Digital Commons Network^™

The Civil Liability Gap For Oil Spills Caused By Non-State Armed Groups: The Case Of The Mv Sounion Tanker In The Red Sea, Emery Hansell

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

On August 21, 2024, the Greek-flagged oil tanker MV SOUNION ("Sounion") was attacked by Houthis as it passed through the Red Sea. The Houthis, a rebel group that controls large swaths of Yemen, then set the ship ablaze, threatening to spill roughly 1 million barrels of crude oil into the water. The cleanup was anticipated to cost $20 billion. The question thus arises: who would—and who should—pay for that cleanup? At the moment, there is no effective solution.

As an initial matter, current international law focuses on State liability and is therefore unlikely to require the Houthis—as a non-State actor—to …

Phasing Out A Way Of Life: How Decarbonization Affects Coal Dependent Communities, Alex Loeb

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

As member states seek to comply with European Union industry rationalization directives that will force mines that cannot compete with free-market prices without subsidies to close, domestic governments across Europe will face competing pressure from civil society. Many traditional European mining communities are dependent on the coal industry and will resist the phase out of its position in the European energy mix. In Asturias, Spain, the phase out of non-competitive coal mines has had devastating impacts on former mining towns, as they struggle to transition to a coal-free economy. After phasing out coal, Asturias has struggled with unemployment and significant …

Community-Based Organization Leaders' Perceptions On Efforts To Promote Informal Learning Among Young Low-Income Readers, Virginia S. Rector

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

The Perspectives Of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Plus (Others) Teachers On The Enactment Of Their Identities At Work Amid Adverse Legislation, Mandy Rhea Manning

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Debtor's Memo In Support Of Confirmation

Catholic Dioceses in Bankruptcy

No abstract provided.

Common Octopus (Octopus Vulgaris) Blooms Off The Southwest Of The Uk: History, Trends, Causes And Consequences.: Report On Work Package 2: Fisheries Independent Estimates Of Octopus Abundance And Behaviour., Bryce Stewart, Alice Hall, Tully Osmond, Keith Hiscock, Simon Thomas, Emma Sheehan

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Since early 2025, a nearly unprecedented bloom of common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) has occurred off the southwest UK coast. Although native to UK waters, the species is usually rare, making this the largest bloom recorded in at least 75 years. While many octopus have been commercially landed, they have also preyed heavily on economically important shellfish species, including brown crab, European lobster and king scallop. Landings of these species declined sharply in 2025, causing significant hardship for many in inshore fishing communities. In response, a rapid research project was commissioned in August 2025 to investigate the history, causes and impacts …

Recommendations For Disclosure Of Artificial Intelligence In Scientific Writing And Publishing: A Regional Anesthesia And Pain Medicine Modified Delphi Study, Michael R Fettiplace, Anuj Bhatia, Yian Chen, Steven L Orebaugh, Michael Gofeld, Rodney A Gabriel, Daniel I Sessler, Hannah Lonsdale, Brittani Bungart, Christopher P Cheng, Garrett W Burnett, Lichy Han, Matthew Wiles, Steve Coppens, Thomas Joseph, Kristin L Schreiber, Thomas Volk, Richard D Urman, Vesela P Kovacheva, Christopher L Wu, Edward R Mariano, Vivian H Y Ip

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the scientific process is advancing at a remarkable speed, thanks to continued innovations in large language models. While AI provides widespread benefits, including editing for fluency and clarity, it also has drawbacks, including fabricated content, perpetuation of bias, and lack of accountability. The editorial board of Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine (RAPM) therefore sought to develop best practices for AI usage and disclosure.

Methods: A steering committee from the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine used a modified Delphi process to address definitions, disclosure requirements, authorship standards, and editorial oversight …

Case Study Answers Are Not Elementary: How A Positive Outlier K-5 School Beat The Odds, Douglas Aaron Ferguson

Education Dissertations

There are a limited number of case studies of positive outlier elementary schools, otherwise known as schools that are beating the odds, and more of such studies are needed in order to effectively replicate positive problem-solving solutions. Positive outlier schools and districts, the focus of this dissertation, are those that score significantly above demographically similar schools and districts on standardized state testing. For example, none of the existing case studies highlight organizational culture as a key factor despite the fact that many of the more targeted topically focused studies cite school culture as a top factor. Additionally, the longest running …

Monoclonal Antibodies Targeting Pcdh7 Inhibit Tumor Growth And Enhance Immune Responses In Kras-Mutant Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Nicole Novaresi, Poorva Ghosh, Shayna Thomas-Jardin, Hui Deng, Xuejun Fan, Zhiqiang Ku, Wei Xiong, Xiaorong Zhou, Jingfei Zhu, Huiyu Li, Mahesh S Padanad, Bethany Smith, Chul Ahn, John D Minna, Zhiqiang An, Ningyan Zhang, Kathryn A O'Donnell

The Brown Foundation: Institute of Molecular Medicine

We identified an important oncogenic role for protocadherin 7 (PCDH7), a cell surface protein frequently overexpressed in lung adenocarcinoma and associated with poor clinical outcome. Pcdh7 depletion reduces tumor burden and prolongs survival in KrasLSL-G12D; Tp53fl/fl mice. These findings nominate this cell surface protein as an actionable therapeutic target and highlight the therapeutic potential of PCDH7 inhibition for non–small cell lung cancer. We report the development and characterization of high-affinity anti-PCDH7 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that inhibit downstream mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway activation and suppress tumor growth in multiple mutant KRAS–driven models. A lead mAb (mAb7) sensitized tumors …

Racism In The Science And Practice Of Psychotherapy, Richard E. Redding, Craig L. Frisby

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

We discuss a recent controversy that occurred in The Cognitive Behavioural Therapist over whether Lilienfeld’s critical views on microaggressions theory and research reflect racist beliefs, as alleged by some. This is one of many recent examples of a profoundly antiscientific practice whereby racism allegations chill scientific debate and open inquiry on important research issues. This produces an overtly politicized science that has a corrosive effect on scientific progress and ultimately the useful application of research in clinical practice. The microaggressions controversy provides an especially useful vehicle for challenging this state of affairs given the widespread application of microaggressions theory, including …

Shared Premotor Resources Underlie Dual-Task Interference Between Speech And Balance, Weina Lu, Sasha Lifton Lewis, Zoey Wire, Ingo Helmich

Exercise and Sport Studies: Faculty Publications

Humans frequently speak while standing, potentially engaging overlapping motor-cognitive resources. Dual-task paradigms with increased motor-cognitive demands reliably impair postural control, presumably due to competition for shared neural resources. The premotor cortex is critically involved in balance stabilization and in resolving competing motor plans and is also engaged during processing of action-related language. We therefore hypothesized that a central processing bottleneck emerges in the PMC when speaking and controlling posture simultaneously. Forty-one right-handed healthy adults (25 female, 16 male) maintained an upright stance while either verbally describing or mentally imagining navigation through a visually presented maze from an egocentric or allocentric …

Uncovering Dkk1 As A Therapeutically Relevant Target In Aggressive Er+ Breast Cancer Using A Novel Antiestrogen, Kristen Young

Dissertations

Over 70 percent of breast cancers are estrogen receptor-positive (ERα+), meaning that the hormone estrogen drives tumor growth. Although first-line targeted therapies that directly block ERα from hormone-dependent pathologies are initially effective, almost half of patients ultimately progress. These patients show high mutational rates to the ESR1 gene that encodes for ERα. A hotspot missense tyrosine to serine mutation at position 537 (Y537S) initiates hormone-independent, allele-specific transcriptional programs that increase metastasis. While next-generation ERα-targeted therapies show promise, benefits are often limited compared to standard-of-care. Understanding the mechanisms of action used by the Y537S ESR1 breast cancer cells to evade therapeutic …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Synergistic Bioactive– Organometallic Condensation Polymers, Francesca Isabel Mosca

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

This research focuses on the synthesis and structural characterization of polymers with anticipated anticancer and antiviral properties by combining metal-containing Lewis acids, organotin dichlorides (R2SnCl2), Group 4 metallocene dichlorides (Cp2TiCl2, Cp2ZrCl2 and Cp2HfCl2), and triphenyl Group 15 metal dichlorides (Ph3AsCl2, Ph3SbCl2 and Ph3BiCl2), with biologically active Lewis bases, lamivudine, a synthetic nucleoside, and camphoric acid, a dicarboxylic acid, to achieve synergistic effect.

Five classes of polymers were synthesized using interfacial polymerization: lamivudine and organotin dichlorides, lamivudine and Group 4 metallocene dichlorides, camphoric acid and triphenyl Group 15 metal dichlorides, camphoric acid and organotin dichlorides, and camphoric acid and Group 4 …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Organometallic Polymers And Their Cytotoxicity Towards Human Cancer Cell Lines, Paul Peter Slawek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

This research aimed to synthesize organometallic polymers from dialkyl (methyl, ethyl, butyl, cyclohexyl, and octyl) and diaryl (phenyl) tin dichlorides and three organic monomers, dipicolinic acid (DPA), chloramphenicol (CH), and isomannide (IS), using interfacial polymerization. Structure-activity relationships were investigated through physicochemical characterization (light-scattering photometry, proton NMR, and IR spectroscopy) and cytotoxicity was evaluated against six human cancer cell lines (AsPC-1, PANC-1, MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, HT-29, PC-3), with cisplatin serving as the reference standard.

Five DPA/tin polymers were synthesized, with IC₅₀ values in the range of 0.60–0.71 μg/mL. Their cytotoxicity was significantly lower than that of cisplatin (0.0023-0.044 μg/mL), suggesting that …

Participants’ And Physiotherapists’ Views On The Delivery Of A Randomised Controlled Feasibility Trial Investigating A Bespoke Dynamic Elastomeric Fabric Orthosis For Women With Chronic Pelvic Girdle Pain: A Qualitative Exploration, Bradley Halliday, Jennifer Freeman, Sarah Chatfield, Lee Cameron, Kirsty Carter, Joanne Hosking, Jill Shawe

School of Health Professions

Background: Chronic pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PPGP) affects approximately 10–30% of postpartum women beyond 3 months. Such pain is typically recalcitrant to standard care. A dynamic elastomeric fabric orthosis (DEFO) is one option. A feasibility randomised controlled trial (fRCT) assessed the feasibility and acceptability of trial design, interventions and data collection. The aim of this qualitative sub-study was to explore the experience of women participating in the feasibility trial, and physiotherapists delivering the trial intervention. Methods: An embedded qualitative study within a fRCT. The fRCT randomised participants to either control (standard care involving advice and exercise) or intervention (standard care …

The Use Of Surveys In Soliciting Patron Feedback: Effective Strategies For Creating, Promoting, And Applying Them, David J. Fuller

The Christian Librarian

This literature review examines recent sources that explore ways to optimize the helpfulness of surveys in different information organization management contexts. In the landscape of the scholarly literature on using surveys in information organizations, three significant sub-topics for discussion emerge: strategies for incentivizing participation and completion, using surveys in combination with other assessment measures, and formulating action steps from survey results. These three sub-topics are discussed with a focus on common themes, contradictions, and gaps in existing research.

Cardozo Law News Brief: June 5, 2026, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Briefs

Highlights from the June 5, 2026 Cardozo Law News Brief include:

• The Cardozo Center for Public Service Law honored public-service leaders and advocates at its 34th annual INSPIRE! Awards, celebrating individuals whose work advances Cardozo’s public-service mission.
• Professor Wilfred Codrington III spoke to News From the States and appeared on NPR to discuss the Purcell Principle and the Supreme Court’s role in election-related litigation and redistricting disputes.
• Professor Lindsay Nash authored an op-ed in Lawfare arguing for greater judicial oversight of immigration arrests conducted through administrative warrants.
• Professor Alexander Reinert spoke to the Santa Fe New Mexican about the challenges …

Item Selection Rules For Content Adaptive Progress Testing, Gergo Pinter, Nuno Santos, José Miguel Pêgo, Daniel Zahra, Steven Burr

Peninsula Medical School

Content adaptive progress testing (CAPT) introduces a new approach to longitudinal testing of candidates who take progress tests as part of their educational program. CAPT assessments adapt between subsequent assessments, tailoring items on an individual level to assist each candidate in demonstrating knowledge across many topics which are all mapped to the overall course learning outcomes. In this way, success is measured by topic completion on an individual level. Some of the key benefits include a truly personalized learning experience, with individual feedback throughout, while also tracking each candidate’s progress against a single long-term goal of demonstrating attainment across all …

A Scoping Review Of Ai Literacy: Implications For Governance And Public Policy, Anabel Quan-Haase, Katharine Willis, Hillary Anderson, Selena Gignac, Takuya Maeda

School of Art, Design and Architecture

AI literacy can be situated at the intersection of other types of literacy such as media literacy anddigital literacy, but the concept is distinct. What complicates our understanding of AI literacy is thatAI is highly opaque and black-box, creating obstacles to grasping what these systems are doing andhow (Burrell, 2016; Petrovčič, et al. 2024). This requires an interdisciplinary effort in conceptualizingand mapping AI literacy. Based on our analyses of the current literature, we see five different typesof conceptualizations of AI literacy:1.Competency-based approaches: focused on skills, knowledge, and ethical use of AI.2.Awareness-oriented approaches: centered on recognizing the presence and influence of …

The Employment Situation Of Veterans: May 2026, Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

The May 2026 employment report highlights improving labor conditions for U.S. veterans, with unemployment declining from 3.6% in April to 3.2% in May..pdf) Despite this progress, Post-9/11 veterans experienced a slight increase to 4.1%. Younger veterans continue to face higher unemployment rates than their nonveteran peers, while older veterans maintain relatively low rates. Long-term unemployment remains a concern, with over half of unemployed veterans out of work for 15 weeks or more. Unemployment decreased across most demographic groups, including women and minority veterans, often falling below nonveteran rates, indicating gradual but uneven improvement in veterans’ employment outcomes nationwide.

Profiles Of Family Engagement In Head Start, Elizabeth Jane Tremaine

Dissertations and Theses

Families of young children are active participants in their child's transition to kindergarten. Head Start is designed to facilitate families' engagement in their child's learning experiences (Head Start Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework, 2018). This study explores family engagement in Head Start, its changes across the transition into kindergarten, and its relation to children's development of social-emotional and executive function skills.

The current study addresses limitations of previous research by relying on family perspectives of family engagement, approaching family engagement as a developmental concept, and taking a person-centered analytic approach that accounts for the multi-dimensionality of family engagement. This …

Entre La Lucha: Familismo And Well-Being Of Latino Immigrant Families Navigating Manual Labor And Anti-Immigrant Sentiment, Faviola Robles Saenz

Dissertations and Theses

The United States' history of treatment toward Latino immigrants has been shaped by anti-immigrant sentiment and exploitative labor practices, creating psychological violence that harms their families' well-being. Although previous research has examined anti-immigrant sentiment, labor conditions, and familismo among Latinos, these areas are often studied in isolation, with limited attention to their intersections and how they are experienced across generations. Informed by history, prior research, and my lived experiences, this study qualitatively explored the intersections of anti-immigrant sentiment and parents' manual labor to understand how these contexts shape familismo and well-being among Latino immigrant families. This work was grounded in …

Safety And Synergy Of Finerenone And Empagliflozin In Lowering Blood Pressure, Rajiv Agarwal, Ricardo Correa-Rotter, Sankar D Navaneethan, Hiddo J L Heerspink, Matthew R Weir, Janet B Mcgill, Amy K Mottl, Masaomi Nangaku, Julio Rosenstock, Peter Rossing, Muthiah Vaduganathan, Charlie Scott, Li Li, Meike Brinker, Csaba P Kovesdy, Jennifer B Green, Johannes F E Mann

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: This secondary analysis of the CONFIDENCE (combination effect of fInerenone and empagliflozin in participants with chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes using a UACR endpoint) trial (REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT05254002) assessed systolic blood pressure (SBP) changes with empagliflozin/finerenone combination therapy versus monotherapy in people with chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes across baseline SBP categories. We assessed SBP response predictors and whether early (day 30) SBP changes mediate urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio reductions.

Methods: Participants (n=800) were stratified by baseline SBP (< 130 mm Hg; ≥130 mm Hg). Outcomes included SBP response (≥10 mm Hg reduction from baseline at day 180) and longitudinal SBP changes, analyzed by linear mixed-effects models and logistic regression. Causal mediation analysis, a secondary exploratory analysis, evaluated the effect of day 30 SBP change on day 180 urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio reduction.

Results: At baseline, 532 (66%) participants had SBP ≥130 mm Hg; 268 (34%) …

The Shrinking Caspian Sea: Eco-Hydrological Responses To Human And Climate Pressures, Jesse Duku, Mohammad J. Tourian, Marzi Azarderakhsh, Rovshan Abbasov, Ali Mehran, Ali Torabi Haghighi, Stefanos Xenarios, Azara Boschee, Salih Babagiray, Mojtaba Sadegh, Nima Shokri, Ali Nazemi, Alireza Farahmand, Samaneh Ashraf, Temur Khujanazarov, Elmira Hassanzadeh, Dalal Najib, Daniel Placht, Shamshagul Mashtayeva, For Full Author List, See Comments Below

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The Caspian Sea, the Earth's largest inland water body, faces water level decline, drawing comparisons to the collapse of the Aral Sea. Unlike the Aral Sea, the relative roles of climatic variability, hydrological changes, and anthropogenic pressures on the Caspian Sea remain poorly understood. Here, we integrate satellite observations, in situ hydrological records and reanalysis data to examine recent drivers of the Caspian water loss. We show that total river inflow to the Caspian Sea has declined significantly, primarily due to reduced discharge from the Volga River. At the same time, precipitation over the basin has remained broadly stable, while …

Ambivalence, Foremourning, And Displacement In The German Translation Of Marie Bonaparte's Topsy, Kooper Wilson

University Honors Theses

This paper offers a reading of Sigmund Freud’s German translation of Marie Bonaparte’s book, Topsy: The Golden-Haired Chow, in which the author attempts to both delay the death of her dog and mourn it in advance through what I call foremourning. I argue that the manifest subject matter of Topsy should not be interpreted away as a projection of merely human concerns, but rather that close attention to Freud’s translation introduces themes from his analytic experience which engender an appreciation of Topsy’s atopia (intractability). I draw from recent psychoanalytic theory, literary criticism, and deconstruction, especially Jacques Derrida’s seminars …

Targeted Reflex Rna Sequencing For Enhanced Variant Classification On Exome And Genome Sequencing Improves Patient Outcomes, Xiaonan Zhao, Robert Rigobello, Morgan Driver, Sydney Lau, Mei Ling Chong, Jason Chibuk, Hongzheng Dai, Wilson C W Wu, Christina Peroutka, Laura Famularo, Alexander Y Kim, Bailey Hummel, Sarah Dugan, Tinsley Douglas, Linyan Meng, Fan Xia, Christine M Eng

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) has been utilized to provide functional evidence regarding the impact of splicing variants. This study explores the utility of targeted reflex RNA-seq to inform classification of predicted splicing variants identified through clinical exome sequencing (ES) and genome sequencing (GS). A retrospective analysis was conducted on consecutive ES/GS cases completed at a single center in which targeted reflex RNA-seq was performed following identification of eligible variants. There were 131 cases (4.1%) that had at least one RNA-seq eligible variant reported, with eight of these cases having two unique eligible variants. Of the 139 eligible variants, 125 were classified …

Polygenic Risk Scores, Sex, And Socioeconomic Factors As Predictors Of Age Of Onset For Major Depressive Disorder, Kaitlyn M. Nowak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a heterogeneous psychiatric condition influenced by genetic, sociodemographic, and environmental factors, yet the extent to which these factors jointly shape the timing of disease onset remains unclear. This study evaluated the effects of polygenic risk scores (PRS), sex, and socioeconomic status (SES) on age of onset for MDD across two independent cohorts: the Pharmacogenomics Research Network Antidepressant Medication Pharmacogenomics Study (PGRN-AMPS) (N = 486) and the All of Us Research Program (N = 8,014). Analyses were restricted to individuals of European genetic ancestry, and PRS were constructed using both European-ancestry (EA) and multi-ancestry (MA) genome-wide …

The Impact Of Social Media Use For Service Delivery By Library Personnel In Nigeria., Jamiu Adewale Abdulsalam, Soliudeen Idowu Sanni, Shasil Adedoyin Opoola

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study examined how social media is impacting service delivery by the library personnel in two universities of Ogun State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design, correlational type was followed and a total enumeration sampling technique was applied to get all 105 members of the library staff from the two selected universities. Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire, which was developed to capture the social media patterns of users and service delivery. Descriptive statistics (frequency counts, percentages, means, and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation) were used for data analysis. It was found that the most common library services …

Growth In Early Infancy Drives Optimal Brain Functional Connectivity Which Predicts Cognitive Flexibility In Later Childhood, Chiara Bulgarelli, Anna Blasi, Samantha Mccann, Bosiljka Milosavljevic, Giulia Ghillia, Ebrima Mbye, Ebou Touray, Tijan Fadera, Lena Acolatse, Sophie E Moore, Sarah Lloyd-Fox, Clare E Elwell, Adam T Eggebrecht, Bright Study Team

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Functional brain network organisation, measured by functional connectivity (FC), reflects key neurodevelopmental processes for healthy development. Early exposure to adversity, for example undernutrition, affects neurodevelopment, observable via disrupted FC, and leads to poorer outcomes from preschool age onwards. We assessed longitudinally the impact of early growth trajectories on developmental FC in a rural Gambian population from age 5-24 months. To investigate how these early trajectories relate to later childhood outcomes, we assessed cognitive flexibility at 3-5 years. We observed that early physical growth before the fifth month of life drove optimal developmental trajectories of FC that in turn predicted cognitive …

[Birds-Of-A-Feather] A Tri-Level Roadmap To Ai-Ready Universities: Strategy, Operations, Deployment, Sarah Forzetting, Rochelle Lundy, Ahmad Pratama, Karryl Kim Sagun Trajano, Antara Chakraborthy, Yasmine Wong

FORCE 2026

This panel discussion by three institutions will offer three approaches to conceptualizing and supporting AI use at the national, local, and individual levels.

Nanyang Technological University will frame the discussion by examining AI as a social good, highlighting how even advanced initiatives such as Singapore’s face equity gaps that risk leaving vulnerable populations behind. The panelist will further outline how information professionals and other key stakeholders can play a critical role in bridging these gaps in the pursuit of widespread public AI literacy. Stanford University Libraries will outline difficulties institutions have in operationalizing guidelines to help researchers bring a project …