Digital Commons Network^™

Tumor-Immune-Neural Circuit Disrupts Energy Homeostasis In Cancer Cachexia, Xiuhui Shi, Alex X Arreola, Zhijun Zhou, Jingxuan Yang, Mingyang Liu, Yang Cai, Yu Ren, Hao Yuan, Qun Chen, Xinjie Chen, Xinyu Yang, Yimei Meng, Jingyi Wang, Wenyi Luo, Michael C Rudolph, Rohan Varshney, Kar-Ming Fung, Chao Xu, Wei R Chen, Michael S Bronze, Lei Zheng, Yi-Ping Li, Courtney W Houchen, Yuqing Zhang, Min Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cancer-induced cachexia and anorexia are debilitating complications across many cancers, yet effective treatments remain limited due to a poor understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Here, we identify an uncharacterized tumor-immune-neural circuit driving these syndromes, centered on growth and differentiation factor 15 (GDF15). Using genetically engineered mouse models, we find that loss of GDF15 protects against appetite loss, muscle wasting, and fat loss in pancreatic, lung, and skin cancers. Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals macrophages as a major source of GDF15, induced by tumor-derived colony-stimulating factor 1 (CSF1). GDF15 acts via the central nervous system to enhance β-adrenergic signaling in the tumor …

Montana Kaimin, February 12, 2026, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

Albumin-Binding Domains In Therapeutic Protein Engineering: A Structural And Computational Perspective On Rational Design, Matthew Argyle, Dallin M. Chipman, Anna Claire Woolley, Bradley C. Bundy, Dennis Della Corte

Faculty Publications

Therapeutic proteins face a critical pharmacokinetic challenge: rapid clearance from circulation limits their clinical efficacy. Albumin-binding domains (ABDs) offer an elegant solution by enabling therapeutic proteins to “hitchhike” on serum albumin’s favorable 19-day half-life through FcRn-mediated recycling. Clinical validation through approved therapeutics like ozoralizumab demonstrates the success of this approach, with preclinical studies showing fusion to an ABD extended half-life to 18 days. This review provides an analysis of ABD-fusion protein design, integrating structural biology, computational prediction, and rational engineering principles. We catalog the major classes of albumin-binding modalities, including bacterial three-helix bundle domains, engineered peptides, antibody-derived binders, and alternative …

Spartan Daily, February 12, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 10

Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (Buv) Retrievals Of Mid-Stratospheric Aerosols From The 2022 Hunga Eruption, Robert J.D. Spurr, Matt Christi, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Won Ei Choi, Simon Carn, Can Li, Et Al.

Michigan Tech Publications

On 15 January 2022, a highly explosive eruption of the submarine Hunga volcano (Kingdom of Tonga) generated the largest stratospheric hydration event ever observed and the largest aerosol perturbation since the 1991 Pinatubo eruption. Here, we develop a novel method for satellite retrieval of stratospheric aerosol optical depth (AOD) and layer peak height (zp) using solar backscattered ultraviolet (BUV) radiation; this is made possible by the exceptional mid-stratospheric altitude of the Hunga aerosols. We analyze BUV observations of the Hunga stratospheric aerosol cloud on 17 January 2022 (47 h after the eruption), using BUV band 1 measurements from the TROPOspheric …

Pimp, Olivia Chia-Lin Lee

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

The Woot Files, Monica Hsiung Wojcik

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

Miles To Go Before We Sleep, Jeff Gordinier

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

The Truth About Cops And Dogs, Rebecca Skloot

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

Badlands: Portrait Of A Competitive Eater, John O'Connor

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

The Cipher In Room 214: Who Was Mary Anderson Why Did She Die?, Carol Smith

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

Diagnosis/Cure, Dennis Covington

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

The Library As Storyplace, Rebecca T. Miller

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

From The Editor: Imagining The Future, Lee Gutkind

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

Bitter Herbs?, Sandra M. Gilbert

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

Dagos In Mayberry, Peter Selgin

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

My Father's Music, Ned Balbo

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

Temporal Dynamics Of Irrigation Characteristics In South Carolina, Selvalakshmi Selvaraj, Jose O. Payero, Dana B. Turner

Journal of South Carolina Water Resources

Irrigation plays a vital role in stabilizing crop production under climatic variability in the southeastern United States. However, limited long-term empirical evidence exists on how irrigation practices, water sources, and energy demands have evolved in South Carolina. The aim of this study was to examine temporal changes in irrigation characteristics in South Carolina. The analysis utilized two decades (2003–2023) of data from the United States Department of Agriculture – National Agricultural Statistics Service, Irrigation and Water Management Surveys. Results showed a 65% increase in the number of irrigated farms and 260% expansion in irrigated acreage over the twenty-year period. Groundwater …

Ghost Children, D. Winston Brown

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

A Pilot Study Evaluating Child Resistant Closures In Pharmaceuticals In The Developing Nation Of Ghana: Informing Global Paediatric Safety And Usability Standards, Samuel Ofosu, Kojo Agyapong Afrifah, Laura Bix

Journal of Applied Packaging Research

Despite their proven effectiveness in preventing unintentional paediatric medication poisoning in high-income countries, the performance and usability of Child Resistant Closures (CRCs) remain underexplored in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

To provide pilot data regarding the potential efficacy of using CRCs in LMICs, we conducted a study of the approach in a low-resourced region (Ghana, West Africa) by adapting testing protocols utilized in the United States (16 CFR Part 1700.20). The study utilized a convenience sample of children (n=50; 42-51 months) and adults (n=50; 50-70 years) to develop preliminary data related to the efficacy of a single design of CRC …

Style-Preserved Inference Flow (Spif): Real-Time Style-Locked Image Generation Through Model Pruning And Latent Space Optimization, Douglass W. Sharp

Defensive Publications Series

This publication discloses Style-Preserved Inference Flow (SPIF), a system for real-time style-locked image generation that maintains consistent artistic style across frames at interactive rates. The core innovation is structural model pruning guided by style-consistency metrics rather than general image quality, producing compact single-purpose models that generate images in a specific artistic style at 60+ frames per second. Additional disclosed techniques include latent-space frame coherence (bootstrapping sequential frames from previous latent states, analogous to dirty-rectangle optimization in game rendering), composable latent object descriptors for real-time scene manipulation, and voice-driven continuous generation loops. Working prototypes demonstrate 3.35 FPS full-pipeline generation at 1024×1024 …

A Stateful, Hypothesis-Driven Framework For Long-Context Root Cause Discovery In Telemetry Analysis, Aakash Phoughat

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure describes techniques that leverage a large language model (LLM) to perform root cause analysis (RCA) on high-volume telemetry data. The techniques can handle datasets whose size exceeds the context window of the LLM by traversing the data using a stateful log-walker that recursively passes an investigation state between LLM inference calls. A vector search is executed to retrieve a domain-specific structured graph of expected state transitions. The log stream is ingested in sequential blocks. A mutable investigation state which is a structured object that tracks the validation status of the steps of the schema is maintained. The object …

Physical Design With Diagonal Cut Floorplan To Resolve Routing Congestion Hotspots, Sachin Ramrao Waghmare

Defensive Publications Series

In VLSI physical design, a Hard Macro (HM) instantiation with a vertical and horizontal cut can often intrude into the logic placement area. Typically, all routing layers are blocked in HMs. As a result, any nets passing through the area face a routing resource crunch that can cause routing congestion and design rule check (DRC) failures. This disclosure describes techniques for creating an HM instantiation during the PD phase of a digital design with a diagonal cut. The HM instantiation is cut using small notches formed by short vertical and horizontal cuts, which cumulatively provide a cut that is effectively …

Comprehensive Framework For Artificial Intelligence Model Testing: Integrated Validation Methodologies, Global Regulatory Compliance, And Enterprise Implementation Strategies For 25 Years, Ramkumar Bharathan

Defensive Publications Series

The proliferation of artificial intelligence systems across critical infrastructure necessitates a paradigm shift from traditional software quality assurance toward probabilistic validation methodologies. This paper presents a comprehensive framework for AI model testing that synthesizes regulatory requirements across multiple jurisdictions—including the EU AI Act (Regulation 2024/1689), NIST AI Risk Management Framework 2.0, Federal Reserve SR 11-7, Colorado AI Act, NYC Local Law 144, and sector-specific regulations—into an integrated validation architecture applicable across financial services, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, and retail sectors.

The framework encompasses twelve distinct testing dimensions: functional correctness, performance benchmarking, bias and fairness assessment, robustness and adversarial resilience, explainability validation, …

Quantitative Importance Attribution For Source Documents In Generative Models, N/A

Defensive Publications Series

Generative models that utilize external information sources may not include mechanisms to quantitatively measure the contribution of each source document to a generated output. Disclosed are systems and methods for quantitatively attributing source importance. A technique can involve calculating numerical importance scores for constituent parts of a model's output, for instance, by analyzing internal model attention scores or semantic similarity to a user prompt. A remapping process then can trace these scored parts back to their original source documents to assign an overall importance score to each source. This quantitative attribution data can provide a basis for feedback mechanisms for …

Just-In-Time Adaptive Interventions For Wellness Management Via Context-Aware Wearable Devices, Cecilia Abadie, Aveek Purohit, Pinal Bavishi, Theo Guidroz, Ayush Jain, Ines Mezerreg

Defensive Publications Series

ABSTRACT

Manual logging for health and wellness often results in low user engagement due to the high effort and friction involved for data entry. Additionally, ongoing activity observation using high-fidelity sensors on wearable devices is constrained by finite battery life and computational resources. To address these challenges, a unified architecture is described that facilitates just-in-time adaptive interventions.

A cascaded sensing layer is utilized to reduce power consumption. A low-power sensor screens for motion signatures indicative of potential events, such as hand-to-mouth gestures, on a persistent basis. Upon detection, a high-power sensor is triggered to capture rich contextual data. This data …

Exploring Protective Behaviours Among Users Of Mobile Financial Services, Nicholas Washington Omollo, Manoj Maharaj

The African Journal of Information Systems

As digital financial services grow, users face rising risks of financial loss through mobile platforms, often due to limited awareness of protective behaviours. This study surveyed 1,159 mobile financial service (MFS) users in Kenya to examine attitudes, concerns, security adoption, and actual practices. A behavioural model was developed by integrating information security and privacy literature with the Theory of Planned Behaviour, and tested using structural equation modeling via smart-PLS. Findings reveal that prior financial loss significantly heightens security and privacy concerns, influencing attitudes toward mobile protection and intentions to adopt secure practices. Loss experiences also increase user vigilance and perceived …

Reproducibility Of Spatially-Defined Structural Cluster Analysis Using Automated Superpixel Metrics On Swept-Source Optical Coherence Tomography, Sahil Shah, Fabio Lavinsky, Bo Young Kim, Darron King, Ronald Zambrano, Fernanda Mari Fujihara, Dilru Amarasekera, Lauren E. Hock, Ping Huang, Natasha Kolomeyer, Reza Razeghinejad, Jonathan Myers, Gadi Wollstein, Joel Schuman

Phase 1

INTRODUCTION: Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is essential to detect and monitor structural damage in glaucoma. However, current practices focus on global and sectoral values, not localized changes. The study explores a novel approach using spatially determined superpixel clusters from swept- source OCT (SS-OCT) to assess localized changes in both healthy and glaucomatous eyes. We hypothesize that this method will provide reproducible results comparable with standard OCT parameters.

METHODS: Healthy and glaucoma subjects with ≥ 2 qualified same-visit optic nerve head (ONH) and macular Triton SS-OCT scans were included. Automated segmentation generated superpixel thickness values from 3D disc and macula arrays. …

The Student Movement Volume 110 Issue 13: Together, We Are Andrews, Addison Randall, Lia Glass, Ysa Dennis, Melanie Webb, Jj Nixon, Stephanie Ferreira, Ysabella Neves, Isa Demoraes, Reagan Westerman, Joey Carrion, Kyle Simpson, Anna Rybachek, Laura Pérez

The Student Movement V. 110 (2025-2026)

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

"Stamped. Sealed. Discipled." The Annual Music & Worship Conference, Addison Randall

I'm Finna Be In The Pit: Entitlement in Concert Culture, Lia Glass

Sincere Recognition or Deflection: The 68th Grammy Awards, Ysa Dennis

Sidewalk Prophets Unplugged at the HPAC, Melanie Webb

Together, We Are America, Lia Glass

HUMANS

Faculty Spotlight: Tamara Wolcott-Watson, JJ Nixon

From Dorm Room to Design Studio: How Andrews Student Ruth Suarez Built a Nail Business on Campus, Stephanie Ferreira

A January Night In Venezuela: Beyond The Headlines, Ysabella Neves

NEWS

Andrews Administrators Hold Town Hall, Answer Questions on Recent ICE-Related Incident, Isa DeMoraes …

Adaptive Phase-Locked Loop Strategy Based On Improved Second-Order Linear Active Disturbance Rejection Control, Hui Li, Jiaqi Zhao, Xinqiao Fan

Journal of Electric Power Science and Technology

To address the problems of traditional phase-locked loops (PLLs), including slow dynamic response, poor detection accuracy, and insufficient suppression capability under complex operating conditions such as grid voltage unbalance and sudden frequency changes in flexible DC transmission systems, an adaptive PLL control strategy based on improved second-order linear active disturbance rejection control (LADRC) is proposed. This strategy employs a cross-decoupled dual complex coefficient filter with a frequency feedback loop as a pre-filtering stage to extract and separate the positive- and negative-sequence components of the voltage. In addition, a first-order feedforward derivative stage is introduced at the input reference signal of …