Digital Commons Network^™

Poverty Law: Brains Without Money: Poverty As Disabling, Emily R.D. Murphy

The Judges' Book

No abstract provided.

Mitigating Anomalous Electricity Consumption In Smart Cities Using An Ai-Based Stacked-Generalization Technique, Arshid Ali, Laiq Khan, Nadeem Javaid, Safdar Hussain Bouk, Abdulaziz Aldegheishem, Nabil Alrahjeh

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Energy management and efficient asset utilization play an important role in the economic development of a country. The electricity produced at the power station faces two types of losses from the generation point to the end user. These losses are technical losses (TL) and non-technical losses (NTL). TLs occurs due to the use of inefficient equipment. While NTLs occur due to the anomalous consumption of electricity by the customers, which happens in many ways; energy theft being one of them. Energy theft majorly happens to cut down on the electricity bills. These losses in the smart grid (SG) are the …

Msdrp: A Deep Learning Model Based On Multisource Data For Predicting Drug Response, Haochen Zhao, Xiaoyu Zhang, Qichang Zhao, Yaohang Li, Jianxin Wang

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Motivation: Cancer heterogeneity drastically affects cancer therapeutic outcomes. Predicting drug response in vitro is expected to help formulate personalized therapy regimens. In recent years, several computational models based on machine learning and deep learning have been proposed to predict drug response in vitro. However, most of these methods capture drug features based on a single drug description (e.g. drug structure), without considering the relationships between drugs and biological entities (e.g. target, diseases, and side effects). Moreover, most of these methods collect features separately for drugs and cell lines but fail to consider the pairwise interactions between drugs and cell …

Claimdistiller: Scientific Claim Extraction With Supervised Contrastive Learning, Xin Wei, Md Reshad Ul Hoque, Jian Wu, Jiang Li

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The growth of scientific papers in the past decades calls for effective claim extraction tools to automatically and accurately locate key claims from unstructured text. Such claims will benefit content-wise aggregated exploration of scientific knowledge beyond the metadata level. One challenge of building such a model is how to effectively use limited labeled training data. In this paper, we compared transfer learning and contrastive learning frameworks in terms of performance, time and training data size. We found contrastive learning has better performance at a lower cost of data across all models. Our contrastive-learning-based model ClaimDistiller has the highest performance, boosting …

A Single-Cell Atlas Of Bovine Skeletal Muscle Reveals Mechanisms Regulating Intramuscular Adipogenesis And Fibrogenesis, Leshan Wang, Peidong Gao, Chaoyag Li, Qianglin Liu, Zeyang Yao, Yuxia Li, Xujia Zhang, Jiangwen Sun, Constantine Simintiras, Matthew Welborn, Kenneth Mcmillin, Stephanie Oprescu, Shihuan Kuang, Xing Fu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Background: Intramuscular fat (IMF) and intramuscular connective tissue (IMC) are often seen in human myopathies and are central to beef quality. The mechanisms regulating their accumulation remain poorly understood. Here, we explored the possibility of using beef cattle as a novel model for mechanistic studies of intramuscular adipogenesis and fibrogenesis.

Methods: Skeletal muscle single-cell RNAseq was performed on three cattle breeds, including Wagyu (high IMF), Brahman (abundant IMC but scarce IMF), and Wagyu/Brahman cross. Sophisticated bioinformatics analyses, including clustering analysis, gene set enrichment analyses, gene regulatory network construction, RNA velocity, pseudotime analysis, and cell-cell communication analysis, were performed to elucidate …

Detecting Deceptive Dark-Pattern Web Advertisements For Blind Screen-Reader Users, Satwick Ram Kodandaram, Mohan Sunkara, Sampath Jayarathna, Vikas Ashok

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Advertisements have become commonplace on modern websites. While ads are typically designed for visual consumption, it is unclear how they affect blind users who interact with the ads using a screen reader. Existing research studies on non-visual web interaction predominantly focus on general web browsing; the specific impact of extraneous ad content on blind users' experience remains largely unexplored. To fill this gap, we conducted an interview study with 18 blind participants; we found that blind users are often deceived by ads that contextually blend in with the surrounding web page content. While ad blockers can address this problem via …

How Victim Impact Statements Promote Justice: Evidence From The Content Of Statements Delivered In Larry Nassar's Sentencing, Paul Cassell, Edna Erez

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Whether crime victims should present victim impact statements (VISs) at sentencing remains a subject of controversy in the criminal justice literature. But relatively little is known about the content of VISs and how victims use them. This article provides a content analysis of the 168 VISs presented in a Michigan court sentencing of Larry Nassar, who pleaded guilty to decades of sexual abuse of young athletes while he was treating them for various sports injuries. Nassar committed similar crimes against each of his victims, allowing a robust research approach to answer questions about the content, motivations for, and benefits of …

Federalism And The Right To Travel: Medical Aid In Dying And Abortion, Leslie P. Francis, John Francis

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This article explores how rights to movement may limit state efforts to restrict abortions, either directly or indirectly. We use the language of “movement” to encompass short-term visits, longer-term residency changes, and the movement of goods or services across state lines. We prefer “movement” to “travel” or “tourism,” as this language risks trivializing the seriousness of what might be at stake. However, since “travel” is the term used in many U.S. court decisions and other discussions concerning the right,7 we use that term as relevant to these. The centerpiece of our defense is the relationship between freedom of movement and …

Creating A Transparent Methodology For Measuring Success Within A Continuum Of Conservation For The America The Beautiful Initiative, Jamie Pleune

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

On January 27, 2021, the Joseph Biden Administration identified the national goal of conserving at least 30% of our lands and waters by 2030. With this order, the America the Beautiful Initiative (“ATB Initiative”) was born, and the United States joined many other nations in adopting the 30 x 30 conservation target. However, beneath the lofty aspiration lay ambiguity. The Administration has not defined the term “conservation” or explained how it will be measured. Without a clear definition or metric for measuring the outcome of conservation projects, the ATB Initiative will lose credibility. The Biden Administration should avoid this result …

Police Secrecy Exceptionalism, Christina Koningisor

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Every state has a set of transparency statutes that bind state and local governments. In theory, these statutes apply with equal force to every agency. Yet, in practice, law enforcement agencies enjoy a wide variety of unique secrecy protections denied to other government entities. Legislators write police-specific exemptions into public records laws. Judges develop procedural approaches that they apply exclusively to police and prosecutorial records. Police departments claim special secrecy protections from the bottom up.

This Article maps the legal infrastructure of police-records secrecy. It draws upon the text of the public records statutes in all fifty states, along with …

Why Stop Grazing The Climate Commons?, Brigham Daniels

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Many have argued that climate change is the textbook example of a tragedy of the commons. Assuming that is correct, to make headway on climate change, we would expect an enforceable agreement that provides for global collective action. The tragedy of the commons assumes that those who cut back when others do not are—to use the formal language of game theorists—suckers. So, the last thing we would expect is a surge of unilateral action. Contrary to theory, for the past decade, unilateral climate action has flourished among governments, businesses, other organizations, and individuals.

Is the number of climate suckers growing …

Testing For Homologous Recombination Repair Or Homologous Recombination Deficiency For Poly (Adp-Ribose) Polymerase Inhibitors: A Current Perspective, Thomas J Herzog, Ignace Vergote, Leonard G Gomella, Tsveta Milenkova, Tim French, Raffi Tonikian, Christian Poehlein, Maha Hussain

Department of Urology Faculty Papers

Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPis) have demonstrated clinical activity in patients with BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 mutated breast, ovarian, prostate, and pancreatic cancers. Notably, BRCA mutations are associated with defects in the homologous recombination repair (HRR) pathway. This homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) phenotype can also be observed as genomic instability in tumour cells. Accordingly, PARPi sensitivity has been observed in various tumours with HRD, independent of BRCA mutations. Currently, four PARPis are approved by regulatory agencies for the treatment of cancer across multiple tumour types. Most indications are specific to tumours with a confirmed BRCA mutation, mutations in other HRR-related genes, …

Campus-Wide Student Learning Assessment At The University Of Minnesota Morris For Academic Year 2022-2023, University Of Minnesota - Morris

Institutional Effectiveness and Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Common Data Set, 2022-2023, University Of Minnesota, Morris Office Of Institutional Research

Institutional Effectiveness and Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Evolutionary Aspects Of Infections: Inflammation And Sickness Behaviors, Robert Dantzer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Sickness behavior was conceptualized initially as the behavioral counterpart of the fever response to infectious pathogens. It helps to raise body temperature to its higher setpoint and to maintain it at this new level and it has the additional benefit of enabling a weakened organism to protect itself from other dangers. The discovery of the behavioral effects of proinflammatory cytokines produced by activated immune cells provided a cellular and molecular basis to this phenomenon. The administration of cytokines or cytokine inducers like lipopolysaccharide to healthy rodents allowed to reveal the similarities and differences between inflammation-induced sickness behavior and the fever …

Il-8 Produced Via Bidirectional Communication Between Prostate Cancer And M2 Macrophages As A Potential Diagnostic And Prognostic Biomarker, Huihui Fan, Zheng Tang, Yaling Tian, Qingsong Lv, Fangyin Zeng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Owing to the mortality associated with metastatic prostate cancer and the shortcomings of the current parameters in predicting the disease prognosis, we require the identification of viable biomarkers, which would help in the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease. We aimed to determine whether the interleukin-8 level in the tumor microenvironment could serve as a potential clinical diagnostic marker and prognostic factor for prostate cancer.

METHODS: The migration assay of prostate cancer cells was performed in an in vitro co-culture model. Cell lines PC3 and DU145 were divided into two groups and co-cultured with M0 and M2 macrophages, respectively. …

Stakeholder Theory And Law Enforcement Strategy Creation, James Edward Wright

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The study addressed the need for additional research on how people, groups, and communities influence the organizational process through agency and datedness of research on stakeholder theory. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore how Southwestern Arizona law enforcement personnel create strategies to overcome the fear of proactive enforcement engagement and who is involved in their creation and implementation. The research questions addressed this purpose. The conceptual framework was based on stakeholder theory. Data were analyzed with ATLAS.ti using open coding to identify patterns and develop emerging themes from the multiple agencies and employee categories. Findings …

Strategies That Reduce Nurse Turnover, Trueman Chukwuemeka Atughonu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nurse turnover is a significant problem that hospital managers and administrators face in delivering high-quality patient care while ensuring organizational profitability. In the United States, the average cost of replacing a nurse ranges from $40,000 to $100,000. Hospital managers are significantly challenged to reduce nurse turnover and keep costs down. Grounded in the Herzberg’s two-factor theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore the strategies hospital managers use to reduce nurse turnover. The participants included five hospital managers at five medical centers in Arizona with successful experience in reducing nurse turnover. Data were collected from semistructured interviews …

Former Juvenile Delinquents’ Perceptions Of Community Resources In Reducing Juvenile Recidivism, Mardochee Terese Casimir

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractJuvenile recidivism is a concern for human service professionals who are dedicated to developing policies aimed at addressing and reducing such recidivism. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of former juvenile delinquents as to how community institutions and resources prevented them from recidivating. Social learning theory was used to frame this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with nine former juvenile delinquents who had experience with community institutions and resource use. Saldana’s inductive coding process was used for data analysis. Nine themes were identified: (a) behavior modification contributed to prevention of recidivism, (b) …

Strategies For Improving Performance Through Diversity And Inclusion In The Workplace, Satari Kay Durrah

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A lack of diversity and inclusion policies can lead to the perception of exclusion in the workplace and cause some employee groups to underperform. Some hospital leaders lack strategies for developing and implementing effective diversity and inclusion policies to improve business performance. Grounded in transformation leadership theory, the purpose of this multiple case qualitative study was to explore strategies for improving performance through diversity and inclusion in the healthcare field. The participants included four leaders from hospitals located in the southeastern region of the United States. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and review of company documents. Data were analyzed …

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Internalized Homophobia, Alcohol Use, And Suicide Ideation And Attempts Among Sexual Minority Msm Of Color, Odion Clunis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Sexual minority men of color who engage in sexual activity with men (MSM) are twice as likely to experience a psychological episode contributing to suicide ideation or attempts when compared to White MSM. These MSM are underserved in health systems, underrepresented in research, and limited in their access to health care services and interventions. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine relationships between adverse childhood experiences, internalized homophobia, alcohol use, and suicide ideation and attempts while controlling for age, income, education, and employment among sexual minority men of color (Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Middle Eastern, Native Hawaiian/Pacific islanders, …

Local Anesthetic Systemic Toxicity Education For Perianesthesia Nurses, Rachelle Lynn Dix

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Local anesthetic systemic toxicity (LAST) is a potentially life-threatening event following a local anesthetic bolus into the circulatory system. Because LAST is a low-volume, high-risk event, clinical exposure is lacking, creating a knowledge gap among perianesthesia nurses. A knowledge gap regarding LAST among perianesthesia nurses was identified at the project site, an ambulatory surgery center in south Mississippi. The practice-focused question was: Whether a web-based education intervention would increase perianesthesia nurses’ knowledge about LAST. The doctoral project aimed to provide perianesthesia nurses with the clinical knowledge essential for early detection of LAST symptoms. A LAST education module was developed using …

Organizational Engagement Strategies Used By Midlevel Managers In The Energy Industry, Joni Hoxsey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Company employees often see an organizational engagement breakdown when managers do not combine processes and knowledge transfer strategies to achieve goals. Some midlevel managers lose communication and collaboration among business departments as well as with their subordinates, leading to a breakdown in organizational performance. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore organizational engagement strategies midlevel managers use to encourage organizational performance. The theory of organizational learning provided the conceptual framework for the study. Six midlevel managers from various departments in an energy company in the midwestern and southern regions of the United States independently participated in …

Fostering Electricity Access In Cameroon: Impeding Factors And Cost-Effective Model, Jean-Jacques A. Enow

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract Due to irregularities and shortages in electricity generation and distribution, 95% of Cameroon’s population suffers from debilitating effects on national economic security, public health, education, safety, and quality of life. Cameroon needs a sustainable, efficient, and innovative electricity source and policy system. Failure to meet this demand forestalls the much-needed socio-economic and political development of the country. The purpose of the present study was to explore inadequacies of the current hydroelectric supply system in Cameroon, putting into perspective factors that impeded the development of a sustainable electricity supply system, strategies to alleviate these impediments, and the most cost-effective framework …

Co-Rumination In The Friendships Of Black And White Adolescents, Andrea Renee Gourdine

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Co-rumination is the process of friends discussing challenges via a problem-focused dialogue that is excessive and involves dwelling on negative emotions. Co-rumination is related to higher friendship quality but also depression. The adjustment consequences of co-rumination have been studied, but racial differences in co-rumination have yet to be studied. The purpose of this non-experimental, correlational, quantitative study was to examine co-rumination among Black and White adolescents. Theoretical frameworks included the response styles theory and Africentric theory. Research questions included whether there were racial differences in the degree to which adolescents co-ruminate and in the relations of co-rumination with friendship quality …

Psychological Manipulation And Cluster-B Personality Traits Of Cult Leaders, Jennifer Henderson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cults, thousands of which exist in the United States, present a societal problem due to their ability to rob followers of free will, sever familial ties, and even incite violence, such as the case of the Manson Family. Their leaders' manipulation of followers can be dangerous, resulting in emotional and physical abuse. There is a lack of meaningful literature on how personality traits may affect cult leaders’ abilities to recruit and maintain members. The purpose of this study was to examine how Cluster-B personality traits (narcissism, borderline, antisocial, and histrionic) relate to cult leaders’ abilities to manipulate. The qualitative case …

How It Professionals Acquire Soft Skills, Paul Majett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractIn this study, I investigated how information technology (IT) professionals learn/acquire soft skills. Little is understood about how IT professionals describe and apply the soft skills that they consider necessary for their own employability. Exploring how IT professionals describe and apply soft skills is important to their future work and career advancement. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to better understand how IT professionals learn/acquire soft skills. Bandura’s 1986, social learning theory served as the organizational conceptual framework of this study and guided the research question, which asked how IT professionals acquire learn/acquire soft skills. This research question …

Advisor Perceptions On Relationship-Based Advising And Student Retention, Sharene Leek

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research shows that relationship-based advising has a track record of producing better student outcomes and retention, thus local college administrators chose relationship-based advising as the advising model to be used at the campus. The problem addressed in this study was inconsistent implementation of the relationship-based advising model by the advisors at the local community college. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to investigate how advisors were implementing the relationship-based advising method when advising students. Guided by Vygotsky’s social interaction theory, the perspectives and experiences of advisors were explored regarding how relationship-based advising was implemented at the college. Ten …

Nonprofit Business And Management Challenges Encountered When Delivering Services And Fulfilling Organizational Missions, Becky A. Hammer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Failure of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) causes negative impacts to community service users and the NPO workforce. Although the impact of NPO failure has been researched, a comprehensive understanding of business and organizational challenges from the NPO leaders’ perspective was not well documented. Learning more about these challenges may assist with understanding how to best support and solve them. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore the business and management-related barriers and challenges NPO leaders encounter when delivering services and fulfilling organizational missions in the Greater Austin Metropolitan Statistical Area in Texas. The conceptual model included the …

Dietary Changes In Preventing Type Ii Diabetes Mellitus Among Young Hispanic Adults, Taiwo Onipede

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Diabetes mellitus continues to be a major chronic disease affecting the global population today with more prevalence amongst minority groups in the United States. The genetic susceptibility to obesity and higher insulin resistance seen in the Hispanic population puts them at the highest risk for development of Type II Diabetes (T2DM). The alarming increase in young adult T2DM diagnosis led to the project question: How can teaching on dietary changes affect Type II Diabetes diagnosis in predisposed young Hispanic adults? The purpose of this project is to accomplish the goal of Healthy People 2020 towards improving the quality of life …