcome in schizophrenia, but there is limited evidence for this model specifically in the early course, which is a critical window for intervention to reduce long-term disability. This study aimed to test the social cognition mediator model in the early course of schizophrenia and identify social cognitive subdomains that may have stronger indirect effects on the relationship between neurocognition and functional outcome. This secondary analysis utilized baseline cognitive and functional outcome data from a cognitive remediation trial for outpatients with early course schizophrenia (N = 102). A path analysis approach …

Patterns And Implications Of Missed Injuries On Computed Tomography Imaging In Older Blunt Trauma Patients, Arnav Mahajan, Vanessa P. Ho

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Older adults sustain disproportionately morbid injuries from low energy mechanisms, yet guidance around computed tomography imaging is lacking for this demographic. We hypothesize that current imaging practices may lead to potentially missed injuries, increasing morbidity and mortality. Methods: A secondary analysis of a prospective multicenter study (11/2020–12/2021) of older blunt trauma patients was performed. Suboptimal imaging was defined as a mismatch between final injury diagnosis and initial computed tomography imaging. We compared optimally vs not optimally imaged patients to determine factors associated with suboptimal imaging and examined mortality, hospital length of stay, and critical care use with a multivariable …

Social Cognition As A Mediator Between Neurocognition And Functional Outcome In Early Course Schizophrenia, Anju Kotwani, Jessica A. Wojtalik, Douglas D. Gunzler, Wilson J. Brown, Rochanne L. Honarvar, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Social cognition is an established mediator between neurocognition and functional outcome in schizophrenia, but there is limited evidence for this model specifically in the early course, which is a critical window for intervention to reduce long-term disability. This study aimed to test the social cognition mediator model in the early course of schizophrenia and identify social cognitive subdomains that may have stronger indirect effects on the relationship between neurocognition and functional outcome. This secondary analysis utilized baseline cognitive and functional outcome data from a cognitive remediation trial for outpatients with early course schizophrenia (N = 102). A path analysis approach …

Retinoid Dynamics In Vision: From Visual Cycle Biology To Retina Disease Treatments, Jaclyn Swigris, Made Airanthi K. Widjaja-Adhi, Marcin Golczak

Faculty Scholarship

Light perception is a biological process that facilitates a profound interaction between the external world and the internal functions of living organisms. It begins with the absorption of photons with specialized visual pigments that contain vitamin A-derived chromophores. The light energy triggers the photoisomerization of the visual chromophore, initiating a cascade of signaling events that ultimately convert light into electrical signals interpreted as vision. However, the sustainability of vision relies on the continuous supply of the visual chromophore, which is maintained through light-dependent and light-independent processes. The importance of these processes is underscored by numerous blinding retinal diseases linked to …

Academic Research And (Google Or Reddit): A Librarian-Faculty Collaboration To Improve Student Source Engagement, Stephanie Redekop, Olivia Hobbs

Faculty Scholarship

Effective source use is a critical skill for first-year writing students because it prepares them for academic, professional, and civic engagement; however, existing research demonstrates that selecting appropriate sources and engaging them insightfully remains a significant challenge. While students struggle with the combined pressures to read, evaluate, and synthesize scholarly sources, we argue that online media including news articles, opinion pieces, and social media posts are a potent but underutilized resource for building students’ competence and confidence with source use. In this article, we present the methods that we have collaboratively developed as an instruction librarian and a first-year writing …

Stakeholder Views On Lessons Learned For The Antimicrobial Resistance Panel From Previous International Science Panels [Version 1], Iruka N. Okeke, Ayodele A. Akinyele, Javier Guzman, Kevin Outterson

Faculty Scholarship

The United Nations General Assembly called in September 2024 for the establishment of an independent panel for actionable evidence against antimicrobial resistance (IPEA). The task of designing the panel was given to the Quadripartite Joint Secretariat (QJS) on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) with a delivery timeline of 15 months. To promote stakeholder thought and input around what this panel should look like and how it should work, which could feed into the QJS’s consultation process, we independently commissioned seven papers to examine lessons that could be learned from other high-level scientific panels. We then called a convening of stakeholders that were …

Amicus In Trump V. Cook: The Fed, Offices As Property, And The Meaning Of “Cause”, Jed Handelsman Shugerman

Faculty Scholarship

The Federal Reserve Act states that “each member shall hold office for a term of fourteen years from the expiration of the term of his predecessor, unless sooner removed for cause by the President.” 12 U.S.C. § 242. Based on the historical record, when Congress creates an office with a fixed term of years and protects against removal without “cause,” Congress has both granted “a constitutionally protected property interest” under the Fifth Amendment (that cannot be taken away without “due process”) and extended a statutory entitlement to receive fair notice and a meaningful opportunity to respond before any removal may …

Organizing For Abolition In Ice Custody, Sarah R. Sherman-Stokes

Faculty Scholarship

The final Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) detainees were released from the Irwin County Detention Center in early September 2021.² A court did not order the end of ICE detention at Irwin. A social movement, led by people detained at Irwin, had a pronounced impact on the epistemological landscape and changed both normative principles and public opinion.³ Those detained at Irwin organized and acted to create new understanding of law and protect their rights in ways that courts and legislatures could not. This Essay tells the story of that demosprudential project; a dialectic between legal elites and people …

Mitigating Firearm Suicide With Trusted Messengers In Health Care, Michael Ulrich, Cassandra Devaney

Faculty Scholarship

Voluntary firearm safety actions avoid Second Amendment scrutiny, but rely on individuals recognizing their own risks. This could be aided by a network of healthcare professionals that have received proper training and information about all available tools to help prevent firearm-related suicide attempts, and combining the trust of clinicians and firearm owners could represent an opportunity to inform and educate in a manner that will engage patients.

College Students' Perceptions Of Artificial Intelligence (Ai) Risks And Benefits In Pakistan, Rauf Arif, Muhammad Ittefaq, Lamia Zia

Faculty Scholarship

With the rapid advancements in technology over the past 2 decades, it has become crucial to understand people’s attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) adoption and its associated risks. Given the increasing access to the AI technologies, it is imperative to examine how young people in non-Western societies like Pakistan perceive AI risks and benefits. We conducted an online survey of college students who had used AI technology in the past 6 months. The results of our study indicate that the majority of college students view AI technology positively and perceive it as an opportunity to enhance workplace productivity. In addition, …

Barriers And Enablers Of Early Health-Seeking Behaviour Among Women With Preeclampsia And Eclampsia: A Qualitative Study At A National Referral Hospital In Uganda, Shirley Moore, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Globally, 2–8% of women experience hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDPs), including preeclampsia and eclampsia, which are the second leading cause of maternal mortality and morbidity. According to the management protocol for preeclampsia in Uganda, weekly follow-up is recommended for women with preeclampsia without severe features who are below 37weeks of gestation; however, this has not been feasible to most cases of preeclampsia/eclampsia (PE/E). There is still limited information describing barriers and enablers of early health-seeking behaviour amongst women with PE/E, yet this is needed to improve their healthcare. This study explored the barriers and enablers of early health-seeking behaviour …

A 6-Month, Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial Of The Targeted Management (Team) Intervention Vs. Enhanced Treatment As Usual Among Ugandans At Risk For Stroke, Carla Conroy, Joy Yala, Christopher J. Burant, Shirley Moore, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Background Among low and middle-income countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, the stroke burden is severe, with increasing trends in stroke incidence, prevalence, and mortality. Aims This 6-month, prospective randomized controlled trial (RCT) compared a novel stroke risk reduction approach (TargetEd manAgeMent Intervention (TEAM)) vs. Enhanced Treatment as Usual (ETAU) in 247 Ugandans at risk for stroke. Methods Participants, enrolled across 3 Ugandan sites, were adults with high stroke risk. The primary outcome was a change in systolic blood pressure (SBP) from baseline to 6-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes included changes from baseline to 6 months on diastolic BP (DBP), serum lipids, …

Planetary Health: At The Crossroads Of Cvd Prevention, Tasveer Khawaja, Sanjay Rajagopalan

Faculty Scholarship

Purpose of Review: To highlight important recent findings demonstrating the interconnectedness of planetary and human health with a focus on cardiovascular disease. Recent Findings: Data continue to demonstrate a clear interconnectedness between the health of the planet and human health, with cardiovascular disease as an important outcome. The central roles of air pollution, non-optimal temperatures, water/waste management, and food/biodiversity are highlighted. We also highlight the clear opportunity for healthcare organizations to facilitate change that will yield positive environmental and patient outcomes. Summary: The undeniable interconnectedness of the health of the planet and human health serves as a call to action …

Integrating Neuroaesthetic Design Into Brain-On-Chip Research: Toward Enhanced Neural Engagement And Cognitive Accessibility, Piper Hutson, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

This study examines the potential for neuroaesthetic design and adaptive neurofeedback principles to enhance brain-on-chip (BoC) research, with an emphasis on optimizing neural engagement and cognitive accessibility for diverse populations. Existing BoC platforms have transformed neuroscience through high-fidelity modeling of neural circuits, yet cognitive accessibility and sensory inclusion remain comparatively underexplored. Drawing upon recent studies in neuroinclusion, multisensory interface design, and adaptive feedback, this work synthesizes findings from biophilic interface architecture, neurofeedback literature, and embodied cognition frameworks. The manuscript outlines a multidisciplinary research agenda that prioritizes sensory diversity and ethical considerations in the evolution of BoC systems. Instead of making …

Increasing The Feasibility, Impact, And Equity Of The Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (Awv) With A Practice Tailored Awv Intervention: A Stepped Wedge Clinical Trial Protocol, Chi-Hong Tseng, Neil S. Wenger

Faculty Scholarship

Background Older adults vastly underutilize evidence-based preventive health services and screenings that reduce illness, morbidity and mortality. The free-to-patient Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) is an opportunity to enhance preventive healthcare use, but also is underused. Objectives To evaluate the effect of a practice-tailored intervention on the sustained use of Medicare AWVs and on guideline-recommended preventive services and racial/ethnic disparities in 3 types of practice settings. Methods This is a stepped wedge cluster randomized controlled trial. The intervention will be implemented at the practice level in 24 primary care practices across the country (8 community-based, 8 academic, and 8 serving …

Mitigating Ai Bias With Prompt Augmentation, Verónica C. Gonzales

Faculty Scholarship

Large-language-model (“LLM”) outputs are inevitably shaped by assumptions, biases, and attitudes rooted in racism and other systemic inequities embedded in the civil-law tradition. This Equity-in-Justice CLE focuses on helping civil legal service providers recognize and work to eliminate biases in generative AI outputs through equity-centered prompt augmentation and engineering. These small, cost-free interventions re-orient LLMs assistance toward fairness, cultural competency, and client-centered outcomes. Participants leave with an action plan for embedding anti-bias safeguards in everyday research, drafting, and client communication tasks.

Cultivating Identity, Workforce Readiness, And Heutagogical Lifelong Learning: The Case For Student-Trained Ai Agents In Postsecondary Education, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

The accelerated integration of human-centered artificial intelligence and human-computer intelligent interaction (HCII) into postsecondary education has inaugurated a paradigm shift in how learners develop cognitive, socio emotional, and professional competencies. This article argues that requiring students to iteratively build and refine custom AI agents—digital “clones” or GPTs trained on their evolving beliefs, knowledge, values, and interests addresses three pressing challenges facing contemporary higher education. First, the process of self-modeling via agent training compels deep self-reflection, fostering socio-economic development and identity formation during the critical neurodevelopmental period that extends into the mid-twenties. Second, as industry trends increasingly prioritize the creation of …

Oriented Data-Generating Processes: A Categorization Of Roc Curves, Claude Fluet, Murat C. Mungan

Faculty Scholarship

Decision makers attempting to classify a binary state of the world may commit two types of errors. Even when the two alternative states have equal prior probabilities and when the two types of errors are equally costly, a classification criterion may be chosen which leads to one type of error being committed more frequently than the other, because of asymmetries in the data that informs their decisions. We formalize this possibility through a categorization of data-generating processes (DGPs), which may be ‘oriented’ towards evidence favoring one of the two alternatives, or which may be ‘unoriented’. We identify the shape properties …

Integrating Art Therapy And Emerging Technologies For Enhanced Neuroplasticity And Ptsd Intervention, Piper Hutson, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remains resistant to many conventional treatments, underscoring the need for integrative approaches that harness neuroplasticity. Art therapy, with its capacity to facilitate nonverbal trauma processing and multisensory engagement, has shown distinctive advantages over verbal and pharmacological interventions. Recent innovations, including virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), and biofeedback have amplified the therapeutic efficacy of art-based interventions by enabling adaptive, real-time modulation of emotional and physiological states. This review synthesizes current research on technologically enhanced art therapy, comparing it to established treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Findings indicate …

Fixing A 100-Year-Old Mistake, Michael J. Graetz

Faculty Scholarship

Posing the question of international tax cooperation versus competition reminds me of multiple-choice exams in which the right answer is “all of the above.” National interests determine which dominates at any given time. And in tax competition among nations, zero is not a lower bound.

In 1918, to encourage U.S. investments abroad, the United States enacted a credit for foreign taxes paid by U.S. companies and relinquished taxing rights to most foreign-source income. With the foreign tax credit, the United States assumed sole responsibility for reducing the double taxation of its residents and citizens. As the influential economist Edwin Seligman …

Caste Formalism: The Law And Politics Of Equality In India, Madhav Khosla, Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Faculty Scholarship

In modern constitutional democracies, achieving equality has long been a challenge. In recent years, theorists have focused on understanding the meaning of discrimination and determining when and how discrimination becomes problematic. One critical issue that has long animated discussions on both the general guarantee of equality and the specific goals of anti-discrimination law is the relationship between individuals and groups. If a constitutional order aims to take equality seriously, how should it address the experiences of specific groups historically subjected to discrimination? Indeed, questions of equality and discrimination often converge around the issue of affirmative action, sometimes at the expense …

Too Many Mergers? The Golden Parachute As A Driver Of M&A Activity In The 21st Century, Jeffrey N. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

This Article argues that the corporate governance regime in the United States has produced a level of mergers and acquisition activity greater than the social optimum because of the current version of the “golden parachute,” a super-bonus payoff to a target CEO. In the late nineteenth through the twentieth century, M&A activity was characterized by “waves” that reflected adaptations to changing external environment, whether the efficient production frontier, regulatory constraints, or capital market developments. Economically-motivated parties saw the opportunities in changing the boundaries of the firm; successful first-movers spawned imitators, hence a wave, which eventually subsided, often alongside deteriorating capital …

Complex Factors Impacting Smoking Behavior In Cancer Survivors With Food Insecurity, Madeline C. Castele, Kareena Shah, Avianna Thompson, Jin E. Kim-Mozeleski

Faculty Scholarship

Objectives: Tobacco use remains prevalent among people with social needs, such as food insecurity. In this study, we aimed to understand the complex experiences of low-income cancer survivors with food insecurity who smoke tobacco, to identify the unique smoking cessation needs for this group. Methods: We conducted in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews with 40 adults experiencing food insecurity who continued smoking after a cancer diagnosis. Interviews focused on smoking behaviors, cessation interest, cancer experiences, and financial circumstances. We analyzed the data using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: In this sample of cancer survivors (50% female, mean age 42 years, 60% black/African American, …

Defending Rule-Of-Law Minimalism, Ashraf Ahmed

Faculty Scholarship

The rule of law is a political idea that counts only allies and no enemies. As a popular concept, the rule of law inspires broad rhetorical support. In the United States, for instance, liberals and conservatives alike invoke the “rule of law” as a normative lodestar in political conflicts. Liberals targeting the Trump administration cast their lawsuits as a defense of the rule of law. In parallel fashion, conservatives often charge creative readings of old statutes and ambitious administrative action as departures from the rule of law. It seems that any viable political venture must defend, advance, or at least …

The Origins Of "The Rule Of Law", Jeremy K. Kessler

Faculty Scholarship

This Article offers a novel account of the origins of “the rule of law” in the English-speaking world. The phrase itself likely entered the language as a literal translation of the Latin regula juris. Prior to the early seventeenth century, however, the phrase appears to have been used exclusively to refer to the specific legal rule or maxim most relevant to the resolution of a particular kind of dispute. The more general and abstract use of the phrase – to refer to an ideal of political morality or an ideal type of governance – first appeared in the public …

Foreword, Madhav Khosla, Jedediah Britton-Purdy

Faculty Scholarship

What is the rule of law, and why does it matter? Scholars have tended to pose this question as a conceptual one: does organizing power and authority by means of law imply certain moral commitments, ways that power should be shaped and constrained?

Teaching Transactional Skills And Lawyering Values To First-Year Students Through An Affordable-Housing Deal, Laura E. D'Amato

Faculty Scholarship

With the anticipated launch of the NextGen bar exam next year, transactional lawyering skills are enjoying increased attention in first-year law school curricular development. At the same time, recent amendments to ABA Rule 303 have made it essential for new law students to learn about the profession’s core values and responsibilities. While these evolving priorities open the door to pedagogical innovation, incorporating two distinct topics into an already packed curriculum can be challenging. This article explores how a simulated affordable-housing financing deal has served as a cohesive foundation for introducing first-year students to transactional skills and core professional values.

Classifying Heterogeneous Cooperation In Social Dilemmas: Experimental Evidence And Simulation Insights, Sining Wang

Faculty Scholarship

In this paper, we introduce a revealed strategy method to capture heterogeneous behavioral patterns in repeated public goods experiments. This method identifies an individual’s strategic type—a stable decision-making tendency in interactive settings—by analyzing behavioral profiles. We conduct a repeated public goods game to collect participants’ behavioral data and then apply both k-medians and hierarchical clustering algorithms to classify them into five distinctive types: free riders, strong cooperators, above-average conditional cooperators, below-average conditional cooperators, and hump-shaped players. These classifications are then used to construct and calibrate an agent-based simulation model. Our simulation results suggest that policies targeting how conditional cooperators respond …

Family Caregivers’ Perceptions Of Quality Of Dementia Self-Care In Wakiso District, Uganda, Martha Sajatovic, Kylie Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

INTRODUCTION: In Sub-Saharan Africa, most people with dementia are cared for in the home setting (dementia self-care) with hardly any support from the formal health and social care system. The study explored family caregivers' perceptions of quality of dementia self-care. METHODS: A descriptive-exploratory qualitative study design was used. Data were collected through four focus group discussions with 48 family caregivers of older people with dementia, recruited from four villages of the Wakiso district in Uganda. RESULTS: Five themes emerged: (1) patience and understanding; (2) maintaining hygiene and cleanliness; (3) constant supervision and safety precautions; (4) personalized care by understanding individual …

State-Level Immigrant Policies And Diabetes Prevalence In Latino And Asian American Groups: A Weighted Multilevel Analysis, Md Towfiqul Alam, Jennifer Toller Erausquin, Erica Payton, Elizabeth Vásquez, Sandra Echeverria

Faculty Scholarship

Introduction: Growing literature has shown that immigrant-related policies influence population health by limiting or enhancing immigrants’ rights. However, less is known about the role of state-level immigrant policies shaping chronic health conditions such as type 2 diabetes (T2DM). This cross-sectional study examined the association between state-level immigrant policies (both criminalising and inclusive) and prevalence of T2DM among individuals of Latin American and Asian American origin.

Method: We included adults aged 18+years sampled in the 2014–2018 behavioral risk factor surveillance system (BRFSS) (n=201 824), a survey design that allows the calculation of state-level estimates. Using existing policy measures, states …