Digital Commons Network^™

Quality Domains In Home-Based Pediatric Hospice And Palliative Care: Adolescent And Young Adult Perspectives, Daniel H Grossoehme, Claire A Crawford, Jhansi Chandra Ellakula, Toluwalase Ajayi, Justin N Baker, Sarah Friebert, Lisa Humphrey, Jillann Jarrell, Rachel Thienprayoon, Pamela S Hinds

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Current United States palliative care practice guidelines are intended to cover care across all age groups. Previous research with pediatric providers and caregivers concluded that pediatric hospice and palliative care have unique attributes. Not known is how adolescent hospice and palliative care patients understand quality palliative care. The purpose of this study was to characterize and define quality of care domains as described by adolescent and young adult patients receiving home-based hospice and palliative care.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 10-26 year-olds who received home-based hospice and/or palliative care visits in the prior three years at six diverse sites in …

Na-Gst-1 Adsorbed On Alhydrogel Co-Administered With Different Toll-Like Receptor Agonists In Hookworm-Naive Adults Using A Controlled Human Infection Model In The Usa: A Phase 2, Double-Blind, Randomised Controlled Trial, Caroline K Dirosato, Elissa M Malkin, Sean M Lee, Guacyara Erwin, Lara Hoeweler, Larissa Scholte, Maria Elena Bottazzi, David I Pritchard, Peter J Hotez, Jeffrey M Bethony, David J Diemert

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Necator americanus glutathione S-transferase-1 (Na-GST-1) performs a crucial enzymatic step in hookworm blood feeding and is a leading target for vaccine development. Phase 1 trials in Brazil, Gabon, and the USA of recombinant Na-GST-1 adsorbed on Alhydrogel (Na-GST-1/Al), co-administered with or without AP 10-701 (Toll-like receptor [TLR] 4 agonist) or CpG 10104 (TLR9 agonist), showed the vaccine was well tolerated, safe, and immunogenic. A controlled human hookworm infection (CHHI) model was previously developed to evaluate the effect of candidate hookworm vaccines on infection. We aimed to assess the effect of vaccination with three different Na-GST-1 vaccine formulations on subsequent …

An Examination Of Buprenorphine And Norbuprenorphine Concentrations In Inpatients Receiving Medications For Opioid Use Disorder, Michèle Haykal, Benjamin Li, Andres Avellaneda Ojeda, Roberto Sanchez, Nancy Shenoi, Asim Shah, Nidal Moukaddam

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Interpretation of urine buprenorphine and norbuprenorphine concentrations is widely used to assess adherence during treatment for opioid use disorder. However, the relationships between dose, timing of sample collection, and metabolite ratios remain unclear, leading to potential misinterpretation in clinical practice.

Methods: Data were collected from patients on a psychiatry unit who were either inducted on or continued buprenorphine therapy and underwent urine testing for buprenorphine and its metabolite, norbuprenorphine. Urine samples were collected 16 to 786 min after the last buprenorphine dose. Norbuprenorphine-to-buprenorphine ratios were calculated. Data analysis using Python included polynomial regression and random forest models.

Results: Daily …

A Nationwide Central Diagnosis For Pediatric Cns Tumors In Japan: The Jccg Brain Tumor And Pathology Committees, Yoshiko Nakano, Junko Hirato, Takako Yoshioka, Tetsuya Takimoto, Sumihito Nobusawa, Kaishi Satomi, Ran Tomomasa, Seiji Yamada, Taku Homma, Shoh Sasaki, Ayako Yamazaki, Maki Sakaguchi, Yasuhide Takeuchi, Nei Fukazawa, Kai Yamasaki, Kohei Fukuoka, Yui Shinohara Kimura, Yuki Nagayama, Yohei Inoue, Akira Miyahira, Ema Yoshioka, Asako Katsuma, Hayato Fukusumi, Tomoko Shofuda, Yuko Hibiya, Yuko Matsushita, Mai Honda Kitahara, Yuki Yomoda, Miho Kato, Michael D Taylor, Yasuhito Arai, Tatsuhiro Shibata, Hiroaki Sakamoto, Keita Terashima, Yoshiki Arakawa, Toshihiro Kumabe, Ryo Nishikawa, Junichi Hara, Yonehiro Kanemura, Koichi Ichimura

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In 2016, the Japan Children's Cancer Group launched a nationwide research initiative to provide central diagnosis incorporating pathology review and molecular profiling for pediatric central nervous system (CNS) tumors. Over the first eight years, 2224 cases were registered. Non-next-generation sequencing analyzes, such as pyrosequencing and NanoString, were routinely performed, mainly for glioma, medulloblastoma, and ependymoma. Additional analyzes, including methylation profiling and RNA sequencing, were conducted for selected diagnostically challenging cases. The most common diagnoses were low-grade glioma (26%), medulloblastoma (18%), germ cell tumor (16%), high-grade glioma (12%), and ependymoma (11%). Diagnostic or targetable alterations were detected in nearly half of …

Nuclear-Specific Reductive Carboxylation Of Alpha-Ketoglutarate Fuels Histone Acetylation To Induce Chromatin Accessibility And Gene Activation, Abhisha Sawant Dessai, Nadya A Elhalawany, Tao Dai, Justine J Jacobi, Christian Prechtl, Alphonse N Dimeck, Sierra R Morton, Mark D Long, Prashant K Singh, Nagireddy Putluri, Mariana Lopes, Song Liu, Dominic J Smiraglia, Katerina V Gurova, Peder J Lund, Leah A Gates, Sung Yun Jung, Subhamoy Dasgupta

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Mitochondria remain at the core of cell metabolism, whereas the nucleus integrates cellular and environmental signals to activate genes. However, the mechanisms that directly link cellular metabolism to gene regulation are not well understood. Here we show, a metabolic pathway in the nucleus controls acetylation of histones by nuclear localization of mitochondrial enzymes aconitase (ACO2) and isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH2). Metabolic tracing studies show that IDH2 and ACO2 catalyze reductive carboxylation of α-ketoglutarate to rapidly synthesize citrate to increase nuclear acetyl-CoA pool. Genetic and proteomic analyses reveal nuclear IDH2 and ACO2 form a complex with KAT2A/GCN5 for acetylation of histones to …

The Unexpected Role Of Conditionality In Shaping Relational Values: Insights From An Incentive-Based Conservation Program In Bolivia, Brooke Mcwherter, Will Munger, Zhao Ma, Claudia Radel, Laura Zanotti, Jonathan Bauchet, Ricardo Godoy

Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

As global change accelerates, Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs have become increasingly important tools for addressing the interconnected challenges of land degradation, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, and climate change. PES programs provide incentives to individuals or communities, conditional on people adopting sustainable natural resource management practices to support or increase ecosystem service provisioning. Although conditionality is considered a “PES-defining feature,” little is known about how conditionality is perceived by community members and how such perceptions influence their participation in and experience with PES programs. To address this gap, we conducted an extensive qualitative study of Watershared, an incentive-based conservation …

Video Games As An Advertising Media: A Comparative Analysis Between Portuguese And Spanish University Students, Alejandro Tapia-Frade, Gema Bonales-Daimiel, Belén Moreno-Albarracín

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Changes in leisure consumption are causing transformations in the relationships between young people and brands. A reflection of this is found in video games, whose predominant user profile is that of young people between 18 and 30 years old. They invest more and more time in digital universes: they play, socialize and even buy, and income from the video game sector has increased year after year in Spain and in the world, surpassing those generated jointly by cinema and music. A review of previous literature indicates the relevance as an object of study of video games that are used as …

The Machiavellian Personality And Its Relationship With Research Self-Efficacy Among Graduate Students, Zuhair Abdul Hamid El-Nawajha

Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

The research aimed to identify the level of Machiavellian personality and research self-efficacy, as well as the correlation between them. It also sought to reveal the differences in Machiavellian personality and research self-efficacy according to the variables of gender and academic degree.The researcher used the descriptive correlational approach. The research sample consisted of 103 male and female graduate students, from universities in the Gaza Strip. To achieve the research objectives, the researcher used the Machiavellian Personality Scale, prepared by (Dahling et al., 2009), and developed the Research Self-Efficacy Scale.The results of the study showed that the level of Machiavellian personality …

Understanding The Forest School Experience: A Conceptual Exploration Of Benefits And Barriers, Ziad F. Dabaja

Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

Forest School, a form of outdoor nature-based education, has increasingly gained international attention, particularly, its educational and developmental benefits are well documented. While existing literature highlights positive outcomes for children, families, and educators, it also identifies a range of challenges that can hinder effective implementation. This paper adopts a conceptual study design and synthesizes findings from three peer-reviewed literature reviews, collectively examining 40 international studies, to develop an integrative concept map of the Forest School experience. Using a thematic synthesis, evidence from the reviewed studies was analyzed to identify overlapping and complementary themes, which were categorized into benefits, implementation challenges, …

Plasma And Extracellular Vesicle–Enriched Protein Profiles In Chronic Rhinosinusitis, Aryana Amin, Rutviben P. Shah Bds, Dhvani Parikh Mph, Niki Mirhosseini Bs, Baharan Fekry Phd, Donyea L. Moore, Mahboobeh Mahdavinia Md, Phd

Summer Research Program Abstracts

No abstract provided.

Optimizing Feeding Trajectories In High-Risk Nicu Infants: A Quality Improvement Initiative, Saachi Singal, Amirali Tahanan Ms, Manouchehr Hessabi Md, Mph, Sepideh Saroukhani Md, Phd, Chiamaka Aneji Md, Jaclyn Ruggiero Md, Elizabeth Sabroske Do, Mba

Summer Research Program Abstracts

No abstract provided.

First Report Of Larra Bicolor (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) In Alabama, C. M. Abraham, D. W. Held, C. Wheeler

Midsouth Entomologist

A survey of golf courses in southern and coastal Alabama has revealed a new record of Larra bicolor in Alabama. Larra bicolor males and females were collected or observed on four of the eight golf courses sampled.

Subspace Decomposition For Spatial Parameter Estimation, Arthur Grik

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Passive emitter localization is an important capability for wireless sensing, interference detection, and spectrum awareness. Classical timing-based localization methods estimate emitter position from differences in signal arrival time across distributed sensor platforms, but their performance depends on precise receiver synchronization and favorable signal bandwidth characteristics. This thesis investigates subspace-decomposition-based spatial parameter estimation as an alternative approach in which directional information is extracted from coherent antenna-array measurements. This work develops the theoretical foundation and signal-processing framework for angle-of-arrival estimation. Various spatial parameter estimators are presented as supporting array-processing methods before focusing on a well-known subspace-decomposition-based approach called the Multiple SIgnal Classification …

Examining Individual Representation In Asian Elephants (Elephas Maximus): Implications For Recognizing Familiarity And Presence Of Conspecifics, Elena Lawson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Elephants’ flexible cognitive abilities and fission-fusion societies make them an excellent study species to investigate individual social recognition. Despite the substantial role chemical cues play in elephant social communication, there is a considerable lack of research into their chemosensory social recognition, especially in Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). Using two-choice tests, I assessed Asian elephants’ chemosensory ability to discriminate between individuals by both presence and familiarity. I also used a habituation-discrimination paradigm to assess individual recognition in elephants by determining whether elephants integrate odor cues (i.e., urine and feces) to form multi-cue representations of individuals. Responses between samples were …

Evaluating Special Education Teachers’ Competence In Inclusive Education: A Study Of Behavior Management, Level Of Confidence, And Training Needs, Kourtney Guthrie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to examine the competence of special education teachers in rural East Texas, focusing on their experiences, perceptions, and professional development needs related to behavior management and inclusive education. Quantitative data were gathered through questionnaires given to special education teachers and elaborated upon through focus group interviews, where themes emerged. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was used to develop a better understanding of teachers’ preparedness and the problems involved in the implementation of inclusive practices. The findings may inform more effective teacher training, policy-making, and support systems in rural educational settings by highlighting professional …

Extending The Fundamental Theorem Of Biomedical Informatics For The Ai Era, Philip R O Payne, Jonathan H Chen, Christopher A Longhurst

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Charles Friedman's Fundamental Theorem of Biomedical Informatics holds that a person working in partnership with an information resource outperforms that same person unassisted. Since its publication, advances in artificial intelligence (AI), adaptive learning systems, and large-scale data infrastructures have transformed the biomedical ecosystem, extending informatics beyond clinical care into domains such as public health, consumer health, translational science, and the broader life sciences. Such expansion has further underscored the importance of the Fundamental Theorem while also elucidating ways it can be expanded to meet current needs.

OBJECTIVE: To reassess and extend the Fundamental Theorem for the AI era in …

Autonomous Stress Testing In A Network Digital Twin For Predictive Remediation, Mohit Chandra, Amrita Mukherjee

Defensive Publications Series

The management of complex telecommunications networks can be challenged by difficulties in predicting the impact of component failures and the risks of testing automations on a live system. Systems and methods are described that can address these challenges by creating and maintaining a graph-based digital representation, such as a digital twin, of an operational network that can be synchronized with real-time data. Within this digital twin, for example, an autonomous agent can perform synthetic fault injections to simulate a wide range of potential failures and stressors. The system can analyze the effects of these simulated faults to predict potential service-level …

Offline Short-Form Video Content Pre-Download With Integrated Parental Controls And Advertisement Management, Anonymous

Defensive Publications Series

Systems and methods are described for pre-downloading recommendation-based short-form video content for offline viewing. A client application selects a batch of videos from a personalized feed based on a user-selected viewing duration and downloads the batch to local storage using adaptive quality levels and storage-aware size estimation. Advertisements are bundled with the offline package and enforced as non-skippable during offline playback. Parental controls are integrated by applying age-appropriateness filtering before download and enforcing a daily offline viewing time limit that ends or blocks playback when reached. The system may automatically schedule pre-downloads when connected to Wi-Fi based on predicted offline …

Regional Shrink Testing For Empirical Capacity Validation In Distributed Computing Infrastructure, Anonymous

Defensive Publications Series

Regional Shrink Testing is disclosed for empirical capacity validation in distributed computing infrastructure. A controller configures a production region by applying safeguards such as disabling autoscaling and isolating load balancing behavior, captures baseline metrics, and iteratively reduces active service instances while maintaining substantially constant production traffic. Shrink targets may be computed proportionally per hardware type class (LSST) using resource weights, with instance selection based on priority and/or random sampling. A monitoring layer evaluates stopper metrics at a percentile across active hosts and classifies health into multiple levels to control shrinking, backoff, and peak detection based on sustained threshold durations. The …

Ai-Powered Autonomous Agent For Enterprise Platform Configuration With Live Introspection And Dependency-Aware Deployment, Anonymous

Defensive Publications Series

An autonomous agent configures a configurable enterprise platform to onboard a new business vertical. The agent performs live environment introspection using parallel administrative API calls to build a snapshot and a graph of configuration components and their relationships. Existing verticals are detected using naming patterns and relationship traversal with confidence scoring, and a baseline vertical template is extracted. A three-phase requirement analysis maps requirement patterns to component clusters, matches required components against the snapshot using five-tier classifications (exact, sibling, partial, misconfigured, missing) with risk metadata, and enriches results using a machine-learning model that identifies dependencies and contradictions and outputs structured …

Systems And Methods For Asymmetric Propagation Constraints With Partitioned Memory Architecture In Collaborative Recommendation, Anonymous

Defensive Publications Series

Techniques are described for collaborative recommendation that constrain cross-user propagation of user-derived signals using asymmetric, type-dependent rules. A signal classification layer assigns each generated insight to a psychological signal type including positive preference, negative preference, behavioral pattern, and vulnerability indicator. An asymmetric propagation engine applies type-specific parameters such as hop depth, evidence thresholds, confidence discounting, and temporal decay, including higher friction for negative, behavioral, and vulnerability-related signals than for positive preferences. Negative preference propagation is constrained to a demotion-only effect in ranking, reducing scores without excluding candidates. A partitioned memory architecture stores ranking-accessible preferences in a first partition and stores …

Systems And Methods For Automated Code Review Quality Assessment Using Hybrid Classification And Logarithmic Scoring With Anti-Gaming Safeguards, Anonymous

Defensive Publications Series

Systems and methods are described for automated assessment of code review quality using review comments, reviewer actions, reactions, and diff context. A pipeline identifies human reviewers, extracts per-reviewer comment threads, and executes parallel sub-agent analyses to produce structured signals including impact and relevance scores and comment attributes. A deterministic ruleset classifies each comment into HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW, or OUT_OF_SCOPE. A reviewer score is computed using weighted counts of classified comments with a logarithmic normalization term to provide diminishing returns, and may include additive bonuses such as code suggestions, reactions, and request-changes actions. Multi-layer integrity safeguards may include concentration ratio thresholds, …

Autonomous Multi-Agent System For Social Discovery And Interpersonal Compatibility Evaluation, Anonymous

Defensive Publications Series

Autonomous agent-mediated social discovery is disclosed. Users configure personalized AI agents with personality models, tiered values hierarchies, and conversational behavior parameters. Agents publish anonymized personality embeddings to a discovery service that performs compatibility pre-filtering and a handshake protocol to initiate contact. Matched agents conduct a structured, multi-stage, multi-turn compatibility conversation managed by a conversation orchestrator, with optional early termination based on non-negotiable value misalignment. A compatibility scoring engine generates a multi-dimensional compatibility report derived from conversation signals, including sub-scores for personality alignment, values congruence, and behavioral compatibility. A human supervisory interface enables observation of agent-to-agent interactions, private guidance injection invisible …

Cryptographic Attestation Of Tool Responses For Gating Autonomous Agent Actions, Anonymous

Defensive Publications Series

Tool services generate cryptographically signed tool-call receipts that bind a tool-call request and a tool-call response to metadata including a caller identifier, timestamp, and nonce. The receipt includes a request hash and a response hash, and is signed (e.g., Ed25519) over receipt fields. An autonomous agent forwards the signed receipt with a subsequent action request to a downstream gate service. The gate service verifies the signature and enforces gating conditions including request binding to the targeted resource, freshness via the timestamp, and non-replay via nonce consumption. Consequential actions are authorized only when required receipt prerequisites validate; missing receipts, mismatched request …

Multi-Agent Artificial Intelligence Coordination System With Inter-Agent Communication And Task Delegation Protocols, Anonymous

Defensive Publications Series

A multi-agent AI coordination approach uses a collaboration messaging platform as the inter-agent communication bus and a shared natural-language governance document as an executable specification. Multiple persistent autonomous agent instances send inter-agent messages under a human operator identity while embedding a standardized sender-identification header. Messages are routed to persistent per-agent comms threads to consolidate visibility. Each agent operates on an independent periodic heartbeat to check messages, initiate proactive actions, and monitor peer responsiveness without centralized orchestration. The governance document includes self-referential rules requiring that updates to the governance document or other shared documents trigger fan-out notifications so peer agents re-read …

Distributed Ledger-Based Provenance Tracking And Verification For Multi-Agent Ai Knowledge Systems, Anonymous

Defensive Publications Series

A blockchain-based provenance verification layer is described for text-based knowledge artifacts shared among multiple AI agents. Middleware intercepts creation and consumption of artifacts in shared knowledge stores and associates each artifact or claim with a provenance record on a distributed ledger, including content hash, author identifier, timestamp, verification status, parent links, propagation depth, and confidence. Independent verification agents generate cryptographically signed attestations using techniques such as command help checks, API test calls, cross-references, and consistency checks, and ledger status is updated accordingly, optionally blocking unverified writes. During reads, a trust score is computed from verification status, attestation density, propagation depth, …

Behavioral Monitoring And Intervention System For Detecting Emergent Tacit Collusion Among Autonomous Agents In Recommendation Platforms, Anonymous

Defensive Publications Series

Behavioral monitoring for recommendation marketplaces is described. Observable time-series actions of autonomous agents and platform signals are ingested per market segment. A competitive-equilibrium baseline is computed and deviations from the baseline are measured. Coordination evidence is derived without inspecting agent internals, including behavioral correlation beyond common cause using Granger-causality-based analysis, reward-punishment dynamics detected from deviation events and retaliatory responses, and platform-mediated signaling exploitation measured by mutual information between platform outputs and subsequent actions. A composite collusion score aggregates component measures using calibrated weights and produces tiered alerts. A causal audit trail may be generated with timelines and analyses and may …

Infectious Diseases (Id) Power Hour: Leveraging A State Id Society Abstract Competition To Increase Faculty-Medical Student Scholarly Mentoring Opportunities, Jacob Owens

Graduate Medical Education Research Journal

NA

Enhancing Sexual History-Taking Education For Health Professions Learners: A Needs Assessment And E-Learning Intervention, Nicole Kusnik

Graduate Medical Education Research Journal

NA

Is Respiratory Gram Stain Useful In The Era Of Rapid, Highly Sensitive Molecular Pneumonia Panels?, Calvin Albrecht

Graduate Medical Education Research Journal

NA