Digital Commons Network^™

Social Crises, Political Conflicts, And Cultural Contradictions Of Nixonland: Tracing Constitutional Crisis In The Usa From Nixon To Trump, Timothy W. Luke

Fast Capitalism

Many developments, like greater domestic turmoil, economic dislocation, social immobility, and political gridlock, suggest "the public" and "the private" are different domains with the US than they were decades ago in 1969 when President Nixon entered office. The constitutional state, as a theory and set of practices in the USA in the Nixon era was put under tremendous strains, and it seems clear that those pressures fractured it. After Vietnam, stagflation, Watergate, and the transitional Ford Administration, has it ever been the same? The Reagan-Bush assault on the New Deal and Great Society as well as the essentially permanent mobilization …

The Carnival King Of Capital, Charles Thorpe

Fast Capitalism

This paper argues that President Donald Trump may be understood as ruling through carnival. The theatrical reversal of conventional standards and rules, his carnivalesque incivility, is key to his political persona. It performs his claim to be an outsider, attacking and subverting the Washington DC establishment. But Trump's carnivalesque performance, far from undermining the dominant order, reflects it. What Trump represents is carnivalized capital, a financialized and globalized form of capital that has broken free of the social and legal restraints of the nation state. The carnivalesque chaos of Trump's presidency reflects the chaos of financialized capitalism.

Author Biography

Charles …

Introduction To "This Is Not Normal", David M. Arditi, Timothy W. Luke

Fast Capitalism

Author Biographies

David M. Arditi, University of Texas Arlington

David Arditi is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he serves as Director of the Center for Theory. He researches the impact of digital technology on society. His forthcoming book, Getting Signed: Record Contracts, Musicians and Power in Society, explores the way musicians' dreams become their source of exploitation.

Timothy W. Luke, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Timothy W. Luke is a University Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science. Luke's areas of research specialization include environmental and cultural studies …

Full Issue, Fast Capitalism Editorial Team

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Farm-Level Financial Decision-Making Methodologies Within A Cow-Calf Enterprise: A Scoping Review, Heidi R. Johnson, Huiting Huang, Brenna Grant

Journal of Applied Farm Economics

Beef cow-calf enterprises face unique financial challenges, requiring methodologies to assess management and technology adoption decisions’ costs, revenues, and profitability. This scoping review synthesizes research on farm-level financial assessment methods specific to cow-calf operations aiming to adopt a new practice or technology. A literature search was conducted to capture various methodologies, examining studies published between 1960 and 2024. A total of 372 articles were screened for eligibility; 61 articles met the defined inclusion criteria. Eight economic and financial methodologies were identified: break-even analysis, cost effectiveness, gross margin, enterprise analysis, partial budgeting, cost-benefit analysis, financial feasibility and net present value, and …

Cost Effects Of Adding Poultry To Organic Vegetable Production Systems In California, Iowa, And Kentucky, Kwanele Magwaba, Alejandro Plastina, Ajay Nair, Maurice Pitesky, David J. Gonthier, Anne Carey, Faye Duan, Viktor Halmos

Journal of Applied Farm Economics

This study evaluates the economic viability of integrating poultry into organic vegetable crop rotations over three years in Kentucky and Iowa and two years in California. Given the growing global demand for food and heightened environmental awareness, understanding the financial implications of such integrated systems is crucial. Our comprehensive experiment compared integrated poultry-vegetable rotations with vegetable-only systems, assessing costs, revenues, and key factors influencing profitability. While integrating poultry reduced vegetable production costs by up to 10% in some cases, overall system costs increased due to high poultry expenses. Break-even poultry prices averaged $8/lb for low-density systems and $7 for high-density …

Case Studies To Examine Farmer Perceptions And Implementations Of Buffer Capacity In Southeastern Ontario, Bryan Collins

Journal of Applied Farm Economics

Buffer capacity measures the ability of a system to maintain its original function when confronted with outside stresses and is often considered to be a key component of resilience. Farmers in southeastern Ontario are facing several threats such as seasonal drought and volatile markets, prompting necessary responses on how to effectively manage their farms. This research study used an exploratory grounded theory approach to inquire how farmers seek to enhance buffer capacity on their farm by asking (1) what short-term threats their farm faces and (2) what strategies they are employing to navigate those threats. Ten farms in the Inverary …

Are Returns From Commercial Farming Heterogeneous? Case Of Wheat Growers In North India, Saroj Verma, Kirtti Ranjan Paltasingh, Phanindra Goyari

Journal of Applied Farm Economics

Contract farming (CF), generally a commercial farming system, is widely perceived as a welfare enhancement strategy in rural areas where agriculture is the major source of livelihood. However, those welfare implications have not been adequately explored in Indian agriculture. So, this study examines the returns to CF and the heterogeneity in their returns across various groups of wheat growers in Haryana, a leading agrarian state in India. Using an endogenous switching regression model on cross-sectional data of 754 farm households, the study found that CF adopters would lose 27% of their gross margins and 11% of their crop output if …

Cultivating Partnerships, Growing Stewardship, Sarah Moss

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Compilation Of A Nationwide River Image Dataset For Identifying River Channels And River Rapids Via Deep Learning, Nicholas Brimhall, Kelvyn K. Bladen, Thomas Kerby, Carl J. Legleiter, Cameron Swapp, Hannah Fluckiger, Julie Bahr, Makenna Roberts, Kaden Hart, Christina L. Stegman, Brennan L. Bean, Kevin R. Moon

Mathematics and Statistics Student Research and Class Projects

Remote sensing enables large-scale, image-based assessments of river dynamics, offering new opportunities for hydrological monitoring. We present a publicly available dataset consisting of 281,024 satellite and aerial images of U.S. rivers, constructed using an Application Programming Interface (API) and the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Hydrography Dataset. The dataset includes images, primary keys, and ancillary geospatial information. We use a manually labeled subset of the images to train models for detecting rapids, defined as areas where high velocity and turbulence lead to a wavy, rough, or even broken water surface visible in the imagery. To demonstrate the utility of this dataset, …

Bioerosion And Encrustation As Paleoenvironmental Indicators In Upper Cretaceous Corals, Aruma Formation, Saudi Arabia, Abdelbaset S. El-Sorogy, Huriye Demi̇rcan, Khaled Al-Kahtany, Taisser Zumlot, Talal Alharbi, Mohamed Tawfik

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

This study documents and interprets bioerosion and encrustation traces on Upper Cretaceous scleractinian corals from the Hajajah Member of the Aruma Formation in northern Khashm Buwaibiyat, central Saudi Arabia. Fieldwork in 2023 and 2024 involved detailed bed-by-bed stratigraphic logging, ichnological assessment, and fossil collection across marl and limestone units. A total of 213 coral specimens with bioerosional features were analyzed, leading to the identification of 10 ichnospecies across 5 ichnogenera, including Gastrochaenolites, Entobia, Caulostrepsis, Rogerella, and Labyrintichnus. These traces reflect a range of ethological categories, primarily domichnia, indicating permanent dwelling structures by polychaetes, sponges, bivalves, barnacles, and crustaceans. The Hajajah …

January 2026, Office Of Research

Research Update

No abstract provided.

Ureilite Meteorite Petrofabrics: Evolution And Formation Deformational Conditions, Benjamin Botwe Agyemang

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the origin and development of crystallographic fabrics in ureilites, which are primitive achondritic meteorites interpreted as residues of partial melting from a differentiated parent body. In this study, we evaluate three fabric-forming mechanisms: gravitational cumulate crystallization, shock-induced deformation, and flow alignment associated with melt extraction and convective stirring. A quantitative Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) analysis was conducted on six ureilitic meteorites to assess olivine Lattice Preferred Orientation (LPO), Shape Preferred Orientation (SPO), the connection between SPO and LPO, and other deformation metrics, including Grain Orientation Spread (GOS), and Crystal Rotation Axis (CRA). Our results suggest that most …

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Tr_J1 Report Fy2025 - Journal Requests (Controlled) By Title, Andrée Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 / 5.1 Report TR_J1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025. The TR_J1 report is defined as "Journal Requests (Controlled)." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Total Item Requests - 850,324

Unique Item Requests - 628,581

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Dr_D1 Report Fy2025 - Database Search And Item Usage, Andrée Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 / R5.1 Report DR_D1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025. The DR_D1 report is defined as "Database Search and Item Usage." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Searches Automated - 38,089

Searches Federated - 1,810

Searches Regular - 1,304,882

Total Item Investigations - 933,864

Total Item Requests - 286,912

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Tr_B1 Report Fy2025 - Book Requests Controlled) By Title, Andrée Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 / 5.1 Report TR_B1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025. The TR_B1 report is defined as "Book Requests Controlled)." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Total Item Requests - 194,197

Unique Title Requests - 60,001

A Little Blue Hedgehog That Runs A Lot And Has An Attitude: An Analysis Of The Covers Of Archie Comics’ Sonic The Hedgehog, Eleanor Herman

Theses and Dissertations

Through the lens of Robin Williams principles of design as outlined in her book, The Non-Designer’s Design Book, this thesis analyzes selected covers of Archie Comics’ Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series to see how the covers evolved over time, as the nearly 25-year continuous run allows for a unique analysis opportunity. 18 issues were selected and analyzed, with conclusions drawn from the covers’ use of contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity.

Poster Scoresheets 2026, Alison Coleman

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Strategies Financial Institutions Use To Mitigate Security Breaches For Mobile Customers, Steven F. Knese

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mobile fraud attack rates are increasing rapidly. Financial institutions, cybersecurity managers, and regulators need effective strategies to reduce consumer financial harm and operational risk. Grounded in the cybernetics model, this qualitative, pragmatic inquiry identified the cybersecurity strategies that cybersecurity professionals use at financial institutions to mitigate data breaches for mobile customers accessing financial data. Data were collected from five cybersecurity professionals through semistructured interviews and from publicly available documents and guidance issued by financial institutions and standards bodies. Six significant themes emerged from thematic analysis: implementing multifactor authentication, deploying virtual private networks (VPNs), delivering user education, promoting regular account monitoring, …

Cdk2 Inhibitor Blu-222 Synergizes With Cdk4/6 Inhibitors In Drug Resistant Breast Cancers Through P21/P27 Induction, Linjie Luo, Yan Wang, Tuyen Bui, Xiaoting Jiang, Mei-Kuang Chen, Xiayu Rao, Sepideh Mohammadhosseinpour, Mi Li, Serena Kim, Rachel Y Kim, Saba Kamaliasl, Carmen W Ulizio, Spyros Tsavachidis, Juliana Navarro-Yepes, Nicole M Kettner, Hannah Wingate, Funda Meric-Bernstam, Kelly K Hunt, Jing Wang, Kerrie Faia, Khandan Keyomarsi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i) combined with endocrine therapy are the standard first-line treatment for hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative (HR+/HER2-) metastatic breast cancer, but resistance inevitably develops. In triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the efficacy of CDK4/6i remains uncertain. Our study shows that the selective CDK2 inhibitor BLU-222, while effective alone, enhances synergistic activity when combined with CDK4/6i in resistant HR+/HER2- and TNBC models, leading to increased apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. In vivo, combining BLU-222 with palbociclib or ribociclib produced significant antitumor activity across eight resistant models, driving durable tumor regression and prolonged survival. Mechanistically, BLU-222, alone or with palbociclib, upregulated …

Cdk2 Inhibitor Blu-222 Synergizes With Cdk4/6 Inhibitors In Drug Resistant Breast Cancers Through P21/P27 Induction, Linjie Luo, Yan Wang, Tuyen Bui, Xiaoting Jiang, Mei-Kuang Chen, Xiayu Rao, Sepideh Mohammadhosseinpour, Mi Li, Serena Kim, Rachel Y Kim, Saba Kamaliasl, Carmen W Ulizio, Spyros Tsavachidis, Juliana Navarro-Yepes, Nicole M Kettner, Hannah Wingate, Funda Meric-Bernstam, Kelly K Hunt, Jing Wang, Kerrie Faia, Khandan Keyomarsi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i) combined with endocrine therapy are the standard first-line treatment for hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative (HR+/HER2-) metastatic breast cancer, but resistance inevitably develops. In triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the efficacy of CDK4/6i remains uncertain. Our study shows that the selective CDK2 inhibitor BLU-222, while effective alone, enhances synergistic activity when combined with CDK4/6i in resistant HR+/HER2- and TNBC models, leading to increased apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. In vivo, combining BLU-222 with palbociclib or ribociclib produced significant antitumor activity across eight resistant models, driving durable tumor regression and prolonged survival. Mechanistically, BLU-222, alone or with palbociclib, upregulated …

Public Speaking, Demonstration And Action Exhibit Scorecard & Information, Alison Coleman

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Poster & Photography Information & Scoresheets, Alison Coleman

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Kenyon Collegian - January 22, 2026

The Kenyon Collegian

No abstract provided.

Targeting Smpdl3b To Ameliorate Radiation- And Cisplatin-Induced Renal Toxicity, Youssef Zeidan

All Publications

Kidney toxicity remains a major dose-limiting complication of radiation therapy and platinum-based chemotherapy, yet the molecular determinants of renal susceptibility and resilience to these genotoxic treatments are incompletely understood. Podocytes are particularly vulnerable to such insults, and emerging evidence implicates lipid dysregulation in podocyte injury. This study investigated the role of sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase acid-like 3B (SMPDL3B), a podocyte-enriched lipid-modulating enzyme, in radiation- and cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. Using a doxycycline-inducible, podocyte-specific SMPDL3B transgenic mouse model, renal injury was assessed following focal kidney irradiation, cisplatin administration, or their combination through functional assays, histopathology, ultrastructural analysis, immunofluorescence, and targeted lipidomics. Combined radiation and cisplatin …

The Gut Microbiota Shapes The Human And Murine Breath Volatilome, Ariel J. Hernandez-Leyva, Amalia Z. Berna, Maggie H. Bui, Yang Liu, Anne L. Rosen, Michael A. Lint, Samantha A. Whiteside, Natalia Jaeger, Nikhilesh Joardar, Wentai Luo, Multiple Additional Authors

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

The gut microbiota is crucial to health, yet implementation of microbiota-based therapeutics is limited by the lack of rapid diagnostics. We hypothesize that breath contains gut microbe-derived volatile organic compounds (VOCs) reflecting microbiota composition and metabolism. In healthy children, we found that breath VOC composition (or volatilome), assessed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, correlates with gut microbiome composition and function. By capturing exhaled breath from human-stool-colonized and monocolonized gnotobiotic mice, we profiled breath VOCs and discovered that murine breath is also significantly influenced by the gut microbiome. VOCs from cultured gut microbes were identified in vivo in monocolonized gnotobiotic colonized mice. …

Restorative Justice, Human Dignity, And The Capabilities Approach, Reed Mcfeely

Acta Cogitata: An Undergraduate Journal in Philosophy

As a value-driven and transformative approach to criminal justice, restorative justice is inherently philosophical. Despite this, however, its philosophical underpinnings remain underdeveloped. This manuscript argues for the necessity of grounding restorative justice in moral philosophy, specifically through the framework offered by Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approach. The paper first addresses the fragmented nature of restorative justice values, suggesting a new uniform framework centered on respect, equality, agency, and active striving. It then explores what victims are materially owed in the restorative justice process, advancing Nussbaum’s list of basic capabilities as a foundation. However, the central aim of this manuscript transcends these …

"Region 5 Report" United Auto Workers Newsletter From August , 1969

Migrant Farm Workers Organizing Movement Collection

"Region 5 Report" from the United Auto Workers newsletter dated August, 1969. The document contains news from region 5 such as " Grape boycott program expands to Kansas City and Texas".

"El Malcriado" Newspaper From June, 1967

Migrant Farm Workers Organizing Movement Collection

"El Malcriado" newspaper from June, 1967 edition. The newspaper reports on the arrest of 19 people on May 26 by the Texas Rangers.

"El Malcriado" Newspaper From May 24, 1967

Migrant Farm Workers Organizing Movement Collection

"El Malcriado" newspaper May 24, 1967 edition. The newspaper states updates on new objectives of the union and also on "the fight to save Texas". The document also includes a history portion about the fight for textile workers in the 19th and 20th century for better working conditions.