Digital Commons Network^™

Living With Beavers In America: Part 3, John Hadidian Phd

WellBeing News

Living with Beavers in America: Part 3 examines the evolving human-beaver relationship as these iconic ecosystem engineers return to contemporary landscapes. The article argues that much of the tension between people and beavers arises from how the animals are framed — whether as pests, natural resource commodities, recreational assets, or ecological partners. It explores the regulatory frameworks governing beaver management, typical conflict scenarios (such as tree loss and flooding), and emerging approaches that enable coexistence without unnecessary removal. Ultimately, the piece highlights the importance of reevaluating human desires and values alongside the measurable environmental contributions beavers make, offering insights into …

Artificial Investments: Consumer Protection For Ai-Generated Quantitative Trading Algorithms, Eric Heyland

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

In-Space Servicing And The Coming Legal Issues For Inciting Innovation, Grayson Russell

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Effect Of Rna Interference Of Two Heat Shock Proteins (Hspa1l, Hsp90b1) In Inducing Apoptosis In Acyrthosiphon Pisum, James Balthazor Ph.D., Griffin Davies

Chemistry Faculty Publications

RNAi in HSPA1L and HSP90B1 proteins of the unfolded protein response.

Acyrthosiphon pisum (pea aphid) is a major pest of Fabaceae (legume) crops, causing direct feeding damage and transmitting plant diseases. Conventional control relies on broad-spectrum insecticides and natural enemies, both of which can harm non-target organisms and ecosystems. RNA interference (RNAi) offers a promising, species-specific alternative by silencing essential genes via double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). This study targeted two heat shock protein Genes-Heat Shock 70 kDa Protein 1-Like (HSPA1L) and Heat Shock Protein 90 kDa beta (Grp94) Member 1 (HSP90B1)-key players in protein folding, quality control, and stress response within …

Executive Committee - Agenda, 01/06/2026, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Cognitive Warfare 2026: Nato’S Chief Scientist Report As Sentinel Call For Operational Readiness, James Giordano

Strategic Insights

This commentary examines emerging concepts in cognitive warfare, the use of information, perception shaping, and psychological influence as instruments of strategic competition. It also highlights insights from the 2026 NATO Chief Scientist Report. Dr. Giordano explains that cognitive effects extend traditional information operations by targeting how people think, make decisions, and act in complex environments. Drawing from NATO analysis, he argues that military organizations must integrate cognitive considerations into doctrine, planning, and training to enhance resilience and competitive advantage. Improved operational frameworks, interdisciplinary research, and ethical governance could help allied forces recognize, anticipate, and counter cognitive threats while preserving human …

Simulated Intimacy, But Real Connection: Perceived Reciprocity And Romantic Closeness Make Otome Fun To Play, Nicholas Bowman, Elena Yifei Zhao

Media Studies - All Scholarship

Otome games offer players the opportunity to form romantic relationships with NPCs. Drawing on Social Exchange Theory, we proposed that, in the context of otome game, reciprocity enhances the sense of romantic closeness with NPCs, which in turn lead to greater enjoyment and appreciation. Survey data from 293 Chinese otome players supported the model, suggesting that at least one of the reasons that otome gaming is so entertaining is that they provide players with relationships that those players engage as if they were authentically social. Descriptive results revealed high reciprocity scores and strong romantic connection with NPCs, which players feeling …

Stimulus-Driven Cerebrospinal Fluid Dynamics Is Impaired In Glaucoma Patients, Ji Won Bang, Carlos Parra, Kevin Yu, Hyun Seo Lee, Gadi Wollstein, Joel Schuman, Kevin Chan

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), partly driven by sensory stimulation, is crucial for maintaining homeostasis and clearing metabolic waste. Whether such stimulus-driven CSF flow is disrupted in age-related neurodegenerative diseases of the visual system remains unclear. This study examined the CSF flow during visual stimulation in glaucoma patients and healthy older adults using functional magnetic resonance imaging. In glaucoma, CSF inflow becomes progressively decoupled from the visually evoked blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) response. Specifically, the characteristic stimulus-locked CSF patterns, which decrease after stimulus onset and increase after offset, diminish with disease severity. Mediation analysis suggests this flattened CSF pattern is driven by a flatter …

Preliminary Evaluation Of Remote Sensing Evapotranspiration Models For Field-Scale Agricultural Water Management In Arid Central Iran, Somayeh Sima, Iman Raissi Dehkordi, Mohammadhosein Taghikhani, Neamat Karimi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Accurate estimation of actual evapotranspiration (ET_a) is crucial for effective water resource management and optimizing agricultural yields. While satellite-based surface energy balance ET_a models are widely adopted, their field-scale accuracy in under-researched regions, such as Iran, remains a critical knowledge gap. This study assesses five prominent models—PySEBAL, PyMETRIC, SSEBop, PyTSEB, and ETLook (from FAO’s WaPOR v.2, L1 product)—for daily ET_a estimation over an alfalfa field in the arid central part of Iran. Models were adjusted for the field using in situ weather data and Landsat-8 images, and validated against the scintillometer data. Results showed SSEBop provided …

Development And Characterization Of Compression-Molded Chitosan Composite Films Reinforced With Silica And Titania Fillers, Bhuvaneswari Koti, Vuong Do, Yanika Schneider, Vimal Viswanathan

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This study investigates the development of biodegradable chitosan-based films as a sustainable alternative to conventional non-biodegradable food packaging materials. Chitosan, a naturally occurring polymer, possesses inherent film-forming ability and biodegradability; however, its limited mechanical and thermal properties constrain its practical applications. In this work, chitosan films were fabricated via compression molding, and their thermo-mechanical performance was systematically evaluated. The incorporation of fillers, such as titanium dioxide and silica, resulted in a 50% enhancement in tensile strength and an 86% improvement in flexibility. Further optimization of dual-filler compositions led to an additional 45% increase in elasticity, demonstrating the potential of synergistic …

Thermal Performance And Specific Energy Consumption Of Traditional Tobacco Curing Barns In Tanzania, Seuri S. Kilakoi, Baraka Kichonge, Thomas Kivevele, Mtaki T. Maagi, Jacob B. Lisuma

Tanzania Journal of Science

Traditional tobacco curing barns remain the dominant technology in Tanzania due to their low construction cost and accessibility, particularly in major producing regions such as Tabora. However, their thermal inefficiency results in excessive firewood use and environmental degradation. This study presents a field-based performance evaluation of a traditional flue-curing barn at the Tobacco Research Institute of Tanzania. Environmental parameters and fuel consumption were monitored at 15- minute intervals throughout the yellowing, leaf drying, and stem drying stages. The curing process handled 429 kg of fresh tobacco using 1,016 kg of firewood, equivalent to 16,256 MJ of energy input. The specific …

Optimal Placement Of Electric Vehicle Chargers: A Mixed-Integer Linear Programming Model, Joubin Zahiri Khameneh, Emmanuel Fagbenle

Faculty Publications

Electric vehicle adoption is growing, but New Hampshire lags in public charging infrastructure, especially in rural areas. This gap increases range anxiety and economic inefficiencies. In this study, we developed a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model to optimally locate new electric vehicle chargers statewide, maximizing coverage and equity under budget constraints. The model includes geographic coverage requirements, population-weighted equity, capacity limits, and a $28 million budget. Moreover, the model recommends 855 Level 2 chargers and 149 Direct Current Fast Chargers (DCFCs) across 247 ZIP Codes, nearly doubling public charging capacity and achieving 98.8% coverage within defined service radii. The plan …

Modality-Agnostic, Patient-Specific Digital Twins Modeling Temporally Varying Digestive Motion, Jorge Tapias Gomez, Nishant Nadkarni, Lando S Bosma, Jue Jiang, Ergys D Subashi, William P Segars, James M Balter, Mert R Sabuncu, Neelam Tyagi, Harini Veeraraghavan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

A Phase 1, First-In-Human, Dose Escalation Study Of Jnj-80038114, A Psmaxcd3 Bispecific Antibody, In Participants With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer, Andrew Hudson, Anuradha Jayaram, Benjamin Garmezy, Nicholas Zorko, Kevin Zarrabi, Ligi Mathews, Brent Rupnow, Mengjie Li, Debopriya Ghosh, Karen Urtishak, Peter Francis, Sherry Wang, Edward Attiyeh, Johann De Bono

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) has been identified as a therapeutic target for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The recent success of radioligands targeting PSMA spurred development of new PSMA-targeting agents including immunotherapy. JNJ-80038114 is a bispecific antibody that binds PSMA on tumor cells and CD3 on T cells to induce anti-tumor activity.

METHODS: This was a phase 1, open-label, multicenter study of JNJ-80038114 in participants with mCRPC and ≥ 1 prior systemic therapy. JNJ-80038114 was administered subcutaneously every 3 weeks (Q3W), starting at 0.1 mg. The primary endpoint was safety. Secondary endpoints included pharmacokinetics (PK), immunogenicity, and prostate-specific antigen …

High Spatiotemporal Resolution Monitoring Of Crop Water Stress Across The Contiguous United States Using Harmonized Landsat And Sentinel-2 Data, Na Chen, Yanlei Feng, Na Wang, Jevan Yu, Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, Yifeng Cui, Ning Ye, Wenzhe Jiao, Joshua B. Fisher, César Terrer

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Accurate and timely monitoring of crop water stress is essential for efficient agricultural water management, ultimately maintaining and improving crop productivity. While Landsat has been used for this purpose, its temporal resolution hampers timely detection of crop water stress. The recently released Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 Version 2.0 dataset, which enables a higher-frequency time series of satellite observations (2–3 days, 30 m), offers a promising solution to this challenge. However, its potential for crop stress monitoring remained unexplored. In this study, we utilized 923 HLS satellite tiles to assess crop water stress across the contiguous United States (CONUS). Crop water …

Lessons In Surrender: Living With Chronic Illness, Danielle Wyenberg

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"My experience with chronic illness has pushed me to lean on my community, stripped away layers of pride and certainty, and forced me to find a much greater peace with human limits and mortality."

Posting about hope in difficult circumstances ­­­­­­­­from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Lessons in Surrender

Predicting Sepsis In Heart Failure Patients Supported By Left Ventricular Assist Devices: The Role Of Ve-Cadherin And Adam10, Shiyi Li, Iván Murrieta-Álvarez, Ismael Garcia, Katherine V Nordick, Rishav Bhattacharya, Shreyo Ghosh, Ronald A Shaju, Adel M Hassan, Carl P Walther, Camila Hochman-Mendez, Alexis E Shafii, Kenneth K Liao, Nandan K Mondal

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-Cadherin) is a major endothelial adhesion molecule and can be cleaved explicitly by metalloproteinase domain-containing protein 10 (ADAM10). Vascular hyperpermeability may contribute to a greater susceptibility to sepsis in left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support patients. We aim to evaluate the efficacy of VE-Cadherin and ADAM10 for predicting sepsis in LVAD patients. We prospectively recruited 50 patients with advanced heart failure receiving LVAD therapy. Baseline and weekly postoperative blood samples (weeks 1-4) were collected, and plasma VE-cadherin and ADAM10 levels were measured. Sepsis occurred in 9 of 50 patients (18.0%). Across all sampling points, plasma VE-cadherin and …

Postoperative Lymph Is A Proximal Source Of Ctdna For Detection Of Recurrence In Hpv-Independent Head And Neck Cancer, Seka Lazare, Noah Earland, Peter Harris, Ricardo Ramirez, Benjamin Wahle, Sid Puram, Doug Adkins, Wade Thorstad, Rebecca Chernock, Aadel A Chaudhuri, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSE: Relapse is a major cause of failure in human papillomavirus-independent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Clinicopathologic criteria for adjuvant treatment remain imprecise and have not changed for decades. We investigated whether ctDNA in lymphatic exudate collected via surgical drains ("lymph") 24 hours after surgery identified molecular residual disease (MRD) and compared its performance with time-matched plasma.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Using an ultra-sensitive tumor-informed sequencing approach, tumor variants were called in lymph and plasma to classify patients as ctDNA positive or ctDNA negative, trained in an initial cohort of 36 patients, and replicated in an independent cohort of 37 patients. …

Merging Terrestrial And Satellite Gravity Data For Africa: A Possibility To Fill-In The Data Gaps, Hussein A. Abd-Elmotaal, Norbert Kuhtreiber

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The major challenge that the IAG Sub-Commission on gravity and geoid in Africa faces is the significantly large gravity data gaps. It is essential to properly tackle this issue for all geodetic applications in Africa due to the large interpolation errors occur at these large gaps. Simple interpolation (using any type of interpolation technique) of the gravity data does not add new information at the large data gaps, and the solution is free there. Global Earth gravity models offer themselves as a possible way to fill-in such large data gaps, provided that they approximate the African gravity field to an …

Navigating Federal Work-Study: How Informational And Structural Barriers Shape First-Year Student Participation, Sooji Kim

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Understanding the complex nature of institutional and student behaviors regarding the federal work-study program (FWS) is critical to bolstering federal and institutional efforts to implement tangible policy interventions and practical improvements to the program. However, there is scant literature about the mechanisms of students’ FWS decision-making processes. To better understand the “why” of students’ decisions and behaviors around the FWS program, this study explores the determinants of imperfect FWS aid take-up among lower-income, first-year college students. Drawing upon multidisciplinary views on students’ work decisions while in college, a survey was developed and administered at a large public four-year university in …

Forging Pathways: How Low-Income Stem Students Navigate College On A Free Tuition Program, Taylor Wilby, Sarah Madsen, Nathan F. Alleman

Journal of Student Financial Aid

In light of the ever-increasing cost of tuition, colleges and universities are turning to free tuition programs to make college more affordable – especially for those students demonstrating the most financial need. Concurrently, students from low-income backgrounds continue to enroll in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors, navigating rigorous fields of study and anticipating highly lucrative career opportunities following graduation. This project, therefore, sought to answer the following question: How and in what ways is the college-going navigation of low-income STEM students influenced by a free tuition pathway in a selective, affluent university? Utilizing a qualitative, symbolic interactionist …

Model-Based Investigation Of The Influence Of Environmental Conditions On The Energy Supply Of Multirotor Uavs, Morten Roßberg, Hanna Dibbern, Claudia Werner

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

Flight time of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is limited by available energy, which is affected by the mission profile and external factors, such as environmental conditions. Two main environmental conditions that need to be considered are the impact of wind and ambient temperature on the UAV and its energy supply. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of wind and ambient temperature to conduct a preliminary evaluation of flight performance and flight limitations. For this reason, three locations in the United States—New York City, Miami, and Fairbanks—are selected and the impact of the considered environmental conditions of …

Appropriations Of Women And Children In World War I Propaganda Posters And Beyond, R. Asli Kilci, G. Azra Yetișkin, Muhammet Öztürk, Jessy Ohl

Speaker & Gavel

WWI has received renewed attention in recent years as a foil for contemporary society. While often overlooked in comparison to other conflicts, WWI shares with the present day a devastating global pandemic, growing geopolitical hostilities in Europe, and the proliferation of new communication technologies. As an example of “total war,” WWI involved mass recruitment of civilians through a variety of means, one of which was the innovative use of propaganda posters. In this article, we analyze one prevalent rhetorical strategy in WWI propaganda posters that continues to influence audiences today— depictions of women and children. By studying the visual and …

A Contextual Attention-Based Transformer Model For Enhanced Hate Speech Detection On Twitter, Mira Mansour, Nancy Akoum, Seifedine Kadry

Iraqi Journal for Computer Science and Mathematics

Hate speech on social media poses significant societal challenges, necessitating accurate and context-sensitive automated detection. Traditional machine learning (ML) models typically rely on lexical or superficial features, limiting their ability to capture nuanced or contextually ambiguous expressions of hate speech. Recent transformer-based methods (e.g., RoBERTa) provide improved contextual understanding but often lack explicit mechanisms guiding the model’s attention to critical semantic tokens, thereby reducing interpretability and sensitivity to nuanced linguistic contexts. This paper introduces a novel contextual attention-guided transformer model that explicitly incorporates lexicon-guided attention supervision into RoBERTa fine-tuning, significantly enhancing semantic precision in hate speech detection on Twitter. Evaluations …

Reviving Novorossiya: Russia’S Invasion Of Ukraine Under International Law

Washington International Law Journal

Abstract: For nearly three years, the Eastern European nation of Ukraine has been entangled in a war it did not instigate, did not desire, but was forced into by its more powerful neighbor, Russia. Since the onset of the war, Russia has faced accusations of widespread atrocities, including severe violations of human rights, international humanitarian law, and breaches of other international norms. Following the inauguration of United States (US) President Donald Trump, there has been a renewed effort to bring both parties to the negotiating table and end the conflict. With the ongoing negotiations, there is no better time to …

Hybrid Warfare: A Collection Of Scenarios, Adrian Borbély

DRI Press

Hybrid Warfare is nothing new but it has increasingly made the news - even if most of it remains beyond our awareness. Hybrid Warfare gathers all methods through which countries wage war against each other beyond traditional military, diplomatic and economic battlefields (cyber attacks, disinformation, transnational organized crime, appropriation of natural resources, lawfare, corruption, etc.). Such below-the-surface foreign aggressions are not limited to localized regions where armed forces shoot at each other trying to take each other’s positions. In hybrid warfare, society as a whole is the battlefield. In other words, hybrid warfare is not the concern of a few, …

Novice Middle Grades Science Teacher Perspectives On Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices, Erica Danielle Benjamin Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) bridges students’ cultural experiences with academic learning; however, novice science teachers often lack the preparation to apply it. This study addressed the problem that teachers without sufficient preparation to support culturally diverse learners are teaching middle grades science. Grounded in Freire’s critical consciousness and informed by Gay’s CRT principles, the purpose of this study was to explore the experiences and perspectives of middle grades science teachers in their first 5 years of teaching regarding their use of CRT to plan and implement science lessons. Data from 12 semistructured interviews with novice middle grades science teachers were …

Strategies To Manage Business Process Outsourcing Initiatives, Zienisha Bailey-Grant

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizations increasingly rely on business process outsourcing (BPO) to reduce costs, access specialized expertise, and improve efficiency; however, failure rates in BPO initiatives remain high, leading to financial loss, operational disruptions, and reduced competitiveness. Business leaders who lack effective strategies to manage outsourcing projects risk eroding customer satisfaction and organizational performance. Grounded in transaction cost economics and the resource-based view, the purpose of this qualitative single-case study was to explore strategies some business leaders used to successfully manage BPO initiatives. The participants included 10 senior managers from organizations in the southeastern United States who had demonstrated success in overseeing outsourcing …

Trends In The Implementation Of The Cyberchondria Severity Scale: Bibliometric Analysis, Adam C Powell, Cayetana Calderon-Smith

College of Population Health Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Cyberchondria, a combination of the words "cyber" and "hypochondriasis," is a condition that is receiving increasing attention from clinicians and researchers globally. Researchers are currently using multiple instruments to quantify it. Furthermore, the instruments have been translated into multiple languages.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the extent to which researchers are measuring cyberchondria using the 33-item Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS) and its 12-item abbreviated version, the CSS-12. It also examined the relative use of cyberchondria instruments in different languages.

METHODS: PubMed and PsycInfo were searched for articles published between May 1, 2019, and December 31, 2024, featuring the …

Research Progress On Generating Perfect Vortex Beams Based On Metasurfaces, Xiujuan Liu, Manna Gu, Ying Tian, Mingfeng Zheng, Bo Fang, Zhi Hong, Chee Leong Tan, Xufeng Jing

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article reviews the latest advances in the generation and control of perfect vector beams using metasurfaces. In recent years, metasurfaces have garnered increasing interest due to their simple fabrication and easy integration. Perfect vortex beams (PVBs), as a type of vector beams, exhibit complex polarization states that require the superposition of multiple phases for their generation. The use of metasurfaces provides a compact platform for the generation of perfect vortex beams and enables more complex vortex beam control tasks, which are quite challenging for traditional optics. This paper begins by introducing the principle of perfect vortex beam generation using …