Digital Commons Network^™

Repairing Epistemic Injustice And Loss In The Era Of Climate Coloniality, Farhana Sultana

Geography and the Environment - All Scholarship

Climate change intensifies existing inequities, disproportionately impacting marginalised populations, particularly in the Global South and Indigenous communities. This is maintained through inequitable global climate governance, policies and solutions. The paper argues that climate coloniality, the complex entanglements of colonial legacies with contemporary climate and ecological changes, operates through systemic knowledge-based marginalisation or epistemic injustice, serving as a key mechanism in the uneven production and distribution of climate harms. Beyond the more commonly discussed material dimensions of loss and damage, epistemic injustices arise from silencing critical voices and devaluing knowledge systems. The paper extends the scope of loss and damage debates …

Faculty Senate Agenda November 3, 2025, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• 3:00 Call to Order
• Approval of Minutes October 6, 2025
• 3:05 University Business
• 3:20 Faculty Senate Business
• 3:30 Information
• EPC Report - October 2, 2025
• 3:45 Report
• Athletics Council Annual Report
• Library Advisory Council Annual Report
• Academic Freedom and Tenure Annual Report
• 4:10 Old Business
• 4:15 New Business
• Adjourn: 4:30 pm

Worker Rights In Collective Bargaining, Benjamin W. Arold, Elliott Ash, W. Bentley Macleod, Suresh Naidu

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) specify the contractual rights of unionized workers, but their full legal content has not yet been analyzed by economists. This paper develops novel natural language methods to analyze the empirical determinants and economic value of these rights using a new collection of 30,000 CBAs from Canada in the period 1986-2015. We parse legally binding rights (e.g., “workers shall receive. . . ”) and obligations (e.g., “the employer shall provide. . . ”) from contract text, and validate our measures through evaluation of clause pairs and comparison to firm surveys on HR practices. Using timevarying province-level variation …

Teaching Machine Learning To Undergraduate Electrical Engineering Students, Gerald L. Fudge, Anika Rimu, William Zorn, July Ringle, Cody Barnet

Faculty Publications

Proficiency in machine learning (ML) and the associated computational math foundations have become critical skills for engineers. Required areas of proficiency include the ability to use available ML tools and the ability to develop new tools to solve engineering problems. Engineers also need to be proficient in using generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in a variety of contexts, including as an aid to learning, research, writing, and code generation. Using these tools properly requires a solid understanding of the associated computational math foundation. Without this foundation, engineers will struggle with developing new tools and can easily misuse available ML/AI tools, …

Artificial Intelligence In Medical And Biological Research: Promise And Perils Of Chatgpt And Deepseek In Advancing Healthcare, Mahmut Enes Kayaalp, Onur Gülteki̇n, Serhat Akçaalan, Hami̇t Çağlayan Kahraman, Hüseyi̇n Nevzat Topçu, Gülşah Kavrul Kayaalp

Turkish Journal of Biology

Background/aim: Artificial intelligence (AI), particularly large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek, is being increasingly applied in clinical care, research, and education. The aim of this review is to examine how these tools may transform the conduct of medical and biological research and to define their limitations.

Materials and methods: A narrative synthesis of the literature was performed, encompassing studies published between 2020 and 2025. Peer-reviewed journals, systematic reviews, and high-impact original research articles were included to ensure an evidence-based overview. The principle applications, validation metrics, and clinical implications across orthopedics, oncology, cardiology, internal medicine, and the biological …

A Systematic Review Of Machine Learning In Heart Disease Prediction, Tathagat Banerjee, İshak Paçal

Turkish Journal of Biology

Background/aim: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a leading cause of global mortality, prompting the need for advanced predictive tools. While machine learning (ML) offers a powerful solution, there are significant challenges to clinical translation. This systematic review synthesizes the current state of ML in heart disease prediction, evaluating algorithmic performance, data utilization, and key translational challenges.

Materials and methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic search of literature published up to 2025 was conducted. From an initial pool of over 2500 records, a rigorous screening process yielded 65 studies for in-depth qualitative synthesis.

Results: Analysis showed that ensemble learning models dominate prediction …

Cross-Linked Cellulose Ester/Linseed Oil Composites For Controlled Release Fertilizers, Ian Stark

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Food scarcity is an ever-present concern for a growing population but can be mitigated through innovations in agriculture. Fertilizers are required to produce a sufficient amount of food, and while they contain key nutrients for crop growth, these nutrients can leech into the surrounding environment. Controlled release fertilizers slow the release of nutrients, encasing the prills in a semi permeable coating. Current coatings are non-biodegradable, causing microplastic soil contamination, which is very difficult to remove. Cellulose esters offer a compelling alternative, with an ability to cross-link into thin films that can be applied as coatings. The cellulose esterification was completed …

The Role Of Peer Networks In Elementary Teacher Preparation Programs, Bayan Alnaim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research provided insight into how peer networks related to the professional learning of TC as they moved through an elementary teacher preparation program. These formal and informal peer networks helped nurture collegiality among TCs to aid learning and provide emotional support, which allowed an edge toward forming an identity. This study examined the particular role of teacher networks in TCs’ learning (Al Sultan, 2021; Anderson et al., 2022). The study applied Social Constructivism and Communities of Practice frameworks to analyze the influence of peer networks on the development of teaching skills and professional identities. Data from TCs participating in …

Minutes, Curriculum Committee Meeting, Tuesday, October 28, 2025, Curriculum Committee

Curriculum Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

How Does County Industry Mix Matter For Working-Age Mortality?, Xue Zhang, Iliya Gutin, Shannon M. Monnat, Jennifer Karas Montez

Population Health Research Brief Series

The types of industries that dominate employment in a county shape the health of the entire community, even for people who don't work in those sectors. This brief summarizes findings of a study that examined how five major employment sectors—agriculture, manufacturing, mining and construction, services, and professional services—were associated with overall county-level mortality rates and with mortality from drug overdoses, suicides, alcohol-related causes, and cardiometabolic disease among U.S. adults ages 25-64 from 2000 to 2022 Data are from the National Vital Statistics System and County Business Patterns. Findings show that the effects of local industries shift vary across time and …

Economic Growth In Mountain West Cities, 2019-2023, Anirudh Polagani, Isabelle G. Graham, Olivia K. Cheche, Kristian Thymianos, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet presents 2019-2023 data on economic growth indicators in 32 Mountain West cities across Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The CoworkingCafe report, “Rising Powerhouses: The Cities Making America’s Economic Future,” includes economic growth data for 269 cities across the United States. This fact sheet highlights data from select cities in each Mountain West state, categorized by population size: five large cities, eight mid-sized cities, and 19 small cities.

Invisible Print? Reading Skill Predicts Children's Learning Of Novel Spoken Words, Taylor J. Bryant, Dawna Duff, Bethany Bell, Lisa Fitton, Suzanne M. Adlof

Faculty Publications

Research indicates that when literate children and adults hear a new word that they have never seen in print, they create an expectation for how the word may be spelled. However, studies have not yet examined the extent to which orthographic knowledge plays a role in children's spoken vocabulary learning when words are taught without print. The current study used structural equation modelling to examine the relation between children's word reading ability and their ability to learn novel words from spoken instruction. Children (N = 335; 7–9 years; 52% female; <  1% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 33% Black, 1% Multiracial, <  1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 2% Other; 57% White; 6% did not report race; 2% Hispanic/Latino, 97% Not Hispanic/Latino; <  1% did not report ethnicity) completed norm-referenced language and reading assessments and experimental measures of spoken word learning. Word reading ability and vocabulary knowledge uniquely predicted spoken word learning with respective medium-small and medium-large effects after controlling for phonological memory, general language ability, and nonverbal cognition. Thus, orthographic skill has important effects on vocabulary learning, unaccounted for in previous research, that should be addressed in current theory and practice.

Messages And Misogyny: A Creative Intervention Portraying The Embodied Experiences Of Internalized Misogyny, Margaret Janse Van Rensburg

Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Understanding Film Tax Credits In Nevada And Nationally, Michael J. Brown, David F. Damore, William E. Brown Jr.

Policy Briefs and Reports

This policy primer provides an overview of Nevada’s transferable tax credit program for film and other productions and reviews articles, reports, audits, and studies of film tax credits as a tool for economic development in the United States. This review considers a significant body of work analyzing the use of film tax credits in support of economic development. Studies and state audits often show that because film tax credits do not create the number and quality of full-time jobs necessary to merit their costs and do little to stimulate other related industries, they are a poor financial choice for state …

Cover And Contents

Turkish Journal of Biology

No abstract provided.

Microplastic Pollution In Marine Ecosystems: Sources, Impacts, Andstakeholder-Based Solutions, Seren Acarer Arat

Turkish Journal of Biology

Microplastics (MPs) are plastic particles of anthropogenic origin with a size range of 1–5000 μm. Marine MP pollution is increasingly recognized as a significant global environmental challenge. MPs, which enter marine ecosystems from land- and marine-based sources, pose physical, chemical, and biological risks due to the adsorption of various pollutants and the formation of biofilm layers. MPs are found in various organisms from lower to higher trophic levels of the marine food web. The negative effects of MPs on marine organisms depend on their abundance, their characteristics, and the exposure time of organisms to MPs. MPs can adversely affect various …

Applications Of Transfer Learning In Sunflower Disease Detection: Advances, Challenges, And Future Directions, Yonis Gulzar

Turkish Journal of Biology

Background/aim: Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is a crop of high economic and nutritional importance that continues to suffer significant yield losses due to foliar diseases. Traditional image-based and laboratory detection techniques remain limited by subjectivity, cost, and scalability. Transfer learning (TL) has recently emerged as an effective approach to overcoming these challenges involving the reuse of pretrained deep models for plant pathology tasks. Presented here is a systematic examination of recent TL-based studies on sunflower disease classification to identify prevailing trends, research gaps, and future opportunities.

Materials and methods: A structured Scopus query was employed to retrieve peer-reviewed articles published between …

Flavonoids And Phenolic Compounds: A Promising Avenue For Neurodegenerative Disease Therapy, Tesli̇me Özge Şahi̇n, Özge Cemali̇, Merve Özdemi̇r, Şeri̇fe Ayten, Duygu Ağagündüz

Turkish Journal of Biology

Background/aim: Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and ALS are characterized by a progressive loss of nerve cells, for which no definitive cure currently exists. These conditions share common pathological mechanisms, including chronic neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, protein aggregation, and mitochondrial dysfunction. Flavonoids and other plant-derived phenolic compounds have recently attracted attention for the treatment of such conditions due to their antiinflammatory and antioxidant properties. This review explores the neuroprotective mechanisms of flavonoids and evaluates their potential for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Materials and methods: A literature search of the Web of Science, PubMed, and ScienceDirect databases …

Cover And Contents

Turkish Journal of Biology

No abstract provided.

Exploring Definitions And Frameworks Of Information Diplomacy: A Scoping Review Protocol, Bethany S. Mcgowan, Tuomas Harviainen

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Information diplomacy is an emerging concept that bridges information science, public diplomacy, and global communication. Although increasingly cited in scholarly and policy discourse, the term lacks definitional clarity and theoretical consensus. A systematic mapping of its explicit usage across disciplines is needed to support conceptual coherence and guide future applications.

This scoping review aims to identify, analyze, and synthesize existing definitions, frameworks, and applications of the term information diplomacy in scholarly and gray literature. The review will explore how the concept has been articulated across domains such as international relations, information policy, and communication, focusing exclusively on sources that explicitly …

Helping Families Thrive: The Impact Of A Health-Focused Parent Training On Family Outcomes, Mary Capili M.S.

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Behavioral parent training (BPT) is a well-established intervention for children with ADHD and has been shown to reduce challenging behaviors in children and decrease caregiver stress. The Lifestyle Enhancement for ADHD Study (LEAP) is the only physical activity intervention that includes children with ADHD and their parents. To examine the relationships between child physical activity, caregiver physical activity, ADHD outcomes, and positive parenting. I hypothesized that H₁) caregiver physical activity will amplify the effect of child physical activity on reducing child ADHD symptoms, and H₂) caregiver strain will mediate the relationship caregiver physical activity and positive …

Adherence To Integrative Care, Oncology Healthcare Utilization, Opioid Use And Hospitalization, Eran Ben-Arye, Dan Greenberg, Noah Samuels, Ana Maria Lopez, Tzahit Simon-Tuval

Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers

Research on the relationship between integrative oncology (IO) programs and dispensing of chemotherapy agents and supportive care drugs, and hospitalization rates is limited. The present study examined these outcomes in chemotherapy-treated patients with cancer, comparing patients highly adherent to integrative care (high-AIC) to those with low adherence (low-AIC). Data from patients with cancer treated with taxane and/or platinum-based agents participating in an ongoing prospective, controlled pragmatic trial were examined retrospectively. Patients were referred to an IO consultation and weekly treatments at 3 medical centers in Northern Israel, with high-AIC defined as attending ≥4 sessions at 6 weeks; low-AIC, 0-3 sessions. …

What Drives Advanced Practice Nurses To Stay In Rural America? Insights From The 2022 National Survey Of Registered Nurses, Esita Patel, Chris Gillette, Jan Ostermann Phd, Chris Everett, Dawn Caviness, Sarah Garvick

Faculty Publications

Purpose: Recruiting and retaining a robust rural health care workforce is critical to advancing health outcomes in rural communities. Although increasing the rural provider workforce has been a policy focus for decades, rural access continues to worsen. Using a strengths-based approach, we identify factors that influence the decisions of advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) to leave or stay in their jobs.

Methods: Secondary analysis of data from the 2022 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses. We describe rates of turnover, retention, intention to leave, and reasons for leaving and staying by job rurality. We compare reasons by rurality using Pearson …

A Deep Learning Approach: The Impact Of Sentiment Analysis Of Bangladeshi Workers Over The World, Md Raihanul Islam Tomal, Tanveer Kader, Kohbalan Moorthy, Mazlina Abdul Majid

Baghdad Science Journal

In today's globalized world, the pursuit of better opportunities has led to a significant increase in immigration and foreign labor. This trend is particularly evident in Bangladesh, where many workers migrate annually to destinations such as Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Understanding the sentiments and emotions of these workers is crucial to preventing crimes, suicides, political unrest, and other security issues in host countries. As maximum workers usually come from rural Bangladeshi communicate they use local dialect for conversations and very popular widely used local dialect known as Pabnaia. This study did not identify any prior research specifically …

Academic Senate - Agenda, 10/28/2025, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Academic Senate - Minutes, 10/28/2025, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

Nuclear Poly(A)-Binding Protein And Nucleolin Utilize Their Rna Recognition Motifs To Read Par Chains, Leilei Shi, Morgan Dasovich, John R Horton, Hongrui Liu, Qiansheng Zhan, Swarnalatha Manickavinayaham, Collene R Jeter, Isaiah J Mixon, Nicholas M Zehrbach, Charles A Ishak, Je-Hyun Yoon, Xiaodong Cheng, Anthony K L Leung, Mark T Bedford

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation (PARylation) is a post-translational modification mediated by ADP-ribosyltransferases, known as PARPs, which attach ADP-ribose units onto proteins, forming negatively charged multimeric chains. This modification relaxes chromatin at DNA damage sites, facilitating repair machinery access. Additionally, PAR polymers serve as docking platforms for effector proteins, termed PAR "readers", commonly involved in DNA repair. The recruitment of these proteins is mediated through conserved protein domains, including RNA recognition motifs (RRMs). Using an array of hundreds of recombinant RNA-binding domains, we systematically examined RRM interactions with PAR chains of varying lengths. Despite their chemical similarity to RNA, only a small subset of …

Epac2 Deficiency Compromises Adaptation To Dietary Acidification By Decreasing H+ Transport In The Renal Nephron, Kyrylo Pyrshev, Anna Atamanchuk, Wenli Yang, Mariya Kordysh, Fang Mei, Oleg Zaika, Xiaodong Cheng, Oleh Pochynyuk

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Kidneys are central in maintaining acid-base homeostasis by recovering filtered bicarbonate (HCO3-) in the proximal tubule and by secreting H+ in the collecting duct. Here, we demonstrate a critical role of the exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac) signaling, and particularly the Epac2, in governing renal adaptation to dietary acid load. RNAseq analysis of the renal cortical area revealed that Epac1&2 deficiency was associated with changes in gene profile seen in acidosis. Renal expression of Epac2 but not Epac1 was enhanced by acid load. Epac2-/- mice developed a pronounced metabolic acidosis due to the inability to acidify urine in …

Long-Term Results From The Agile Study Of Azacitidine Plus Ivosidenib Vs Placebo In Newly Diagnosed Idh1-Mutated Aml, Pau Montesinos, Dylan M Marchione, Christian Recher, Michael Heuser, Susana Vives, Ewa Zarzycka, Jianxiang Wang, Marta Riva, Rodrigo T Calado, Andre C Schuh, Su-Peng Yeh, Adriana E Tron, Jianan Hui, Diego A Gianolio, Sung Choe, Prapti Patel, Stéphane De Botton, Courtney D Dinardo, Hartmut Döhner

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In the phase 3 AGILE study, after a 12.4-month median follow-up, ivosidenib, a mutant isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) inhibitor, combined with azacitidine significantly improved event-free survival, overall survival (OS), and complete remission rates compared with placebo-azacitidine in patients with newly diagnosed IDH1-mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML), who were unfit for intensive chemotherapy. This post hoc analysis reports long-term follow-up results from AGILE after a median follow-up of 28.6 months. Overall, 148 patients were randomized to receive ivosidenib-azacitidine (n = 73) or placebo-azacitidine (n = 75). Median OS was significantly longer with ivosidenib (29.3 months; 95% confidence interval …

Early Intratracheal Budesonide To Reduce Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia In Extremely Preterm Infants: The Budesonide In Babies (Bib) Randomized Clinical Trial, Namasivayam Ambalavanan, Waldemar A Carlo, Kayla J Nowak, Laura Elizabeth Wiener, Shirley S Cosby, Abhay J Bhatt, Kristi L Watterberg, Brenda B Poindexter, Martin Keszler, Carl T D'Angio, Luc P Brion, Vivek Narendran, Carrie A Rau, C Michael Cotten, Matthew M Laughon, Abhik Das, Matthew A Rysavy, Anna Maria Hibbs, Janell Fuller, Karen M Puopolo, Anup Katheria, Ravi M Patel, Jennifer R Bermick, Abbot R Laptook, Irina Prelipcean, Myra H Wyckoff, Ryan Moore, Stephanie L Merhar, Robin K Ohls, Bradley A Yoder, Marta Perez, Sarvin Ghavam, Lauritz R Meyer, Valerie Y Chock, Sara B Demauro, Wesley M Jackson, Deepali Handa, Michele C Walsh

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Importance: Extremely preterm infants are at high risk for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and death. Multiple small randomized clinical trials showed that a combination of budesonide with surfactant compared with surfactant alone reduced BPD or death.

Objective: To determine if early intratracheal administration of a combination of budesonide (0.25 mg/kg) mixed with surfactant, compared with surfactant alone, reduces physiologic BPD or death by 36 weeks' postmenstrual age in extremely preterm infants.

Design, setting, and participants: This double-masked randomized clinical trial was conducted from April 2021 to June 2024 in the 17 centers of the United States Neonatal Research Network. Infants 22 …