Digital Commons Network^™

A Simple Guide To Responsible Authorship And Publication, Julie Simpson, Patricia B. Condon, Bonnie Brown, William C. Clyde, James J. Connell, Ramonda Kindle, Nathan A. Schwadron, John E. Sparrow, Xueting Sun, Engin Taze, May-Win Thein, Anita R. Tucker, Karen T. Van Gundy, James Wible

Integrity in Research and Scholarship

This guide examines the following aspects of responsible authorship and publication practices:

1. The significance and goals of publication
2. Publication mechanisms and responsible practices
3. The importance and guiding principles of authorship
4. The definition and responsibilities of an author
5. Responsible writing practices

Please note that throughout this document there are links to examples of concepts/issues within certain disciplines for illustrative purposes. The examples may not be relevant to all disciplines so check guidance specific to the applicable discipline before proceeding. This guide was adapted from an online training module that was part of the University of New …

Advancing Virus-Associated Lymphoma Research In Latin America: A Global Opportunity For Cancer Science, Irene Tamí-Maury, Bryan Valcarcel, Maria Alejandra Torres, Arlett Hernandez Chavez, Luis Malpica

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Nasal Cavity Microbial Makeup And The Influence On Psychiatric Symptoms Following Fire Exposure In Firefighters, Paul Grunsted, Chao Xu, Amanda Janitz, Jessica Reese, Janis Campbell, Tasha M Santiago-Rodriguez, Sara J Javornik Cregeen, Joseph F Petrosino, Jooyeon Hwang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Firefighters experience high levels of occupational stress and trauma, increasing their risk of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although microbial communities may influence brain function and behavior through neural pathways, the nasal microbiome remains understudied. This study examined associations between nasal microbiome characteristics and psychiatric symptoms among firefighters.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 34 firefighters recruited from Texas fire stations. Participants completed validated questionnaires assessing depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Nasal swabs were collected before and after fire suppression and 16S rRNA sequencing was used to characterize microbial communities. Alpha and beta diversity, relative abundance, and …

Algorithmic Medicine And The Duty To Disclose: Informed Consent Through The Lens Of Radiology, Lee Rodriguez

Michigan Law Review

Informed consent is the law’s mechanism for protecting patient autonomy by requiring disclosure of facts that bear on the decision to accept or refuse care. Artificial intelligence now helps decide what is medically true for patients, yet informed consent law still assumes that diagnostic judgment is rendered by a human mind whose reasoning is at least in principle communicable. Radiology has become the leading setting for this tension. AI systems triage worklists, flag suspected abnormalities, and anchor first-pass impressions in ways that guide radiologists’ attention and, in practice, can coauthor diagnostic conclusions while remaining invisible to patients. When patients are …

An Integrated Lifestyle-, Genetic- And Metabolomics-Based Prediction Model For Mild Cognitive Aging In The Hchs/Sol, Annah B Wyss, Yana Hrytsenko, Linfeng Hu, Iris J Broce, Robert C Kaplan, Wassim Tarraf, Bing Yu, Eric Boerwinkle, Qibin Qi, Myriam Fornage, Charles Decarli, Hector M González, Tamar Sofer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Prediction models for cognitive aging measures have largely evaluated demographic variables and APOE carrier status in populations of European ancestry. To comprehensively assess prediction models among Hispanic/Latinos, we considered 12 models (6 predictor sets and 2 methods) for global cognitive score change (GCSC) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in the Study of Latinos-Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging (SOL-INCA) (N = 5856). Based on the average mean squared error (MSE) for GCSC or average area under the curve (AUC) for MCI across 100 randomly split testing and training sets, performance was similar across models, but slightly better for the following models: …

Enhancing Data Compatibility In An Evolving Landscape: Medical Cannabis And Polysubstance Use Protocols In The Phenx Toolkit, Anne Buu, Johannes Thrul, Amanda Bunting, Tamara Haegerich, Wayne Huggins, Christian Hopfer, Denise Vidot, Cataia Ives, Ryan Mcneil, Sarah Zemore, Corrie Vilsaint, Elizabeth Fallon, Christine Hill, Carol Hamilton, John Kelly

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: With increasing legalization of medical cannabis and prevalence of polysubstance use in the United States comes the need for standard psychometrically validated measures to study these substances' health effects in the population. The PhenX (consensus measures for Phenotypes and eXposures) Toolkit (www.phenxtoolkit.org) is a freely accessible catalog of recommended measurement protocols to promote data compatibility across studies, but this extensive catalog did not include measures in these important areas.

Methods: In 2024, a PhenX Working Group of experts followed a well-established consensus process to identify and recommend measurement protocols suitable for inclusion in studies on medical cannabis and polysubstance …

Macroinvertebrates As An Indicator Of Water Quality At A Constructed Marsh, Amelia Jensen

IdeaFest 2026

My project is to test to see if macroinvertebrates are a good indicator of water quality. I will need to sample at each 2 marshes, West Pond and Brackish Pond, for macroinvertebrates using a D-Frame net and a bucket. At each location, I will collect 8 macroinvertebrate samples, with 4 taken to the right of my starting point and then 4 to the left. In addition to macroinvertebrates, I will also be collecting pH, dissolved oxygen, and salinity from the water as well. To be able to classify the macroinvertebrates I will be using shallow bins to place the invertebrates …

Habitat Use Of Gray Foxes In Coastal California, Jillian Arcadi

IdeaFest 2026

This project sought to determine if land-use type has an impact on when and how frequently gray foxes are active in the Humboldt Bay.

Cryptic Mechanisms Of Post-Fire Nitrogen Recovery In Northern Conifer Forests, Robert Edward Heumann

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In recent decades, northern conifer forests have experienced larger, more frequent and more intense wildfires. Severe, stand-replacing wildfire substantially reduces forest nitrogen (N) stocks, a critical nutrient that often limits net primary productivity on land. Continued increases in wildfire activity may exacerbate forest N limitation in the future. Yet, while research shows N stocks in northern conifer forests recover following severe wildfire, the processes that contribute to rapid increases in N during post-fire regeneration are unclear. Atmospheric deposition of N and known sources of biological N fixation cannot explain the observed post-fire N accumulations. This paradox raises the question: How …

Beyond Words: The Horse-Human Encounter In Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy For Residential Substance Use Treatment, Leah Finch Lungren

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP) has emerged as a promising experiential therapeutic intervention, yet the lived experience of adults participating in EAP within residential substance use disorder (SUD) treatment settings remains underexplored. This hermeneutic phenomenological study examined the lived experience of 12 adults who participated in EAP groups during residential SUD treatment across three treatment facilities in the United States. The primary research question was: What is the lived experience of participating in EAP for adults in residential SUD treatment? Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed through iterative hermeneutic interpretation guided by van Manen’s (1990) existential framework.

Six themes emerged …

Ensuring Safe Soil For Indigenous Food Sovereignty: Contaminant Screening For Agroecological Health, Derek Tremaine

IdeaFest 2026

Indigenous food sovereignty is a foundational component of human and environmental health. The Rou Dalagurr Food Sovereignty Lab and Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute at Cal Poly Humboldt (FSL) foregrounds Indigenous-led approaches to land management and oversees several sites adjacent to campus infrastructure. To ensure that food and basketry materials cultivated at the FSL do not pose a risk to human health, soil samples were collected and screened for contaminants. Heavy metals, phthalate esters, and hydrocarbons were not detected at levels that would affect human health or FSL objectives. This work demonstrates how community-engaged research can inform safe land stewardship while …

Microbial Worlds Within: Sem Of Darlingtonia Pitchers, Sierra Vasinthascha

IdeaFest 2026

Darlingtonia californica relies on microbes within its pitcher fluid to break down captured prey into usable nutrients. This process is typically attributed to bacteria; however, fungi, are also found in the fluid, and their role remains largely unknown. For this project, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to directly visualize microorganisms in pitcher fluid and on pitcher tissue. Cultured bacterial and fungal isolates from Darlingtonia’s fluid provided morphological references for identification. Tissues from the hood and lower pitcher were then processed and examined for comparison. Both bacteria and yeast-like fungi were observed in each region. The abundance of fungi found …

An Exploratory Analysis Of The Role Of Sex In Load Carriage, Rachel E. Perez, Dustin R. Slivka, Brent C. Ruby

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Axially loaded weight may impose a metabolic demand equivalent to that of fat mass (FM) during load carriage. Males (M) typically have a lower body fat percentage than females (F), resulting in metabolic demand differences during load carriage that may be mitigated by accounting for FM in pack loads. PURPOSE: To determine whether normalizing pack load to FM equalizes metabolic cost across sexes during load carriage. METHODS: Twenty-eight participants (14M, 23 ± 5 y, 1.81 ± 0.07 m, 78.7 ± 10.0 kg, 12.7 ± 5.4% body fat, VO₂peak 4.18 ± 0.54 L·min^-1; 14F, 22 ± 4 …

An Ecology Of Small Sorrows: Small Animals And The Fragile Ecosystems Inside Us, Haley H. Yarborough

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In An Ecology of Small Sorrows, Haley Yarborough uses a series of personal essays to explore how encounters with small life shape her understanding of herself. This collection is inspired by many talented writers — Lucy Cooke’s insights into animal biology, Andy Weir’s humor and knack for explaining complicated topics, Ben Goldfarb’s insightful exploration of the overlooked, and Sabrina Embler’s beautiful, poetic reflections on the natural world.

These essays touch on how small animals serve as mirrors for us, through our experiences with illness, loss, insecurity, and survival. While a lot of modern media emphasize larger, charismatic species to tell …

Paternal Stress As A Contributor To Neuropsychiatric Disease Risk In Offspring, Chris Roberds

IdeaFest 2026

Chronic stress is increasingly common and may have consequences across generations. Paternal chronic stress has been shown to alter sperm small RNAs and influence offspring neurodevelopment and psychiatric disease risk. However, how stress signals from the brain reach the germline and how offspring respond to stress remains unclear. This study examines epigenetic inheritance of paternal stress and its effects on offspring stress responses. We compared offspring of chronically stressed and non-stressed sires and measured corticosterone following an acute stressor. Offspring of stressed fathers exhibited reduced corticosterone responses, with evidence of sex-specific differences in stress regulation.

Understanding Microglial Phenotype Switching Through Dimensionality Reduction And Clustering Analysis, Anthony Wolfe

IdeaFest 2026

Microglia are the brain’s resident immune cells, capable of shifting between pro- and anti-inflammatory states to regulate neural homeostasis. Disruptions to this balance contribute to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. We analyzed single-cell gene expression data from approximately 600 mouse-derived microglia across six weeks to identify genes that capture cellular variability in both high and low dimensional representations. We also performed unsupervised clustering to identify subpopulations within the dataset based on gene expression patterns. This allowed us to map the known spectrum of functional states these cells occupy and examine how these transcriptional states change over time.

Synthesis And Characterization Of Gold Nanoparticles For Oncology Applications, Brodie Lyons

IdeaFest 2026

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are used in experimental cancer treatments and developed in various shapes and sizes to optimize drug delivery, imaging, and photothermal therapy. In this study, small gold nanospheres (20-30 nm), large nanospheres (50-60 nm), nanorods, and nanostars were synthesized and analyzed. Dynamic light scattering, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy were techniques deployed to determine particle size, level of uniformity, particle absorption of light, and overall AuNP morphology. AuNPs shape and size changed which altered their interaction with light. Our results aid in informing AuNP design for future cancer treatments.

Developing Culture-Based Methods To Assess The Function Of Burkholderia Sensu Lato In Pitcher Plants, Theo Murphy

IdeaFest 2026

Pitcher plants are host to a diverse array of microorganisms, one of which is Burkholderia sensu lato. Burkholderia s.l. is a group of bacteria that is positively associated with function in the pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea, though the mechanisms behind this functionality are poorly understood. In this study, I developed a culture-based method to isolate Burkholderia s.l. from a larger microbial community. I then characterized the Burkholderia isolates’ cellular morphology, oxygen requirements, motility, and nitrate reduction potential. I found that the characteristics of Burkholderia s.l. isolated from Sarracenia sp. diverges from that proposed in the literature.

Emergent Disorder Induced Transport In Active Matter Systems, Josh Steimel

IdeaFest 2026

Creating randomized obstacles for magnetic particles to traverse in varying magnetic fields in hopes of finding immerging patterns. Responsible for creating CAD files in large quantities and making functional resin prints with obstacles on the micro-scale.

Characterizing Regional Human Necromicrobiome Communities In A Semi-Arid Desert To Inform Postmortem Interval (Pmi) Estimation, Georgia Rane Swelstad

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Accurate estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) remains challenging in forensic anthropology, particularly in arid and high-elevation environments where decomposition processes and insect activity are highly variable. Postmortem microbial succession has emerged as a promising alternative framework for PMI estimation. However, the effects of climate and elevation on microbial decomposition dynamics remain insufficiently characterized.

This study examines skin-associated microbial succession in human remains decomposing at the Forensic Investigation Research Station (FIRS) in western Colorado, a semi-arid, high-elevation environment. Microbial samples collected from five anatomical sites during the early postmortem interval are analyzed using 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing, and …

Public Lands In Public Hands, Adeli Burdeinii

IdeaFest 2026

Sage, Melia, and I were placed with the BLM Arcata field office to work on a variety of ecological restoration projects and public outreach. BLM Arcata Field Office's main mission is to help restore and preserve the natural environment for the good of the public and wildlife. This past year, our tasks included monitoring, upkeep, and outreach on public lands. In our time with the BLM, we educated the public on the resources they are using and how to treat them right so everyone can enjoy them for many years to come, worked on wildlife and plant monitoring projects to …

Methods For Degradation Of Pla-Quinoa Composites, Rafael Bernard

IdeaFest 2026

Polylactic acid (PLA) composites were created by integrating quinoa chaff that had been refluxed in a toluene and ethanol solution, with differing ratios of the chaff. These composites underwent testing such as bomb calorimetry, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, water uptake, water contact angle & degredation, antioxidant assay and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A cellulase enzyme was also purified from E-Coli bacteria for use in degradation studies. Current tests indicate that the refluxing of raw chaff increases homogeniztion of composites, which in turn allows for the increase of certain physical properties as well as increased degredation. This gives promising results concerning the …

Unmuted: An Augmentative And Alternative Communication User’S Experience In Accessing And Engaging In Mental Health Care, Kanbi Faith Knippling

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Communication accessibility is a critical yet underexamined factor influencing access to and engagement in mental health care for individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Existing literature suggests that AAC users experience significant barriers to obtaining communication-accessible mental health services, including limited provider preparation, communication-related assumptions, and broader structural inequities. Despite growing recognition of these concerns, little research has explored how AAC users experience and navigate mental health counseling or how communication accessibility shapes participation in care.

This single-case study explored communication accessibility within the context of an adult AAC users' experiences accessing and engaging in mental health counseling. …

Prevention Of Escherichia Coli Biofilm Formation Using Slpa Protein Extracted From Lactobacillus Helveticus, Scarlet Renner

IdeaFest 2026

Dental health in pets is often neglected, leading to gingivitis and periodontitis. Probiotics are thought to inhibit oral pathogenic bacteria through surface layer proteins, preventing biofilm formation and occupying binding sites. We explored Lactobacillus helveticus and its protein SLpA in preventing biofilm formation in mCherry expressing Escherichia coli. SLpA was extracted using lithium chloride and centrifugation. E. coli was mixed with L. helvetius and SLpA. Fluorescence values were collected with a sodium alginate and calcium chloride gel in each well to allow bacterial adherence and compared to a blank. Results show L. helveticus and SLpA inhibit biofilm formation of E. …

Growing Agroecology: Two Case Studies From The U.S. Student Farm Movement, Amelia B. Armstrong

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Scholars and activists identify agroecology as a crucial science, practice, and movement to move towards more just, equitable, and sustainable agriculture and food systems. Yet, the exploitative industrial food system, that deepens inequalities like food insecurity (Clapp et al., 2025), reduces farmer autonomy (Rotz, 2015), and contributes to increased carbon emissions (Lin et al., 2011) and biodiversity decline (Rotz, 2015), still dominates. Understanding and mobilizing the different spaces that teach agroecology, then, is a crucial step in challenging the dominant industrial food system. Agroecology education in university settings is an important domain to investigate as potential contributors to this movement, …

Sustainability Employee Educators Developing Solutions (Seeds), Katie Koscielak

IdeaFest 2026

My poster shares information, photos, and lessons learned from four years of implementing a campus sustainability program called SEEDS (the acronym stands for: Sustainability Employee Educators Developing Solutions): Born from gaps identified in the triennial STARS report, SEEDS brings together volunteer staff and faculty to advance peer sustainability education at Cal Poly Humboldt. Now in its fourth year and contributing to EN 3 Staff Engagement & Training points earned in STARS, the program incentivizes the growth of sustainability champions across campus.

N Y State Dent J January 2026

The New York State Dental Journal

In the January 2026 issue, the reader will find the following feature articles:

• No Need to Travel the Road to Licensure Renewal Alone
• IPS Subperiosteal Implant for the Maxilla and Mandible
• Amyloidoma of the Palate
• Titanium Hypersensitivity as Possible Cause of Dental Implant Failures

This issue includes regular columns with regional news impacting the New York membership including editorial and perspectives columns, legal, association activities, component news, continuing education opportunities, and classifieds.

A Complete Diploid Human Genome Benchmark For Personalized Genomics, Nancy F. Hansen, Nathan Dwarshuis, Hyun Joo Ji, Arang Rhie, Hailey Loucks, Glennis A. Logsdon, Mitchell R. Vallger, Jessica M. Storer, Juhyun Kim, Eleni Adam, Nicolas Alternose, Dmitry Antipov, Mobin Asri, Sofia Barreira, Stephanie C. Bohaczuk, Andrey V. Bzikadze, Sara A. Carioscia, Andrew Carroll, Kuan-Hao Chao, Yanan Chu, Arun Das, Peter Ebert, Adam English, Mark Fleharty, Laura E. Fleming, Giulio Formenti, Andrea Guarracino, Gabrielle A. Hartley, Katharine Jenike, Jenna Kalleberg, Yu Kang, Robert King, Josipa Lipovac, Mira Mastoras, Matthew W. Mitchell, Shloka Negi, Nathan D. Olson, Keisuke K. Oshima, Luis F. Paulin, Brandon D. Pickett, David Porubsky, Jane Ranchalis, Desh Ranjan, Mikko Rautiainen, Harold Riethman, Robert D. Schnabel, Fritz J. Sedlazeck, Kishwar Shafin, Mile Sikic, Steven J. Solar, Alexander P. Sweeten, Winston Timp, Justin Wagner, Dongahn Yoo, Ying Zhou, Erik Garrison, Evan E. Eichler, Michaeel C. Schatz, Andrew B. Stergachis, Rachel J. O'Neill, Karen H. Miga, Steven L. Salzberg, Sergey Koren, Justin M. Zook, Adam M. Phillippy

School of Medical Diagnostics & Translational Sciences Publications

Human genome sequencing typically relies on mapping reads to a reference genome to call variants, but this approach introduces technical biases, excluding duplicated and structurally polymorphic regions of the genome. To overcome this, we present a telomere-to-telomere genome benchmark with near-perfect accuracy across 99.4% of the diploid HG002 genome. This benchmark adds 701.4 Mb of autosomal sequence and both sex chromosomes (216.8 Mb), which were absent from prior benchmarks. We annotated genes and repeats on both haplotypes, including 19,956 protein-coding genes on the maternal haplotype and 19,190 on the paternal haplotype, and developed new methods to measure the accuracy of …

Evaluating Multi-Year Transferability Of Single- And Multi-Class Machine Learning For Remote Monitoring Of Beaver-Engineered Landscapes, Harris J. Sloan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Long-term satellite image archives enable ecological monitoring at large scales, but manual extraction of fine-grained features (e.g., beaver dams) remains time-consuming. Machine learning models may automate these tasks, but their temporal transferability for multiannual monitoring is still poorly resolved.

We evaluated the performance of two complementary neural-network frameworks across a 100,000-hectare watershed in Montana USA, using a decade of satellite imagery (2014-2024): (i) a single-class ResNet-50 beaver dam detector, and (ii) a multi-class ResU-Net landcover classifier.

In 2024, the dam detector identified 352 of 404 mapped dams, achieving balanced accuracy = 93.6%, precision = 79.8%, recall = 87.1%, F1 = …

The Connectedness Between Awareness And Practice Of Waste Control And Recycling In Urban Villages: A Cross-Sectional Community-Based Study., Nelifer Shreya Ammanna, Jeenal Valine Mendonca, Chethan Kunder, Sushwetha Poojary, Swagath Nayak, Ansuya Ansuya, Mitchelle Shilpa Lewis

Manipal Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences

Introduction: Waste management is an increasing problem that occurs globally due to expanding population around the globe. Researchers worldwide are working towards ending this problem that impacts the environment and people's health. The knowledge of the wastes produced and how we manage them is vital for the population to understand; knowing about it and practicing the same will create a ripple effect on the waste generated by the people.

Objective: To determine the condition of the urban villages in terms of awareness and practice of waste management, and to know whether these are interrelated.

Methods: A quantitative approach with …