Digital Commons Network^™

Reducing Pollution From Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations By Enforcing National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit Requirements Under The Clean Water Act, Shelby White

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Reflections On The Origin Of Linear B, (Part 8); Sign 16 (Looks Like A Human Head) And Its Possible Connection To The Ancient Egyptian God Ptaḥ, Gerald Leonard Cohen

Arts, Languages and Philosophy Faculty Research & Creative Works

This article suggests a rationale for the shape of Linear B sign 16 being that of a human head: The sign likely derives from the ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for ‘face’ (recognized already by Sundwall and Evans) and very possibly honors the ancient Egyptian god Ptah, described as ‘Beautiful of Face.’ Also, remarkably, a total of three Linear B signs may be traceable directly to Ptah, and a fourth one (shared with Osiris) may be connected with him too.

Development Of Comprehensive Roadmap And Resource Guide Towards Congestion Reduction, Pei-Sung Lin, Mark Hansen, Zhenyu Wang, Yaye Keita, Elzbieta Bialkowska-Jelinska, Shubhankar Shindgikar, Nikou Khoshnevis

Research Reports

Traffic congestion poses a significant challenge in the United States, affecting mobility, public health, and the environment. With national travel delays and fuel waste on the rise, there is an urgent need for a comprehensive approach to congestion mitigation. This research develops a congestion reduction roadmap, focusing on 12 key mitigation areas, including advanced traffic signal optimization, incident management, and multimodal transportation strategies. Through a combination of literature review, expert interviews, and case study analysis, the roadmap provides actionable steps for state and local agencies to manage congestion effectively. The framework addresses both short-term and long-term solutions, emphasizing technology integration …

Amyloid-Β Predominant Alzheimer’S Disease Neuropathologic Change, Gabor G. Kovacs, Yuriko Katsumata, Xian Wu, Khine Zin Aung, David Fardo, Shelley L. Forrest, Peter T. Nelson

Neurology Faculty Publications

Different subsets of Alzheimer’s disease neuropathologic change (ADNC), including the intriguing set of individuals with severe/widespread amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques but no/mild tau tangles [Aβ-predominant (AP)-ADNC], may have distinct genetic and clinical features. Analysing National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center data, we stratified 1187 participants into AP-ADNC (n = 95), low Braak primary age-related tauopathy (PART; n = 185), typical-ADNC (n = 832) and high-Braak PART (n = 75). AP-ADNC differed in some clinical features and genetic polymorphisms in the APOE, SNX1, WNT3/MAPT and IGH genes. We conclude that AP-ADNC differs from classical ADNC with implications for in vivo studies.

Unpunishment Purposes, Meredith Esser

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

Sentencing scholarship often begins by exploring the traditional purposes of punishment: deterrence, retribution, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. However, little scholarship exists addressing how these four punishment purposes apply in the post- sentencing or second-look contexts. Further, abstract theories of sentencing can often seem sterile and disconnected from the realities of how violent, disproportionate, and dehumanizing the actual experience of incarceration is for many people, and tend to downplay the impact of incarceration on the families and communities of those who are incarcerated. This Article attempts to reconceptualize the traditional purposes of punishment to meet the current historical moment, and it does …

150 Years Of Detox: How Inadequate Dietary Supplement Regulation Undermines Consumer Safety In The Weight Loss Industry, Chloe Chambers

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

Prior to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, the American food and drug market was a proverbial “wild west,” fraught with charlatans, snake oil salesmen, and manufacturers cutting costs at the expense of consumers. The Pure Food and Drug Act, along with the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act of 1938 took steps to address this problem, creating the modern food and drug regulatory scheme. While American food and drugs are markedly safer now than they were 150 years ago, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 has prevented dietary supplement safety from keeping …

Enhancing Elementary Students Conceptual Understandings Of Scientific Phenomena: The Impact Of Steam-First And Stem-First Approaches, Michael W. Corrigan, Joseph T. Wong, Doug Grove, Sage Anderson, Bradley S. Hughes

Elementary & Secondary Education Faculty Research

This study delves into the realm of student conceptual change, examining shifting understandings as important steppingstones on the path to sensemaking and canonical understanding in science education. It explores the potential of a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) curriculum, aiming to provide equitable learning opportunities, especially for emerging bilingual (EB) student populations. To achieve this, elementary school educators from randomly assigned schools received professional development training to implement a novel curriculum encompassing both STEM and STEAM (STEM + Arts) approaches to life science instruction. These approaches comprised: (1) an NGSS-aligned STEM unit employing inquiry-based science instruction; (2) an …

“We Don’T Have To Take Things So Seriously”: Humor, Queer Livability, And Homonormativity For A Rural English Language Arts Teacher, Brandon Haskey-Valerius, Ryan Schey

The Rural Educator

Extending and challenging existing research about LGBTQIA+ life in rural educational contexts, this ethnographically informed qualitative study describes how Lulu—a white, cisgender, queer secondary English language arts teacher in a rural, public school in the Midwest—discursively constructed the functions of her humor with respect to teaching, queerness, and their interrelations. Drawing on social theorizations of humor, particularly queer theorizations of humor, this article argues that Lulu described her humor as having three functions: building relationships, facilitating learning, and opening possibilities for queerness. These findings illustrate tensions in that Lulu leveraged humor to build a livable, joyous career in which she …

Life Among The Sand Grains, Will M. Ballentine, N. G. Roberts, M. K. Yap-Chiongco, K. M. Halanych, K. M. Kocot

Biology Faculty Works

Have you ever played with sand at the beach? Did you know you were also playing with thousands of tiny animals? The sand in the ocean is home to many small creatures called meiofauna, but you can only see them under a magnifying glass or microscope. Meiofauna are so tiny that sand grains seem like boulders to them. Meiofauna are too small to move these boulders, so they wriggle through spaces between them. Living in such tight spaces has led them to evolve long, skinny body shapes like worms. They also have special body parts to grip sand grains and …

Professor Christopher Berard And The Knights Of The Seminar Table, Michael Hagan

Arthurian Epistolary Project (HUM 270-001)

From https://news.providence.edu/king-arthur-course/

A new course offered by Christopher Berard, Ph.D. ’07, adjunct professor of humanities, introduced students to selections in translation from the massive Lancelot-Grail Cycle of Old French prose Arthurian romances (c. 1210–30), the most comprehensive and canonical version of the Arthurian legend ever written.

The 1.5-credit course, King Arthur: Monarch of the Medieval Imagination, culminated in a creative writing project in which students composed a mock letter according to the formal conventions of medieval epistolary documents such as public acts and private letters. Each student assumed the persona of one Arthurian character, addressed the document to another …

Arginine Metabolism Is A Biomarker Of Red Blood Cell And Human Aging., Julie A Reisz, Eric J Earley, Travis Nemkov, Alicia Key, Daniel Stephenson, Gregory R Keele, Monika Dzieciatkowska, Steven L Spitalnik, Eldad A Hod, Steven Kleinman, Nareg H Roubinian, Mark T Gladwin, Kirk C Hansen, Philip J Norris, Michael P Busch, James C Zimring, Gary Churchill, Grier P Page, Angelo D'Alessandro

Faculty Research 2025

Increasing global life expectancy motivates investigations of molecular mechanisms of aging and age-related diseases. This study examines age-associated changes in red blood cells (RBCs), the most numerous host cell in humans. Four cohorts, including healthy individuals and patients with sickle cell disease, were analyzed to define age-dependent changes in RBC metabolism. Over 15,700 specimens from 13,757 humans were examined, a major expansion over previous studies of RBCs in aging. Multi-omics approaches identified chronological age-related alterations in the arginine pathway with increased arginine utilization in RBCs from older individuals. These changes were consistent across healthy and sickle cell disease cohorts and …

Polyploid Superficial Uroepithelial Bladder Barrier Cells Express Features Of Cellular Senescence Across The Lifespan And Are Insensitive To Senolytics., Iman M Al-Naggar, Maria Antony, Dylan Baker, Lichao Wang, Lucas Da Cunha Godoy, Chia-Ling Kuo, Matthew O Fraser, Phillip P Smith, Ming Xu, George A Kuchel

Faculty Research 2025

Lower urinary tract dysfunction (LUTD) increases with aging. Ensuing symptoms including incontinence greatly impact quality of life, isolation, depression, and nursing home admission. The aging bladder is hypothesized to be central to this decline, however, it remains difficult to pinpoint a singular strong driver of aging-related bladder dysfunction. Many molecular and cellular changes occur with aging, contributing to decreased resilience to internal and external stressors, affecting urinary control and exacerbating LUTD. In this study, we examined whether cellular senescence, a cell fate involved in the etiology of most aging diseases, contributes to LUTD. We found that umbrella cells (UCs), luminal …

Activin E Is A New Guardian Protecting Against Hepatic Steatosis Via Inhibiting Lipolysis In White Adipose Tissue., Shi-Young Park, Yoonil Cho, Sae-Mi Son, Jang Ho Hur, Yeongmin Kim, Hyunhee Oh, Hui-Young Lee, Sungwon Jung, Sanghee Park, Il-Young Kim, Se-Jin Lee, Cheol Soo Choi

Faculty Research 2025

Hepatic endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is implicated in the development of steatosis and its progression to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The ER in the liver can sustain metabolic function by activating defense mechanisms that delay or prevent the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, the precise mechanisms by which the ER stress response protects against NAFLD remain largely unknown. Recently, activin E has been linked to metabolic diseases such as insulin resistance and NAFLD. However, the physiological conditions and regulatory mechanisms driving hepatic Inhbe expression (which encodes activin E) as well as the metabolic role of activin E in …

Dean's Research Newsletter, February 2025, Neil W. Schluger

SOM Dean's Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Himmelfarb Headlines - February/March 2025, The George Washington University, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

Himmelfarb Headlines (2009 - present)

News, information, and resources relating to Himmelfarb Library that is of interest to patrons.

Incorporating Extensive Reading Into The Foreign Language Curriculum, Jane E. Hardy, Victoria Rodrigo

Dimensions

Extensive reading is an approach to language learning that encourages learners to read a large quantity of easy reading material. A substantial body of research confirms the effectiveness of this approach for developing proficiency in both first (L1) and second (L2) languages. This paper explains what extensive reading is, why it is important, and how it can be incorporated as part of a language curriculum. The paper also provides a review of research on the effectiveness of extensive reading in several different languages and recommends many extensive reading resources, including open access materials, to facilitate the implementation of extensive reading …

Demonstrating A Free Listing Data Collection Approach To Cultural Instruction, Gregory De La Piedra

Dimensions

Free listing tasks are a common data collection method used by cultural anthropologists, language historians and linguists (Nolan, 2002; Ryan et al., 2000; Weller & Romney, 1988; Wolfram & Schillings-Estes, 1998). These tasks are interviews in which a researcher asks groups of respondents to list words or expressions that come to mind for a given cultural topic. This study focused on a free listing task collected from working class Mexicans about fiestas y celebraciones [parties and celebrations]. Although this topic is routinely included in second language (L2) teaching materials, common terms or slang used by Spanish speaking populations that U.S. …

The Utah English Journal, Volume 53, 2025: Full Issue

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

Males Differ More Between Developmental Stages Than Females, And Plasticity To Light Is Stage-Dependent In The Tropical Plant Marchantia Inflexa, Jonathan D. Moore, D. Nicholas Mcletchie

Biology Faculty Publications

Plants have evolved strategies to maintain photosynthesis and mitigate tissue-damaging high light. In some dioecious seed plants, these strategies are sexually dimorphic and are linked to spatial segregation of the sexes (SSS) along light gradients. In vascular tissue-free plants (bryophytes) with separate sexes, SSS is common, but how light gradients, sexual dimorphisms, and SSS correlate is not well understood. To test if sexual dimorphisms in vegetative or sexual stages lead to light-associated SSS in bryophytes, we used Marchantia inflexa whose males occupy a wider range of light conditions, including higher light conditions, than females. We also tested if changes in …

Ear Pinna Growth And Differentiation Is Conserved In Murids And Requires Bmp Signaling For Chondrocyte Proliferation, Robyn S. Allen, Shishir K. Biswas, Ashley W. Seifert

Biology Faculty Publications

Despite being a major target of reconstructive surgery, development of the ear pinna remains poorly studied. Here, we provide a cellular characterization of late gestational and postnatal ear pinna development in two rodents and investigate the role of BMP5 in expansion and differentiation of auricular elastic cartilage. We find that ear pinna development is largely conserved between Mus musculus and the highly regenerative Acomys dimidiatus. The pattern of pre-cartilaginous cells is established early in development. These cells are specified into chondroblasts before ear unfolding and then undergo extensive proliferation before maturation. The elastic cartilage, connective tissue fibroblasts, dermal papilla and …

Phosphorus Recovery From Synthetic Stormwater Using Iron- And Slag-Amended Green Infrastructure Soils, Colin B. Wilson, Anthony J. Parolari, Brooke Mayer, Kaushik Venkiteshwaran

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The demand for phosphorus (P), fueled by the need for fertilizers to increase food production due to the ever-increasing population, is increasing P in the environment and diminishing global reserves of this nonrenewable resource. Stormwater runoff transports land-applied P into surrounding waterbodies. Green infrastructure (GI) soils are being engineered to target P removal from stormwater runoff. This research investigates the potential to recover P from engineered GI soils traditionally developed to remove P, contributing to the circular P economy by considering GI as a source of recoverable P. Batch experiments were conducted to determine the P removal performance of iron- …

Improving Small-Group Discussion Through Literature Circle Activities, Reilly Ryan

The Utah English Journal

Consider the following scenarios in which I’ve given students a platform to discuss “high-interest” topics: “Class, I want you to discuss whether you think school should start one hour later than it currently does. I’m going to set a timer for three minutes, and I would like you to continue your discussion during the entire time.” If school start time seems too educational, I might offer an even more accessible topic such as “What is the greatest movie of all time?” or “Where is the best place in town to get a hamburger?” The pleasing cacophony I hear immediately after …

Book Review: Simon Sort Of Says, Sarah Strachan

The Utah English Journal

Nothing ever really changes in Grin and Bear It, Nebraska. Since the town is a research site for the SETI program (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), there is a ban on internet and cell phones that makes getting news from the outside world a little slow. For 12-year-old Simon O’Keeffe, that sounds perfect. Having survived a school shooting two years earlier, Simon has spent far too much time in the spotlight and longs to fade into the background in this new town where no one knows his past. However, blending in proves challenging with his accident-prone Catholic deacon father, his quirky …

Economic Sanctions As Legal Ordering, J. Benton Heath

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article recovers a critical episode in the history of economic sanctions and considers its implications for international legal order. Beginning in 1905, a group of Chinese citizens launched a series of protests targeting American, British, and Japanese goods. These boycotts caused economic damage, disrupted international relations, and at times won significant political victories. At the same time, they captured the imaginations of peace advocates, lawyers, and scholars, who saw in the boycotts either a fundamental threat to legal ordering, a promising avenue for enforcing interstate peace, or, most radically, an engine for new kinds of political organization outside the …

A Data-Driven Approach To Enhance The Prediction Of Bacteria–Metabolite Interactions In The Human Gut Microbiome Using Enzyme Encodings And Metabolite Structural Embeddings, Gopal Srivastava, Michal Brylinski

Faculty Publications

Background: The human gut microbiome is critical for host health by facilitating essential metabolic processes. Our study presents a data-driven analysis across 312 bacterial species and 154 unique metabolites to enhance the understanding of underlying metabolic processes in gut bacteria. The focus of the study was to create a strategy to generate a theoretical (negative) set for binary classification models to predict the consumption and production of metabolites in the human gut microbiome. Results: Our models achieved median balanced accuracies of 0.74 for consumption predictions and 0.95 for production predictions, highlighting the effectiveness of this approach in generating reliable negative …

Butterfly Species Vary In Sex-Specific Sodium Accumulation From Larval Diets, Luis Y. Santiago-Rosario, Alexander M. Shephard, Emilie Snell-Rood, Achim D. Herrmann, Kyle E. Harms

Faculty Publications

Sodium is essential for animals, and its heterogeneous distribution can cause a range of phenomena, from sodium-seeking behaviours to impacting their performance. Although sodium content in soils and plants is relatively well documented, data for higher trophic levels are limited. Knowledge of the variation in sodium in lower trophic levels could have implications for understanding the behaviour and physiology of species at higher levels. We investigated the variation in tissue sodium concentration between males and females of four butterfly species. Puddling behaviour of Lepidoptera suggests sodium needs of males are generally greater than females, thus, we predicted males would accumulate …

Increased Expression Of The Small Lysosomal Gene Svip In The Drosophila Gut Suppresses Pathophysiological Features Associated With A High-Fat Diet, Brennan M. Mercola, Tatiana V. Villalobos, Jocelyn E. Wood, Ankita Basu, Alyssa E. Johnson

Faculty Publications

Lysosomes are digestive organelles that are crucial for nutrient sensing and metabolism. Lysosome impairment is linked to a broad spectrum of metabolic disorders, underscoring their importance to human health. Thus, lysosomes are an attractive target for metabolic disease therapies. In previous work, we discovered a novel class of tubular lysosomes that are morphologically and functionally distinct from traditionally described vesicular lysosomes. Tubular lysosomes are present in multiple tissues, are broadly conserved from invertebrates to mammals, are more proficient at degrading autophagic cargo than vesicular lysosomes, and delay signs of tissue aging when induced ectopically. Thus, triggering tubular lysosome formation presents …

Judgment In The Presence Of Multiple Conflicting Anchors, Michael T. Bixter, Christian C. Luhmann

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In uncertain environments, individuals often use external cues to guide their judgments and decisions. Anchoring refers to the finding that numerical judgments often gravitate towards previously considered standards. Although an extremely robust effect, prior research on anchoring largely focused on single-anchor paradigms. The present study instead investigated how multiple anchors affect numerical judgments. In Experiment 1, participants exposed to both a low and high anchor provided judgments that were between judgments made by participants exposed solely to low or high anchors. However, anchors that were encountered first exerted a disproportionate influence on subsequent judgments. Experiment 2 replicated this primacy effect …

Ethiopia: Ancient Glory, Awaiting Recovery, Tseggai Isaac

Comparative Civilizations Review

The name Ethiopia is associated in the Book of Genesis with the creation of the world, indicating a sacred and ancient heritage. We find Ethiopia mentioned as having relations with the ancient Biblical nations such as Israel, Egypt, Assyria, and Mesopotamia. Ethiopians get uplifting gratification in reading specific scriptural references from the Bible and applying them to the country. These Biblical allusions include discussion of the Queen of Sheba and her son, King Menelik the First, born from her relationship with King Solomon, who was himself the son of King David, the founder from whom came the lineal parentage of …

Unl Emeriti And Retirees Association Newsletter, February 2025

UNL Emeriti and Retirees Association: Newsletters and Other Materials

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Emeriti and Retirees Association Newsletter, February 2025

Welcome from ERA President Pam Edwards

New members

ERA Board members

Award-winning ERA members

Wake up your social well-being, Connie Boehm

Book review, The Brothers:John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles and Their Secret World War

Funding opportunities

Glow BIG RED

A look ahead at programming

Recapping past programming

Memory moments

Special announcements