Digital Commons Network^™

Cytokine-Based Strategies To Improve Prognostic Enrichment Of Pediatric Ards., E Scott Halstead, Todd M. Umstead, Zissis C. Chroneos, Cainan Riccio-Baum, S Rameeza Allie, Daniel J. Mckeone, Debbie Spear, Ryan A. Nofziger, Ronald C. Sanders, Danielle Ahn, Jasmine C. Dowell, Asdis Finnsdottir Wagner, Neal J. Thomas, Prithvi Sendi, W Joshua Frazier, Courtney M. Rowan, Parag N. Jain, Dalia A. Bashir, Stuart H. Friess, Brian M. Varisco, Jocelyn Grunwell, Aline B. Maddux, Stephen T. Famularo, Nadir Yehya

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Hyper-inflammation is common to multiple critical care syndromes, including acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and sepsis, and is associated with worse outcomes. A signature of hyper-inflammatory ARDS has been described in adults using IL-6, TNFR1, and bicarbonate, and has prognostic utility. We investigated the application of this traditional parsimonious signature to pediatric ARDS patients and tested whether we could improve prognostic enrichment using other cytokines.

METHODS: We leveraged a prospective multicenter cohort study of 500 children with ARDS (Linking Endotypes and Outcomes in Pediatric Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome [LEOPARDS]; NCT04113434) study. Plasma samples were obtained within 24 h of …

Can Laws Be Flexible? Rethinking Legislation For Innovation, Nicholson W. Price Ii, Nick K. Schneider, Ariel Dora Stem, Jochen K. Lennerz

Articles

Agile legislation adapts principles from agile software development to lawmaking, emphasizing iteration, multi-stakeholder feedback, and embedded revision. We outline this learning-oriented governance model using three case studies: Germany’s stepwise digital health legislation, the EU AI Act, and U.S. FDA user-fee reauthorization. These examples highlight legislative designs that enable structured generation of real-world data and evidence during implementation, informing regulatory interpretation and iterative refinement in rapidly evolving technological domains.

Spikerff: Learning Forward With Layer-Local Plasticity And Semi-Hard Negatives, Karthik Tumkur Kumar

Theses

Effective contrastive learning relies on choosing useful, informative "hard" negative samples. Current hard negative sampling methods designed for traditional artificial neural networks (ANNs) are, in general, computationally costly and are ill-suited to account for the temporal structure relevant to neuromorphic data. To tackle these issues, in this work, we formulate a similarity-guided semi-hard negative sampling strategy for neuromorphic computing based on spiking neural networks (SNNs). We propose SpikeRFF (Spiking Recurrent Forward-Forward), a gradient-free and unsupervised recurrent spiking framework that combines layer-local Forward-Forward learning with semi-hard negative selection and temporally structured negative construction. Positive samples are encouraged to produce high goodness, …

What’S Kept, Caitlin Smith

Theses

This thesis examines the collective psychological aftermath of de-industrialization in a rust belt city, processed through perspectives of nostalgia and betrayal. By reframing childhood memories of instability and inherited narratives, a framework is established for investigating the modalities through which love and attachment may obscure entangled harm, and how grief operates across both collective and personal registers. Found objects are situated as sites of projection where memories are abstracted and reconstituted. The processes of decay and weathering serve as analogues for psychological trauma, reframing deterioration as an inevitable and generative condition. Natural elements act as metaphors for neutrality, challenging imposed …

Enhancing Validation Of Case-Control Omics Signatures Through "Minimalist" Single-Subject Analysis (N-Of-1 Trials): Proof Of Concept In Sepsis, Liam S Wilson, Nima Pouladi, Rachel F Nelson, Elizabeth A Middleton, Neal D Tolley, Mahdieh Shabanian, Colleen Kenost, Robert A Campbell, Matthew T Rondina, Yves A Lussier

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate if a single-subject study (S3) design, utilizing paired transcriptome samples from the same patient (eg, "sepsis" vs "recovered"), can replicate transcriptomic signatures from small case-control studies, addressing challenges in patient accrual for rare or sub-stratified diseases.

METHODS: We generated a sepsis gene signature (SGS) comprising 300 differentially expressed genes (DEGs; FDR <  5%) from a human sepsis case-control cohort using general linear models (GLMs). Reproducibility of SGS was assessed through three approaches applied to sub-sampled independent datasets: single-subject analyses (N-of-1-MixEnrich), anticipated to perform better; conventional paired-sample GLM analyses; and a traditional case-control GLM analysis.

RESULTS: SGS reproducibility in GLM analyses was inconsistent at smaller cohort sizes (∼80% reproducibility; n = 5) but stabilized at cohort sizes >6. Remarkably, the single-subject-study approach consistently reproduced SGS in each of the 18 subjects individually (100% reproducibility; n = 1).

DISCUSSION: Conventional GLMs are …

When Ecology Encounters Industry: Dynamics Of Local Community And Floodings In The Bahodopi Morowali Mining Area Of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, Yahya Yahya, Muhammad Junaidi

Forest and Society

The expansion of extractive industries, particularly nickel mining, has become a major driver of socio-ecological transformation and forest loss in the Global South. In Bahodopi, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, downstream industrial policies and global energy transition demands have rapidly transformed forested, agrarian, and coastal landscapes into industrial frontiers. This study exposes the green transition paradox, wherein global decarbonization efforts inadvertently produce severe environmental destruction and localized ecological crises at the resource frontier. Drawing on a political ecology framework and ethnographic fieldwork, this article examines recurrent flooding as a socio-ecological process shaped by mining expansion, political deforestation, and unequal power relations among …

Usa V. Brandon Aumiller

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Income Tax Over-Withholding And Household Investment Decisions, Xi Novia Chen, Jungbae Kim, Ben Lourie, Chenqi Zhu

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Over three-quarters of U.S. taxpayers over-withhold taxes, leading to tax refunds. This study explores how over-withholding impacts stock investments by comparing individuals' investment patterns from wages and tax refunds. We find that while some portion of tax refunds are promptly invested, the investment rate is lower than that of wages. This suggests that over-withholding, which alters the label and timing of wages into refunds, influences investment behavior. Our cross-sectional analysis indicates that the differential propensity to invest wages versus tax refunds are more pronounced for individuals with automatic investment setups and lower financial sophistication. These findings underscore the importance of …

Procedural Drift: How Judicial Restraint Enables Legalized Backsliding, Dessie Otachliska

Washington and Lee Law Review

This Article introduces Procedural Drift, a new theory of constitutional erosion in which legality itself enables democratic decline. Legal forms remain intact, but their constraining force quietly recedes as procedural doctrines withdraw courts from sites of contestation. Executive power expands not by defying law, but by strategically complying with it—exploiting judicial restraint to evade review.

Building on Bruce Ackerman’s theory of constitutional moments and Kim Lane Scheppele’s concept of autocratic legalism, this Article develops a U.S.-specific account of democratic backsliding that is lawful, gradual, and institutionally embedded. It traces how judicial restraint—operating amid partisan alignment and epistemic fragmentation—erodes legal checks …

Reimagining International Investment Law For The Age Of Minerals, Taylor Nchako

Washington and Lee Law Review

New technologies––from artificial intelligence (AI) and electric vehicles to medical devices and consumer electronics––demand an ever-increasing amount of minerals like lithium, cobalt, and copper. The United States requires these aptly named “critical” minerals to develop AI infrastructure, advance the clean energy transition, and remain economically competitive. As technology continues to advance at an astonishing pace, the U.S. has grown increasingly interested in securing critical minerals from sources in Africa. To obtain critical minerals, the U.S. must utilize investment treaties in its business dealings with African countries. At the same time, international investment law has garnered increased attention due to a …

Fur, Feathers, And Frameworks: The Federal Legal Landscape Of Animal Welfare In The United States And Switzerland, Michael Melch

Washington and Lee Law Review

The United States relies on a predominantly utilitarian, welfarist framework that regulates certain uses of animals while preserving their status as property. Switzerland embeds the concept of animal dignity in its constitutional and statutory law, formally recognizing animals as beings with intrinsic worth. This foundational divergence produces significant doctrinal and practical differences, including the breadth of species covered, the structure of legal obligations, and the normative goals of regulation.

This Note provides a comparative analysis of animal welfare laws in the United States and Switzerland, exploring their philosophical, legal, and practical dimensions. It examines the U.S.’s utilitarian approach, exemplified by …

Litigating The Youth Mental Health Crisis: Mechanisms To Regulate Addictive Social Media Design, Talia Elliott

Washington and Lee Law Review

While social media offers real benefits to users, such as providing access to information and facilitating the free exchange of ideas, excessive social media use is associated with increases in anxiety, depression, and other serious mental-health harms. Social media platforms are designed to maximize profit by capturing user attention, resulting in interfaces that are dangerously addictive and prone to exposing users to harmful content. Currently, social media users alone bear the burden of navigating the dangers of social media. This is untenable. Young users, whose less developed brains leave them more vulnerable to addictive design features, find self-regulation especially challenging. …

Cohesive Zone Modelling Of Fiber–Matrix Interface In Composite Materials, Arjun Myadam

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Carbon Fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are widely used in aerospace, automotive, and structural applications due to their high specific strength, stiffness, and design flexibility. Their mechanical performance is critically governed by the fiber–matrix interface which controls stress transfer and directly influences damage initiation, crack propagation, and fracture behaviour. The interface properties are quantified through the Interfacial Shear Strength (IFSS) and fracture energy, both serving as key indicators of composite integrity. Effective interfacial bonding is therefore essential to the composite’s strength. Nanoscale fiber surface modifications provide a promising approach to enhance interfacial bonding and can also impart multifunctionality. These multifunctionalities can …

Experimental-Motion-Driven Cfd Investigation Of Slosh Dynamics In Propellant Tanks Of Spacecraft And Launch Vehicles, Priyanshu Savaliya

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Liquid sloshing in partially filled propellant tanks can generate transient forces and moments that affect spacecraft and launch vehicle stability, guidance, and control. This research develops a one-way experimental-to-Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) integration framework to investigate free-surface slosh behavior under realistic excitation conditions.

The overarching goal of this thesis is to develop and evaluate a one-way experimental-motion-driven computational framework for predicting liquid slosh response in a partially filled cylindrical tank. Rather than relying on idealized sinusoidal inputs, this work uses experimentally measured actuator-feedback motion as the prescribed excitation for high-fidelity CFD. The central objective is to establish the experimental and …

Enhancing Virtual Reality Cockpit Procedure Training With Haptic Feedback, Christian K. Jaedicke

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Pilot training is time-consuming and costly, and not all phases require full-flight simulators or actual aircraft. Virtual reality (VR) offers a potential means to reduce cost and duration while supporting practical cockpit procedure training. While prior research in the VR domain suggests that providing haptic feedback can support training of muscular control and increase perceived immersion, it remains unclear whether haptic feedback improves spatial cognition in an unfamiliar VR environment. This study examined whether haptic feedback and cockpit complexity affected response time and position error under limited-visibility, time-constrained conditions in a VR cockpit environment (i.e., a quasi-blindfold cockpit check).

Grounded …

Taking The Thumb Off The Scale: Rebalancing Parental And Children’S Rights To Empower Child Protective Services, Sebastian Wagner

Utah Law Review

This Note provides background on the current legal framework of state prevention of child maltreatment in the United States. It discusses parental rights and the Parental Rights Doctrine, child rights in the United States, and how states prevent child maltreatment through child protective service agencies.

This Note also explores the legal landscape surrounding the balance of parental rights and children’s rights in child welfare cases. One of the central issues in the current framework is how the Parental Rights Doctrine can significantly limit the state’s ability to intervene in cases where children are at risk. State intervention, governed by vague …

The Law Of Health Equity, Govind Persad

Utah Law Review

Since 2025, health equity has faced increasing hostility from federal courts, agencies, and the executive branch. Yet health equity’s promise— to narrow stark health gaps along racial, economic, and other lines— remains urgent and widely endorsed by states, localities, and nongovernmental actors. Evaluating how health equity efforts might falter under or surmount these challenges requires understanding their legal underpinnings: the law of health equity.

This Article is the first in legal scholarship to comprehensively examine federal, state, and private sector health equity commitments. It reveals sustained societal recognition of health equity’s importance, while highlighting the need for more precise and …

Deporting Disability, Tania N. Valdez

Utah Law Review

Since the enactment of the earliest migration laws in the United States, people with disabilities have been targeted for exclusion and expulsion based on stereotypes that they are either dangerous or not productive. Although some of the pejorative language regarding disability in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) has changed over time, certain statutory provisions and the very structure of the INA still allow ableism to operate broadly in immigration adjudications. This Article focuses on the subtle, but pervasive, ways that immigration law disfavors noncitizens with disabilities. In particular, this Article examines ableism in the context of removal (commonly known …

Abortion (Re)Federalization, Gerald S. Dickinson

Utah Law Review

 This Article examines how the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision has opened an unconventional pathway for the development of a new form of “bottom-up constitutionalism” that could reshape federal abortion rights in the future. Traditionally, federal constitutional law has exerted a dominant influence over state laws and state court jurisprudence. The uniformity in abortion protections nationwide for decades was a product of the Roe v. Wade era of federal supremacy. However, Dobbs reversed this dynamic by dramatically curtailing federal constitutional authority over abortion, thereby leaving states as primary rights regulators. This Article focuses on the …

Learning From Lochner: When Children Are Harmed By Technological Revolutions, Brooke Hodson Davies

Utah Law Review

Drawing on parallels from child labor reform in the Second Industrial Revolution, this Note argues that stopping Big Tech’s harm to children in the Fourth Industrial Revolution requires Congressional legislation and judicial avoidance of Lochnerian approaches to the Constitution. Like its Big Business predecessors, today Big Tech maximizes profits by harming kids, necessitating government intervention of this market failure. Despite noble attempts, state-based efforts have been rendered relatively ineffective due to legislative non-uniformity, interstate competition, and enforcement limitations. Likewise, federal regulations currently in place fall short and even shield Big Tech from liability. Consequently, Congressional action is urgently needed. Critically, …

“Retalhos De Mim Costurados Por Nós” (A Patchwork Of Me, Stitched Together By Us), Marjorye Graves

MFA in Dance Theses

This document represents the culmination of my thesis project "Retalhos de Mim Costurados por Nós" (A Patchwork of Me, Stitched Together by Us), a choreographic project integrating scholarly perspectives from Dance and Social Justice, Phenomenology, and Somatics courses. Employing both dance film and solo live performance, the research interrogates the complexities of identity within the overlapping contexts of immigration, domestic violence, and motherhood. Through an embodied praxis, the project addresses the intersection of adversity and resilience, highlighting the transformative potential of community, cultural inheritance, and spirituality in my healing process.

Characteristics Of Intensive Care Unit Registries - Findings From The Global Registry Icu Datasets (Grid) Survey, Luigi Pisani, Paola Lecce, Cornelius Sendagire, Vrindha Pari, Carlo Olivieri, Rabiul Uddin, Diptesh Aryal, Priyantha Athapattu, Sean Bagshaw, Wangari Siika

Anaesthesiology, East Africa

Background: Intensive care unit registries, which aim to improve the quality of intensive care unit care through benchmarking and quality improvement initiatives, are active worldwide, with considerable dishomogeneity. We aimed to map core datasets, additional variables, and research activities of these registries.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was disseminated to registry leads between October 2023 and June 2024. The survey was structured into four main topics: registry characteristics and coverage, core dataset features, additional modules, and registry-enabled research.

Results: Leads of 34/42 national registries responded (response rate 81%), covering 3,337 intensive care units, with a larger representation from …

Adjustment Challenges In The International Student Population At A Rural Mid-Size Midwestern University, Sara El Bizri Hussein

All NMU Master's Theses

This qualitative descriptive study explored the adjustment experiences of non-athlete international students attending a rural, mid-size Midwestern university and identified the challenges and supports that shaped their transition.

Guided by Berry’s acculturation framework and informed by theories of student integration and coping, data were collected through an initial survey and semi-structured interviews. Seven participants were interviewed. Interview transcripts were analyzed using open and focused coding procedures to identify recurring patterns and themes.

Analysis revealed that international student adjustment is multidimensional and influenced by social, academic, emotional, cultural, environmental, and structural factors. Three major themes emerged from the data: (1) Social …

Has Plant Domestication Compromised Plant Defensive Chemistry? Aphid Induced Stress In Tomatoes, Nhi Do, Satinderpal Kaur, Minxing Zhu, Esther N. Ngumbi

MICRO-CCS student projects

Tomato plants have natural defensive mechanisms.

Direct: Phenolics are secondary metabolites that can protect the plant by intoxicating the herbivores and/or producing strong repulsive odors.

Indirect: VOCs, Volatile Organic Chemicals, are gas phase signals that attract the predators of the attacking herbivore to the plant.

Domestication of plants may chemically alter these defenses by prioritizing fruit production over defensive traits.

We hypothesize that wild/ancient tomato plants would have a greater quantity of volatiles and increased concentration of leaf total phenolics compared to cultivated tomatoes during aphid herbivory.

Screening A Random Hile Mutant Library To Characterize Hild Regulation In Salmonella, Danista Kannah, Gracious Donkor, James M. Slauch

MICRO-CCS student projects

Salmonella is a leading cause of gastrointestinal diseases globally. It utilizes a type three secretion system (T3SS) encoded on Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 1 (SPI1) to invade host intestinal epithelial cells during infection.

HilE directly regulates HilD via a direct protein-protein interaction. The Slauch lab identified two HilD variants, A141V and A141T, which are blind to HilE. These variants activate hilA expression even in the presence of HilE, indicating that the binding of HilE to these mutants is compromised.

Hypothesis: Performing random mutagenesis of hilE could lead to changes at the protein level which could compensate for the loss of interaction …

Efficacy And Evolutionary Dynamics Of 222 Nm Far-Uvc Against Vibrio Cholerae, Kadicha Madakimova, Angus Wu, Nkrumah Grant

MICRO-CCS student projects

The Far-UVC light at 222 nm wavelength (UV222) is one of the emerging methods of disinfection of bacteria in public spaces such as hospitals and labs.

• Does not penetrate human skin and does not cause harm to eyes making it a safer alternative to conventional UV systems.

• Primarily targets proteins preventing regrowth and repair pathways.

However, the potential for bacterial adaptation following sublethal UV222 exposure remains largely unknown.

Central question: How does QS transcriptional state influence the efficacy and resistance profile of V. cholerae to UV222 nm irradiation?

Hypothesis: Qurom-sensing transcriptional state determines V. cholerae susceptibility to UV222 nm UV …

Empowering Women Farmers Through Leadership And Entrepreneurship: A Pathway To Sustainable Development In North‑East Nigeria, Freda Ijanada Fidelis, Faith Debaniyu Ibrahim

Studia i Materiały Wydział Zarządzania Uniwersytet Warszawski

Purpose: This study explores the role of leadership engagement, decision‑making autonomy, and access to finance in boosting the empowerment of rural women farmers in conflict‑affected areas of North‑East Nigeria. The objective is to furnish empirical evidence regarding the impact of these elements on women’s socioeconomic empowerment and entrepreneurial achievements, thereby contributing to the discourse on sustainable development.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The study utilises a quantitative research approach employing survey data obtained from 1,146 rural women recipients across three states in North‑East Nigeria. Data were analysed using advanced statistical approaches to test the hypothesised links between leadership engagement, decision‑making autonomy, financial access, and …

The Gravity Of The Ukraine War: Measuring Conflict Impacts On European Grain Trade, Stefan Bonchis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the heterogeneous structural disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine on the European Union’s agricultural trade architecture, focusing on three critical commodities: wheat, maize, and sunflower seeds. Employing a structural gravity model framework across all 27 EU Member States, the study evaluates two conflict episodes, the 2014 Crimea annexation and the 2022 full-scale invasion, to identify the net beneficiaries and heavily impacted nations within the EU agricultural trade network. The empirical strategy utilizes a dual-test design to capture the full scope of the disruption. Test A (Ukraine towards the EU trade) reveals a distinct geographic logic in …

Illusory Copyright And The Private Censorship Of Art History, Peter J. Karol

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

This article makes a simple but in its own way startling claim: much 20th century U.S. visual art is not protected by copyright. These works were regularly “published” when they were first exhibited for sale in commercial galleries, often marketed through contemporaneous illustrated catalogs, almost always without copyright notice of any kind. They were thereby placed in the public domain. What is remarkable is the extent to which this reality has been ignored by artist estates and foundations and other art industry players. They operate on the incorrect, self-serving and generally unexamined assumption that most 20th century American art is …

Free Expression And Civil Rights On Campus: Consistency And The Kant-Rawls Heuristic, David M. Schizer

Faculty Scholarship

Universities learned hard lessons in the months after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. 2023. This painful and challenging time highlighted the urgent need to pursue two critical goals, which sometimes are in tension with each other. First, universities have to protect academic freedom and free expression. This is their life blood. Second, universities also have to honor their legal and moral obligation to combat discrimination, including antisemitism.

Yet this is easier said than done. Protecting free expression means allowing speech that is controversial and even offensive. But this speech can contribute to a hostile environment. So, in seeking both …