Digital Commons Network^™

Clientelism And The Erosion Of Legislative Oversight: Examining The House Of Representative (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, Dpr) Role Under President Joko Widodo (2014–2024), Muhammad Tri Andika Kurniawan, Suseela Chandra Devi

Jurnal Wacana Politik

This article investigates the weakening of legislative oversight by The House of (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR) during President Joko Widodo’s tenure from 2014 to 2024. Despite the expanded constitutional authority granted to the DPR following the 1998 political reforms, the quality of oversight function has diminished markedly in the Jokowi era. Drawing on theoretical and empirical literature, the article argues that this erosion is not solely the result of institutional shortcomings or inadequate reform, but is primarily driven by pervasive clientelistic relationships between the president and party elites. Such clientelism entrenches political patronage, enabling the executive to exert significant influence …

Report Of The National Expert For The United States In Mapping Third Party Litigation Funding In The European Union, Maya Steinitz

Faculty Scholarship

Commercial third-party litigation funding (“TPLF”) is not centrally regulated in the United States.  It is subject to the overlapping jurisdiction of state and federal courts, state and federal legislatures, regulatory agencies, and bar associations. Legislation, regulation, and oversight of TPLF is being undertaken at each of those levels – much of it centered around the questions of when and whether TPLF should be disclosed; how to mitigate conflicts of interest created by TPLF (including the potential for claimants to lose control over their case to funders); and the identification of any foreign individuals, entities, or countries that may be providing …

A Novel Sialylation Pathway Mediated By Extracellular Vesicles In Aggressive Prostate Cancer, Camila A. Bach, Md Niamat Hossain, Ishan J. Chaudhari, Cecilia E. Verrillo, Nicole M. Naranjo, Isabella Amoroso, Anna Testa, Samuel Sey, W. Kevin Kelly, Susan L. Bellis, Aurelio Lorico, Ada G. Blidner, Gabriel A. Rabinovich, Lucia R. Languino

Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Altered cell surface glycosylation is a hallmark of cancer; among aberrant glycan structures, hypersialylated proteins contribute to disease progression. The enzyme ST6 β-galactoside α2,6-sialyltransferase 1 (ST6GAL1) mediates α2,6-linked sialylation of N-glycosylated proteins and is upregulated in many cancers, including prostate cancer (PrCa). We propose that ST6GAL1 may be released by cancer cells in small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) in the PrCa tumor microenvironment to potentially modulate cell surface sialylation in recipient cells. We isolated sEVs from PrCa cells by density gradient separation and characterized them by nanoparticle tracking analysis using ZetaView and immunoblotting analysis. We identified ST6GAL1 in both its membrane-bound …

A Qualitative Exploration Of Child, Caregiver, And Clinician Perspectives On Mental Health In Children With Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Justin H Qian, Andrew D Wiese, Clarissa Gonzalez, Whitney S Shepherd, Hannah Cho, Gianna M Colombo, Julia M Morales, Selena Guo, Kristin M Kostick-Quenet, Dianne Nguyen, Sophie C Schneider, Kara Ayers, Members Of The Bbdc, Marie-Eve Robinson, Chaya N Murali, Brendan Lee, V Reid Sutton, Eric A Storch

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a heritable connective disorder with clinical manifestations including bone fragility and short stature. Previous research identified psychosocial themes related to mental health among children with OI and their caregivers, such as independence, social isolation, depression, and anxiety. Several studies have also examined clinicians of individuals with OI for their perspectives on mental health among their patients. However, no known studies have compared psychosocial themes among all three participant groups concurrently. This qualitative study examined mood and anxiety, along with risk and protective factors, from perspectives of youths, parents, and clinicians. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, which were …

Demographic And Economic Implications Of Alternative Us Immigration Policies, Guizhen Ma, Erin Trouth Hofmann, Ethan Sharygin

Publications, Reports and Presentations

Due to the United States’ decades-long stalemate in federal immigration policy-making, major institutional forecasts of the U.S. population have not included assumptions about changes in immigration policy. However, the 2016 election of President Donald Trump and the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated just how much policy shifts can affect immigration flows, with substantial implications for the country’s demographic future. We created national-level population and economic projections through 2060 using nine different immigration policy scenarios, reflecting differences in both the scale of immigration allowed and the mix of immigrant visas issued (family reunification versus economic and labor visas). The projections highlight the dramatically …

Identification And Characterization Of A Metal Binding-Independent Rift Valley Fever Virus Endonuclease Inhibitor, Cara D Kirby, Gai Liu, Farheen Fatma, Maris R Pedlow, Narendran G-Dayanandan, Nitin Sharma, Zachary D Frey, Rachael E Rush, Steven C Cardinale, Andrzej M Krezel, Amy L Hartman, Terry L Bowlin, Daisy W Leung, Gaya K Amarasinghe

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The viral cap-snatching mechanism, facilitated by the endonuclease (EndoN) domain of viral polymerases, is critical for viral gene transcription and translation and is therefore an attractive target for antiviral development. The successful development of EndoN inhibitor XOFLUZA (Baloxavir marboxil) has opened the possibility that the EndoN domain of negative-sense RNA viruses (NSVs) can be targeted in a similar fashion. Rift Valley Fever Virus (RVFV) belongs to the

Improving Communication And Collaboration: How Using A Communication App Improves The Online Student Learning Experience, Gina L. Solano, Jennifer Miller

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Due to the isolation of asynchronous learning, online university students face challenges that can impact performance, increase anxiety, and lead to dropout. This study explores the use of communication apps, such as WhatsApp, Nectir, and GroupMe, to enhance engagement, peer socialization, and learning in graduate-level online courses across New York from Spring 2022 to Spring 2023. Data from purposeful sampling reveals that these tools reduced anxiety, improved confidence in asking questions, and provided timely support for assignments. The qualitative study aimed to identify strategies to boost student success, constructive dialogue, and motivation. Results suggest that communication apps effectively mitigate isolation …

Exploring Interprofessional Collaboration In A Rural Community’S Pandemic Response Efforts, Susan E. Young, Stephanie R. Duea

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Introduction: Community resilience refers to the capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from extreme events¹. While community leaders, health departments, faith-based organizations, and other agencies can greatly influence an area’s socioeconomic, physical, and mental well-being², building capacity through community competence involves interprofessional collaboration, community action, and empowerment³.

Methods: This qualitative study investigated the collaborative response by healthcare and community leaders to the recent pandemic in a rural North Carolina county. A community competence framework guided the inquiry by exploring the extent to which participants collaborated to identify problems, establish a working consensus, …

Factors Influencing Health-Promoting Behaivors Of Adults In Cambodia, Youngran Yang

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Purpose: Cambodia is with NCDs responsible for 64% of deaths in 2018. Health-promoting behaviors play a vital role in reducing the risk of NCDs. The aims of the study is to identify the determinants of health-promoting behaviors among adults living in Cambodia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, and through stratified sampling, 268 adults aged 19 years or older residing in Phnom Penh participated. A structured questionnaire was used. The Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II questionnaire was used to assess health-promoting behaviors across six subscales. Data analysis was performed using the SPSS version 23.0.

Results: A total of 267 adults participated. …

Home Oxygen Fires: A Statewide Retrospective Review Of Injuries And Fatalities, Mary Auber, Sue Anderson, Karla S. Klas

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Purpose: Determine statewide home oxygen fire incidence and reduce risk.

Introduction: Patients using home oxygen therapy (HOT) face a high risk of burns and death. Smoking is the primary cause, and the number of HOT users who smoke is rising. HOT fires are a growing problem, threatening the lives of patients, family, friends, neighbors, home health workers, and first responders. Unfortunately, there is no way to accurately track HOT fires and outcomes. This project aimed to analyze statewide burn center, fire, and EMS data of HOT fire-related burns to better understand the scope of the problem, address fire prevalence, and …

A Feasibility Study Into The Usability And Application Of An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle For Aircraft Inspection And Quality Assurance Inspections, Reece P. Bhave

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

The global aviation industry is often characterized as one of the safest modes of transportation in the modern world. With an abundance of quality assurance inspections and checks to determine operations safety, modern-day commercial aircraft that are utilized for passenger and cargo flights are held to a higher safety standard defined by regulatory bodies, such as the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States of America and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency in the European Union. While these quality standards are maintained via a series of inspections, checks, and preventative maintenance procedures, they are limited to only visual or …

Empowering Learners And Expanding Access With Open Educational Resources, Jennifer Pate

ACHE Open Educational Resources Workshop

Go beyond Open Educational Resources (OER) to understand the broader landscape of Open Educational Practices (OEP). This session will provide an overview of key OEP principles and demonstrate practical applications for fostering learner agency, enhancing cost-effectiveness, and expanding the reach of educational content. Participants will gain insights into integrating OEP into their own teaching and institutional strategies.

Hybrid Conferences As The Standard Offering Of Archival Organizations, Portia Vescio, Regina Bouley Sweeten, Kathleen Dull, Dylan Mcdonald, Jonathan Pringle

Journal of Western Archives

This case study documents the effort to plan and execute a fully hybrid annual meeting for the Society of Southwest Archivists in 2023. By making the conference accessible to both in-person and virtual attendees, the society moved toward greater inclusivity and equity by offering a professional development opportunity that was affordable and within the ability of a volunteer organization. The case study provides a blueprint for any archival organization to follow in creating hybrid meetings.

Designing The Future Of Open Through Innovation: Integrating Ai To Support Z-Degrees And Institutional Transformation, Josh Hill

ACHE Open Educational Resources Workshop

Josh leads and initiative at Hillsborough College that is among the first in the nation to integrate artificial intelligence with Open Educational Resources (OER) to help faculty create high-quality, zero-cost, and accessible course materials. Supported by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Open Education Capacity Building Grant, Hillsborough is developing Z-degree pathways through paid faculty opportunities, targeted training for academic advisors, and tools to track and expand OER adoption. This session shares lessons learned, explores AI-OER implementation strategies, and presents scalable, adaptable models for institutions in Alabama and beyond.

Bus Wire Designs For Minimizing Visibility Of Diffraction Artifacts, Kellie Shaw

Defensive Publications Series

A transparent panel includes an optically transparent substrate, and a plurality of electrically conducting tracks disposed over a surface of the substrate, the plurality of tracks arranged in intersecting rows and columns and defining therebetween an array of pixels having substantially identical areal shape and dimensions, where the tracks have a periodic shape of varying amplitude and frequency, with a peak-to-peak variability in the amplitude being less than approximately 10%.

Software Engineering Approach To Enhancing Privacy Protection: Automated Face Blurring Using Deep Learning In Arab Social Media, Yasmin Makki Mohialden, Nadia Mahmood Hussien, Mostafa Abdulghafoor Mohammed

Iraqi Journal for Computer Science and Mathematics

In the age of digital media, securing personal identities in shared material, especially on social media, has become a significant challenge. This research leverages software engineering to automate face blurring in photographs of Arab social media personalities. It proposes a system that integrates sophisticated deep-learning algorithms with standard image processing within a robust software architecture. This modular system is scalable, maintainable, and compatible with digital media platforms. Gaussian blur is applied to protect privacy once convolutional neural networks (CNNs) identify faces. The system’s efficiency and accuracy are enhanced by OpenCV and NumPy. In experiments, this system consistently identifies and blurs …

Ontology Features-Based Arabic Text Augmentation Using Word2vec, Enas Tariq Khudair, Onsa Lazzez, Mourad Zaied, Tarek M. Hamdani, Ahmed T. Sadiq, Habib Chabchoub, Adel M. Alimi

Iraqi Journal for Computer Science and Mathematics

Text augmentation plays a major role when data is scarce. In this context, there are few Arabic news texts for specific purposes, and hence, there is a dire need to generate Arabic text, especially news. This paper presents an enhanced approach to Arabic text augmentation based on Arabic ontology features. The Arabic part of speech, particularly adjectives, verbs, and prepositions, and the ontology properties regarding such parts to create new texts, make up the first stage of the system, which has multiple stages. Word2Vector (Word2Vec) plays a pivotal role in giving Arabic ontology features to the specific Arabic Part of …

Kenyon Collegian - September 11, 2025

The Kenyon Collegian

No abstract provided.

Conquer And Prevail Issue 196 September 11 2025, Wofford College. Office Of Marketing And Communications

Conquer and Prevail Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Current - Volume 36 Issue 2, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

The Meaning Of Christian Suffering In Aquinas, Pedro Cardoso Figueiredo Santiago

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This thesis investigates the theological meaning of Christian suffering in the thought of Thomas Aquinas. While much attention has been given to Aquinas’s treatment of the problem of evil, little has been written on the positive and salvific meaning of suffering as it appears in his Christology, sacramental theology, and moral theology. This study aims to demonstrate that for Aquinas, suffering—when united to Christ—acquires a redemptive value that transforms human pain into a means of configuration to the crucified and risen Lord.

The first chapter develops the Christological foundation of Christian suffering. Drawing primarily from Summa Theologiae III, q. 69, …

The Hepatic Glucagon Receptor As A Novel Regulator Of Lifespan, Alexander Tate Lasher

All ETDs from UAB

In developed nations the average lifespan has nearly doubled over the last 200 years, and the proportion of humans living into old age is ever increasing. While this is certainly a testament to the effectiveness of modern medicine and infrastructure, it presents a unique challenge to public health. Gains to health have not necessarily kept pace with the gains in lifespan, and the expanding aged population positions age-associated diseases to reach unprecedented prevalence. In light of this challenge, a mechanistic understanding of the aging process is necessary to identify factors that control longevity and to ultimately develop strategies for healthy …

Interactions Between Staphylococcus Aureus And Corynebacterium Species In The Context Of Chronic Rhinosinusitis, Joshua Tucker Huffines

All ETDs from UAB

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a complex inflammatory disease affecting the upper respiratory tract (URT) for a large portion of the populace, leading to significant economic burdens. Staphylococcus aureus is considered as a significant contributor to CRS inflammation through the production of toxins regulated through quorum sensing (QS). Microbiome studies have characterized the microbial communities present in the healthy URT and in CRS. These studies show that the genus Corynebacterium is associated with the healthy URT, decreased in CRS, and has a negative correlation with S. aureus regardless of health status. A few studies have partially characterized a mechanism to explain …

Mechanism Of Targeted Cancer Therapeutics-Induced Cardiotoxicity, Angelica Toro-Cora

All ETDs from UAB

Targeted cancer therapies are known to cause cardiovascular (CV) complications in human patients. Agents such as osimertinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), as well as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been demonstrated to induce severe cardiotoxicities, including heart failure and myocarditis. Nevertheless, the mechanisms of TKIs and ICIs-induced cardiotoxicity remain poorly understood. Herein, we developed the first in vivo preclinical model of osimertinib-induced cardiotoxicity using a transverse aortic constriction (TAC) mouse model. Osimertinib-treated mice displayed severe cardiac dysfunction, elevated markers of heart failure and fibrosis, and failed to undergo compensatory hypertrophic remodeling, resulting in cardiomyocyte death. Mechanistically, we identified suppression …

2025.09.11 - Academic/Student Affairs, Enrollment, And Technology Committee Meeting Minutes, Northeastern Illinois University Board Of Trustees

Board of Trustees - 2025

Meeting materials for the NEIU Board Trustees

How Medical Mistrust Serves As A Barrier To Mental Health Treatment In The African American Community, Nicholas Young

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Throughout history, research has depicted the notion that African Americans do not make use of mental health treatment, even when their mental health status may deem it clinically necessary. One of the most prevalent deterrents to African Americans seeking treatment is the mistrust of the medical system. In the African American community, medical mistrust has a longstanding history that stems from the discrimination, racism, lack of representation in the field, and medical mistreatment that African Americans received as test subjects by the medical community over time. Various instances, throughout history, of African Americans being unjustly treated— for the sake of …

Iodinated Disinfection Byproduct Formation From Iohexol In Sunlit And Chlorinated Urban Wastewaters, Reagan Patton Witt, Marcelo I. Guzman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Histone Deacetylase Complexes In Cardiomyocyes And Heart Diseases, Meimei Wang

All ETDs from UAB

Histone deacetylase complexes play pivotal roles in cardiac biology, however their specific functions in cell fate transitions and adult heart maintenance re-main unclear. We identified the role of HDAC complex in vitro during direct cardiac repro-gramming and in vivo through specific cardiomyocyte deletion of ELMSAN1, a core component of the MiDAC complex. We perform direct cardiac reprogram-ming using a polycistronic construct (hMGT133) expressing MEF2C, GATA4, TBX5, and miR-133. MEF2C expression peaked early, while cardiac markers such as cardiac troponin and α-actinin emerged by Day 9. HDAC1 levels and global histone acetylation (H3K9ac, H3K14ac, H3K27ac) declined over time. An RNAi screen …

Exploring The Influence Of Leadership On The Organizational Performance Of Federally Qualified Health Centers In The United States Through The Lens Of The Upper Echelons Theory, Devdutt Shriram Upadhye

All ETDs from UAB

This study examines the influence that leaders have on the performance of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in the US. The framework through which the study examines this relationship is the Upper Echelons Theory (UET), which posits that managers and leaders take actions that shape the organization they lead, and these actions are based on a confluence of experiential and characteristic factors. The current study focuses on a leader’s influence through three proxies, viz. educational background, role tenure, and sex, on the organizational performance of FQHCs. Performance is captured using both financial and quality metrics. Data for the study was …

Immune And Endothelial Cell Mechanisms Of Cardiovascular And Kidney Disease Risk In Obesity, Claudia Edell

All ETDs from UAB

Obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and chronic kidney disease. Both inflammation and endothelial dysfunction are hallmark signs of adverse health outcomes in obesity. Previous data from our lab has shown that a 2-week time restricted feeding (TRF) intervention reduces kidney CD3+ (T) cells and fibrosis and improves endothelial function in a mouse model of diet induced obesity (DIO). There is little known about kidney damage and T cells in obesity. We hypothesized that TRF reduces kidney damage in obese mice through mitigating T cell inflammation. We use a 20-week DIO model, with 18 weeks of ad libitum …