Digital Commons Network^™

Algebra I End-Of-Course Exam Differences By The At-Risk Status Of Texas Hispanic Students: A Multiyear Statewide Investigation, Daniel Craft, John R. Slate

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

Examined in this investigation was a comparison of the Algebra I End-of-Course exam performance between Hispanic students who were at-risk and Hispanic students who were not at-risk in the 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019 school years. Inferential statistical procedures yielded statistically significant differences in all three school years between these two groups of Hispanic students. In all three school years, higher percentages of Hispanic students who were at-risk did not meet the three grade level standards (i.e., Approaches Grade Level, Meets Grade Level, and Masters Grade Level) than Hispanic students who were not at-risk. Moreover, Hispanic students who were at-risk correctly …

Neurocognitive Gains Among Ugandan Children With Sickle Cell Anemia On Hydroxyurea: 18-Month Trial Interim Results, Shubaya Kasule Naggayi, Dennis Kalibbala, Vincent Mboizi, John M. Ssenkusu, Zhezhen Jin, Caterina Rosano, Deogratias Munube, Bill Wambaka, Ruth Namazzi, Robert Opoka

Paediatrics and Child Health, East Africa

Children with sickle cell anemia (SCA) frequently develop progressive neurocognitive impairment. We aimed to determine effects of hydroxyurea therapy on neurocognitive function in Ugandan children with SCA by comparing levels at enrollment to a planned 18-month interim assessment. Ugandan children (N=264) ages 3-9 years were enrolled from a SCA clinic and treated in a 30-month singlearm open-label trial with escalation to maximum tolerated dose (MTD). Primary outcome was the effects of hydroxyurea on cognition, attention and executive function, along with transcranial doppler ultrasound (TCD) blood flow velocity. Sibling controls (N=110) without SCA underwent neurocognitive testing in parallel to establish age-normalized …

Tolle Lege Works Published In 2025, Mcquade Library

Bibliographies

Bibliography of Tolle Lege works published by members of the Merrimack College Community in 2025. Works include journal articles, newspaper articles, books and book chapters or sections, reports, book reviews, conference papers, web articles, and published interviews.

Coe Annual Technical Review 2024, Jianshun Zhang

SyracuseCoE

No abstract provided.

Photo-Enhanced Output In Memdiode Devices Based On Hybrid Materials Open Access, Jacob Lee, Prabir Patra, Judy Fan

Physics Faculty Research

The discovery of photo-enhanced outputs in the fabricated memdiodes based on metal halide-embedded polymeric hybrid composites has meaningful and practical implications. The two-terminal devices exhibit typical rectifying characteristics, similar to a standard pn junction diode, with unusual photo-enhanced charge transportation and hysteresis behaviors. The MDs consist of an active layer of blended organic–inorganic hybrid material [a mixture of CuCl2 and polyethylene glycol (PEG)] deposited on a layer of pure polymer (polymethyl methacrylate) and, in turn, on a rigid substrate (ITO glass or Si wafer). It is found that the photoinduced current increases hundreds of times in magnitude on the ITO …

Cracking The Façade: Analyzing Ohio's "Don't Say Gay" Legislation As Disguised Discrimination Under The First And Fourteenth Amendments, Sydni L. Porter

Journal of Law and Health

The Ohio State Legislature is among the growing nationwide trend in attacking LGBTQ+ rights. Chief among these is Ohio House Bill 8, which claims to limit the types of content children encounter in schools. While the drafters cite this noble intent, the bill's actual impact further harms queer students and teachers, who already bear heavier mental health burdens due to such legislation and its societal implications. This type of legislation recently originated in Florida, where it was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022 and garnered national media attention. As Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a near-identical bill …

Cryptosporidium Virus Integration Into The Host Cells, Alyssa Genaro

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Cryptosporidiosis is a disease that affects a large amount of people and having a high mortality rate for those that are immunocompromised such as the elderly and infants. The disease is linked to a parasite called Cryptosporidium parvum, which is mostly known to infect cattle and other mammals such as mice and humans. The parasite contains a double stranded RNA virus, the Cryspovirus (CSpV1) that has a non-enveloped icosahedral capsid, with a T=2* icosahedral symmetry. Little is known is known about the contribution of CSpV1 to the disease; In this study we show that infection of an immunocompromised mouse model …

Exogenous Nicotinamide Protects Mycobacterium Bovis Bcg From Gsh-Induced Reductive Stress By Enhancing Nad+ Synthesis, Tamia Cline

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Polysaccharides On Advancing Plant-Based Meat Alternatives, Prashant Dahal, Clifford Hall, Srinivas Janaswamy

Dairy Science and Food Science Faculty Publications: 2022 to Present

Plant-based meat products are a valued choice for vegetarians and others. Their production has been perceived as an innovation promoting animal welfare and sustainability. However, there are challenges in simulating desirable appearance, texture, and flavor using only plant-based protein sources. Polysaccharide addition during the formulation and texturization of plant proteins can improve the physi- cochemical and sensory properties of texturized protein products. In this regard, a clear understanding of the fundamental properties of polysaccharides is essential for transforming plant proteins into fibers or nonfilamentous protein aggregates. Enhancing water-holding capacity, gelation, and binding functionality is crucial for overcoming structural and textural …

Metacognition And The 5cs Of Positive Youth Development Programs: A Review Of Metacognitive Interventions, Omolola A. Odejimi, Leslie F. Clark

Journal of Youth Development

Positive youth development (PYD) programs have increased positive outcomes for adolescents, however research on the underlying change processes in these programs remains limited. The 5Cs (Competence, Confidence, Character, Caring and Connection) of PYD are a framework of desirable outcomes for youth programs. Change to metacognition is proposed as a mechanism by which PYD programming accomplishes these outcomes. This review describes findings from metacognitive interventions with PYD-relevant outcomes in adolescents aged 10-24. Fifteen electronic databases were searched using keyword phrases related to “metacognitive intervention” and “adolescents”. Seventeen studies met inclusion criteria. Included studies addressed 2 of the 5 goals of PYD …

The Nebraska Bird Review (March 2025) 93(1), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Winter Field Report, December 2024–February 2025, by W. Ross Silcock
2024–2025 Christmas Bird Counts, by Don Paseka
Annual Color Photo Section
Annual Treasurer’s Report for 2024, by Jan Johnson
Subscription and Organization Information

Brain-Dead Surrogacy And Testamentary Disposition: Legal Rights Over One’S Body For Reproductive Purposes, Cassandra L. Nelson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Through the advancement of modern medical technology, including life-support machines and in vitro fertilization, it may soon become possible to carry out brain-dead surrogacy—that is, gestational surrogacy in brain-dead carriers. When a person experiences brain death, life-support machines can nevertheless artificially maintain the body’s homeostatic functions, including the ability to gestate a fetus, for several years thereafter. There have already been several reported instances of brain-dead pregnant people on ventilation successfully carrying and delivering children. In light of the United States’ historical interest in promoting familymaking, this emerging avenue for surrogacy could increase the availability of surrogates and expand opportunities …

Annual Color Photo Section

Nebraska Bird Review

The following seven pages show examples of this year’s theme: birds feeding or carrying food.

Osprey with striped bass
Spotted Sandpiper with beetle
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher with insect
Male Pine Grosbeak with green ash seeds
Merlin eating sparrow
Whooping Crane carrying ear of corn
Yellow-billed Cuckoo with harvestman spider
Black-billed Magpie eating grain
Red-tailed Hawk with plains garter snake
Summer Tanager with hackberry emperor butterfly
Cattle Egret with bullfrog
Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk eating garter snake
Red-breasted Merganser eating fish
Juvenile White Ibis eating unidentified item
Bohemian Waxwing eating crab apples
Rose-breasted Grosbeak eating sunflower seeds
Loggerhead Shrike eating dragonfly
Yellow-crowned Night …

2024–2025 Christmas Bird Counts, Don Paseka

Nebraska Bird Review

For the second year in a row, all twenty CBCs [Christmas Bird Counts] were run during the 2024–2025 season. The weather was generally cooperative, although five circles reported fog and two others had rain. Branched Oak-Seward was postponed a week due to icy conditions on the originally scheduled day. The average high temperature for all circles on count day was 41 and the average low temperature was 22. Because December had remained relatively mild, there was a good deal of open water, which encouraged many species of water birds to remain. Consequently, most of the circles reported species totals higher …

Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Treasurer’S Report, December 31, 2024, Jan Johnson

Nebraska Bird Review

No abstract provided.

Winter Field Report, December 2024–February 2025, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

Since I started a few years ago to compare each season’s reports with the status of each species as presented in BONO (Species Accounts – Birds of Nebraska – Online), I had expected that “Routine reports” would apply to an increasing number of species as the BONO database firmed up, but this hasn’t happened. My comments from last winter continue to be valid this winter, now for the third winter in a row: As was the case for winter 2022–2023, the big general story was the large number of reports of tardy fall migrants and unexpectedly northerly occurrences in mid-winter… …

Elevating Black Voices: The Impact Of College Preparatory Programs On First-Year Success And Retention Of Black College Students, Fabiola Jean

Education Doctoral

In 2019, the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reported that Black college students had a graduation rate of just 40%. Minoritized students in general, and Black students in particular, ranked lowest on most statistical measures of success in higher education, despite numerous notable efforts to increase college access. Contributing factors included students' lack of academic engagement, stereotype threat, and experiences with racial microaggressions. First-year completion served as a pivotal predictor of long-term educational attainment, particularly for Black students who faced unique challenges. Studies showed that first-year completion and retention rates significantly …

Fighting Drugs With Drugs: Medical Mushrooms In Utah’S War On Opioids, Paul Helms

Utah Law Review

In addition to the happy side effect of improving psilocybin’s odds of rescheduling under the proposed new CAMU standard (potentially increasing national psilocybin accessibility for opioid recovery), Senator Escamilla’s S.B. 200 could represent the beginning of a new era for the State of Utah in its battle against opioids. Despite S.B. 200’s failure to pass, the medical application of psilocybin under S.B. 266 (S.B. 200’s spiritual successor) should positively impact several interconnected issues in Utah, including mental illness, addiction, and transiency. However, specific proof of psilocybin’s effectiveness in combatting opioid addiction should be especially persuasive in garnering bipartisan support for …

Une Library Services Quarterly Report March 2025, Une Library Services

Quarterly Reports

Highlights of accomplishments of the University of New England's Library Services department.

Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 35. Natural Selection By Evolution., Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823?1913) is remembered, with Charles Darwin, as the co-originator of the concept of evolution by natural selection. But Wallace’s framing of the idea increasingly became one in which natural selection itself was regarded as a law of nature, not a theory per se.

Collaborative Ai: Oer Materials For Exploring Ai As A Partner Rather Than A Tool, David Smith

Open Educational Resources

The Collaborative AI Open Educational Resource (OER) explores how artificial intelligence can act as a creative and analytical collaborator rather than a tool. Centered on the Balanced Blended Space (BBS) framework and the philosophy of the Center for Holistic Integration (CHI), the OER includes curriculum materials, theoretical models, and live research environments. It offers an interesting approach to blending physical, virtual, and conceptual spaces through shared human–AI agency and invites ongoing participation in interdisciplinary meta-projects.

March 2025 Library & Learning Newsletter, Minnesota State University, Mankato. Library & Learning Dean’S Office Communications Team

Library & Learning Newsletters

PDF version of the March 2025 (Volume 3, Issue 5) Library & Learning Newsletter.

Influence Of Nitrogen And Phosphorus Rates On The Growth Of Water Hyacinth (Pontederia Crassipes Mart.), Mary Joy M. Abit, Rene Franchesca A. Pilar, Analiza Henedina M. Ramirez

The Philippine Agricultural Scientist

Research has been conducted globally to investigate the growth and colonization patterns of Pontederia crassipes Mart. This research aimed to examine the impact of varying rates of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) on the growth of P. crassipes and determine the nutrient levels that would result in the greatest growth response. P. crassipes plants were placed in plastic containers filled with 5 L of distilled water. Nitrogen and phosphorus were applied separately at varying concentrations. Specifically, N was added at 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 mg L^-1 and P at 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9 …

Ml-Urinequant: A Machine Learning Program For Identifying And Quantifying Mouse Urine On Absorbent Paper., Warren G Hill, Bryce Maciver, Gary Churchill, Mariana G Deoliveira, Mark L Zeidel, Marcelo Cicconet

Faculty Research 2025

The void spot assay has gained popularity as a way of assessing functional bladder voiding parameters in mice, but analyzing the size and distribution of urine spot patterns on filter paper with software remains problematic due to inter-laboratory differences in image contrast and resolution quality and non-void artifacts. We have developed a machine learning algorithm based on Region-based Convolutional Neural Networks (Mask-RCNN) that was trained in object recognition to detect and quantitate urine spots across a broad range of sizes-ML-UrineQuant. The model proved extremely accurate at identifying urine spots in a wide variety of illumination and contrast settings. The overwhelming …

Predicting The Impact Of Rare Variants On Rna Splicing In Cagi6., Jenny Lord, Carolina Jaramillo Oquendo, Htoo A Wai, Andrew G L Douglas, David J Bunyan, Yaqiong Wang, Zhiqiang Hu, Zishuo Zeng, Daniel Danis, Panagiotis Katsonis, Amanda Williams, Olivier Lichtarge, Yuchen Chang, Richard D Bagnall, Stephen M Mount, Brynja Matthiasardottir, Chiaofeng Lin, Thomas Van Overeem Hansen, Raphael Leman, Alexandra Martins, Claude Houdayer, Sophie Krieger, Constantina Bakolitsa, Yisu Peng, Akash Kamandula, Predrag Radivojac, Diana Baralle

Faculty Research 2025

Variants which disrupt splicing are a frequent cause of rare disease that have been under-ascertained clinically. Accurate and efficient methods to predict a variant's impact on splicing are needed to interpret the growing number of variants of unknown significance (VUS) identified by exome and genome sequencing. Here, we present the results of the CAGI6 Splicing VUS challenge, which invited predictions of the splicing impact of 56 variants ascertained clinically and functionally validated to determine splicing impact. The performance of 12 prediction methods, along with SpliceAI and CADD, was compared on the 56 functionally validated variants. The maximum accuracy achieved was …

Cascades, A Novel Sox2 Super-Enhancer-Associated Long Noncoding Rna, Regulates Cancer Stem Cell Specification And Differentiation In Glioblastoma., Uswa Shahzad, Marina Nikolopoulos, Christopher Li, Michael Johnston, Jenny J Wang, Nesrin Sabha, Frederick S Varn, Alexandra Riemenschneider, Stacey Krumholtz, Pranathi Meda Krishnamurthy, Christian A Smith, Jason Karamchandani, Jonathan K Watts, Roel G W Verhaak, Marco Gallo, James T Rutka, Sunit Das

Faculty Research 2025

Glioblastoma is the most common primary malignant brain tumor in adults, with a median survival of just over 1 year. The failure of available treatments to achieve remission in patients with glioblastoma (GBM) has been attributed to the presence of cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are thought to play a central role in tumor development and progression and serve as a treatment-resistant cell repository capable of driving tumor recurrence. In fact, the property of "stemness" itself may be responsible for treatment resistance. In this study, we identify a novel long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), cancer stem cell-associated distal enhancer of SOX2 …

Melanocortin 4 Receptor-Dependent Mechanism Of Acth In Preventing Anxiety-Like Behaviors And Normalizing Astrocyte Proteins After Early Life Seizures., Mohamed R Khalife, Colin Villarin, Juan Manuel Ruiz, Sam A Mcclelland, Khalil Abed Rabbo, J Matthew Mahoney, Rod C Scott, Amanda E Hernan

Faculty Research 2025

Epilepsy, affecting millions globally, often leads to significant cognitive and psychiatric comorbidities, particularly in children. Anxiety and depression are particularly prevalent, with roughly a quarter of pediatric epilepsy patients having a comorbid diagnosis. Current treatments inadequately address these issues. Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), a melanocortin peptide, has shown promise in mitigating deficits after early-life seizures (ELS), potentially through mechanisms beyond its canonical action on the melanocortin 2 receptor. This study explores the hypothesis that recurrent ELS is associated with long-term anxiety and that treatment with ACTH can prevent this anxiety through a mechanism that involves the melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) in …

Real-Time Prediction Of Dynamical Systems Using A Hybrid Analog Computer: Network Traffic Modeling, Majd Zuhair Tahat

Doctoral Dissertations

As the number of online users grows exponentially, the number and severity of cyber threats escalate, urgently requiring advancements in real-time network modeling and response. Swiftly predicting and analyzing network traffic is crucial for effective network monitoring and control, preventing cyber breaches, and maintaining healthy network functionality. This research presents a novel approach to real-time modeling based on analyzing evolving properties and patterns in a dynamical network system using a hybrid analog-digital computer. An analog computer was utilized as a co-processor to compute differential equations that model the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) window size. A comparative analysis was conducted between …

A Human-In-The-Loop Framework For Scalable And Interpretable Event Triaging In Large-Scale Systems, Ibrahim Khaled Al-Agha

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents a comprehensive and scalable framework for real-time fault detection and event triage in industrial systems, addressing critical challenges such as class imbalance, ambiguous feature boundaries, and the prioritization of complex, high-dimensional event data. The proposed framework integrates advanced methodologies, including micro-batch processing, retrospective divergence-based event detection (DB-RED), association rule mining (ARM), clustering, and Dempster-Shafer Theory (DST) for conflict resolution. Together, these components enable the systematic stratification of events into actionable priority levels, ensuring robust and interpretable decision-making in real-time environments. DB-RED forms the cornerstone of the framework, leveraging KL-divergence and PE-divergence metrics to detect subtle and transient …

A Preliminary Report Of The Carotenoid Assessment In Adults 50 Years Of Age And Older In Louisiana, Mary-Catherine Feazell

Master's Theses

Fruits and vegetables are at the core of a healthy, balanced diet. They assist in preventing the development of chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer (Fadnes, et al., 2022). Aging is a natural biological process followed by disease, cognitive impairment, and a natural decline of the body’s ability to perform at its best. The older adult population is currently the fastest-growing population globally (El-Shebiney et al., 2022). Vitamin A is crucial for several parts of the body to function correctly. Despite the positive effects of Vitamin A on the body, the recommended dietary intake is not …