Digital Commons Network^™

Cluster-Based Toxicity Estimation Of Osteoradionecrosis Via Unsupervised Machine Learning: Moving Beyond Single Dose-Parameter Normal Tissue Complication Probability By Using Whole Dose-Volume Histograms For Cohort Risk Stratification, Seyedmohammadhossein Hosseinian, Mehdi Hemmati, Cem Dede, Travis C Salzillo, Lisanne V Van Dijk, Stephen Y Lai, Clifton D Fuller

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Given the limitations of extant models for normal tissue complication probability estimation for osteoradionecrosis (ORN) of the mandible, the purpose of this study was to enrich statistical inference by exploiting structural properties of data and provide a clinically reliable model for ORN risk evaluation through an unsupervised-learning analysis that incorporates the whole radiation dose distribution on the mandible.

METHODS AND MATERIALS: The analysis was conducted on retrospective data of 1259 patients with head and neck cancer treated at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center between 2005 and 2015. During a minimum 12-month posttherapy follow-up period, 173 patients …

A Biallelic Variant Of The Rna Exosome Gene, Exosc4, Associated With Neurodevelopmental Defects Impairs Rna Exosome Function And Translation, Milo B Fasken, Sara W Leung, Lauryn A Cureton, Maha Al-Awadi, Adila Al-Kindy, Sohail Khoshnevis, Almundher Al-Maawali, Anita H Corbett

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The RNA exosome is an evolutionarily conserved complex required for both precise RNA processing and decay. Pathogenic variants in EXOSC genes, which encode structural subunits of this complex, are linked to several autosomal recessive disorders. Here, we describe a missense allele of the EXOSC4 gene that causes a collection of clinical features in two affected siblings. This missense variant (NM_019037.3: exon3:c.560T>C) changes a leucine residue within a conserved region of EXOSC4 to proline (p.Leu187Pro). The two affected individuals show prenatal growth restriction, failure to thrive, global developmental delay, intracerebral and basal ganglia calcifications, and kidney failure. Homozygosity for the …

T-Cell-Rich Hodgkin Lymphoma With Features Of Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma And Nodular Lymphocyte-Predominant Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Borderline Category With Overlapping Morphologic And Immunophenotypic Features, Siba El Hussein, Hong Fang, Fatima Zahra Jelloul, Wei Wang, Sanam Loghavi, Jonathan W Friedberg, Andrew G Evans, Jie Xu, L Jeffrey Medeiros

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Context.—: It is known that a subset of cases of classic Hodgkin lymphoma (CHL) with B-cell-rich nodules (lymphocyte-rich CHL) exhibits morphologic and immunophenotypic features that overlap with nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL), raising diagnostic difficulties that can be resolved in most cases by performing an adequate battery of immunohistochemical studies.

Objective.—: To fully characterize cases of T-cell-rich Hodgkin lymphoma where a specific diagnosis of NLPHL (ie, pattern D) or CHL could not be made even after complete immunophenotypic investigation.

Design.—: The clinical, immunomorphologic, and molecular (when applicable) presentation of 3 cases of T-cell-rich Hodgkin lymphoma was thoroughly investigated.

Results.—: These …

Disparities In Exposure To Tobacco On Television Or Streaming Platforms, Henry K Onyeaka, Onyema G Chido-Amajuoyi, Itunu Sokale, Kobi V Ajayi, A Eden Evins, Sanjay Shete

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Importance: With the rise in popularity of streaming platforms concerns about exposure to tobacco advertising and promotion have emerged. While tobacco marketing and promotion through traditional television (TV) media channels has been extensively studied, less is known about exposure to tobacco through TV or streaming platforms and its associated factors.

Objective: To examine the prevalence and factors associated with exposure to tobacco products advertised, marketed, or promoted on TV or streaming platforms among US adults.

Design, setting, and participants: This cross-sectional study used data from the National Cancer Institute's Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS 6), conducted from March 7 …

P53r172h And P53r245w Hotspot Mutations Drive Distinct Transcriptomes In Mouse Mammary Tumors Through A Convergent Transcriptional Mediator, Joy M Mcdaniel, Rhiannon L Morrissey, Denada Dibra, Lalit R Patel, Shunbin Xiong, Gilda P Chau, Yuan Qi, Adel K El-Naggar, Guillermina Lozano

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Aggressive breast cancers harbor TP53 missense mutations. Tumor cells with TP53 missense mutations exhibit enhanced growth and survival through transcriptional rewiring. To delineate how TP53 mutations in breast cancer contribute to tumorigenesis and progression in vivo, we created a somatic mouse model driven by mammary epithelial cell-specific expression of Trp53 mutations. Mice developed primary mammary tumors reflecting the human molecular subtypes of luminal A, luminal B, HER2-enriched, and triple-negative breast cancer with metastases. Transcriptomic analyses comparing MaPR172H/− or MaPR245W/− mammary tumors to MaP−/− tumors revealed (1) differences in cancer-associated pathways activated in both p53 …

Pb-05204, A Supercritical Co2 Extract Of Nerium Oleander, Suppresses Glioblastoma Stem Cells By Inhibiting Grp78 And Inducing Programmed Necroptotic Cell Death, Sharmistha Chakraborty, Daoyan Wei, Megan Tran, Frederick F Lang, Robert A Newman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Successful treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), an aggressive form of primary brain neoplasm, mandates the need to develop new therapeutic strategies. In this study, we investigated the potential of PBI-05204 in targeting GBM stem cells (GSCs) and the underlying mechanisms. Treatment with PBI-05204 significantly reduced both the number and size of tumor spheres derived from patient-derived GSCs (GBM9, GSC28 and TS543), and suppressed the tumorigenesis of GBM9 xenografts. Moreover, PBI-05204 treatment led to a significant decrease in the expression of CD44 and NANOG, crucial markers of progenitor stem cells, in GBM9 and GSC28 GSCs. This treatment also down-regulated GRP78 expression …

Settingsorder Article Reprints Open Accessarticle A Model To Account For The Effects Of Load Ratio And Hydrogen Pressure On The Fatigue Crack Growth Behavior Of Pressure Vessel Steels, Ashok Saxena, Kip O. Findley

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A phenomenological model for estimating the effects of load ratio R and hydrogen pressure P_H2 on the hydrogen-assisted fatigue crack growth rate (HA-FCGR) behavior in the transient and steady-state regimes of pressure vessel steels is described. The "transient regime" is identified with crack growth within a severely embrittled zone of intense plasticity at the crack tip. The "steady-state" behavior is associated with the crack growing into a region of comparatively lower hydrogen concentration located further away from the crack tip. The model treats the effects of R and P_H2 as being functionally separable. In the transient …

Structure Of Adenylyl Cyclase 5 In Complex With Gβγ Offers Insights Into Adcy5-Related Dyskinesia, Val J Watts

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The nine different membrane-anchored adenylyl cyclase isoforms (AC1-9) in mammals are stimulated by the heterotrimeric G protein, Gαs, but their response to Gβγ regulation is isoform specific. In the present study, we report cryo-electron microscope structures of ligand-free AC5 in complex with Gβγ and a dimeric form of AC5 that could be involved in its regulation. Gβγ binds to a coiled-coil domain that links the AC transmembrane region to its catalytic core as well as to a region (C1b) that is known to be a hub for isoform-specific regulation. We confirmed the Gβγ interaction with both purified proteins and cell-based …

Vertebrate And Invertebrate Animal Infection Models Of Candida Auris Pathogenicity

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Candida auris is an emerging fungal pathogen with several concerning qualities. First recognized in 2009, it has arisen in multiple geographically distinct genomic clades nearly simultaneously. C. auris strains are typically multidrug resistant and colonize the skin much better than most other pathogenic fungi; it also persists on abiotic surfaces, enabling outbreaks due to transmission in health care facilities. All these suggest a biology substantially different from the 'model' fungal pathogen, Candida albicans and support intensive investigation of C. auris biology directly. To uncover novel virulence mechanisms in this species requires the development of appropriate animal infection models. Various studies …

An Atypical Form Of 60s Ribosomal Subunit In Diamond-Blackfan Anemia Linked To Rpl17 Variants., Florence Fellmann, Carol J. Saunders, Marie-Françoise O'Donohue, David W. Reid, Kelsey A. Mcfadden, Nathalie Montel-Lehry, Cong Yu, Mingyan Fang, Jianguo Zhang, Beryl Royer-Bertrand, Pietro Farinelli, Narjesse Karboul, Jason R. Willer, Lorraine Fievet, Zahurul Alam Bhuiyan, Alissa Lw Kleinhenz, Julie Jadeau, Joy M. Fulbright, Carlo Rivolta, Raffaele Renella, Nicholas Katsanis, Jacques S. Beckmann, Christopher V. Nicchitta, Lydie Da Costa, Erica E. Davis, Pierre-Emmanuel Gleizes

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Diamond-Blackfan anemia syndrome (DBA) is a ribosomopathy associated with loss-of-function variants in more than 20 ribosomal protein (RP) genes. Here, we report the genetic, functional, and biochemical dissection of 2 multigenerational pedigrees with variants in RPL17, a large ribosomal subunit protein-encoding gene. Affected individuals had clinical features and erythroid proliferation defects consistent with DBA. Further, RPL17/uL22 depletion resulted in anemia and micrognathia in zebrafish larvae, and in vivo complementation studies indicated that RPL17 variants were pathogenic. Lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) derived from patients displayed a ribosomal RNA maturation defect reflecting haploinsufficiency of RPL17. The proteins encoded by RPL17 variants were …

Holistic Advising And Student Success: A Qualitative Study On Student Advising Experiences And Perceptions At The University Of Wisconsin Stout, Camille Peterson Banger

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative, single-case study investigated undergraduate students' perceptions and experiences of the academic advisement approach in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) academic program at the University of Wisconsin Stout. Focusing on holistic advising to address diverse and evolving needs, the study aimed to inform academic advisement practices within the ICT program by creating and implementing an ICT program academic advisement handbook and adding to the field of practice. Data collection involved on-campus and online focus groups with undergraduate ICT program students, questionnaires with ICT program advisors, and documentation analysis to triangulate the findings. Using Merriam’s (1998) approach to data …

Anopas: Practical Anonymous Transit Pass From Group Signatures With Time-Bound Keys, Rui Shi, Yang Yang, Yingjiu Li, Huamin Feng, Hwee Hwa Pang, Robert H. Deng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

An anonymous transit pass system allows passengers to access transport services within fixed time periods, with their privileges automatically deactivating upon time expiration. Although existing transit pass systems are deployable on powerful devices like PCs, their adaptation to more user-friendly devices, such as mobile phones with smart cards, is inefficient due to their reliance on heavy-weight operations like bilinear maps. In this paper, we introduce an innovative anonymous transit pass system, dubbed Anopas, optimized for deployment on mobile phones with smart cards, where the smart card is responsible for crucial lightweight operations and the mobile phone handles key-independent and time-consuming …

A New Hope: Contextual Privacy Policies For Mobile Applications And An Approach Toward Automated Generation, Shidong Pan, Zhen Tao, Thong Hoang, Dawen Zhang, Tianshi Li, Zhenchang Xing, Xiwei Xu, Mark Staples, Thierry Rakotoarivelo, David Lo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Privacy policies have emerged as the predominant approach to conveying privacy notices to mobile application users. In an effort to enhance both readability and user engagement, the concept of contextual privacy policies (CPPs) has been proposed by researchers. The aim of CPPs is to fragment privacy policies into concise snippets, displaying them only within the corresponding contexts within the application’s graphical user interfaces (GUIs). In this paper, we first formulate CPP in mobile application scenario, and then present a novel multimodal framework, named SEEPRIVACY, specifically designed to automatically generate CPPs for mobile applications. This method uniquely integrates vision-based GUI understanding …

A Learned Generalized Geodesic Distance Function-Based Approach For Node Feature Augmentation On Graphs, Amitoz Azad, Yuan Fang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Geodesic distances on manifolds have numerous applications in image processing, computer graphics and computer vision. In this work, we introduce an approach called 'LGGD' (Learned Generalized Geodesic Distances). This method involves generating node features by learning a generalized geodesic distance function through a training pipeline that incorporates training data, graph topology and the node content features. The strength of this method lies in the proven robustness of the generalized geodesic distances to noise and outliers. Our contributions encompass improved performance in node classification tasks, competitive results with state-of-the-art methods on real-world graph datasets, the demonstration of the learnability of parameters …

Heterogeneous Graph Transformer With Poly-Tokenization, Zhiyuan Lu, Yuan Fang, Cheng Yang, Chuan Shi

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Graph neural networks have shown widespread success for learning on graphs, but they still face fundamental drawbacks, such as limited expressive power, over-smoothing, and over-squashing. Meanwhile, the transformer architecture offers a potential solution to these issues. However, existing graph transformers primarily cater to homogeneous graphs and are unable to model the intricate semantics of heterogeneous graphs. Moreover, unlike small molecular graphs where the entire graph can be considered as the receptive field in graph transformers, real-world heterogeneous graphs comprise a significantly larger number of nodes and cannot be entirely treated as such. Consequently, existing graph transformers struggle to capture the …

Analyzing Temporal Complex Events With Large Language Models? A Benchmark Towards Temporal, Long Context Understanding, Zhihan Zhang, Yixin Cao, Chenchen Ye, Ma. Yunshan, Lizi Liao, Tat-Seng Chua

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The digital landscape is rapidly evolving with an ever-increasing volume of online news, emphasizing the need for swift and precise analysis of complex events.We refer to the complex events composed of many news articles over an extended period as Temporal Complex Event (TCE). This paper proposes a novel approach using Large Language Models (LLMs) to systematically extract and analyze the event chain within TCE, characterized by their key points and timestamps. We establish a benchmark, named TCELongBench, to evaluate the proficiency of LLMs in handling temporal dynamics and understanding extensive text. This benchmark encompasses three distinct tasks - reading comprehension, …

Firm-Level Ai Ethical Awareness: Measurement And Effects, Yan Ma, Nan Hu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With rapid integration of AI technologies into business operation, ethical issues associated with AI development, implementation, and deployment, has become increasingly conspicuous. An effective measure of firm-level AI Ethical Awareness (FAIEA) is crucial for both academics and practitioners to assess FAIEA efficiently. In this study, based on qualitative information in earning conference call, we construct and validate a firm specific measure of FAIEA. Upon establishing a reliable measure, we explore the determinants and consequence of FAIEA. We find Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) engagement and the presence of a Chief Information Officer (CIO) as key determinants of higher FAIEA, suggesting the …

Topic Modeling On Document Networks With Dirichlet Optimal Transport Barycenter, Ce Zhang, Hady Wirawan Lauw

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Text documents are often interconnected in a network structure, e.g., academic papers via citations, Web pages via hyperlinks. On the one hand, though Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have shown promising ability to derive effective embeddings for such networked documents, they do not assume a latent topic structure and result in uninterpretable embeddings. On the other hand, topic models can infer semantically interpretable topic distributions for documents by associating each topic with a group of understandable key words. However, most topic models mainly focus on plain text within documents and fail to leverage network structure across documents. Network connectivity reveals topic …

Labour And Democracy, Kate Andrias

Faculty Scholarship

Democracy has always been a central project of labour law, but it is all the more important today, with authoritarianism on the rise and democracy under threat across the globe. This chapter examines the relationship between labour law and democracy. It explores the central tension between democracy and labour under capitalism; traces how ideas and arguments about workplace democracy have evolved over time; and explores the relationship between workplace democracy and political democracy, including how and when unions serve as a bulwark against authoritarianism. Ultimately, it argues that a critical task for labour law scholarship is to rethink the body …

Patterns Of The Use And Perception Of Cannabis Among College Students In Tennessee, Jayla Ruffus-Milner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cannabis has been historically difficult to research due to its federal scheduling. However, as legalization of cannabis medically, recreationally, or both in states across the country has increased, so has the need to address the research gaps that persist. The purpose of this study was to explore the patterns of cannabis use and perceptions of college students in Tennessee, which encompass a demographic of mainly young adults who are typically associated with high usage patterns. The study uses quantitative data collected from an online survey sent to a university in East Tennessee to evaluate associations between students’ age, gender, race/ethnicity, …

An Exploratory Study Of Flora Poaching In Central Appalachia, Mckinley Bowers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of flora poaching among conservation officers, park rangers and botanists within Central Appalachia. Though some work has sought to understand poaching in other forms, such as animal poaching, little is known regarding the poaching of plants. This is especially true within the Appalachian Region. Several research questions were explored in this study, including the types of flora being poached, the characteristics of poachers, poaching tactics utilized, and deterrence measures that are currently in place. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 individuals working in the field. Findings contribute to the …

Shame, Guilt, And Behavioral Responses To Conflict In Organizational Life: A Correlational Study, Lori Anne Shaw

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship between self-conscious emotions, namely shame and guilt, and constructive and destructive behavioral responses to conflict among working adults in the United States. Researchers have underscored the importance of task-focused conflict and adaptive leadership in fostering positive conflict outcomes. However, the connection between shame and guilt and behavioral responses has yet to be explored. Drawing upon the Conflict Dynamics Profile and the Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3, this correlational study examined the associations between shame and guilt and 15 distinct behavioral responses to conflict among a sample of 203 participants, mostly women employed full-time. The cross-sectional survey …

Diatom Abundance In The Polar Oceans Is Predicted By Genome Size, Wade R. Roberts, Adam M. Siepielski, Andrew J. Alverson

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

A principal goal in ecology is to identify the determinants of species abundances in nature. Body size has emerged as a fundamental and repeatable predictor of abundance, with smaller organisms occurring in greater numbers than larger ones. A biogeographic component, known as Bergmann’s rule, describes the preponderance, across taxonomic groups, of larger-bodied organisms in colder areas. Although undeniably important, the extent to which body size is the key trait underlying these patterns is unclear. We explored these questions in diatoms, unicellular algae of global importance for their roles in carbon fixation and energy flow through marine food webs. Using a …

A Robust Genome Assembly With Transcriptomic Data From The Striped Bark Scorpion, Centruroides Vittatus, Tsunemi Yamashita, Douglas D. Rhoads, Jeff Pummill

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Scorpions, a seemingly primitive, stinging arthropod taxa, are known to exhibit marked diversity in their venom components. These venoms are known for their human pathology, but they are also important as models for therapeutic and drug development applications. In this study, we report a high-quality genome assembly and annotation of the striped bark scorpion, Centruroides vittatus, created with several shotgun libraries. The final assembly is 760 Mb in size, with a BUSCO score of 97.8%, a 30.85% GC, and an N50 of 2.35 Mb. We estimated 36,189 proteins with 37.32% assigned to Gene Ontology (GO) terms in our GO …

Negotiating A Brave New World: Fraud And Risk In Modern Commercial Law, Andrew B.L. Phang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

We live in a brave new world. Much of what was once the stuff of fiction has now become reality. In particular, we have witnessed technological advances the like of which we would not even have begun to contemplate even at the turn of the second millennium. No one has been exempt – not even this mid-sexagenarian. Now, almost a quarter of a century on, we have to take stock of the double-edged sword that is technology. Indeed, technology has – unfortunately – facilitated fraud in a manner and on a scale that we have never witnessed before. With technology …

Enhancing Refugee Resettlement And Displaced Population Support Through Elder Communities In The United States: A Model For Sustainable Solutions, Ponnaka Pok

Master's Theses

This thesis paper is inspired by the current world crisis of exploding numbers of refugees and the obstacles they face seeking somewhere to resettle. We present here an effort to address these pressing issues and to advocate for meaningful change. This paper explores the challenges and opportunities associated with refugee resettlement and displaced population issues in the United States. It investigates how Elder communities might play a pivotal role in addressing these challenges and offers a trial model for implement and continued development, and potentially for other countries and organizations to follow. This paper also has a secondary focus on …

Emerging Technologies And Advanced Analyses For Non-Invasive Near-Surface Site Characterization, Aser Abbas

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This dissertation introduces novel techniques for estimating the soil small-strain shear modulus (G_max) and damping ratio (D), crucial for modeling soil behavior in various geotechnical engineering problems. For G_max estimation, a machine learning approach is proposed, capable of generating two-dimensional (2D) images of the subsurface shear wave velocity, which is directly related to G_max. The dissertation also presents a method for estimating frequency dependent attenuation coefficients from ambient vibrations collected using 2D arrays of seismic sensors deployed across the ground surface. These attenuation coefficients can then be used in an inversion process …

An Online Scientific Twitter World: Social Network Analysis Of #Sciencetwitter, #Scicomm, And #Academictwitter, Man Zhang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Understanding who makes up online social worlds as well as how information flows within those communities is important as more people access news, research topics, collaborate with others, and entertain themselves. This study identified and classified the people discussing scientific topics on Twitter, determined the type of social network, and described the member composition of this online world. Scientists, the public, and educators formed this online world. They built connections by initiating activities and interacting with others, which created the Community Clusters social network structure. All three categories of people are in positions of influence in this network leading and …

Siwa's Influence On Alexander The Great's Self-Presentation, Luke Boardman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis analyzes the changes in Alexander the Great’s public image and how his visit to the Oracle of Ammon was a catalyst for these alterations. Examining moments of Alexander in isolation, his adoption of ostentatious habits, and enrobing himself in foreign attire and culture reveals a connection to his time in the Egyptian desert where Alexander was promised eventual authority over all mankind. The post-Siwa Alexander used these tools to leave behind the Hellenistic leader and become the Lord of Asia.

An Emerging Voice In United States Literature: 19th-Century Poetry In Los Angeles, Savannah Salazar

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The 19^th century was a time when British and American literatures

flourished greatly. This period is a favorite among students of English

studies and it has produced works that instill a great sense of pride in

British and American readers. However, in the realm of American

literature, there exists an entire body of literature that has been forgotten

to time and archived away. 19^th-century Los Angeles was occupied by

Spanish-language newspapers that produced a body of poetry that has

rarely been researched or discussed.

This thesis will be close-reading poetry from 19^th-century Angeleno

newspapers, such …