Digital Commons Network^™

Netchoice V. Wilson, District Of South Carolina

Historical and Topical Legal Documents

No abstract provided.

Meeting Tv V. Koi, Southern District Of California

Historical and Topical Legal Documents

No abstract provided.

Reddit V. Serpapi, Southern District Of New York

Historical and Topical Legal Documents

No abstract provided.

An Introduction For Nursing Research: An Open Educational Resource For The Undergraduate Nursing Student, Ellen Benjamin

OER Textbooks

The purpose of this text is not to prepare you to independently conduct research, but to help you become an informed and critical consumer of research. The ability to systematically evaluate the strengths, limitations, and applicability of research findings is known as critical appraisal. Critical appraisal is an expected competency of baccalaureate-prepared nurses [5] and requires a foundational understanding of research principles and methods. This book will introduce the research process, including common research methodologies, data collection and analysis approaches, ethical considerations, and strategies for translating research evidence into nursing practice.

American Board Of Emergency Medicine Report On Residency And Fellowship Training Information (2025-2026), Yvette Calderon, Barry Knapp, Felix K. Ankel, Ted Gaeta, Lynne Holden, Derek Linklater, Zeno St. Cyr Ii, Ernest Wang, Melissa Barton, Andrews R. Trotter, Kevin Joldersma, Robert G. Purosky, Michael Gottlieb

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

The American Board of Emergency Medicine gathers extensive background information on Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited emergency medicine residency and fellowship programs, as well as the residents and fellows training in those programs. We present the 2026 annual report on the status of physicians training in Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited emergency medicine training programs in the United States.

Prevalence And Correlates Of Anxiety And Depression Symptoms Among Medical Students: The Role Of Student Debt Burden, Foroozan Afsharchi, Joshua F. Edwards, Kailash S. Ram, Jingru Huang, Valicia Hale, Ismail El Moudden

Department of Family and Community Medicine Faculty Publications

Background

This cross-sectional study examined whether anxiety and depression symptoms decrease as medical students progress through training (suggesting adjustment disorder) or persist (suggesting chronic conditions), while identifying associated risk factors, including student debt burden and treatment effectiveness.

Methods

We surveyed medical students (years 1-4) at VHS-ODU using a sociodemographic questionnaire and validated screening instruments (GAD-7 for anxiety and PHQ-9 for depression) via RedCap from September to November 2024.

Results

Among 126 students, Scores were higher in Years 2-3 than in Years 1 and 4, but differences by year were not significant (GAD-7 p=0.055; PHQ-9 p=0.352). Students with a prior mental-health …

Yk-4-250, A Synthetic Telmisartan-Tempol Conjugate: Crystal Structure Of A Stabilized Free Radical Containing An Angiotensin At₁ Receptor Inhibitor, Simon Friedrich, Yali Kong, Faik N. Musayev, Milton L. Brown, B. Frank Gupton

Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences Faculty Publications

We report the first crystal structure of the telmisartan-tempol conjugate 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-(λ'-oxidaneyl)piperidin-4-yl 4'-[(1,7'-dimethyl-2'-propyl-1H,3'H-[2,5'-bibenzo[d]imidazol]-3'-yl)methyl]-[1,1'-biphenyl]-2-carboxylate free radical (YK-4-250, C₄₂H₄₆N₅O₃), a dual-function inhibitor designed to target both the angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT₁R) and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Structural analysis reveals a unique crystal architecture in which the nitroxide radical is stabilized within a sterically protected environment while preserving the telmisartan pharmacophore essential for high-affinity receptor antagonism. YK-4-250 is a novel small-molecule conjugate of telmisartan and tempol that incorporates a catalytic stabilized nitroxide radical and was rationally designed to mitigate gastrointestinal acute radiation syndrome (GI-ARS).

Association Between Internet Use For Health Information And Alzheimer’S Disease Diagnosis Among Older Adults With Diabetes In The United States: Examining Racial And Gender Disparities, Henry M. Zeidan

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study uses data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) Round 13, collected in 2024, to examine whether internet use for health information is associated with Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis among older adults with diabetes in the United States. Given the rising adoption of digital health, understanding who benefits from online health resources is increasingly important. The research also examines whether these associations differ across racial and gender groups, offering insight into potential disparities in digital health engagement and cognitive outcomes. Findings from this study will inform clinical practice, public health programming, and strategies to ensure equitable access …

The Psychiatric Burden Of Hidradenitis Suppurativa: A Trinetx Analysis Of Sex-Specific Disparities In Mental Health And Medication Use, Emily Sheetz, Julia Feord, Collette Sholi, Parker Adams, Tamas Gal, Susan G. Kornstein, Arturo Saavedra

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

Background:

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory skin condition associated with physical and psychological burden. Prior research has shown increased rates of depression and anxiety among individuals with HS; however, sex-based disparities in the prevalence of these mental health conditions in patients with HS remain underexplored.

Objective:

To evaluate sex-based differences in the prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and the prescribing of antidepressants and anxiolytics among patients with HS.

Methods:

Using the TriNetX database, we identified patients over the age of 18 who had a recorded diagnosis of HS. Propensity score matching based on …

Cold-Sensitive Acral Hand Lesions, Avery H. Seward, Jocelyn H. Larocque

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

[Case description] An otherwise healthy woman in her 60s presented with a 2-year history of a persistent, itchy, and tender rash on the dorsal hands. The rash fluctuated in severity with the seasons, worsening during the colder months. The patient denied joint pain and fatigue, or lesions elsewhere.

Examination revealed partially blanchable violaceous plaques on the dorsal hands with partial sparing of the proximal and distal interphalangeal joints (Fig 1). A few punctate, crusted erosions and purpuric macules were present on the dorsal and volar distal phalanges (Figs 2 and 3).

Successful Use Of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell (Car-T) Therapy With Lisocabtagene Maraleucel In A Renal Transplant Recipient With Refractory/Relapsed Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (Dlbcl), Waqqas Tai, Fatima Chaudhry, Nesreen Shahrour, Jessica Thomas, Afoma Anyadibe, Anuoluwa Oyetoran, Swathi Gopishetty, Precious Idogun, Dilip Samarapungavan, Jassim H. Sarmad, Ishmael Jaiyesimi

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

This case describes a 53-year-old male with end-stage renal disease who developed monomorphic post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) in the form of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) after kidney transplantation. Despite initial treatment with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone (R-CHOP), the patient's disease progressed, and he was referred for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy with lisocabtagene maraleucel (liso-cel). Given his post-transplant status, his immunosuppressive agents (tacrolimus and mycophenolate) were held, and prednisone was tapered to 5 mg daily to maintain minimal baseline immunosuppression. After lymphodepleting chemotherapy and liso-cel infusion, the patient experienced no significant toxicities, including cytokine release syndrome (CRS) …

Percutaneous Closure Of Ventricular Septal Rupture After Myocardial Infarction:, Thomas A. Cook, Simone K. Schumaecker, Anjani Patibandla, Nicholas J. Valle, Matthew R. Summers

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Ventricular septal rupture (VSR) following acute myocardial infarction is a rare but deadly complication with mortality rates exceeding 90% when left untreated. Coronary ischaemia leads to myocardial necrosis and friability resulting in septal rupture, most commonly 3-5 days post-infarction. The sudden development of a left-to-right shunt causes volume overload in the right ventricle, pulmonary vasculature, and left atrium, precipitating biventricular failure, and cardiogenic shock. Management requires careful consideration of timing and modality of closure along with stabilization with mechanical circulatory support in severe cases.

CASE SUMMARY: A 65-year-old female presented with anterior ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction complicated by VSR …

Dietary Intake Of Micro- And Nanoplastics: Potential Adverse Gi Effects On Microbiome, Inflammation, And Neoplasia, Michael Saadeh, Gordon Hong, Sana Rabeeah, Priyata Dutta, Edward C. Oldfield, Iv, David A. Johnson

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

Micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) are pervasive in food-contact environments and the human diet, positioning the gastrointestinal (GI) tract as the primary portal of entry and a plausible site of early biological effects. Human exposure is supported by detection of microplastics in stool and colon tissue, and emerging clinical studies report associations between fecal microplastic burden and GI disease states, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC). Preclinical studies provide mechanistic plausibility, reporting that ingested MNPs can modulate microbial ecology, alter mucus membrane integrity, increase intestinal permeability through changes in cellular tight junction biology, and induce inflammatory gene expression. …

Association Of Valvular Disease Progression Using Echocardiographic Findings In A Large U.S. Cohort, Abes A. Bautista Neughebauer, Amin Yehya, Raymond L. Benza, Deepak Talreja

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

Background

The prevalence of valvular disease in the US is approximately 2.5%. Given that over 5 million Americans are affected, it is crucial to find those at higher risk of progression. The goal of this paper is to uncover which patients are more likely to have valvular disease progression using demographic factors, EKG and echocardiogram (ECHO) findings.

Methods

This paper utilized the EchoNext Database, which pairs 100,000 electrocardiograms and echocardiograms based on specific structural heart disease labels. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to find risk factors for progression for aortic stenosis (AS), aortic regurgitation (AR), mitral regurgitation (MR), …

Educational Case: Hidradenitis Suppurativa, Ryan C. Saal, Linnea Lackstrom Westerkam, Cristo A. Carrasco Mendoza, Paul B. George, Christopher J. Sayed

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

[Introduction] The following fictional case is intended as a learning tool within the Pathology Competencies for Medical Education (PCME), a set of national standards for teaching pathology. These are divided into three basic competencies: Disease Mechanisms and Processes, Organ System Pathology, and Diagnostic Medicine and Therapeutic Pathology. For additional information, and a full list of learning objectives for all three competencies, see https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acpath.2023.100086.1¹

Objective SK1.1: Pathophysiology of changes in the skin. Describe the pathophysiologic basis for changes in the color, surface texture, swelling, temperature, and sensitivity of skin.

Competency 2: Organ system pathology, Topic: Skin (SK); Learning Goal 1: …

Comparison Of Fully Covered Self-Expandable Metal Biliary Stents With Or Without Anchoring Double-Pigtail Plastic Stents: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Samuel Tanner, Fadi Hawa, Alejandra Vargas, Priyata Dutta, Antonio Facciorusso, Jean M. Chalhoub, Jorge D. Machicado

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

Background and AIMS

Fully covered self-expandable metal stents (FcSEMSs) have become the mainstay of treatment for a variety of biliary pathologies. However, FcSEMSs have been associated with a greater rate of stent migration than other types of stents. A technique of anchoring double-pigtail plastic stents (DPPSs) has been proposed to minimize migration of biliary FcSEMSs. Herein, we evaluated the efficacy of anchoring DPPSs among patients treated with biliary FcSEMSs.

Methods

We performed a systematic review using PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science from database inception through August 2023. Full-text articles comparing FcSEMSs with or without anchoring DPPSs were included. We …

Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease And Circadian Rhythm: Current Understanding And Implications For Future Therapeutic Interventions, William K. Slover, Ashley V. Huang, Steve M. D'Souza, Edward C. Oldfield, David A. Johnson

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), defined by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases as hepatic steatosis with at least one cardiometabolic risk factor, affects approximately 30-40% of adults worldwide. This condition may progress to fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The rising prevalence, alongside obesity and type 2 diabetes, underscores the need for early risk stratification and integrated therapeutic strategies. Circadian homeostasis, orchestrated by the suprachiasmatic nucleus and core clock gene feedback loops, synchronizes hepatic metabolic pathways with environmental light-dark cycles. The objective of this review is to evaluate the role of circadian disruption and metabolic dysfunction …

Conference Program 2026, Georgia Southern University

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

2026 Conference Program

What Is Hate Speech? A Proposal For An Ordinary And Legal Definition, Hannah Van Dijcke

SJD Dissertations

The term “hate speech” has been stretched in legal and public debates to cover speech ranging from insults to Holocaust denial. This definitional stretching has consequences beyond mere conceptual confusion: it risks obscuring the profound harm that hate speech does, and it facilitates the term’s misuse.

In this dissertation, I aim to precisely define hate speech and its harm, both in an ordinary (colloquial or non-legal) sense and in a legal sense. To do so, I examine real-world examples of speech widely understood to express hate, including texts from the context of the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide, and conduct …

“Thank You For Listening To Us”: Incorporating Community Context And Perspectives Into Sea-Level Rise Adaptation Planning For Fields Landing & King Salmon, California, Clara Riggio

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Fields Landing and King Salmon, California are two low-lying, coastal communities on Humboldt Bay (Wigi). These communities already experience coastal flooding during the highest astronomical tides each year, and flood conditions are expected to worsen as sea levels continue to rise. The Fields Landing & King Salmon (FLKS) Living with Water Project was created as a partnership between Humboldt County departments of Planning & Building and Public Works, along with support from social science researchers at Cal Poly Humboldt, including the author. In Chapter 1, I describe the co-production approach used throughout the project, including analysis of four dilemmas that …

Living With Water In Fields Landing & King Salmon: Community Knowledge Of Flooding And Adaptation Strategies In Coastal California, Kailin Sepp

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Known as “ground zero,” Humboldt Bay is among the most vulnerable areas to sea-level rise (SLR) due to geological and tectonic factors on the West Coast. While the land subsides, oceans rise, resulting in an area with one of the highest recorded rates of relative SLR on the West Coast. The residential communities of Fields Landing and King Salmon in South Humboldt Bay already experience regular coastal flooding. There is a need for better information and planning to understand the vulnerability to flooding/SLR and plan for adaptation. Typically, studies addressing flooding, such as vulnerability assessments and adaptation plans, are developed …

A Framework For Evaluating Riparian Climate Refugia In The Eel River Watershed, California, Farrah Tyler

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Climate change is increasing the need to identify and protect landscapes that support biodiversity through both habitat connectivity and climate refugia. Climate refugia are areas that remain relatively buffered from regional climatic change, enabling species to persist despite shifting environmental conditions. Riparian ecosystems can function as both movement corridors and climate refugia, yet methods for identifying these features and understanding the environmental processes that sustain them remain limited. In California's North Coast region, the identification and conservation of watersheds that may serve as climate refugia for sensitive plant and animal species will be essential for long-term ecosystem management and conservation. …

Bridging The Gap: A Systematic Review Of Cyber Conflict Forecasting Models And The Case For Ai-Driven Dynamic Frameworks, Salim Arfaoui, Youssef Harrath, Omar El-Gayar

Research & Publications

Cyber conflict forecasting remains constrained by static models that overlook the integration of geopolitical context with technical indicators. This systematic literature review examines 58 studies (2010–2025) using PRISMA guidelines and an Input-Process-Output framework to classify approaches and identify key gaps. Quantitative methods dominate (67%), yet only 14% incorporate geopolitical variables, despite the political nature of cyber conflict. Major limitations include adversarial adaptation blindness (85% assume static behavior), coarse temporal granularity (72% use daily+ intervals), lack of uncertainty quantification (75%), and minimal modeling of cross-domain escalation (92% cyber-only focus). Strategic forecasting is rare, with just 14% providing long-term insights and 16% …

Autotheme: A Multi-Agent Framework For Inductive Thematic Analysis With Llms, Abdullah Wahbeh, Omar El-Gayar, Mohammad Al-Ramahi, Tareq Nasralah, Ahmed Elnoshokaty

Research & Publications

Thematic analysis is a qualitative research method used to identify and interpret patterns in textual data. However, it can be time-consuming and challenging to replicate. While recent advancements in large language models (LLMs) and generative AI have enhanced thematic analysis, existing methods often rely on prompt-based interactions and require significant human intervention. This paper introduces an agentic AI framework comprising autonomous, goal-directed agents powered by LLMs to perform inductive thematic analysis with minimal human input. We evaluate the framework using a dataset from a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) mobile app and compare the results with those from Latent Dirichlet Allocation …

The Explainable Ai Paradox: When Transparency Improves Decision Quality And When It Creates Overconfidence, Harsha Sammangi, Poloju Pravalika

Research & Publications

Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) is widely promoted as a remedy for algorithmic opacity, premised on the assumption that revealing a model's reasoning improves human oversight and decision quality. This study investigates the Explainable AI Paradox: the possibility that explanations simultaneously increase trust, reliance, and adoption while also producing overconfidence in flawed models — improving decision quality when models are valid but amplifying errors when models are not. Using a controlled experiment with 921 managers making pricing, lending, or inventory decisions assisted by AI systems of deliberately varied validity, participants were randomly assigned to one of five explanation conditions: no explanation, …

An Ai System For Residential Building Damage Estimation Using Multimodal Remote Sensing Data Fusion, Edmund Robbins, Nezamoddin N. Kachouie

Mathematics and System Engineering Faculty Publications

The increasing intensity of tropical storms has created an urgent need for rapid, reliable damage assessment. Although recent AI-based approaches have improved upon manual inspection, many rely on proprietary satellite imagery or ad hoc UAV datasets, limiting scalability, repeatability, and operational deployment. In this study, we develop a multimodal AI framework for post-disaster damage assessment using only publicly available remote sensing and geospatial data, including NOAA aerial imagery, Microsoft building footprints, and FEMA damage labels. A key methodological contribution is the use of spatially disjoint training and validation regions in the Hurricane Michael dataset to prevent geographic data leakage and …

Uncovering Neural Learning Dynamics Through Latent Mutual Information, Arianna Issitt, Alex Merino, Lamine Deen, Ryan T. White, Mackenzie J. Meni

Mathematics and System Engineering Faculty Publications

We study how convolutional neural networks reorganize information during learning in natural image classification tasks by tracking mutual information (MI) between inputs, intermediate representations, and labels. Across VGG-16, ResNet-18, and ResNet-50, we find that label-relevant MI grows reliably with depth while input MI depends strongly on architecture and activation, indicating that “compression’’ is not a universal phenomenon. Within convolutional layers, label information becomes increasingly concentrated in a small subset of channels; inference-time knockouts, shuffles, and perturbations confirm that these high-MI channels are functionally necessary for accuracy. This behavior suggests a view of representation learning driven by selective concentration and decorrelation …

Do California Rangeland Healthy Soil Practices Offer Co-Benefits For Grassland Birds?, Ximena O. Gil

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Rangelands are important landscapes in California that support a robust cattle industry and serve as vital grassland habitat for birds. Climate change is projected to impact rangelands, leading to economic and ecological deterioration. In California, the Healthy Soils Program (HSP) incentivizes climate-smart solutions to increase working land resiliency. While the HSP targets soil and range health for livestock, it may also benefit birds. We surveyed rangeland operators to examine whether the implementation and duration of specific range management practices, such as range seeding, prescribed grazing, and silvopasture, are associated with bird community responses, using avian point count data from Point …

Multimodal Late-Fusion Of Radiomics, Clinical Data, And Demographics Enhances Personalized Survival Prediction In Nsclc, Zarindokht Helforoush, Mohamed Jaber, Nezamoddin N. Kachouie

Mathematics and System Engineering Faculty Publications

Backgrounds/Objectives: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) exhibits substantial prognostic heterogeneity that is not fully captured by conventional anatomical staging, highlighting the need for individualized risk assessment. Radiomics enables non-invasive characterization of tumor phenotype, yet high dimensionality and inter-feature correlations often limit model stability and interpretability. Methods: To address these challenges, we developed a multimodal late-fusion framework integrating radiomic, clinical, and demographic information to predict patient-specific absolute risk in the Lung1 cohort (N = 398). Radomic features (N = 107) were extracted from primary tumor volumes and refined using a Group Lasso–penalized Cox model, preserving biological coherence and producing a parsimonious …

Tennessee Archivist 45, No. 1, Society Of Tennessee Archivists

Tennessee Archivist newsletters

Winter 2026 issue of the Tennessee Archivist, a newsletter produced by the Society of Tennessee Archivists.