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Und Leads Implementation Team Meeting Agenda — August 19, 2025, University Of North Dakota

LEADS Implementation Documents

Agenda for the August 19, 2025 meeting of the UND LEADS Implementation Team. The agenda includes subgroup reports and continued discussion of Learning recommendations, including practicality, impact, alignment, and connections with available data.

Correlations Of Intersectional Identity Cohesion And Growth In Queer And Transgender Black, Indigenous, And People Of Color, Zoha T. Qader

Master's Theses

Past research has found that identity cohesion (how integrated multiple identities are) is a protective factor that moderates the relationship between intersectional microaggressions and mental health outcomes. Individuals with higher identity conflict (multiple identities clashing) had anxiety and depression symptoms that could be predicted by the distress they experienced from intersectional microaggressions. For those with high identity cohesion, this was not the case. While compelling, the question remains, what are the factors that contribute to identity integration versus identity conflict? The present study will utilize existing data of 417 QTBIPOC individuals. Ratings of LGBTQ+ community belonging and engagement, and LGBTQ+ …

Global Drivers And Local Management Of Groundwater Stress: A High-Resolution Economic Analysis Of Land, Water, And Food Systems, Iman Haqiqi, Thomas Hertel, Kavitha Srikanth

Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Groundwater stress, a critical challenge for global water security and food production, has intensified due to the interaction of global change drivers and rapidly evolving local conditions. This paper investigates the individual and combined impacts of water availability, heat, population growth, income dynamics, and technological advancements on global groundwater stress over a historical period from 1997 to 2017. Utilizing the gridded Simplified International Model of agricultural Prices, Land use, and the Environment (SIMPLE-G), the study attributes local changes in water and land use patterns to these key global drivers. Furthermore, it evaluates an alternative, counterfactual scenario in which sustainable management …

Gm-Csf Production By Immune Cells In Steady State And Autoimmune Neuroinflammation Mapped Using Fate Reporting Mice, Gholamreza Azizi, Javad Rasouli, Hamed Naziri, Michael V. Gonzalez, James Garifallou, Guang-Xian Zhang, Bogoljub Ciric, Abdolmohamad M. Rostami

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

INTRODUCTION: GM-CSF is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that promotes an inflammatory phenotype in myeloid cells. The extent and pattern of GM-CSF expression in immune cells have not been fully elucidated. Our goal was to advance this topic using novel GM-CSF reporter/fate reporter transgenic mice.

METHODS: We tracked ongoing and past GM-CSF expression in various immune cells from multiple organs, in steady-state and autoimmune inflammation of the central nervous system (CNS).

RESULTS: The GM-CSF expression patterns varied by cell type and organ, with CD4

DISCUSSION: These findings identified distinct GM-CSF cellular sources across organs, highlighting the transient nature of GM-CSF expression and …

Planning And Policy For Safer Roads With Autonomous Vehicles: Moral Decision Making Behavior In Dilemma-Inducing Situations, Fatemeh Nazari, Mohamadhossein Noruzoliaee

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

This study develops a Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) framework to examine how public confidence in autonomous vehicle (AV) safety and willingness-to-ride respond to policy interventions in crash-imminent pedestrian–passenger prioritization scenarios. Using stated preferences survey data from San Francisco (SF) and San Antonio (SA), the model integrates baseline attitudes, socio-demographic factors, and policy conditions to simulate both intra-slice and inter-slice dependencies. Results from empirical-mix simulations indicate that SF respondents, despite having higher baseline confidence and willingness-to-ride, exhibit greater sensitivity to policies prioritizing pedestrians, with significant declines across all scenarios. By contrast, SA respondents show comparatively stable and modestly positive shifts, particularly …

Microbiome And Metabolome Association Network Analysis Identifies, Jordan Hernandez, Shivdeep S. Hayer, Sophie Alvarez, Anne Fischer, Haley R. Hassenstab, Katherine Cooper, Zahraa W. Alsafwani, Andrew K. Benson, Mallory J. Suhr Van Haute, Jacques Izard, Hyun-Seob Song, Jonathan B. Clayton

Journal Articles: Internal Medicine

The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), a nonhuman primate species, is a model organism of great interest due to its translational value in a variety of research settings, including the field of microbiomics. While the composition of the marmoset's gut microbiome has been somewhat described in captivity, little is known about how gut microbiota interact with each other over time and how they relate to metabolite production. To help answer this, we characterized interactions in the gut microbiome of the common marmoset by calculating the Spearman correlation coefficient between 16S rDNA-derived relative genera abundance data and targeted metabolomics data …

Immunogenicity And Safety Of A Rabies-Based Highly Pathogenic Influenza A Virus H5 Vaccine In Cattle, Nir Paran, Christoph Wirblich, Catherine Olal, Alessandro Tarquinio, Kimberly H. Lohmeyer, Drishya Kurup, Stacey Schultz-Cherry, Ismaila Shittu, Gregory C. Gray, Dennis A. Bente, Pia U. Olafson, Matthias J. Schnell

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

The circulation of highly pathogenic H5 influenza A viruses in cattle, other mammals, and wildlife threatens animal and human health. To address this, we vaccinated heifer-calves with a deactivated rabies-virus-based H5 vaccine, which was well-tolerated and elicited neutralizing antibodies against both clade-1 and clade-2.3.4.4b H5N1 viruses, comparable to naturally H5-infected and convalescing cows. The immune responses to the vaccine platform were durable for at least 200 days and unaffected by preexisting RABV immunity.

Dissatisfaction And Residual Symptoms In Younger And Older Adult Patients After Total Knee Arthroplasty, Nicholas Pohl, Parker Brush, Adrian Santana, Sebastian Fras, Eleanor Jenkins, Arjun Saxena

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Papers

INTRODUCTION: Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is an increasingly used treatment option for younger patients with osteoarthritis. Previous research has found only 66% patients < 60 years who underwent TKA postoperatively reported that their knees felt normal. However, the prior studies did not compare underlying causes for dissatisfaction based on age. This study compared the satisfaction and residual symptom rates between patients ages < 60 and ≥60 years and identified specific reasons for their dissatisfaction between the age groups.

METHODS: Patients who underwent unilateral TKA for osteoarthritis from 2014 to 2016 were electronically sent a 15-question survey pertaining to surgery satisfaction. Following patient identification and survey completion, patient demographics, medical history, surgical time, and length of stay were collected through manual review of medical records. Patients who completed surveys were grouped by age (< 60 years or ≥60 years) for analysis.

RESULTS: In total, 1189 ≥ 60-year-old patients and 388 < 60-year-old patients were included. Most patients in both cohorts reported satisfaction with overall knee function (< 60: 68.6%; ≥60: 71.8%; P = 0.175). Fewer < 60-year patients reported normal knee function (66.5% vs. 75.2%; P < 0.001). The most common residual symptom in both cohorts was continued pain.

CONCLUSION: Patients younger than 60 years reported less satisfaction with performing normal activities …

An Investigation Of Parental Involvement In The Safe Passage Initiative (An Anti-Violence Program), Danielle King

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the issue of parental involvement in Safe Passage, an anti-violence initiative operating within seven Pittsburgh Public Schools. Recognizing the involvement of parents is critical for successful violence prevention, this study explores the barriers hindering meaningful participation and identifies strategies to enhance parent-school-community collaboration.

Utilizing qualitative research methods, the study captures insights from parents, educators, and community stakeholders through a reflective Journey Line activity and focus group discussion. Data collected revealed several significant barriers such as inconsistent communication, limited parental availability due to demanding work schedules, mental and emotional exhaustion, cultural disconnects, and a lack of clarity regarding …

Effect Of Bond Strength Variation And Ionizing Radiation On Mutations In Cytosine-Guanine Islands, Joshua Robert Bedwell, Yan Poniatovskyi, Vola Andrianarijaona

Achieve

Ionizing radiation produces free electrons within cells which then ionizes DNA and has the potential to cause carcinogenic mutations. Cytosine-Guanine (CpG) islands are regions that are rich in cytosine and guanine bases and are common sites of single point mutations and strand breaks. In this study, density function theory (DFT) is used to calculate the potential energy of DNA nucleotide dimers varying bond lengths in five different ionized states. Crossing between two ionized states can be seen in the potential energy curves, indicating the possibility of natural transition between the two states. Potential energy curves are used to determine bond …

Analyzing The Strength Of The Amine Bond Of Guanine Via Potential Curve Analysis: A Computational Approach, Yan Poniatovskyi, Joshua Robert Bedwell, Vola Andrianarijaona

Achieve

The deamination of guanine can be a cause of single point DNA mutations. In this study, the strength of the amine bond was examined using DFT and B3LYP to map out the bond’s potential curves under conditions of various charges being imposed on the molecule. Such an approach yielded a few potential curves that do not exhibit the expected behavior and rather, show crossings in potential energy curves. Discussions regarding the suspected causes of these unexpected behaviors are included in the poster presentation. The Mulliken charge analysis of guanine under these conditions is coherent with the proposition that the deamination …

Unh Researcher Joins $152m Project To Advance Ai For Scientific Research, Beth Potier

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Unh Again Recognized As Center Of Excellence In Cyber Defense Education, Robbin Ray

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Hetzel Hall Turns 100 In Style After Major Renovation, Keith Testa

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

What 2 Profs Noticed As Transactional Law Students Used Ai, Celia Bigoness, David Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

We teach entrepreneurship law clinics in which our students do transactional work on a wide range of matters, including business formation, contracts, intellectual property protection and regulatory compliance.

This past semester, we had access to generative artificial intelligence tools from Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg Law, as well as those that are more broadly available to the general public, including ChatGPT and Perplexity.

While we have not done a rigorous study of these tools, we have some early observations about how AI is changing how transactional lawyers do their jobs, particularly new transactional lawyers. Our own experience has been mostly positive, …

Conceptual Model And Design Of An Initiative To Build Nurses’ Resilience And Ethical Practice, Cynda Hylton Rushton, Sandra M. Swoboda, Nancy Reller, Laura C. Sarver, Erin M. Wright, Krysia Warren Hudson, Robie Victoria Hughes, Ginger C. Hanson, Rita D’Aoust

College of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations

Background: Healthcare faces a nursing crisis with high turnover, burnout, and faculty shortages, which requires innovative educational approaches that bridge the gap between education and practice. Purpose: To present the conceptual model and design of a statewide, trans-institutional academic-practice collaboration that holistically builds nurses' resilience and ethical practice across the education-to-practice continuum. Method: Development of the Renewal, Resilience, and Retention (R³) Initiative based on adaptation of the Mindful Ethical Practice and Resilience Academy (MEPRA), social ecological framework, and stakeholder input across eight schools of nursing and five hospitals in Maryland. Results: The R³ Initiative created a scalable …

Bob Becker: An Examination Of His Compositional Approach And His Chamber Work Never In Word, Kaipo Lan

Dissertations, 2020-current

In the late twentieth century, the dual role of percussionist-composer became more visible, supported by the growth of percussion ensembles, specialized university training, and musicians who embraced both performance and composition as central to their artistic identity. Bob Becker is such a musician, a world-renowned percussionist and composer notable for the fusion of North Indian classical music and Western music conventions. His chamber pieces are excellent additions to the repertoire and notable for his multicultural music aesthetic, orchestration, range of musical colors, and idiomatic writing for the performers. Moreover, Becker’s ongoing exploration of his interest in poetry has been reflected …

Social Buffering By Siblings In Childhood And Adolescence, Deborah Han, Natalie A. Thwaites, Julia Olson, Kenia Rivera, Julia Dmitrieva, Jenalee R. Doom

Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

Although positive sibling relationships are associated with better developmental outcomes for children and adolescents, it is unknown whether siblings may be effective social buffers of physiological stress. In addition, there is little research on whether depressive symptoms may moderate the effectiveness of social buffering. The current study examined (1) whether siblings, compared to strangers, buffered the cortisol response to a social evaluative stressor in children and adolescents, (2) whether depressive symptoms moderated this effect, and (3) whether self-reported sibling relationship quality influenced sibling buffering effectiveness. A total of 72 children (9-11 years) and 65 adolescents (15-17 years) were randomly assigned …

Early Detection Of Oak Wilt Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Uav) & Computer Vision, Muttaki I. Bismoy

Masters Theses

Forests are critical ecosystems, delivering services such as biodiversity conservation, climate regulation, timber production, and recreation. However, they face increasing threats from pathogens like Bretziella fagacearum, which causes Oak Wilt, a lethal disease that disrupts water transport in oak trees, leading to canopy dieback and eventual death. Traditional detection methods rely on manual ground surveys, which are labor-intensive, time-consuming, and prone to error, particularly in early disease stages.

This research presents an automated, scalable, high-precision Oak Wilt detection system using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) combined with deep learning-based computer vision. Expanding on earlier work with a lightweight CNN achieving an …

Lipid-Laden Microglia: Characterization And Roles In Diseases, Jiani Xing, Takese Mckenzie, Jian Hu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Microglia are resident phagocytes of the central nervous system that play an essential role in brain development and homeostasis. When the intracellular lipid content exceeds the metabolic capacity of microglia, lipid droplets accumulate, giving rise to a distinct population termed lipid-laden microglia (LLMs). LLMs have been implicated in various neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases, functioning as both regulators/indicators of inflammation and potential therapeutic targets. This review summarizes the current research on LLMs, focusing on disease-specific regulators and functions, protective roles, interactions with neighboring cells, and advances in diagnostic and analytical tools. We also discuss the blurred distinction between LLMs and macrophages, …

Collaborative Research: Bocp-Implementation: Us-China: Multi-Scale, Multi- Proxy, Integrative Investigation Of Functional Biodiversity On A Changing Proterozoic Planet, Carol Dehler

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Interview With Nick Angeloff, Jacey Terrill

What Happened Here

This is a transcript of an oral history interview with Nicolas Angeloff, a lecturer at Cal Poly Humboldt, Senior Research Advisor to the new director and co-directors at the Cultural Resources Facility, and an HSU alumnus. He has worked at the CRF since 1996 and has been a lecturer since 2018. He describes that he was unsurprised by a protest occurring, knowing the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict and recent escalating events. He disagrees with some protesters’ choice to aggravate the police and destroy property. He also thought the immediate police presence and subsequent reaction by protesters were unproductive. He …

Machine Learning Research On Time Series Data, Zeyi Fan

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

Time series generated by complex systems, such as industrial IoT and user behavior systems, confront two core challenges: structured missingness (e.g., continuous or periodic gaps) that disrupt temporal dependencies, and the difficulty in effectively modeling dynamic long- and short-term temporal dependencies inherent in evolving patterns (e.g., user interests). Traditional approaches struggle to balance the preservation of local dependency continuity and the rational association of global long-range dependencies in structured missing scenarios, often incurring high computational costs. In temporal pattern modeling, the lack of adaptive mechanisms to fuse evolving long- and recent behavior trends (e.g., stable interest inertia vs. short-term preference …

Efficient Decontamination Of Organophosphate-Based Pesticides And Nerve Agent Simulants Mediated By N-Containing Nucleophiles, Emmanuel Kingsley Darkwah, Puspa Aryal, Saidulu Todeti, Jared Kenik, Samuel Insall, V. Prakash Reddy, Chariklia Sotiriou-Leventis

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

There is a growing interest in developing safer and more effective decontaminating agents for organophosphate-based pesticides and nerve agents. In this study, we present an effective method for the nonaqueous decontamination of these compounds using small-molecule-based decontaminating agents under ambient conditions. Our approach utilizes aryl and heteroaryl carboxaldehyde hydrazones and hydrazides to effectively hydrolyze nerve agent simulants into their nontoxic degradation products. The effectiveness of this method was evaluated using a range of nerve agent simulants, including dimethyl 4-nitrophenyl phosphate (DMNP), dimethyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP), and triphenyl phosphate (TPhP). In the presence of the heteroaryl hydrazone, the rate of hydrolysis …

Platelet Protease-Activated Receptor 4 Genotype And Response To Aspirin In Pregnancy, Rupsa C. Boelig, James V. Michael, Antonios Tawk, Tingting Zhan, Joanna S. Y. Chan, Walter K. Kraft, Steven E. Mckenzie

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

The platelet protease-activated receptor 4 (PAR4) threonine 120 (Thr120) allele is an activating allele associated with reduced aspirin response in vitro. Aspirin is recommended in high-risk pregnancies to prevent preeclampsia and preterm birth. We evaluated the impact of PAR4 genotype on aspirin response in pregnancy, as measured by platelet function assay 100 (PFA-100) epinephrine closure time, and perinatal outcomes. We conducted a prospective cohort study of high-risk pregnant patients who took 81-mg aspirin daily. PFA-100 was assessed at baseline, 2 to 4 weeks after aspirin initiation (follow-up 1), and 28 to 32 weeks’ gestation (follow-up 2). Primary outcome was difference …

Genomic Editing Of A Pathogenic Sequence Variant In Acta2 Rescues Multisystemic Smooth Muscle Dysfunction Syndrome In Mice, Lei Guo, Camryn Macdonald, Wei Tan, Efrain Sanchez-Ortiz, John R Mcanally, Yu Zhang, Dileep Karri, Lin Xu, Ning Liu, Eric N Olson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs), the predominant cell type in the aortic wall, play a crucial role in maintaining aortic integrity, blood pressure, and cardiovascular function. Vascular SMC contractility and function depend on ACTA2 (smooth muscle α-actin 2). The pathogenic variant ACTA2 c.536G>A (p.R179H) causes multisystemic smooth muscle dysfunction syndrome, a severe disorder marked by widespread smooth muscle abnormalities, resulting in life-threatening aortic disease and high risk of early death from aneurysms or stroke. No effective treatments exist for multisystemic smooth muscle dysfunction syndrome.

Methods: To develop a comprehensive therapy for multisystemic smooth muscle dysfunction syndrome, we used …

Re-Engaging Driver Attention Using Chatgpt: A Multimodal Study On Stress Impact And Driving Performance, Alaa Zaki Elfiqi

Theses and Dissertations

Driving is considered a complex task that requires continuous focus and attention from the driver. Driving performance can also be impacted by changes in the driver’s stress level. However, limited research explores methods to address this challenge. With the current advances in Large Language Models (LLMs) and their ability to engage in human-like interaction, this study investigates the potential of using ChatGPT, designed to speak Egyptian Arabic, in re-engaging driver attention under different driving scenarios for low-stress and high-stress conditions within a virtual reality (VR) environment driving simulator. Drivers were asked to follow a leading car into two scenarios with …

Three Essays In Gamification, Innovation, And Cybersecurity, Eduard Yelagin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This dissertation consists of three essays on Gamification, Innovation, and Cyber Security. The first essay investigates gamified stock trading. Gamification of stock trading is a novel practice by brokers to incorporate game-like features to increase clients’ engagement with trading. This study examines how the market reacts to the introduction of 142 gamification features in the mobile trading apps of 17 major U.S. brokers. I find that the gamification of trading can be viewed as a double-edged sword. It alters and worsens retail traders’ strategy by reducing their returns and increasing return volatility. However, it also reduces costs and risks for …

Screening And Variable Selection For Analyzing Binary Outcome With Rare Events And High-Dimensional Predictors, Mohammad Nahian Ferdous Abrar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Binary outcomes with rare events (event rate less than 5%) present significant analytical challenges, particularly in high-dimensional settings such as epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) involving DNA methylation data. Traditional logistic regressions are often inadequate under these conditions, suffering from bias, high variance, and diminished power when the event rate is low and the number of predictors exceeds the sample size (p >> n). To address these limitations, we developed a series of novel methods that enhance sensitivity and accuracy in identifying biologically meaningful biomarkers while accounting for both event rarity and high dimensionality. We first introduce two innovative screening approaches. The …

The Intersection Of Social Groups And The Self, Zachary Robert Auwerda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This dissertation explores the nature of social identity by examining both the collective identity of groups and the social selves of individuals. I start by offering a Humean model of collective identity. On this model, the metaphysical nature of group persistence depends on our psychological dispositions and our explanatory goals. On this view, collective identity is a fiction—something that humans ascribe to a group—rather than something that exists independently. I argue that this Humean model has advantages over structural and intentional theories of group persistence. I then move onto the topic of social construction and its incompatibility with methodological individualism. …