Digital Commons Network^™

Bibliometric Analysis Of Tour Guide Performance: Trends, Influential Publications, And Emerging Research Themes, Aybuke Ozsoy, Nese Yilmaz

Journal of Global Business Insights

The quality of tours is significantly influenced by tour guides’ communication skills, regional knowledge, and storytelling abilities. Guide effectiveness depends on factors such as training, skill development, and professionalism in guest care. Given their pivotal role in shaping tour quality and experiences, the literature consistently highlights these effects. The present study aims to make a comprehensive contribution to the existing knowledge in the field by analyzing the academic literature on the performance of tour guides using bibliometric methods. Analysis reveals that the most cited publications on tour guide performance are found in tourism and management journals, such as Tourism Management. …

The Relationship Between Cognitive Status And Personality In Persons With And Without Dementia: Age And Gender Influences, Molly Berg

Theses and Dissertations

Within the aging population, dementia, a neurodegenerative disease that greatly impairs cognition and daily functioning, has become more prevalent and a worldwide concern. An important aspect of detection of dementia is assessment of cognition, including use of cognitive screening instruments. Assessing factors that influence cognition and dementia, such as age and gender differences, is an important line of research. Personality has also demonstrated a relationship to dementia risk and performance across several cognitive domains. This study examined the influences of age and gender on the association between cognition and personality in individuals with and without dementia. Data was collected from …

Stakeholder Views On Lessons Learned For The Antimicrobial Resistance Panel From Previous International Science Panels [Version 1], Iruka N. Okeke, Ayodele A. Akinyele, Javier Guzman, Kevin Outterson

Faculty Scholarship

The United Nations General Assembly called in September 2024 for the establishment of an independent panel for actionable evidence against antimicrobial resistance (IPEA). The task of designing the panel was given to the Quadripartite Joint Secretariat (QJS) on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) with a delivery timeline of 15 months. To promote stakeholder thought and input around what this panel should look like and how it should work, which could feed into the QJS’s consultation process, we independently commissioned seven papers to examine lessons that could be learned from other high-level scientific panels. We then called a convening of stakeholders that were …

Amicus In Trump V. Cook: The Fed, Offices As Property, And The Meaning Of “Cause”, Jed Handelsman Shugerman

Faculty Scholarship

The Federal Reserve Act states that “each member shall hold office for a term of fourteen years from the expiration of the term of his predecessor, unless sooner removed for cause by the President.” 12 U.S.C. § 242. Based on the historical record, when Congress creates an office with a fixed term of years and protects against removal without “cause,” Congress has both granted “a constitutionally protected property interest” under the Fifth Amendment (that cannot be taken away without “due process”) and extended a statutory entitlement to receive fair notice and a meaningful opportunity to respond before any removal may …

Organizing For Abolition In Ice Custody, Sarah R. Sherman-Stokes

Faculty Scholarship

The final Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) detainees were released from the Irwin County Detention Center in early September 2021.² A court did not order the end of ICE detention at Irwin. A social movement, led by people detained at Irwin, had a pronounced impact on the epistemological landscape and changed both normative principles and public opinion.³ Those detained at Irwin organized and acted to create new understanding of law and protect their rights in ways that courts and legislatures could not. This Essay tells the story of that demosprudential project; a dialectic between legal elites and people …

Latinos In Massachusetts Selected Areas: Chelsea, Phillip Granberry, Florita Coto Tristán

Gastón Institute Publications

Established in 1989, the Massachusetts Legislature created the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy in response to a need for an improved understanding of the Latino experience in the commonwealth. Now in its 34th year, the Gastón Institute continues its mission of informing the public and policymakers about issues vital to the state’s growing Latino community and providing information and analysis necessary for effective Latino participation in public policy development. To learn more about the Gastón Institute, visit: www.umb.edu/gastoninstitute

Beech Bark Disease Agent Responses To Exogenous Application Of Tree Defense Inducing Phytohormones, Erin Reilly

Master's Theses and Capstones

Pathogens and insects face several barriers to successful infection and colonization of a host plant, including a range of physical and chemical defenses, some of which are inducible (modified or initiated by attack or infection). These interactions can be complex and are influenced by environmental conditions, tree physiological status, host age, and timing of attack. Non-native pathogens and insects can have an advantage against a plant’s evolved chemical defenses, but they are also subject to abiotic stressors and conditions. In North America, beech bark disease (BBD) is a disease complex where the beech (Fagus grandifolia) host is subject to concurrent …

Stand-In Standing, Matthew I. Hall

Scholarly Works

When the interests of a state, or of the federal government, are at issue in a lawsuit, those interests are typically represented by the Executive branch. But not always: The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that states, and the federal government, may delegate their claims to non-governmental litigants in some circumstances. But the Court has never defined the exact boundaries of when stand-in standing is permitted. And states have recently begun to exploit this doctrinal uncertainty, by enacting laws that are arguably, and in some cases flagrantly, unconstitutional, but outsourcing the enforcement of those laws to private individuals. The avowed …

A Dynamic Hierarchical Attention Framework For Multimodal Malware Detection, Tamanna Nazmin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The increasing use of Android in the worldwide mobile ecosystem has come along with a significant increase in advanced malware, highlighting the critical necessity for efficient, scalable, and adaptable detection systems. Despite recent advancements in machine learning improving malware detection, the majority of current solutions are limited to one, two, or three data modalities, hence neglecting the comprehensive behavioral spectrum of contemporary multi-vector threats. This thesis presents the first comprehensive multimodal framework for Android malware detection, which combines textual, time-series (temporal), graph-based (structural), and visual information using an innovative hierarchical attention mechanism and Dynamic Fusion Controller(DFC). Our methodology consistently classifies …

Leviathans And Liberation: Did Whaling Contribute To The Decline Of Slavery?, Topher L. Mcdougal, Austin Choi‐Fitzpatrick

School of Peace Studies: Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Identification Of Metabolic Pathways And Hub Genes Associated With Ultrasound Subcutaneous Fat And Muscle Depth Of The Longissimus Muscle In Cull Beef Cows Using Gene Co-Expression Analysis, Harshraj Shinde, Kyle R. Mcleod, Jeffrey W. Lehmkuhler

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Beef production is an important component of the world’s food supply, with production being near 59 million tons in 2023 (USDA, 2023). Enhancing our understanding of the factors influencing metabolism will lead to improvements in production efficiency. Using RNA-seq and WGCNA of longissimus muscle samples, gene expression and metabolic pathway analyses were performed to examine relationships with ultrasound and body mass variables. In this study, body weight (BW), ultrasound back fat (BF), ultrasound muscle depth (MD), and body condition score (BCS) were traits recorded for 18 cull beef cows. As expected, all production-related traits monitored (WT, BF, MD, and BCS) …

Durability, Mechanical, And Corrosion Characteristics Of Recycled Aggregate Concrete Utilizing Locally Sourced Waste And Ultrafine Cerium Oxide, Ansam Hashim, Rana Anaee, Mohammed Nasr

Journal of Applied Sciences and Nanotechnology

This study seeks to identify an environmentally sustainable method for utilizing the synergetic effects of window glass (WG), ceramic powder (CP), and ultrafine cerium oxide (UFC) in developing concrete containing 25% coarse ceramic aggregate. Four different mixtures were formulated. The first represents control, consisting of 100% ordinary Portland cement (OPC), two other mixtures were composed of 10% WG, 10% CP and 80% OPC, and the fourth mixture consisted of four compositions of 79.5% OPC, 10% WG, 10% CP, and 0.5% UFC. The effect of these additives on recycled ceramic concrete (RA) properties, including workability and setting time, compressive strength, total …

Lit 391.01: 20th-Century American Women Writers: Space And Place At The Border Lands, Ann E. Emmons

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Lit 391.02: War And Peace In Ireland, Eric J. Reimer

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Writ 201.01: College Writing Ii - The Art Of The Essay, Jolie B. Smith

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

How The Inter-Nucleon Force Shapes Emergent Collectivity And Imparts Uncertainties In Ab Initio Nuclear Observables, Kevin Becker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The importance of collective motion in atomic nuclei has been well-established for many decades. Even before the advent of the nuclear shell model and its much-needed answers to surprising empirical phenomena, collectivity and surface deformation have played a vital role in broadening our knowledge. Reconciling the collective and single-particle camps into a unified description required tremendous strides in the application of group theory and advances in high-performance supercomputing, and thanks to these efforts the symmetry-adapted no-core shell model, or SA-NCSM, has developed into a reliable model for the study of deformed light and medium-mass nuclei. State-of-the-art calculations reveal remarkably simple …

Acute Loss Of Tactile Input Leads To General Compensatory Changes In Eye-Hand Coordination During Object Manipulation, Kevin Ung, John F Magnotti, Brandon Kim, Jeffrey M Yau, Per F Nordmark

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Current models of motor control emphasize the critical role of sensory feedback, as demonstrated by movement coordination deficits following sensory impairment. When both vision and touch are available for object-oriented manual behaviors, they serve distinct roles; vision guides the execution of planned movements, while touch provides more direct feedback on hand-object interactions. The impact of losing somatosensory feedback on eye-hand coordination during dexterous object manipulation tasks has not been thoroughly studied. Conceivably, vision is recruited to compensate for the feedback lost when touch is abolished based on the dexterity demands of the behavior. To investigate this, we tested healthy participants …

High-Resolution Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography Reliability And Accuracy Of Bone Density And Morphology Properties In Children, Roman J Shypailo, Chadi Calarge, Punam K Saha, Xiaoliu Zhang, Xiaojie Chen, Stephanie Dinh, Xiaofan Huang, Babette S Zemel, Fida Bacha

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Volumetric bone density, microarchitecture, and strength measures using HR-pQCT are valuable measures of bone health in pediatrics. Our cross-sectional study evaluated bone measure reproducibility in pediatric participants using repeat HR-pQCT (XtremeCT II, Scanco Medical) scans of non-dominant distal tibia and radius of 30 healthy children and adolescents (7-17 yr, 47% female) by 2 technicians. Additionally, we examined HR-pQCT and micro-CT of 26 cadaveric distal tibia specimens to evaluate agreement between the modalities. All HR-pQCT scans were analyzed using manufacturer-provided software (Image Processing Language, Scanco Medical) and a fully automated, previously validated, in-house algorithm, offering measures of bone microstructure (eg, trabecular …

From The Great Recession To The Post-Covid 19 Pandemic U.S. Municipal Fiscal Condition: “Austerity Urbanism,” “Pragmatic Municipalism” And On-Going Explanatory Challenges, Mark Davidson, Kevin Ward

Geography

How much did the Great Recession change U.S. municipal budgetary and fiscal governance? According to an academic literature that subsequently emerged, the period saw a combination of both change and continuity. The work offered two distinct ways to explain and understand the emerging context: austerity urbanism and pragmatic municipalism. This paper reviews these explanations with the goal of showing how and why they developed contrasting conceptualizations. We argue differing epistemological approaches underpin the two competing approaches. Understanding these differences is, we argue, critical for moving forward. The COVID 19 pandemic saw another round of changes to U.S. municipal budgetary and …

Evaluating The Consistency Of Smarcb1 Variant Classification And Assertions Of Genotype-Phenotype Relationships In Clinvar, Samarth Satish, Matan Bone, Deborah Ritter, Sharon E Plon

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Pathogenic SMARCB1 variants are associated with multiple Mendelian syndromes: Schwannomatosis (SM), Rhabdoid Tumour Predisposition Syndrome (RTPS1), and/or Coffin-Siris Syndrome (CSS). Although some data suggests genotype/phenotype relationships based on mutation type and location, this is not used consistently potentially due to inconsistent or absent phenotypic data. We used ClinVar, the largest public platform of variant classifications, to evaluate variant-specific data from clinical laboratories and cited publications to assess reporting consistency and genotype-phenotype relationships. When available, we extracted the mutation type, HGVS nomenclature, submitters, publications, and disease conditions. We compared the disease assertions made by laboratory submissions with those made in cited …

Computational Analysis Of Dna Methylation From Long-Read Sequencing, Yilei Fu, Winston Timp, Fritz J Sedlazeck

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

DNA methylation is a critical epigenetic mechanism in numerous biological processes, including gene regulation, development, ageing and the onset of various diseases such as cancer. Studies of methylation are increasingly using single-molecule long-read sequencing technologies to simultaneously measure epigenetic states such as DNA methylation with genomic variation. These long-read data sets have spurred the continuous development of advanced computational methods to gain insights into the roles of methylation in regulating chromatin structure and gene regulation. In this Review, we discuss the computational methods for calling methylation signals, contrasting methylation between samples, analysing cell-type diversity and gaining additional genomic insights, and …

Unravelling The Global Tapestry Of Genetic Ataxias: Epidemiology And Genetic Testing Approaches, Malco Rossi, Christopher D Stephen, Joana Damásio, José Luiz Pedroso, Sheng-Han Kuo, Chi-Ying R Lin, Oluwadamilola Ojo, Shaimaa El-Jaafary, Woong-Woo Lee, Harutyun Madoev, Orlando G P Barsottini, Achal Kumar Srivastava, Christine Klein, Bart P Van De Warrenburg

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The landscape of genetic ataxias is influenced by migration, population genetics, consanguinity, and founder effects, resulting in significant regional variation. Within the expanding domain of genetic ataxias, knowledge of regional epidemiology is scarce, particularly outside of North America and Europe. Understanding the epidemiology of genetic ataxias, together with deep phenotyping and knowledge of the appropriate ancillary studies, is crucial for the development and deployment of diagnostic testing strategies. This review offers a comprehensive, data-driven overview of 2932 articles with regional epidemiological estimates and the occurrence and prevalence of 548 genes associated with ataxia across 122 countries. Regional differences in epidemiology …

A “Re-Imagining The Economic Value Of Nursing” Summit Summary And Recommendations, Olga Yakusheva, Marianne E. Weiss, Tanya Mulvey, Anabel F. Castillo, Marcela Campoli

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

In April 2024, the ANA Enterprise sponsored a “Re-imagining the Economic Value of Nursing” Summit to move the conversation forward on recognizing and leveraging the economic value of nursing within organizations across the US healthcare system. Invited participants engaged in a spirited dialogue about reconceptualizing nurses as critical assets in generating value within the production and financial dynamics of contemporary healthcare systems. This article summarizes the discussion and recommendations emerging from the summit.

In healthcare organizations and systems, nurse executives are the bridge between the production of patient care by the nursing workforce and the organizational financial performance. Historically, nursing …

Performance Evaluation Of Kytc Bridge Deck Overlays Used For Maintenance Activities, Sudhir Palle, Christopher Goff

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

State departments of transportation use bridge deck overlay systems to prolong bridge deck service lives. Consisting of a thin layer of material applied to a concrete bridge deck surface, overlays form a protective barrier that improves ride quality, protects embedded reinforcement from harsh environmental conditions, enhances structure durability, and improves deck drainage. Over the past 20 years, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has made significant investments in overlays, rehabilitating nearly 5,000 bridge decks with them — roughly ¹/₃ of all bridges statewide. Given the significant investment in overlays, and the fact they degrade over time — eventually re-exposing bridge …

Strong External Difference Families And Classification Of Α-Valuations, Donald L. Kreher, Maura B. Paterson, Douglas R. Stinson

Michigan Tech Publications

One method of constructing (Formula presented.) -SEDFs (i.e., strong external difference families) in (Formula presented.) makes use of (Formula presented.) -valuations of complete bipartite graphs (Formula presented.). We explore this approach and we provide a classification theorem which shows that all such (Formula presented.) -valuations can be constructed recursively via a sequence of “blow-up” operations. We also enumerate all (Formula presented.) -SEDFs in (Formula presented.) for (Formula presented.) and we show that all these SEDFs are equivalent to (Formula presented.) -valuations via affine transformations. Whether this holds for all (Formula presented.) as well is an interesting open problem. We also …

Mechanisms Underlying Treatment-Resistant Depression: Exploring Sex-Based Biological Differences, Francisco E R Da Silva, Atakan Yucel, Antonio P M Menezes, Ana C Ruiz, Marcela C Carbajal Tamez, Tatiana Barichello, Giselli Scaini, Joao Quevedo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) represents a severe and complex subtype of major depressive disorder (MDD), affecting approximately 30% of patients who fail to respond adequately to multiple standard antidepressant therapies. While the pathophysiology of TRD remains incompletely understood, emerging evidence suggests that sex-based biological differences might influence its onset, progression, and treatment response. Women are disproportionately affected by depression and are more likely to experience residual symptoms and treatment resistance, potentially due to hormonal fluctuations, immune system differences, and variations in brain circuitry and neuroplasticity. This narrative explores the current literature on the mechanisms underlying TRD, with a particular emphasis on …

Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Principles Of Powerful Preaching, Alain Coralie

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Leveraging Existing Cohort Studies Of Mexican Women To Better Understand Hispanic Health And Cancer Risk, Dalia Stern, Liliana Gomez-Flores-Ramos, Britton Trabert, V Wendy Setiawan, Loïc Le Marchand, Henry Gomez, Paul A Scheet, Humberto Parada, Amber Pirzada, Martin Lajous, Leslie V Farland

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Hispanics have been historically underrepresented in epidemiologic cancer research. Existing cohort studies focused on recruiting Hispanic participants have been relatively small, making studying cancer outcomes challenging. Therefore, we aimed to compare the distribution of cancer risk factors among Hispanic women of Mexican heritage (HWMH) participating in existing cohorts to explore the possibility of future data pooling efforts.

Methods: We used baseline data of HWMH from three US-based studies, the Mexican American Cohort (MAC; n = 19,797; 2001-2017), the Multiethnic Cohort (MEC; n = 18,007; 1993-1996), and the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL; n = 4,022; 2008-2011), and …

Other Teachers' Classrooms: Multilingual Paraprofessional Teachers' Hypothetical Language Policy Implementation Narratives, Faythe Beauchemin, Rebecca Carpenter De Cortina, Jessica Somerville-Braun

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this article, we draw upon an ethnographic approach to language policy to explore how multilingual paraprofessionals enrolled in a Grow Your Own teacher education program in a Mid-Southern, semi-rural U.S. town experienced and imagined attempts to implement more inclusive language policies through hypothetical narratives. Findings illustrate how paraprofessionals narrated their marginalization working alongside classroom teachers, their agency as they imagined possibilities for future classrooms, and their solidarity with each other in negotiating more inclusive language policies.

Examining The Impact Of Area Deprivation On Endovascular Stroke Therapy Access, Joseph N Samaha, Ngoc Mai Le, Emmanuel C Ebirim, Rania Abdelkhaleq, Sergio A Salazar Marioni, Muhammad Bilal Tariq, Ananya Iyyangar, Anjan Nagesh, Hussain Azeem, Arash Niktabe, Sunil A Sheth

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Equitable access to health care is heavily affected by socioeconomic factors. However, the effects of such disparities in accessing life-saving treatments remain incompletely characterized. Here we explore the impact of disparities on access to endovascular treatments for large vessel occlusion acute ischemic stroke.

Methods: From our prospectively maintained multihospital registry, we identified patients with large vessel occlusion acute ischemic stroke from January 2019-June 2020. Patient addresses and zip codes were matched to census-tract level area deprivation index (ADI) scores that were obtained from Neighborhood Atlas. ADI is a validated neighborhood-level measure that uses variables such as income, education, and …