Digital Commons Network^™

A Consistent Model Of Terrestrial Planet Magnetospheres And Rotations In Our Solar System, Fred J. Cadieu

Publications and Research

The Sun comprises 99.9% of the solar system mass so it is expected that Sun terrestrial planet interactions can influence the motion as well as the rotation of the terrestrial planets.Gravity affects the planet orbital motions while the changing magnetic fields of the Sun can influence the planet rotations. Planets that manifest a magnetic field dominate any weaker magnetic fields from the Sun, but the rotation of terrestrial planets without a magnetic field interacts with the changing Sun’s field dependent on the electrical conductivity of the core region. It is determined that the average planet density becomes a useful quantity …

Nature-Based Learning At An Urban Community College: A Case Study At The Central Park Zoo, Nicole Kras

Publications and Research

There is rapidly growing research on the multiple benefits of nature-based experiences. Some institutions of higher education have incorporated these types of experiences in areas such as building design, travel offerings, residential programs, green spaces, field trips, wellness centers, and freshman orientation programs. Unfortunately, urban community college students often do not receive the chance to participate in these type of experiences due to lack of opportunity and lack of time outside of class due to their multiple responsibilities. One way to help mitigate some of these challenges, is for community college faculty to embed nature-based learning experiences into their courses. …

Implementing The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals In International Business, Ivan Montiel, Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra, Junghoon Park, Raquel Antolín-López, Bryan W. Husted

Publications and Research

Building on the concept of externalities, we propose an explanation of how multinationals can contribute to the enactment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals as part of their ordinary investments. First, we suggest grouping the 17 Sustainable Development Goals into six categories based on whether they increase positive externalities – knowledge, wealth, or health – or reduce negative externalities – the overuse of natural resources, harm to social cohesion, or overconsumption. Second, we propose placing these categories within an extended value chain to facilitate their implementation. Third, we argue that multinationals’ internal investments in host-country subsidiaries to improve their …

An Empirical Study Of Refactorings And Technical Debt In Machine Learning Systems, Yiming Tang, Raffi Khatchadourian, Mehdi Bagherzadeh, Rhia Singh, Ajani Stewart, Anita Raja

Publications and Research

Machine Learning (ML), including Deep Learning (DL), systems, i.e., those with ML capabilities, are pervasive in today’s data-driven society. Such systems are complex; they are comprised of ML models and many subsystems that support learning processes. As with other complex systems, ML systems are prone to classic technical debt issues, especially when such systems are long-lived, but they also exhibit debt specific to these systems. Unfortunately, there is a gap of knowledge in how ML systems actually evolve and are maintained. In this paper, we fill this gap by studying refactorings, i.e., source-to-source semantics-preserving program transformations, performed in real-world, open-source …

An Empirical Study Of Refactorings And Technical Debt In Machine Learning Systems, Yiming Tang, Raffi Khatchadourian, Mehdi Bagherzadeh, Rhia Singh, Ajani Stewart, Anita Raja

Publications and Research

Machine Learning (ML), including Deep Learning (DL), systems, i.e., those with ML capabilities, are pervasive in today’s data-driven society. Such systems are complex; they are comprised of ML models and many subsystems that support learning processes. As with other complex systems, ML systems are prone to classic technical debt issues, especially when such systems are long-lived, but they also exhibit debt specific to these systems. Unfortunately, there is a gap in knowledge of how ML systems evolve and are maintained. In this paper, we fill this gap by studying refactorings, i.e., source-to-source semantics-preserving program transformations, performed in real-world, open-source software, …

Parental Beliefs And Knowledge, Children’S Home Language Experiences, And School Readiness: The Dual Language Perspective, Rufan Luo, Lulu Song, Carla Villacis, Gloria Santiago-Bonilla

Publications and Research

Parental beliefs and knowledge about child development affect how they construct children’s home learning experiences, which in turn impact children’s developmental outcomes. A rapidly growing population of dual language learners (DLLs) highlights the need for a better understanding of parents’ beliefs and knowledge about dual language development and practices to support DLLs. The current study examined the dual language beliefs and knowledge of parents of Spanish-English preschool DLLs (n = 32). We further asked how socioeconomic and sociocultural factors were associated with parental beliefs and knowledge, and how parental beliefs and knowledge related to DLLs’ home dual language experiences and …

Efficacy Of Hand Instrumentation Vs Power Instrumentation, Khrystyna Vyprynyuk, Annie Chitlall

Publications and Research

Dental hygienists face many challenges as they practice during a global pandemic. The strict implementation of a variety of new infection control guidelines needed to prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has changed the way many oral health professionals practice. On June 9, 2020, the American Dental Association’s (ADA) Advisory Task Force on Dental Practice Recovery issued guidelines that included the preferred use of hand instrumentation over ultrasonic instrumentation for plaque and calculus removal to reduce aerosol production.

As many clinicians are accustomed to using power instrumentation during periodontal therapy, this article will examine the effectiveness of hand instrumentation in the …

Deep Learning Predicts Chromosomal Instability From Histopathology Images, Zhuoran Xu, Akanksha Verma, Uska Naveed, Samuel F. Bakhoum, Pegah Khosravi, Olivier Elemento

Publications and Research

Chromosomal instability (CIN) is a hallmark of human cancer yet not readily testable for patients with cancer in routine clinical setting. In this study, we sought to explore whether CIN status can be predicted using ubiquitously available hematoxylin and eosin histology through a deep learning-based model. When applied to a cohort of 1,010 patients with breast cancer (Training set: n = 858, Test set: n = 152) from The Cancer Genome Atlas where 485 patients have high CIN status, our model accurately classified CIN status, achieving an area under the curve of 0.822 with 81.2% sensitivity and 68.7% specificity in …

Looking Back, Looking Forward: Progress And Prospect For Spatial Demography, Stephen A. Matthews, Laura Stiberman, James Raymer, Tse-Chuan Yang, Ezra Gayawan, Sayambhu Saita, Sai Thein Than Tun, Daniel M. Parker, Deborah Balk, Stefan Leyk, Mark Montgomery, Katherine J. Curtis, David W. S. Wong

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Dopamine Neurons That Cotransmit Glutamate, From Synapses To Circuits To Behavior, Daniel Eskenazi, Lauren Malave, Susana Mingote, Leora Yetnikoff, Samira Ztaou, Vlad Velicu, Nao Chuhma

Publications and Research

Discovered just over 20 years ago, dopamine neurons have the ability to cotransmit both dopamine and glutamate. Yet, the functional roles of dopamine neuron glutamate cotransmission and their implications for therapeutic use are just emerging. This review article encompasses the current body of evidence investigating the functions of dopamine neurons of the ventral midbrain that cotransmit glutamate. Since its discovery in dopamine neuron cultures, further work in vivo confirmed dopamine neuron glutamate cotransmission across species. From there, growing interest has led to research related to neural functioning including roles in synaptic signaling, development, and behavior. Functional connectome mapping reveals robust …

A Lexical And Syntactic Study Of Research Article Titles In Library Science And Scientometrics, Junli Diao

Publications and Research

Title of a research article is an abstract of the abstract. Titles play a decisive role in convincing readers at first sight whether articles are worth reading or not. Not only do research article titles show how carefully words are chosen by authors, but also reflect disciplinary differences in terms of title words and structure between hard sciences and soft sciences. This study examined the lexical density and syntactic structure of 690 research article titles chosen from five Library Science and Scientometrics journals, aiming to reveal disciplinary differences. The result suggested both Library Science and Scientometrics have almost the same …

A Preliminary Investigation Of Technical Services Librarians’ Contributions To Library Guides In Academic Libraries, Junli Diao

Publications and Research

Online library guides are one of the bridges that librarians build to connect users to available resources and services. Since the time when library guides were conceived in the pamphlets and book lists of the early days, a historical brand bearing public and instructional services librarians’ merit and reputation has been watermarked in their presentation. In the internet age, have technical services librarians also played a role in contributing to library guides in academic libraries to assist students’ learning and faculty teaching? If so, do technical services librarians who are working as faculty tend to produce more library guides than …

O Tonalismo Como Força Colonizadora Na África, Kofi Agawu, José H. Padovani

Publications and Research

Resumo do tradutor: No ensaio, Kofi Agawu aborda a relação entre o tonalismo – entendido como “sistema hierarquicamente organizado de relações entre alturas” – e a música africana. A partir de diferentes exemplos e em diálogo com contribuições dos estudos decoloniais e da etnomusicologia, Agawu desenvolve uma interpretação crítica que busca compreender como aspectos da imaginação musical africana responderam à violência colonial imposta a partir de uma linguagem harmônica estrangeira. Após três momentos, em que busca respectivamente expor (1) aspectos do tonalismo na música africana da atualidade, (2) aspectos do pensamento tonal africano pré-colonial e (3) elaborações composicionais de criadores …

Academic Literacy For Deaf Postsecondary Students Through Integrated Reading And Writing Instruction, Sue Livingston

Publications and Research

Based on theoretical findings from the literature on the integration of reading and writing pedagogies used with hearing postsecondary students to advance academic literacy, this article offers a model of instruction for achieving academic literacy in developmental and freshman composition courses composed of deaf students. Academic literacy is viewed as the product of acts of composing in reading and writing which best transpire through reciprocal rather than separate reading and writing activities. Pedagogical practices based on theoretical findings and teacher experience are presented as a model of instruction, exemplified as artifacts in online supplementary materials and juxtaposed with practices used …

Neurophysiological Changes After Paired Brain And Spinal Cord Stimulation Coupled With Locomotor Training In Human Spinal Cord Injury, Timothy S. Pulverenti, Morad Zaaya, Monika Grabowski, Ewelina Grabowski Grabowski, Md. Anamul Islam, Jeffrey Li, Lynda M. Murray, Maria Knikou

Publications and Research

Neurophysiological changes that involve activity-dependent neuroplasticity mechanisms via repeated stimulation and locomotor training are not commonly employed in research even though combination of interventions is a common clinical practice. In this randomized clinical trial, we established neurophysiological changes when transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the motor cortex was paired with transcutaneous thoracolumbar spinal (transspinal) stimulation in human spinal cord injury (SCI) delivered during locomotor training. We hypothesized that TMS delivered before transspinal (TMS-transspinal) stimulation promotes functional reorganization of spinal networks during stepping. In this protocol, TMS-induced corticospinal volleys arrive at the spinal cord at a sufficient time to interact with …

Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Benefit To Climate-Displaced And Host Communities, Gül Aktürk, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Climate change is borderless, and its impacts are not shared equally by all communities. It causes an imbalance between people by creating a more desirable living environment for some societies while erasing settlements and shelters of some others. Due to floods, sea level rise, destructive storms, drought, and slow-onset factors such as salinization of water and soil, people lose their lands, homes, and natural resources. Catastrophic events force people to move voluntarily or involuntarily. The relocation of communities is a debatable climate adaptation measure which requires utmost care with human rights, ethics, and psychological well-being of individuals upon the issues …

When Crime Moves Where Does It Go? Analyzing The Spatial Correlates Of Robbery Incidents When Crime Moves Where Does It Go? Analyzing The Spatial Correlates Of Robbery Incidents Displaced By A Place-Based Policing Interventiondisplaced By A Place-Based Policing Intervention, David N. Hatten, Eric L. Piza

Publications and Research

Objective:

Examine the place-based correlates of robbery incidents displaced by a foot-patrol intervention in Newark, NJ. We use constructs from Crime Pattern and Social Disorganization theories to test hypotheses concerned with associations between the structure of the environment and the displacement of crime.

Method:

Robbery incidents were spatially joined to street segments to study micro-level displacement processes. Predictor variables were operationalized using data from the Newark Police Department and Infogroup USA. Generalized Linear models tested associations between the characteristics of street segments and displaced robbery in the target area as compared to a control.

Results:

Environmental structure is important to …

Use Of Non-Vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants Among Patients With Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation And Multimorbidity, Steve Deitelzweig, Allison Keshishian, Amiee Kang, Amol Dhamane, Xuemei Luo, Christian Klem, Lisa Rosenblatt, Jack Mardekian, Jenny Jiang, Huseyin Yuce, Gregory Y. H. Lip

Publications and Research

Introduction

Non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) is often accompanied by multiple comorbid conditions, which increase the associated risks and complexity of patient management. This study evaluated the risk of stroke/systemic embolism (SE) and major bleeding (MB) among multimorbid patients with NVAF who were prescribed non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) or warfarin.

Methods

A retrospective study of patients with NVAF and high multimorbidity who initiated apixaban, dabigatran, rivaroxaban, or warfarin from 1 January 2013 to 30 September 2015 was conducted using five insurance claims databases. Multimorbidity was defined as six or more comorbid conditions, and 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) was …

Investigating Water Usage Patterns Tied To California State Water Project, Xiaoqing Wu

Publications and Research

California (USA) is the largest agricultural producer and one of the populous states in the United State. As the population and agriculture grows, water consumption patterns become crucial to keep track of especially surface water. In this research project, we studied possible changes in water consumption patterns in different counties and water rights holders who obtain surface water supply from the State Water Project (SWP) in California. We conducted a time series analysis on the California Monthly Diverted Surface Water dataset through two different time series forecasting models. Our analysis indicates that the total diverted surface water presents a periodic …

Chemical Exposure From Manufactured Gas Plants: Demographic & Governmental Research, Aneeza Hussain

Publications and Research

There are thousands of brownfields in New York on former Manufactured Gas Plants (MGP) similar to the Public Place site in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Public Place is an active brownfield abutting an EPA Superfund site currently undergoing remediation. After consulting recent literature finding that populations living on and near superfund sites have lower life expectancy that also correlate with “sociodemographic factors” like income and race, we used American Community Survey data to conduct a demographic analysis of census districts within the rezone area. Assessment of current demographic data shows that Gowanus residents living within census districts overlapping with the rezone area …

Research In Recent Trends In Fundamental And Applied Physics And Quantum Computing, Olga Privman, German Kolmakov

Publications and Research

Quantum computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning – these are all highly engaging, though oft-mysterious fields. Graced with the mystique of quantum mechanics, its applied offspring – quantum computing – is often subject to the same scientific misinformation, with many articles on the internet providing a false and often intentionally misleading depiction of the science. This project focuses, then, primarily on research in recent trends in fundamental and applied physics, with an emphasis on quantum computing. The outcome is an electronic newsletter published on Open Lab by the end of the Spring 2021 semester, each issue of which will contain no …

Additive Vs. Subtractive Manufacturing In Dental Laboratory Technology, Aneeza Hussain

Publications and Research

Have you seen technicians using milling and 3d printing machines yet? The development of computer-aided manufacturing and the medical application of this industrial technology have provided an alternative way of fabricating oral and facial prostheses. This narrative review aims to evaluate the different streams of computer-aided manufacturing in dental technology. To date, there are two streams: the subtractive and the additive approaches. The differences reside in the processing protocols, materials used, and their respective accuracy. In general, there is a tendency for the subtractive method to provide more homogeneous objects with acceptable accuracy that may be more suitable for the …

Understanding Of Aerosol Transmission Of Covid 19 In Indoor Environment - Part 2: Approaches To Mitigation, Adama Barro, Cathal O'Toole, Jacob S. Lopez, Matthew Quinones, Sherene Moore

Publications and Research

The challenge we face in implementing solutions for new HVAC ventilation and filtration design, is to effectively improve air quality for virus mitigation without losing performance efficiency. The purpose of this improvement is to decontaminate the occupied enclosed areas, reducing the transmission of the corona virus aerosol transmission. Our research seeks reliable approaches to mitigate the further spread of aerosol transmission in indoor spaces. The methodology is to examine innovative HVAC engineering solutions that combat epidemiological problems of Covid-19 for the post-pandemic era, by researching scholarly articles and ASHRAE journals. We are achieving the goal of finding highly efficient resolutions …

Ethnic Irony In Melvin B. Tolson's "Dark Symphony", Elizabeth Newton

Publications and Research

This article historicizes musical symbolism in Melvin B. Tolson’s poem “Dark Symphony” (1941). In a time when Black writers and musicians alike were encouraged to aspire to European standards of greatness, Tolson’s Afro-modernist poem establishes an ambivalent critical stance toward the genre in its title. In pursuit of a richer understanding of the poet’s attitude, this article situates the poem within histories of Black music, racial uplift, and white supremacy, exploring the poem’s relation to other media from the Harlem Renaissance. It analyzes the changing language across the poem’s sections and, informed by Houston A. Baker Jr.’s study of “mastery …

Student Well-Being Matters: Academic Library Support For The Whole Student, Marta Bladek

Publications and Research

In response to a marked increase in the prevalence and severity of mental health problems among college students over the last decade, colleges and universities have been expanding their well-being initiatives and programs. No longer limited to health services departments, the support of student well-being has been taken up by multiple campus units, including academic libraries. As well-being has been shown to impact academic outcomes, the well-being initiatives libraries develop fit in with their commitment to enhance learning and student educational experience overall. A comprehensive review of wellness interventions in academic libraries, this article presents findings on student well-being and …

Discovering Kepler’S Third Law From Planetary Data, Boyan Kostadinov, Satyanand Singh

Publications and Research

In this data-inspired project, we illustrate how Kepler’s Third Law of Planetary Motion can be discovered from fitting a power model to real planetary data obtained from NASA, using regression modeling. The power model can be linearized, thus we can use linear regression to fit the model parameters to the data, but we also show how a non-linear regression can be implemented, using the R programming language. Our work also illustrates how the linear least squares used for fitting the power model can be implemented in Desmos, which could serve as the computational foundation for this project at a lower …

What Is A Podcast?, Junior Tidal

Publications and Research

Podcasting: A Practical Guide guides librarians through the process of creating a podcast. It will help librarians digitally record their podcasts, which can highlight library collections, connect with patrons, provide library instruction, and market library services across the Internet.

Highlights include

• Step-by-step guidance for how to record a podcast specifically tailored for libraries and librarians.
• Specifications on what kind of equipment, software, and hardware, is necessary to record their own episodes.
• Pre-production techniques including script writing, storyboard creation, and how to find guests will be explored.
• Coverage of the post-production stage including, audio editing, incorporating music and effects, and mixing …

The Tree Cover And Temperature Disparity In Us Urbanized Areas: Quantifying The Association With Income Across 5,723 Communities, Robert I. Mcdonald, Tanushree Biswas, Cedilla Sachar, Ian Housman, Timothy M. Boucher, Deborah Balk, David Nowak, Erica Spotswood, Charlotte K. Stanley, Stefan Leyk

Publications and Research

Urban tree cover provides benefits to human health and well-being, but previous studies suggest that tree cover is often inequitably distributed. Here, we use National Agriculture Imagery Program digital ortho photographs to survey the tree cover inequality for Census blocks in US large urbanized areas, home to 167 million people across 5,723 municipalities and other Census-designated places. We compared tree cover to summer land surface temperature, as measured using Landsat imagery. In 92% of the urbanized areas surveyed, low-income blocks have less tree cover than high-income blocks. On average, low-income blocks have 15.2% less tree cover and are 1.5˚C hotter …

Understanding The Nature And Dimensions Of Litigation Crowdfunding: A Visual Analytics Approach, Viju Raghupathi, Jie Ren, Wullianallur Raghupathi

Publications and Research

The escalating cost of civil litigation is leaving many defendants and plaintiffs unable to meet legal expenses such as attorney fees, court charges and others. This significantly impacts their ability to sue or defend themselves effectively. Related to this phenomenon is the ethics discussion around access to justice and crowdfunding. This article explores the dimensions that explain the phenomenon of litigation crowdfunding. Using data from CrowdJustice, a popular Internet fundraising platform used to assist in turning legal cases into publicly funded social cases, we study litigation crowdfunding through the lenses of the number of pledges, goal achievement, target amount, length …

A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis On The Efficacy Of Repeated Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation For Migraine, Guoshuai Cai, Zhu Xia, Leigh Charvet, Feifei Xiao, Abhishek Datta, X Michelle Androulakis

Publications and Research

Purpose: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may have therapeutic potential in the management of migraine. However, studies to date have yielded conflicting results. We reviewed studies using repeated tDCS for longer than 4 weeks in migraine treatment, and performed meta-analysis on the efficacy of tDCS in migraine.

Methods: In this meta-analysis, we included the common outcome measurements reported across randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Subgroup analysis was performed at different post-treatment endpoints, and with different stimulation intensities and polarities.

Results: Five RCTs were included in the quantitative meta-analysis with a total of 104 migraine patients. We found a significant reduction of …