Digital Commons Network^™

Submittal Of Mixed Waste Landfill Annual Long-Term Monitoring & Maintenance Report, April 2025-March 2026 For Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico, Epa Id Number Nm5890110518, June 2026, Sandia National Laboratories/Nm

Facilities-Units

The Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) and Sandia National Laboratories /New Mexico (SNL/NM) personnel submitted the Mixed Waste Landfill (MWL) Annual Long-Term Monitoring and Maintenance Report for the April 2025 through March 2026 reporting period to the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) in accordance with the MWL Long-Term Monitoring and Maintenance Plan (LTMMP) Section 4.8.1. The LTMMP became effective on January 8, 2014.

The MWL is a 2.6-acre Solid Waste Management Unit (SWMU 76) located in the north-central part of Technical Area III at SNL/NM that has undergone corrective action. As of March 13, 2016, the NMED February …

An Analysis Of Public Library Services For The Tribal Community In Rayalaseema Region With A Special Reference To Healthcare And Hygiene, P Ramu Naik Mr, V. K. Dhanyasree Dr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Public libraries have long been recognised as critical societal institutions, serving as information, education, and community engagement centres. In the context of tribal communities, their role in disseminating health information is particularly significant. Tribal populations often face unique health challenges and disparities, making access to accurate and reliable health information vital to their well-being. This study examines the pivotal role that public libraries play in disseminating health information to tribal people. The study is conducted among 13 branch libraries in the tribal areas of Rayalaseema region. A structured questionnaire was used for the survey. The results show that even though …

Financing Climate Action Through Fair Taxation: How Sdg Engagement Reduces Corporate Tax Avoidance, Ahmed Aboud, Niccolò Nirino, Panagiota Papadimitri, Michael Christofi

All Works

The transition to a low-carbon economy, central to achieving Paris Agreement targets and Sustainable Development Goal 13 (Climate Action), requires unprecedented public and private investment. A significant climate financing gap persists, however, exacerbated by corporate practices that erode the public revenue base. This paper investigates a critical, yet often overlooked, component of corporate responsibility: tax avoidance. We examine the impact of firm-level sustainable development goal (SDG) disclosure on corporate tax avoidance using an international sample of 7213 firms operating in 81 countries over the period 2019–2023. Our analysis reveals a robust inverse relationship between SDG disclosure and corporate tax avoidance, …

Artificial Personhood: The Implications Of Recognizing The Legal Personhood Of Artificialintelligence, Daniel C. Borges

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Artificial intelligence (AI) is here in a big way. As society grapples with the implications of this profound new technology, the question of whether AI entities should be granted independent legal recognition, akin to human personhood, has emerged as a pivotal topic in jurisprudence. This Article explores the foundations, evolution, and implications of AI personhood, addressing philosophical perspectives, the development of personhood as a legal fiction (with specific emphasis on corporate personhood), and the need for AI personhood to counter the risks posed by rapidly developing AI technology. It defines the "AI person" as one whose legal recognition furthers a …

Here, There, And Absent From The Film: Carving Out A Protection For Trailers In California’S Anti-Slapp Statute, Zach Cogan

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

California’s anti-SLAPP statute is designed to encourage free speech and to prevent litigation that chills participation in public discourse, including the creation and promotion of media. It is a standard industry practice for filmmakers to use trailers to promote their films before the final cut and to gauge the success of certain cinematic elements—such as characters, plot points, and overall tone—so the necessary adjustments can be made before the film is released to audiences. Subjecting studios and filmmakers to litigation for adjusting these relatively minor elements that were present in the trailers will chill this beneficial and standard industry practice. …

Who's Afraid Of Copyright And Ai?, Deborah R. Gerhardt

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Copyright and AI need not be a copyright no man’s land. Recent decisions by the Copyright Office have gotten so much media attention that many creators are unsure if they can secure copyright protection if they use AI as a creative tool. The proposed creative control paradigm can help us all tackle the challenge of determining when works created with the assistance of AI are copyrightable. Instead of relying on long-established nuanced precedent for protecting works generated with new technology, the Copyright Office asserts that any content generated with assistance from AI tools is unprotectable. This position is radically inconsistent …

When Robots Read Westlaw: Linking Inputs And Outputs In Generative Ai Fair Use Analysis, Aaron Lam

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Generative artificial intelligence has revealed a novel tension in copyright law: a two-stage act (input and output) of copying that traditional fair-use doctrine never squarely anticipated. In the input stage, vast swaths of copyrighted expression are reproduced and ingested to train large language models. In the output stage, those models generate works that may substitute for or dilute the market of the originals. Courts now face both stages. Their rulings diverge when they consider training and outputs together. In Bartz v. Anthropic PBC and Kadrey v. Meta Platforms, Inc., the courts characterized training uses as “highly transformative,” yet reached opposite …

When The Purse Strings Paint The Picture: Executive Overreach And Censorship In Federal Arts Funding, Megan Brown

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

For decades, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has been tasked with distributing federal funds to museums, galleries, and artists to promote visual artwork for its meritorious qualities and cultural impact. However, the NEA’s role as both a patron and regulator of visual artwork has placed it at the center of a balancing act—funding creative expression that often displays controversial themes, while facing political pressure to define what is a worthy investment of taxpayer dollars. This conversation continues in light of recent executive orders: “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” and “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs …

Open Secrets, Robin Feldman Distinguished Professor Of Law, Vaughn Goehrig -- Center For Innovation

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Patents and trade secrets were never intended to meet, but in the world of biologic drugs, they’ve become as thick as thieves. Patent law’s disclosure requirement has demanded far too little of biologics manufacturers—allowing them to keep vital manufacturing details under trade secret lock and key. This intellectual property patchwork has been devastating for drug affordability: Because the most critical manufacturing information remains hidden, makers of follow-on biologics (called biosimilars) are often stuck reinventing the wheel, even after the original patents have expired. This Article makes two principal contributions to illuminating this problem. First, it presents, for the first time …

Limiting Inconsistencies In Legal Languages, Sarah B. Lawsky - Professor Of Law

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Inconsistencies play different roles in law and in logic, respectively, and programming languages designed to code law should therefore, when possible, be designed to prevent the encoding of inconsistencies. While inconsistencies in standard logic “explode” the argument, allowing anything at all to be proven, apparent inconsistencies in law simply indicate that further guidance is needed. Programming languages should be limited not because such inconsistencies do not exist in the statute, but rather exactly because they do. Inconsistencies in the law should, as they are now, be addressed by Congress, the courts, and administrative agencies, and any computer code implementing the …

The Impact Of Religious Behaviors, Islamophobia, Gender Roles, Language Proficiency, And Education Levels On Mental Illness Stigma And Help-Seeking Behaviors Among Arab Women In The U.S., Rima Muhsen

Dissertations

The official U.S. census does not provide data on the number of Arab Americans in the United States, which hinders studies that focus on this population group to explore their needs and improve access to mental health services. Arab women in America represent a subgroup that has received insufficient attention from researchers, particularly regarding culturally sensitive topics such as mental health problems and their associated stigma. The influence of cultural, social, and religious factors on self-stigma associated with mental illness has not been adequately studied among this marginalized group. While previous research has suggested a relationship between self-stigma, social stigma …

Well-Being, Resilience, And Trauma During Migration: A Mixed Methods Study Of Venezuelan Migrants In Transit, Margaret S. Port

Dissertations

A substantial body of research has examined the psychological impact of experiences preceding and following migration, yet comparatively little attention has been given to the psychological toll of the migration journey itself. Moreover, due to the relative novelty of the Venezuelan migrant crisis and the community’s arrival in the United States, the psychological impact of Venezuelan migrants’ unique migration experience has been underexamined. This study utilized an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to investigate the relationships between well-being, resilience, and trauma among Venezuelan migrants in Chicago, Illinois, while also exploring their lived experiences of the migration journey. Study participants (n …

From Campus To Community: The Role Of Higher Education In Strengthening Regional Entrepreneurial Ecosystems In Appalachia, Anne M. Montgomery

Dissertations

This study addresses a gap in understanding how small, rural liberal arts higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Appalachian College Association Entrepreneurial Alliance (ACAEA) support regional entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs), and how, if at all, those strategies vary across Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) county economic classifications. Using a qualitative multi-case design, the study examined 10 ACAEA institutions and drew on semi-structured interviews, site observations, institutional documents (including strategic plans), and ARC county-level economic data. The analysis produced five cross-case themes describing how these institutions support entrepreneurship: (a) strategic leadership and institutional culture, (b) experiential and embedded entrepreneurial education, (c) community-driven partnerships …

The Motherhood Contract: Mental Load, Moral Risk, And Gendered Care In Contemporary Parenting And Digital Culture, Stephanie J. Stallman

Dissertations

This dissertation examines childcare as a site of gender inequality shaped by cultural norms, structural barriers, and digital discourse. Despite increased awareness of shared parenting ideals, mothers predominantly bear the “mental load.” This study introduces the idea of a motherhood contract: implicit expectations that mothers are responsible for managing children’s needs. Two research questions guide this study. (1) What are parents’ experiences of managing the mental load of caregiving? How do they make sense of these experiences within the gendered and moral expectations shaping family life? (2) How are cultural ideas about childcare and parenting constructed, circulated, and reproduced through …

The School To Prison Pipeline From The Inside Out: Survivor Narraitves, Nina M. Koufalias

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the lived experiences of two Latino men who traversed the school-to-prison pipeline in the 1980s. The purpose of this study is to investigate how intersecting systems of racism, ableism, poverty, and exclusionary school practices shaped their educational trajectories and contributed to their incarceration. Three overarching research questions guide this inquiry: (1) What can be learned from the stories of two formerly incarcerated relatives that sheds light on how the school-to-prison pipeline is lived? (2) How do their narratives illustrate the impacts of exclusionary discipline policies, such as zero-tolerance, on educational opportunities and life outcomes? (3) How does …

The Impact Of Pedagogy Training On Self-Efficacy In Pre-Tenured Community College Faculty, Barbara Leach

Dissertations

Community college faculty are typically hired based on disciplinary expertise rather than formal preparation in teaching pedagogy. This mixed-methods study examined whether prior pedagogy training was associated with higher levels of teaching self-efficacy among pre-tenured faculty at Illinois community colleges. Guided by Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy, the study compared faculty with prior pedagogy training, including K–12 licensure or graduate coursework, with faculty who had no prior pedagogy training.

Quantitative data were collected using a modified version of the Teachers’ Sense of Self-Efficacy Scale, while qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews. Ten participants were divided equally between the two groups. …

20260601: Dr. John Deaver Drinko Academy Records, 1892-2020, John Deaver Drinko Academy

Guides to University Archives

These items include materials from the office of the John Deaver Drinko Academy at Marshall University from 1892-2020. Items were received in 2026 from Dr. Montserrat Miller, the Executive Director of the Drinko Academy from 2018-2026. Included in this collection are historic documents from her time as faculty but primarily from her time in the Drinko Academy and the departments earlier records. There are lots of photographs, honors college receptions, assorted media like VHS and DVDs regarding various events, among a host of other content from former Drinko Academy EDs. Please download the finding aid for a full list of …

Advanced Mathematical Modeling And Data-Driven Techniques For The Diagnosis Of Diabetes Using Continuous Glucose Monitoring (Cgm) Data, Farah Morsi

Theses

Diabetes mellitus is a major and growing health challenge, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) provides high-resolution time-series data that capture detailed glucose fluctuations over time. However, conventional CGM summary measures, such as mean glucose, standard deviation, and time-in-range, may not fully describe the nonlinear temporal structure of glucose dynamics.

This thesis investigates nonlinear dynamical approaches for analyzing CGM time series, with a focus on recurrence-based analysis and ordinal-network analysis. Recurrence-based methods, including recurrence quantification analysis (RQA), are used to characterize geometric and temporal patterns in reconstructed phase space, while ordinal networks …

Effects Of Led Light Spectra And 1-Mcp On Postharvest Quality And Bioactive Compounds Of Cucumber (Cucumis Sativus L.) During Cold Storage, Imad Eldin Abbas Yousif

Theses

Extending postharvest quality and maintaining the nutritional value of cucumber fruit requires specific storage conditions to postpone senescence and enhance marketability. The postharvest lighting environment is a main factor that influences quality preservation for harvested biomass. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of different light emitting diodes (LED) spectra (green, red, blue, and white LED) alone or in combination with 1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) on postharvest quality and bioactive compounds of cucumber fruit during cold storage for 16 days at 5°C, the control fruit were left in the dark. For combined treatment, the fruits were exposed to 1-MCP …

Study Of Plasma Modification Effects On Cell Proliferation Of 3-D Printed Poly Lactic Acid (Pla) Structures, Temiloluwa Nathan

Masters Theses

3-d printing of structures has recently been adopted for a large number of applications including in-vitro lab-on-chip, organ-on-chip and other bioengineering applications. This thesis presents the results of our investigations on the use of a Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) structures for cell proliferation and their potential application for targeted drug delivery and Organ-on-a-Chip applications. As the previous investigations by the group indicated the requirement of surface modification of these printed structures, this study mainly focusses on the plasma surface modification of 3-D printed PLA structures and its impact on cell growth in different conditions. The first component focused on improving …

Isolation And Self-Efficacy Among Texas Educators With Disabilities Post-Covid: A Narrative Inquiry, Paul M. Nimon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to explore the narratives of 10 current Texas public school educators with disabilities, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, to understand how these narratives shaped their perceptions of burnout in relation to isolation and self-efficacy in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The specific problem addressed the systemic, cultural, and interpersonal barriers that contribute to emotional exhaustion and professional marginalization for this population. The paradigm used was action research. The specific research methodology was a qualitative narrative inquiry. Data collection methods included 60-to-90-minute semistructured interviews conducted via Zoom and transcribed for …

Corneal Innervation Research At A Crossroads: A Tool-Driven Roadmap For The Future, Anna Matynia, Ian D Meng, Brian M Davis, Stephen C Pflugfelder, Anat Galor, Victor L Perez, Elizabeth R Felix, Pedram Hamrah, Pantelimon Rompolas, Raul E Ruiz-Lozano, Shamsuddin A Bhuiyan, Kaveh Moghbeli, Evangelia Semizoglou, William Renthal, Harinder Singh, Jishnu Das, Marcin Golczak, Mary Ann Stepp, Catherine W Morgans, Cintia S De Paiva, Carl Y Saab, Igor Spigelman, Rony R Sayegh, Tally M Largent-Milnes, Hao Wu, Wenqin Luo, Sreya Mitra, Heesuk Yoo, Sina Farsiu, Sejiro Littleton, Eden Jacob, Matthew T Mcpheeters, Maryse Lapierre-Landry, Jordan J Smith, Xi Wang, Roxana Florea, Made Airanthi K Widjaja-Adhi, Scott Holmes, Zane Zemborain, Kate E T Laise, Nicholas J Pondelis, Ki-Soo Jeong, Rui Chen, Michael W Jenkins, Vivian Lee, Eric A Moulton, Deborah S Jacobs, Sue A Aicher, Anthony J St Leger, Daniel R Saban

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Corneal innervation research has faced long-standing clinical challenges that only recent technological breakthroughs now make tractable. Advances in single-cell analysis, viral vectors, clinical imaging, and artificial intelligence provide integrated approaches for uncovering molecular mechanisms underlying functional outcomes and facilitating clinical applications. The National Eye Institute's U01-funded consortium on ocular surface innervation addresses major knowledge gaps in characterizing corneal-projecting neurons, understanding neuroimmune and epithelial interactions in the cornea, and translating animal model findings to human pathology. The unique properties of the cornea (transparent, avascular, and densely innervated) make it ideal for neurobiology research on peripheral and central sensory processing. Through a …

Transient Yap Activation Uncovers The Neurogenic Potential Of Proliferative Mammalian Müller Glia, English J Laserna, Irina V Saltykova, Benjamin M Hall, Xuefei Tong, Justin S Dhindsa, Borna Sarker, Ayrea E Hurley, Paul G Swinton, William R Lagor, Nicholas M Tran, James F Martin, Ross A Poché

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The Hippo pathway effector YAP promotes spontaneous proliferation of Müller glia (MG), suggesting that bypassing Hippo signaling and activating YAP could enhance retinal regeneration. However, whether proliferative adult MGs retain meaningful neurogenic competence remains unclear. Here, using viral delivery of a Hippo-resistant YAP variant to wild-type adult MGs, we achieved transient YAP activation in adult MGs, inducing proliferation followed by cell-cycle withdrawal and differentiation. Intersectional genetic lineage tracing and EdU labeling, combined with transcriptomic analyses, revealed that YAP-activated MGs predominantly regenerate MGs, whereas only a subset gives rise to bipolar cell-like neurons. These results indicate that proliferative MGs acquire a …

Linking (Imagined) Communities: World Language Students' Stereotypical Attributions To Native Speakers And Teachers Of German., Lucian Rothe

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Abstract This study explores language learners' stereotypical descriptions of native speakers (NSs) of German and their relationship with participants' perceptions of teachers of German. It expands motivation research that employs stereotypes to gain insight into university students' views of target language (TL) speakers (Rothe, 2022, 2025). Sixty‐seven learners of German and 43 learners of other world languages (WLs) pro vided responses about NSs and instructors, while also rating the stereotypes' perceived accuracy. Participants held various stereotypical notions about NSs, reflecting broader societal narratives. Learners of German pro vided more detailed stereotypical descriptions. Both groups considered favorable stereotypes as more accurate …

The Impact Of Elevated Co2, Uv-B Irradiation, And Rising Temperature On Quinoa, Mohamed Yousif

Theses

Climate change is driving simultaneous increases in atmospheric CO₂, surface UV-B radiation, and temperature, yet most crop research has examined these stressors in isolation, leaving their combined effect on nutritional quality poorly understood. Quinoa (Chenopodium Quinoa Wild.), a stress-tolerant C3 pseudocereal, has been promoted as a climate-resilient forage and food crop for arid regions, but its performance under realistic multi-stress conditions remains uncertain. This study therefore asked whether quinoa can maintain biomass, yield, and mineral quality when exposed to elevated CO₂, enhanced UV-B, and rising temperature individually and in combination, and whether their interaction is additive or non-additive.

To …

La Espiritualidad: Transmitting Peruvian Culturo-Spiritual Elements Into Occidental Systemic Spaces, Deisy Amorin-Woods

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper is a decolonising, Indigenous qualitative inquiry that integrates elements of critical autoethnography, narrative methods and conceptual analysis to explore how Peruvian Andean cosmology can inform contemporary systems thinking and family therapy practice. Writing as a mestiza, a Peruvian migrant in Australia, the author traces the lived experience of cultural erosion within Western, individualistic contexts and her reconnection with ancestral Andean teachings. These teachings—rooted in reciprocity, ecological attachment, collective responsibility and relational balance—are presented as living epistemologies that offer timely contributions to working therapeutically. The author examines core Andean concepts including ayll (kinship-based community), ayni (sacred reciprocity), Yachay (aprenderes …

Ig–Microbiota Binding Patterns In Mothers And Infants: A Scoping Review, Alicia Tan Yi Jia, Christopher S. Peacock, Danielle E. Dye, Claus T. Christophersen

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Studies characterising the immunoglobulin (Ig)-bound microbiota apply varying methodologies, making comparisons difficult. This scoping review synthesised evidence on Ig–microbiota binding patterns in maternal and infant contexts, identified recurrent Ig-bound and -unbound bacteria across studies, and highlighted knowledge gaps for further study. Nine articles investigating Ig–microbiota binding patterns in stool or breastmilk samples in mothers or infants were included. Ig–microbiota associations were influenced by sample type, Ig-subclass, genetics, and diet. The most important antibody was IgA, with partial functional redundancy with IgM, while IgG appeared more selective for pathobionts. Ig-bound taxa in early life included important commensals and pathobionts, with high …

Faculty List

Missouri Law Review

No abstract provided.

Federalization Of Trade Secret Protection: Reflections On The 10th Anniversary Of The Defend Trade Secrets Act, Peter S. Menell

Missouri Law Review

After more than half a century of stalled proposals, Congress enacted the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”) in 2016, establishing a federal civil cause of action for trade secret misappropriation. The long delay is surprising, as trade secrets are the most pervasive form of intellectual property in the United States economy. Nearly every enterprise—commercial, nonprofit, and governmental—depends upon confidential business, technical, and strategic information. Employers routinely require nondisclosure agreements, mandate return of confidential materials upon departure, and implement security measures designed to preserve secrecy. Yet, unlike patent, copyright, and trademark law, trade secret protection historically remained largely a creature of …

Pleading Secrets, J. Jonas Anderson

Missouri Law Review

Courts have traditionally not required plaintiffs to describe trade secrets in any detail in a trade secret misappropriation action. However, the Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in Iqbal v. Twombly, which introduced the concept of “plausibility pleading,” has begun, haltingly, to change that. Some courts, but not all, now require a plaintiff to identify the alleged misappropriated secret. This Essay argues that Iqbal did, in fact, change the law in this area and that trade secret misappropriation actions now require that the secret’s identity be included in the pleading. Some courts are starting to agree, although unevenly so. This Essay tracks …