Digital Commons Network^™

Physical Activity For Public Health In The 21st Century, Deborah Salvo, Inacio Crochemore-Silva, Andrea Wendt, Jakob Tarp, Eric J Shiroma, Richard J Simpson, I-Min Lee, Ulf Ekelund, Ester Cerin, Youssouf Keita, Adrian Bauman, Pedro C Hallal, Andrea Ramirez Varela, Michael Pratt, Rodrigo Reis, Erica Hinckson, Ding Ding, Harold W Kohl, James Sallis

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

With over 5 million attributed deaths per year, physical inactivity is a major global public health issue. Although the importance of physical activity is well recognized within the scope of obesity and cardiometabolic disease prevention and control, its broader benefits for the health of individuals and societies are yet to be fully harnessed. Furthermore, the role of active leisure, active transport and active labor-primary domains of physical activity-in supporting or hindering social and health equity has been largely overlooked. Here we (1) used a health equity lens to describe global domain-specific physical activity inequalities through an analysis of World Health …

Outcomes After Pulmonary Artery Flow Reducer Implantation In High-Risk Neonates With Congenital Heart Disease And Pulmonary Overcirculation, Cihangir Buyukgoz, Shyam Sathanandam, Neil Tailor, Ashley Molloy, Thomas Spentzas, Karthik Ramakrishnan, Christopher Knott-Craig, Umar Boston

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Surgical outcomes in neonates with complex congenital heart disease (CHD) and pulmonary overcirculation (POC) initially palliated with pulmonary flow reducers (PFRs) were evaluated.

Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2023. Eleven neonates underwent PFR palliation. Fenestrated Medtronic microvascular plugs (PFRs) were delivered into the branch pulmonary artery (PA). The target surgical procedure involved the removal of PFRs and biventricular repair (n = 9) or single-ventricle palliation (n = 2).

Results: Patients were deemed high risk on the basis of prematurity (n = 5), early gestational age (n = 5), heterotaxy (n …

Inflating Your Success: An Algorithmic Approach To Improving Outcomes In Pediatric Tissue Expansion, Jackson C Green, Samuel G Ruiz, Kylie R Swiekatowski, Ellen B Wang, Paul Won, Chioma G Obinero, Tien Do, Danielle Sobol, Matthew R Greives

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Tissue expanders (TEs) are vital for creating soft tissue for reconstruction. This study examines the challenges of pediatric TEs and proposes an algorithm to minimize complications and optimize outcomes.

Methods: A retrospective review (2014-2024) included patients younger than 18 years with TEs, excluding breast reconstruction cases. Initial TE fills were performed in-clinic 2 weeks postoperatively with parent education, whereas subsequent expansions were managed at home. Parents monitored for complications, started antibiotics, and scheduled urgent visits if needed. Data collected included demographics, TE characteristics, indications, defect size, and outcomes.

Results: Forty pediatric patients (median age: 5.2 y) had 96 TEs …

Growth Failure And Early Recurrence In Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia: An International Cohort Study, Rachel C Bordelon, Kylie I Holden, Charles C Miller, Ashley H Ebanks, Kevin P Lally, Matthew T Harting, Allison L Speer, Representing The Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Study Group

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: The primary objective was to determine whether growth failure (GF) is associated with early recurrence in congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). The secondary objective was to characterize the prevalence and severity of GF in CDH survivors.

Background: GF is common among CDH survivors, yet it is unclear how growth challenges affect overall morbidity, including hernia recurrence. CDH-specific nutritional guidelines include high calorie and protein targets during periods of acute illness but may benefit from clarifying the relationship between growth and adverse outcomes in this population.

Methods: This multicenter cohort study retrospectively analyzed prospectively collected data from the CDH Study Group …

Near-Wall Void Distribution Characterization In Pebble Bed Reactor Using Gamma-Ray Ct And Dem Simulation, Ahmed Jasim, Mauricio Maestri, Abdullah Al Zubaidi, Omar Farid, Muthanna Al-Dahhan

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Accurate characterization of void-fraction distributions in pebble-bed reactors (PBRs) is essential for predicting flow, heat transfer, and neutronic behavior. High-fidelity experimental benchmark data for validating such predictions remain scarce, largely due to the challenges of non-invasive measurements. In this study, gamma-ray computed tomography (CT) was employed to measure radial and cross-sectional porosity in a laboratory-scale pebble bed containing 6cm graphite pebbles. A Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulation was implemented and validated against these measurements, then applied to the full-scale geometry of the Xe-100 high-temperature gas-cooled pebble-bed reactor. Analyses included radial and axial void-fraction profiles in the cylindrical section and conical …

Graphene Synthesis: A Reactor-Oriented Review Of Conventional And Emerging Production Methods, Paul C. Ani, Zeyad Zeitoun, Hasan J. Al-Abedi, Joseph D. Smith

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Graphene's unparalleled electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties have positioned it as a transformative material across diverse sectors, including electronics, energy storage, biomedicine, and environmental remediation. However, scalable, cost-effective, and high-quality production remains a critical challenge. This review presents a comprehensive, reactor-oriented analysis of both conventional and emerging graphene synthesis methods, categorized into top-down and bottom-up approaches. Special emphasis is placed on the role of reactor configurations in determining product quality, layer control, scalability, and economic viability. Key synthesis techniques explored include chemical vapor deposition (CVD), epitaxial growth, electrochemical exfoliation, ultrasonic-assisted methods, microwave reactors, combustion synthesis, and plasma-enhanced processes. By evaluating …

University Of San Diego Magazine Spring 2026, Publications Department

University of San Diego Magazine (1992- )

Beauty, Goodness and Truth; Dear Toreros; Around Alcalá Park; Roads Less Traveled; Faith in Action; Asking Better Questions in an Age of Easy Answers; Shaping the Next Generation of Science Leaders; At the Edge of It All; Global Perspectives; Torero Athletics; Toreros Making Waves; In Memoriam; Leading With Love

Collaboration Between People Admitted To Acute Mental Health Units, Their Family Members And Nurses In The Detection Of Mental State Changes And Recovery: A Qualitative Systematic Review, Karen Foster, Coventry, Yvonne Middlewick, Lindsay Smith, Beverley Ewens

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Mental health nurses can engage with people with mental health challenges and their families due to their presence on acute mental health units. This presence helps to facilitate recovery-focused care within a physically and emotionally safe environment. Mental health care should be person-centred, individualised, and include wherever possible family and other people in the person's support network. The objective of this systematic review was to explore the existing qualitative literature that describes experiences of collaboration between people with lived experience of mental health challenges, their family members, and nurses in relation to changes in mental state during an admission to …

Disuse-Induced Muscle Atrophy And Muscle Weakness From Hospitalization To Spaceflight: Exercise Succeeds In Prevention And Treatment—A Meta-Analysis, Camila S. Padilha, Figueiredo, Rafael Deminice, S. Ribeiro, Robert U. Newton, Nicolas H. Hart, José Cesar Rosa-Neto, Marília Seelaender, Fábio Santos Lira

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Exercise has been proposed as both a preventive and therapeutic countermeasure; however, its effectiveness across different disuse conditions and timings of implementation remains uncertain. Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPERO: CRD42021256599) searched ClinicalTrials.gov, Cochrane Central, PubMed, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL and SciELO from inception to May 2021, with an update in March 2025. Randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials examining exercise interventions during or after muscle disuse were included according to the PICOS framework. Random-effects meta-analysis evaluated effects on muscle strength, power and mass across hospitalization, bed rest and spaceflight conditions. Effect sizes (ES) are reported as …

Federated Retrieval-Augmented Generation For Cybersecurity In Resource-Constrained Iot And Edge Environments: A Deployment-Oriented Scoping Review, Hangyu He, Yuan, Kai Wu, Wei Ni

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Cybersecurity operations in IoT and edge environments require fast, evidence-grounded decisions under strict resource and trust constraints. While large language models can support triage and incident analysis, their parametric knowledge may be outdated and prone to hallucination. Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) improves grounding by conditioning responses on retrieved evidence, but also introduces new risks such as knowledge-base poisoning, indirect prompt injection, and embedding leakage. Federated learning enables collaborative adaptation without centralizing sensitive data, motivating federated RAG (FedRAG) architectures for distributed cybersecurity deployments. This study presents a deployment-oriented scoping review of FedRAG for cybersecurity. The review follows PRISMA-ScR reporting guidance and synthesizes …

Impending-Exit Period And Employee Performance: Rethinking Human Capital Disruption, Yea Hee Ko, Charlie O. Trevor

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The well-established disruptive effects of employee turnover on firms have typically been attributed to post-exit dynamics, such as losses of human and social capital. Little is known, however, about leavers’ pre-exit job performance, which, if declining in sufficient magnitude as separation nears, may drive some of this disruption. Drawing on career concerns research, we argue that impending exit weakens incentives to improve future career prospects at the firm, thereby resulting in reduced performance. Our analysis reveals strikingly large negative relationships, as job performance during the impending-exit period declines by 53.9% and 79.8% across two performance measures. Additionally, we predict and …

The Robin Hood Effect In Transgressions Against Firms: How Political Ideology Shapes Consumer Justifications, Jason D. Lin, Anat Keinan, Hannah H. Chang, Donald R. Lehmann

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Consumer transgressions against firms involve moral violations in which consumers take advantage of loopholes in companies’ return and satisfaction-guaranteed policies or the lack of strict enforcement against password sharing, piracy, shoplifting, wardrobing, coupon stacking, promotion abuse, and fraud. Drawing on the timeless tale of Robin Hood, the legendary outlaw who stands up against injustice, the authors demonstrate that consumers use a Robin Hood justification to legitimize their transgressions against firms. Building on moral foundations theory, this research demonstrates that political ideology impacts consumers’ transgression behavior and the perceived morality of these practices. Six studies show that under certain conditions in …

Ai Models As Cultural Beings: Investigating Ai Cultural Biases And The Impact Of Cultural Alignment On Human-Ai Creative Collaboration, Choon Ngee Tan, Meng Han, Roy Y. J. Chua, Chi-Ying Cheng

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Existing research on AI cultural biases predominantly focuses on Western models, overlooking critical gaps in non-Western models. We conduct a comparative analysis of AI models – ChatGPT (U.S. developed) and ErnieBot (China developed) – from different cultures to investigate how corresponding cultural biases manifest in their outputs. Additionally, we examine how cultural alignment between human users and AI models impacts their collaborative creative performance and the underlying psychological mechanisms. In Study 1, multi-choice prompt with zero-shot technique was used to evaluate cultural biases in four widely used AI models – ChatGPT-3.5/4, ErnieBot-3.5/4 – comparing their responses to established cultural psychometric …

Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda? The Impact Of Predictive, Prescriptive, And Prospective Expectations On Stakeholder Reactions, Yuri Mishina, Maxine Yu, David Gomulya

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

When and why might stakeholders react to firm activities in ways that might be different than, or even contradictory to, what we might expect based on the extant research? We draw on expectancy violation theory (EVT) and bring in the notion of heuristics and future-oriented expectations to examine this question, using a sample of investor reactions to earnings surprises from 2013 to 2019. We find that, in addition to comparing earnings to consensus earnings estimates, investors appear to compare the earnings surprises to the firm’s past performance and to its peers. Importantly, their expectations regarding future interactions with the firm …

Cotheorizing Healing With Undergraduate Queer And Trans Latina Survivors Of Power-Based Violence, Kimberly Correa

Dissertations

Current research on healing from power-based violence highlights the importance of integrating victim-survivors’ personal culture and identities into healing approaches, yet few studies actually focus on the culturally distinct healing processes of victim-survivors (O’Brien & Macy, 2016; Sinko et al., 2023). Grounded in Jotería theory (Alvarez, 2023) and Latina/Chicana feminist frameworks (Garcia, 1989), this qualitative study employs queer pláticas as both a methodology and method to center culturally rooted dialogue, reciprocity, and cariño as a political praxis. This study explores how six queer and trans Latina undergraduate victim-survivors conceptualize healing from power-based violence and how their identities, cultural values, and …

Not Forgetting The Fathers: A Qualitative Narrative Review Exploring The Involvement And Psychological Well-Being Of Fathers In The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit., Kayleigh Gahagan, Kevin Hambridge, Matt Carey

School of Nursing and Midwifery

BackgroundDespite policy commitments to family-centred care, neonatal services often remain implicitly structured around maternal presence. Fathers, although increasingly acknowledged as vital to early child development, frequently experience feelings of exclusion throughout the neonatal journey, from antenatal care through to the neonatal intensive care unit.AimThis review explores how fathers experience involvement and psychological wellbeing during their infant’s admission to a neonatal intensive care unit.MethodsA narrative review of qualitative studies was conducted using the SPIDER framework to guide the search strategy. The nine included studies, which met the inclusion criteria were identified via searching the databases CINAHL, PubMed, and PsycINFO. Studies were …

Fixed Effects Estimation Of Spatial Panel Model With Missing Responses: An Application To Us State Tax Competition, Xiaoyu Meng, Zhenlin Yang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We consider estimation and inferences for general spatial panel data models with randomly missing observations on responses. It allows for unobserved spatiotemporal heterogeneity, time-varying endogenous and contextual spatial interactions, time-varying cross-sectional error dependence, and serial correlation. A general M-estimation method is proposed for model estimation and a novel corrected plug-in method is proposed for model inference. Both take into account the estimation of fixed effects. Asymptotic properties of the proposed methods are studied, and finite sample properties are investigated. An empirical application is given using U.S. state tax competition data. The proposed methods apply to matrix exponential spatial specification and …

Genuinely Unbalanced Spatial Panel Data Models: Fixed Effects M-Estimation And Inference, Xiaoyu Meng, Zhenlin Yang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We consider spatial panel data models with genuine unbalancedness arising from the non-presence of some spatial units in certain time periods. General M-estimation methods are proposed for model estimation, which take into account the estimation of the incidental fixed effects parameters and allow for spatiotemporal heteroskedasticity and high-order time-varying spatial effects. Corrected plug-in methods are proposed for standard error estimation. The proposed estimation and inference methods are rigorously studied for their asymptotic properties and finite sample performance. An application to China’s provincial FDI inflows shows that properly accounting for genuine unbalancedness uncovers significant positive spatial spillovers that are masked when …

Copley Connects | Fall 2025/Spring 2026, University Of San Diego

Copley Connects Library Newsletter

Message From the Dean | 3
Writing in Visual Form: noé olivas’ Neon Art Installation | 4
San Diego’s French Connection | 6
Instagrammable Moments: A Librarian’s Reflections on San Diego and USD | 8
Copley Celebrates the 3rd Annual Filipino American History Month Event | 10
Banned Books Week | 10
Copley Library Hosts the Inaugural Student Success Symposium | 11
Veterans/Armistice Day: Veterans for Peace Visit Copley Library | 11
UDEM and USD Sign Sister Libraries MOU | 12
Cruising Through History: The Lowrider Stamp Unveiling | 13
Copley Reads | 14
Cultural Mosaic: Celebrating Asian American and …

The Importance Of Holistic Care: The Development And Implementation Of Spiritual Resources For Caregivers And Staff At Joni’S House El Salvador, Chloe Veilleux

Capstone Projects

It is within the occupational therapy (OT) scope of practice to not only address client needs related to mind, body, and spirit, but also those of caregivers as a means of fostering overall improved quality of life. Additionally, when OTs address spirituality and implement spiritual/spirituality-informed interventions, correlations of improved psychosocial factors such as well-being, motivation, and reduced stress have been shown, as well as improved hope and reduced burden for caregivers. There remains, however, a gap in the research and implementation of spiritually informed care and resources specifically as it pertains to caregivers of those with disabilities. To address this …

Reducing Humpty Dumpty Syndrome In Pediatric Inpatients, Jeanene Burns

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Doctor of Nursing Practice project examined pediatric inpatient falls. The healthcare agency involved in the project identified concerns regarding pediatric inpatient falls. Data were collected on pediatric inpatient falls that occurred on two nursing units at this agency based on the Generalized Risk Assessment for Pediatric Inpatient Falls and the Humpty Dumpty Falls Prevention Scale. Results from the project indicated marginal statistical significance, with approximately a 60% reduction in falls after the implementation of the Humpty Dumpty Falls Prevention Scale. A recommendation for future research is a comparison of the two pediatric fall risk assessment tools after the Humpty …

Exploring The Way Up: Career Paths, Challenges, And Resilience Among Women Leaders In Higher Education, Angela M. Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women represent the majority of students and faculty in higher education students in higher education in the United States, yet they remain underrepresented in executive leadership positions. Women pursuing these roles encounter unique challenges, and institutions have increasingly recognized the value of mentoring and sponsoring women who aspire to leadership. Guided by Kumar’s CR8 resilience theory, this qualitative descriptive study explored how women leaders in higher education in the United States describe their career pathways to leadership, the challenges they encounter, and the impact of mentoring/sponsoring in developing their resilience for career progression. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 11 women …

How Can Learning Management Systems Positively Impact Student Engagement In Online Courses?, Jerald P. Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The topic of this dissertation is learning management systems, specifically Canvas. Research has proven that student engagement is a strong factor in student achievement in both online and inperson courses. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a deficit in instructors’ ability to acquire and maintain student engagement in online courses. This study details why this problem exists and how instructors have successfully addressed it in higher-level online courses. The primary purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to examine how learning management systems, specifically Canvas, can increase student engagement in online courses in higher education. Qualitative research was the chosen paradigm for …

African American Male Dual Enrollment Graduates Perceptions Of The Transition To The 4-Year University, Kendra L. Harrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore how African American men who earned an associate degree from dual enrollment programs in Texas perceive the transition to a 4-year university to pursue a bachelor’s degree. The 4S model of Schlossberg’s transition theory was the conceptual framework that undergirded the study. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 20 participants. The researcher collected and triangulated data using a questionnaire and semistructured interviews and analyzed it using six-step thematic analysis. Results revealed competence and confidence from dual enrollment program resulted in a smooth transition to college, participants’ African American male …

Staying Power: A Case Study Of Teacher Retention In A Rural District, Amanda F. Mclellan, Amanda F. Mclellan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teacher attrition continues to be a significant challenge in K-12 education, particularly in rural school districts where limited resources and geographic isolation can intensify staffing instability. While much research has focused on teacher attrition, little research examines why tenured teachers choose to remain in rural districts. The purpose of this qualitative, single-case study was to examine the experiences and insights of tenured teachers regarding their decision to continue teaching in a small, rural Texas school district. Guided by Mason and Matas’s fourcapital framework for teacher retention, this study examined how human, social, structural, and positive psychological capital influenced teachers’ decisions …

Rooted Or Restless: Retaining Teachers From Urban And Suburban Backgrounds In Rural Texas, Martha Saucedo Ms.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rural school districts across the United States continue to experience persistent challenges in retaining teachers, particularly those from urban and suburban backgrounds who transition into geographically isolated rural communities. These educators often encounter professional isolation, cultural adjustment, and limited access to resources, which influence their long-term commitment to rural schools. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how teachers from urban and suburban backgrounds experienced geographical and professional isolation in rural schools within a Texas Education Service Center region in a rural area and how leadership practices influenced their sense of belonging, place attachment, and retention. This …

Conflogger: Enhance Systems’ Configuration Diagnosability Through Configuration Logging, Shiwen Shan, Yintong Huo, Yuxin Su, Zhining Wang, Dan Li, Zibin Zheng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Modern configurable systems offer customization via intricate configuration spaces, yet such flexibility introduces pervasive configuration-related issues such as misconfigurations and latent softwarebugs. Existing diagnosability supports focus on post-failure analysis of software behavior to identify configuration issues, but none of these approaches look into whether the software clue sufficient failure information for diagnosis. To fill in the blank, we propose the idea of configuration logging to enhance existing logging practices at the source code level. We develop ConfLogger, the first tool that unifies configuration-aware static taint analysis with LLM-based log generation to enhance software configuration diagnosability. Specifically, our method 1) identifies …

Propaganda Ai: An Analysis Of Semantic Divergence In Large Language Models, Nay Myat Min, Long H. Pham, Yige Li, Jun Sun

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Large language models (LLMs) can exhibit concept-conditioned semantic divergence: common high-level cues (e.g., ideologies, public figures) elicit unusually uniform, stance-like responses that evade token-trigger audits. This behavior falls in a blind spot of current safety evaluations, yet carries major societal stakes, as such concept cues can steer content exposure at scale. We formalize this phenomenon and present RAVEN (Response Anomaly Vigilance), a black-box audit that flags cases where a model is simultaneously highly certain and atypical among peers by coupling semantic entropy over paraphrastic samples with cross-model disagreement. In a controlled LoRA fine-tuning study, we implant a concept-conditioned stance using …

Where Did It Go Wrong? Attributing Undesirable Llm Behaviors Via Representation Gradient Tracing, Zhe Li, Wei Zhao, Yige Li, Jun Sun

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable capabilities, yet their deployment is frequently undermined by undesirable behaviors such as generating harmful content, factual inaccuracies, and societal biases. Diagnosing the root causes of these failures poses a critical challenge for AI safety. Existing attribution methods, particularly those based on parameter gradients, often fall short due to prohibitive noisy signals and computational complexity. In this work, we introduce a novel and efficient framework that diagnoses a range of undesirable LLM behaviors by analyzing representation and its gradients, which operates directly in the model's activation space to provide a semantically meaningful signal linking …

Reducing Class-Wise Performance Disparity Via Margin Regularization, Beier Zhu, Kesen Zhao, Jiequan Cui, Qianru Sun, Yuan Zhou, Xun Yang, Hanwang Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Deep neural networks often exhibit substantial disparities in class-wise accuracy, even when trained on class-balanced data—posing concerns for reliable deployment. While prior efforts have explored empirical remedies, a theoretical understanding of such performance disparities in classification remains limited. In this work, we present Margin Regularization for performance disparity Reduction (MR2 ), a theoretically principled regularization for classification by dynamically adjusting margins in both the logit and representation spaces. Our analysis establishes a margin-based, class-sensitive generalization bound that reveals how per-class feature variability contributes to error, motivating the use of larger margins for “hard” classes. Guided by this insight, MR2 optimizes …