Digital Commons Network^™

Attentional Bias During A Novel Alcohol Cue Virtual Reality Paradigm, Ryan M. Sullivan, Benjamin S. Mckenna, Weichen Liu, Arwynn Mckinty, Camarin Laurance, Craig R. Rush, Nadir Weibel, Kelly E. Courtney

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: Attentional bias to alcohol cues is largely investigated using pictorial cues (i.e., two-dimensional images). The addition of eye-tracking metrics has improved these investigations yet are limited by a lack of naturalistic cues. Virtual reality (VR) can theoretically improve ecological validity through three-dimensional alcohol object presentation while utilizing eye-tracking metrics. This report sought to test the construct validity of the Alcohol Cue VR paradigm in evoking subjective craving and attentional bias through measurement of eye-gaze characteristics. Methods: Participants (n = 105, 53% male, M_age = 38), with varying alcohol use histories, underwent the Alcohol Cue VR paradigm, an alcohol …

High Biochar Rate Improves Water Retention In Some Environmentally Sensitive Soils, Samundra Sigdel

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Improving water retention and other hydraulic properties is key to managing soil water and sustaining crop production under fluctuating and extreme weather events. We assessed how wood biochar (836 g C kg^-1) applied at 0, 6.25, 12.5, 25, and 50 Mg ha^-1 affected: i) soil hydraulic properties after 5 years and ii) corn and soybean yield, and biomass production of cereal rye cover crop (CC) and CC mix (cereal rye, radish, and winter pea) in sandy, sloping, and semi-arid soils in the central U.S. Great Plains over 6 years. Biochar affected field saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_{sat …}

The Church And Nature’S Cathedral: Catholics, Protestants, And The Yosemite Chapel, Adam Hogan

Eastern Sierra History Journal

John Muir saw nature and national parks as religious symbols themselves. Since Muir’s day, generations of Americans have worshipped in the outdoor sanctuaries. However, while much scholarly attention has focused on national parks as symbols or religious icons, scholars have paid far less attention to the actual church services that have taken place in America’s national parks. Yet, a church in a national park presents many complications, and Adam Hogan explores these dilemmas through a history of the controversies surrounding who could pray in the Yosemite Chapel.

Five-State Seismic Damage Classification Of Steel-Girder Bridges On Soft Soil Using Directional Intensity Measures And Multi-Parameter Damage Indices, Ibrahim Alomari, Woubishet Zewdu Taffese, Mohammad Hossein Afsharmovahed, Genda Chen

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Rapid yet accurate post-earthquake damage assessment of highway bridges is essential to ensure transportation network resilience. Traditional inspection, fragility analysis, and finite element modeling are time-consuming or inaccurate for real-time decision-making. This study compares ten machine-learning classifiers for the seismic damage states of highway steel-girder bridges that incorporate directional intensity measures to represent the variance of ground motions. Based on the nonlinear time-history analyses of two Missouri bridges, one Michigan bridge, and one Wisconsin bridge, multi-parameter structural damage indices were proposed and mapped to five damage states from none to collapse. Among ten supervised algorithms studied, the artificial neural network …

Field Calibration Of Flow Over Tilting Weirs In Canals, Joseph E. Pugh, Timothy K. Gates, S. Karan Venayagamoorthy, Caner Kutlu

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Tilting weirs are widely used to regulate water levels in open channel irrigation systems and can also provide flow measurement capability that helps optimize irrigation efficiency and ensure equitable water distribution. This case study demonstrates adaptation of lab-based tilting weir ratings to field settings, where flow behavior is more complex. We compile and analyze an extensive data set derived from independent studies of five structures within three canal systems, featuring both lined and unlined channels with discharge ranging from 0.35 to 15 m3/s (12 to 530 ft3/s). Results indicate that lab-based rating equations can be calibrated to account for site-specific …

Barrier-Drainage Performance Of A Wicking Geotextile In Controlling Capillary Rise In Silt: Experimental Evaluation, Dahao Zou, Yipeng Guo, Jiejin Chen, Yafeng Li, Xiong Zhang, Yongjie Zhang, Luqiang Ding

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Capillary rise in silt significantly degrades its strength and durability, yet the hydraulic mechanisms governing moisture control using wicking geotextile in silt remain insufficiently understood. This study investigates the barrier-drainage performance of a wicking geotextile in silt through one-dimensional column experiments, supported by preliminary trials. Three configurations were examined: a control specimen without geotextile (CS), an embedded configuration (ES), and a surface-exposed configuration (SES). Volumetric moisture content and matric suction were monitored, capillary responses at the soil-geotextile interface and water storage behavior were evaluated. The results show that the wicking geotextile initially acts as a temporary capillary barrier due to …

Impact Of Climate Change On Extreme Windstorms And Implications For Structural Design In The United States, Teng Wu, Reda Snaiki, Frank Lombardo, Sihan Li, Michele Barbato, Guirong Yan, Robert J. Trapp

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Climate change impacts various extreme windstorms associated with specific meteorological phenomena in different ways. Because various windstorms contribute to the design wind speeds, this study systematically reviewed the state-of-the-art understanding of climate change effects on wind events that collectively contribute to structural wind design in North America, particularly the US, including extratropical cyclones (as well as nor'easters), tropical cyclones, thunderstorms, and tornadoes. For each windstorm type, the general evidence of climate change impacts on storm activities (e.g., occurrence frequency and intensity) are summarized, followed by the introduction of existing simulation frameworks for yearly (or subyearly) maximum storm winds under changing …

Harmonizing Human Touch And Ai Precision In Customer Service, Zhenbin Ding, Yali Zhang, Jun Sun, Mark Goh, Zhaojun Yang

Information Systems Faculty Publications

Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots offer a cost-effective solution for customer service, but often fall short in delivering personalized or complex interactions. In response, many merchants invest in AI training and explore human–AI collaboration to leverage the strengths of both automation and human touch. However, this introduces a strategic tradeoff between service quality and operational efficiency. Using a game-theoretic framework, this study examines how merchants can optimally choose service strategies with AI involvement. Our analysis reveals a critical collaboration trap. Contrary to the prevailing belief that increased collaboration consistently enhances service, consumers’ sensitivity to the identity of the service agent erodes …

Adrenal Crises And Quality Of Life After Bilateral Adrenalectomy Vs Primary Autoimmune Adrenal Insufficiency, Alexandra N Bancos, Raul Gregg-Garcia, Natalia Genere, Sanan Mahrokhian, Sara J Achenbach, Elizabeth J Atkinson, Anand Vaidya, Irina Bancos

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Context: Bilateral adrenalectomy (BLA) and autoimmune adrenal insufficiency (AAI) are 2 major causes of primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI). Comparative data between etiologies are limited.

Objective: To compare management, quality of life (QoL), and frequency of adrenal crises between participants post-BLA vs AAI.

Methods: We conducted a dual-center, cross-sectional study of adults with AAI or BLA between 2018 and 2025. All participants completed questionnaires on management, adrenal crises, and the Addison Disease-specific QoL Questionnaire (AddiQoL).

Results: Of 343 participants, 203 had AAI (median age 54 years, 72% women) and 139 had BLA (median age 57 years, 76% women). AddiQoL scores were …

A Transfer-Learning And Continuous Optimization-Based Framework For Predicting Heat Treatment-Dependent Mechanical Properties Of Ded-Processed Low-Alloy Steels, Atiqur Rahman, Sung Heng Wu, Ranjit Joy, Frank Liou

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Directed energy deposition (DED) of low-alloy steels involves strongly coupled effects among alloy composition, solidification behavior, and post-deposition heat treatment, making mechanical property prediction difficult when target-domain data are limited. This study develops a transfer-learning and continuous optimization framework for predicting heat treatment-dependent yield strength (YS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS), hardness (HV), and as-solidified phase fractions of martensite, ferrite, and austenite in DED-processed low-alloy steels. A CALPHAD-based dataset was generated for 125 low-alloy steel compositions. A multilayer perceptron (MLP) surrogate was first trained as a baseline model, then fine-tuned through transfer learning and progressively updated as staged continuous optimization; the …

What Fire Reveals: A Portfolio Of Integrated Practice, Harm Reduction, And Liberation-Centered Social Work, Jackie Brittain

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Chiral Chain Conformations On The Self-Assembly Of Helical Polymers, Michael J. Grant

Theses

Polymers are a soft material with diverse applications across a spectrum of technologies including, but not limited to, packaging, drug-delivery, optics, lithography and templating. This ubiquity stems from over a century of in-depth theoretical and experimental investigations relating polymer size, stiffness and architecture to their emergent material properties. Interestingly, unlike small organic molecules where solution behavior is predominantly a function of hydrophobicity, in polymers, adjusting the aforementioned features can have a dramatic impact on their interactions with neighboring molecules. In turn, this allows for a tunable parameter space enabling the ability to achieve specific engineering goals. Yet, while the impact …

Population Inference Of Compact Binaries With Eccentricity, Muhammad Zeeshan

Theses

Gravitational waves opened a new window to study the properties of compact binary systems, providing insights into their astrophysical formation and evolution. Initially, population studies relied on mass and spin distributions to distinguish between isolated, dynamical, and hierarchical merger channels; however, orbital eccentricity offers a complementary probe of binary formation scenarios. Historically, eccentricity received limited attention due to the lack of eccentric wave- form models and the absence of strong observational evidence within the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA sensitivity band. A growing catalog, recent advances in eccentric waveform modeling, and analyses reporting candidates consistent with non-zero eccentricity motivate a systematic population-level study with …

Harnessing Airborne And Spaceborne Lidar For Large-Area Assessment Of Canopy Structural Complexity, Tahrir Ibraq Siddiqui

Theses

Forests play a vital role in global carbon cycling, biodiversity conservation, and the provision of ecosystem services. Accurate quantification of forest carbon sequestration rates – or forest production – therefore is essential for understanding ecosystem dynamics and informing sustainable forest management practices. Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems, as an active remote sensing modality, have emerged as a powerful tool for capturing detailed structural information of forests. Studies employing terrestrial LiDAR demonstrated that canopy structural complexity (CSC) metrics are strongly correlated with forest production at stand to landscape scales. While terrestrial LiDAR systems provide highly detailed maps of internal canopy …

Diabetter Together: Outcomes Of A Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating A Peer Mentor Behavioral Intervention For Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes During The Transfer From Pediatric To Adult Care, Marisa E Hilliard, Charles G Minard, Samantha A Carreon, Wendy L Levy, Sarah K Lyons, Randi Streisand, Tricia S Tang, Siripoom V Mckay, Sridevi Devaraj, Barbara J Anderson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objective: Transition between pediatric and adult health care is complex, with high risk for loss to follow-up and suboptimal health outcomes for young adults with type 1 diabetes. This trial evaluated the efficacy of DiaBetter Together, a 12-month strengths-based behavioral intervention delivered by trained peer mentors. The intervention aimed to help young adults navigate the transfer process to promote optimal glycemic outcomes, shorten time to adult care follow-up, and improve psychosocial outcomes.

Research design and methods: Using a single-site randomized clinical trial design, we compared the 12-month intervention to usual care among n = 100 young adults aged 17-25 years …

Data Centers Face Volatile Regulatory Landscape, Michael B. Gerrard

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The construction of new data centers for artificial intelligence has become a major engine of the U.S. economy. More than 700 data centers are now under construction across 40 states, with many more to come.

These are typically multi-billion-dollar projects. This boom is facing growing public opposition, which has led to an extremely volatile regulatory land-scape, especially at the state and local levels. That landscape is the subject of this article. This volatility has raised the cost of capital for data centers and led to the cancellation of many, and to heightened due diligence by lenders and others.

A Laboratory Investigation Of Energy Dissipators At Embankment Dams, Nathan L. Young

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Dams play a critical role in protecting communities from flooding and providing reliable water supplies. When large amounts of water pass through a dam’s spillway during floods, the discharge can travel at high speeds and carry potentially destructive kinetic energy that can damage the dam or erode downstream channels if that energy is not properly controlled. To reduce this risk, engineers commonly use hydraulic structures called energy dissipators that slow spillway discharge and safely release it downstream.

Commonly used energy dissipators at embankment dams include stilling basins that rely on a hydraulic jump – a sudden rise in water depth …

'Fast' And 'Slow' Water Handling Strategies Explain Pinyon Pine Decline And Juniper Expansion, M. Faraz Rehman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Across the western United States, pinyon and juniper woodlands are changing with pinyon pine trees dying back while juniper becoming more abundant. Previous studies suggested that pinyon may lose more water during drier periods. But water loss is only part of the story. Water inputs, or how plants absorb water, are also likely to be important, but rarely well understood. To better understand this, we measured how pinyon and juniper absorb water from different soil depths and how actively they lose water through their leaves. Measurements were made over two years at three sites that ranged from more dry to …

Magnetic Properties And Ultrafast Spin Dynamics In Quantum Materials, Trung Kien Mac

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Modern electronics mostly work by moving electric charge, which generates heat and hence wastes energy, especially as devices become smaller and faster. An alternative is to use the spin of electrons (a tiny magnetic property) and related “valley” states in certain atomically thin materials to store and process information more efficiently. This thesis explores how magnetism and spin behavior can be created and measured in a family of ultra-thin materials known as van der Waals quantum materials. Three kinds of materials are studied. First, atomically thin semiconductors are shaped into narrow nanoribbons. Because of their narrow size, their edges can …

Independent- August 2026, Alex Dolgin

The Independent (1988-present)

No abstract provided.

Casual Killing In The Home: Ecological Citizenship And The Micro-Geopolitics Of Mosquito Cohabitation, Orlando Woods, Junxi Qian

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This article explores how the visceral acts of being bitten by and killing mosquitoes can underpin the formation of ecological citizenship. This form of citizenship is premised on human-nature entanglement and raises questions concerning how the rights and responsibilities stemming from such entanglement become distributed across the public and private domains. As a space in which mosquito cohabitation is contested daily, the home is a key site through which ecological citizenship can be forged and theoretical debates concerning urban political ecology can be extended. Human-mosquito entanglements in the home can reveal the limits of public pest management strategies, the partiality …

Misplay Or Malice? Players’ Interpretations Of Poor Gameplay In Competitive Team-Based Multiplayer Online Games, Valerie Yu, Benjamin H. Detenber, Sonny Rosenthal

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Research on perceptions of gaming toxicity has focused on its verbal forms, while gameplay-related forms remain relatively understudied. Furthermore, assessments of gameplay actions as toxic may depend on situational considerations. The present study used a controlled experiment to examine player interpretations of gameplay sabotage using pre-recorded gameplay scenarios from the game, League of Legends. We found that the presence of gameplay sabotage elicited stronger negative emotions and triggered greater player-reported intentions to retaliate and correct the offending player than in comparable instances of unintentional poor gameplay. Further exploratory analyses suggested that participants rated poor gameplay as less acceptable in more …

From Open Banking To Banking-As-A-Service: Regulatory Challenges In The Evolution Of Financial Intermediation, Nydia Remolina Leon

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Over the past decade, financial innovation has moved from open banking, centred on consumer-permissioned data sharing, to banking-as-a-service (BaaS), which modularises core banking functions through application programming interfaces. This shift allows fintechs and non-financial platforms to embed financial products seamlessly, reducing transaction costs and fostering innovation. Yet the 2024 collapse of Synapse in the United States exposed the fragility of this model when intermediaries operate outside robust oversight, leaving consumers without recourse and revealing liability fragmentation and regulatory blind spots. This paper distinguishes BaaS from open banking, open finance, and embedded finance, and maps leading global models – from bank-led …

Voll7iss4 Cover, Hca Healthcare

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine Covers

Cover for Volume 7 Issue 4 of the HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine.

Not A Pretty Picture: Race, Gender, And Inequality In The Legal Profession And Legal Education, Tanina Rostain

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Responding to renewed interest in law school as a path to a career “to do well and do good,” this essay examines Nelson, Dinovitzer, Garth, Sterling, Wilkins, Dawe, and Michelson’s The Making of Lawyers’ Careers and its account of inequality and opportunity in the American legal profession. Based on a 20-year study of more than 2,000 lawyers, the book traces how credentials, race, gender, class, and law school selectivity profoundly shape career trajectories. The essay situates those findings within the divide in private practice between corporate practice and people law and interrogates the professional ideology—rooted in the lawyer’s traditional role …

Are We Winning At Twinning? Persistent Cni Use In Identical Kidney Transplants., Nicholas S. Herrera, Shivani Wadnerkar, Diane M. Cibrik

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) revolutionized kidney transplantation by reducing acute rejection rates. Identical twin kidney transplantation is the only setting in which the allograft is immunologically indistinguishable from self, yet CNI use persists. We characterized CNI utilization across end-stage kidney disease etiologies and examined whether CNI exposure was associated with reduced rejection or improved death-censored graft survival (DCGS).

METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study using scientific registry of transplant recipients data (January 2000-August 2025). Among 255 adult identical twin kidney transplant recipients, discharge regimens were categorized by CNI use; Firth penalized Cox regression was the primary method for 10-year …

Intentional Investment In Adolescent Girls In The Digital Space In West And Central Africa, Mame Soukeye Mbaye, Sarah Engebretsen, Maty Dia, Karen Austrian

Adolescents and Young People

The Girls’ Futures in Focus: Evidence from West and Central Africa series examines the challenges facing adolescent girls in the region and highlights evidence-informed approaches to improving their lives. This brief summarizes the evidence on which adolescent girls are most excluded from the digital space in West and Central Africa (WCA), drawing on evidence from the GIRL Center’s priority countries. It identifies digital approaches that may be relevant for adolescent girls in the West and Central African context, while recognizing that rigorous evidence remains limited, especially in francophone and fragile settings.

Climate Change And Adolescent Girls In West And Central Africa: Building A Girl-Intentional Response, Mame Soukeye Mbaye, Sarah Engebretsen, Maty Dia, Karen Austrian

Adolescents and Young People

The Girls’ Futures in Focus: Evidence from West and Central Africa series examines the challenges facing adolescent girls in the region and highlights evidence-informed approaches to improving their lives. This brief summarizes the evidence on how climate shocks reshape the lives of adolescent girls in West and Central Africa, drawing in particular on evidence from the GIRL Center’s priority countries. It examines gendered climate vulnerabilities, gaps in climate policies that overlook girls, and emerging adaptation strategies that hold promise for girls in the region. The brief points to what a girl-intentional climate response could look like across the priority countries.

Accélérer L’Éducation Des Adolescentes En Afrique De L’Ouest Et Du Centre, Mame Soukeye Mbaye, Sarah Engebretsen, Maty Dia, Karen Austrian

Adolescents and Young People

La série « L’avenir des filles en point de mire : données probantes d’Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre » examine les défis auxquels font face les adolescentes de la région et met en lumière des approches éclairées par les données probantes pour améliorer leurs conditions de vie. Cette note présente les données disponibles sur les inégalités entre les sexes dans l’éducation en Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre (AOC), avec une attention particulière aux pays prioritaires du GIRL Center. Elle analyse la fréquentation scolaire, la progression des apprentissages, le passage au secondaire et la réintégration scolaire. Elle vise à …

Accélérer Les Progrès Pour Les Adolescentes Dans Les Contextes Humanitaires En Afrique De L’Ouest Et Du Centre, Mame Soukeye Mbaye, Sarah Engebretsen, Maty Dia, Karen Austrian

Adolescents and Young People

La série « L’avenir des filles en point de mire : données probantes d’Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre » examine les défis auxquels font face les adolescentes de la région et met en lumière des approches éclairées par les données probantes pour améliorer leurs conditions de vie. Cette note résume les données disponibles sur les conséquences des crises humanitaires pour la sécurité immédiate des filles, la continuité des services et leurs perspectives d’avenir à long terme en Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre (AOC), en particulier dans les pays prioritaires du GIRL Center. Elle examine les violences sexuelles et …