Digital Commons Network^™

Economic Costs And Rhetoric Of Resisting Diversity, Bill Petkanas

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

This paper examines the history of group exclusion in various occupations and the rhetoric used to support programs in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Examples include the Manhattan Project, the Discovery of the structure of DNA, and sports. Rhetorical possibilities are suggested based on the economic advantages of DEI.

Postoperative Complications In Patients With Sickle Cell Disease After Total Shoulder Arthroplasty, Katie Zehner, Gwyneth C. Maloy, John Slevin, Wesley Day, Mitchell K. Ng, Xuan Luo, Jonathan N. Grauer, Arya G. Varthi

Rothman Institute Papers

BACKGROUND: Sickle cell disease (SCD) encompasses a spectrum of genetic hematologic disorders characterized by erythrocyte sickling. Patients may experience musculoskeletal manifestations, such as osteonecrosis, which may warrant consideration for total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA). While prior literature suggests patients with SCD more frequently suffer complications after orthopaedic procedures, this is not well characterized for TSA.

METHODS: Adult TSA patients (older than 18 years) were identified in the 2010 to 2023 PearlDiver M170 database. Patients with SCD were matched 1:4 to patients without SCD based on age, sex, and Elixhauser Comorbidity Index (ECI). Ninety-day postoperative complications, emergency department (ED) visits, and readmissions …

Timing Of Isotretinoin Exposure And Early Postoperative Complications After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction, Areeb Ahmad, Ronald J. Shamus, Kassem Ghayyad, Daryl C. Osbahr, Adam J. Money, Michael G. Ciccotti, George J. Richard

Rothman Institute Papers

INTRODUCTION: Isotretinoin (ITN) is widely prescribed for severe acne in adolescents and young adults, a population where anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) is commonly performed. Long-standing concerns about impaired wound healing have prompted many surgeons to delay procedures, despite limited orthopaedic-specific evidence. This retrospective case series evaluates early postoperative clinical complications in patients with documented ITN exposure undergoing ACLR.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed primary ACLR cases from 2015 to 2025 at a multisite orthopaedic practice with documented ITN exposure within 12 months of surgery and at least 3 months of follow-up. ITN exposure was categorized as perioperative (≤10 days), recent …

Table Of Contents, Journal Of Youth Development

Journal of Youth Development

No abstract provided.

4-H Builds Work Readiness Skills In Youth, Mike Knutz

Journal of Youth Development

4-H Programs provide work readiness skills like teamwork, respect, leadership, critical thinking, work ethics, and communication. Supported studies are highlighted as well as results from an evaluation of youth participants from a Know Your Government statewide program. Data was collected from middle and high school age youth to measure their self-reported increase in work readiness skills as well as knowledge of government. Results are discussed in terms of their relevance to life skill theory and measurement. The study supports the value of 4-H Youth Development Programs as a means for youth to acquire work readiness skills.

Teaching Personal And Social Responsibility Through A Mountain Biking After-School Program, Kayla Marsh, Kelly L. Simonton, Victoria Shiver, Tristan Wallhead

Journal of Youth Development

The Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) model has been identified as an evidence-based structure that can support social-emotional learning (SEL) competencies in after-school settings. However, much of the research includes general physical fitness and skill activity-based programs, and not activities students identify with as meaningful in their lives. The current study targeted a mountain biking afterschool-program which has the potential to promote meaningful transfer of knowledge and skills. The purpose of this study was two-fold: (a) to explore adolescents’ beliefs and understandings of SEL skills in a mountain biking TPSR program and (b) to explore the perceptions of potential …

Powering Tomorrow: Does Financial Development Induce Renewable Energy Consumption In Brics+ Nations?, Firlana Abidin, Abdul Khaliq

Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking

This paper analyzes the influence of financial development on the implementation of renewable energy in BRICS+ nations, addressing both short-term and long-term implications. The empirical research utilizes Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Nonlinear ARDL models, analyzing data from 1992 to 2021 for ten BRICS+ nations, while accounting for essential economic variables such as Foreign Direct Investment and inflation rate. The results demonstrate that financial institutions and markets influence renewable energy adoption, with different significance in the short and long term. The empirical findings highlight the importance of comprehending how financial development can aid countries in transitioning to cleaner energy, especially …

Why Did Medieval Chroniclers Copy Other Histories?, Christopher Berard

Humanities Program Faculty Publications

Medieval chroniclers sometimes borrowed entire passages from earlier works, adapting old words to describe new people and events. Christopher Berard examines this understudied practice and shows how such borrowing could be more than a shortcut, allowing writers to draw meaningful connections between the past and their own times.

Long-Term Local Control And Cosmesis Of Electronic Skin Surface Brachytherapy For Basal Cell Carcinoma: A Prospective Multicenter Study, Michael Kasper

All Publications

No abstract provided.

Algorithm Aversion In Academic Libraries: User Resistance To Ai-Enabled Discovery And Search Services, Fenfang Cao, Lvting Bu, Yi Huang, Yu Chi, Hengyi Fu

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Academic libraries increasingly deploy AI-enabled services such as intelligent search, recommendation systems, and chat-based assistance to support scholarly resource discovery. However, some users remain reluctant to rely on these tools. This phenomenon, often described as algorithm aversion, has been widely examined in healthcare and finance but remains underexplored in library contexts. This study investigates the factors associated with algorithm aversion in academic digital libraries and examines how these factors relate to one another. A two-phase mixed-method design was adopted. First, 41 semi-structured interviews with users from Chinese university libraries were analyzed using grounded theory. This stage produced 58 initial concepts, …

How Do Ai Service Agents Impact Tourists’ Pro-Environmental Behavior? The Effects Of Childlike Anthropomorphism And Moral Disengagement, Lujun Su, Liqin Gong, Yinghua Huang, Xuehuan He

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Drawing on moral disengagement theory, this research examines how service provider type shapes tourists' pro-environmental behavior. Across five studies including four scenario-based experiments and a field experiment, we show that AI service agents, compared with human service providers, tend to reduce tourists' pro-environmental intentions and behaviors. Moral disengagement serves as the psychological mechanism underlying this effect, such that AI service agents increase tourists' moral disengagement, which in turn weakens their pro-environmental behavior. We further show that childlike anthropomorphism attenuates this process by reducing moral disengagement: with childlike anthropomorphic AI tourists’ pro-environmental responses are comparable to their responses to human service …

Police Surveillance And The Perils Of Techno-Solutionism, Prithika Balakrishnan

Faculty Scholarship

This Article charts domestic law enforcement’s use of video surveillance, beginning in the backlash to the Civil Rights movement in the late 1960s, continuing through the War on Terror and, more recently, in the context of the post-George Floyd public critiques of policing. The undergirding philosophy of policing’s embrace of surveillance technology is techno-solutionism, the view that all complex social situations can be simplified to measurable data primed for quick-fix, unbiased, algorithmic answers. While technology may have initially been adopted by police to respond to specific problems, it has changed the problems themselves, altered the array of potential solutions, and …

Borders And Bids: Assessing How Competition In Transportation Projects Is Shaped By The Presence Of Out-Of-State Contractors, Mariam Elazhary, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Competitive bidding in transportation construction is vital for securing better value for money and higher-quality proposals. Prior research has attempted to encourage more competition by proposing novel delivery methods, contractual incentives, or alternative bidder profiles. However, one viable bidder profile, which has received limited attention in the literature, is to encourage cross-border participation to expand the pool of qualified firms and thereby increase competition. While, in theory, this may improve economic efficiency, the inclusion of more out-of-state contractors (OSCs) is not costless. The goal of this paper is to assess whether participation by OSCs is associated with strengthening competition in …

Data-Driven Analysis For Managing Causes Of Disputes In Nuclear Power Plant Construction Projects, Mahmoud S. Mansour, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Nuclear energy remains a key element of the energy mix in the United States (US) and other parts of the world, with renewed and increased interest in recent years, driven by rising energy demand across various sectors. This is due to its capabilities of generating a vast amount of reliable and carbon-free electricity, which are crucial advantages as compared to other energy sources. However, nuclear power plant (NPP) projects involve unique risks and complexities that have long hindered their progress and shaped dispute dynamics differently from other construction sectors. Despite extensive research on construction disputes, there is a lack of …

Sustainable Critical Minerals: Mining, Production, And Legacy, Joel G. Burken, Heileen Hsu-Kim, Mariam Al-Lami, Hunter W. Schroer, Scott Banta, Om Parkash Dhankher, Kwame Awuah-Offei, Lana Alagha

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Think Twice Before You Sign! An Experiment On A Cautionary Function Of Contractual Formalities, Monika Leszczynska

Faculty Scholarship

Contractual formalities, such as handwritten signatures, have long been viewed as serving a cautionary function that protects individuals from entering ill-considered agreements. With the rise of digital contracting, it is uncertain whether online forms of assent can play the same role. In an incentivized laboratory experiment, four modes of contract confirmation were compared: clicking “OK,” typing one’s name, entering a PIN code (analogous to a qualified e-signature), and handwritten signing. The study examined how these methods affect choices between smaller–sooner and larger–later rewards. Results show that participants were more impulsive when confirming by clicking “OK” or typing their name than …

Loss Of Function Dnmt3a Mutation Leads To Aberrant Neutrophil Migration, Frieda Zimmer, Daniel E Kennedy, Spencer L Redding, Ruoqiong Cao, Sarah M Waldvogel, Apoorva Thatavarty, Bryan Bahoua, Brandon T Tran, Arushana A Maknojia, Margaret A Goodell, Antony Rodriguez, Katie A Matatall, Katherine Y King

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Clonal hematopoiesis (CH), an age-related expansion of somatically mutated hematopoietic clones, is associated with increased risk of severe infections including coronavirus disease (COVID)-19, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we investigated the impact of Dnmt3a deficiency in a murine model of influenza A virus (IAV) pneumonia. Dnmt3a-deficient mice exhibited increased pulmonary viral burden and reduced neutrophil accumulation in IAV-infected lungs despite comparable circulating neutrophil numbers. Functional analyses of neutrophils showed impaired chemotactic migration in vitro, whereas maturation, antimicrobial enzyme content, and metabolic capacity were unchanged. Transcriptomic profiling revealed downregulation of pathways involved in chemotaxis, cytokine signaling, and cellular activation, …

Sedentary Behaviors And Functional Disability Among Chinese Older Adults (2008–2018): Evidence Including Mahjong, Yen-Han Lee, Yen-Chang Chang, Minzhi Ye, Cai Xu

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

Purpose: This study examined how different types of sedentary behavior relate to changes in functional disability, measured by activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), among Chinese older adults.

Major findings: Using data from 17,939 participants in four waves (2008–2018) of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), sedentary behavior was categorized into four types: none, playing mahjong only, combining these with other sedentary activities, and other activities alone (e.g., reading and watching TV). Cox two-state regression models estimated the hazard of transitioning in ADL and IADL disability. Engaging in sedentary behaviors was generally …

The Low Participation Of Women In The Truck Driving Industry, Aurora Floodine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women remain underrepresented in the United States trucking industry, particularly in leadership roles, despite ongoing efforts to increase workforce diversity and address persistent driver shortages. This qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of female trucking professionals who began their careers as truck drivers and later advanced into leadership positions. The study examined the strategies that facilitated women’s progression into leadership and the systemic barriers that may limit their advancement within the trucking industry. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 11 female trucking professionals, and the resulting data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Six themes emerged from the findings: (a) independence, …

School Leadership And Collaboration: A Case Study Of Leaders’ Experience Implementing Vertical Alignment Practices, Tara R. Wehmeyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Changing student demographics within a large elementary school increased the need for collaboration between leadership and staff as they implemented a wide range of initiatives to support student learning. Grounded in the transformational leadership theoretical framework, this exploratory case study sought to systematically observe and gather knowledge about the experiences of campus leaders as they implement vertical alignment teams to foster a collaborative approach while instituting required initiatives. The sample included seven campus leadership team members and data collection utilized transcribed semistructured interviews, debriefing sessions after vertical alignment team meetings, meeting observations, and a researcher’s journal. All data were analyzed …

Which Factors Are Most Important For Understanding Neighborhood-Scale Electrification Transitions In New York City, And How Do These Factors Interact Within Urban Energy Systems?, Aaryan Nair

Publications and Research

Building electrification has emerged as a central strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from urban areas, yet its implementation remains uneven across cities due to differences in buildings, infrastructure, and local conditions. This literature review examines the factors that influence neighborhood-scale electrification transitions in New York City and explores how these factors interact within urban energy systems. Drawing on research from building science, energy systems, infrastructure planning, and sustainability transitions, the paper identifies five recurring categories of influence: building characteristics, demand characteristics, infrastructure conditions, planning and investment capacity, and socioeconomic conditions. The review finds that building age, typology, density, and …

Fluorescence-Based Methods For The Determination Of Selected Β-Lactam Antibiotics (Amoxicillin, Cefixime, And Cephalexin): A Review, Kardos Musheer Khorsheed, Tara Fuad Tahir, Ahmad F. Hama Sdiq

Polytechnic Journal

β-Lactam antibiotics constitute one of the most extensively prescribed classes of antimicrobial agents in human and veterinary medicine. However, their widespread use has raised growing concerns regarding antibiotic resistance, drug safety, and the presence of residual antibiotics in pharmaceutical products, biological fluids, foodstuffs, and environmental samples. As a result, the development of sensitive, selective, and rapid analytical methods for the determination of β-lactam antibiotics has become critically important. Among the available analytical techniques, fluorescence-based methods have gained increasing attention due to their high sensitivity, operational simplicity, low cost, and suitability for trace-level detection. This review presents a comprehensive overview of …

Full Issue, Volume 21, Issue 3, Journal Of Youth Development

Journal of Youth Development

No abstract provided.

Joining Forces:A Research-Practice Partnership For Out-Of-School Time, Julián C. Alonso Restrepo, Trevor Bopp, Diedre F. Houchen, Chanae Jackson, Sunshine Moss, Rose M. Pringle, Christine Wegner

Journal of Youth Development

This article describes the development and early implementation of the Youth Development Research-Practice Partnership (YDRPP), a collaboration between university researchers and the Better Out-of-School Time (BOOST) Alliance in Alachua County, Florida. Established to address persistent racial and socioeconomic disparities affecting youth, the partnership used a collaborative qualitative assessment to identify local youth needs, program strengths, and organizational challenges. Findings revealed that practitioners viewed academic support, mental health, social-emotional development, positive adult relationships, physical activity, life skills, and workforce preparation as the most pressing needs of youth. Programs responded through holistic offerings that included tutoring, mentoring, trauma-informed practices, recreation, career readiness, …

Why Sports Participation Matters For Girls In Urban Core Public Schools, David Mcleod, Angela B. Pharris, David Crynes, Emmy Hufnagel, Eddie Wright, Sabrina Hynd, Tim Mclaughlin

Journal of Youth Development

Sports participation plays a critical role in supporting academic success, school engagement, and social-emotional well-being, particularly for girls in urban core public school settings. This study examines the relationship between athletic participation and academic outcomes, attendance, and social-emotional functioning in a large urban public school district during the post-COVID period. Findings indicate that student-athletes outperform non-athlete peers across multiple indicators, including grade point average, enrollment in advanced coursework, and school attendance. Female athletes, in particular, demonstrate stronger academic performance and more favorable social-emotional outcomes compared to female non-athletes. Despite these advantages, a pronounced decline in girls’ sports participation occurs between …

From The President - The Transformative Value Of Our Profession, Melanie E. Mayberry, Dds, Ms-Hcm

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Melanie E. Mayberry, MDA President, reflects on the transformative value of dentistry on both patients and the personal lives of practitioners. The article emphasizes how the dental profession builds stronger communities through service, empathy, mentorship, and continuous learning. Highlighting student and patient resilience in the face of adversity, Mayberry draws inspiration from events like the Kalamazoo Mission of Mercy, where volunteers provided over one million dollars in free dental care. She encourages dentists of all generations to foster a community of belonging, embrace professional evolution, and appreciate the spiritual and personal rewards of their service.

Mda At Your Service - Protecting Your Practice, Finding Talent And More, Mda Membership Department Staff

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This Q&A compiled by MDA staff provides critical guidance to support practice owners. It outlines key warning signs of employee embezzlement, such as closely guarding job duties or refusing cross-training, and highlights complimentary risk assessment tools and endorsed investigative services available through Prosperident. Furthermore, the article introduces free recruitment resources on the MDA Job Board for searching job-seeker profiles and posting openings. It also provides practical advice for resolving communication and online portal login issues by verifying registered email addresses with the MDA membership department.

Dentistry And The Law - Understanding ‘Rollover Equity’ When Selling Your Practice, Daniel Schulte Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Daniel J. Schulte, MDA Legal Counsel, addresses the legal and tax implications of 'rollover equity' when dentists sell their practices to private equity-backed buyers. The article outlines typical shareholder and buy-sell agreement restrictions, noting how equity is often subject to vesting and employment covenants. Schulte explains the critical importance of making an Internal Revenue Code Section 83(b) election within 30 days of closing. Failing to file this election results in taxation at high ordinary income rates as the stock vests, whereas a timely election accelerates tax payments but secures lower capital gains tax rates upon eventual sale.

Mda Insurance - Online Open Enrollment Now Available For Mda Health Plan, Craig Start

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Craig Start, President of MDA Insurance, discusses health insurance planning for dental practices and families, introducing a new secure online open enrollment process through Employee Navigator for the MDA Health Plan. Running through October and November 2026, this online portal coordinates plan sponsors and employees to adjust coverage and add dependents. The article highlights other critical 2027 health coverage enrollment timelines, including individual marketplace plans and Medicare supplement choices, and emphasizes the personalized, cost-free advisory and claims advocacy services provided by MDA Insurance agents to support informed decision-making.

Udm Dean's Report - A Look At The Student Of Today As We Prepare Them For Tomorrow, Mert N. Aksu Dds, Jd, Mhsa, Cert. Dph

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

UDM Dental School Dean Mert N. Aksu discusses the profiles, expectations, and challenges of modern dental students, highlighting their collaborative nature, tech-savviness, and focus on wellness and work-life balance. The report outlines UDM's clinical curriculum enhancements, including systems-based biomedical integration, and extensive clinical practice labs. Aksu addresses the substantial 58% inflation-adjusted rise in educational debt since 2008 and updates on community service rotations (Corktown Clinic, Titans for Teeth), the implementation of the new Vermont Track for rural care, the adoption of AI radiographic analysis, and comprehensive student mental health support programs.