Digital Commons Network^™

Skrmetti And The Problem Of Incidental Intent, Martin Katz

William & Mary Law Review

The modern Supreme Court has defined “discriminatory intent” as a strict-liability concept. It does not matter why the government sorts people by a protected characteristic, such as race or sex; it matters only that the government does sort people by such a characteristic. This principle is the key holding of affirmative-action cases, such as Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College. Yet, in the recent case United States v. Skrmetti, the Court seemed to focus not on the question of whether the government sorted people by sex (it did), but on the question …

Effectiveness Of Dialectical-Behavioral Intervention On Emotional Regulation Difficulties, Distress Tolerance, And Social Functioning Among Patients With Bipolar Disorder: Randomized Controlled Trial, Nashwa Ibrahim

Nursing

Aim

To determine the effect of implementing dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills training groups on emotional regulation difficulties, distress tolerance, and social functioning among patients with bipolar disorder (BD).

Methods

A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 120 patients diagnosed with BD who were attending follow-up at the outpatient clinic. Participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental group, which received 16 group psychoeducation sessions held twice weekly, or the control group, which received standard outpatient care. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures was applied to compare normally distributed quantitative variables across more than two time points or stages, …

Association Of Clinical Severity In Autism Spectrum Disorder With Biomolecules Involved In Lipid Metabolism, Inflammation And Mirnas, Maria Gevezova, Michael Maes, Iliana Pacheva, Nikolay Mehterov, Zdravko Ivanov, Elena Timova, Stefka Spassieva, Erhard Bieberich, Maria Kazakova, Ivan Ivanov, Victoria Sarafian

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurological condition with an unclear etiology and pathogenesis. In recent years, studies have identified changes in lipid metabolism, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and mitophagy in patients with ASD. However, the specific interactions between these molecular signatures and their clinical applications in ASD remain largely unexplored. The aim of our study is to search for correlations between changes in gene and miRNA expression and the clinical characteristics of ASD. The investigation included a cohort of children with idiopathic ASD and healthy controls (HC). Diagnosis was established based on ADOS assessment (autism diagnostic observation schedule). Gene …

Initial-Condition-Robust Inference In Autoregressive Models, Donald W. K. Andrews, Ming Li, Yapeng Zheng

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper considers confidence intervals (CIs) for the autoregressive (AR) parameter in an AR model with an AR parameter that may be close or equal to one. Existing CIs rely on the assumption of a stationary or fixed initial condition to obtain correct asymptotic coverage and good finite sample coverage. When this assumption fails, their coverage can be quite poor. In this paper, we introduce a new CI for the AR parameter whose coverage probability is completely robust to the initial condition, both asymptotically and in finite samples. This CI pays only a small price in terms of its length …

Willingness To Travel With Endogenous Distance: Evidence From The Changing Retail Landscape, Yue Cao, Judith Chevalier, Jessie Handbury, Hayden Parsley, Kevin Williams

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Economists often use variation in consumers’ distance from services as a source of demand variation. This approach typically treats consumer-supplier distance as exogenous, despite suppliers strategically choosing locations. We develop a novel class of instruments to address this endogeneity. These instruments exploit the spatial distribution of consumer demographics and can be constructed from standard cross-sectional data, making them useful in a variety of spatial applications. Our preferred instruments use the income composition of concentric discs centered on the Central Business District. Applying these instruments to smartphone geolocation data for millions of devices across 18 metropolitan areas, we estimate consumer preferences …

A Case Report Of Milk-Alkali Syndrome Secondary To Excessive Antacid Use, Samir Beso, Layla Abubshait

Einstein Health Papers

INTRODUCTION: Milk-alkali syndrome is characterized by the triad of hypercalcemia, metabolic alkalosis, and acute kidney injury resulting from excessive intake of calcium and absorbable alkali. Despite falling out of prominence with the advent of modern ulcer treatments, milk-alkali syndrome has experienced a resurgence with the widespread availability of over-the-counter calcium preparations, which now account for up to 10% of hypercalcemia cases.

CASE REPORT: A 60-year-old man with multiple comorbidities presented to the emergency department with altered mental status after his scheduled kyphoplasty was canceled due to concerning neurological findings. Laboratory evaluation revealed severe hypercalcemia, marked metabolic alkalosis, and acute kidney …

The Impact Of Innovation Belief On Strategic Product R&D, Yan Zhou

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In highly uncertain innovation scenarios characterized by long R&D cycles and high risks, how to continuously drive enterprises to develop market-competitive blockbuster products has become a critical issue of shared concern in both practice and academia. Existing research has mostly explained differences in blockbuster product R&D from perspectives such as resource allocation, organizational structure, or institutional incentives, while paying insufficient attention to cognitive and belief factors at the individual level. Based on this, this paper introduces the psychological and cognitive variable of "innovative belief" to systematically examine its impact mechanism on blockbuster product R&D capability.

Taking the R&D team of …

A Narrative Review On The Therapeutic Potential Of Stem Cells In Neurodegenerative Diseases: Advances, Insights, And Challenges, Tirath Patel, Fathimathul Henna, Iman Sharif, Inaya Javed, Fatima Mustafa, Hannan Sharif, Fatima Nasir, Mirat Javaid

School of Medicine Publications

Background: Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) such as Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's disease (HD) are set apart by progressive neuronal loss and concomitant functional decline. Traditional therapies are equipped with only symptomatic relief, devoid of neurorestorative properties. Stem-cell-based therapies have the potential to revolutionize neurological care by replenishing lost cells, mitigating inflammation, and fostering a neuroprotective environment.

Objectives: This narrative review aims to appraise the treatment potential of various stem cell types in managing NDs, highlighting their functional pathways, delivery methods, and current experimental validation.

Methods: A comprehensive literature search was carried out based on …

The American College Of Radiology Diagnostic Fluoroscopy Dose Index Registry Pilot, Steve D. Mann, Donald L. Miller, Grant Fong, Allen R. Goode, Emily L. Marshall, Thomas Nishino, Pavlina Boxx, Liqiang Ren, Celalettin Topbas, Alan H. Schoenfeld, Vivek Singh, Jie Zhang

Radiology Faculty Publications

Background: The ACR Diagnostic Fluoroscopy Dose Index Registry (DIR-Fluoro) is expanding to include diagnostic fluoroscopy. Variations in dose reference points and overhead radiography events may introduce unique challenges for benchmarking. Purpose: To survey the technological status and dosimetric performance of fluoroscopes participating in the DIR-Fluoro pilot project, focusing on longitudinal stability and variability of fluoroscopic dose reporting accuracy across multiple institutions and vendors. Methods: Sixty-six fluoroscopic systems from nine institutions (24 facilities) were surveyed for facility type, fluoroscope type, image receptor type, age, dose reporting capabilities, and other key features. Of these, 56 were evaluable. Semi-annual measurements assessed reference air …

Light & Faith: February 2026, Taylor University

Light & Faith

No abstract provided.

Features Of Formal Academic Writing, Dawn Atkinson

Writing

No abstract provided.

Derivation Of An Updated Brief Multivariable Prediction Model To Detect Panic-Related Anxiety In Emergency Department Patients With Cardiopulmonary Complaints, Sharon C. Sung, Felicia J. L. Ang, Arul Earnest, Leslie E. C. Lim, Shreshtha Jolly, Gilaine Rui Ng, A. John Rush, Marcus E. H. Ong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Background Patients with panic related-anxiety (i.e., panic attacks or panic disorder) frequently present to emergency departments (EDs) with cardiopulmonary complaints but are often undiagnosed, which can lead to recurrent visits and prolonged distress. This study aimed to derive a new symptom-based multivariable diagnostic prediction model to detect panic-related anxiety in ED patients with cardiopulmonary symptoms.Methods We conducted a single-blind prospective derivation study over 15 months in the ED of a major tertiary hospital in Singapore. Patients presenting with symptoms of palpitations, chest pain, dizziness, or difficulty breathing were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders (SCID) to diagnose …

Examining The Effects Of Viewing Nature And Animal Smartphone Wallpapers On Affect, Behaviour, And Cognition: A Randomised Cross-Over Trial, Nadyanna M. Majeed, Nicole R. Y. Chen, Adalia Y. H. Goh, Meilan Hu, Kenneth J. J. Koh, Yuolmae H. G. Ang, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This study aims to investigate the effects of different smartphone lock screen wallpapers on weekly perceived well-being, procrastination, and productivity in young adults. Through a pre-registered within-subject experiment, 60 participants were exposed to three smartphone wallpaper conditions: nature, animal, and neutral (control). Each participant experienced each condition over three weeks, with the order of conditions counterbalanced. Using Frequentist and Bayesian analyses, we did not find any differences between conditions across the pre-registered confirmatory outcomes (i.e., life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, stress, productivity, and procrastination). Exploratory outcomes related to lock screen engagement, however, revealed some meaningful effects. Animal-themed smartphone wallpapers …

Less Is More: Docstring Compression In Code Generation, Guang Yang, Yu Zhou, Wei Cheng, Xiangyu Zhang, Xiang Chen, Terry Yue Zhuo, Xin Zhou, Ke Liu, David Lo, Taolue Chen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The widespread use of Large Language Models (LLMs) in software engineering has intensified the need for improved model and resource efficiency. In particular, for neural code generation, LLMs are used to translate function/method signature and DocString to executable code. DocStrings, which capture user requirements for the code and are typically used as the prompt for LLMs, often contain redundant information. Recent advancements in prompt compression have shown promising results in Natural Language Processing (NLP), but their applicability to code generation remains uncertain. Our empirical study shows that the state-ofthe-art prompt compression methods achieve only about 10% reduction, as further reductions …

Fortifying The Seams Between C/C++ And Rust: Characterizing Bugs In Interop Tools, Xuemeng Cai, Jiakun Liu, Cunyang Liu, Lingfeng Bao, Yijun Yu, Lingxiao Jiang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Rust has become increasingly popular in recent years due to its safety and high performance. Despite these advantages, Rust projects rarely start from scratch in practice, and many Rust-based systems instead use hybrid programming, where Rust interoperates with existing C/C++ code. To reduce the manual effort involved in this interoperation (interop) process, several interop tools have been proposed to facilitate hybrid programming between Rust and C/C++. However, the challenges and limitations of these tools remain largely unexplored, leaving developers unclear about the future directions and users unclear about the appropriate usage scenarios. To fill the gap, we mined 320 bugs …

February 2026 News Releases, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

When Antitrust Meets Labour: Exemption And Enforcement Under Article 101 Tfeu, Giulia Mangiafico

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

Labour rights protection has recently emerged as one of the key objectives of antitrust law, alongside sustainability and privacy. The application and enforcement of competition rules differ significantly between the workers’ and employers’ sides of the market, a distinction that is particularly visible in cases concerning remuneration. Wage-setting may fall within the scope of Article 101 TFEU where it results from coordination between undertakings; whether competition law applies therefore depends on how wages are fixed. While employer cartels that suppress pay are treated as restrictive agreements, collective bargaining arrangements are assessed under a markedly different analytical framework. This article examines …

The Undue Degradation Of "Undue Degradation": How Loper Bright Threatens To Weaken Environmental Protections For Domestic Lithium Operations, Griffin M. Krawitz

William & Mary Law Review

On October 24, 2024, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project, a seven-thousand- acre mining operation in the middle of the Nevada desert. Denoted as the “first domestic lithium project to get full regulatory approval under the Biden Administration,” the new mine is projected to supply enough batteries to power roughly 370,000 electric vehicles (EVs) every year for the next twenty-three years. Despite concern that the mine parallels and threatens the habitat for the Tiehm’s buckwheat (the only known habitat containing the critically endangered and culturally significant flower), the BLM has been adamant that its …

Is History Precedent?, Allison Orr Larsen

Faculty Publications

It has been just over three years since the Supreme Court instructed lower courts to evaluate Second Amendment challenges by examining history and tradition. And it is no secret that the courts have struggled. This Article tackles a phenomenon that is born of that struggle. Overwhelmed by the task of evaluating historical claims, lower courts instead are turning to other judges as authorities on history. They are using what I call in this Article “historical precedents”—meaning language about history from an older decision that the subsequent judge then treats as authority, not as part of a legal rule but for …

A Student-Centered Gis Classroom: Second Chances And Real-World Practice Teaching Portfolio For Nres218 Introduction To Geospatial Technologies, Ran Wang

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This course portfolio documents the design, implementation, and reflection of NRES218 Introduction to Geospatial Technologies, an introductory undergraduate geographic information system (GIS) course. This course aims to integrate basic and applied sciences to help students develop spatial thinking and spatial analysis skills for proposing spatial science–oriented solutions. Instructional strategies emphasize experiential learning through structured laboratory exercises and outdoor field activities that connects real-world observation with GIS analysis. To support student learning and persistence, the course also incorporated flexible assessment practices, including second-chance exams. Reflection on student engagement and performance revealed that while these strategies were highly beneficial for some students, …

The Use Of A Standardized Checklist For Image Acquisition: An Obstetric Ultrasound Quality Improvement Study, Ingrid Gichere, Nidhi Leekha, Sikolia Wanyonyi

Obstetrics and Gynaecology, East Africa

Introduction A complete anatomical survey during the mid-trimester ultrasound is critical for detecting fetal anomalies. In sub-Saharan Africa, detection rates remain low, contributing to a significant disease burden. This study evaluated whether implementing a standardized electronic checklist, based on existing guidelines, would improve image acquisition.

Methods We carried out a pre- and post-intervention quasi-experimental quality improvement study. An electronic checklist replaced the previous ultrasound report template. A baseline review involved 385 mid-trimester scans conducted between November 2022 and December 2023. Following checklist implementation and targeted sonographer training, 238 scans were reassessed from July to December 2024. The image acquisition rate …

The Identity Of Tamar Church (D. 1789), Of New Marlborough, Massachusetts, Charles H. Smith,

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Discussion of Tamar Church of New Marlborough, Massachusetts

Scper: A Rigorous Computational Approach To Determine Cellular Subtypes In Tumors Aligned With Cancer Phenotypes From Total Rna Sequencing, Bingrui Li, Xiaobo Zhou, Raghu Kalluri

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is a powerful technique for understanding cellular diversity, but processing large patient cohorts to identify phenotype-associated cell populations remains challenging. Here, scPER (Estimating cell Proportions using single-cell RNA-seq Reference), a rigorous approach combining adversarial autoencoder and extreme gradient boosting to estimate tumor microenvironment cell compositions and identify phenotype-associated subclusters for bulk RNA-seq samples. Integrating scRNA-seq datasets from diverse studies, scPER constructed comprehensive reference panels and disentangled confounders from true signals. scPER achieved superior accuracy in cellular proportion estimation compared to CIBERSORTx, BayesPrism, Scaden, MuSiC, SCDC, DeSide and ReCIDE. It showed high accuracy in predicting metastatic melanoma …

Genetic Architecture Of N-Terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide In A Multiancestry Study Population, Naman S Shetty, Akhil Pampana, Mokshad Gaonkar, Amrita Nayak, Harshvir S Bal, Nirav Patel, Nehal Vekariya, J Gustav Smith, Alanna C Morrison, Bing Yu, Bruce M Psaty, Eric Boerwinkle, James S Floyd, Jerome I Rotter, Kent D Taylor, Leslie A Lange, Marguerite R Irvin, Mary Cushman, Stephen S Rich, Ramachandran S Vasan, Thomas J Wang, Xiuqing Guo, Peng Li, Garima Arora, Pankaj Arora

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: NPs (natriuretic peptides) are bioactive hormones crucial for regulating blood pressure, glucose homeostasis, and lipid metabolism. Despite the high heritability of circulating NP levels, the genetic determinants of NP regulation, particularly across ancestries and sexes, remain poorly understood. The objective of the current study was to identify genetic variants associated with NT-proBNP (N-terminal pro-B-type NP) levels in a multiancestry study population.

Methods: Whole genome sequencing and array-based data from 81 213 individuals without heart failure were analyzed from the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine cohorts, UK Biobank, All of Us Research Program, and REGARDS (Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences …

Volumetric Buccal Bone Alterations At Immediate Implant Sites With Or Without Soft Tissue Augmentation: A 6-Month Assessment, Mary Jung, Duong Tran, Chi-Ching Chang, Sung K Kim, Yosuke Tsukiboshi, Seiko Min, Srinivas Ayilavarapu, Chun-Teh Lee

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: This study is part of a randomized controlled trial investigating the impact of soft tissue augmentation (STA) using subepithelial connective tissue graft (SCTG) (immediate implant with subepithelial connective tissue graft [ICT] group) or acellular dermal matrix (ADM) (immediate implant with acellular dermal matrix [IAD] group) versus no STA (control) on the clinical outcomes following immediate implant placement (IIP). This study aimed to investigate volumetric buccal bone dimensional changes at immediate implant sites 6 months after the surgery.

Methods: Forty-five patients requiring extraction of a maxillary anterior tooth or premolar and randomly assigned to one of the three groups were …

Engineering Enac Constructs To Examine Pip2 And Ubiquitin Competition On Enac Regulation And Stability, Lacie Johnson

Chemistry & Biochemistry Undergraduate Honors Theses

The epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) plays a critical role in sodium homeostasis, fluid balance, and blood pressure regulation. ENaC activity is tightly controlled by post-translational mechanisms, including ubiquitination-mediated degradation and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) dependent channel activation. PIP2 is a phospholipid necessary to facilitate the maximal channel opening. Previous studies suggest that intracellular PIP2 binding sites are located in proximity to ubiquitination sites on ENaC subunits, raising the possibility of PIP2 binding to influence channel stability and function. This thesis aimed to engineer and validate molecular tools capable of examining the interplay between PIP2 binding and ubiquitination in ENaC regulation. A …

Differential Validity In Fair Lending, Spencer Caro, Talia B. Gillis, Scott Nelson

Faculty Scholarship

Fair lending’s disparate impact doctrine aims to address lending disparities. But which disparities? Traditional fair lending has narrowly focused on equal outcomes — examining differences in loan approval rates or interest rates. However, this singular focus overlooks other dimensions of disparities that are essential for fair credit access. This article challenges the conventional emphasis on equal outcomes, demonstrating how it has failed to address deep-rooted inequalities in traditional credit allocation while also stifling innovation in machine-learning and alternative data. We argue that disparities in the validity of creditworthiness predictions — the accuracy with which a model identifies creditworthy applicants — …

New Asymptotics Applied To Functional Coefficient Regression And Climate Sensitivity Analysis, Qiying Wang, Peter C. B. Phillips, Ying Wang

Research Collection School Of Economics

A general asymptotic theory is established for sample cross moments of nonstationary time series, allowing for long-range dependence and local unit roots. The theory provides a substantial extension of earlier results on nonparametric regression that include near-cointegrated nonparametric regression as well as spurious nonparametric regression. Many new models are covered by the limit theory, among which are functional coefficient regressions in which both regressors and the functional covariate are nonstationary. Simulations show finite sample performance matching well with the asymptotic theory and having broad relevance to applications, while revealing how dual nonstationarity in regressors and covariates raises sensitivity to bandwidth …

Democracy And Public Policy Network Expert Analysis On "America At 250" February 2026 Poll, Robert Alexander

Democracy and Public Policy Network Polls

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of The Intempo Path Set For Cyberknife Prostate And Lung Sbrt: A Single-Institution Experience, Yingcui Jia, Lei Fu, Shari Rudoler, Eric Gressen, Yevgeniy Vinogradskiy, Qianyi Xu

Department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: The InTempo adaptive imaging system is an important component of the Accuray CyberKnife System, designed to enhance the system's ability to track and correct tumor motion during treatment. However, a limitation of this feature is the reduction of available nodes for treatment planning. The impact of a reduced number of nodes on the quality of InTempo-based treatment plans has not previously been evaluated. This retrospective study aims to compare the dosimetry of CyberKnife plans with and without The InTempo path set for both prostate and lung stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT).

METHODS: This study included twelve consecutive prostate SBRT patients …