Digital Commons Network^™

Perceptions Of Young Adult Menstruators’ Use Of Reusable Menstrual Products On The Relationship With Their Bodies: An Exploratory Study, Maisie Hudson

Sociology Between the Gaps: Forgotten and Neglected Topics

No abstract provided.

Auricular Point Acupressure Self-Management (Apa-Sm) Program For Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Among Rural Populations: A Protocol For A Pragmatic, Randomized Controlled Trial, Jennifer Kawi, Jane Bolin, Hulin Wu, Jungkyung Min, Rupsikha Bora, Sarah Pace, Idara N Akpan, Alee Lockman, Tonychris Nnaka

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) is a leading cause of incurred personal healthcare costs and disability in the USA. It disproportionately affects rural populations, who are more likely to be uninsured, lack access to a regular healthcare provider and experience a higher prevalence of CMP. As a result of reduced access to non-pharmacological care, there is greater reliance on opioids. The Auricular Point Acupressure - Self-Management (APA-SM) program is a simple, needleless, evidence-based therapy that empowers individuals to self-manage their pain. Preliminary studies, including a recent UG3 pilot testing, demonstrated feasibility, safety and significant improvements in pain and function. Guided …

Structure And Spectroscopy Of Free Base, Copper, And Zinc Tetrapentylporphyrin, Christopher J. Ziegler, Nneka Damola Ajayi, Victor N. Nemkyin, G Richard Geier Iii

University Research

Synthetic porphyrins have been crucial as models for heme units and other biological porphyrins, as well as components of advanced materials and catalysts. Much of the work on synthetic porphyrins has focused on the meso-substituted 5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrin (TPP) or the pyrrole-substituted 2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octaethylporphyrin (OEP). In this report, we present a comprehensive spectroscopic, electrochemical, and computational study of free-base, zinc(II), and copper(II) 5,10,15,20-tetrapentylporphyrin (TPeP). TPeP can be prepared via a two-step, one-flask reaction of pyrrole and hexanal mediated by Montmorillonite K10, followed by oxidation with 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ) in yields of around 40%. Similar to TPP, the TPeP systems have the highest occupied molecular …

Why Communicating Minimum Drawdown Elevations For Lake Powell And Lake Mead Can Mitigate Risks Of Volatile Colorado River Flow., Brittany Fager, David Rosenberg, Erik Porse

Reports

There is consensus across Reclamation’s hydrologic ensembles that volatile Colorado River flow will continue, including annual drops of 6 million acre-feet of natural flow above Lake Powell. This volatility poses risk that water managers cannot respond fast enough with the consequence that Lake Powell and Lake Mead drawdown so they no longer fulfill their Congressionally legislated purposes: deliver water, generate hydropower, protect native fish, or sustain infrastructure. In this post we suggest four reservoir operational strategies to reduce all those risks: (1) Identify Catastrophic Elevations where we lose the ability to operate reservoirs for one or more legislated purposes, (2) …

The Economic Benefits And Costs Of State And Local Incentives For Clean Energy Projects, Timothy J. Bartik, Gerrit Anderson, Brian J. Asquith, Kathleen Bolter, Kyle Huisman, Iryna V. Lendel, Jeremy Morris, Sevrin Williams

Upjohn Institute Technical Reports

This report evaluates the benefits and costs of investment incentives for 50 large clean energy supply chain manufacturing and infrastructure projects. The findings suggest that these incentives generate modest but typically positive economic returns, with a median benefit-cost ratio of 1.47, meaning benefits exceed costs by 47 percent for the typical project. Returns vary significantly across projects—approximately 70 percent of projects produced net positive benefits over a 20-year period, while 30 percent failed to recover incentive costs. Project performance depends heavily on incentive design and local conditions. Excessively large cash incentives reduce returns, while customized services, strong job multipliers, investment …

Redefining The Norms: An Interdisciplinary Perspective On Language Testing In Multilinguals With Acquired And Progressive Neurogenic Disorders, Alessa Hausmann, Adolfo M. García, Ana Sofia Costa, Arpita Bose, Boon Lead Tee, Claudia Rivera-Fernandez, Eduardo Europa, Gitit Kavé, Jee Eun Sung, Maira Okada De Oliveira, Mandy Wigdorowitz, Maria Garraffa, Maria Teresa Carthery-Goulart, Michael J. Kleiman, Naama Friedmann, Samir Diouny, Sanne Franzen, Sofia Toniolo, Stephanie Grasso, Thomas H. Bak

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Accurate language assessment is essential in clinical and research contexts. However, most assessment tools and questionnaires have been developed within monolingual frameworks, overlooking the particularities of the vast multilingual population and, thus, often leading to misdiagnosis and inequitable care. Here, we examine the limitations of monolingual-centric approaches to language testing in multilinguals with acquired and progressive neurogenic disorders and explore the implications of multilingualism across linguistic, cognitive, neural, clinical, and sociocultural domains. We also address the need for technological innovation and theoretical refinement to better accommodate linguistic diversity in healthcare. Ultimately, we advocate for a nuanced, equitable, and culturally sensitive …

Recalibrating The Veto Power In A Multipolar World: From Power To Fairness And Accountability In International Law, Dr. Ardit Memeti, Dr. Fatemah Albader

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article draws upon the principles of nemo iudex in causa sua and par in parem non habet imperium to emphasize the moral and legal contradictions inherent in the current use and structure of the Permanent 5 (P5) veto power in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC, Security Council, or Council). This Article proposes that targeted reform to suspend the veto power in very limited cases where the P5 members are direct parties to a dispute would address these moral and legal contradictions. The Russia-Ukraine conflict exemplifies how the (mis)use of the veto power by a P5 member can paralyze …

From Party Policy To Law: The Formalization Of The Chinese Communist Party’S Role In State-Owned Enterprise Governance, Jie Zeng

San Diego International Law Journal

For the first time, grassroots branches of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were formally granted leadership roles and major decision-making authority under Chinese Company Law in 2024. This change has made China the only jurisdiction that has, at the national law level, authorized its main political party to engage directly in corporate governance without being a shareholder. While this may appear to be the result of President Xi Jinping’s party-building campaign, party involvement in corporate governance goes back to the Maoist era. This Article examines the evolution of state-owned enterprise (SOE) governance from 1949 to the present, illustrating that even …

How International Copyright Approaches To Generative Ai May Influence The Development Of U.S. Copyright Laws For Ai, Tessa Chew

San Diego International Law Journal

Since late 2022, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) has emerged as a vital technological tool in many industries by producing human-like content based on its trained datasets. This advancement has sparked an international debate over the ethical and legal implications of using copyrighted works for Artificial Intelligence (AI) training. Countries have taken differing legislative approaches to this issue. Japan aims to promote innovation with minimal restrictions; the United Kingdom aims to protect copyright holders by implementing strict AI copyright protections; and the European Union focuses on the transparency of the AI’s copyright use. The United States is currently at a regulatory …

Land Forward: Planning For Legal Reforms To Facilitate Land Back And Community-Driven Relocation In Response To Climate Change, E. Barrett Ristroph

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

Indigenous and other place-based communities face the loss of their homes due to climate change. The practices that have led to the current climate crisis have also contributed to the historical dispossession and marginalization of these communities. United States laws and programs already provide for land transfers to federally recognized tribes, home buyouts for households in hazard-prone areas, and community development. But these laws and programs are piecemeal, reactive, and often inaccessible to the communities most in need. They do not provide a streamlined method for tribes to regain lands needed for rematriation and adaptation. Nor do they allow place-based …

Soaring To New Heights Through The Lens Of The Scarlet Macaw–A Post-Loper Bright Interpretation Of The Endangered Species Act’S “Significant Portion Of Its Range” For A Climate-Driven “Foreseeable Future”, Kathryn Wood

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This Comment will argue for particular interpretations of “significant portion of its range” and “foreseeable future” under the ESA to prioritize species preservation in the face of climate change.

The analysis begins by describing key aspects of the ESA, including its historical background, its conceptual definitions, its prescribed method for determining endangered species and threatened species, its listing process, and critical habitat requirements. This Comment then discusses climate change as a source of threat and endangerment “within the foreseeable future,” and whether acts worsening climate change can constitute an unlawful taking. Next, this Comment considers how the Supreme Court’s decision …

A Systematic Review Of Restorative Justice In Criminal Contexts, Sigifredo Castell Britton

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Restorative justice has gained growing attention within criminal justice reform as a practical alternative to approaches centered only on punishment. It emphasizes accountability, dialogue, and community reintegration, offering a different way to understand how change in behavior takes place. This systematic review examined quantitative evidence from 34 studies, selected from an initial pool of 112 records identified through databases such as Google Scholar, ProQuest, JSTOR, and institutional repositories. The studies assessed a range of interventions, including victim-offender mediation, diversion programs, community conferencing, and in-prison initiatives, which allowed comparison across different settings and populations. Across these studies, 79.4% reported statistically significant …

Outcomes In Single Versus Two-Stage Surgical Stabilization Of Complex Bilateral Chest Wall Injury: A Single-Center Experience., Alexis A Schweibinz, Jaya S Varre, Anna Graham, William B Devoe

Surgery Articles

INTRODUCTION: Surgical stabilization of rib fractures (SSRF) continues to show benefit for severe chest wall injury (CWI) with improvement in morbidity and mortality following stabilization. Complex bilateral injuries pose a clinical and technical challenge. Currently, there is no formal recommendation for an approach to repair such injuries, whether that be bilateral SSRF within the index case or staged repair. We sought to describe our institutional experience with this subset of patients, identify factors that may influence the decision to pursue single- versus two-stage procedures, and assess the potential benefit of combined bilateral SSRF during the index operation.

METHODS: A retrospective, …

Faculty Perceptions Of Lgbtq+ Students In Higher Education, Serena Gramling, Laura E. Barrow, Stacy Mikel, Mark J. Sciuchetti Dr., Falynn Turley

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objective: Limited faculty understanding of LGBTQ+ student experiences may contribute to exclusionary campus climates and discriminatory practices. This study examined faculty perceptions to identify ways to improve support for LGBTQ+ students and promote inclusive environments.

Method: A descriptive quantitative design was used to examine faculty perceptions of LGBTQ+ students and differences across geographic regions. 142 participants completed the 20-item instrument.

Results: Although regional differences in acceptance were observed, geographic location did not significantly predict faculty attitudes. Faculty acceptance played a key moderating role in the relationship between awareness and engagement in inclusive practices. Findings indicated that faculty attitudes alone are …

Norm Dust Intake: Comparison Of Personal Air Sampling And Bioassays, Gregory S. Hewson, Martin I. Ralph, Marcus Cattani

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Intake of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM), particularly the inhalation of thorium-bearing dust in mineral sand operations, has traditionally been assessed via personal air sampling (PAS). However, data from bioassay studies suggest that the actual intake determined via PAS may be underestimated. This review integrates thorium intake estimates derived from historical bioassay datasets, such as urine, faeces, lung counting, and thoron-in-breath tests, with historical PAS data. The findings indicated that bioassay-based predictions of intake were consistently greater, with mean bioassay-to-PAS intake ratios ranging from 2.6 to 4.2. The contributing factors to this discrepancy include biokinetic model uncertainties, potential dust sampler …

Home Is Not Always Where The Heart Is: Examining The Inadequacy Of Legal Measures In The Deportation Of American Intercountry Adoptees, Katie X. Kaessinger, Esq.

San Diego International Law Journal

Despite entering the United States legally as children through intercountry adoption, thousands of American adoptees face deportation as adults because their parents failed to finalize their citizenship. Many of these adoptees have no meaningful linguistic, cultural, or familiar ties to their birth countries, and most have lived in the United States practically their entire lives. This Article explores the legal implications regarding the deportation of intercountry adoptees. More specifically, this Article argues that the deportation of intercountry adoptees reflects a grave systemic failure that violates international human rights law, rather than a mere shortcoming of domestic immigration policy.

Consulting various …

Film, Television, And Artificial Intelligence: Ensuring The Role Of Screenwriters In Anticipation Of Generative Artificial Intelligence’S Increasing Capabilities, Rachel Johnson

San Diego International Law Journal

Artificial Intelligence (AI) currently is one of most critical topics discussed across industries. AI technology, such as Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI), looms over people employed in creative fields who view it as a threat to their livelihoods. Legislative and judicial law must grapple with the complex legal issues GAI poses. In the entertainment realm, employees in professions such as Hollywood’s film industry have found ways to secure their present and near future against AI-encroachment.

In 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA), a labor union covering the screenwriters of television and film, coordinated the second longest labor strike in Hollywood’s …

How States Can React To The “Summer Of Flooding,” Increase Flood Insurance Coverage, And Improve Flood Resiliency, Perry S. Warren, Esq., Joseph P. Keller, Esq.

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

Summer 2025 was the United States’ “summer of flooding,” as shown by four one-in-1,000-year rainfall events that occurred during a single week in July. Because flood damage is not covered under a standard homeowners, renters, or commercial insurance policy, many individuals and businesses affected by these storms will face difficulties repairing their property unless they purchased flood insurance. As flood risks increase due to climate change, flood insurance will become increasingly unaffordable unless governments intervene.

In 2024, Pennsylvania became the first and only state that established a Flood Insurance Premium Assistance Task Force. The Task Force issued nine recommendations calculated …

Back To Intent: Revamping California’S Flagship Environmental Legislation And Tackling The Rise Of The “Super-Commuter”, Jordan Q. Davis

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

The passage of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in 1970 has long been considered a watershed moment in the evolution of government participation in environmental issues. In the years since, CEQA has played a pivotal role in protecting Californians’ access to the beautiful nature offered by the Golden State. However, the very regulation that has been repeatedly relied upon to breathe clean air and drink clean water may very well be an instrument upon which Californians could return to smog-ridden skies. In this regard, CEQA’s biggest vulnerability may come from a most unexpected place: its strength.

The tools by …

Unlocking Green Innovation: Navigating Trade Secret Law In The Quest For Sustainable Solutions, Jacob Wright

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This Comment explores the tension between trade secret protections and the global demand for climate-related technologies, arguing that a more balanced approach is necessary to align intellectual property law with the public interest. By examining the limits of existing legal frameworks, such as the DTSA, this analysis will highlight how these laws prioritize proprietary interests over environmental needs. It will also propose regulatory strategies that could help bridge this gap, such as expanding compulsory licensing frameworks, implementing public-private partnerships, and introducing public interest exceptions specifically tailored to clean energy technologies. Ultimately, this comment aims to contribute to the ongoing conversation …

Leveraging A Vintage Radio Interface To Explore Media Recommender Systems, Paula Kelly, David Powell, Frank Duignan, Emma Clarke, Damon Berry

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Older adults often face significant barriers to engaging with and critically evaluating complex, AI-driven systems, leading to potential exclusion and marginalisation. This paper introduces a novel approach leveraging a nostalgic vintage radio platform as a familiar and accessible "bridge"to provoke and facilitate meaningful participatory design discussions about such a system. We present a multidisciplinary design project that utilises the tactile and accessible metaphor of an old-fashioned, table-top wood-cased radio to engage older adults in conversations about the ethical impact and accessibility of contemporary media systems. The platform is used as a discussion toolkit to explore the pros and cons of …

User Interaction, Service Effectiveness And Digital Resource Utilization In Private University Libraries Telangana State: An Empirical Study, Chandra Chary Sreeramoj, Sadik Batcha Dr. M.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The purpose of this study is to observe the operational design, cognizance levels, complications faced and complete fulfillment of users regarding numerical resources in designated private university libraries in the state of Telangana. The study predominantly emphasizes on graduates, postgraduates, research scholars, and faculty members of Malla Reddy University and S.R. University. The study adopted quantitative descriptive design, and data were collected by means of a Google Form survey, resulting in 1796 legal valid responses. The examination included descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests and ANOVA to classify variances across different user groupings. The outcomes reveal that most respondents are mindful of …

Aid And Assist Cases In Multnomah County: An Exploration Of Ors 161.370, Savannah Jurasek

Dissertations and Theses

Individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) are highly overrepresented in jails. In Oregon, these individuals can be eligible for what is referred to as the aid and assist process (ORS 161.370) which is designed to facilitate restorative care in efforts to ensure that vulnerable individuals can rationally participate in their criminal proceedings. However, continuous escalation in aid and assist orders (109.3% between 2011-2025) has led to strain on the Oregon State Hospital, the primary care facility for this population. As a consequence, defendants with SMI are spending unnecessary time in custody, despite hospitalization admission guidelines governed by previously decided case …

Recent Antibiotic Exposure And Response To Treatment Of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: A Retrospective Cohort Study, Daniel Horton, Charu Verma, Sanika Rege, Stephen Crystal, Tobias Gerhard, Alicia Iizuka, Matthew Iozzio, Dawn Koffman, Lauren Parlett, Julianne Varga, Carlos Rose, Brian Strom

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) has been tied to microbiome disruption and antibiotic exposure. Gut microbiota may affect how adults with rheumatoid arthritis respond to methotrexate. We tested if exposure to antibiotics was associated with response to methotrexate for JIA.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using national US public and private insurance claims data (2001-2023). We included children ages 1-17 continuously enrolled for ≥ 10 months and diagnosed with JIA who initiated methotrexate monotherapy or, for comparison, tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) monotherapy without prior disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) exposure. Antibiotic exposure during the 10-month baseline period was …

Shifting Perspectives In Mathematics: Examining Preservice Elementary Teachers' Evolving Conceptions Of Mathematics, Identity, And Social Inequality Through Course Design, Autumn Thu Pham

Dissertations and Theses

Mathematics is often viewed, taught, and learned as an abstract, stand-alone subject, with an emphasis on procedures that are frequently disconnected from learners' lived experiences. Within this framing, limited attention is given to students' affect and identities in relation to mathematics. As a result, opportunities to engage with mathematics as a social, sociopolitical, and empowering tool remain rare. These patterns highlight an important implication for teacher education programs: when mathematics is framed primarily as abstract and procedural, preservice elementary teachers (PTs) may enter the profession lacking strong conceptual understanding, pedagogical flexibility, and the social and political awareness needed to effectively …

Structured Telehealth Community Health Worker-Clinician Feedback And Diabetes Outcomes: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Elizabeth M Vaughan, Xiaoying Yu, Amber B Amspoker, Aanand D Naik, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Craig A Johnston, Christi M Ballantyne, Salim S Virani, H Shelton Brown, Kristina Mena, Laura R Porterfield

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Importance: Community health workers (CHWs) improve chronic disease management in underserved populations, but scalable integration strategies are limited.

Objective: To evaluate whether a multidimensional intervention incorporating telementored CHWs and a structured participant-CHW-clinician feedback loop can improve diabetes outcomes.

Design, setting, and participants: This 12-month randomized clinical trial was conducted at 3 institutionally and geographically diverse community clinics in Texas between September 1, 2023, and April 30, 2025, and included low-income, uninsured White Hispanic adults with type 2 diabetes identified through clinic databases. Data were analyzed between May 1 and July 31, 2025.

Intervention: Individuals were randomized 1:1 to the intervention …

Development And Preliminary Validation Of Orca-Pd, An Online Rapid Cognitive Assessment For Parkinson Disease: Mixed Methods Study, Avigail Lithwick Algon, Sarah Brisman, Chi-Ying R Lin, William Saban

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Traditional in-person neuropsychological tests for Parkinson disease (PD) lack accessibility, scalability, and PD specificity. Mobility impairments hinder access to in-person assessments, and long waiting times for expert evaluation limit scalability. Common tools for cognitive screening, such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, are generic and not specific to PD.

Objective: The goal of this study was to address these challenges by leveraging the internet. This study aimed to develop a sensitive tool to detect cognitive impairments in early- to mid-stage PD in an accessible and scalable manner.

Methods: We developed the Online Rapid Cognitive Assessment for Parkinson's Disease (ORCA-PD), a …

Towards Efficient Continual Deep Learning, Md Yousuf Harun

Theses

Modern AI systems can achieve remarkable performance on tasks such as image recognition, object detection, and language understanding, but they often struggle with a basic ability that humans rely on every day: learning continuously. When deep neural networks (DNNs) are updated with new information, they can unexpectedly forget what they previously learned, making them difficult to deploy in changing real-world environments. This dissertation explores how to build AI systems that can learn more like humans: adapting to new data, preserving past knowledge, and using prior experience to learn future tasks more efficiently. Rather than focusing only on preventing forgetting, this …

Opposing Regulation By Rev1 Of Dna Polymerase Zeta Activity On Damaged Versus Undamaged Dna, Rachel Bezalel-Buch, Carrie Stith, Alena V Makarova, Sara K Binz, Peter M Burgers

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The Rev1 deoxycytidyl transferase functions as a scaffold protein for DNA polymerase ζ (Pol ζ)-mediated translesion synthesis (TLS). Biochemical studies with yeast enzymes indicate that Rev1 plays a dual regulatory role in TLS, stimulating Pol ζ activity at sites of damage but inhibiting its activity on undamaged DNA. An evolutionary conserved N-terminal alpha-helical motif (M1), located 10-20 amino acids upstream of Rev1's single BRCT domain, is required for the inhibitory activity of Rev1 on undamaged DNA. Mutations in the M1 motif result in a stimulation of Pol ζ replication activity on both undamaged and damaged DNA. Yeast cells carrying a …

Situating Stormwater Infrastructure Through Collaborative Design: Insights From A University-Community Partnership, Serena A. Echols

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stormwater ponds help address flooding and partially mitigate nutrient pollution while sometimes serving as a central landscape element in community parks. In underserved urban communities, however, stormwater ponds are sometimes neglected and underutilized, leading to public health and environmental justice challenges. Our research in Tampa, Florida, seeks to develop pathways for residents and other stakeholders to collaboratively co-design infrastructure interventions and pondscape redevelopment for neglected stormwater ponds. Drawing on ethnographic and participatory methods as well as environmental assessment and modeling, we are working with residents of one pond community on cleanup and redevelopment strategies. Results reveal that balancing local and …