Digital Commons Network^™

When Your Neighbours Are A Reminder Of Your Ageing, Cynthia Tan, Yi Wen (Chen Yiwen) Tan

ROSA Journal Articles and Publications

In a commentary, Cynthia Tan, a retired senior corporate leader, and Tan Yi Wen, a Senior Research Fellow at SMU’s Centre for Research on Successful Ageing (ROSA), questioned whether the low demand for community care apartments is because seniors do not want only other seniors for company. They noted that most older people do not spend their days dwelling on ageing until everyone around them reminds them that they are growing old. They added that prolonged exposure to such an environment may carry subtle emotional and psychological consequences. Citing a national survey by ROSA, the writers mentioned that eight in …

Engagement Of Understudied Populations As Community Change: The South Texas Adrc Model, Gladys E. Maestre, Neela K. Patel, Rosa V. Pirela, Robin C. Hilsabeck, Kendra Stine, Neyra García, Roberto Reyes, Omar Oropeza, Cristian Maestre, Jesus D. Melgarejo, Sarah Williams-Blangero, Ney Alliey Rodriguez

School of Medicine Publications

Many populations experiencing the highest burdens of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias remain understudied, in part because traditional recruitment and retention models are insufficient to support sustained engagement. The Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement Core (OREC) of the South Texas Alzheimer's Disease Research Center reconceptualized participant recruitment as a long-term system change in a Hispanic-majority, urban–rural region. OREC institutionalizes shared power through community advisory governance, aligns research protocols with local lived realities (through patient navigators, community health workers/promotores, and decentralized access points), and employs a data-driven feedback loop for continuous improvement. In 1 year, 46 outreach events touched 10,134 individuals (71% …

Ssw 701.50: Social Welfare Policy, Ian G. Williams

Open Educational Resources

This syllabus is an Open Educational Resources (OER) remixed version of SSW 701.50: Social Welfare Policy, which is taught at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College. This version updated the content and integrated additional OER materials, as part of the Summer 2026 cohort of The Open Knowledge Fellowship at the Mina Rees Library. It is a Zero-Textbook (ZTC) cost course and integrates materials from a range of academic disciplines. Official course description is as follows:

"This foundation course furnishes you with the orienting knowledge and skills needed to examine social welfare policies and to understand their relevance …

2026-06-23 Executive Council Minutes, Susie Salazar

Executive Council Minutes

No abstract provided.

Socially-Minded Investors And Corporate Behavior, Merritt B. Fox, Menesh S. Patel

Faculty Scholarship

Many equity investors are concerned with the world’s worsening social and environmental problems and are losing faith in the capacity of political institutions to respond. Corporate behavior is often contributing to these problems. Some investors, at least if fully informed as to costs and benefits involved, would favor corrective changes to corporate behavior even where that would lessen their investment returns. Two important questions arise: (1) given existing law, are such willing-to-sacrifice equity investors currently affecting firm behavior; and (2) should there be legal reform that makes firms more sensitive to these willing-to-sacrifice investors’ preferences? This Article seeks to answer …

Listening To Fire: Using Passive Acoustic Monitoring To Detect And Explain Prescribed Fire Effects On Avian Communities In Oak-Hickory Forests Of The Central Hardwood Region, Wesley Petty

Dissertations

Prescribed fire is an increasingly important tool for restoring oak-hickory forests in the Central Hardwood Region, yet its effects on avian communities remain poorly understood because traditional monitoring methods cannot easily capture wildlife responses across the large spatial and fine temporal scales at which fire effects unfold. This dissertation develops and tests a framework for using passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) to detect prescribed fire effects on avian communities and to explain the ecological mechanisms behind them. Acoustic data were collected at Giant City State Park and Touch of Nature Environmental Center in southern Illinois across six recording sites for seven …

Laponite Nanosilicate As A Platform For Antigen–Adjuvant Co-Delivery In Vaccination, Haoyu Qi

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Nanosilicates are two-dimensional, charged nanomaterials with tunable surface chemistry that enable electrostatic interactions with proteins and nucleic acids. These properties make Laponite nanosilicate a promising platform for vaccine delivery, where coordinated antigen–adjuvant presentation and lymph node delivery are important for shaping immune responses. This thesis investigated nanosilicates as scaffolds for lysozyme-based antigen delivery and co-delivery with CpG.

The preparation method reduced the apparent size of the NS–Lys–CpG complex at pH 10, although neutralization to pH 7 promoted larger aggregate formation. In vivo IVIS imaging after footpad injection showed persistent Cy7-associated fluorescence at the injection site for up to three weeks …

Dissecting Ms4a4a Function In Microglia And Its Role In Alzheimer’S Disease Pathogenesis, Emma Pascal Danhash

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Genome-wide association studies have begun to uncover the complex genetic architecture of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Expression of many AD risk loci is enriched in microglia, the resident immune cells of the brain. Common variants near the MS4A gene family have been associated with AD risk and altered soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (sTREM2) levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). MS4A4A is a microglial gene that encodes a tetraspan membrane protein that regulates anti-inflammatory responses in macrophages. However, the mechanism by which MS4A4A contributes to microglial function and AD pathogenesis remains unknown. In this dissertation, I leveraged a …

Design And Synthesis Of Sulfonamide Derivatives For Antimicrobial, Antioxidant, And Antidiabetic Applications, Meriama Kufa Genamo

All Theses

The escalating burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), together with the increasing prevalence of oxidative stress-related disorders and diabetes mellitus, highlights the urgent need for multifunctional therapeutic agents capable of addressing multiple pathological pathways within a single molecular framework. In this study, three novel N-(4-substituted sulfonyl phenyl)-2-[4-(2-fluorophenyl) piperazin-1-yl] acetamide derivatives (4a-c) were rationally designed, synthesized, and investigated for their antimicrobial, antioxidant, and antidiabetic potential activities. The target compounds were synthesized through a multistep synthetic strategy involving sulfonamide formation, deprotection, chloroacetylation, and nucleophilic substitution reactions. Structural characterization was accomplished using 1H/13C NMR spectroscopy, confirming successful synthesis of the desired derivatives. Biological evaluation …

Exploring The Associations Between Dietary Nitrate And Nitrite Intake And Markers Of Self-Reported Periodontal Disease In The Uk Biobank Cohort, Shatha S. Alhulaefi, Anthony Watson, Kirsten Brandt, Sheena E. Ramsay, Nicholas S. Jakubovics, Alex Griffiths, Jamie Matu, Mario Siervo, Benjamin H, Parmenter, Liezhou Zhong, Jonathan Hodgson, Catherine P. Bondonno, Nicola P. Bondonno, Oliver M. Shannon

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose: Periodontal disease, an inflammatory condition affecting the tissue surrounding the teeth, has been associated with various systemic health issues. Dietary nitrate and nitrite are found in a range of plant and animal foods and, depending upon source, have been linked with both positive and negative health effects, including improved oral health with plant sources. This study aimed to investigate the associations between source-dependent (plant- and animal-sourced) nitrate and nitrite intake and odds of periodontal disease. Methods: We explored cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between tertiles of source-dependent nitrate and nitrite intake and the odds of periodontal disease using multivariable logistic …

Self-Managed Non-Pharmacological Interventions For Post-Treatment Upper Limb Dysfunction Rehabilition Among Breast Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review, Jinqiu Li, Jing Yu (Benjamin) Tan, Tao Wang, Haiying Wang, Mengyuan Li, Sita Sharma, Linda Deravin, Daniel Terry

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose: This study aims to identify commonly utilised self-managed non-pharmacological interventions for managing post-treatment ULD among breast cancer survivors, evaluate their effectiveness and safety, and identify the research gaps for future studies. Methods: A systematic review was conducted, and eight English databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus, PsycINFO, and ProQuest) were searched from their inception to 30 September 2025. Google and ResearchGate were also searched to identify any additional eligible studies. Narrative synthesis was used for data analysis. Risk of Bias version 2 was used to assess the quality of the included studies. Results: 5972 studies …

Bar Prep As A Balancing Act: The Process, Pitfalls, And Payoffs Of Juggling Multiple Commercial Bar Review Resources, Tiffane Cochran, Andrea M. Pals

AccessLex Institute Research

AccessLex Institute® undertook a study to understand how Spring 2025 law graduates leveraged commercial bar review resources to prepare for the July 2025 bar exam. Across three surveys administered in April 2025, August 2025, and January 2026, we explored the graduates’ intended and actual use of commercial bar review resources, their approaches to allocating time among bar review resources, and whether those approaches resulted in bar exam success. The data yield a few key observations:

• Nearly all respondents used a commercial bar review course in combination with one to three supplemental resources, ramping up the number of hours they spent …

Melatonin-Functionalized Silver Nanoparticles Enhance Salinity Tolerance In Brassica Juncea By Modulating Antioxidant Defence And Growth Physiology, Mohini Yadav, Manar Fawzi Bani Mfarrej, Vikash Kumar, Ankita Singh, Faheem Ahmad, Saurabh C. Saxena

All Works

Soil salinity is a major abiotic stress that severely limits plant growth and productivity by inducing osmotic stress, oxidative damage, and ionic imbalances. The present study evaluated the potential of melatonin-mediated silver nanoparticles (Mel AgNPs) to enhance salinity stress tolerance in Brassica juncea. Pot experiments were conducted using 21-day-old plants exposed to salinity stress and treated with Mel AgNPs at different concentrations (50 and 100 mg L⁻¹) through both root application and foliar spray. Morphological, physiological, and biochemical responses were assessed 48 h after nanoparticle exposure. Salinity stress markedly increased lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide accumulation while suppressing antioxidant defence. …

Temporal Dynamics Of Sensorimotor Integration For Auditory And Proprioceptive Target Information During Movement Preparation And Execution, Ivan Camponogara

All Works

Actions toward non-visual targets exhibit modality-specific patterns of endpoint variability, with movements toward auditory targets being more variable than those toward proprioceptive or multisensory targets. However, whether such modality-specific effects emerge already during movement preparation and how they evolve across movement execution remains unclear. The present study addressed this question by asking participants to perform reaching movements toward auditory, proprioceptive, or audio-proprioceptive targets while electromyography and movement kinematics were recorded. Movement preparation and initiation was assessed by analyzing two temporal components of reaction time, premotor and motor, together with movement kinematics at peak acceleration. Movement execution was investigated by analyzing …

Modeling The Psychological And Technical Factors Influencing The Use Of Artificial Intelligence Tools Among Non-Native Arabic Learners: A Comparative Study In Egypt, Saudi Arabia, And Jordan., Mohammad Odeh, Alaa Al Din Musa, Ahmed Ragab Ali Ghalish, Montaser Adel Sayed Ahmed

All Works

This study aimed to develop a predictive longitudinal model of the psychological and technical factors influencing the use of artificial intelligence tools among non-native Arabic learners (international students) in three Arab countries: Egypt, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. The study adopted an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) incorporating two psychological variables: trust in artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence anxiety. A quantitative longitudinal design with two time waves (T1 and T2) over a full academic semester was employed using Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analysis and PROCESS Macro for mediation. The sample consisted of 812 international students from public universities in …

Sem-Pdpl: Semantic Exposure Graphs For Privacy-Law-Informed Risk Assessment Of Public Social-Media Data, Heba Ismail

All Works

Public social-media content often contains self-disclosed personal attributes that appear low-risk in isolation but become privacy-relevant when linked across posts, platform accounts, or user-level traces. Existing research has advanced privacy-sensitive content detection, de-anonymization analysis, social-media research ethics, and privacy-compliance workflows; however, limited work operationalizes how personal-data disclosures combine structurally and how these structures can be translated into auditable governance actions. This paper proposes SEM-PDPL, a computational, privacy-law-informed risk-assessment framework for modeling public social-media exposure as semantic exposure graphs and mapping graph patterns to controls aligned with the United Arab Emirates Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) and compatible with GDPR principles. …

Regional Biomechanical And Topographic Changes After Transepithelial Vs. Epithelium-Off Continuous Accelerated Corneal Cross-Linking In Keratoconus: Updated Stress-Strain Index As A Superior Biomarker, Bangxun Mao, Changchang He, Qian Ye, Weijia Liu, Daniela Oehring, Yiqian Li, Yuke Zhang, Xiaomeng L, Chenhao Zhao, Hongjie Hu, Jiawei Gong, Hanhui Hou, Yufeng Ye, Shihao Chen, Yiyu Li, Ahmed Elsheikh, Fangjun Bao

School of Health Professions

Purpose: To compare regional biomechanical and topographic outcomes between transepithelial (Epi-on) and epithelium-off (Epi-off) continuous accelerated corneal cross-linking (ACXL) in keratoconus. Design: A retrospective cohort study. Subjects: Seventy-seven keratoconic eyes were included: 45 with Epi-on ACXL and 32 with Epi-off ACXL. Methods: All eyes underwent ACXL (10 mW/cm ², 7.2 J/cm ²). Pentacam HR and Corvis ST measurements were obtained preoperatively (pre), and at 1 month (pos1m), and 6 months (pos6m) postoperatively. The SSIv2m, M, and J ₀, J ₄₅ were evaluated across central (0–3 mm), paracentral (3–6 mm), and peripheral (6–9 mm) regions. Correlated measurements were …

Integrating Hydrology And Human Water Footprints: A Case Study Of The Great Salt Lake Basin, Rachel Lynne Seeley

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Global demand for water is outrunning supply, and how we account for water is part of the problem. Many water management frameworks are based solely on how much physical water moves through rivers, aquifers, and other water bodies, missing the water that is embedded in food and other products a region produces and exports. This study developed a new, generalizable water accounting framework that incorporates this “hidden water,” known as virtual water, into water management and applied the framework in the Great Salt Lake Basin.

The Great Salt Lake is shrinking, and an often-overlooked driver of the lake’s decline is …

Cash, Cleats, And Carpools: A Multi-Method Investigation Of Resource Allocation In Families With Youth Athletes, Emily Susan Delisle

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The current thesis is an investigation of time and financial resource allocation in families with youth athletes. Study 1 used a survey questionnaire to explore how the number of athletes in a family impacted the way parents allocated time and financial resources to their oldest child’s youth sport participation. Results indicate that an increase in the number of athletes in a family does not decrease parents’ time or financial commitments to their oldest child’s youth sport participation. Study 2 used interviews to explore how nine parents with multiple athletes experienced the intersecting demands of time, finances, and family life while …

Advancing Management Strategies For Two Promising Mason Bee Species (Osmia Ribifloris And Osmia Bruneri) For Berry Pollination, Miranda L. Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Bee management can broadly refer to human manipulation of one or multiple parts of a bee’s lifecycle. Managing honey bees, commonly referred to as beekeeping, is responsible for providing most pollination for global food crops. However, using more than one bee species for crop pollination can have many benefits. Benefits include better crop pollination and insurance in case one bee species underperforms or its population collapses. Some bees within the genus Osmia are already widely managed for crop pollination because their developmental lifecycle allows bee managers to readily deploy pollinating bees in sync with varying crop blooms, and for certain …

Evolving Roles: School Counselors Addressing Mental Health In Pk-12 Education, Evin Daines

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

A significant number of children and youth are currently experiencing poor mental health. School counselors work with all students and are in a position to provide support to students experiencing mental health challenges. School counselors can also identify what may hinder children and youth from accessing mental health resources in their communities. This study explores how many school counselors engage in mental health counseling, how school counselors view their roles in addressing student mental health, and what barriers they perceive as keeping children and youth from accessing mental health and behavior services.

Pavlovian Conditioning And Self-Control: From Laboratory To Classroom Application, Saba Mahmoudi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Impulsive choice, the preference for a smaller-sooner reward (SSR) over a larger-later reward (LLR), is associated with various challenging behaviors (e.g., gambling and substance-used disorders). Many interventions can reduce impulsive choice but those that produce long-lasting effects typically require long training durations or are difficult to implement in applied settings. This dissertation evaluated a novel Pavlovian training approach designed to promote self-control. In Experiment 1, procedures from Mahmoudi and Madden (2024) were replicated in the laboratory with the addition of a truly random control group. The study also assessed whether presenting the conditioned stimulus (CS) before a choice would increase …

An Examination Of Lifetime Traumatic Brain Injury And Anti-Inflammatory Medication Use In The Risk For Alzheimer's Disease, Mikaela A. Drewel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia in individuals aged 65 years and older. There are a number of lifestyle and genetic factors that affect one’s risk for AD including traumatic brain injury (TBI), and genes such as those for Apolipoprotein E (APOE) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This study examined sex differences in how TBI history influences risk for AD, exploring genetic variants suspected to play a role in TBI recovery. Additionally, in following an inflammatory mechanism in TBI, the study also determined if nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use reduced subsequent risk for AD. The study analyzed …

Patterns Of Presidential Executive Orders And Democratic Quality: Evidence From The United States, 2017-2025, Karyn Sofie Sanford

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Democratic backsliding has become an increasingly prominent topic in political science, yet relatively little attention has been devoted to how observable expressions of executive authority correspond with changes in democratic quality. Using the United States as a case study, this study examines the relationship between presidential executive orders and democratic quality from 2017 to 2025. More specifically, it investigates whether characteristics of executive orders correspond with changes in democratic quality, measured using the Liberal Democracy Index and the Judicial Constraints Index from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project.

Presidential executive order issued between 2017 and 2025 were collected from the …

Carroll County Extension Update August 2026, Mikayla Cerney

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

2026 Deerfield Fair 4-H Exhibit Building Premium Book, Extension

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

2026 Deerfield Fair 4-H Animal Premium Book, Extension

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Nh Dfl - 25 Years Of Hwa - Peterborough_2026_Aug_11, Ryan Crandall

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Small But Mighty: How Can Pediatric Psychologists Harness The Power Of Digital Single-Session Interventions?, Christina Amaro, Alexandra Monzon, Melissa Alderfer, Kimberly Canter, Michael Amylon, Stephanie Fooks-Parker, Jessica Schleider, Susana Patton, Katie Devine

Department of Pediatrics Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVE: Single-session interventions (SSIs) are an innovative, scalable approach for addressing the unmet behavioral and mental health needs of pediatric patients and their families. Specifically, digital SSIs, which are self-guided and delivered online, offer a low-cost and accessible approach but are currently underutilized in pediatric psychology.

METHODS: This topical review aims to describe SSIs broadly and the specific need for digital SSIs, explore potential applications within pediatric psychology, outline future directions and considerations, and present two examples of community-engaged digital SSI design.

RESULTS: SSIs evidence small to medium effects across a range of mental health concerns, including distress, anxiety, and …

Recompression Improves Release Success In Pollack (Pollachius Pollachius): A Step Towards Assessing Post Release Mortality In A Recreational Fishery, T. Stamp, R. Mawer, R. Conlon, A. E. Hall, P. Davies, R. Nesbit, D. Uren, T. Morris, S. Sullivan, S. Thomas, B. D. Stewart, H. Rudd, K. Hyder, T. Osmond, S. Reynell, E. V. Sheehan

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

The recreational fishery for pollack (Pollachius pollachius) in the northeast Atlantic is impacted by the species' high sensitivity to barotrauma. When captured at depth and brought to the surface, gas expansion within the peritoneal cavity can cause a variety of injuries and hinder release. Via an experimental weighted cage, this study evaluated the efficacy of releasing Pollack at depth as a barotrauma mitigation strategy. We found that depth-release significantly increased the probability of released Pollack displaying an active escape response to 83%, compared to 56% for surface-released fish; however, increased capture depth and fish size negatively affected success. Camera observations …