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Du Rural Summit 2025: Full Conference Proceedings, 2025 Du Rural Summit

DU Rural Summit Conference Proceedings

Proceedings of the DU Rural Summit 2025, held June 27-27 in the Pueblo Convention Center. A gathering dedicated to addressing the unique opportunities and challenges facing rural schools and their communities.

Accounting, Marketing, And Technology Needs Of Black Women Business Owners In Pennsylvania Economically Distressed Communities, Darlene Booth-Bell

Pennsylvania Economic Review

In this study, we examine the survey and asynchronous interview responses of thirty-six Black women business owners to determine their self-identified needs in accounting, marketing, technology, and other business services such as supply chain knowledge, and technology. Our participants are located in small, economically distressed towns in Pennsylvania, where the number of families living below the poverty line is greater than the national average, and other indicators place these towns in a category of economically distressed. Respondents indicated a need for assistance with cash flow management and access to capital. Respondents also indicated a need for assistance with networking, online …

Anapc5 And Anapc7 As Genetic Modifiers Of Kif18a Function In Fertility And Mitotic Progression., Carleigh Nesbit, Whitney Martin, Anne M Czechanski, Candice Byers, Narayanan Raghupathy, Ardian Ferraj, Jason Stumpff, Laura G Reinholdt

Faculty Research 2025

The kinesin family member 18 A (KIF18A) is an essential regulator of microtubule dynamics and chromosome alignment during mitosis. Functional dependency on KIF18A varies by cell type and genetic context but the heritable factors that influence this dependency remain unknown. To address this, we took advantage of the variable penetrance observed in different mouse strain backgrounds to screen for loci that modulate germ cell depletion in the absence of KIF18A. We found a significant association at a Chr5 locus where anaphase promoting complex subunits 5 (Anapc5) and 7 (Anapc7) were the top candidate genes. We found that both genes were …

The Walk Away From Racial Equality, Areto Imoukhuede

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This article demonstrates that the U.S. Supreme Court has walked away from racial equality in favor of the same liberal equality approach that was the foundation for Plessy v. Ferguson’s “separate but equal” doctrine. The Court’s recent affirmative action cases, from Grutter and Gratz v. Bollinger, to Fisher v. University of Texas, to Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, all apply a liberal equality theory that is hostile to racial equality. In the lead-up to these cases, the Court abandoned its Brown-era interpretation of equality under the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause in favor of …

Ephemera Collection, 1925-2025, Document Services

University Archives Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

Genetic Gain And Loss In The Evolution Of Amniote T Cell Receptor And Immunoglobulin Genes, Jordan M. Sampson

Biology ETDs

The immune system of most jawed vertebrates consists of three major cell types: αβ T cells, γδ T cells, and B cells. Every species evaluated contains the loci that encode the highly conserved αβ T cells, however, γδ T cells are less conserved and have been lost in squamate reptiles. The loci that encode the B cell receptor have also varied across evolution. Seven immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy chain isotypes have been identified in amniotes: IgM, IgD, IgY, IgG, IgE, IgO, and IgA. Some are found in most species (IgM and IgD) and others only in specific lineages (IgY or IgG). …

Investigating Vacuum Insulator Flashover Resistance Of Rexolite And Acrylic Before And After Applying Novel Insulator Cleaning Techniques, Ritin Joseph

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Pulsed power involves accumulating large amounts of electrical energy and releasing it instantaneously. Large pulsed power accelerators use a vacuum insulator stack to facilitate power transfer from the liquid to vacuum section. Limiting the probability of surface flashover in this setting to acceptable levels improves machine longevity and prevents energy loss. Post-shot debris deposition requires a refurbishment process to prevent deterioration of dielectric performance, though the current technique of hand-sanding is long, labor-intensive, and pose serious health hazards. I have collected flashover data on frustrum-shaped Acrylic and C-Lec Rexolite® (cross-linked polystyrene) samples using a 500-kV, 20-ns risetime pulsed power test …

Disability Activism And Legal Education: How The Student And Parent Activists Of The Disability Rights Movement Paved The Way For Law Students To Challenge Discrimination, Dana Dworkin

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Disability discrimination in education is a long-standing and powerful tradition in the United States. Students with disabilities in higher education have historically been, and continue to be, the most powerful harbingers of change in eliminating disability discrimination in education. The birth of the disability rights movement occurred in higher education institutions across the nation in the 1970s, and the movement achieved both cultural and legislative success. Its spirit continues on today in U.S. law schools. Law students with disabilities are utilizing the legislative advances achieved by the disability rights activists of yesteryear in order to create a more equitable system …

Sparing The Gory Details: Legal And Social Inertia And The Refusal To Confront The Body In Pregnancy, Francesca Laguardia

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Health, including pain, suffering, blood, and guts, has always played an outsized role in legal and public analysis of abortion. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the health implications of forced childbirth have returned to the public’s attention, as evidenced by prevalent health exceptions to abortion bans, legal actions in regard to those bans and exceptions, public attention to those cases, and public opinion polling. Recent, highly publicized cases of medical emergencies associated with pregnancy could be expected to reinvigorate a public exploration of the health risks of pregnancy, but the public has consistently refused to acknowledge the full …

Community-Based, Culturally Relevant Stem: Engaging Rural And Indigenous Students Through Partnerships, Institutional Flexibility, And One Health, Ellen Chenoweth, Paul Cotter, Janice Straley, Kari Lanphier

Faculty, Staff, and Students

Rural and Indigenous students face many barriers to persistence in biomedical and STEM trajectories including poor access to science experiences, a dearth of relatable educational resources, and educational structures misaligned with rural and Indigenous student and community needs. Rural Alaska Students in One Health Research (RASOR) is designed to provide a positive first college experience for rural and Indigenous students. Key innovations include 1) a partnership between the University of Alaska and tribal governments to allow for culturally relevant, locallymentored research experiences and 2) a customizable program structure. We also surveyed adults in the region regarding attitudes about science, its …

Alma Link Resolver Title & Issn Report (Top 500) 2024-2025, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Statistics for 2024-2025 on the total number of OpenURL requests by journal title and ISSN made to the Ex Libris Alma link resolver for items held by the University of Rhode Island Libraries. Includes only the top 500 journals.

Information provided includes journal Title, ISSN, EISSN, Number of Requests, Number of Clicked Requests, % Clicks from Requests.

Alma Link Resolver Subject Report 2024-2025, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Statistics for 2024-2025 on the number of OpenURL requests by Library of Congress classification code made to the Ex Libris Alma link resolver for items held by the University of Rhode Island Libraries.

Information provided includes Classification Code, Classifications, Number of Requests, Number of Clicked Requests, and % Clicks from Requests.

Summary Of: Immersive Modeling Of Water Banking Elicits Local Knowledge And Strategies To Get More Water To Great Salt Lake, Hadia Akbar, David E. Rosenberg

Civil and Environmental Engineering Student Research

Getting more water to the declining Great Salt Lake (GSL) is difficult. Strategies must address complex water rights, competing water needs, differing stakeholder priorities, historical legacies, lack of trust, and more arid and variable hydrology. Here we used immersive online collaborative modeling to explore water banking strategies to get more water to GSL. This 2-page brief describes the immersive modeling method, a Win-Win outcome, key results, new insights collaborators took from a model session, 2 new strategies to deliver water to GSL, and 3 next steps.

Impact Of Fructose-Enhanced Solid And Soft Drink Diets On Metabolism, Physiology, And Gut Microbiome In Pregnant Rats, Xiaoyuan Han, Linda D. Shortliffe, Neeraja Kambham

Pacific Faculty Work

Introduction: High fructose consumption is linked to hypertension and metabolic disorders. We hypothesize fructose (solid and/or liquid) may further influence dietary patterns. To investigate potential effects, we compared eating behaviors, physiological and metabolic measures, and gut microbiome in pregnant rats fed solid or liquid fructose-enhanced (soft drink) diets to those fed standard chow. Methods: Pregnant rats were assigned to three dietary groups: (1) standard chow and water (CW), (2) standard chow and decarbonated soft drink (CS, decarbonated Sprite with 5.89% fructose w/v), and (3) 60% fructose chow and water (FW). Body weight, blood pressure, food and liquid intake, fasting blood …

Differential Efficacy Of Bevacizumab And Erlotinib In Preclinical Models Of Renal Medullary Carcinoma And Fumarate Hydratase-Deficient Renal Cell Carcinoma, Niki M Zacharias, Manuel Ozambela, Menuka Karki, Rong He, Pankaj K Chauhan, Pedro I Pesquera, Andres E Hernandez Gonzalez, Oscar Ochoa, Alberto Pieretti, Huiqin Chen, Carolyn De La Cerda, Zhiyuan Yu, Abha Grover, Samantha Hicks-Peña, Natalie W Fowlkes, Lei Wang, Tapati Maity, Priya Rao, Giannicola Genovese, Nizar M Tannir, Jose A Karam, Pavlos Msaouel

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Renal medullary carcinoma (RMC) and fumarate hydratase (FH)-deficient renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are rare and highly aggressive cancers. Although the combination of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibition by bevacizumab and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibition by erlotinib is clinically used for both diseases, the differential effect of each component has not been investigated. Transcriptomic profiling revealed that RMC and FH-deficient tumor tissues demonstrate increased EGFR but not VEGF expression compared with adjacent normal kidney. Subsequent in vitro studies revealed that RMC and FH-deficient cell lines are sensitive to erlotinib treatment, whereas clear cell RCC cell lines are resistant. …

Irradiation Of Prostate Cancer Alters Circulating Small Extracellular Vesicle Functions, Aejaz Sayeed, Vaughn Garcia, Cecilia E. Verrillo, Rachel M. Derita, Md Niamat Hossain, Shiv R. Krishn, Samuel Sey, Christopher D. Shields, Adrian D. Altieri, Qin Liu, Khalid Sossey-Alaoui, William K. Kelly, Lucia R. Languino

Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

It is known that β1 integrins and a downstream signaling molecule c-Src are upregulated in prostate cancer (PrCa) tissues, are co-expressed in circulating small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) and contribute to cancer progression. Here, we demonstrate that sEVs from PrCa patients show robust expression of both β1 integrins and c-Src. The impact of irradiation, a widely used therapy for the treatment of PrCa, on circulating sEVs is however not fully understood. We show that sEVs isolated from the plasma of transgenic adenocarcinoma of mouse prostate (TRAMP) mice, stimulate migration and anchorage-independent growth of recipient cancer cells, but sEVs are not active …

Detecting Ionospheric Disturbances Using High Frequency Coastal Radar Transmissions From The West Coast Of The United States, Riley N. Troyer, Kenneth Obenberger, Michael Negale, Eugene Dao, Zsolt Balint, Eric Burnside, Kris Robinson, Jeffrey M. Holmes, Pavel Inchin, Jonathan Snively

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

Coastal radar system are located around the world and many happen to transmit at frequencies capable of skywave propagation via the ionosphere. Therefore, they can be detected hundreds to thousands of kilometers away. This paper demonstrates the opportunity to detect 39 Coastal Ocean Dynamics Application Radar transmitters located on the western coast of the United States using three HF radio receivers in Utah and New Mexico. It also illustrates the possibility to use the phase and Doppler measurements of these signals to derive displacements of the refracting ionospheric layer up to meter resolution for the 2023 annular solar eclipse, an …

Making The New Public Safety Safe, Christopher Slobogin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Shawn Fields' The New Public Safety: Police Reform and the Lurking Threat to Civil Liberties, which will be published by the University of California Press in September, is a brave and wise effort to envision a post-DeFund the Police world. While the defund movement has, at best, been a mixed success, some municipalities have experimented with de-policing routine interactions with people who are unhoused and mentally ill, authorizing civilian "violence interrupters" to roam the streets, and handing over traffic enforcement to unarmed officials. In The New Public Safety, Fields endorses these developments but also cautions that, without regulation, they will …

Lived Experiences Of Sexual Orientation Discrimination Of Gay Male Service Members, Dwayne A. Tyler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy (DADT) has been an area of study among scholars since 2011. Researchers have demonstrated that discrimination based on sexual orientation is still occurring in the armed forces. However, researchers have not studied the lived experiences of active-duty male service members in the army who self-identified as gay. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to examine the lived experiences of discrimination based on the sexual orientation of male service members who self-identified as gay in the army since the repeal of the DADT policy. Using semi-structured interviews, four self-identified gay …

Evaluating Nutrition, Exercise, And Education, On Mental Health And Quality Of Life In Menopause, Jill R. Stone

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Physical inactivity, poor nutrition, and a lack of understanding of menopause adversely affect mental health and quality of life in women entering menopause. Metabolic changes during this period can lead to an increase in visceral fat, loss of muscle mass, depression, and anxiety. These metabolic changes are linked to a higher risk for cardiovascular disease, type two diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. This cross-sectional quantitative study, guided by the health belief model, explored the contribution of adopting specific nutrition strategies, exercise, and education in women during menopause transition to help manage mental health (as measured by depression and tension), and quality …

Personal Social Media Usage And The Effect On Individuals’ Job Satisfaction: A Social Identity Theory Perspective, Daniel Adam Blair

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social networking sites are web-based platforms that serve as tools to enhance connectivity and communication for a broad spectrum of different individuals, but they may be doing a disservice to the users who overuse the platforms as a means to bolster their self-esteem surrounding their different identities. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in individuals’ job satisfaction levels when using personal social media (PSM) to varying degrees and how individuals’ social identities may influence this interaction. Utilizing the social identity theory framework, this study aimed to determine whether a relationship exists between PSM usage and job …

Experiences Of Post-Secondary Teachers With Using Information And Communication Technologies In Rural Communities, Latonya Shirelle Motley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teaching and learning in the 21st century requires full access and use of digital technologies but this can be challenging in rural areas. Teachers at post-secondary schools in rural communities often have limited access to information and communication technologies (ICT), which restricts their ability to fully serve their rural students. Guided by the theory of the digital divide, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the experiences of post-secondary teachers with using ICT in rural areas in the United States. Data for this qualitative study were collected from 44 participant interviews who evaluated their access of digital …

Elementary School Administrators Perceptions Of School-Wide Restorative Practices In A School District In Georgia, Simone Simmons

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This basic qualitative study explored the perceptions of elementary school administrators regarding the uses of restorative practices (RPs) to address an increase in undesirable behaviors among K–5 students in a northern public school district in Georgia. Guided by restorative justice theory, which emphasizes repairing harm and fostering positive relationships, the study focused on understanding how administrators perceive the effectiveness of RPs in managing student behavior during instructional time. The research questions focused on administrators’ perceptions of the effectiveness of RPs in addressing student behaviors in the classroom. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 elementary school administrators from the …

Strategies In Cybersecurity For The Protection Of Patient Health Information (Phi), Denise Holloway

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Health information technology (IT) professionals are consistently seeking better ways to balance the availability of patient health information (PHI) with data breach prevention, as these breaches negatively impact health organizations legally and ethically due to the exposure of PHI. However, some health IT professionals lack strategies to protect PHI against cybersecurity attacks. Grounded in Dr. Edward Hutchins’ distributed cognition framework, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry was to understand what strategies health IT professionals use to protect PHI against cybersecurity attacks. The participants were six IT professionals from Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia with at least five to seven …

Is My Stress Out Of Place? Bread Wheat Response To Saline Stress Varies In Pattern And Extent Across Experimental Settings, Anne Plessis

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Adopting crops and agricultural practices that help sustain yield under abiotic stress will be a major element of future food security under climate change. However, little of the intensive research into the mechanisms of plant abiotic stress response has translated into improved yield stability. A suspected obstacle to translatability of research findings in this area is artificial experimental conditions, but we lack evidence to support this explanation. Here, we combined a meta-analysis and an experimental approach to compare the effect of salt stress on wheat yield, growth, and physiology across four distinct experimental settings: field/field-like conditions, potted plants in a …

A Sensory Investment Syndrome Hypothesis: Personality And Predictability Are Linked To Sensory Capacity In The Hermit Crab Pagurus Bernhardus, Ari Drummond, Summer Nash, Tianna Holloway, Alexander Wilson, Lucy Turner, Mark Briffa

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Correlated phenotypic traits (i.e., syndromes) may manifest as associations between different behavioural types or between behavioural and non-behavioural phenotypes. While syndromes research is extensive, correlations involving behavioural type and sensory morphology have yet to be investigated. Sensation is essential in decision-making and should be correlated with behavioural phenotypes involved in risk response, including boldness. We investigated correlations between boldness and sensory capacity in Pagurus bernhardus hermit crabs, taking repeat measures of startle response durations to assess hermit crab personality and predictability. The correlation between startle response and the sensillar density (i.e., number of sensilla per unit surface area) of both …

Discharge System Field Sampling Plan, 2025 Update Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Npl Site Butte Mine Flooding Operable Unit | Butte, Montana, Mark Thompson, Dave Griffis

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Medical Biotechnology Symposium Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman 5th And 6th February 2024 Gene Hunting In Breast Tumours And Cells To Reveal Chemotherapy Resistance As Predictive Markers Of Response, Sultan Qaboos University

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

No abstract provided.

Cat: A Conditional Association Test For Microbiome Data Using A Permutation Approach, Yushu Shi, Liangliang Zhang, Kim-Anh Do, Robert R Jenq, Christine B Peterson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In microbiome analysis, researchers often seek to identify taxonomic features associated with an outcome of interest. However, microbiome features are intercorrelated and linked by phylogenetic relationships, making it challenging to assess the association between an individual feature and an outcome. This paper proposes a novel conditional association test, CAT, that can account for other features and phylogenetic relatedness when testing the association between a feature and an outcome. CAT adopts a permutation approach, measuring the importance of a feature in predicting the outcome by permuting operational taxonomic unit/amplicon sequence variant counts belonging to that feature from the data and quantifying …

Structural And Functional Characterization Of Creb-Binding Protein (Crebbp) As A Histone Propionyltransferase, Guiling Cui, Marie Ley, Ariel E Mechaly, Linh-Chi Bui, Christina Michail, Jérémy Berthelet, Julien Dairou, Haopeng Yang, Guillaume Chevreux, Gautier Moroy, Michael R Green, Ahmed Haouz, Fernando Rodrigues Lima

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In addition to histone acetylation, histone lysine propionylation (such as the H3K18Pr mark) has recently attracted significant attention as a common and abundant modification linking the cellular metabolic state and gene expression. CREB-binding protein (CREBBP) and EP300 are key histone acetyltransferases that play a critical role in gene expression through their catalytic activity. Although CREBBP and EP300 are homologous enzymes with high structural similarities, they exhibit both redundant and specific functions. Dissecting the shared and divergent properties of CREBBP and EP300 is thus important to understand their roles. However, despite the importance of CREBBP, most mechanistic and structural studies have …