Digital Commons Network^™

On The Line: Reforming Ocsla As A Mechanism For Fisheries Compensation In The Offshore Wind Era, Madeleine Fenderson

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Traditional Notions Of Fair Play And Substantial Justice?: The Interplay Between Remote Work, State Regulations, And Personal Jurisdiction, Kathryn M. Couture

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Battle Over Gender-Affirming Healthcare For Transgender Minors: Analyzing Anti-Transgender Healthcare Bills In Arkansas And Texas, Brandon Calton

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Finops-Driven Cloud Optimization Models For Enterprise Applications, Manikantha Varaprasad Inakollu

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Cloud computing has revolutionized enterprise IT infrastructure, yet escalating costs and resource inefficiencies threaten to undermine these benefits. This research examines FinOps-driven optimization models that enable organizations to balance cloud performance, cost efficiency, and business value. The study addresses the critical challenge enterprises face in managing cloud expenditures while maintaining operational excellence. Through comprehensive analysis of FinOps principles and practical optimization frameworks, we develop models that integrate financial accountability, technical efficiency, and business alignment. Our research demonstrates that organizations implementing structured FinOps practices achieve 25-40% cost reductions without compromising application performance. The study contributes both theoretical frameworks for understanding cloud …

Enhancing Erp Auditability And Compliance Using Permissioned Blockchain, A Framework For Transparent And Immutable Enterprise Resource Planning Systems., Manikantha Varaprasad Inakollu

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Enterprise Resource Planning systems serve as the backbone of modern organizational operations, yet their centralized architecture creates significant challenges for auditability and regulatory compliance. This research proposes a permissioned blockchain framework to enhance ERP auditability by creating immutable, transparent, and traceable records of all system transactions and modifications. The study addresses critical gaps in current ERP systems where transaction histories can be altered, audit trails prove insufficient, and compliance verification remains cumbersome. Through examination of existing ERP limitations and blockchain capabilities, we develop an integrated architecture that maintains operational efficiency while providing cryptographic assurance of data integrity. Our framework employs …

Expansionary Federal Monetary Policy And U.S. Banks’ Risk Profiles During The Covid-19 Pandemic-Induced Economic Recession, Maoyong Zheng, Cesar Escalante

Journal of Banking and Financial Economics

This study focuses on the pandemic phase when the U.S. economy dealt with significant economic recessionary pressures due to widespread, prolonged social mobility restraints. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) promptly pursued expansionary policies, such as lowering the federal funds rate to almost zero until February 2022. This study employs a Dynamic Panel Data Generalised Moment Method Model (DPD-GMM) to analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic shocks and FOMC’s expansionary policy on U.S. banks’ loan portfolio and asset complement risk profiles. Our analysis extends from two pre-pandemic years through the pandemic recession and recovery periods (until early 2022) …

Optimal Empirical Strategy For Deriving The Spot Curve: The Case Of Poland, Piotr Bartkiewicz

Journal of Banking and Financial Economics

We use a proprietary dataset of daily quotations of individual bonds from the period 2005–2018 to assess the appropriateness of three common yield curve intrapolation methods: Nelson-Siegel (NS), Diebold-Li (DL) and cubic splines. Spot (zero-coupon) yield curves derived from the methods are used to price all securities in the sample in both in-sample and out-of-sample settings. The results highlight trade-offs inherent in any empirical strategy: between flexibility and in-sample fit, between overall fit and fit in particular segments of the curve. We look at both in-sample and out-of-sample. Cubic splines offer the best in-sample fit, but out-of-sample results indicate that …

Developing A Professional Identity: Lessons For Women, Bipoc, And First Generation Law Students From The Canaries In The Coalmines, Christine Venter

Journal Articles

From the Article

This Article explores the concept of professional identity formation in the law, particularly as it pertains to women and lawyers of color. The topic of professional identity formation is an understudied area in legal education, despite the ABA’s new Standard 303(b)(3), which requires law schools to provide substantial opportunities for the development of professional identity. In the legal field, professional identity is often conflated with professionalism, which leads to confusion about how law schools should best prepare their students for their professional lives, and fails to fully equip students to join the profession.

Studies from other professions …

Behavioral Activity Budget Of Grower Beetal Kids Offered Total Mixed Ration Under Stall-Fed System, Priya Dhattarwal, Mandeep Singla, Sandeep Kaswan, Ravinder Singh Grewal, Neeraj Kashyap, Dalpat Singh Malik

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

This study investigates the behavioral activities of grower Beetal kids fed in a conventional method-control group manner orgiven total mixed ration (TMR) (i.e. hay-based - T1 and green fodder-based - T2). Twenty-four weaned Beetal kids were enrolled andrandomly distributed into 3 groups based on their body weight, sex, and age. Behavioral observations were recorded 30 min after givingexperimental ration to the kids using the scan sampling method for 1 h, which inferred time spent eating normally, eating with forelegson the cage, and eating with forelegs on the feeders; standing idle and urination were significantly higher in the control group than …

Faculty Authors & Achievers Bibliography 2024, James Miller

WRL: Faculty Authors & Achievers Bibliographies

The office of Academic Affairs and the Wyndham Robertson Library congratulate all Hollins faculty who published or presented creative or scholarly works from Fall 2022 - Summer 2024. These pages include a list of those activities.

How American Sports Leagues Can Respond To The Rise Of Sovereign Wealth Funds, Chris Chen

Emory Business Law Review

This Comment explores the transformative impact of well-funded Middle Eastern sports leagues on the global landscape of professional sports. Fueled by substantial financial support from sovereign wealth funds, these leagues have raised concerns about the possibility that domestic American players may choose to leave their current league in favor of one of the opportunities for more lucrative salaries overseas. The rise of LIV Golf catalyzes these discussions. This Comment also delves into how American sports leagues may respond by potentially allowing players to have equity stakes, engage in sponsorships with gambling websites, and participate other revenue-sharing arrangements. The potential corporate …

Characterization Of Tonneau1 Recruiting Motif Proteins And Ton2 Signaling Functions, Tyler Falk

Theses and Dissertations

Plants cells are fixed in place. As a result they have to carefully divide in order to function properly. Plants use a number of complex microtubule arrays to ensure proper division and orientation including the preprophase band (PPB) and the phragmoplast. The PPB orients the cell prior to division and marks the cortical division site, which is where the phragmoplast is guided to. The phragmoplast is a dynamic microtubule array that builds the cell plate which later becomes the cell wall that divides daughter cells. Proteins involved with PPB formation include Tonneau1 (TON1) and Tonneau2 (TON2) which localize to and …

Food For Thought: Fabricating The Cannibal In Colonization, Hannah Dubrovich

Theses and Dissertations

Anthropophagy means people-eating, as does cannibal, but the terms are not synonymous. After Europeans landed in the Americas, Christopher Columbus coined the word cannibal. Despite the two terms having similar base definitions, there are additional connotations associated with cannibal. The way in which cannibalism has been thought about by Western cultures is not about the act of people-eating, but the constructed character of the cannibal as a “savage” Other created through colonization. In addition to the term's associated meaning being cemented during this time, colonizers used the term as a tool to Other Native peoples and aid in colonization. It …

Disrupted One-Carbon Metabolism In Heifers Negatively Affects Their Health And Physiology, Matthew S. Crouse, Ronald J. Trotta, Harvey C. Freetly, Amanda K. Lindholm-Perry, Bryan W. Neville, William T. Oliver, Carrie J. Hammer, Jessica G. Syring, Layla E. King, Tammi L. Neville, Lawrence P. Reynolds, Carl R. Dahlen, Joel S. Caton, Alison K. Ward, Robert A. Cushman

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

The objective of this study was to determine the dose-dependent response of one-carbon metabolite (OCM: methionine, choline, folate, and vitamin B12) supplementation on heifer dry matter intake on fixed gain, organ mass, hematology, cytokine concentration, pancreatic and jejunal enzyme activity, and muscle hydrogen peroxide production. Angus heifers (n = 30; body weight [BW] = 392.6 ± 12.6 kg) were individually fed and assigned to one of five treatments: 0XNEG: total mixed ration (TMR) and saline injections at days 0 and 7 of the estrous cycle, 0XPOS: TMR, rumen-protected methionine (MET) fed at 0.08% of the diet dry matter, rumen-protected choline …

Ergot Alkaloid Consumption Alters Serotonin Receptor-Induced Vasoactivity In Ovine Umbilical Vasculature, James L. Klotz, Jessica L. Britt, Maslyn A. Greene, Coral Kent-Dennis, Susan K. Duckett

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Consumption of ergot alkaloids during the second half of gestation has been shown to decrease umbilical artery vasoactivity resulting in decreased birth weights. Negative vascular effects of ergot alkaloids are mediated predominantly through serotonergic and adrenergic receptors in other tissues. Vasoactivity of serotonin (5-HT) receptors 5-HT_2A and 5-HT_1B/1D in umbilical artery and vein from ewes receiving endophyte-infected seed (E + 1.77 mg ergovaline/hd/d) or a control total mixed ration (CON; 0 mg ergovaline/hd/d) tall fescue seed at d-110 and d-133 of gestation was evaluated. Gravid reproduction tracts were collected from ewes. Two-mm sections of umbilical artery and vein …

Effect Of Chronic Cyclic Heat Stress And Supplemented Inorganic And Organic Zinc Source Levels On Grow-Finish Pig Growth Performance And Estimated Body Composition, Kayla M. Mills, Julie A. Mahoney, Alan W. Duttlinger, Sarah K. Elefson, John S. Radcliffe, Zachary J. Rambo, Brian T. Richert

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Zinc (Zn) supplementation has proved to mitigate the effects of heat stress with varying effects evident with Zn source during acute heat events. However, the effects of Zn supplementation during long-term summer weather patterns have yet to be explored. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify the effects of supplementation source and level of Zn to mitigate the negative effects of long-term, cyclic heat stress in finishing swine. Six hundred cross-bred pigs were housed under thermoneutral (TN) or cyclic heat (HS) conditions simulating summer heat with acute 3-d heat waves for a 70-d study. Thermoneutral conditions were 16.7 …

Effects Of Increasing Dietary Arginine Supply During The Three First Weeks After Weaning On Pig Growth Performance, Plasma Amino Acid Concentrations, And Health Status, Jorge Y. Perez-Palencia, Christian D. Ramirez-Camba, Keith Haydon, Kristine L. Urschel, Crystal L. Levesque

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

A total of 425 weaned pigs (Exp. 1: 225 pigs [5.8 ± 0.9 kg]; Exp. 2: 200 pigs [6.1 ± 1.2 kg]) were used to determine the optimal dietary standardized ileal digestible (SID) arginine (Arg) level in early nursery diets based on growth and health responses. The basal diet in Exp.1 was formulated to meet SID Arg recommendation (0.66%; NRC, 2012) and in Exp. 2, SID Arg was set to simulate current industry practices for feeding nursery pigs (1.15 %). Basal diets were supplemented with 0.3%, 0.6%, 0.9%, and 1.2% of l-arginine to provide five levels of dietary SID Arg. …

Essential Oil Supplementation Improves Insulin Sensitivity And Modulates The Plasma Metabolome Of Hyperinsulinemic Horses, Caroline M.M. Loos, Shuang Zhao, Liang Li, Janet Li, Wei Han, Eric S. Vanzant, Kyle R. Mcleod

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of essential oil (EO) supplementation on insulin sensitivity (IS) and the plasma metabolome in insulin dysregulated (ID) horses. Horses were blocked by degree of IS and assigned randomly to treatment: oral daily bolus (50 mL) of either a plant derived EO supplement or carrier (CON). Mares were housed in dry lots with ad libitum access to grass hay and supplemented individually twice daily with a concentrate to meet nutrient requirements for mature horses. Before and after 6 wks of treatment, mares underwent a combined glucose-insulin tolerance test (CGIT) and an …

Noninvasive Freshness Evaluation Of Bighead Carp Heads Based On Fluorescence Spectroscopy Coupled With Long Short-Term Memory Network, Juan You, Zhenqian Sun, Xiaoting Li, Xiaoguo Ying, Ce Shi, Hongbing Fan

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

To swiftly and noninvasively assess the freshness of bighead carp heads within simulated cold chain environments, an excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy coupled with a long short-term memory network (EEM-LSTM) model was developed. Through the parallel factor algorithm based on analysis of residuals, diagnosis of core consistency, and split-half evaluation, three key fluorescent components from fish fillets were extracted, with the most significant components linked to tryptophan and NADH, both indicative of fish freshness. The EEM-LSTM model exhibited coherent trends in freshness indicators and demonstrated exceptional predictive capabilities for four freshness indicators simultaneously, achieving R² values exceeding 0.8840 in simulated …

Ovotransferrin-Depleted Egg White Hydrolysate Reduces Blood Pressure In Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats, Fatemeh Ashkar, Hongbing Fan, Zihan Wang, Ilekuttige Priyan Shanura Fernando, Jianping Wu

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Egg whites contain a variety of biologically active proteins and are a good source of bioactive peptides. Egg white hydrolysate prepared by thermoase (EWH) possesses antihypertensive effects. Our recent study showed that egg white proteins, after depleting ovotransferrin, also contained many angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory peptides after hydrolysis using thermoase. In the present study, we aimed to explore the antihypertensive effect of the ovotransferrin-depleted egg white hydrolysate prepared by thermoase (OD-EWH) in spontaneously hypertensive rats, using EWH as the reference. The animals were orally administered with either hydrolysate at a dose of 1 g/kg body weight/d over 9 d. OD-EWH treatment …

Effects Of A Second Iron-Dextran Injection Administered To Piglets During Lactation On Differential Gene Expression In Liver And Duodenum At Weaning, James L. Pierce, J. Wesley Lyons, Tyler B. Chevalier, Merlin D. Lindemann

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Six female littermate piglets were used in an experiment to evaluate the mRNA expression in tissues from piglets given one or two 1 mL injections of iron dextran (200 mg Fe/mL). All piglets in the litter were administered the first 1 mL injection < 24 h after birth. On day 7, piglets were paired by weight (mean body weight = 1.72 ± 0.13 kg) and one piglet from each pair was randomly selected as control (CON) and the other received a second injection (+Fe). At weaning on day 22, each piglet was anesthetized, and samples of liver and duodenum were taken from the anesthetized piglets and preserved until mRNA extraction. differential gene expression data were analyzed with a fold change cutoff (FC) of |1.2| P < 0.05. Pathway analysis was conducted with Z-score cutoff of P < 0.05. In the duodenum 435 genes were significantly changed with a FC ≥ |1.2| P < 0.05. In the duodenum, Claudin 1 and Claudin 2 were inversely affected by + Fe. Claudin 1 (CLDN1) plays a key role in cell-to-cell adhesion in the epithelial cell sheets and was upregulated (FC = 4.48, P = 0.0423). Claudin 2 (CLDN2) is expressed in cation leaky epithelia, especially during disease or inflammation and was downregulated (FC = -1.41, P = 0.0097). In the liver, 362 genes were expressed with a FC ≥ |1.2| P < 0.05. The gene most affected by a second dose of 200 mg Fe was hepcidin antimicrobial peptide (HAMP) with a FC of 40.8. HAMP is a liver-produced hormone that is the main circulating regulator of Fe absorption and distribution across tissues. It also controls the major flows of Fe into plasma by promoting endocytosis and degradation of ferroportin (SLC4A1). This leads to the retention of Fe in Fe-exporting cells and decreased flow of Fe into plasma. Gene expression related to metabolic pathway changes in the duodenum and liver provides evidence for the improved feed conversion and growth rates in piglets given two iron injections preweaning with contemporary pigs in a companion study. In the duodenum, there is a downregulation of gene clusters associated with gluconeogenesis (P < 0.05). Concurrently, there was a decrease in the mRNA expression of genes for enzymes required for urea production in the liver (P < 0.05). These observations suggest that there may be less need for gluconeogenesis, and possibly less urea production from deaminated amino acids. The genomic and pathway analyses provided empirical evidence linking gene expression with phenotypic observations of piglet health and growth improvements.

Role Of Ε-Poly-Lysine In Mixed Surimi Gel, Zhaorui Li, Guangcan Liang, Yungang Cao, Fang Yuan, Miaomiao Liu, Zelong Liu, Youling L. Xiong

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

The effects of different concentrations of ε-Poly-lysine (ε-PL: 0.005%, 0.01%, 0.02%, 0.04%, and 0.06%) on the marine fish-egg white protein compound gels, treated with 0.4% TGase induced cross-linking were systematically investigated under low salt and phosphorus-free conditions (0.5% NaCl). The results showed the combination of ε-PL and TGase had a synergistic effect on improving sectional gel properties of composite surimi samples. Wherein the rheological, LF-NMR, and SEM results confirmed that the addition of ε-PL based on 0.4% TGase significantly improved the gel strength (to the highest value: 781.63 g·cm), apparent viscosity, and G 'value of the composite surimi sample, as …

Social Networks As Predictors Of Musculoskeletal Injury In U.S. Army Soldiers (Snap-Mski), Kristen L. Zosel

Theses and Dissertations

INTRODUCTION: Musculoskeletal injuries (MSKIs) are the leading cause of medical non-readiness among U.S. Army Soldiers, costing the Military Health System an estimated $4.7 billion annually in direct and indirect costs. Current MSKI mitigation efforts focus on individual attributes such as body mass index and gender. However, emerging research highlights the significance of social ties on health outcomes and behaviors. This study examined the patterns of MSKI within military social networks and how social interactions, along with health behaviors such as sleep, physical activity (PA), and diet, co-occur in Soldiers with and without MSKI. METHODS: Phase 1 involved a cross-sectional sociocentric …

A Framework For Scientific Data Indexing, Searching And Sharing, Apoorva Mohite

Master's Projects

Scientific data continues to grow. Wildfire simulation experiments performed by the WIRC team at SJSU have generated over 138 TB of data so far and it is expected to keep growing. It becomes difficult for researchers to search through that data to find the data of their interest. This data is stored on an HPC cluster that external users do not have access to. The WIRC team also conducts experiments and publishes their research, but the size of data makes it difficult to share these datasets. This project introduces a novel solution to indexing scientific data, searching through the data …

The Impact Of Daylight Saving Time Transitions On Domestic Violence Call Volume, Quynh-Nhu Pham

Master's Projects

Daylight Saving Time (DST) is a longstanding practice in many countries, involving the seasonal adjustment of clocks by one hour forward in the spring, and one hour backward in the fall. Although DST was initially introduced to promote energy conservation and maximize daylight hours, it has become a subject of debate, given its impact on physical and mental health, cognitive performance, and criminal behavior (Kountouris & Remoundou, 2014).

In 2022, Colorado enacted a law adopting year-round DST, contingent upon a federal law enabling states to maintain DST throughout the year as opposed to ST, like Hawaii and Arizona (Chasan, 2024). …

Fine-Tuning Large Language Models For Folder Structure Generation, Likhith Nemani

Master's Projects

Starting a new project is a significant challenge in the software development world. Building a new project skeleton and configurations will require vast amounts of time and effort. This project aims to overcome the difficulty presented by this challenge using advanced large language models, specifically fine-tuning LLMs. Our initial focus with the implementation is to use the powerful capabilities of advanced modern models to simplify and accelerate the complicated process of getting new projects started. The solution process begins with a user posting a README file to a predetermined repository. This README file then is used as a source for …

Credit Score-Based Lending System On The Ethereum Platform, Mayuri Shimpi

Master's Projects

Traditional banking systems act as intermediaries, assessing risks and profiting from interest rate differentials. Credit scores, provided by trusted bureaus, are commonly used to evaluate the creditworthiness of borrowers. Cryptocurrencies have emerged as a significant and innovative medium due to their decentralized nature, operating without reliance on a central authority, such as a government.

This report describes a project to implement the Autonomous Lending system on the Ethereum Platform (ALOE), as proposed in [1], aiming to seamlessly integrate traditional credit scoring methodologies for evaluating a borrower's risk of default. The objective of this project report is to establish a robust …

Ml-Based User Identification Through Mouse Dynamics, Rakshit Gupta

Master's Projects

User authentication and identification plays a crucial role in ensuring the security and integrity of digital systems. Traditional authentication methods, such as passwords and biometrics, have inherent limitations that can compromise system security. This research proposes a novel approach to user authentication by leveraging machine learning techniques and behavioral biometrics, specifically mouse dynamics. The primary objective is to develop a sophisticated framework that can accurately identify individuals based on their unique mouse behavior patterns. The study explores and compares multiple deep learning architectures, including Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Long Short-Term Memory networks (LSTM), and Transformer models, to generate embeddings from …

Analysis And Application Of Adaptive Ml Algorithms For Malware Classification, Rashmi Boddukuri

Master's Projects

Malware classification is the process of distinguishing malware samples into categories of malware families that it is associated with and remains a critical step in the process of mitigating malware-related threats. In recent years, machine learning techniques have emerged as a powerful tool for such malware classification tasks. In this study, we explore the application of adaptive machine learning models to malware classification in order to analyze and determine how they compare in performance to similar but non-adaptive algorithms. The results achieved in this study share insight into the strengths and limitations of adaptive learning models when applied towards malware …

Distinguishing Chatbot From Human, Gauri Anil Godghase

Master's Projects

There have been many recent advances in the field of Generative Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models, with GPT 3 or ChatGPT model being one of the frontrunners in this field. These large language models have become so powerful that it has become difficult to differentiate between text written by humans and machine-generated text. This paper proposes a solution to the problem of classification of the origin of data (human or chatbot) by using Machine Learning. In addition, the proposed solution also helps us analyze the text generated by such Language Models and understand the underlying patterns present in the …