Digital Commons Network^™

Death By Design: A Biological Approach To Container Security, Alexander Hunter Moomaw

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Microservice architectures are central to modern cloud computing and have become the dominant design pattern for scalable, distributed applications. Kubernetes is often the tool used for rapid deployment and orchestration of microservices. A known issue for large networks clusters is a malicious actor can compromise a vulnerable cluster in minutes. Their ability to quickly compromise vulnerable clusters highlights the urgent need for stronger security. This project views cluster defense through a preemptive security lens, introducing the Cluster Life cycle Management System (CLMS). Inspired by the biological process of apoptosis, CLMS systematically replaces aging containers and services to prevent exploitation of …

Identifying And Validating Momentum Shifts In The Nfl A Data-Driven Approach To Predicting Short-Term Team Success, Sean M. Zahller

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This thesis aims to demonstrate that momentum in professional NFL games is real, measurable, and leads to short-term success. Using play-by-play data from over ten NFL seasons, a custom momentum score system was developed by combining engineered features and changes in win probability for key events. Momentum is defined conceptually and operationally to ensure consistent measurement across games. Different predictive models were then trained to identify momentum shifts, and an event-based validation strategy was implemented to verify the momentum shifts led to successful events. The findings indicate that the momentum score system captures shifts in game control and differs from …

Investigating The Relationships Between Biotic And Abiotic Factors Affecting Migratory Behavior In Westslope Cutthroat Trout Within The Pend Oreille System, Garrett M. Duncan

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Salmonids express several different life histories from migrating to oceans and back or staying in their natal streams as a resident. Migratory individuals are a vital part of the overall success of populations due to the potential for increased genetic diversity and increased fecundity they offer over resident individuals. This research was completed in three basins including Priest River, Pack River, and Lightning Creek which are all connected to the Pend Oreille Basin and are important producers of Westslope Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi). Thirty-nine sites were sampled between the three basins. Results were compared between these tributaries that have …

Investigating The Production Challenges Of The P100.1 Phage Endolysin, Jonah O. Frago

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Acne vulgaris is one of the most common skin diseases globally. One key aspect of acne pathogenesis is the disturbance of healthy strain diversity of the skin bacterium Cutibacterium acnes. Many acne treatments are antimicrobial; however, these treatments are generally nonspecific and carry a variety of side effects in addition to contributing to rising antibiotic resistance. Lytic bacteriophages (or phages) are viruses that infect and kill bacteria. Their lytic lifestyle is facilitated by enzymes called endolysins. Phages have been studied as an alternative to traditional antimicrobials in acne treatment and have shown reduced C. acnes load in acne lesions and …

London's Murderous Mothers: How Charitable And Medical Advancement Influenced Infanticide Indictments During The Long 18th Century, Brandon Gamman

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

The Seasonality And Community Composition Of Mosquitoes At Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, Jonathan Becerra

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Characterizing mosquito species composition and seasonal dynamics is fundamental to understanding how mosquito communities change across time and space. This study examined the structure, temporal patterns, and spatial variation of the mosquito community at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge (TNWR) using three years of CDC light-trap data (2017–2019). We applied multiple complementary analytical approaches—including presence/absence and CPUE models, annual and species-specific generalized additive models (GAMs), peak-timing ANOVA, and multivariate analyses (NMDS, PERMANOVA, and indicator species analysis)—to quantify species-level seasonality, phenological staggering, and community-level patterns across years and between two sampling locations (Gate and Headquarters). Across all model families, species identity and …

Towards The Abolition Of The Immigration Detention Of Children In The United States, Lauren E. Bartlett

All Faculty Scholarship

For over a decade, international human rights mechanisms have been calling for the prohibition of the detention of children based solely on immigration status. Human rights experts agree that the detention of children for immigration purposes is never in the best interests of the child, it leads to long-term harm, and it is a clear human rights violation. Until recently, the United States has detained hundreds of thousands of migrant children in cages each year and we have still not outlawed the inhumane practice. This article argues that engaging with international human rights mechanisms on this topic, including during the …

The Value Of A Statistical Life: From Skin In The Game To Vision Zero, Michael C. Duff

All Faculty Scholarship

This essay discusses justice issues surrounding occupational safety and health and assesses the ethical legitimacy—the justice—of regulatory cost benefit analysis when the costs in question involve the risks and realization of workplace injury and fatalities. The current “value of a statistical life” for legal-regulatory purposes is 13.1 million dollars. While economists are careful to say that this figure does not “really” represent an attempt to value any particular life, the purpose of even calculating the number is to provide an “aggregated” statistical justification for saying “no” to rules requiring safer work. This seems acceptable until you, or someone you love, …

Pharmaceutical-Telehealth Confederacies, Michael S. Sinha

All Faculty Scholarship

Access to prescription pharmaceuticals has historically been controlled by a physician’s pen. As a result, pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars on advertising and promotion to mitigate this barrier: first and primarily, to physicians and other prescribers, and more recently, to the general public through direct-to-consumer advertising. The success of these promotional efforts can be seen in greater prescribing of costly brand-name medicines, even in settings where lower-priced generic alternatives exist. Brand-name prescriptions now make up only 10% of all prescriptions written yet account for 87% of drug spending. Despite these substantial returns on investment, companies continue to seek opportunities …

An Indecent Exposure Of The Rules Of Legal Ethics, Lauren E. Bartlett

All Faculty Scholarship

Thousands of attorneys experience rape and sexual assault by clients, as well as indecent exposure, public masturbation, unwanted touching, verbal threats, and stalking. These incidents are not often publicly reported, but client sexual violence against attorneys is not uncommon. The ethical rules currently fail to account for an attorney who has experienced client sexual violence, whether to allow for termination of representation or to mitigate future harm to other lawyers. While the ethical rules are usually thought of as neutral, this Article critically examines the gender stereotypes and structures of oppression corseting the rules. Relying on a fifty-state survey of …

Dirty Water, Breanna Booker, Michael S. Sinha

All Faculty Scholarship

Plastics are taking over. Every day, humans are exposed to plastic pollutants in a variety of ways. From the water we use to water crops in the field, to the water in our taps, to the liquids we drink from plastic containers, it can be found virtually anywhere you look. Not only is it everywhere in the environment, but it is also within us. It builds up in our bodies. Plastics have become a major public health concern; researchers estimate that the total healthcare cost related to plastic chemicals may be as much as $250 billion.[1]

Water has always …

Exploring Automatic And Reflective Nudges For Smishing, Morgan E. Edwards

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Phishing has been a common problem in the world of cybersecurity for over a decade, leading to significant monetary and privacy losses. Phishing attacks commonly occur via email, but there has been a rise in a new form of phishing known as SMiShing. This attack vector occurs similarly to email phishing, except the malicious message is received via SMS text. While ways to mitigate phishing via email have been widely studied, there is a lack of research on SMiShing and ways to mitigate this problem from a human-centered approach. Interventions such as digital nudges have been successfully applied to …

Gettysburg Historical Journal 2025

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

Complete Issue of the Gettysburg Historical Journal 2025

January 2025 Bulldog Alumni & Friends News, Kari Jones, Garrett King

Bulldog Alumni & Friends News

January 16

SWOSU Near You - Music Mixer: Tulsa, OK

February 13-14

55th Annual SWOSU Jazz Festival

March 9-15

SWOSU Giving Week

April 4

North Family Lecture & Friends of Crowder Lake Dinner

April 10-12

52nd Annual SWOSU Rodeo

April 28

Everett Dobson Bulldog Golf Classic

May 9

SWOSU Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Dinner

May 10

SWOSU Spring Commencement

From Myriad To Moderna: The Modern (Bio)Pharmaceutical Company, Ana Santos Rutschman

Faculty Publications

This Article examines the emergence of two modern pharmaceutical companies: Myriad and Moderna. After providing a brief background on each company, this Article contrasts them across the following areas: the technologies they have brought to market; their location; their start-up stages and the role that venture capital played in catalyzing their evolution from start-ups to large corporate structures; their relationships with other entities in the private sector, in academia and in the public sector; and their intellectual property and licensing strategies.

Determining Child Care Market Rates In The State Of Tennessee [Fiscal Year 2025], Tennessee. Department Of Human Services

Market Rate Surveys

This report compiles information collected by the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee and the Tennessee Department of Human Services to determine the most appropriate Tennessee-specific structure for estimating child care market rates.

From Lithuania To Mobile: An Immigrant’S Memoir Comes To Light, Deborah Gurt

University Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Molecular Regulation And Therapeutic Targeting Of Vldl Production In Cardiometabolic Disease, Kendall H Burks, Nathan O Stitziel, Nicholas O Davidson

2020-Current year OA Pubs

There exists a complex relationship between steatotic liver disease (SLD) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among individuals with SLD, particularly those with metabolic dysfunction-associated SLD (MASLD), a significant proportion of whom also exhibit features of insulin resistance. Recent evidence supports an expanded role of very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) in the pathogenesis of CVD in patients, both with and without associated metabolic dysfunction. VLDL represents the major vehicle for exporting neutral lipid from hepatocytes, with each particle containing one molecule of apolipoproteinB100 (APOB100). VLDL production becomes dysregulated under conditions characteristic of MASLD …

Sociodemographic Factors Predict Outcomes And Reveal Spatial Tumor Patterns In Glioblastoma, Patrick H Luckett, Michael Olufawo, Noah Naddaff-Slocum, Ki Yun Park, Bidhan Lamichhane, Donna Dierker, Gabriel Trevino Verastegui, John J Lee, Peter Yang, Albert Kim, Omar H Butt, Milan G Chheda, Abraham Z Snyder, Joshua S Shimony, Eric C Leuthardt

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the deadliest malignant glioma of the central nervous system. Postsurgical functional impairment correlates with survival and is estimated using metrics such as extent and location of resection. This study uses machine learning to evaluate the predictive ability of baseline sociodemographic and lifestyle factors for forecasting postoperative functional outcomes in GBM patients.

METHODS: Glioblastoma patients (

RESULTS: Utilizing decision trees with age, SVI/SES, sex, tobacco use, alcohol use, obesity, and race as predictors, we achieved 88% accuracy in classifying median KPS and 85% accuracy in classifying KPS slope. Socioeconomic factors were the strongest predictors. Age, sex, and …

Slc35a2 Gene Product Modulates Paramyxovirus Fusion Events During Infection, Yanling Yang, Yuchen Wang, Danielle E. Campbell, Heng-Wei Lee, Wandy Beatty, Leran Wang, Megan Baldridge, Carolina B. López

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Paramyxoviruses are significant human and animal pathogens that include mumps virus (MuV), Newcastle disease virus (NDV) and the murine parainfluenza virus Sendai (SeV). Despite their importance, few host factors implicated in paramyxovirus infection are known. Using a recombinant SeV expressing destabilized eGFP (rSeVCdseGFP) in a loss-of-function CRISPR screen, we identified the CMP-sialic acid transporter (CST) gene SLC35A1 and the UDP-galactose transporter (UGT) gene SLC35A2 as essential for paramyxovirus infection. As expected, SLC35A1 knockout (KO) cells showed drastic reduction in infections with SeV, NDV and MuV due to the lack of cell surface sialic acids receptors. However, SLC35A2 KO cells revealed …

Alternative Approaches For Monitoring And Evaluation Of Lymphatic Filariasis Following Mass Drug Treatment With Ivermectin, Diethylcarbamazine And Albendazole In East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, Krufinta Bun, Benedict Mode, Melinda Susapu, Joyceline Salo, Catherine Bjerum, Michael Payne, Daniel Tisch, Makoto Sekihara, Emanuele Giorgi, Gary J. Weil, Peter U. Fischer, Leanne Robinson, Moses Laman, Christopher L. King

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: WHO recommends two annual rounds of mass drug administration (MDA) with ivermectin, diethylcarbamazine, and albendazole (IDA) for lymphatic filariasis (LF) elimination in treatment naïve areas that are not co-endemic for onchocerciasis such as Papua New Guinea (PNG). Whether two rounds of MDA are necessary or sufficient and the optimal sampling strategies and endpoints for stopping MDA remain undefined.

METHODS AND FINDINGS: Two cross-sectional studies were conducted at baseline (N = 49 clusters or villages) and 12 months after mass drug administration (MDA) with IDA (N = 47 villages) to assess lymphatic filariasis (LF) by circulating filarial antigenemia (CFA) and …

Liquid Biopsy For Spinal Tumors: On The Frontiers Of Clinical Application, Sze Kiat Tan, Matthew L Goodwin, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

STUDY DESIGN: Narrative review.

OBJECTIVES: This article aims to provide a narrative review of the current state of research for liquid biopsy in spinal tumors and to discuss the potential application of liquid biopsy in the clinical management of patients with spinal tumors.

METHODS: A comprehensive review of the literature was performed using PubMed, Google Scholar, Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases, and the review was limited to articles of English language. All the relevant articles which were identified to be related to liquid biomarker study in spinal tumors, were studied in full text.

RESULTS: Liquid biopsy has revolutionized the field …

Cancer-Targeted Pro-Theranostic Bi-Metallic Organo-Coordination Nanoparticles, Hengbo Huang, Lei Fang, Janaka Wansapura, Julie L Prior, Brad Manion, Baogang Xu, Cody Hongsermeier, Nisha Gamadia, Nicole Blasi, Rui Tang, Christopher Egbulefu, Monica Shokeen, James D Quirk, Samuel Achilefu

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

Costs Of Non-Metastatic Prostate Cancer Treatment Among Privately Insured Men In The United States, Ashley J. Housten, Su-Hsin Chang, Hannah E. Rice, Allison J. L'Hotta, Eric H. Kim, Bettina F. Drake, Joanna L. Buss, Mary C. Politi

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Our objective was to quantify the cumulative total and out-of-pocket (OOP) costs for 3 non-metastatic prostate cancer treatment modalities: radiation, surgery, and conservative management at intervals of 1-, 3-, and 5-years post-diagnosis. We predicted these cumulative costs for a typical patient to improve cost transparency, facilitate conversations about potential costs, and to help advance non-metastatic prostate cancer cost evaluation.

METHODS: We used Merative™ MarketScan® Commercial Database data from 2007-2020. The cumulative total costs evaluated from the healthcare sector perspective were patient, clinician, and system/facility costs. We used descriptive statistics to summarize the sociodemographic characteristics of the cohort and a …

Semi-Supervised Multimodal Multi-Instance Learning For Aortic Stenosis Diagnosis, Zhe Huang, Xiaowei Yu, Benjamin S. Wessler, Michael C. Hughes

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Automated interpretation of ultrasound imaging of the heart (echocardiograms) could improve the detection and treatment of aortic stenosis (AS), a deadly heart disease. However, existing deep learning pipelines for assessing AS from echocardiograms have two key limitations. First, most methods rely on limited 2D cineloops, thereby ignoring widely available Spectral Doppler imaging that contains important complementary information about pressure gradients and blood flow abnormalities associated with AS. Second, obtaining labeled data is difficult. There are often far more unlabeled echocardiogram recordings available, but these remain underutilized by existing methods. To overcome these limitations, we introduce Semi-supervised Multimodal Multiple-Instance Learning (SMMIL), …

Safenav: Safe Path Navigation Using Landmark Based Localization In A Gps-Denied Environment, Ganesh Sapkota, Sanjay Madria

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

In battlefield environments, adversaries frequently disrupt GPS signals, requiring alternative localization and navigation methods. Traditional vision-based approaches like Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) and Visual Odometry (VO) involve complex sensor fusion and high computational demand, whereas range-free methods like DV-HOP face accuracy and stability challenges in sparse, dynamic networks. This paper proposes LanBLoc-BMM, a navigation approach using landmark-based localization (LanBLoc) combined with a battlefield-specific motion model (BMM) and Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). Its performance is benchmarked against three state-of-the-art visual localization algorithms integrated with BMM and Bayesian filters, evaluated on synthetic and real-imitated trajectory datasets using metrics including Average Displacement …

2024-25 Annual Report, Tennessee. Board Of Paroles

Annual Reports

This document is the annual report for the Tennessee Board of Parole during the fiscal year.

Piezo1-Mediated Calcium Influx Transiently Alters Nuclear Mechanical Properties Via Actin Remodeling In Chondrocytes, Jaquelin M Garcia-Castorena, Rosa Riester, Miranda Gamino-Ornelas, Nikitha Ada, Farshid Guilak, Marina Danalache

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Mechanosensation allows cells to generate intracellular signals in response to mechanical cues from their environment. Previous research has demonstrated that mechanical stress can alter the mechanical properties of the nucleus, affecting gene transcription, chromatin methylation, and nuclear mechanoprotection during mechanical loading. PIEZO1, a mechanically gated Ca

De Novo Lipid Synthesis In Cardiovascular Tissue And Disease, Tariq J Khan, Clay F Semenkovich, Mohamed A Zayed

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Most tissues have the capacity for endogenous lipid synthesis. A crucial foundational pathway for lipid synthesis is de novo lipid synthesis (DNL), a ubiquitous and complex metabolic process that occurs at high levels in the liver, adipose and brain tissue. Under normal physiological conditions, DNL is vital in converting excess carbohydrates into fatty acids. DNL is linked to other pathways, including the endogenous synthesis of phospholipids and sphingolipids. However, abnormal lipid synthesis can contribute to various pathologies and clinical conditions. Experimental studies involving dietary restriction and in vivo genetic modifications provide compelling evidence demonstrating the significance of lipid synthesis in …

Expert Consensus On The Diagnosis And Management Of Digoxin Toxicity, Jason B Hack, Sue Wingate, Ron Zolty, Michael W Rich, Paul J Hauptman

2020-Current year OA Pubs

While there has been a decline in the use of digoxin in patients with heart failure and atrial fibrillation, acute and chronic digoxin toxicity remains a significant clinical problem. Digoxin's narrow therapeutic window and nonspecific signs and symptoms of toxicity create clinical challenges and uncertainty around the diagnostic criteria of toxicity and responsive treatment choices for the bedside clinician. A systematic review of published literature on digoxin toxicity (34,587 publications over 6 decades, with 114 meeting inclusion criteria) was performed to develop 33 consensus statements on diagnostic and therapeutic approaches which were then evaluated through a modified Delphi process involving …