Rings with q-torsionfree canonical modules - Endo, Naoki; Ghezzi, Laura; Goto, Shiro; Hong, Jooyoun; Iai, Shin-Ichiro; Kobayashi, Toshinori; Matsuoka, Naoyuki; Takahashi, Ryo (De Gruyter Proceedings in Mathematics, 2025)
Let A be a Noetherian local ring with canonical module KA. We characterize A when KA is a torsionless, reflexive, or q-torsionfree module for an integer q ≥ 3. If A is a Cohen–Macaulay ring, H.-B. Foxby proved in 1974 that the A-module KA is q-torsionfree if and only if the ring A is q-Gorenstein. With mild assumptions, we provide a generalization of Foxby’s result to arbitrary Noetherian local rings admitting the canonical module. In particular, since the reflexivity of the canonical module is closely related to the ring being Gorenstein in low codimension, we also explore quasinormal rings, introduced by W. V. Vasconcelos. We provide several examples as well. ©2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH,Berlin/Boston.
Keywords: Canonical module; Cohen–Macaulay ring; Gorenstein ring; dept.mat; q-Gorenstein ring; q-torsionfree module; quasinormal ring

Hilbert coefficients and Sally modules: a survey of Vasconcelos’ contributions - Hong, Jooyoun; Morey, Susan (De Gruyter Proceedings in Mathematics, 2025)
This paper surveys and summarizes Wolmer Vasconcelos’ results surrounding multiplicities, Hilbert coefficients, and their extensions. We particularly focus on Vasconcelos’ results regarding multiplicities and Chern coefficients, and other invariants which they bound. The Sally module is an important instrument introduced by Vasconcelos for this study, which naturally relates Hilbert coefficients to reduction numbers. ©2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH,Berlin/Boston.
Keywords: Chern numbers; Hilbert coefficients; Hilbert functions; Hilbert polynomials; Sally modules; dept.mat; multiplicity

Degrees: Vasconcelos contributions - Ghezzi, Laura; Hong, Jooyoun (De Gruyter Proceedings in Mathematics, 2025)
A degree of a module M is a numerical measure of information carried by M. We highlight some of Vasconcelos’ outstanding contributions to the theory of degrees, bridging commutative algebra and computational algebra. We present several degrees he introduced and developed, including arithmetic degree, jdeg, homological degree, cohomological degrees, canonical degree, and bicanonical degree. For the canonical and bicanonical degrees, we discuss recent developments motivated by our joint works [25, 19, 9]. ©2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH,Berlin/Boston.
Keywords: Multiplicity; arithmetic degree; bicanonical degree; canonical degree; canonical ideal; cohomological degree; dept.mat; homological degree; jdeg

Assessing Asymmetry In Collegiate Sprint And Intermediate Hurdlers - Gregory, Robert; Dale, Hunter (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2025)
Keywords: dept.hms

Effect Of Creatine Monohydrate Supplementation On VO2 Kinetics In Aerobically Fit Adults - Raymond, Emerson; Lunn, William R. (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2025)
Keywords: dept.hms

Body Composition Evaluation During The Competitive Season Of An NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Team - Lunn, William R.; Axtell, Robert S. (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2025)
Keywords: dept.hms

936 - Lunn, William R. (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2025)
Keywords: dept.hms

Mass-luminosity anomalies: Plausible evidence of recent stellar interaction in the extraordinary blue straggler S1082 - Quitral-Pierart, Amanda A.; Leigh, Nathan W. C.; Mathieu, Robert D.; Latham, David W.; Sandquist, Eric L.; Horch, Elliott P. (Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2026)
Context. We present an observational and theoretical study of the complex stellar system S1082 in the open cluster M67. This system consists of at least four stars: a blue straggler in a 1.07-day eclipsing binary with a main sequence star (binary A) and another blue straggler in a 1185-day orbit with an unknown companion (binary B). Aims. We analyzed observational data to obtain the orbital and stellar parameters of the components of the eclipsing system. We then explored mass transfer and dynamical encounter scenarios that could explain the derived properties of all of the components of S1082. Methods. We combined high-precision photometry from K2 and TESS with archival light curves, new radial-velocity measurements, and speckle imaging to refine the orbital and physical parameters of the system. To explore the formation pathways, we conducted binary evolution simulations with MESA and dynamical scattering experiments with FEWBODY, followed by a tidal evolution modeling procedure. Results. Our revised radial-velocity solutions yield significantly changed dynamical masses for binary A, reducing the tension with the cluster turnoff mass compared to previous studies. Speckle imaging shows two resolved components separated by 390 AU in projection and, in combination with the two spectroscopic orbits, this is suggestive of a hierarchical quadruple configuration. Our results suggest that the two blue stragglers formed separately, with later dynamical encounters assembling the present configuration. This work underscores the importance of stellar dynamics in shaping the evolution of complex stellar systems within cluster environments such as M67. © The Authors 2026.
Keywords: Blue stragglers; Open clusters and associations: individual: M67; Stars: individual: S1082; dept.phy

Exploring healthcare workers’ intentions to volunteer in digital healthcare services for underserved communities: An extended TAM-based study - Almokdad, Eeman; Mouloudj, Kamel; Njoku, Anuli; Bouarar, Ahmed Chemseddine; Evans, Marian A; Asanza, Dachel Martínez; Mouloudj, Smail (Electronic Journal of General Medicine, 2026)
Underserved communities face persistent challenges due to limited access to healthcare services. Digital volunteering offers opportunities for healthcare professionals to support these populations remotely. This study examined factors associated with healthcare workers’ intentions to participate in digital healthcare volunteering in Algeria. An extended technology acceptance model was used, incorporating perceived organizational support (OS), altruism, and social responsibility. A convenience sample of 142 healthcare workers completed a survey, and hierarchical regression analysis was conducted. Results indicated that perceived ease of use, social responsibility, altruism, perceived OS, and perceived usefulness were each significantly associated with intentions to engage in digital volunteering. The extended model explained 75.6% of the variance in intention, highlighting the relevance of psychological, organizational, and ethical factors. These findings provide insights for policymakers, healthcare organizations, and developers seeking to support digital volunteering initiatives. Limitations include the cross-sectional design and the use of convenience sampling, which may affect generalizability. Future research should consider longitudinal designs, larger and more diverse samples, and cross-cultural comparisons to validate and extend these findings. © 2026 by Author/s and Licensed by Modestum.
Keywords: Algeria; altruism; dept.pch; digital health; health disparities; health equity; healthcare access; organizational support; social marketing; social responsibility; telemedicine

Exploring Perceived Fairness in Performance Evaluation Among Telecommuting Employees in Public Agencies - Aggarwal, Jyoti; Hoang, Thanh Thi (Public Administration Quarterly, 2026)
Since COVID-19, the public workplace has shifted toward a hybrid and telecommute culture. Maintaining equitable and fair performance evaluations for employees across different working modalities is among the top concerns of leaders in public organizations. Using data from the Employee Viewpoint Survey 2023, this paper compares the experiences of telecommuting and non-telecommuting federal employees regarding fair performance evaluations. The findings reveal that younger employees and telecommuting employees tend to perceive lower fairness in performance evaluations. However, leadership support helps reduce employees’ experiences of unfair performance evaluations. This study suggests that communication support from supervisors is essential to upholding an inclusive and fair workplace as public organizations shift to virtual and hybrid work cultures. © 2025 SPAEF
Keywords: dept.psc; fairness; federal government; organizational justice; performance evaluation; public sector; telecommute

FRAMING THE FUTURE: HOW MUSEUMS SHAPE SUSTAINABILITY MINDSETS IN BUSINESS EDUCATION - Yang, Charlie; Ivanova, Ekaterina; Ivanova, Maria (The Power of Arts-Based Pedagogies: Transforming Mindsets to Shape Our Future, 2026)
Recent research proposes that arts-integrated teaching approaches in business education can nurture students' aesthetic sensitivity and emotional capacities, such as self-awareness and empathy. In this chapter, we examine the pedagogical possibility of art appreciation in art museums as a consciousness-raising practice, especially for the sake of cultivating business students' environmental awareness in two different contexts. We have analyzed American and Russian students' reflective essays based on their museum visits in order to explore how business students make sense of their aesthetic experiences and how art appreciation helps them to develop their sustainability mindset in a creative learning space. Through attentive viewing of the works of art, students have learned some key insights from their aesthetic appreciation at art museums. These insights not only facilitated honing their emotional skills, but also deepened their environmental awareness and heightened their sense of personal empowerment to act upon these newly acquired insights and values ensuing from art appreciation. After identifying six key themes extracted from both groups of students' essays based on their museum learning, we further discuss the pedagogical implications of contemplative art appreciation in museums as a means of contributing to more innovative and sustainable management education. © 2026 selection and editorial matter, Ekaterina Ivanova, Isabel Rimanoczy and Divya Singhal; individual chapters, the contributors.
Keywords: dept.mgt

Forgotten Learners: High School Transition Students With Disabilities - Laughlin, Michael K. (Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 2026)
Because physical literacy and activity are not emphasized in special education as they are in physical education or adapted physical education (PE/APE), this editorial explores two important questions: Do high school transition students receive PE/APE programming? And are PE/APE teachers introduced or exposed to transition services at any point in their teacher training?. © 2026 SHAPE America.
Keywords: dept.hms

Investigating the Feasibility, Usability, and Efficacy of a Mobile App to Reduce Anxiety and Depression in Families of Critical Care Cancer Patients: A Quasi-Experimental Pilot Study - Faiola, Anthony; Soroya, Saira; Munker, Reinhold; Hao, Zhonglin; Lambert, Joshua (Healthcare (Switzerland), 2026)
Background: Cancer patients admitted to the bone marrow transplant (BMT) unit face life-threatening medical conditions. Consequently, their family members experience uncertainty, resulting in high levels of anxiety and depression (AD). Limited updates and communication from medical staff exacerbate these emotional burdens. To address these challenges, we developed a mobile health (mHealth) intervention, FamCarePlus, and evaluated its feasibility, usability, and efficacy. We hypothesized that the FamCarePlus application would demonstrate a high degree of feasibility and usability and would reduce AD compared to a control group relying solely on traditional communication through the nurses’ station. Methods: We employed a quasi-experimental pretest/posttest non-randomized, non-blinded self-report design over 3 weeks, with an experimental group (n = 10) using FamCarePlus and a control group (n = 9). We selected participants via convenience sampling using the electronic medical record to identify eligible patients and families, guided by inclusion and exclusion criteria. We used descriptive statistics and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) guidelines to analyze the data. Feasibility was defined by a retention rate > 80%, with usability testing using the System Usability Scale (SUS) and NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) surveys. The HADS measured AD, comparing baseline to Week 3. Results: We met our feasibility criteria of >80%. All SUS and NASA scores were in the higher index, suggesting a significant degree of usability and low workload demand on participants. For efficacy, we compared baseline mean scores, with the experimental group reporting lower AD levels at Week 1 (41.9% and 27.8%, respectively) than the control group (55.2% and 34.2%, respectively). From Week 1 to Week 3, the percentage change showed an 8.6% decrease in anxiety in the experimental group, compared to a 12.8% decrease in anxiety in the control group. These results were consistent when analyzed according to HADS guidelines. Conclusions: The findings of this study provide preliminary evidence that the FamCarePlus intervention is feasible and usable, while also demonstrating that its use may be associated with a sustained reduction in AD levels among family members of patients admitted to the BMT unit. These outcomes underscore the potential of digital interventions to address disparities in patient health information access and psychosocial support. © 2026 by the authors.
Keywords: anxiety; cancer; depression; dept.ils; families; intensive care unit; mHealth

Quality management and safety performance: the influence of ethical leaders among public sector employees - Birasnav, M.; Dahiya, Rinki; Dalpati, Avadhesh (TQM Journal, 2025)
Purpose – Studies are rare in operations management literature showcasing how leaders ethically influence their employees to perceive safety performance through motivating them to participate in the quality management (QM) program. To bridge this research gap, this study has been carried out (1) to investigate the relationship between ethical leadership and incentives for participating in QM program to predict perceived safety performance and (2) to examine the relationship between ethical leadership and incentives for QM implementation to predict job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – Responses of 185 Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration employees who participated in the Office of Personnel Management's Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey 2019, taken from public release data file, were used to test the proposed hypotheses using structural equation modelling. Findings – Results show that ethical leaders motivate their employees to participate in the QM program. Such motivation for QM implementation supports public sector employees to perceive high safety performance and attain job satisfaction with their work agency. Further, employees attain high satisfaction with their job when they work under ethical leaders. Theoretical and practical implications were also offered in this study. Originality/value – This study is the first of its kind to contribute providing evidence that ethical leaders working in a hazardous environment motivate employees to get involved in QM implementation. Another contribution of this study, encouraging employees to participate in the QM initiatives leads employees to attain a high level of job satisfaction and safety performance, also adds value to the QM literature. © 2026 Emerald Publishing Limited
Keywords: Ethical leadership; Job satisfaction; Motivation for QM implementation; Perceived safety performance; dept.mgt

Warm waters undermine cryptic female choice - Kustra, Matthew C.; Alissa, Louise M.; Rogers, Michaela M.; Molinari, Megan M.; Stiver, Kelly A.; Marsh-Rollo, Susan; Hellmann, Jennifer K.; Alonzo, Suzanne H. (Functional Ecology, 2026)
Understanding the thermal sensitivity of reproductive interactions is crucial given global warming. Previous studies have almost exclusively focused on interactions before mating, even though important interactions between the sexes also occur after mating (e.g. gamete interactions), which are likely also affected by temperature. Thus, it remains unknown how temperature affects the influence of female reproductive fluid on sperm performance, thereby altering female control over fertilization (cryptic female choice). This gap limits our understanding of how sexual selection changes with seasonal temperature fluctuations and temperatures outside the range of historical norms. We tested how temperatures relevant to current conditions and climate change projections influence the mechanisms underlying cryptic female choice in a marine fish, Symphodus ocellatus. Under typical, cooler thermal conditions, female reproductive fluid enhances sperm velocity and biases fertilization dynamics to favour preferred, dominant males over sneaker males. We find that warmer temperatures decrease female influence on sperm velocity, especially for dominant males. This results in dominant males having slower sperm than sneaker males at warmer temperatures, reducing the expected paternity of preferred, dominant males. Our results highlight that considering the thermal sensitivity of female–male interactions that occur after mating will be essential for understanding how seasonal variation and climate change can influence fertility, reproduction and sexual selection. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. © 2026 The Author(s). Functional Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.
Keywords: alternative reproductive tactics; climate change; dept.psy; mating systems; ovarian fluid; sexual selection; sperm competition; thermal ecology

The Neurospicy Queer Experience: Insights Into the Lived Experiences & Counseling Needs of Transgender and Gender Expansive Adults with ADHD - Gorski, J.; Bonjo, L.; Sassu, K.; Councilor, K. (Journal of LGBTQ Issues in Counseling, 2026)
Using interpretative phenomenological analysis and grounded in queer, critical feminist, and crip theory, this study explores how transgender and gender-expansive adults with ADHD symptoms, who describe their traits as neurospicy, navigate mental health care. Ten participants revealed masking as a survival strategy that fosters exhaustion, barriers posed by executive functioning challenges and provider ignorance, and the importance of affirming therapeutic spaces, self-advocacy, and peer support networks. Findings align with transgender identity development models. Results call for intersectional, neurodivergence-informed counseling practices that are flexible, knowledgeable, and collaborative to address structural and epistemological challenges faced by neurodivergent TGE individuals. © 2025 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Keywords: ADHD; Transgender; dept.com; dept.csp; gender affirming care; gender expansive; neurodivergence; neuroqueer; neurospicy

Effects of intraspecies and interspecies competition on genetic device construction and performance - Thompson, Samantha; Williams, A Robert; Dill, Veronica; Marshall, Deven; Sawyer, Emily; Alexander, Mason; Rahn-Lee, Lilah; Shih, Joseph De-Chung (mSphere, 2026)
One exciting class of future genetic devices could be those deployed in microbes that join complex microbial environments in the wild. We sought to determine whether genetic parts designed for monoculture are predictable when used in co-culture by testing constitutive Anderson promoters driving the expression of chromoproteins from a plasmid. In Escherichia coli monoculture, a high copy number origin of replication causes stochastic expression regardless of promoter strength, and high constitutive Anderson promoter strength leads to selection for inactivating mutations, resulting in inconsistent chromoprotein expression. Medium- and low-strength constitutive Anderson promoters function more predictably in E. coli monoculture but experience an increase in inactivating mutations when grown in co-culture over many generations with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Expression from regulated promoters instead of constitutive Anderson promoters can lead to stable expression in a complex wastewater culture. Overall, we show intraspecies selection for inactivating mutations due to a competitive growth advantage for E. coli that do not express the genetic device compared to their peers that retain the functional device. We show additional interspecies selection against the functional device when E. coli is co-cultured with another organism. Together, these two selection pressures create a significant barrier to genetic device function in microbial communities that we overcome by utilizing a regulated E. coli promoter. Future strategies for genetic device design in microorganisms that need to function in a complex microbial environment should focus on regulated promoters and/or strategies that give the microorganism carrying the device a selective or growth advantage. IMPORTANCE: First-generation biotechnology focused on genetic devices designed for use in monoculture conditions. One class of next-generation biotechnology devices could be designed to function in complex ecosystems with other organisms, so we sought to create conditions where the genetic device retained function when the organism carrying it is in co-culture with other organisms. We discovered that when the genetic device is a significant resource burden on the organism carrying the device, mutations will be selected for due to intraspecies and interspecies selection pressures, and the device will be rendered non-functional. Therefore, genetic device design for complex ecosystems in next-generation biotechnology needs to balance functionality of the genetic device with the need to reduce resource burden on the organism carrying it.
Keywords: chromoproteins; dept.bio; genetics; interspecies selective pressure; microbial communities; promoters

Maternal Mortality Among Black Women in Brazil: A Retrospective Cohort Study - dos Santos, Gustavo Gonçalves; Njoku, Anuli; Mafetoni, Reginaldo Roque; Sanfelice, Clara Fróes de Oliveira; Nicolau, Ana Izabel Oliveira; Parenti, Patrícia Wottrich; de Oliveira, Cely; López-Pedraza, Leticia; Mouta, Ricardo José Oliveira; Zihlmann, Karina Franco; Lima, Cindy Ferreira; Júnior, Cícero Ricarte Beserra; et al. (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2026)
Background: Maternal mortality in Brazil remains a critical indicator of social and racial inequalities, reflecting structural failures in access to and quality of obstetric care. Black women, particularly those categorized as black or brown, are at a higher risk of dying during pregnancy, childbirth, or the postpartum period. This is the result of the intersection of institutional racism, poverty, and social vulnerabilities. This study aimed to analyze trends and associated factors of maternal mortality among black women in Brazil from 2000 to 2020. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort analytical study using data from the Brazilian Mortality Information System. The sample included women aged 10 to 49 years whose underlying cause of death was classified under ICD-10 codes O00–O99. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were conducted, as well as Poisson and multinomial logistic regressions to estimate adjusted risk ratios according to skin color, education, region, type, and place of death. Results: A total of 40,907 maternal deaths were identified, with 59.2% occurring among black women. The maternal mortality ratio was 39% higher among black women compared to white women and more than double among Indigenous women. Low education, residence in the North and Northeast regions, deaths outside hospital settings, and lack of formal investigation were independently associated with increased risk. Direct obstetric causes accounted for most deaths, with hypertensive disorders and puerperal complications being the leading conditions. Conclusions: Maternal mortality among black women in Brazil reveals deep structural inequalities. Urgent public policies that incorporate an intersectional perspective, addressing race, gender, and class, are necessary to reduce disparities and ensure equitable and dignified maternal healthcare.
Keywords: dept.pch

Transforming clinical faculty preparation: A multistudent, multipatient simulation for nurse educator students - Kulacz, Regina C.; Lamberti, Amanda; Forte, Pamela; Lacey, Kimberly (Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 2026)
Simulation is widely used in nursing education; however, its application in graduate nurse educator programs remains limited. This pilot explored the use of a novel multistudent, multipatient simulation in which nurse educator students assumed the role of clinical faculty. Designed in accordance with the Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best PracticeTM, this simulation focused on clinical facilitation, time management, and feedback. Participants (n = 2) reported increased confidence and insight into clinical teaching responsibilities following the encounter. This pilot warrants further investigation into the application of simulation in graduate-level nonclinical programs and may serve as a template for educator development programs.
Keywords: Clinical faculty; Multipatient; Multistudent; Nursing; Postgraduate; Role transition; Simulation; dept.nur

Measurement of medium-induced acoplanarity in central Au-Au and pp collisions at √sNN = 200 GeV using direct-photon+jet and π+ jet correlations - STAR Collaboration (Physical Review C, 2026)
The STAR Collaboration reports measurements of acoplanarity using semi-inclusive distributions of charged-particle jets recoiling from direct photon and π triggers, in central Au–Au and pp collisions at √sNN = 200 GeV. Significant medium-induced acoplanarity broadening is observed for large but not small recoil jet resolution parameter, corresponding to recoil jet yield enhancement up to a factor of ≈20 for trigger-recoil azimuthal separation far from π. This phenomenology is indicative of the response of the quark-gluon plasma to excitation, but not the scattering of jets off of its quasiparticles. The measurements are not well described by current theoretical models which incorporate jet quenching. © (2026), (American Physical Society). All rights reserved.
Keywords: dept.phy

Bilateral environmental aid under trade competition - Yoon, Sang W.; Kim, Younjun; Park, Byoung G.; Yoon, Chang-Ho (Applied Economics Letters, 2026)
Global climate-finance debates increasingly emphasize tensions between donor competitiveness and environmental responsibility. This paper examines how trade competition shapes the allocation of bilateral environmental official development assistance (BEODA). We develop a partial-equilibrium model showing that aid which lowers recipient production costs can intensify competitive pressure on donor markets, reducing incentives to provide such aid. Using data on 29 OECD donors and 116 non-OECD recipients from 2015–2019, we test whether donors adjust BEODA in response to trade competition. The analysis distinguishes between general BEODA and projects targeting energy efficiency, which more directly reduce marginal costs. Across linear, Tobit, and probit models with multiple fixed effects, we find that donors allocate less BEODA to more competitive recipients, with the effect nearly twice as strong for energy-saving projects. These results indicate that donor concerns over competitiveness constrain environmentally beneficial aid, underscoring a central tension between national economic interests and global climate goals. © 2026 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords: Bilateral environmental aid; climate finance; dept.eco; energy-saving aid; strategic aid allocation; trade competition

Toward Resolving Kang and Park’s Generalization of the Alder–Andrews Theorem - Sturman, Leah; Swisher, Holly (Matematica, 2026)
The Alder–Andrews Theorem, a partition inequality generalizing Euler’s partition identity, the first Rogers–Ramanujan identity, and a theorem of Schur to d-distinct partitions of n, was proved successively by Andrews in 1971, Yee in 2008, and Alfes, Jameson, and Lemke Oliver in 2010. While Andrews and Yee utilized q-series and combinatorial methods, Alfes et al. proved the finite number of remaining cases using asymptotics originating with Meinardus together with high-performance computing. In 2020, Kang and Park conjectured a “level 2” Alder–Andrews type partition inequality which relates to the second Rogers–Ramanujan identity. Duncan, Khunger, the second author, and Tamura proved Kang and Park’s conjecture for all but finitely many cases using a combinatorial shift identity. Here, we generalize the methods of Alfes et al. to resolve nearly all of the remaining cases of Kang and Park’s conjecture. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2026.
Keywords: Alder–Andrews theorem; Alder’s conjecture; Kang-Park conjecture; Rogers–Ramanujan identities; d-distinct partitions; dept.mat

Actigraphy-based sleep outcomes in substance use disorders: A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis - Paredes Naveda, Alisson M.; Oliva, Henrique Nunes Pereira; Ghadimi, Delaram J.; Angarita, Gustavo A. (PloS one, 2026)
INTRODUCTION: Individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs) are at increased risk for sleep disturbances, creating a bidirectional relationship that may heighten relapse risk. While polysomnography is the gold standard for measuring sleep, many studies have used actigraphy, a noninvasive, wrist-worn device that estimates rest-activity patterns and sleep-wake characteristics. Despite its utility, the use of actigraphy in populations with SUDs remains limited, and findings vary across substances and methodologies. This protocol outlines a systematic review and meta-analysis aiming to synthesize evidence on actigraphy-derived sleep outcomes across various substances. METHOD AND ANALYSIS: We will include peer-reviewed observational or interventional studies involving individuals aged 18 or older with a diagnosis of substance use (e.g., alcohol, benzodiazepines, cannabis, cocaine, opioids, methamphetamine, or nicotine) who use actigraphy to assess sleep compared to matched controls. Studies will be excluded during screening if they do not use actigraphy, do not include populations with SUDs, or focus on participants younger than 18. There will be no restrictions on location, setting, or language. Databases to be searched include PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, ClinicalTrials.gov, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Embase. Titles and abstracts will be screened in the first phase, followed by full-text screening using eligibility criteria. At least two independent reviewers will assess risk of bias using the Risk Of Bias In Non-randomized Studies of Exposures (ROBINS-E) tool. A synthesis will summarize key findings, including study characteristics, population differences, and methodological variations. DISCUSSION: This review will offer a clear and comprehensive assessment of the current literature on actigraphy to examine sleep in SUD and to inform future research to study sleep and its implications in SUD populations. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION NUMBER: International Prospective Register for Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) number CRD420251072028. Copyright: © 2026 Paredes Naveda et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Keywords: dept.psy

Song of my Soul: A Memoir - Rakfeldt, Jaak (Mascot Books, 2025)
An Estonian saying holds that everyone has a unique song in their heart. This profound theme resonates throughout the pages of Song of my Soul. This work is not merely a memoir but a visceral journey through the heart of a besieged nation and a family’s unwavering struggle for survival. Rakfeldt’s narrative immerses the reader in the turbulent twentieth century, when Estonia became a pawn in Stalin and Hitler’s brutal power plays, marked by the devastating impact of three successive occupations. The author recounts his family’s harrowing escape to Sweden, their flight through Europe, and the process of building a new life in the West. He weaves together poignant episodes from his parents’ lives in Estonia, which were shattered by the Soviet invasion, forcing them to flee into forests and marshes and live as partisans hunted by Russian death squads. Beyond the historical account, Song of my Soul is a deeply personal journey. Rakfeldt begins to reclaim his ancestral heritage and fill the void left by displacement and loss. He grapples with questions of identity and belonging. This book serves as a testament to the resilience of refugee families and chronicles the suffering of the Baltic people. It resonates with anyone who has faced immigration challenges and with those seeking to understand the lasting strength of the human spirit.
Keywords: dept.swk

From the guest editor: what is a Festschrift? By Lorrie Greenhouse Gardella - Greenhouse Gardella, Lorrie (Social Work with Groups, 2025)
Keywords: dept.swk

Erratum: Disappearance of partonic collectivity in √ sNN = 3 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC (Physics Letters B, (2022), 827, 137003) - STAR Collaboration (Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics, 2025)
We report on the measurements of directed flow v1 and elliptic flow v2 for hadrons (π±, K±, KS0, p, ϕ, Λ and Ξ−) from Au+Au collisions at sNN = 3 GeV and v2 for (π±, K±, p and p‾) at 27 and 54.4 GeV with the STAR experiment. While at the two higher energy midcentral collisions the number-of-constituent-quark (NCQ) scaling holds, at 3 GeV the v2 at midrapidity is negative for all hadrons and the NCQ scaling is absent. In addition, the v1 slopes at midrapidity for almost all observed hadrons are found to be positive, implying dominant repulsive baryonic interactions. The features of negative v2 and positive v1 slope at 3 GeV can be reproduced with a baryonic mean-field in transport model calculations. These results imply that the medium in such collisions is likely characterized by baryonic interactions. © 2025 The Authors.
Keywords: Baryonic interactions; Collectivity; High baryon density; NCQ scaling; STAR experiment; dept.phy

Oral Hygiene Care of Older Adults and Caregiver Education: A Systematic Review - Asanza, Dachel Martínez; Njoku, Anuli; Baviskar, Snehal; Evans, Marian A.; Mouloudj, Kamel (Hygiene, 2025)
Background: There is a need to develop comprehensive guidelines to encourage the promotion of oral hygiene care among older adults and to assist caregivers in this endeavor, taking into consideration the specific challenges that arise from aging, comorbidities and caregiving. Methods: This review was conducted by searching across relevant literature from meta-databases including Academic Google, PubMed, Scielo and Scopus for studies published from 2020 to 2024. PRISMA guidelines were followed. We included articles that described oral hygiene methods, caregiver education and mechanization status of older adults. Common themes, best practices, and gaps in current guidelines were tracked using extracted and analyzed data. Results: The review revealed multiple factors affecting the oral hygiene of older adults, with themes relating to physical impairment, cognitive dysfunction, and caregiver involvement. Highlighted between the approaches are individualized therapy for oral hygiene, caregiver education, and the use of technology to improve adherence to oral hygiene. Barriers like dental care access, underlying medical conditions complicating dental treatments, and cost considerations were identified. Conclusions: The findings emphasize the necessity of clear recommendations that can help caregivers and advance dental care for older adults. © 2025 by the authors.
Keywords: aged; caregiver education; caregivers; dentistry; dept.pch; education; frail elderly; healthy aging; older adult; oral health; oral hygiene; oral medicine

Period Poverty Among Black, Hispanic and Low-Income Communities in the United States: Challenges and Recommendations - Njoku, Anuli; Al-Hassan, Mousa; Tohura, Sharaban; Garcia, Kayla (Hygiene, 2025)
Period poverty refers to the lack of access to or affordability of menstrual hygiene supplies such as sanitary products and the inaccessibility of washing facilities, waste disposal and educational materials. Period poverty can significantly affect menstruating individuals’ physical, mental, and reproductive health and emotional wellbeing; negatively impact educational outcomes; cause financial strain; result in absenteeism from work and school; create barriers to healthcare access; and perpetuate poor health outcomes for generations. Barriers to menstrual equity include lack of access to period support, cost, poor sanitary facilities, lack of education, social and cultural stigma, and legal restrictions. Therefore, it is crucial to actively advocate for initiatives to increase access to menstrual hygiene products, raise public awareness, and educate individuals on safe menstrual practices. Approximately 500 million girls and women worldwide and an estimated 16.9 million people in the United States experience period poverty, with the issue being particularly common among marginalized groups such as Black or Hispanic menstruating individuals and those who are homeless, living in poverty, of low income, or attending college. This article investigates the physical, psychological, educational and social impacts of inequitable access to menstrual products, menstrual education, and sanitation facilities among menstruating individuals who are Black, Hispanic or of low income within the United States. We examine the threat this poses to health equity and propose recommendations to address this pervasive issue. © 2025 by the authors.
Keywords: dept.pch; environmental sustainability; gender disparities; health equity; menstrual education; menstrual health; menstrual health management; menstrual hygiene products; period poverty; period tax; polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS); poverty alleviation; women’s health

Social justice with harm reduction approaches for mothers who use opioids: an international comparative ethnographic study with community engaged methods - Boeri, Miriam W.; Lamonica, Aukje; Whittaker, Anne; Bruce, Marisa (Harm Reduction Journal, 2025)
Background: Mothers and pregnant women who use opioids are particularly vulnerable. Mothers often fear surveillance, stigma, and loss of custody of their children when seeking treatment. Although opioid agonist therapy (OAT) has been shown to be effective, access varies regionally, and not all mothers can cease using opioids. This study compares outcomes of mothers who use opioids in the UK with universal healthcare and OAT access, and mothers in the U.S. with restricted healthcare and OAT access, focusing on their interactions with services. Methods: This is a secondary data analysis of two studies on mothers who use opioids. Data were collected from nine mothers in Scotland (UK) and 20 mothers in New Jersey (US) through ethnographic, longitudinal studies spanning one year. The UK study used a “Learning Alliance” engagement approach, a patient/public engagement model that involves stakeholders in developing objectives and the dissemination of findings. The US study engaged “community-based consultants,” who are paid individuals with lived experience from the study field communities to assist researchers in recruitment and ethnographic fieldwork. Ethical approval was received from review boards. Data were anonymized before analysis, and people with lived experience provided feedback on findings. Grounded theory methods were used for analysis. Results: Findings reveal both convergent and divergent experiences. Mothers in Scotland had more access to healthcare and social housing but faced increased surveillance, while New Jersey mothers often experienced housing insecurity and difficulty obtaining healthcare. Shared challenges included trust issues, stigmatization, inconsistent practitioner engagement, responsibilization, and unclear expectations from child protection services. While Scottish mothers had better access to OAT, both groups faced child custody loss due to unregulated drug use. Mothers in both studies were struggling to meet reunification requirements of abstinence (with or without OAT) within the required time frame. Conclusions: Differing governance structures create persistent challenges across national boundaries. While health practitioners generally support harm reduction strategies, it does not go beyond OAT for mothers. Our findings indicate the need for radical harm reduction approaches with social justice for mothers who use drugs, including safer parental drug use strategies. © The Author(s) 2025.
Keywords: Child protection; Community engagement; Harm reduction; Mothers who use drugs; Opioids; dept.pch

Sleep Duration, Disturbances, and Health-Related Quality of Life in Stroke Survivors - Sawadogo, Wendemi; Adera, Tilahun; Burch, James B.; Alattar, Maha; Perera, Robert; Howard, Virginia J. (Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 2025)
Objective: To determine the association of sleep duration and disturbances with physical and mental health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in stroke survivors. Design: Cross-sectional analysis of the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke second in-home visit (May 2013-Dec 2016). Setting: Population-based national study in US. Participants: Individuals with adjudicated incident stroke (N=368). Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: Physical and mental HRQoL based on the 12-item Short Form. Sleep measures included sleep duration, difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, nonrestorative sleep, and a combined measure based on the latent class model. Logistic regression models were used to investigate the association between sleep variables and HRQoL, adjusting for demographic factors, socioeconomic factors, behavioral factors, and comorbidities. Results: This study included 368 non-Hispanic Black and White stroke survivors. The mean age was 76.0 years (SD=7.9), and 52.7% were men. Stroke survivors with short sleep duration were more likely to have poor physical HRQoL (OR, 2.87; 95% CI, 1.46-5.62) compared with stroke survivors with adequate sleep duration after adjusting for confounding. Similarly, stroke survivors with nonrestorative sleep were 3 times more likely to have poor physical HRQoL (OR, 3.11; 95% CI, 1.28-7.55) compared with stroke survivors with restorative sleep. Conclusions: Non-optimal sleep duration and nonrestorative sleep were associated with higher odds of poor physical HRQoL in stroke survivors. These findings highlight the importance of considering sleep health in post-stroke care. © 2025 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
Keywords: Insomnia; Quality of life; Rehabilitation; Sleep disturbances; Sleep duration; Stroke survivors; dept.pch

Introduction and 2024–2025 Update - Felix, Alex Romero; Mendoza, Gary Santos; Torres-Baez, Daisy (Heart Work: The Handbook on the Surviving and Thriving of Cultural and Identity Centers in Higher Education, 2025)
Keywords: dept.dei

Moving Forward - Felix, Alex Romero; Mendoza, Gary Santos; Torres-Baez, Daisy (Heart Work: The Handbook on the Surviving and Thriving of Cultural and Identity Centers in Higher Education, 2025)
Keywords: dept.dei

Preface - Felix, Alex Romero; Mendoza, Gary Santos; Torres-Baez, Daisy (Heart Work: The Handbook on the Surviving and Thriving of Cultural and Identity Centers in Higher Education, 2025)
Keywords: dept.dei

Heart Work: The Handbook on the Surviving and Thriving of Cultural and Identity Centers in Higher Education - Felix, Alex Romero; Mendoza, Gary Santos; Torres-Baez, Daisy (Emerald Group Publishing Ltd., 2025)
Heart Work: The Handbook on the Survival and Success of Cultural and Identity Centers in Higher Education highlights the experiences of higher education professionals working in these centers. This handbook offers a blend of personal stories and the latest research on cultural and identity centers, building on Dr. Lori Patton Davis’ 2010 book, Culture Centers in Higher Education: Perspectives on Identity, Theory, and Practice. Since 2010, these centers have navigated significant challenges, including the global COVID-19 pandemic, and have increased focus on institutional racism. The book delves into the experiences and histories of various cultural and identity centers, including Latinx/e Cultural Centers, Asian, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern Arab and Desi Cultural Centers, Native American/Indigenous Cultural Centers, Black/African American Cultural Centers, Disability Cultural Centers, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer+ Centers, and Undocumented Student Resource Centers. In light of recent events affecting minoritized populations, it also covers topics such as evolving practices in cultural/identity centers, university politics, and strategies for practitioners to advance and sustain the Heart Work. Heart Work offers community members - especially potential and current practitioners, faculty, and staff in higher education - an understanding of the recent environmental context of cultural and identity centers. As our society evolves, recognizing that identities are not monolithic and embracing intersectionality allows for a deeper understanding of oppression and lived experiences. This handbook aims to bridge the gap by continuing the research and practice of cultural and identity centers in higher education. © 2026 by Emerald Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
Keywords: dept.dei

Celebrating and Supporting Latinidad on College Campuses: Latinx/E Cultural Centers - Felix, Alex Romero; Torres-Baez, Daisy (Heart Work: The Handbook on the Surviving and Thriving of Cultural and Identity Centers in Higher Education, 2025)
Keywords: dept.dei

Supporting Native American/Indigenous Students’ Survivance Through Native American/Indigenous Cultural Centers - Torres-Baez, Daisy (Heart Work: The Handbook on the Surviving and Thriving of Cultural and Identity Centers in Higher Education, 2025)
Keywords: dept.dei

New reconstruction of DAN5 cranium (Gona, Ethiopia) supports complex emergence of Homo erectus - Baab, Karen L.; Kaifu, Yousuke; Freidline, Sarah E.; Rogers, Michael J.; Semaw, Sileshi (Nature Communications, 2025)
The African Early Pleistocene is a time of evolutionary change and techno-behavioral innovation in human prehistory that sees the advent of our own genus, Homo, from earlier australopithecine ancestors by 2.8-2.3 million years ago. This was followed by the origin and dispersal of Homo erectus sensu lato across Africa and Eurasia between ~ 2.0 and 1.1 Ma and the emergence of both large-brained (e.g., Bodo, Kabwe) and small-brained (e.g., H. naledi) lineages in the Middle Pleistocene of Africa. Here we present a newly reconstructed face of the DAN5/P1 cranium from Gona, Ethiopia (1.6-1.5 Ma) that, in conjunction with the cranial vault, is a mostly complete Early Pleistocene Homo cranium from the Horn of Africa. Morphometric analyses demonstrate a combination of H. erectus-like cranial traits and basal Homo-like facial and dental features combined with a small brain size in DAN5/P1. The presence of such a morphological mosaic contemporaneous with or postdating the emergence of the indisputable H. erectus craniodental complex around 1.6 Ma implies an intricate evolutionary transition from early Homo to H. erectus. This finding also supports a long persistence of small-brained, plesiomorphic Homo group(s) alongside other Homo groups that experienced continued encephalization through the Early to Middle Pleistocene of Africa. © The Author(s) 2025.
Keywords: dept.ant

Exposure to Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals and Early Onset of Menarche: A Systematic Review - Njoku, Anuli; Al-Hassan, Mousa; Tohura, Sharaban; Albert, Kaleigh; Pierce, Taryn; Sawadogo, Wendemi (Pollutants, 2025)
There has been a decline in the age at which girls experience menarche worldwide. Research suggests that exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals is linked to negative health consequences, including early onset of menarche. This systematic review examined the association between exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and the early onset of menarche. Comprehensive searches of the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were conducted to find relevant studies published from inception to November 2024. Exposure to certain EDCs, such as particulate matter and phthalates, showed significant associations with earlier menarche onset, while exposure to other EDCs (e.g., pyrethroids) was linked to delayed menarche timing. Overall, there were mixed findings in the relationships between various EDC exposures and menarche onset. Few studies investigated how exposure to EDCs and early menarche differed by race and ethnicity. This underscores the need for more studies that examine the relationship between early menarche onset and exposure to endocrine-disrupting substances. Education and policy approaches are also warranted to address this issue. © 2025 by the authors.
Keywords: dept.pch; endocrine-disrupting chemicals; environmental health; menarche; puberty; reproductive health

Reply - Gao, Chloe; Szlosek, Donald; Zhong, Anthony; Hadland, Scott E.; Benes, Sarah S. (Journal of Pediatrics, 2025)
Keywords: dept.hms

An exploratory analysis of equally male/female-owned firm performance in the United States - Toskin, Katarzyna; Jocic, Marko R. (International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, 2025)
Purpose – Equally male/female-owned businesses have been a part of the United States (US) economy and provide a platform for female entrepreneurs, yet these businesses have been understudied in today’s literature. This study examines trends in the performance of equally male/female-owned firms and compares them to female-owned and male-owned businesses. In addition, through social role theory, factors beyond gender are discussed to explain the potential differences in firm performance among various firm ownership groups. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses eight years of US Census data to analyze annual trends and average firm performance for equally male/female-owned, female-owned, and male-owned firms. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to compare the means of the firm performance variables by each ownership group, followed by Tukey’s Honest Significant Difference (HSD) test to assess the significance of differences. Findings – The findings reveal that equally male/female-owned firms perform similarly to female-owned firms, both of which significantly underperform in sales, productivity, and pay when compared to male-owned businesses. This interesting outcome indicates that the presence of a male co-owner does not automatically translate to an increased firm performance and that factors beyond gender influence the trajectory of these businesses. Additionally, the large presence of family-owned firms within the sample of equally male/female-owned firms sheds new insight into family business literature and helps explain the comparable performance patterns with those of female-owned firms. More specifically, both ownership groups, equally male/female-owned and female-owned firms, likely prioritize nonfinancial goals, such as family and work-life integration, potentially at the expense of firm performance. Originality/value – This study is one of few to date that investigates a third firm ownership category in the US market, the equally male/female-owned firms, and compares them based on average performance to two previously studied groups, male-owned and female-owned firms. This article contributes to the body of knowledge by providing insight into the performance of equally male/female-owned businesses through the underpinnings of social role theory, as well as important implications for gender, female entrepreneurship, equal ownership, and family business policy and practice. © 2025 Emerald Publishing Limited
Keywords: Business performance; Entrepreneurship; Equally male/Female-owned firms; Family businesses; Firm ownership; Gender; dept.bis

Remote Lesson Study as Continuing Professional Development for Physical Education Teachers - Colburn, Jeffrey; Knipe, Robert; Doherty, Brooke; Stephenson, Rachyl; Hamilton, Xiaofen (Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 2026)
Purpose: This study investigated experiences of physical education teachers (PETs) participating in online remote andragogy-based lesson study (AbLS) during a pandemic. Method: Five PETs participated in this phenomenological case study. Seventeen online AbLS collaborative meetings took place via Zoom software. Three rounds of semistructured interviews were conducted and analyzed using collaborative qualitative analysis. Results: Three themes emerged: (a) AbLS facilitated depth of learning, increasing professional and individual growth; (b) AbLS structure influenced experience; and (c) the professional community of AbLS supported a natural adult learning (andragogical) environment. Discussion/Conclusion: Remote AbLS presented benefits for these PETs beyond professional learning that prior continuing professional development had not, including a sense of community, belonging, and professional worth. AbLS may have implications for research in perceived mattering and continuing professional development facilitation for PETs. Remote AbLS may bolster PETs in challenging local learning communities. © 2026 Human Kinetics, Inc.
Keywords: andragogy; dept.hms; marginalization; professional learning; remote communities

Reliability of Lingual Swallow Pressure Measurements in Healthy Older and Younger Adults - Smith, Julian Bergen; Murray, Kelsey; Szynkiewicz, Sarah H.; Wasiuk, Peter A.; Dalton, Meghan; Thompson, Kirsty; Kamarunas, Erin (Journal of Oral Rehabilitation, 2025)
Background: While maximum isometric pressure (MIP) is widely used in clinical and research settings, reduced lingual swallow pressure (LSP) has been observed in patients with dysphagia and in older healthy adults. However, limited evidence exists on the test–retest reliability of LSP across different bolus consistencies. Objective: This study assessed the test–retest reliability of LSP measurements in both younger and older adults with healthy swallowing function to identify factors influencing oral swallowing pressure. Methods: Participants 18–40 years (younger) and 60+ years (older) were assessed across four separate sessions. Bolus types included trials of saliva, thin, mildly thick and extremely thick water, randomised across study visits. Two-way mixed effects models with absolute agreement were used to calculate intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and evaluate test–retest reliability of LSP for each swallow type (regular or effortful) and bolus type. Linear mixed effects regression modelling was used to examine the factors influencing LSP. Results: A total of 51 participants were included. Test–retest reliability for LSP ranged from good to excellent across both groups (ICC = 0.79–0.98). Reliability was non-significantly higher in the older group (ICC = 0.96) and during effortful swallows (ICC = 0.94). Effort level significantly influenced LSP estimates, with effortful swallows producing about 1.83 times more lingual pressure than regular swallows. There were no significant effects of age, sex, or bolus type on LSP. Conclusion: These findings suggest that LSP measurements are reliable across measurement time points in nondysphagic participants, regardless of age, effort level, or bolus type. Only swallow effort level significantly influenced LSP estimates. © 2025 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Keywords: dept.cmd; dysphagia; lingual strength; reliability; swallow pressureswallowingtongue strength

Intelligent Intrusion Detection System Using RF, SVM, and DT: A Comparison-Based KDD Data Set - Elashmawi, Walaa Hassan; Sheta, Alaa; Al-Qerem, Ahmad (Journal of Computer Science, 2025)
The rapid growth of technology has brought about many advantages, but has also made networks more susceptible to security threats. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) play a vital role in protecting computer networks against malicious activities. Given the dynamic and constantly evolving nature of cyber threats, these systems must continuously adapt to maintain their effectiveness. Machine Learning (ML) methods have gained prominence as effective tools for constructing IDS that offer both high accuracy and efficiency. This study conducts a performance assessment of several machine learning classifiers, including Random Forests (RF), Decision Trees (DT), and Support Vector Machines (SVM), in addressing multiclass intrusion detection as a means to counter cybersecurity threats. The NSL-KDD dataset, which includes various network attacks, served as the basis for our experimental evaluation. The research explores two classification scenarios: a five-class and a three-class model, analyzing their impact on detection performance. The results demonstrate that RF consistently achieves the highest accuracy (85.42%) on the three-class scenario testing set, highlighting its effectiveness in handling patterns and non-linear relationships within the intrusion data. Furthermore, reducing the classification complexity (three classes vs. five classes) significantly improves model generalization, as evidenced by the reduced performance gap between training and testing data. Friedman’s rank test and Holm’s post-hoc analysis were applied to ensure statistical rigor, confirming that RF outperforms DT and SVM in all evaluation metrics. These findings establish RF as the most robust classifier for intrusion detection and underscore the importance of simplifying classification tasks for improved IDS performance. © (2025), (Science Publications). All rights reserved.
Keywords: Intrusion Detection System; Multi-Class Classifications; Random Forest Classifier; dept.csc

Temperature measurement of Quark-Gluon plasma at different stages - STAR Collaboration (Nature Communications, 2025)
In a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), the fundamental building blocks of matter, quarks and gluons, are under extreme conditions of temperature and density. A QGP could exist in the early stages of the Universe, and in various objects and events in the cosmos. The thermodynamic and hydrodynamic properties of the QGP are described by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and can be studied in heavy-ion collisions. Despite being a key thermodynamic parameter, the QGP temperature is still poorly known. Thermal lepton pairs (e+e− and μ+μ−) are ideal penetrating probes of the true temperature of the emitting source, since their invariant-mass spectra suffer neither from strong final-state interactions nor from blue-shift effects due to rapid expansion. Here we measure the QGP temperature using thermal e+e− production at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The average temperature from the low-mass region (in-medium ρ0 vector-meson dominant) is (2.01 ± 0.23) × 1012 K, consistent with the chemical freeze-out temperature from statistical models and the phase transition temperature from Lattice QCD. The average temperature from the intermediate mass region (above the ρ0 mass, QGP dominant) is significantly higher at (3.25 ± 0.60) × 1012 K. This work provides essential experimental thermodynamic measurements to map out the QCD phase diagram and understand the properties of matter under extreme conditions. © The Author(s) 2025.
Keywords: dept.phy

Healthy Futures for Young Women With Obesity: A Mixed Methods Study - Rupp, Kristie; Bryan, Jessica L.; Abel-Berei, Catherine P. (American Journal of Health Promotion, 2025)
Purpose: In young women with obesity, we sought to explore their: (1) psychosocial health; (2) perceptions of their and engagement in current health behaviors; (2) motivation to change their health behaviors; and (3) desired characteristics of a health behavior intervention. Approach: Convergent-parallel mixed methods study. Setting: Focus groups were conducted over zoom. Participants: 34 young women with obesity (M ± SD; age = 23.79 ± 4.22 years; BMI = 35.66 ± 5.56 kg/m2 ; 41.2% non-Hispanic White). Method: Quantitative data were collected via Qualtrics prior to focus groups. We conducted 8 semi-structured focus groups (2-7 participants per group; 32-93 minutes) to address the pre-specified objectives. Results: Participants reported poor psychosocial health, with 100% meeting the cut-point indicative of significant depressive symptoms and 79.4% for clinically meaningful anxiety. Participants expressed the interconnectedness of their physical and mental health and desire to improve consistency in their eating and physical activity behaviors. However, participants did not want to emphasize weight loss as the primary focus of a health behavior intervention. Preferences for the characteristics of a health behavior intervention were in support of a hybrid format, with in-person meetings focusing on active engagement (e.g., cooking classes). Conclusions: Our findings support shifting the focus from a weight-normative to a weight inclusive approach to health behavior interventions to meet the needs and preferences of young women with obesity. © The Author(s) 2025
Keywords: dept.hms; health behavior; weight bias; weight stigma; women’s health

The Relationship Between Sleep Disorders and Stroke - Sawadogo, Wendemi; Adera, Tilahun (Handbook of the Behavior and Psychology of Disease, 2025)
Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. It is a serious disease caused by a disruption of blood flow in the brain resulting from either blockage of blood flow to the brain (ischemic stroke) or sudden bleeding in the brain (hemorrhagic stroke). Stroke survivors experience more sleep disorders than the general population. Sleep disorders could also increase the risk of stroke even in individuals who have no history of stroke. Obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia are the most common sleep disorders associated with increased risk of stroke. Long sleep duration (≥9 h/day) and circadian rhythm changes have also been linked to an increased risk of stroke. This chapter summarizes the current evidence on the relationship between sleep disorders and stroke. © 2025 Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Keywords: Central sleep apnea; Circadian rhythm disruption; Hypersomnia; Insomnia; Obstructive sleep apnea; Parasomnia; Sleep disorders; Sleep disturbances; Sleep movement disorders; Stroke; dept.pch

Property and precarisation: reading Seth Tobocman’s War in the Neighborhood and Fly’s CHRON!IC!RIOTS!PA!SM! - Stretch, Cynthia (Textual Practice, 2025)
In early 2024, news coverage of squatter occupations in the borough of Queens led to amending the legal definition of ‘tenant’ in New York. Those media reports suggest that the practice of squatting is a growing menace and that those most threatened are the housed. I argue that the coverage documents and contributes to what political theorist Isabell Lorey terms ‘precarization’, a neoliberal process that produces insecurity as ‘a central preoccupation of the subject’, and that the materiality and affective centrality of the house amplify that preoccupation with insecurity. The alleged threat is credible in part because squatting has a history of disrupting housing as a market phenomenon in New York City. This essay examines two graphic narratives from an earlier era of cultural panic about squatters. Both Seth Tobocman’s War in the Neighborhood (2000) and Fly’s CHRON!IC!RIOTS!PA!SM! (1998) represent the practice of ‘staying put’ as a rejection of the security promised by finance capital, thus depicting squatting as a compelling form of unhousing. Both texts call out the false promises of security and locate potential in and for what Stefano Harney and Fred Moten call ‘bad debt’. © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords: Fly (Elen Orr); Isabell Lorey; Seth Tobocman; bad debt; dept.eng; precarisation; squatting

Turning to returnees Differential development or attrition? - Schmitt, Elena (Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 2025)
Keywords: dept.wll

Measurements of ϒ states production in p + p collisions at √s = 500 GeV with STAR: Cross sections, ratios, and multiplicity dependence - STAR Collaboration (Physical Review D, 2025)
We report measurements of ϒ(1S), ϒ(2S) and ϒ(3S) production in p + p collisions at √s = 500 GeV ffiffi by the STAR experiment in year 2011, corresponding to an integrated luminosity Lint = 13 pb−1. The results provide precise cross sections, transverse momentum (pT) and rapidity (y) spectra, as well as cross section ratios for pT < 10 GeV=c and |y| < 1. The dependence of the ϒ yield on charged particle multiplicity has also been measured, offering new insights into the mechanisms of quarkonium production. The data are compared to various theoretical models: the color evaporation model (CEM) accurately describes the ϒ(1S) production, while the color glass condensate + nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics (CGC + NRQCD) model overestimates the data, particularly at low pT. Conversely, the color singlet model (CSM) underestimates the rapidity dependence. These discrepancies highlight the need for further development in understanding the production dynamics of heavy quarkonia in high-energy hadronic collisions. The trend in the multiplicity dependence is consistent with CGC/saturation and string percolation models or ϒ production happening in multiple parton interactions modeled by PYTHIA8. © 2025 American Physical Society
Keywords: dept.phy

Restorative Masculine Integration Theory - Angelucci, Todd; Gallegos, Julian L. (American Journal of Men's Health, 2025)
The Restorative Masculine Integration Theory (RMIT) introduces a strengths-based, systems-oriented framework for promoting healthy masculinity through healing, leadership, and relational engagement. Developed in response to the adverse effects of masculine suppression, such as emotional disengagement, burnout, and polarity collapse, RMIT outlines a five-phase Cycle of Masculine Restoration: reclaimed masculinity, emotional safety and trust, grounded leadership, rebalanced gender polarity, and healing with cultural renewal. These stages are underpinned by core concepts including psychological safety, peer mentorship, emotional literacy, and authentic masculinity. Drawing from interdisciplinary foundations in gender studies, emotional intelligence, trauma-informed practice, polarity theory, and servant leadership, RMIT offers an adaptable framework for use across clinical, educational, organizational, and policy settings. Its alignment with the MANifest Health Theory further strengthens its applicability in men’s health promotion. This manuscript elaborates the theory’s conceptual development, visual model, and practical implications, while identifying future directions for empirical validation and inclusive application. RMIT advances a timely and restorative model for transforming masculine identity into a source of individual and collective resilience © The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Keywords: dept.nur; emotional literacy; masculinity; men’s health; peer mentorship; polarity; psychological safety; theory development; trauma-informed care

Effects of Home Care on the Use of Medical Services by the Elderly in China’s National Medical Insurance System - Qin, Wenshuai; Chen, Chien-Ping; Wang, Yangyang; Chen, Hong; Zhang, Ze; Qin, Lijian (International Advances in Economic Research, 2025)
This study analyzes nationwide micro-survey data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey 2018 to assess the impact of home care and medical insurance on the health of older people in China, using factors that influence healthcare utilization. Applying the Andersen model, the findings reveal: (1) Home care and medical service use are complementary, increasing inpatient service utilization and total medical costs. (2) The effect varies by insurance type. Under the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme, home care raises inpatient service use and costs. Under Urban Employee/Resident Medical Insurance, home care has no statistically significant impact. Under Public Medical Care for Civil Servants, home care reduces inpatient service use, suggesting substitution. (3) Age-related patterns differ across programs, with the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme showing declining utilization, the Urban Employee/Resident Medical Insurance exhibiting a diminishing increase, and the Public Medical Care for Civil Servants indicating potential overuse. The Chinese government should consider restructuring its national medical insurance programs and promoting the substitutive effect of home care to enhance the well-being and social security of the aging population. © International Atlantic Economic Society 2025.
Keywords: Elderly; Home care; Medical insurance; Medical services; dept.bus

Imaging of the Velopharynx: Nasopharyngoscopy - Kummer, Ann W.; Mabry, Kelly (Cleft Palate and Velopharyngeal Dysfunction: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Evaluation and Management, 2025)
Nasopharyngoscopy is a minimally invasive endoscopic procedure that allows visual observation and analysis of the velopharyngeal mechanism during speech. It can be used to assess both anatomic and physiologic abnormalities of the velopharyngeal valve. In cases of suspected velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI), nasopharyngoscopy is particularly useful in determining the size, location, and cause of the velopharyngeal opening. This information is very important for surgical planning. Nasopharyngoscopy is also useful in the assessment of secondary surgery that was done for VPI. It can help determine the need for revision and the type of revision surgery that is most likely to be successful. The purpose of the chapter is to explain how nasopharyngoscopy is used in the evaluation of velopharyngeal function. This chapter includes specific tips for achieving a successful examination in children as young as age 3. Finally, important observations from nasopharyngoscopy are described. © 2025 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Keywords: Hypernasality; Instrumental assessment; Nasal emission; Nasendoscopy; Nasopharyngoscopy; Resonance disorder; Velopharyngeal dysfunction; Velopharyngeal incompetence; Velopharyngeal insufficiency; Velopharyngeal valve; dept.cmd

Bridging Borders: Teacher Perspectives on Refugee Students’ Schooling in Germany and the U.S. - Beck, Alena; Becker, Carmen; Hos, Rabia (Multicultural Perspectives, 2025)
This qualitative study compares the perspectives of educators on students with refugee experiences across school contexts in Germany and the United States. Drawing from qualitative data, including teacher interviews and focus group discussions, the paper contextualizes educators’ perspectives within each nation’s unique sociopolitical and educational landscapes. The findings include the impact of Germany’s tracked education system on educator perspectives and reliance on traditional practices that hinder upward mobility for refugees, while the educators’ perspectives in the U.S. are often constrained by standardized curricula and lack of cohesive federal policies. In light of the study’s findings, we call for systemic reforms, including diversifying the teacher workforce and developing a unified global refugee education framework to ensure equitable education for refugees globally. © Copyright © 2025 by the National Association for Multicultural Education.
Keywords: dept.grad

Exploring Black Maternal Suicidal Ideation: A Pilot Study Exploring Risk and Protective Factors for Perinatal Suicidal Thoughts in Black Women - Welz, Natasha (Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 2025)
This research project was an exploratory mixed method study that explored risk and protective factors associated with Black women’s experiences with perinatal suicidal ideations. The sample included adult women who identified as Black and had experienced suicidal thoughts during pregnancy or postpartum (n = 9). Participants completed an electronic survey consisting of 54 total questions and the 30-item Racial Trauma Scale (RTS). Through their responses, most respondents reported being worried about a loved one’s safety and feeling that the world is unsafe. The respondents also felt that healthcare neglects the needs of Black women. The implications of these findings for clinical social work are that racism and discrimination create chronic stress upon Black pregnant women and their providers, resulting in poor health outcomes and stressful service delivery interactions. Therefore, improved screening and communication between providers and patients will have a positive impact on perinatal mental health in the Black community. © W. Montague Cobb-NMA Health Institute 2025.
Keywords: dept.swk

Virtual Faculty Development Program for Doctoral Advising - Penny, Frances (Nurse educator, 2026)
Keywords: dept.nur

Advancing Library Services for Mobile Users - Liu, Yan Quan (IGI Global Scientific Publishing, 2025)
As mobile technology becomes integral to everyday life, libraries rework their services to meet the needs of their users. Advancing library services for mobile users requires seamless, intuitive experiences that support research, learning, and engagement. From mobile-friendly catalogs and e-book pla...
Keywords: dept.ils

ES-SVM Hyperparameter Optimization for Non-Invasive Coronary Heart Disease Classification - Sheta, Alaa; Elashmawi, Walaa H.; Surani, Salim; Baareh, Abdel Karim M.; Rauch, Peter; Othman, Emad S. (5th International Mobile, Intelligent, and Ubiquitous Computing Conference, MIUCC 2025, 2025)
Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading global cause of death, making early detection essential. While coronary angiography is the diagnostic gold standard, its invasive nature poses risks, and non-invasive symptom-based methods often lack accuracy. Machine learning-powered computer-aided diagnostic systems can effectively address challenges in clinical decisionmaking. This work presents an Evolutionary Strategy-optimized Support Vector Machine (ES-SVM) model for classifying CHD based on non-invasive test results and patient characteristics. Using the Coronary Heart Disease dataset, the proposed ESSVM demonstrated significant precision and F1-scores, as well as the accuracy of the proposed model. The results indicate that SVM performance can be significantly enhanced through evolutionary hyperparameter tuning, resulting in a reliable, noninvasive diagnostic tool for initial CAD screening and supporting early intervention techniques. © 2025 IEEE.
Keywords: Classification; Coronary Heart Disease; Evolutionary Strategies; Machine Learning; Non-Invasive Screening; Support Vector Machine; dept.csc

Alternative Splicing and Gene Expression Variation Underlie Population and Life History Differences in an Amphibian - Hu, Juntao; Ren, Xingyue; Barrett, Rowan D. H.; Samma, Eman; Sulkowski, Mikolaj; Brady, Steven P. (Ecology and Evolution, 2025)
Phenotypic variation is common across life history and among populations occupying different environments, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying these axes of divergence remain poorly understood. Much work has focused on gene expression as a link between genetic variation, environmental variation, and phenotypes, but post-transcriptional processes such as alternative splicing—which affect how transcripts are assembled rather than how much of a transcript is produced—are increasingly recognized as additional modulators of plasticity and adaptation. Here, we examined gene expression and alternative splicing together in the wood frog (Rana sylvatica), an amphibian with a complex life cycle whose populations differ across replicated gradients of road adjacency and associated pollution. We found extensive transcriptomic differences between hatchlings and adults, with thousands of genes differentially expressed or spliced. Individuals clustered strongly by population for both expression and splicing. Differences at the habitat level were less extensive, but revealed two differentially expressed genes (HSP70 and Gpsm2) and one differentially spliced gene (Cd82) that consistently distinguished roadside and woodland populations. Overall, genetic differentiation between populations was low, suggesting that phenotypic and transcriptomic differences likely emerge in the presence of gene flow and reflect plastic responses. Together, these results highlight transcriptomic plasticity as an important mechanism shaping variation across both development and population differentiation. © 2025 The Author(s). Ecology and Evolution published by British Ecological Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Keywords: alternative splicing; dept.bio; gene expression; local adaptation; maladaptation; population divergence

Conflict and cooperation in male-male partnerships alter paternal care behavior in the ocellated wrasse - Hellmann, Jennifer K.; Stiver, Kelly A.; Marsh-Rollo, Susan; Alonzo, Suzanne H. (Behavioral Ecology, 2025)
Parental care is a critical determinant of offspring fitness. Female presence and male competition affect paternal care, but male-male cooperation during mating may also be an important, yet underappreciated, driver of paternal care. In many systems, males work together to court females or defend territories against male competitors. This male-male cooperation can alter actual or perceived paternity of the parenting male and could, therefore, influence how males invest in care during the postmating period. Here, we measured how reproductive and social dynamics between nesting and satellite males during mating correlate with nesting male paternal care in the ocellated wrasse (Symphodus ocellatus). Although paternal care (fanning rates) was repeatable across days within the same nesting cycle, it was not repeatable across different nesting cycles, suggesting that males plastically alter care in response to the environment. Nesting males provided care for fewer days at nests with the most unstable relationship between the nesting and satellite male: nests with low satellite cooperation and high male-male conflict where the satellite eventually left or was evicted from the nest. Nesting males also parented more intensively, but for fewer days in the warmer year, suggesting that males may adjust care in response to temperature. Collectively, our results suggest that there is no fixed male trait that females can use to predict paternal care behavior. Instead, females may use male-male interactions as a proxy for the quality of care her offspring will receive, suggesting that sexual selection may favor the co-evolution of paternal care with male-male cooperation. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press in association with International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site - for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.
Keywords: Symphodus ocellatus; dept.psy; parental care; plasticity; reproduction; sexual selection; temperature

The Selectivity of Butyrylcholinesterase Inhibitors Revisited - Gambardella, Michael D.; Wang, Yigui; Pang, Jiongdong (Molecules, 2025)
Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors are the primary target for single-molecule anti-Alzheimer’s disease (AD) therapeutics. Though AChE has historically been the focus of investigation for small-molecule inhibitors, interest in another cholinergic enzyme, butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), has grown in recent years. Attention stems from BChE’s role in β-amyloid (Aβ) protein aggregation and an increase in BChE concentration during the late stages of AD, where a decrease in AChE concentration is also observed. Currently, five FDA-approved drugs are on the market for inhibiting AChE, though no BChE-selective drugs have been approved so far. In this review, we focus on newly identified BChE selective inhibitors and present the ideas behind these discoveries. © 2025 by the authors.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; BChE selectivity; acetylcholinesterase; butyrylcholinesterase; dept.che; inhibitor; synthesis; virtual screening

Availability of School-Based Sexual and Reproductive Health Services - Zhong, Anthony; Szlosek, Donald; Gao, Chloe; Dang, Nhu; Benes, Sarah S. (American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2026)
Keywords: dept.hms

A Study of the Coverage of Open Educational Resources (OER) Through Websites of Colleges and Universities in Connecticut - Brown, Mary; Kim, Hak Joon (Practical Academic Librarianship: The International Journal of the SLA Academic Division, 2025)
Notwithstanding reports of increased awareness and use of Open Educational Resources (OER) in higher education, the literature notes that awareness and use of and institutional support for OER remain major challenges to campuses seeking to reduce student cost burden and support access to materials. OER also support faculty who desire to move beyond the traditional textbooks in order to increase their students’ engagement and thereby access to learning, to support pedagogical changes they are making that enhance student learning, and to give faculty greater control over their courses. The university website, as a public-facing vehicle to aid students, parents, alumni, faculty, the community, and interested others in being aware, among other things, of the resources available, is examined for findable support for OER. The purpose of this study is to show, through examination of their websites, a snapshot of the response of Connecticut universities and colleges to OER. Through an examination of these websites, we gage the ability to connect with information related to OER through the university website.
Keywords: dept.ils

Precision measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry for dijet production at intermediate pseudorapidity ffiffi in polarized pp collisions at √s = 200 GeV - STAR Collaboration (Physical Review D, 2025)
The STAR Collaboration reports precise measurements of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry, ALL, for dijet production with at least one jet at intermediate pseudorapidity 0.8 < ηjet < 1.8 in polarized proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 200 GeV. This study explores partons scattered with a longitudinal momentum fraction (x) from 0.01 to 0.5, which are predominantly characterized by interactions between high-x valence quarks and low-x gluons. The results are in good agreement with previous measurements at 200 GeV with improved precision and are found to be consistent with the predictions of global analyses that find the gluon polarization to be positive. In contrast, the negative gluon polarization solution from the JAM Collaboration is found to be strongly disfavored. © 2025 American Physical Society

Hyperon global polarization in isobar Ru+Ru and Zr+Zr collisions at sNN=200GeV - STAR Collaboration (Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics, 2025)
The polarization of Λ , Λ ¯ , Ξ − , and Ξ ¯ + hyperons along the angular momentum of the system has been measured in isobar collisions of Ru+Ru and Zr+Zr at s N N = 200 GeV with the STAR detector at RHIC. The polarization dependence on collision centrality exhibits an increasing trend in more peripheral collisions. Λ and Λ ¯ polarization dependence on the transverse momentum and pseudorapidity have been investigated, but no significant dependence was observed. The polarizations of Λ and Λ ¯ are found to be consistent with each other, indicating little contribution of the spin-magnetic coupling to the measured polarization. Comparison to previously measured polarization in Au+Au collisions show no obvious system size dependence. The results are qualitatively consistent with hydrodynamic calculations including contributions from shear-induced polarization and thermal vorticity. For the first time in heavy-ion collisions, the dependence of the global polarization on the hyperon’s emission azimuthal angle relative to the second-order event plane has been measured, indicating stronger polarization for the in-plane emitted hyperons at the level of 2.4 σ significance in 20–50 % centrality. The Ξ hyperon polarization measurements via polarization transfer analysis yield finite positive values with 2.9 σ significance in 20–50 % centrality, slightly larger compared to the inclusive Λ polarization. © 2025 The Authors.
Keywords: Global polarization; Hyperon; Vorticity; dept.phy

Humanistic Education: A Collection of Reflective Essays - Narvaez, George (Independently published, 2025)
Humanistic Education: A Collection of Reflective Essays by George Narvaez is a compelling anthology that bridges classical philosophy, modern educational theory, and personal reflection. Drawing on the author’s graduate studies at Harrison Middleton University, these twenty essays offer a deep dive into the evolution of human thought on education, knowledge, and the art of learning.This book is ideal for readers interested in the humanities, education, philosophy, or self-directed learning. It engages with timeless questions:What does it mean to “know” something?How is knowledge constructed and communicated?How can education empower individuals and communities?Inside this collection, you will explore:✔️ The foundational philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas✔️ Modern insights from William James, John Dewey, and Benjamin Franklin✔️ The evolution of rhetoric and epistemology across history✔️ The relationship between language, culture, and cognition✔️ The author's transformative journey through educationEach essay combines academic rigor with accessible language, offering readers a path to understand how classical theories of liberal education connect with contemporary learning practices. From the “education of the hemispheres” in William James’s psychology to the experiential learning of Franklin and Dewey, the author shows that learning is not just about absorbing information—it’s about transforming the way we live, communicate, and understand ourselves and others.Key themes include:Rhetoric as a tool for empowermentEpistemology as a process of inquiryCivic responsibility through educationPersonal growth through humanistic reflectionWhether you're an educator, student, scholar, or lifelong learner, Humanistic Education is a thought-provoking guide to the intellectual traditions that continue to shape our educational ideals.Start your journey through the minds of history’s greatest thinkers—and reflect on your own learning path.

Manufacturing Trustworthiness in Qualitative Research as a Writerly and Readerly Accomplishment: Introduction to the Special Issue - Van Cleave, Jessica; Wolgemuth, Jennifer R.; Marn, Travis (Qualitative Inquiry, 2025)
This article introduces the special issue, “Manufacturing Trustworthiness in Qualitative Research.” Rather than viewing trustworthiness as an inherent product of high-quality research practices, this special issue considers how researchers manifest and construct appearances of trustworthiness within and through academic texts. Conceptualizing trustworthiness as produced within scholarly writing opens the idea of trustworthiness to broader scrutiny, but also to a wider array of possibility—if trustworthiness is not singular or solely produced through methodology, then it is malleable and full of potential. It is not one trustworthiness, but a million tiny trustworthiness manifested and proliferated across multiple research accounts and readerly engagements. This is our special issue’s conceptual play space that sometimes pushes on and against the notion of trustworthiness itself, and in which the authors, coming from a range of orientations, explore and tinker with their ideas of trustworthiness, highlighting how they produce their research as “trustworthy.” © The Author(s) 2025
Keywords: dept.cur; possibility; publication; scholarly writing; trustworthiness

Breaking the truth bias: the impact of comparable truth baselines and reality interview on veracity judgments by laypeople and police officers - Bogaard, Glynis; Nieuwkamp, Veerle; Colwell, Kevin (Police Practice and Research, 2025)
This study examined whether embedding baselining within the Reality Interview (RI) protocol enhances intuitive veracity judgments. Baselining involves using a person’s truthful verbal behavior as a reference point for evaluating the veracity of subsequent statements. We hypothesized that access to a comparable truth baseline (CTB) would improve veracity judgment accuracy. Eyewitnesses of a mock crime were interviewed with the RI and instructed to respond either honestly or deceptively. Laypeople (Experiment 1) and police officers (Experiment 2) evaluated these statements with or without a CTB. With a CTB, laypeople showed significantly higher accuracy in detecting deception and a reduced truth bias. However, police officers showed no improvement, maintaining chance-level performance regardless of statement veracity. These findings suggest that CTBs enhance lie detection in laypeople but not in trained professionals. Future research should explore tailored approaches to improving veracity judgments, perhaps incorporating specific guidelines on how to best use available cues. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords: Comparable Truth Baseline; Reality Interview; dept.psy; lie detection; verbal cues

Listening to Community to Improve Breastfeeding Friendliness: Findings From a Community Readiness Assessment on Breastfeeding - Frieson, Tomeka; Reese Masterson, Amelia; Tran, Victoria; Douglass, Frankie; O’Connor Duffany, Kathleen (Health Promotion Practice, 2025)
Breastfeeding is a key nutritional behavior for infants during their first years of life. While prenatal breastfeeding intentions do not differ significantly between non-Hispanic Black and White mothers, the ability to meet those intentions decreases over time, and to a greater extent among Black mothers. This is partially due to environments inadequately supportive of individuals’ breastfeeding needs (i.e., not breastfeeding-friendly). The Community Readiness Assessment is a powerful tool to assess a community’s readiness to take action on pressing health issues. While it is frequently used to understand readiness to prevent negative health outcomes, this study explores how it can be used to understand readiness to promote breastfeeding friendliness and subsequently identify appropriate intervention strategies. Between November 2020 and June 2021, we conducted interviews with 23 key respondents in New Haven, Connecticut, representing five community sectors. Respondents scored five dimensions of readiness on a 9-point scale (1 = no awareness, 9 = community ownership). The overall community readiness score was 4.2, denoting the “preplanning” stage of readiness. The highest-scoring readiness dimension was “community knowledge about the issue” (mean score: 4.5), and the lowest-scoring dimension was “resources related to the issue” (mean score: 3.3). Small business owners reported the highest readiness score by sector (mean score: 5.0), while large employers reported the lowest (mean score: 3.1). Scores stratified by both sector and dimension revealed specific areas within the community where readiness-level-appropriate interventions could be implemented. This study highlights the benefit of assessing community readiness prior to intervention to identify tailored, equitable, and effective intervention strategies. © 2025 The Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Keywords: Community Readiness Assessment; breastfeeding; breastfeeding-friendly; community; community assessment; community readiness; dept.hhs; public health practice

Producing Participants: Trustworthiness as Convenient Fiction - Van Cleave, Jessica; Marn, Travis (Qualitative Inquiry, 2025)
Trustworthiness in qualitative research reports is considered a marker of quality and rigor. That rigor relies on factors like transparency and reflexivity, or the extent to which a researcher can accurately and clearly—read: believably—write the story of the research, the participants, and themselves. In this article, we argue that all representations of research participants, including the researchers themselves, are fiction, and distinctions between fiction and the “real” are actually undesirable when the goal is to maintain (or establish) trustworthiness. Indeed, it is essential to the research report not to claim those fictions but instead to establish verisimilitude by combining compelling descriptions with compulsory claims to the real. As such, we emphasize that trustworthiness is not an attribute of research that a study either has or does not; rather, we argue it is something authors achieve through a carefully constructed, fictionalized account of their research. © The Author(s) 2025
Keywords: dept.cur; fiction; methodologies; qualitative criteria; qualitative research; transparency; trustworthiness

Karomemphitai. Origin stories of Karians in Egypt and their role in the rise of the Saite dynasty - Scolnic, Benjamin (Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 2025)
Abstract: Anecdotes in Polyaenus, Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus concerning oracles that both predicted and played a role in Psammetichus I's rise to power in 664–658 BCE may reflect later etiologies. After attempting to reconstruct the historical context of the rise of the Saite dynasty in the seventh century BCE Egypt, we will evaluate the possible role of Karians in the defeat of the Nubians by their Saite rivals. A century later, the Karians may have played a role in another significant event, the coup d’état of Amasis. In magnifying their role in the earlier conflict, the Karians who lived in the Karikon district of Memphis may have created a foundation story for their community. © 2025 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest
Keywords: Karians; Saite dynasty; assimilation; dept.jst; identity; oracles

Artificial Intelligence, Misinformation, and Libraries: A New Frontier for Information Professionals - Salubi, Oghenere (Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2025)
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has experienced rapid advancement, fundamentally transforming the information landscape. This technological shift has not only amplified the dissemination of misinformation but has also posed significant challenges to conventional frameworks of trust and verification. This paper explores the dual impact of AI: its potential to enhance information services while simultaneously amplifying misinformation and disinformation. Seven AI-generated misinformation cases between 2022 and 2025—ranging from deepfakes and political propaganda to impersonation and amplification were analyzed. Through thematic case analysis and interdisciplinary synthesis, the study proposes the AI-Misinformation Resilience Model (AIM-RM), a conceptual framework guiding proactive responses across verification infrastructure, digital literacy, and ethical policy engagement. Drawing on recent scholarly literature and grounded in information ethics, epistemic trust, and sociocultural literacy, the model offers a path forward for LIS professionals seeking to navigate the post-truth era. Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science & Technology | Nov. 14 – 18, 2025 | Washington, DC, USA.
Keywords: Deepfakes; Generative artificial intelligence; Information literacy; Library and information professionals; Misinformation; dept.ils

Precision Measurement of Net-Proton-Number Fluctuations in Au+Au Collisions at RHIC - STAR Collaboration (Physical review letters, 2025)
We report precision measurements on cumulants (C_{n}) and factorial cumulants (κ_{n}) of (net) proton number distributions up to fourth order in Au+Au collisions over center-of-mass energies sqrt[s_{NN}]=7.7-27  GeV from phase II of the Beam Energy Scan program at RHIC. (Anti)protons are selected at midrapidity (|y|<0.5) within a transverse momentum range of 0.4<p_{T}<2.0  GeV/c. Relative to various noncritical-point model calculations and peripheral collision 70%-80% data, the net proton C_{4}/C_{2} measurement in 0%-5% collisions shows a minimum around 19.6 GeV for significance of deviation at ∼2-5σ. A minimum in C_{4}/C_{2} with respect to a noncritical baseline is expected to be a characteristic feature of the signature associated with a critical point in the QCD phase diagram. In addition, deviations from noncritical baselines around the same collision energy region are also seen in proton factorial cumulant ratios, especially in κ_{2}/κ_{1} and κ_{3}/κ_{1}. Dynamical model calculations including a critical point are called for in order to understand these precision measurements.
Keywords: dept.phy

AI in Special Education: Bridging Gaps, Easing Workloads, and Inspiring Inclusion - DiBattista, Eileen; Erazmus, Kelly; Tucker, Lauren (Teaching Exceptional Children, 2025)
Keywords: dept.sed

HST Proper Motions of Andromeda V and Andromeda VI - Casetti-Dinescu, Dana I.; Pawlowski, Marcel S.; Girard, Terrence M.; Kanehisa, Kosuke Jamie; Martone, Max; Petroski, Alexander (Astrophysical Journal, 2025)
We measure the absolute proper motions of Andromeda V (And V) and Andromeda VI/Pegasus (And VI) dwarf galaxies, satellites of M31 located near its galactic plane. And VI is located the farthest from M31 among the six satellites with currently measured proper motions. A combination of Advanced Camera for Surveys/wide filed channel (WFC) and WFPC2 exposures is utilized, spanning a 20 yr time baseline. The WFPC2 exposures are processed using a recently developed deep-learning centering procedure as well as the most up-to-date astrometric calibration of the camera. We use on the order of 100 background galaxies per satellite to determine the correction to absolute proper motion. For And V, we obtain an absolute proper motion of (μα, μδ)And V= (26.1 ± 21.5 , − 74.2 ± 19.1) μ as yr−1. For And VI, we obtain an absolute proper motion of (μα, μδ)And VI= (− 1.6 ± 12.3 , − 52.6 ± 11.2) μ as yr−1. Orbit integrations and analyses are made for these two Andromeda satellites using two estimates of both the mass and proper motion of M31. It is found that And V has an orbit consistent within errors with alignment with M31’s disk and counter orbiting it, although this alignment is not well constrained. And VI’s orbit is better determined and is very much consistent with coorbiting with M31’s disk. While currently at a distance of ∼280 kpc from M31, And VI will remain beyond a distance of ∼90 kpc from M31, thus experiencing low tidal influence compared to the other M31 satellites with known orbits. Both satellites are determined to be well-bound to M31. © 2025. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.
Keywords: dept.phy

Association Between Social Determinants of Health and Borderline Personality Disorder: A Systematic Review - Guerrera, Patrick T.; Sawadogo, Wendemi; Baviskar, Snehal S.; Pham, Julie; Patel, Nirali; Cyrus, John W. (Personality and Mental Health, 2025)
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a common and serious mental health condition characterized by emotional instability, impulsive behavior, and difficulties in interpersonal relationships. This review aimed to comprehensively summarize the current stage of knowledge on the association between social determinants of health (SDoH) and BPD. MEDLINE (PubMed), Embase, and PsycINFO databases were searched from inception to May 2025. We included peer-reviewed studies written in English that assess the association between SDoH and BPD. Each article was screened by two reviewers, and disagreements were resolved by a third reviewer. A narrative synthesis was used to summarize the studies, grouped by the domain of SDoH. Of the 3983 articles screened, 29 were included in this review. The majority of the studies (59.3%) were conducted in the United States, with the social and community context emerging as the most frequently represented domain. A bidirectional relationship was observed between SDoH and BPD, where unfavorable SDoH triggers or worsen BPD symptoms, and BPD can limit access to favorable SDoH. There is a significant and bidirectional relationship between SDoH and BPD. Addressing SDoH is essential for prevention, recovery, and long-term well-being among individuals with borderline personality disorder. © 2025 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Keywords: borderline personality disorder; dept.pch; education; income; social determinants of health; social support; socioeconomic status

Beyond algorithm aversion: The impact of psychological readiness on algorithmic advice - Kim, Hyoseok (Computers in Human Behavior, 2026)
While algorithms increasingly outperform human experts and gain widespread adoption, many individuals still resist using them due to algorithmic aversion. Although prior research has examined the appreciation and avoidance of algorithmic advice, the underlying mechanisms driving these decisions remain underexplored. This paper investigates the role of individuals’ readiness to act, specifically whether they adopt a deliberative or implemental mindset, in shaping their openness to algorithmic advice. Across three hypothetical studies and one incentive-compatible study, results show that individuals in a deliberative mindset, characterized by thoughtful evaluation, tend to prefer advice from human sources. In contrast, those in an implemental mindset, characterized by action-oriented thinking, are more likely to prefer algorithmic advice. Additionally, the findings reveal that perceived uncertainty moderates the influence of mindset on algorithmic receptiveness. These findings offer nuanced insights into the psychological mechanisms that drive engagement with algorithms and suggest practical strategies to enhance collaboration with both algorithmic and human recommendations. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd
Keywords: Advice-taking; Algorithm appreciation; Algorithm aversion; Mindset; Psychological readiness; Trust; Uncertainty; dept.mrk

Exploring the relationship between principal mentoring, teacher assessment, and principal engagement - Prabhakar Gantasala, Venugopal; Gantasala, Swapna Bhargavi; Hakouz, Abeer; Gantasala, Sai Ankith (Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 2025)
The role of school principals is complex and challenging concerning mentoring and engaging teachers and other stakeholders. This study investigates the relationship between principal mentoring (PM) and principal engagement (PE) in schools and assesses the mediating influence of teacher assessment (TA). Data was collected from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) Principal Questionnaire (2018), with respondents including principals and members of school management teams from both public and private schools. Data used for this research is accessible in the public domain. Hypotheses were tested using Cronbach alpha, KMO Bartlett test, and the Andrew Hayes model 4. Results show a significant positive relationship between principal mentoring and teacher assessment, teacher assessment and principal engagement, and the mediating effect of teacher assessment on the relationship between principal mentoring and principal engagement. These findings have important practical implications for school administrations and educators, highlighting the importance of supporting principal mentoring initiatives to promote engagement of schools’ stakeholders including teachers, staff, students, and parents. © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords: Principals’ mentoring; dept.bus; principals’ engagement; teacher assessment

From Theory to Practice: A Tiered Support Model for Increasing Preservice Teachers’ Use of Behavior Specific Praise - Hynes, Kristy C.; Gershwin, Tracy (Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 2025)
This study evaluated the impact of a multitiered behavior support model on preservice special education teachers’ implementation of behavior-specific praise (BSP) during a field-based practicum. Given the increasing prevalence of challenging behaviors in schools and documented gaps in classroom management training, innovative interventions are needed to better prepare educators. Employing a concurrent multiple baseline design across three participants, tiered behavior support was implemented. Tier 1 consisted of a universal training on BSP for all participants. In Tier 2, participants engaged in individualized goal setting and received daily brief prompts via text message. Tier 3 added visual performance feedback–presented as line graphs comparing actual BSP delivery rates with individualized goals. Data were collected through frequency recording during 10-minute observation sessions, and visual analysis revealed a functional relation between the tiered intervention and increased BSP use. Social validity measures indicated that the intervention was rated as highly acceptable, feasible, and understandable. These findings suggest that tiered behavior support, particularly when enhanced with technology-based visual performance feedback, may offer a practical and sustainable method for improving evidence-based classroom management practices. Although this study focused on preservice special education teachers in a graduate program, the implications extend to a variety of coaching and consultation settings involving both preservice and in-service educators, as well as other service providers. © 2025 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Keywords: dept.sed

Ingested Plastic in the Great Northern Diver, the Common Loon (Gavia immer) - Hilling, Thomas P.; Reynolds, Hannah T.; Breslin, Vincent T.; Pokras, Mark A. (Northeastern Naturalist, 2025)
Plastic pollution and its impact on water-reliant avifauna is a global, pervasive issue. We evaluated necropsy data of Gavia immer (Common Loon) from freshwater and marine environments in the northeastern US from 2011 to 2022, and found 16.2% (106/654) had ingested plastic items (macroplastics). We examined Common Loons stranded from 2020 to 2022, quantified macroscopic plastic items in detail, and processed the ingesta for suspected microplastics. We found macroplastics in 20.7% (11/53) and suspected microplastic particles, predominately clear fibers, in 100% (37/37) of the Common Loons. While we found no evidence that sex, mass, or geography correlated with microplastic load, both macroplastics and suspected microplastics were widespread and prevalent in Common Loon ingesta in the northeastern US. © 2025 Humboldt Field Research Institute. All rights reserved.
Keywords: dept.egm

Athletic Training Services Trends Between Public and Private High Schools: A 5-Year Retrospective Analysis - Kim, Donghyeon; Defino, Amir; Eason, Christianne M.; Casa, Douglas J.; Yoo, Chaeyeon; Yoshihara, Ayami; Coleman, Kelly; Filep, Erica M.; Huggins, Robert A. (Journal of athletic training, 2025)
Context: Access to athletic trainers (ATs) in high schools is crucial for student-athlete (SA) safety. Although most high schools in the United States have access to athletic training services (ATS), no authors have longitudinally compared ATS trends between public (PUB) and private (PVT) school sectors. Objective: To compare ATS trends between PUB and PVT schools from the 2018-2019 through 2022-2023 academic years. Design: Longitudinal cross-sectional study. Setting: Online survey. Main Outcome Measures: High school responses to the Athletic Training Locations and Services survey from all 50 US states and the District of Columbia were queried from the 2018-2019 to 2022-2023 academic years. Average numbers of SAs (SAs), sports (Sports), full-time ATs (FtATs), part-time ATs (PtATs), and the sum of full-time and part-time ATs (ATs), along with the average weekly contracted hours (CHrs) and actual hours (AHrs) per school, and ratios of SAs : ATs, Sports : ATs, CHrs : SAs, CHrs : Sports, AHrs : SAs, and AHrs : Sports were examined to track ATS trends over 5 years and compare PUB vs PVT schools. Results: Public schools had higher SAs and Sports vs PVT schools (both P < .001). Private schools had higher ATs, CHrs, and AHrs than PUB schools (all P < .050). Ratios of SAs : ATs and Sports : ATs were higher in PUB schools, whereas CHrs : SAs, AHrs : SAs, CHrs : Sports, and AHrs : Sports were higher in PVT schools (all P < .050). From 2018-2019 to 2022-2023, PUB schools increased Sports and Sports : ATs; PVT schools increased SAs, Sports, ATs, and SAs : ATs (all P < .050). Over the years, PUB schools decreased CHrs : Sports and AHrs : Sports; PVT decreased CHrs : SAs, AHrs : SAs, CHrs : Sports, and AHrs : Sports. FtATs increased in both sectors, whereas PtATs decreased in only PVT schools. Conclusions: Overall, ATS were more extensively provided in PVT schools, based on ATs and ATS hours. Both sectors increased FtATs, which is encouraging. However, as SAs and Sports increased, ATS provided per SA and sport declined. © by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, Inc.
Keywords: athletes; dept.hms; safety; sports; student health services

"not Just on the Sideline": A Phenomenological Study of Disability, Belonging, and Exclusion - Gackenheimer, Christopher J.; Garrison, Brianna V. (Children and Schools, 2025)
Persons with disabilities must be afforded a voice in constructing a system of inclusion in education to which they truly belong. Laws governing special education have increasingly adopted the concept of including individuals with disabilities in mainstream classrooms, often believing doing so counters the inherent othering of exclusion. Identity is not a singular dimension, and disability is only part of one's identity. But special education tacitly continues a mission of assimilating students with disabilities while simultaneously labeling them as disabled, revealing an ableist bias and perpetuating othering attitudes toward those on its rolls. This phenomenological qualitative study (N = 8) explored the lived experience of students enrolled in special education to gain greater understanding of the impact special education has on their sense of belonging in school. The study found enrollment in a school where all students had disabilities helped reveal to students nondisabled aspects of their identity, enabling them to feel more accepted by peers and staff, and enhancing their sense of belonging within the school. © 2025 2025 National Association of Social Workers.
Keywords: adolescents; belonging; dept.swk; disability; inclusion; special education

A systematic investigation of why P2P services are rated higher than traditional services - Unnava, Vasu; Singh, Amit Surendra; Unnava, H. Rao (Journal of Business Research, 2025)
Prior literature has reported a tendency for consumers to rate peer-to-peer (P2P) services more positively than the same services provided by traditional businesses (e.g. Airbnb vs. hotel). We first show that consumers experience greater empathy toward a P2P service provider (a person) than a traditional service provider (a business). We then show that P2P services enjoy higher evaluations because empathy for the provider leads consumers to tolerate minor negative elements in those settings as compared to traditional business settings. Further, we show that this effect is moderated by the perceived size of the business. The implications of this type of rating bias on traditional businesses and consumer welfare, and the limitations of this research, are discussed. © 2025 Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.
Keywords: Online-reviews; Peer-to-peer; Rating-bias; Willingness-to-tolerate; dept.mrk

Educational Programming to Prevent Violence in Schools in the United States: An Analysis of School Health Profiles - Gao, Chloe; Szlosek, Donald; Zhong, Anthony; Hadland, Scott E.; Benes, Sarah S. (Journal of Pediatrics, 2026)
This repeated, cross-sectional study examined trends in the availability of school-based programming to prevent violence in middle and high schools across the United States from 2008 to 2020. Overall, violence prevention programming increased in respondent schools throughout the study period. However, important gaps remain, with lingering state-level disparities. © 2025 The Authors
Keywords: adolescent health; dept.hms; health education; school violence prevention; teacher training; youth violence prevention

Assistive Technology Multi-Tiered System of Supports (AT-MTSS): Improving AT Delivery - McMahon, Don; Tucker, Lauren (Journal of Special Education Technology, 2025)
This article explores the changing landscape of Assistive Technology (AT) in special education and introduces a paradigm of the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) for AT implementation—that aims to clarify the roles and expectations for educators and specialists providing AT services. AT tools are critical resources to support students with disabilities but there are implementation challenges (OSEP, 2024). While the types and variety of AT available continue to grow there is a lack of clarity of the implementation expectations for educators. Using the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) as an implementation framework for AT implementation is a potential means of defining these roles. This article defines an AT-MTSS framework that clarifies AT implementation. Defining an AT-MTSS framework has implications for teacher preparation programs, K-12 systems, general educators, special educators, and AT specialists who may be able to better understand their roles and responsibilities. With many schools providing one-to-one devices for students there is a need for all educators to be able to provide a level of universal supports based on Universal Design for Learning (UDL). There will always remain a need for some specialized interventions for students with disabilities. Some of these common AT tools should be implemented and supported by nearly any special education teacher. Other more specialized AT tools will need the support of educators with highly specialized knowledge to determine which tool to use and to provide ongoing AT services. The AT-MTSS framework is designed to be inclusive of the recent DOE AT guidance (2024), and, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004), and the National Education Technology Plan (NETP, 2024). © The Author(s) 2025
Keywords: accessibility; assistive technology; dept.sed; multi-tiered systems of supports; special education teacher preparation; universal design for learning

Measurement of Two-Point Energy Correlators within Jets in p+p Collisions at sqrt[s]=200 GeV - STAR Collaboration (Physical review letters, 2025)
Hard-scattered partons ejected from high-energy proton-proton collisions undergo parton shower and hadronization, resulting in collimated collections of particles that are clustered into jets. A substructure observable that highlights the transition between the perturbative and nonperturbative regimes of jet evolution in terms of the angle between two particles is the two-point energy correlator (EEC). In this Letter, the first measurement of the EEC at RHIC is presented, using data taken from 200 GeV p+p collisions by the STAR experiment. The EEC is measured both for all the pairs of particles in jets and separately for pairs with like and opposite electric charges. These measurements demonstrate that the transition between perturbative and nonperturbative effects occurs within an angular region that is consistent with expectations of a universal hadronization regime that scales with jet momentum for a given initiator flavor. Additionally, a deviation from Monte Carlo predictions at small angles in the charge-selected sample could result from mechanics of hadronization not fully captured by current models.
Keywords: dept.phy

Pharmacotherapies for stimulant use disorder and co-occurring attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: protocol for a systematic review and a meta-analysis - Oliva, Henrique N. P.; Pulido-Saavedra, Alejandra; Paredes-Naveda, Alisson; Forselius, Emerson; Potenza, Marc N.; Jegede, Oluwole O.; Angarita, Gustavo A. (Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2025)
Background: Stimulant use disorder (StUD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently co-occur. This comorbidity complicates treatment and worsens clinical outcomes. Despite the high prevalence, shared vulnerability and clinical relevance of this comorbidity, evidence on effective pharmacotherapies among individuals with this dual diagnosis remains limited. Materials and methods: This systematic review protocol is reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocols (PRISMA-P) statement and will include randomized controlled trials involving adults with comorbid StUD (cocaine, amphetamines, or methamphetamines) and ADHD. The following databases will be searched: PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science. Covidence will be used to support independent screening and data extraction. Two reviewers will independently screen studies (title/abstract and full text). One author will extract data, which will be independently verified by a second reviewer. Quality assessment of included articles will be assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias instrument, and certainty of the evidence for each outcome will be assessed using Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) methodology. Primary outcomes include duration of continuous abstinence, odds of stimulant-negative urine samples, ADHD symptom changes, and medication adverse events. Where feasible, meta-analyses will be conducted using random-effects models. Significance and dissemination: This review will synthesize existing evidence on the efficacy of pharmacotherapies (stimulants and non-stimulants) for individuals with co-occurring StUD and ADHD. The results of this study will likely inform clinical practice by evaluating outcomes such as reduction in stimulant use and abstinence, and improvement in ADHD symptoms. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication and presentations to reach both clinical and academic audiences. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO, CRD420250655356. Copyright © 2025 Oliva, Pulido-Saavedra, Paredes-Naveda, Forselius, Potenza, Jegede and Angarita.
Keywords: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; co-occurring disorder; cocaine; dept.psy; methamphetamine; stimulant use disorder

Freshwater Salinization Leads to Sluggish, Bloated Frogs and Small, Cramped Embryos but Adaptive Countergradient Variation in Eggs - Brady, Steven P.; Kang, Samantha J.; Wang, Zhimon S.; Layne, Craig D.; Calsbeek, Ryan (Integrative and Comparative Biology, 2025)
Freshwater salinization is an emerging threat to aquatic ecosystems across the planet, degrading habitats and negatively impacting wild populations. Deicing practices are a leading cause of freshwater salinization, particularly in the snowbelt region of North America where a variety of salts are widely applied to roads and other surfaces to melt snow and ice. Seasonal pools near roads are considered the most severely impacted aquatic habitats. Runoff into these low water-volume ponds can generate high salinity. Impacts of salt pollution are numerous, ranging from toxicity to population decline to impaired ecosystem function. Here, we investigate a suite of physiological consequences of salinization across multiple life history stages of the wood frog (Rana sylvatica), a pool-dwelling amphibian. Previous work has shown that salinized populations have diverged from unpolluted populations for a suite of physiological, morphological, and reproductive traits, and can experience severe edema (bloating) during the breeding season. Here, we measured swim performance before and after aspirating edema in wild captured wood frogs to show that edema compromises adult aquatic locomotion during breeding. We also found that wood frog mothers from salinized ponds produce ova with inherently higher rates of water uptake compared to mothers from unpolluted pools, consistent with countergradient adaptation, but the ova are smaller. Finally, we found that exposure to road salt inhibits expansion of vitelline membranes in developing embryos and is associated with reduced embryo growth. Together, these results reveal the complexity of population level responses to freshwater salinization, highlighting that impacts occur across multiple life history stages, and that local populations might be evolving adaptations to cope with anthropogenic salinity gradients in freshwater habitats. © The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology.
Keywords: dept.bio

ANN-MFO: Optimization of Neural Networks for Lipase Activity Modeling in Biotech Applications - Sheta, Alaa; Elashmawi, Walaa H. (2025 Women in Bioinformatics Workshop, WIBI 2025, 2025)
Modeling lipase activity aids researchers in optimizing features such as temperature, pH, and substrate concentration to boost enzyme performance. This is essential in biotechnology for progressing the productivity and yield of processes such as fermentation, biodiesel production, and bioremediation. Fermentation is a highly complex, multivariable, and non-linear biotechnological process that produces bioactive materials. This study leverages artificial neural networks (ANN) to predict lipase activity in batch fermentation processes, addressing the inherent challenges in weight learning optimization often encountered with traditional algorithms like Backpropagation (BP). Several metaheuristic algorithms were employed to optimize the Multilayered Perceptron (MLP) structure and weights, including moth-frequency optimization (MFO), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Dandelion Optimizer Algorithm (DO), Crow Search Algorithm (CSA), and Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA) to overcome these limitations. Among the tested algorithms, MFO emerged as the most effective approach, achieving superior performance in weight learning with the best fitness value (i.e., mean square error (MSE)) of 0.6006. MFO-optimized ANN models deliver the most accurate predictions for lipase activity, highlighting their potential as a powerful tool for advancing industrial fermentation process optimization. © 2025 IEEE.
Keywords: Box-Behnken; Metaheuristics search algorithms; Moth-Flame Optimization Algorithm; Thermostable Lipase Enzyme; artificial neural networks; dept.csc

‘A small measure of fairness’: Black South Africans and the Courts, 1919–1938 - Feinberg, Harvey M.; Eastman, Michael (Journal of Southern African Studies, 2025)
During the 1920s and 1930s, black South Africans were subjected to a large number of discriminatory laws. African leaders of the time decried both this and the iniquities Africans faced when dealing with the justice system. Curiously, though, some of those same leaders expressed confidence in South Africa’s judges and the balanced approach with which they ran their courtrooms. In this article, we explore the accuracy of those statements by seeking quantifiable evidence that South Africa’s judges acted impartially toward African defendants standing before them. The evidence of hundreds of criminal review and criminal appeal judgments demonstrates that Africans were subject to considerably different standards of fairness, depending on where within the judicial system their case was heard. Alleged violators of the law were usually tried first in the magistrates’ courts. Magistrates were government civil servants, and their courts were crowded venues in which decisions were often meted out too quickly and on limited evidence. A fair hearing was often denied. However, an unusual oversight system, consisting of automatic reviews and initiated appeals before trained judges in the country’s superior courts, led to impartial hearings and a small measure of justice, with judges regularly overturning magistrates’ decisions. Judges intervened in the decisions of magistrates when they determined that there had been errors of law or irregularities of trial process or sentencing that led to failures of justice that were prejudicial to defendants. We conclude that, at least in some circumstances, Africans could anticipate an impartial hearing before the country’s judges, and that the stated confidence in judges was not without foundation. © 2025 The Editorial Board of the Journal of Southern African Studies.
Keywords: South Africa; administration of justice; appeals; courts; criminal justice; dept.his; judges; justice for Africans; magistrates; reviews

Intersectional feminist criminology: A critical companion to theory and research - Michalsen, Venezia (University of California Press, 2025)
This pathbreaking book brings to bear a sweeping body of contemporary intersectional feminist work to disrupt the entire discipline of criminology. Women have been largely absent from criminological theory, research, policy, and practice. This fresh, conversational book critiques the field's dominant theories by analyzing gendered patterns of perpetration and victimization and challenging traditional criminological perspectives on characteristics such as race and queerness. Designed as a rebuttal to conventional criminology textbooks, the book mirrors standard course content through an intersectional feminist lens, offering students a valuable opportunity to question the field's underpinnings and forge a new path to understanding the true meaning of justice. Organized in fourteen chapters, each chapter includes accessible learning aids for students: A review of how traditional criminology textbooks cover the topic. Critical perspectives on the topic. Critical thinking breaks. Intersectional Feminist Criminology is a timely intervention and companion to the curriculum that helps to imagine a new world and ultimately lays out a clear abolitionist vision as an alternative to the American criminal legal system. © 2025 by Venezia Michalsen. All rights reserved.
Keywords: dept.soc

Developing a Video Game Metadata Schema and Fillable Form Template for Accessible Interactive Media Cataloging in Public Libraries - Myers, Jason (Cataloging and Classification Quarterly, 2025)
This study outlines the development of a unique and user-friendly video game metadata schema and a catalog entry template optimized for public library use. Research strategies include analyzing and synthesizing data from authorities on game cataloging into a draft template, testing this template against real game metadata, and collecting opinions from library patrons and staff on the template through focus groups and interviews. The resulting metadata schema and fillable form template offer an intuitive and accessible interface for cataloging game metadata favored by library patrons. This indicates the template’s proficiency in advancing video game collection development and cataloging practices in public libraries. © 2025 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Keywords: cataloging interactive media; dept.ils; fillable forms; metadata schema; public libraries; video games

Rethinking Motivation and Reward Management: What We Know and Do not Know - Wang, Zheni (Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 2025)
This innovative book examines the controversial relationship between motivation and rewards from multiple theoretical and practical perspectives. It analyzes cutting-edge research on work motivation and reward management's economic and psychological roots and identifies future directions for advancement in the field. © Zheni Wang 2025.
Keywords: Compensation And Benefits; Motivation At Work; Reward Management; Self-Regulations; Total Rewards; Work Engagement; dept.mgt

Onset of Constituent Quark Number Scaling in Heavy-Ion Collisions at RHIC - STAR Collaboration (Physical review letters, 2025)
Partonic collectivity is one of the necessary signatures for the formation of quark-gluon plasma in high-energy nuclear collisions. Number of constituent quarks (NCQ) scaling has been observed for hadron elliptic flow v_{2} in top energy nuclear collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the LHC, and this has been theoretically suggested as strong evidence for partonic collectivity. In this Letter, a systematic analysis of v_{2} of π^{±}, K^{±}, K_{S}^{0}, p, and Λ in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=3.2, 3.5, 3.9, and 4.5 GeV, with the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, is presented. NCQ scaling is markedly violated at 3.2 GeV, consistent with a hadronic-interaction dominated equation of state. However, as the collision energy increases, a gradual evolution to NCQ scaling is observed. This beam-energy dependence of v_{2} for all hadrons studied provides evidence for the onset of dominant partonic interactions by sqrt[s_{NN}]=4.5  GeV.
Keywords: dept.phy

The fire blight pathogen Erwinia amylovora enters apple leaves through naturally occurring wounds from the abscission of trichomes - Millett, Felicia; Standish, James; Scanley, Jules; Miller, Katelyn; Inguagiato, John; Zuverza-Mena, Nubia; Abril, Maritza; Robinson, Victoria; Li, Yan; Sundin, George W.; Zeng, Quan (Plant Journal, 2025)
The plant epidermis is a single layer of cells covering all plant organs. How pathogens overcome this barrier and enter plants is an important aspect of plant–pathogen interactions. For bacterial plant pathogens, known entry points include natural openings, such as stomata, hydathodes, and mechanical injuries caused by insect feeding, wind damage, or hailstorms. Here, we report that the fire blight pathogen Erwinia amylovora enters apple leaves through naturally occurring wounds caused by the abscission of trichomes during the course of leaf development. Through macroscopic and microscopic observations, we depicted a clear invasion path for E. amylovora cells, from epiphytic growth on glandular trichomes (GT) and non-glandular trichomes (NT) to entry through wounds caused by abscised trichomes, into the epithem, and subsequent spread through xylem. We further observed that GT and NT undergo an abscission process, and that the amount of naturally occurring wounds during abscission is associated with the increase in E. amylovora population. Key genes important for the colonization of GT and NT were identified. The contribution of the type III secretion system and amylovoran biosynthesis during GT colonization was validated. Our findings propose a novel host entry mechanism of plant pathogenic bacteria through naturally occurring wounds during the abscission of plant surface structures. © 2025 Society for Experimental Biology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Keywords: Erwinia amylovora; abscission; dept.phy; fire blight; host entry points; trichomes; type III secretion system

Centering Critical Engagement, Multimodal Learning, and Compassion through Language and Literacy - Mulcahy, Cara; Shaw, Louise (The Intersections of Critical Pedagogy, Critical Literacy, and Social Justice: Toward Empowerment, Equity, and Education for Liberation, 2024)
Keywords: dept.sed

Skolem Number of Kagome Lattice Graphs - Carrigan, Braxton; Martone, Max (Theory and Applications of Graphs, 2025)
A proper Skolem labelling of a graph G is a function assigning a positive integer to each vertex of G such that any two vertices assigned the same integer are that distance apart in the graph. The Skolem number of a graph is smallest number n such that there exists a proper Skolem labelling only using the positive integers less than or equal to n. In this paper, we will begin by proving the Skolem number for another family of subgraphs of the hexagonal lattice and then prove the Skolem number for two families of subgraphs of the Kagome Lattice. © 2025 Georgia Southern University. All rights reserved.
Keywords: dept.mat

Resisting multiple empires, cultivating transnational solidarity: a conversation among feminist-of-color scholar-activists - Li, Lin; Kazemi, Sona; Zheng, Wang; Lin, Yi-Chun Tricia (International Feminist Journal of Politics, 2025)
Keywords: China; Iran; Multiple empires; US feminism; dept.wgs; transnational solidarity

Molecular Dynamics Studies on the Inhibition of Cholinesterases by Secondary Metabolites - Gambardella, Michael D.; Wang, Yigui; Pang, Jiongdong (Catalysts, 2025)
The search for selective anticholinergic agents stems from varying cholinesterase levels as Alzheimer’s Disease progresses from the mid-to-late stage and from butyrylcholinesterase’s (BChE) role in β-amyloid plaque formation. While structure-based and pharmacophore-based virtual screening could search from large libraries in a short time, these methods do not consider dynamic features that result from a ligand’s inhibition of the enzyme and consequently may under- or overexaggerate enzyme selectivity of a given ligand. In this computational study, we probed the selectivity of representative secondary metabolite compounds against acetylcholinesterase and BChE through molecular dynamics simulations. The results were evaluated by analysis of the root mean squared deviation of ligand heavy atoms, the radius of gyration of each inhibited and uninhibited enzyme, root mean squared fluctuation of residues, intermolecular interaction energy, and linear interaction energy approximation of the Gibbs free energy of binding. These considerations further reveal the induced-fit characteristics contributing to ChE selectivity that are predominantly due to the greater flexibility of BChE’s active site gorge. © 2025 by the authors.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Gibbs free energy; acetylcholinesterase; butyrylcholinesterase; dept.che; linear interaction energy; molecular dynamics; secondary metabolites

Position Statements for Advocacy: Does Using Physical Activity as Punishment Make Students Leave Physical Education Wanting to Hide or Seek? - Paulson, Lisa; Knipe, Robert (Strategies, 2025)
This article explains how to use and apply the SHAPE America position statement “Physical Activity Should Not Be Used as Punishment and/or Behavior Management” in one’s own teaching and as an advocacy tool. © 2025 SHAPE America.
Keywords: dept.hms

Self-Monitoring to Reduce Student Distraction in Higher Education - Brahm Gleeson, Meghan; Hynes, Kristy (College Teaching, 2025)
Technology has become both a valuable learning tool and a significant source of distraction in higher education classrooms. As students increasingly engage with their phones, smartwatches, and laptops for nonacademic purposes during class, faculty members face challenges in maintaining student attention and participation. While some instructors attempt to combat these issues with technology bans or restrictive policies, such approaches can be difficult to enforce and may create resistance among students. Self-monitoring, an evidence-based behavioral strategy, offers an alternative solution by encouraging students to track and regulate their own behaviors. This article presents a faculty-implemented self-monitoring system designed to increase student awareness of their technology use and its impact on classroom engagement. The self-monitoring model described in this article provides a simple and cost-effective method for faculty members to reduce classroom distractions while fostering student self-regulation and accountability. This quick fix offers faculty structured recommendations to implement the same or similar procedures in their classroom. © 2025 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Keywords: Applied behavior analysis; classroom distraction; dept.sed; higher education; self-monitoring; student engagement

Masked-Speech Recognition and Self-Reported Functional Listening in Autistic Young Adults - Wasiuk, Peter A.; Cook, Barbara A.; Irwin, Julia R. (Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR, 2025)
PURPOSE: Autistic adults consistently report difficulties understanding speech in adverse listening environments, which may be related to differences in social communication and participation. Research examining masked-speech recognition in autistic adults is limited, particularly in competing speech backgrounds with high degrees of informational masking. This work characterizes speech-in-speech and speech-in-noise recognition in young adults on the autism spectrum, as well as evaluates self-reported functional listening abilities and listening-related fatigue. METHOD: Masked-speech recognition was evaluated in both autistic (n = 20) and non-autistic (n = 20) young adults with normal hearing. Speech reception thresholds were adaptively measured in two-talker speech and speech-shaped noise using target sentences that were either semantically meaningful or anomalous. Functional listening abilities and listening-related fatigue were assessed using the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale and the Vanderbilt Fatigue Scale for Adults. Autism characteristics and social communication experiences were quantified using the Social Responsiveness Scale-Second Edition. RESULTS: Autistic adults displayed significantly poorer speech-in-speech recognition than their non-autistic peers, while speech-in-noise recognition did not differ between groups. Functional listening difficulties in daily life and listening-related fatigue were significantly higher for autistic participants. Autism characteristics strongly predicted functional listening abilities and listening-related fatigue in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Autistic young adults experience objective speech-in-speech recognition difficulties that correspond with listening challenges in daily life. Autism characteristics and social communication experiences predict functional listening abilities reported by both autistic and non-autistic young adults with normal hearing. Speech-in-speech recognition difficulties observed here may amplify social communication challenges for adults on the autism spectrum. Future work must prioritize improved awareness of autistic listening differences.
Keywords: dept.cmd; dept.psy

Inclusive Access: Evaluating Public Library Resources for Visually and Hearing Impaired Communities - Liu, Yan Quan; Buedinger, Abigale; Murtha, Helene R. (Public Library Quarterly)
This study examines public library services for people with hearing and vision impairments, conducted through website visits and an online survey from summer 2023 over 1.5 years. Surveying 250 libraries nationwide, findings reveal strong ADA awareness, with most libraries addressing physical accessibility but fewer supporting visually impaired and Deaf or Hard of Hearing patrons equally. Assistive resources availability varies significantly, from 0.8% to 83.4%, covering accessible print materials, online resources, magnifiers, and assistive technology. This study underscores specific areas for improvement in supporting these communities in U.S. public libraries.
Keywords: Accessibility; American with Disabilities Act (ADC); SCSU-student; dept.ils; hearing impairments; library services; vision impairments

Adopting Critical Cataloging Practices Post Diversity Audit: Connecting the Community to Your Collection - Anderson, Jessica K.; Liu, Yan Quan (Library Resources & Technical Services, 2025)
To increase patrons’ ability to find resources, it is imperative to investigate barriers and biases in thedescriptive catalog data for inclusive collection management and development standards. This studyused a specially designed descriptive approach to gather quantitative data from 101 public librariansin Connecticut via a Qualtrics survey to identify the key variables that influence the successfulenhancement of online public access catalog (OPAC) metadata after a diversity audit of the librarymaterials. The results revealed factors that promote or impede the integration of inclusive catalogingthat reflects the diversity of the community: (1) appreciating the benefits of audit methods that arefocused on bibliographic records, (2) recognizing the need for buy-in and participation from theentire organization, and (3) stressing the useful integration of institutional and community feedbackto improve the collection’s accessibility and representation. The findings provide practical adviceto public libraries that want to satisfy the diverse demands of their user base by integrating criticalcataloging frameworks into their diversity and inclusion objectives.
Keywords: SCSU-student; dept.ils

Effect of binder concentration on ternary MnO2/CuS/reduced graphene oxide material for supercapacitor applications - Chaudhary, Manika; Oyelola, Lekan J.; Glidden, Thomas; Broadbridge, Christine; LeMaire, Peter K.; Sharma, Rakesh K.; Singh, Vinamrita; Sahi, Vikhyat; Singhal, Rahul (Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry, 2025)
Supercapacitors are considered some of the best electrochemical energy storage systems due to their high power and energy density, fast charge–discharge capabilities, and longer cycleability, compared to regular capacitors. In this paper, we report the synthesis of hybrid MnO2/CuS/reduced graphene oxide (MC-rGO) materials via a simple chemical route and characterized them to examine different properties. The focus of this article is to examine the effect of binder concentrations on the electrochemical properties of the supercapacitor electrodes, prepared using the synthesized hybrid materials. We used 5%, 10%, and 15% (wt.%) polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) binders to prepare the electrodes. We prepared the slurry of MC-rGO material using synthesized cathode materials, carbon black, and PVDF in 75:10:15, 80:10:10, and 85:10:5 wt.%. The specific capacitance with 5%, 10%, and 15% binders was found to be 176.33 F/g, 161.34 F/g, and 149.55 F/g, respectively, at 0.5 A/g current density. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025.
Keywords: Capacitance; Energy storage; Supercapacitor; Synthesis; X-ray diffraction; dept.phy

Professional involvement - Foss-Kelly, Louisa L.; Moorhead, Holly Hartwig (A Guide to Graduate Programs in Counseling: Second Edition, 2025)
Entering a counselor education program is just the first step in becoming a Professional Counselor, which includes developing a solid Professional Counselor identity and a plan for a fulfilling career. In this chapter, the authors provide a step-by-step plan for understanding key elements of becoming a Professional Counselor, beginning to work as a Professional Counselor, and contributing to the counseling profession. These activities include professional involvement, service, and scholarship as well as other meaningful pursuits for building one's successful career. The authors present a professional involvement pyramid to illustrate how Counselors can engage in professional identity development from graduate school throughout their careers. © Oxford University Press 2025. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Counseling; Counselor education; Professional Counselor; Professional Counselor identity; Professional development; Professional service; dept.csp

Imposed Form in the Early Acheulean? Evidence from Gona, Afar, Ethiopia - Stout, Dietrich; Liu, Cheng; Muller, Antoine; Rogers, Michael J.; Semaw, Sileshi (Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2025)
The appearance of “large cutting tools” in the early Acheulean is widely regarded as the first evidence for the imposition of intended forms on artifacts, with major implications for hominin cognitive and cultural capacities. However, the nature and extent of explicit design documented by these forms remains open to debate. To address this issue, we analyzed the complete collection of early Acheulean (ca. 1.7–1.2 Ma) flaked pieces from four sites (BSN17, DAN5, OGS12, and OGS5) in the Gona Project Area and compared these with all of the flaked pieces from two published Oldowan (> 2.5 Ma) sites at Gona. By comparing shape variation to measures of flaking intensity and coverage, we sought to identify technological patterns indicative of intent. Current results provide little evidence for the presence of discrete tool types or imposed morphological norms in our sample. We do, however, observe systematic patterns of raw material selection and core surface modification aimed at the production and maintenance of useful cutting edges on relatively large supports (cobbles and large flake blanks). This is consistent with prior characterizations of Acheulean tool form as arising from functional and ergonomic design imperatives for large hand-held cutting tools. Although the generalizability of these results to other sites remains to be seen, we propose that distinctive early Acheulean artifact forms may have arisen as secondary accommodations to the primary goal of increasing tool size to meet the novel demands (e.g., extended use-life, enhanced transportability, utility for heavy-duty cutting) of a more general shift in hominin behavioral ecology at this time. Our results provide support for the presence of Acheulean design at Gona, not necessarily in the sense of shared morphological norms, but certainly in the broader sense of deliberate technological choices made in view of behavioral goals and material constraints. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025.
Keywords: Early Stone Age; Handaxe; Large cutting tool; Lithic technology; Pick; Shaping; dept.ant

Developing online considerations for the IASWG standards on Social Work with Groups: a tribute to Charles Garvin - Macgowan, Mark J.; Gardella, Lorrie Greenhouse; Simon, Shirley R.; Prinsloo, Reineth; Baar, Hilda; Seck, Mamadou; Astray, Andrés Arias; Cañizares, Catalina; Muskat, Barbara (Social Work with Groups, 2025)
In the spring of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the remote delivery of health and human services, few social workers were prepared to facilitate online groups. Research on virtual group work was limited, and the IASWG Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups offered minimal guidance for online practice. Charles Garvin encouraged the International Association for Social Work with Groups (IASWG) to enhance the Standards with “online considerations” that would support effective group work in virtual environments. Serving as a mentor and active member of the Task Force on Online Considerations, Charles Garvin inspired a systematic, collaborative, and internationally inclusive process that exemplified principles of socially just research. This paper describes the research and development of the online considerations and the limitations and possibilities of defining international guidelines for social work with groups. © 2025 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Keywords: Charles D. Garvin; IASWG standards for social work practice with groups; dept.swk; group work; internationalization; online practice; social work with groups; translation; virtual practice

Adolescent Concern for Body Weight and Engagement in Unhealthy Weight Control Behaviors - McCoy, Stephanie M.; Bryan, Jessica L.; Rupp, Kristie (American Journal of Health Promotion, 2025)
Purpose: To explore associations between adolescent’s concern for their body weight/shape/size and engagement in unhealthy weight control behaviors (UWCBs). Design: Secondary data analysis. Setting: 2022 National Survey of Children’s Health. Subjects: Analyses included 23 357 (51.8% male) adolescents, ages 10-17 years (mean 13.8 ± 2.3 years). Measures: Reported concern for body weight/shape/size, and UWCBs including skipping meals/ fasting; low interest in food; picky eating; binge eating, purging; diet pills; and over-exercising. Analysis: Logistic regression models assessed the odds of engaging in UWCBs by reported concern for body weight/shape/size. Results: Engagement in UCWBs was low with 21.1% reporting picky eating, 13.5% fasting, 11.7% low interest in food, 5.3% binge eating, and <2% purging, over-exercising, or using diet pills. Compared to adolescents who were not at all concerned about their body weight/shape/size, adolescents who were somewhat or very much concerned had significantly higher odds (P’s < 0.05) of engaging in all UCWB outcomes except for using diet pills or laxatives, which was only significant for adolescents who reported being very concerned (OR = 12.74; CI: [19.16, 36.94]). Further, after stratification by gender and age, there was a significant p-for trend (P’s < 0.05), in engagement in UWCBs by concern for body weight/shape/size except for using diet pills or laxatives in 10-11- and 12-14-year-olds. Conclusion: Expressing concern for body weight/image/size is associated with an increased likelihood of engaging in UCWB in adolescents, regardless of gender or stage of adolescence. © The Author(s) 2025
Keywords: dept.hms; eating behaviors; obesity; psychosocial health

Examining effective parenting approaches to promote healthy technology use in children: a systematic review - Gagliardi, Jeffrey; O’Brien, Kyle H. (Journal of Family Social Work, 2025)
The widespread integration of technology into children’s lives poses significant challenges for parents aiming to promote healthy technology use. This systematic review synthesized findings from twelve studies to explore effective parenting strategies and interventions. Results indicate that authoritative parenting, characterized by high responsiveness and control, and active mediation, involving open communication and collaborative rule-setting, are most effective in managing children’s technology use. Parental digital literacy emerged as a crucial factor in successfully implementing these strategies. Interventions like the “Game Over” and “Movie Models” programs showed potential but require further refinement. The review underscores the importance of co-using technology with children, modeling healthy technology habits, and employing available tools for monitoring and limiting screen time. Future research should focus on developing standardized diagnostic criteria for problematic technology use, empirically tracking screen time, and exploring the role of schools in promoting healthy technology use. Consistent definitions and comprehensive strategies are essential for addressing the evolving digital landscape. © 2025 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Keywords: Digital literacy; dept.rec; parenting strategies; screen time; technology addiction; technology use

Is Your Physical Education Adapted or Adaptive? - Laughlin, Michael K. (Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 2025)
For decades, adapted physical education advocates have passionately engaged in a debate over two adjectives: adapted vs. adaptive. This article explores the reasons why one is preferred over the other and why it matters, especially to students with disabilities. © 2025 SHAPE America.
Keywords: dept.hms

Medical Image Analysis for Brain Tumor Classification Using CNN Architecture - Sheta, Alaa; Elashmawi, Walaa H.; Karim Baareh, Abdel; Rausch, Peter; Othman, Emad S. (Proceeding - 12th International Conference on Information Technology: Innovation Technologies, ICIT 2025, 2025)
Traditional brain tumor diagnosis and classification are time-consuming and heavily reliant on radiologist expertise. The ever-growing patient population generates vast data, rendering existing methods expensive and inefficient. Deep Learning (DL) is a promising approach for developing automated systems to diagnose or segment brain tumors with high accuracy in less time. Within Deep Learning, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are potent tools for image classification tasks. This is achieved through a series of specialized layers, including convolution layers that identify patterns within images, pooling layers that summarize these patterns, fully connected layers that ultimately classify the image, and a feedforward layer to produce the output class. This study employed a CNN to classify brain tumors in T1-weighted contrast-enhanced images with various image resolutions, including 30×30, 50×50, 70×70, 100×100, and 150×150 pixels. The model successfully distinguished between three tumor types: glioma, meningioma, and pituitary. The CNN's impressive accuracy on training data reached up to 86.38% for image resolution (30×30) and 94.64% for higher resolution (150×150). This indicates its potential as a valuable tool in real-world brain tumor classification tasks. © 2025 IEEE.
Keywords: Brain Tumor; Classification; Convolutional Neural Networks; MRI; dept.csc

On Tight 6-Cycle Decompositions of Complete 3-Uniform Multi-Hypergraphs - Bandell, Jessica A.; Bunge, Ryan C.; Darrow, Brian D.; El-Zanati, Saad I.; Mountain, Claire E.; Neiburger, Levi (Springer Proceedings in Mathematics and Statistics, 2025)
The λ-fold complete 3-uniform hypergraph on v vertices has the edge multiset consisting of λ copies of each 3-element subset of its vertex set. A tight 6-cycle, denoted TC6, is a hypergraph with vertex set {a,b,c,d,e,f} and edge set {{a,b,c},{b,c,d},{c,d,e},{d,e,f},{e,f,a},{f,a,b}}. We give necessary and sufficient conditions on v for the existence of a TC6-decomposition of the λ-fold complete 3-uniform hypergraph on v vertices for any positive integer λ. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.
Keywords: 3-uniform; Decomposition; Hypergraph; Multi-hypergraph; dept.mat

Understand the Changes in Motivation at Work: Empirical Studies Using Self-Determination Theory-Based Interventions - Wang, Zheni; Briand, Melanie (Behavioral Sciences, 2025)
Managers often need to stay motivated and effectively motivate others. Therefore, they should rely on evidence-based interventions to effectively motivate and self-motivate. This research investigated how self-determination theory-based interventions affect employees’ motivation dynamics and motivational consequences within short time frames (i.e., within an hour, within a few weeks or months) in two empirical studies. Study one focused on assessing the effectiveness of a one-day training workshop in helping to improve managers’ work motivation, basic psychological needs satisfaction/frustration, subordinates’ motivation, and perceptions of managers’ needs-supportive/thwarting behaviors within a few weeks. Results support the effectiveness of the training, as managers were rated by their direct subordinates as having fewer needs-thwarting behaviors and reported self-improvement in needs satisfaction and frustration six weeks after completing the training program. Study two used the mean and covariance structure analysis and tested the impact of three types of basic psychological needs-supportive/thwarting and control conditions (3 × 2 × 1 factorial design) on participants’ situational motivation, vitality, and general self-efficacy for playing online word games within 30 min. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the scalar measurement invariance, then latent group mean comparison results show consistently lower controlled motivation across the experimental conditions. During a quick online working scenario, the theory-based momentary intervention effectively changed situational extrinsic self-regulation in participants. Supplementary structural equation modeling (SEM; cross-sectional) analyses using experience samples supported the indirect dual-path model from basic needs satisfaction to vitality and general efficacy via situational motivation. We discussed the theoretical implications of the temporal properties of work motivation, the practical implications for employee training, and the limitations. © 2025 by the authors.
Keywords: dept.mgt; employee training and development; motivation change; self-determination theory; theory-based interventions

Polish and Indian teachers’ self-efficacy and attitudes towards inclusion of children and youth with disabilities in regular classrooms - Ćwirynkało, Katarzyna; Parchomiuk, Monika; Gregory, Jess L.; Ravi, Sunitha; Krishnamurthy, Sita (International Journal of Inclusive Education, 2025)
The effectiveness of inclusion of students with disabilities in regular classrooms depends on many factors, among which, the teachers’ attitudes and competences play a key role. They are shaped in teaching practice and through socio-cultural experiences. To date, numerous studies have shown the importance of cross-cultural comparisons. The aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between self-efficacy and the attitudes towards including students with mild and moderate disabilities in mainstream education in teachers from Poland (n = 279) and India (n = 210). The differences found between the groups in the area of ⁣⁣sociodemographic variables and experiences in working with students with disabilities were the basis for including these variables in the analyses. Data were collected using the Attitudes Towards Teaching All Students Scale and Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale. The analysis allowed us to determine relationships between self-efficacy and attitudes towards integration of students with mild and moderate disabilities both in the group of Polish and Indian teachers. Generally, the obtained trends confirmed that higher teachers’ self-efficacy was associated with more favourable attitudes towards the inclusion of students with disabilities, but only in Indian group. The contribution of the variables of seniority, professional preparation and gender of the respondents was indicated. © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords: Teachers; attitudes towards inclusion; dept.edl; inclusion; self-efficacy; students with disabilities

Living well in extended reality: Training phronesis and Socratic humility in XR - Gabriels, Katleen; Volkman, Richard (Journal of Moral Education, 2025)
Practical wisdom is the intellectual virtue relating to the ability to fix ends and discern in a concrete circumstance how to achieve those ends. It is cultivated through engagement with experience rather than book learning. However, a whole matrix of convergent technologies, such as headsets, haptic suits, AI-driven chatbots, and extended realities, such as augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), creates new conditions for training practical wisdom. How can moral educators facilitate practical wisdom in this extended reality (XR)? Drawing on Nussbaum’s account of phronesis, we contend the job of moral education in XR is mostly about ensuring students’ critical engagement. We suggest AI assistants can contribute to this task, so long as these technologies and the people using them manifest Socratic humility ensuring that no single interaction serves as an ‘oracle of truth’, leaving critical thinking and judgment firmly in the hands of the student.
Keywords: Extended reality; Socratic humility; convergence; dept.phi; phronesis

Factors Contributing to Increased Mental Health Symptoms and Suicidality Among Sexual and Gender Minority Youth: A Scoping Review of Quantitative Research - Lopes, Daniela (Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 2025)
PurposeTo identify contributing factors to mental health symptoms and suicidality among sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth identified by quantitative research.MethodA scoping review was conducted, guided by the methodological framework of Arksey and O'Malley. Ten articles met inclusion criteria after a comprehensive search was performed across four databases.ResultsCommon factors identified as being associated with poor mental health outcomes and increased suicidality among SGM youth were environmental influences and minority stress. Factors were interrelated and often found to be associated with worsening anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation.ConclusionFindings can be used to enhance the knowledge and training of nursing professionals to improve their understanding of the naturalistic course of poor mental health outcomes and suicidality in SGM youth. Future research should focus on screening tools and clinical interventions for SGM youth in need of mental health services. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 63(7), 12–17.]
Keywords: dept.nur

Self-Concept Among Formerly Incarcerated Sexual Minority Women - Stone, Adinah; Smoyer, Amy B.; D’Angelo, Karen (Social Sciences, 2025)
Sexual minority women (SMW) are a resilient yet vulnerable population who may experience poor psychosocial outcomes due to minority stress associated with their marginalized status and traumatic experiences resulting from interpersonal and structural violence. When SMW are incarcerated, the trauma of this experience can exacerbate existing mental health challenges. Self-concept is a key measure of mental health that is associated with increased self-efficacy and positive psychosocial outcomes. This analysis explores the ways in which incarceration impacts the self-concept of SMW. Secondary data analysis of three qualitative interviews with formerly incarcerated SMW was conducted. Specifically, Gilligan’s Listening Guide was used to create “I poems” that articulate the participants’ narratives and contrapuntal voices. These poems were then analyzed to build knowledge about participants’ self-concept. This analysis informs our understandings of self-concept among SMW, violence against women, the vulnerability of binary constructs, and the ways in which people negotiate past, present and future selves. The findings can inform interventions that seek to mitigate the psychosocial risks faced by SMW and formerly incarcerated people and improve outcomes for these populations.
Keywords: LGBT; Listening Guide; dept.swk; incarceration; lesbian; qualitative; self-concept; sexual minority women; transgender

Generational Differences in Nursing Students' Perceptions of Faculty Caring Behaviors and Presence in Online Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing Programs. - Macario, Kimberly Cardaci (International Journal for Human Caring, 2025)
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore how students of different generations perceived presence and caring behaviors by faculty in online Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs. Results showed that millennials reported statistically significant higher perceptions of social presence when compared with nonmillennials. Although generation was not a predictor of caring, all presence subscales were positively and significantly correlated with the total caring score. Teaching presence was a significant predictor of students' perceptions of caring in online courses.
Keywords: Adult; Adult: 19-44 years; Age Factors; Caring Evaluation; Colleges and Universities; Conceptual Framework; Convenience Sample; Correlational Studies; Descriptive Research; Descriptive Statistics; Education, Non-Traditional; Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; Educational Measurement; Exploratory Research; Faculty, Nursing; Faculty-Student Relations; Human; Intergenerational Relations; Learning Environment; Middle Age; Middle Aged: 45-64 years; Nursing Practice, Evidence-Based; Presence; Professional-Patient Relations; Program Evaluation; Quantitative Studies; Questionnaires; Registered Nurses Psychosocial Factors; Regression; Social Behavior Evaluation; Statistical Significance; Student Attitudes Evaluation; Students, Nursing Psychosocial Factors; Summated Rating Scaling; Teaching Methods; United States; dept.nur

A New Version of the Golden Eagle Optimizer Algorithm And Its Application For Solving A Trio-Objective Skillful Team Formation Problem In A Social Network - Elashmawi, Walaa H.; Sheta, Alaa; Alqadi, Basma S.; AbdElminaam, Diaa Salama; Alsekait, Deema Mohammed (Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing Research, 2025)
Metaheuristic methods have demonstrated their utility in tackling global optimization problems with and without constraints. However, existing...
Keywords: dept.csc

An Exergames Program for Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes: Qualitative Study of Acceptability - Mak, Selene S.; Nally, Laura M.; Montoya, Juanita; Marrero, Rebecca; DeJonckheere, Melissa; Joiner, Kevin L.; Nam, Soohyun; Ash, Garrett I. (JMIR Diabetes, 2025)
Background: Numerous barriers to moderate to vigorous physical activity exist for youths with type 1 diabetes (T1D). The virtual exercise games for youth with T1D (ExerT1D) intervention implement synchronous support of moderate to vigorous physical activity including T1D peers and role models. Objective: This study aims to understand the acceptability of this intervention to participants. Methods: We conducted postprogram, semistructured, televideo interviews with participating youths to elicit perspectives on the acceptability of the intervention and experience with the program. Two coders independently reviewed and analyzed each transcript using a coding scheme developed inductively by senior researchers. Discrepancies were resolved by team discussion, and multiple codes were grouped together to produce 4 main thematic areas. Results: All 15 participants provided interviews (aged 14-19 years; 2 nonbinary, 6 females; median hemoglobin A1c level of 7.8% (IQR 7.4%-11.2%), 5 with a hemoglobin A1c level of ≥10%). Qualitative data revealed four themes: (1) motivation to engage in physical activity (PA)—improving their physical capabilities and stabilizing glucose levels were cited as motivation for PA and challenges of living with T1D were cited as PA barriers; (2) experience with and motivation to manage diabetes while engaging in PA—participants provided details of accommodating the inherent uncertainty or limitations of PA with diabetes and sometimes preparing for PA involved psychological and motivational adjustments while some relayed feelings of avoidance; (3) peer support encouraged engagement with the intervention—participants appreciated the peer aspects of components of ExerT1D and participants’ reflections of the facilitated group experience highlight many benefits of a small-group virtual program; and (4) improvements in PA and diabetes self-management efficacy—all participants credited the program with improving or at least raising awareness of T1D management skills. Conclusions: Our virtual PA intervention using an active video game and discussion component provided adolescents with T1D the confidence and peer support to engage in PA, improved awareness of diabetes-specific tasks to prepare for exercise, and improved understanding of the effect of PA on glucose levels. Engaging youths with a virtual video game intervention is a viable approach to overcome barriers to PA for adolescents with T1D. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05163912; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05163912
Keywords: dept.hms; peer-reviewed

WIC Participation During Pregnancy and Low and Very Low Birth Weight by Race and Ethnicity - Sawadogo, Wendemi; McGuire, Nicholas; Evans, Marian; Tangbe, Praise E. (Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 2025)
Objective To examine the association between the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) participation during pregnancy and birth weight by race and ethnicity on a national level. Design Retrospective cohort of US natality from 2014 to 2022. Setting All US states and Washington, DC. Participants First-time mothers of a live singleton birth covered by Medicaid with available data on WIC participation and birth weight. Exposure WIC participation during pregnancy (yes/no) Main Outcome Measure Low (< 2,500 g) and very low (< 1,500 g) birth weight. Analysis Multivariable logistic regression Results A total of 3,778,400 mothers covered by Medicaid were included in this analysis, of which 69.6% were WIC participants during pregnancy. The association between WIC participation and birth weight outcomes differed by race and ethnicity. After adjusting, WIC participants during pregnancy were 25%, 20%, 17%, and 10% less likely to give birth to low-weight infants compared with non-WIC participants for Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders, Black, American Indian or Alaskan Native, and White, respectively. Conclusion and Implications Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children participation during pregnancy was associated with reduced low birth weight in all races and ethnicities. Improving WIC access and participation during pregnancy may support health equity in birth weight outcomes.
Keywords: WIC; dept.pch; low birth weight; peer-reviewed; pregnancy; race and ethnicity; very low birth weight

Photon counting in stellar intensity interferometry: current status and future prospects - Horch, Elliott P. (Advanced Photon Counting Techniques XIX, 2025)
Intensity interferometry, also known as the Hanbury Brown and Twiss effect, has seen significant interest in astronomy in recent years. The method involves recording timing correlations between photons received at two or more telescopes in order to derive extremely high spatial resolution information about an astronomical object, potentially including imaging stellar surfaces and other objects at unprecedented scales. This paper will briefly review the technique, discuss the performance characteristics of the of photon counters used in modern intensity interferometers, and describe opportunities for the future. As an example of photon counting with a working instrument, observing experiences with the Southern Connecticut Stellar Interferometer (SCSI), a three-station instrument using single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) detectors, will be described. The recent lessons learned with this and other instruments in use today give a clear picture of the next steps needed to upgrade efficiency and successfully observe fainter objects. If successful, these improvements would provide a strong argument for creating situations where intensity interferometers can have baselines of one to several kilometers, which would unlock the spatial detail needed to address several exciting astrophysical questions.
Keywords: dept.phy

Digitization Practices in U.S. Urban Libraries: Tools, Technologies, and Metadata Standards - Torres, Natasha; Liu, Yan Quan (Public Library Quarterly, 2025)
This study examines digitization practices in U.S. urban libraries, focusing on tools, technologies, and metadata standards used to preserve local cultural heritage. Using qualitative content analysis, data was collected from 175 Urban Library Council member libraries, of which 60% are actively digitizing collections. Findings show widespread use of JPEG, PDF, and Dublin Core, with most libraries digitizing photographs and documents related to regional history. However, only 16% of libraries have formal digitization policies, highlighting gaps in strategic planning. These findings underscore urban libraries’ critical role in preserving cultural heritage while navigating challenges related to resources, collaboration, and technology.
Keywords: Cultural heritage preservation; SCSU-student; dept.ils; digital collections; digitization practices; online accessibility; urban libraries

Seeking Transcendence: The Quest for Spirituality in an Age of Detachment - Manzella, Joseph C. (Routledge, 2025)
Seeking Transcendence examines the various paths taken by those who have detached themselves from their traditional, institutional religious roots but are seeking non-traditional paths to spiritual experiences. Called the “nones” or "non-affiliated" in popular mass media, these include a significant number of Western folks who maintain a belief in God or at least consider themselves “spiritual but not religious”. Each chapter of the book explores these trends with a specific theme, as well as a case study based on the author’s ethnographic observation of alternative spiritual communities and practices in North America and Western Europe. Ultimately, this book shows how contemporary alternatives to traditional institutional religion appeal to nones, presenting the relevance of new religious movements and more secular spiritual paths to transcendence.
Keywords: dept.ant

Are charitable gifts truly appreciated by the recipients who requested them? Impact of gift type and amount on recipients’ appreciation - Kang, In-Hye; Kim, Hyoseok (Journal of Business Research, 2025)
Requests for charitable cash gifts during rite-of-passage occasions (e.g., weddings) are becoming increasingly common. This research examines whether recipients’ appreciation differs depending on whether a requested cash gift is charitable (e.g., donating to support people in need) or recipient-benefiting (e.g., renovating the recipient’s kitchen). Across five studies, we find that the effect of the gift type on appreciation is moderated by the gift amount. For low amounts, recipients appreciate charitable gifts more than recipient-benefiting gifts. However, for moderate and high amounts, appreciation is similar across gift types. This effect is mediated by the recipients’ perception of whether the gift amount meets their expectations and their subsequent perception of thoughtfulness. Consistent with our mechanism, in distant giver-recipient relationships, the effect of the gift type on appreciation for low amounts is attenuated. When gifts are not requested, recipients appreciate charitable gifts less than recipient-benefiting gifts.
Keywords: Charitable gifts; Charitable giving; Gift appreciation; Gift price; Gift-giving; dept.mrk; peer-reviewed

Health Information Access Behaviors by Sexual Orientation: A Secondary Data Analysis of the National Health Interview Survey - Gagnon, Kelly W.; Corey, Stephanie L.; Gordon, Jacob; Risisky, Deb; Coulter, Robert W. S. (Journal of Homosexuality, 2025)
Sexual minority (SM) adults are at increased risk for adverse health outcomes and face unique barriers to engagement and retention in healthcare, including stigma and discrimination. Given known barriers to care, SM adults may prefer online platforms due to limited access to in-person clinical care and fear of discrimination. To date, there is limited knowledge of these behaviors among subgroups of SM adults. This study was a cross-sectional, secondary data analysis of the United States National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Adult Sample Data Set, 2018. Utilizing descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regressions, we found that bisexual females had significantly greater odds (AOR = 1.58, CI: 1.04–2.39) of seeking health information online compared to straight females. Similarly, when compared to their straight male counterparts, gay males had significantly higher odds of seeking health information online in the past 12 months (AOR = 2.96, 95% CI: 2.00–4.37). These findings indicate the need for targeting messaging and interventions to address the health concerns of these populations. It also suggests that virtual platforms are viable and perhaps preferred for these subgroups of SM adults. Through continued efforts and research, the field can target relevant health information to populations who need it most by leveraging where they seek it.
Keywords: Sexual minority health; bisexual women; dept.pch; gay men; health information access; healthcare utilization; online health information; peer-reviewed; public health

Green banking: prospects and challenges - D'Amora, Emily C.; Andoh, Samuel K (Southwest Business and Economics Journal, 2025)
The paper examines the concept of green banking and sustainable financing, the forces driving green banking, and the reasons for this. The paper suggests that the move toward green banking and financing is the result of environmental degradation and the public’s demand for remediation. As enablers of the industries that create pollution, financial institutions bear a significant responsibility in leading the efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Also, greenhouse gas emissions are the result of market failures; therefore, there is a need for governments to act. The paper also examines the challenges facing green banking and its prospects. The conclusion is that while green banking displays good growth prospects, there exists three major challenges: (1) limited awareness of green products and services that banks can offer, (2) greenwashing, and (3) the high cost of offering green financial services. Despite these challenges, the paper affirms the potential of green banking to promote sustainability and mitigation of the environmental crisis.
Keywords: banking; climate change; dept.eco; environmental crisis; environmental degradation; financial institutions; green banking; greenwashing; peer-reviewed; sustainability; sustainable financing

The Southwest Business and Economics Journal | Cameron University

Mothers who use opioids and are involved in the criminal justice system: A transformative justice approach - Boeri, Miriam; Lamonica, Aukje; Smith, Sierra (Human Organization)
Mothers who use opioids (MWUO) and involved in the criminal justice system are faced with losing child custody if they continue to use drugs, but lack of resources inhibit sustained recovery post-incarceration. A transformative justice approach promotes social and structural transformation. Longitudinal qualitative data from 16 MWUO are examined using grounded theory analysis. Our aim is to identify strategic solutions focusing on social environments and structural barriers to sustained recovery. Findings support a transformative justice model to reduce recidivism, increase sustained recovery, and help mothers remain or reunite with their children. Read the transcript Watch the video on Vimeo ©2025 Society for applied anthropology Mothers who use opioids and are criminal justice involved are at risk of losing child custody rights if they relapse. In this article we use a transformative justice lens to identify the social and structural barriers that must be addressed for family preservation. We propose a “Personal Probation Officer” model to help these women navigate the maze of drug treatment, social services, and other resources they need toward the goal of reducing relapse and further separation from their children. A transformative justice response to mothers who use opioids and involved in the criminal justice system can reduce relapse to help mothers reunite with their children.
Keywords: Restorative justice; dept.pch; mothers; opioids; recovery; relapse

Bitcoin return dynamics volatility and time series forecasting - Anand, Punit; Sharan, Anand Mohan (International Journal of Financial Studies, 2025)
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency returns show higher volatility than equity, bond, and other asset classes. Increasingly, researchers rely on machine learning techniques to forecast returns, where different machine learning algorithms reduce the forecasting errors in a high-volatility regime. We show that conventional time series modeling using ARMA and ARMA GARCH run on a rolling basis produces better or comparable forecasting errors than those that machine learning techniques produce. The key to achieving a good forecast is to fit the correct AR and MA orders for each window. When we optimize the correct AR and MA orders for each window using ARMA, we achieve an MAE of 0.024 and an RMSE of 0.037. The RMSE is approximately 11.27% better, and the MAE is 10.7% better compared to those in the literature and is similar to or better than those of the machine learning techniques. The ARMA-GARCH model also has an MAE and an RMSE which are similar to those of ARMA.
Keywords: ARMA; ARMA-GARCH; MAE; RMSE; bitcoin; dept.fin; time series

Glacial and postglacial interpretation of Late Paleozoic sedimentation in a tectonically active mountain front in Paganzo Basin, Argentina - Colombi, Carina; Alonso-Muruaga, Pablo J.; Kusick, Allison Raeann; Isbell, John L.; Fedorchuk, Nicholas D.; Alarcón, Carlos M.; Limarino, Carlos O. (Journal of Palaeogeography, 2025)
The Guandacol Formation corresponds to glacial episode 4 of the “Late Paleozoic Ice Age” in western Gondwana. It represents the final glaciation of westernmost Gondwana and the beginning of deglaciation that swept across the supercontinent throughout the rest of the Paleozoic. A succession of transitional sedimentary facies associations characterizes the eastern outcrops of the Guandacol Formation. These facies associations are interlayered with several deposits of mass-transport complexes (MTC) and present the occasional opportunity to conduct a deep-time analysis of the effect of tectonism in what is interpreted to be glacially-influenced deposits. Six sedimentary facies associations were recognized in the lower part of the Guandacol Formation. Facies association 1 (interbedded diamictites, sandstones, and mudstones) overlies MTC 1 and is interpreted as sedimentation into a marine glacially-influenced outwash fan. Facies association 2 (ponded interbedded sandstones, mudstones, and diamictites) was deposited as subaqueous underflows/turbidites and debris flows covering the irregular paleotopography of MTC 2. Facies association 3 (white medium- to coarse-grained sandstones and conglomerates) represents a small deltaic system. Facies association 4 (rhythmites with dropstones and sandstones) was deposited in a partially ponded water body resulting from the collapse and paleotopography of MTC 3. Facies association 5 (coarsening-upward cycles of mudstones and sandstones) was deposited in prodelta to delta front environments. Finally, facies association 6 (conglomerates, sandstones, and mudstones) corresponds to the subaerial deltaic platform. The evolution of depositional environments suggests three glacially-linked stages: Stage 1 — Initial retreat of the nearby ice masses (facies association 1); Stage 2 — Further retreat of glaciers and the progressive decoupling between ice masses and sea (facies associations 2 and 3); and Stage 3 — Postglacial sedimentation dominated by deltaic progradation during highstand conditions (facies associations 4 to 6). The importance of the paleogeographic context is emphasized in which the tectonism triggered recurrent events of MTC that continually modified the topography and sedimentary patterns, interrupting and complicating the stratigraphy of the interpreted glacial and postglacial sedimentation.
Keywords: Diamictites; Mass transport complex; Postglacial sedimentation; Tectonism; dept.esc; peer-reviewed

Generalist CEOs and operational efficiency - Chung, Hanyong (Finance Research Letters, 2025)
This study examines the relationship between CEO general managerial ability and firm operational efficiency. I find a robust negative association between a CEO’s General Ability Index (GAI) and firm efficiency. Additionally, the analysis shows that GAI influences operational efficiency through two mechanisms: capital intensity and SG&A cost efficiency. Cross-sectional analyses reveal that the negative effect is more pronounced in smaller firms and those with smaller boards, suggesting that limited structural support may amplify the operational challenges generalist CEOs face. This study underscores the importance of contextual CEO-firm alignment and provides practical implications for boards and investors when evaluating executive fit for operational effectiveness.
Keywords: Board of directors; Firm size; Generalist CEO; Operational efficiency; dept.acc; peer-reviewed

Considering emerging, complementary, and alternative treatments - Øien, R.A.; Nordahl-Hansen, A.; Skarbek, S.; Tolkin, S.; Volkmar, F.R. (Handbook of Evidence-Based Practices in Autism Spectrum Disorder, 2025)
The chapter “Considering Emerging Complementary and Alternative Treatments“delves into the diverse landscape of non-mainstream interventions for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The discourse navigates through the historical evolution, current status, and future prospects of complementary and alternative medicine treatments. The narrative acknowledges the dichotomy between scientifically validated practices and those emerging from anecdotal and preliminary evidence. Key topics include vitamin and mineral supplementation, dietary interventions, secretin administration, chelation therapy, neurofeedback, sensory-based therapies, and facilitated communication. Each treatment is critically evaluated for its empirical support, safety, and clinical utility. The chapter emphasizes the necessity for rigorous research methodologies and balanced clinical perspectives in assessing these interventions. By providing a comprehensive overview, it aims to inform clinicians, researchers, and caregivers about the potential benefits and pitfalls of CAM treatments, fostering informed decision making in the therapeutic management of ASD. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.
Keywords: Alternative treatments; Complementary and alternative medicine; Complementary treatments; Emerging treatments; dept.sed

The evolution of evidence-based practice guidelines in autism spectrum disorder: how can these begin to support individualized, community-based practices? - Doehring, P.; Reichow, B.; Volkmar, F.R. (Handbook of Evidence-Based Practices in Autism Spectrum Disorder, 2025)
Evidence-based practice guidelines use specific rubrics to first evaluate the quality of individual outcome research studies and then the overall strength of the evidence, ultimately generating recommendations for clinical and educational practice. This chapter reviews the methodologies used across three different types of guidelines spanning health and education, by comparing recommendations related to practices for addressing sleep problems. The review reveals that these guidelines share many features, with some differences suggesting areas of improvement. More fundamental differences between biomedical and psychosocial practices, as well as specific challenges of community-based practices, suggest other opportunities for improvement in the design of outcome research and in the development of practice guidelines. This chapter concludes by discussing how to close other gaps in guideline development by emphasizing focused practices instead of comprehensive treatment programs (CTPs), integrating research findings from related populations, developing recommendations for program and policy leaders, and imagining reviews that potentially offer more individualized recommendations. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.
Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Evidence-based practice; Outcome studies; Professional practice guidelines; Systematic research reviews; dept.sed

Evidence-based practices and treatments in autism spectrum disorder: concluding thoughts - Volkmar, F.R.; Doehring, P.; Reichow, B. (Handbook of Evidence-Based Practices in Autism Spectrum Disorder, 2025)
This concluding chapter summarizes how the field has advanced, the current state of evidence-based practices, unique insights derived from systematic reviews of practices and programs, and directions for the future. We note major gains since the first attempts in the early 1990s to provide information on evidence-based practices, including more sophisticated research methods for meta-analytic studies and systematic reviews. The emergence of very high-quality reviews of rigorous outcome research over the past 15 years has accelerated interest in evidence-based practices. At the same time, controversies surrounding questions of research design, study selection, the potential bias relative to cultural and racial factors, persistent gaps in research on adults and those with more significant levels of disability, and other areas remain to be addressed. We note some area of active discussion, e.g., relative to whether or not to screen and the need to help community-based professionals responsible for tailoring evidence-based practices to the many different individuals and settings they serve. If we are able to reconcile the researcher’s desire for experimental rigor with the flexibility required for outcome studies conducted in community-based settings, we might begin to demonstrate the kinds of population impacts needed to justify more substantial funding and policy changes. Several areas of additional research are outlined. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.
Keywords: Eclectic programs; Evidence-based treatment; Future directions; Meta-analyses; Systematic reviews; dept.sed

Handbook of Evidence-Based Practices in Autism Spectrum Disorder - Reichow, B.; Doehring, P.; Volkmar, F.R. (Handbook of Evidence-Based Practices in Autism Spectrum Disorder, 2025)
The handbook examines the empirical status of interventions and treatments for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It offers an insightful and balanced perspective on topics ranging from the historical underpinnings of autism treatment to the use of psychopharmacology and the implementation of EBPs. The book reviews the conceptualization of evidence-based practices (EBPs) as well as considerations for implementing such practices across settings. In addition, it describes emerging treatments – though they cannot yet be considered evidence-based – that have produced limited but highly promising results. The book also describes treatments and therapies that have been proved ineffective. It explores ways in which EBPs can be applied in inclusive school settings, pedatric settings, in-patient treatment progams, and college-based programs for transition-aged youth. The volume describes outcomes from the development of EBP guidelines at the national level (in Scotland) and, more broadly, in the United States and outlines how such guidelines can be adapted to offer more individualized intervention. Key areas of coverage include: Comprehensive treatment models, including early intensive behavioral intervention, pivotal response treatment, Early Start Denver Model, and Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions. Focal treatments addressing the core deficits of ASD and its co-occuring conditions. Social skills, communication, and the use of applied behavior analysis (ABA) practices for teaching new skills and decreasing challenging behaviors. Sensory-based interventions, psychopharmacology, cognitive behavior therapy, and parent education programs (e. g., Project ImPACT). The Handbook of Evidence-Based Practices in Autism Spectrum Disorder is an invaluable resource for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as clinicians, therapists, and all professionals working in the fields of developmental, clinical child, and school psychology, pediatrics, social work, behavior analysis, allied health sciences, public health, child and adolescent psychiatry, early childhood intervention, and general and special education. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.
Keywords: ASD; Adaptive and challenging behaviors and autism; Augmentative and assistive technology and ASD; Autism treatment; Behavioral-developmental interventions and ASD; Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and autism; Communication deficits and autism; Controversial therapies and autism; Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI); Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) and ASD; JASPER and autism spectrum disorder treatment; Parent education and support programs and ASD; Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) and autism; Project ImPACT and autism spectrum disorder; Psychopharmacology and autism; Sensory-based interventions and autism; Sleep and autism spectrum disorder; Social skills training and autism; Socioeconomic status and autism treatments; TEACCH® Autism Program; The SCERTS® Model; community settings; dept.sed; medical

Evidence-based practices in autism: where we started to where we are now - Reichow, B.; Doehring, P.; Volkmar, F.R. (Handbook of Evidence-Based Practices in Autism Spectrum Disorder, 2025)
When we published our first volume, the evidence-based practice (EBP) movement in the field of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) had already begun to gain strength around the world, and it has since shown no signs of abating. Multiple organizations and groups have now produced EBP guidelines concerning the treatment and/or identification of ASD. However, the resulting definitions continue to vary in important ways across professions and sometimes even within their subdivisions. A universal definition of EBP remains elusive. While these conclusions drawn from the previous edition of this book still hold true, we are nonetheless encouraged by the growth in interest in EBP and by the dramatic increase in the number of high-quality research studies over the past 15 years and so are excited to offer this updated and expanded handbook. This chapter serves as an introduction to the current state of affairs with respect to evidence-based practices in autism spectrum disorders. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.
Keywords: Evidence-based practice; History; Intervention; Practice guidelines; Treatment; dept.sed

President Nixon and Senator Kennedy on Health Care: How Rivalry Shaped Reform - Hopper, J. (Congress and the Presidency, 2025)
Though President Richard Nixon’s health care proposals remained relevant to policy developments even decades later, we know little about their origins and impact on public debate. The Nixon team was highly motivated by Senator Ted Kennedy’s health care moves, a rivalry that shaped policy development and narratives surrounding reform. This article uses archival research of White House documents and a content analysis of major newspapers to shed light on Nixon’s health care plans and how they influenced media coverage in the early 1970s. The analysis shows the Nixon administration’s fear of being upstaged by Kennedy was warranted given the amount of news discussing presidential plans alongside those of the senator. Still, Nixon was able to obtain a substantial amount of exclusive attention to his preferred take on health care reform. Though Nixon’s proposed reforms were not enacted at the time, they helped shape policy conversations in lasting ways, warranting greater scholarly attention. ©, Copyright © American University, Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.
Keywords: dept.psc; peer-reviewed

Reentry court judges: the key to the court - Salvatore, Christopher; , Michalsen ,Venezia; and Taylor, Caitlin (Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 2020)
Over the last few decades, treatment-oriented court judges have moved away from being neutral arbitrators in an adversarial court process to treatment facilitators. In the problem-solving court model, judges are part of a more therapeutic treatment process with program participants and a courtroom work group. The shift from the use of the traditional criminal justice process toward the use of more treatment-oriented models for some populations highlights the need to systematically document key elements of treatment court models. In particular, it is important to clearly document the role of Reentry Court Judges because they are a key component of the Reentry Court model. The current study used interviews with members of the courtroom work group, as well as a focus group interview of former participants in the program, to help identify the role of the judge and activities the judge engages. Findings revealed that the judges played a supportive, informal role, balanced with a more formal, authoritarian role, and the judges engaged participants in pre-court meetings, as well as courtroom sessions. Further, the judges facilitated interactions with program participants outside the courtroom, demonstrating that the judge is a core component of success for participants in Reentry Court.
Keywords: dept.soc; judges; peer-reviewed; probationers; reentry; reintegration; treatment

Positive Mood and the Perception of Variability Within and Between Groups - Stroessner, Steven J.; Mackie, Diane M.; Michalsen, Venezia (Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 2005)
Three experiments investigated the effects of positive mood on perceptions of variability within and between groups. Participants formed impressions of two different and highly variable groups under a neutral or positive mood. When participants expected to learn about both groups, positive mood increased perceived intergroup similarity but did not affect perceived intragroup variability. In contrast, when participants expected to learn about only one group, judgments of intergroup and intragroup similarity were both affected by mood. Mood and the intergroup context influenced the nature and degree of information processing and resultant judgments of variability in social groups.
Keywords: dept.soc; peer-reviewed

Not All Women Are Mothers: Addressing the Invisibility of Women Under the Control of the Criminal Justice System Who Do Not Have Children - Michalsen, Venezia; Flavin, Jeanne (The Prison Journal, 2014)
Research has consistently shown that most women under the control of the criminal justice system are mothers. The robustness of this finding has been accompanied by a failure to consider the characteristics and needs of women without children. In this study, we examine data on 1,334 formerly incarcerated women. Findings indicate that while mothers and non-mothers share some characteristics, they differ on several others, most notably demographic profile, mental health, and timing of contacts with the criminal justice system. These results suggest a need to recognize the diversity among women offender groups, particularly when developing policies and programs need.
Keywords: dept.soc; peer-reviewed

More than Visiting Hours: Maintaining Ties Between Incarcerated Mothers and Their Children - Michalsen, Venezia; Flavin, Jeanne; Krupat, Tanya (Sociology Compass, 2010)
The majority of people in America’s prisons are the parents of minor children. Incarcerated mothers, in particular, were likely to have been a part of their children’s lives before their imprisonment, and most will soon be returning to the community and to their children. Research has shown that it is in the best interests of the mothers and the children to maintain a relationship across the prison bars. In this article, we use the example of New York State to show how institutional policies and structures can impede or encourage efforts to maintain ties between women and their children and why demonstrating support for family ties must extend well beyond having visiting hours.
Keywords: dept.soc; peer-reviewed

Abolitionist Feminism as Prisons Close: Fighting the Racist and Misogynist Surveillance “Child Welfare” System - Michalsen, Venezia (The Prison Journal, 2019)
The global prison industrial complex was built on Black and brown women’s bodies. This economy will not voluntarily loosen its hold on the bodies that feed it. White carceral feminists traditionally encourage State punishment, while anti-carceral, intersectional feminism recognizes that it empowers an ineffective and racist system. In fact, it is built on the criminalization of women’s survival strategies, creating a “victimization to prison pipeline.” But prisons are not the root of the problem; rather, they are a manifestation of the over-policing of Black women’s bodies, poverty, and motherhood. Such State surveillance will continue unless we disrupt these powerful systems both inside and outside prisons.
Keywords: dept.soc; peer-reviewed

Mothering and Desistance in Re-Entry - Michalsen, Venezia (Routledge, 2018)
Although there is plentiful research on the impact of marriage, employment and the military on desistance from criminal behaviour in the lives of men, far less
Keywords: dept.soc

A Cell of One’s Own? Incarceration and Other Turning Points in Women’s Journeys to Desistance - Michalsen, Venezia (International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 2019)
Research has shown the importance of turning points in desistance from criminal behavior. Using qualitative data from a sample of 100 formerly incarcerated mothers interviewed about their criminal behavior, this article explores their descriptions of transition moments and whether and how those moments affected their criminal behavior. The findings indicate that whereas parenting emerges as a turning point, the practical difficulties of reentry may reduce the impact of mothering on women’s desistance. More self-focused turning points, such as those due to incarceration, arrest, and sobriety appeared to be particularly important to the women’s desistance. This article emphasizes the need for research into the subjective and environmental factors that affect women’s desistance behaviors.
Keywords: dept.soc; peer-reviewed

Trigger Warnings: From Panic to Data - Laguardia, Francesca; Michalsen, Venezia; Rider-Milkovich, Holly (Journal of Legal Education, 2017)
Keywords: dept.soc; peer-reviewed

Mothering as a Life Course Transition: Do Women Go Straight for Their Children? - Michalsen, Venezia (Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 2011)
In this study, qualitative, in-depth interviews were conducted with 100 formerly incarcerated mothers to explore the relationship between attachment to children and desistance from criminal behavior. Exploratory data analysis revealed that mothers do believe that children play important roles in their desistance, consistent with the tenets of life course theory. However, children were also described as sources of great stress, which may in turn promote criminal behavior. Women also related desistance to reliance on self and a higher power, and to a desire to avoid future involvement with the criminal justice system. The article concludes with a call for more research on women's desistance, and increased consideration of parent–child relationships in corrections policy decision making.
Keywords: attachment; children; dept.soc; desistance; life course theory; mothers; peer-reviewed; reentry

Are Suicide Attempters Who Self-Mutilate a Unique Population? - Stanley, Barbara; Gameroff, Marc J.; Michalsen, Venezia; Mann, J. John (American Journal of Psychiatry, 2001)
OBJECTIVE: Individuals who mutilate themselves are at greater risk for suicidal behavior. Clinically, however, there is a perception that the suicide attempts of self-mutilators are motivated by the desire for attention rather than by a genuine wish to die. The purpose of this study was to determine differences between suicide attempters with and without a history of self-mutilation. METHOD: The authors examined demographic characteristics, psychopathology, objective and perceived lethality of suicide attempts, and perceptions of their suicidal behavior in 30 suicide attempters with cluster B personality disorders who had a history of self-mutilation and a matched group of 23 suicide attempters with cluster B personality disorders who had no history of self-mutilation. RESULTS: The two groups did not differ in the objective lethality of their attempts, but their perceptions of the attempts differed. Self-mutilators perceived their suicide attempts as less lethal, with a greater likelihood of rescue and with less certainty of death. In addition, suicide attempters with a history of self-mutilation had significantly higher levels of depression, hopelessness, aggression, anxiety, impulsivity, and suicide ideation. They exhibited more behaviors consistent with borderline personality disorder and were more likely to have a history of childhood abuse. Self-mutilators had more persistent suicide ideation, and their pattern for suicide was similar to their pattern for self-mutilation, which was characterized by chronic urges to injure themselves. CONCLUSIONS: Suicide attempters with cluster B personality disorders who have a history of self-mutilation tend to be more depressed, anxious, and impulsive, and they also tend to underestimate the lethality of their suicide attempts. Therefore, clinicians may be unintentionally misled in assessing the suicide risk of self-mutilators as less serious than it is.
Keywords: dept.soc; peer-reviewed

Integrating tacit knowledge transfer model in academic context: a sem analysis approach - Shahzad, I.; Soroya, S.H. (Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 2025)
Tacit knowledge is more precious as compared to explicit, as it is the intellectual property of the knower and resides in one’s mind. A major part of our knowledge is tacit, which is either lost or not recorded/ captured. In the late 1950s, the term “tacit knowledge” appeared in the literature and received the attention of the researchers. However, a majority of the studies pertaining to tacit knowledge (TK) have primarily focused on non-educational contexts, despite the fact that pragmatic knowledge holds paramount importance within academic settings. This study is designed to examine the tacit knowledge process from capturing to sharing in an academic setting. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey research method was adopted to conduct this research, and data was collected through a well-structured questionnaire. Postgraduate students at the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan, were the study population. The findings revealed that cognitive skills enable and motivate individuals to capture tacit knowledge, and the positive capturing behavior leads to better handling and more sharing of tacit knowledge, whereas technical skills enable them to better handle tacit knowledge, which ultimately leads to wise utilization of tacit knowledge, and social skills help them in capturing, keeping, and use of tacit knowledge. The study argues that tacit knowledge flow is depending on a certain set of skills and behavior. The findings of the study will be supportive of higher academic institutions as they are the powerhouse of knowledge creation. © This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply 2024.
Keywords: Higher education; Implicit knowledge; Knowledge management; Social behaviors; dept.ils; peer-reviewed

Moral disengagement, Machiavellianism and academic dishonesty - Prince, Melvin; Wang, Junhong Emma; Priporas, Constantinos-Vasilios (Journal of Academic Ethics, 2025)
Academic dishonesty of students is a problem that threatens the integrity of educational institutions. Understanding the sources of academic dishonesty has become an urgent need, which compels higher educational institutions to evaluate and redesign approaches to address this problem. To develop new and important insights about this this form of student misconduct, this paper takes an integrative social cognitive perspective. It explores students’ attitudes toward various forms of academic dishonesty. The central research question concerns the impact of individual differences in moral disengagement and Machiavellianism on academic dishonesty tendencies. The study is based on a sample of 195 students at a public university in northeastern United States. Analysis was conducted by partial least squares equation modeling (SmartPLS-SEM). The analysis disclosed that, in sum, moral disengagement was strongly associated with academic dishonesty attitudes of fabricating information and both moral disengagement and Machiavellianism were associated with obtaining unfair academic dishonesty advantages. Data supported nearly all aspects of a structural model of academic dishonesty tendencies, with the exception of an association between Machiavellianism and receiving or abetting academic dishonesty, as well as an association between moral disengagement and ignoring prevalent practices that were in the predicted direction but were not significant. These findings provide a general understanding of the process by which academic dishonesty is determined. Study implications for ameliorating the impact of academic dishonesty are as follows: students should be engaged in an atmosphere full of communal morality, dissuasive of justificatory rationalizations and social arrangements that negate students’ use of moral disengagement.
Keywords: Academic Dishonesty; Deviance; Educational Research; Machiavellianism, Social Cognitive Theory; Moral Development; Moral Disengagement; Moral Philosophy and Applied Ethics; Moral Psychology; Morality; Students; dept.mrk; peer-reviewed

Gender congruence and entrepreneurial investments: the role of others’ reactions - Wieland, Alice (International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 2025)
The purpose of this research is to explore the decision processes that underlie the gender gap in entrepreneurial investments. The present research explores how gender congruence with a sex-typed business opportunity influences anticipated reactions from others who may provide or withhold support and resources, how these affect the assessed probability of venture success and the amount the entrepreneur is willing to invest (WTI) in the opportunity.,A theoretical model is presented and empirically tested via path analysis. A pilot and an experimental study model explore how gender congruence influences entrepreneurial investment decisions. The experimental study uses a repeated measures design examining the experimental effects two sex-typed business opportunities crossed with participant gender (gender congruence) on anticipated others’ reactions, assessed probability of venture success and investment amount (WTI).,Gender congruence of a business opportunity influences anticipated others’ reactions, whether they will be supportive or not, of pursuing the opportunity. This in turn influences the estimated probability of success of the venture and the amount the prospective entrepreneur is willing to invest in it. These socio-cognitive decision processes reinforce the gender gap in entrepreneurship since participants anticipate less access to others’ support for gender incongruent opportunities. Although the mediational model indicates most proposed relationships and paths are invariant across genders, the exception was that women did not report higher WTI for the gender congruent venture.,The research applies the latest thinking in social psychology on gender norm violations to entrepreneurship, measuring how anticipated reactions from others are a factor in predicting estimates of venture success probability and self-investments.
Keywords: dept.mgt; peer-reviewed

Bilingual autobiographical memory: unveiling the significance of memories encoded in multiple languages - Sorokina, Anastasia (Multilingua, 2025)
Research has shown that bilingual individuals might encode autobiographical memories in either their first language (L1) or their second language (L2), depending on the language spoken at the time of the event. Although language mixing is a common occurrence among multilingual speakers, previous studies have largely overlooked mixed memories – those encoded in both L1 and L2. The current study aims to bridge this research gap by analyzing a corpus of 1,297 memories (636 L1 memories, 357 L2 memories, and 305 mixed memories), with a particular focus on memory phenomenology, including factors such as vividness, emotional arousal, and personal significance. The statistical analysis revealed that mixed memories exhibited higher levels of emotional arousal and personal significance compared to memories encoded exclusively in L1 or L2. These findings underscore the unique status of mixed memories in the bilingual mind and emphasize the importance of adopting a heteroglossic approach to the study of bilingual autobiographical memory.
Keywords: bilingual autobiographical memory; dept.wll; memory phenomenology; mixed memories; peer-reviewed

US bank lending to small businesses: an analysis of covid-19 and the paycheck protection program - Abugri, Benjamin A.; Osah, Theophilus T. (Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 2025)
This paper examines the characteristics of banks and their lending behavior in relation to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and commercial and industrial (C&I) loans to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings show that lenders facing greater risk tended to lend more PPP loans, consistent with the risk-aversion theory. Specifically, banks with a higher loan–deposit ratio, lower overall profitability, poorer loan quality, and higher exposure to risks in business (C&I) loans are characterized by higher PPP loans. C&I loans to all businesses are negatively related to the loan–deposit ratio and loan loss allowance ratio, but are positively linked with the capital ratio. However, we find important differences in C&I lending to small businesses versus large businesses. Furthermore, there is evidence regarding the success of targeting PPP loans towards more productive sectors of the US economy. Using FDIC-defined banks’ lending specializations, we show that banks focused on international lending had a limited role in PPP lending.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; US banks; commercial and industrial loans; dept.fin; paycheck protection program; peer-reviewed; risk aversion; small business lending

Rethinking ai and big data in marketing strategy: emphasizing ethics through a sensemaking perspective - Wang, E.; Berthon, P.; Su, Y. (58th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2025, 2025)
The exponential growth of big data, driven by AI and machine learning technologies, underscores the need for an ethical and sustainable approach to data utilization. Using problematization methodology, we consider the assumptions underpinning Big Data and AI and reconsider them from a sensemaking perspective. Big data represents an enactment rather than an objective reality, and organizations play an active role in its adoption and use. Strategizing is driven by plausibility rather than accuracy, and big data generates a retrospection of the past rather than a prediction of the future. A sensemaking perspective serves as reality check for managers, emphasizing the necessity of long-term sustainability and societal well-being. By cultivating experiments for learning communities and incubating innovation, organizations can effectively leverage big data in marketing, fostering transparent, collaborative, ethical, and sustainable data practices. © 2025 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.
Keywords: AI; big data; dept.mrk; ethical; sensemaking; sustainable

Summer nursing symposium: an immersive educational program inspiring underrepresented minorities for college and a career in nursing - Knickerbocker, Joshua N.; Krol, Maria D.; Bartlett, Andrew; Borgognone, Kristen; Martinez, Kelly (Hispanic Health Care International, 2025)
Introduction:Though the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice has named underrepresented minorities (URM) as key demographics in addressing the nursing shortage, this group faces significant barriers to entry into nursing practice. In the academic year 2023–2024, URM students represented nearly 46.7% of students enrolled in entry-level baccalaureate nursing programs. Although this represents an increase in URM nursing presence, more work is needed to mirror the demographics of the U.S. patient population. Connecting URM communities with local academic institutions allows a clear path to the nursing profession. Methods: An educational program tailored to the URM student was designed to address URM barriers in access to college and offered networking with local communities and hospitals. Results: Results are suggestive of definite knowledge acquisition given a robust statistical significance in nearly all categories measured; students found the topics helpful in both preparing for college and increasing their interest in the nursing profession. Conclusion: A comprehensive educational program designed to attract high school students from URM/disadvantaged backgrounds could assist in promoting successful academic outcomes. Future studies may consider a larger sample size and multi-university settings.
Keywords: dept.nur; peer-reviewed

Liver metabolomic profiles of sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) are influenced by sex and maturation stages - Tamrakar, Sonam; Huerta, Belinda; Chung-Davidson, Yu-Wen; Li, Weiming (Metabolomics, 2025)
Sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is a unique vertebrate model to examine how liver metabolomes support different reproductive functions. Juvenile sea lamprey prey on other fish species by attaching to their body and feeding on their blood and body fluids. Once reaching adulthood, they cease feeding, migrate to spawning streams and begin their final sexual maturation. During these processes, the male livers produce large quantities of bile acid pheromone precursors to be modified and released via gills, whereas the female livers synthesize vast amounts of vitellogenin (yolk lipophosphoprotein) to be transported to the ovary.
Keywords: Bile acids; Fatty acids; Hepatic Physiology; Hepatocytes; Hepatology; Maturation; Metabolism; Metabolomics; Petromyzon marinus; Reproductive Physiology; Sex; Untargeted metabolomics; dept.che; peer-reviewed

Perceived awareness, benefits, and strategies of Pakistani editors regarding open-access journal publishing - Raza, Muhammad Zahid; Rafiq, Muhammad; Soroya, Saira Hanif (Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, 2025)
This study aims to discover the perceived awareness, benefits and suitable strategies of the Pakistani editors of Higher Education Commission (HEC)-recognized scholarly journals regarding open-access (OA) journal publishing in Pakistan.,A structured questionnaire-based survey method of quantitative research approach was adopted to achieve the study’s objectives by collecting data from the editors of 329 HEC-recognized journals in Pakistan.,The awareness level of the respondents of the Pakistani journals is low regarding the OA concepts, resources and initiatives. The respondents of OA journals have better awareness levels than the respondents of non-OA journals. All the respondents of journals are convinced and have the view that OA journals have wider benefits for the academic community, and they need to flourish. A majority of the respondents are of the view that HEC should sponsor financial resources and technical training for OA journal publishing. The respondents of OA journals are more in favor of supporting OA journal publishing than the respondents of non-OA journals.,This study covered the lists of HEC-recognized journals of 2019. More studies may be conducted based on updated lists of HEC-recognized journals by using different research paradigms such as qualitative or pragmatic research approaches.,To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first comprehensive study on this phenomenon and is an effort to fill this gap and invigorate the scholarly literature. It may attract the attention of the policymakers, funding bodies, parent institutions of the journals and the HEC to cope with the low awareness level of the Pakistani editors regarding the OA concepts, resources and initiatives; and suitable strategies required to uplift the OA journal publishing paradigm in Pakistan.
Keywords: dept.ils; peer-reviewed

Freshwater salinization of seasonal ponds: high salinity and stratification threaten critical, overlooked habitats - Brady, Steven P.; Benoit, Gaboury (Environmental Science & Technology, 2025)
Nearly a century of road salt use in the snowbelt region of North America has led to substantial increases in salinity levels in freshwater habitats. Salt pollution in lakes and rivers is well characterized. Lacking are broad insights for seasonal ponds. As critical habitats for many endemic species, these small and often poorly flushed surface waters are especially vulnerable to accumulating high levels of salts and other pollutants. Here, we measured salinity in 165 seasonal ponds, characterizing salt pollution patterns across space, through time, and over depth within ponds. We found that 70% of ponds within 37 m of a road contained salinity levels exceeding Canadian federal guidelines. 54% of ponds within 25 m exceeded less conservative US federal guidelines. Within ponds, the water column was stratified due to the combined density effects of salt and temperature. Bottom waters of polluted ponds were about 57% saltier than near-surface waters, though many were much saltier than this. Compared to lakes and rivers, far more seasonal ponds appear to be compromised by deicing salt, and overall, the concentration of salt appears to be substantially higher. Among aquatic habitats, seasonal ponds are experiencing the most severe impacts of freshwater salinization, with consequent impacts on sensitive aquatic organisms.
Keywords: dept,bio; peer-reviewed

Insomnia symptoms, mental health diagnosis, mental health care utilization, and perceived barriers in u.s. males and females - Sawadogo, Wendemi; Njoku, Anuli; Jegede, Joy (Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2025)
Objective: We aim to determine the association between insomnia symptoms and mental health in females and males and compare mental health care utilization and perceived barriers between females and males with insomnia symptoms. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using the National Health Interview Survey. Insomnia symptoms included self-reported “trouble falling asleep”, ‘trouble staying asleep”, and “waking up feeling not well rested”. Mental health included self-reported anxiety and depression. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the association between insomnia symptoms and mental health in females and males. Results: A total of 26,691 adults were included. The mean age was 48.2 years; 51.4% were females, and 48.6% were males. Insomnia symptoms were associated with anxiety and depression for both females and males. These associations were stronger in younger adults (<50 years) than older adults (≥50 years). Females with insomnia symptoms were more likely to receive mental health care (OR = 1.7; 95% CI = 1.53, 1.87) but also to delay mental health care because of its cost (OR = 1.96; 95% CI: 1.67, 2.30) or needed mental health care but did not get it because of the cost (OR = 2.14; 95% CI: 1.82, 2.50) than their males counterpart. Conclusions: Insomnia symptoms were associated with mental health in females and males, being stronger in younger adults than older adults, with gender differences in mental health care utilization and financial barriers to mental health care. Holistic approaches involving prevention and better access to mental health care are warranted.
Keywords: dept.pch; dept.swk; peer-reviewed

Black women's same-gender dating preferences - Maldonado, Jessany (Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships, 2024)
Scholarship exploring Black women-loving women's (Black WLW) romantic attraction to one another is scarce. Using a mixed methods design, this qualitative analysis reveals that Black WLW wield unwavering expectations as it pertains to dating qualifications. Characteristically, Black WLW prefer potential mates to have ethnic pride, intelligence, confidence, communication skills, and career ambition. Physically, Black WLW prefer potential mates who are curvaceous, and brown and/or dark-skinned in skin tone—especially if they themselves share the same features. Congruent with previous scholarship, Black WLW assign more value to an individual's character, aura, and personality over physical attributes when assessing attractiveness and desirability.
Keywords: dept.wgs; peer-reviewed

Unanticipated money growth and unemployment in the Philippines - Patalinghug, Jason C. (Journal of Applied Economic Sciences (JAES), 2024)
The Philippines has had high levels of unemployment for years. During the 2000s, the unemployment rate hovered between seven and ten percent. High unemployment can have adverse effects on individuals and society. The question that this paper analyses is how unanticipated money growth affect the unemployment situation in the Philippines. There has been literature on the relationship between unanticipated growth on the money supply and unemployment. The paper proposes that only unanticipated money movements will affect real economic variables like unemployment and the output level. In order to test our hypothesis, it is important that we need to quantify the concepts of anticipated and unanticipated money movements. This paper uses time-series data on several economic variables as well as a model based on Geetha et al. (2023). Using an error-correction model, the results show that an unanticipated increase in M2 money is a factor that contributes to unemployment in Philippines.
Keywords: Philippines; dept.eco; peer-reviewed; time-series data; unanticipated money; unemployment

Intersectional Feminist Criminology: A Critical Companion to Theory and Research - Michalsen, Venezia (University of California Press, 2025)
This pathbreaking book brings to bear a sweeping body of contemporary intersectional feminist work to disrupt the entire discipline of criminology. Women have been largely absent from criminological theory, research, policy, and practice. This fresh, conversational book critiques the field's dominant theories by analyzing gendered patterns of perpetration and victimization and challenging traditional criminological perspectives on characteristics such as race and queerness. Designed as a rebuttal to conventional criminology textbooks, the book mirrors standard course content through an intersectional feminist lens, offering students a valuable opportunity to question the field's underpinnings and forge a new path to understanding the true meaning of justice.   Organized in fourteen chapters, each chapter includes accessible learning aids for students: A review of how traditional criminology textbooks cover the topic Critical perspectives on the topic Critical thinking breaks Intersectional Feminist Criminology is a timely intervention and companion to the curriculum that helps to imagine a new world and ultimately lays out a clear abolitionist vision as an alternative to the American criminal legal system.
Keywords: dept.soc

The situation with modern leadership stacking: racial politics, racial discourse, and the realities for black american coaches—who keeps moving the goalposts? - Harrison, C. Keith; Mebane, Karreem; Fennell, Marcis; Griffin, Whitney; McAllister, Dre; Hart, Richard; McArdle, Danielle (2025)
The practice of racial stacking continues to play a significant role in the National Football League (NFL or the League). This paper explores the effects of racial stacking on NFL hiring practices by enumerating examples of the selection of football players and how it fosters a disadvantageous environment for Blacks who desire to become head coaches and leaders of sport franchises. With data analysis that showcases hiring practices that affect Black and Brown head coaches and front-office personnel, the paper traces the hiring of Black presidents, general managers, and head coaches while critically assessing indicators of color blindness within the pipeline to NFL leadership positions. We contend that channeling athletes to specific playing positions on a team adversely affects their chances of advancing to leadership roles as coaches and team executives.
Keywords: NFL hiring practices; Rooney Rule; coaching pipeline; dept.rec; peer-reviewed; racial stacking

“It’s where she belongs, isn’t it?” Lupe Vélez and Dolores del Río in Hollywood - Hernández-Rodríguez, R. (Nomadic New Women: Exile and Border-Crossing between Spain and the Americas, Early to Mid-Twentieth Century, 2024)
Mexican artistic influence at the beginning of the twentieth century was prevalent in America, most notably muralism, but also talent associated with the movies. This influenced the way Mexico was perceived in the United States, and by extension the way Lupe Vélez and Dolores del Río, the most successful Mexican actresses in early Hollywood, were appreciated. Both actresses had come to Hollywood to fulfill their dream of a career in the movies. At first, they were successful playing a variety of roles in silent movies, but once sound arrived, their accents made obvious their foreignness at a time when American culture was beginning to spread around the world and to establish its preeminence. They were aware of the challenges they faced and knew there was a price to pay if they wanted to continue in a business where the public decided, at a time when Americans distrusted foreigners. So, if that price was to overplay her earthy Mexicaness, in the case of Vélez, or emphasize her aristocratic image, in the case of del Río, they were ready to pay it. Mexico became the other par excellence in the early twentieth century, and these heavily accented actresses were evidence of that.
Keywords: Dolores del Río; Ethnic representation; Hollywood; Identity; Lupe Vélez; Mexican influence; Silent films; Stereotypes; Talkies; dept.wll

Building TRUST: empowering teachers to support students with emotional and behavioral disorders - Mitchell, Carolyn C.; Gershwin, Tracy; Robinson, Jason D.; Hynes, Kristy C. (Intervention in School and Clinic, 2025)
Students identified with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) often display a variety of challenging behaviors that can significantly affect both their learning and the dynamics of the student–teacher relationship. Addressing these challenges necessitates the development of authentic, meaningful connections between teachers and students, achieved through applying strategies designed to support student behavior and solidify a trusting relationship. This article introduces the TRUST mnemonic framework, a comprehensive, trauma-informed approach to help teachers build rapport, foster trust, engage, and support students with EBD. The framework encapsulates five principal strategies: transforming perceptions of challenging student behaviors, rapport-building, utilizing restorative practices, supplying choices, and teaming with student caregivers. Together, these strategies provide a structured model for fostering positive relationships and educational experiences while supporting student behavior, ultimately contributing to improved outcomes for students with EBD.
Keywords: dept.sed; peer-reviewed

Autism spectrum disorder in adolescents and adults: an introduction - Volkmar, Fred R.; Reichow, Brian; McPartland, James C. (Adolescents and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2024)
Leo Kanner’s classic description of autism appeared eight decades ago. Although the pace of research has increased dramatically, research specifically focused on adolescents and adults remains limited in many respects. Numerous outcome studies have been conducted and suggest potential for markedly improved outcome with intervention. Unfortunately, studies on adults after early adulthood are sparse and, for old age, almost nonexistent, reflecting a lack of support for research in this population. This is in stark contrast to other developmental disorders in which considerable information on adult life is often available. This book summarizes work across areas, focusing on what is known and not yet known, highlighting important areas for future research. While overall outcome has improved, a small group of individuals remain in need of high levels of adult care. For all individuals, the field requires new approaches to both research and clinical service.
Keywords: Adolescents; Adults; Autism; Outcome; Supports; dept.sed

Sensemaking and sustainability: a sensemaking perspective on the ethical use of big data in marketing strategizing - Wang, Emma (Junhong); Berthon, Pierre; Su, Yiran (Sustainable Development Seen Through the Lenses of Ethnoeconomics and the Circular Economy, 2024)
Despite the ethical concerns over the datafication and surveillance of individuals and groups, companies are making ever greater investments in big data. The assumptions underpinning this movement are: (1) organizations are passive implementers of big data—more data is the inevitable consequence of technology and a competitive necessity for business, (2) more data offers a more objective and accurate picture of reality and (3) more data enables better prediction. We argue that this perspective is strategically unsustainable and abdicates ethical responsibility.
Keywords: Big Data; Organization; Sensemaking; Strategizing; Sustainability; dept.mrk

Book Review: Culture 2.0: The Intersection of National and Organizational Culture and Unruly Speech: Displacement and the Politics of Transgression - Milburn, Trudy (Management Communication Quarterly, 2024)
Keywords: book review; dept.aa

Sword with a dual edge: Membership categorization and stereotyping in elite European club football commentary (chapter 12) - Hansen, Alan; Milburn, Trudy (Communicated Stereotypes at Work, 2024)
Communicated Stereotypes at Work highlights the pervasiveness and complexity of stereotypes in the workplace by analyzing the role they play in a variety of professional settings. Contributors exp...
Keywords: dept.aa

Syria, English in - Hadid, Alia; Hos, Rabia (The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of World Englishes, 2025)
To gain a full perspective about English in Syria, it is necessary to focus on English learning in the past and present. The focus of the learning and teaching of the English language in Syria prior to 2011 consisted of various factors such as length of exposure to language, teacher preparation, qualifications, cross-linguistic transfer, and textbooks. The interruptions in schooling, brain drain, and depletion of resources were additional factors that influenced the learning and teaching of English in Syria in the post-2011 era. The entry concludes with a proposal that conscientious efforts are needed to enhance the teaching of English in Syria.
Keywords: English language teaching; English learning; Middle East; Syria; Syrian refugees; dept.grad; language education; teacher training

Perceptions of the Pakistani editors for open access journal publishing: a developing country’s perspective - Raza, Muhammad Zahid; Rafiq, Muhammad; Soroya, Saira Hanif (Information Development, 2025)
ObjectivesThis study has been designed to determine Pakistani editors’ perceptions regarding the Open Access (OA) publishing practices of the Higher Education Commission (HEC)-recognized journals in Pakistan, and to assess their best OA publishing models.MethodologyA structured questionnaire-based survey method of quantitative research approach was adopted to achieve the study’s objectives by collecting data from the editors of all 329 HEC-recognized journals in Pakistan.FindingsThis study exposed that public and teaching institutes are leading in OA journal publishing in Pakistan as compared to private and research institutes. Diamond OA, and Gold OA publishing models are popular among the respondents; however, respondents are not convinced to follow any specific OA publishing model due to their different choices. A large majority (92%) of the journals belong to the Y category (the lowest) of journals. A large majority (72%) of the journals in Pakistan is adopting the Open Journal System (OJS), and parent institutions installed web browsers. CC-BY-NC and CC-BY licenses are their favorite licenses.SignificanceThe present study is the first comprehensive study on editors’ perceptions for OA journal publishing and is an effort to fill this gap to invigorate the scholarly literature. This study may enable the journals, editors, and publishers to follow the best OA journal publishing practices of the Pakistani journals for global OA usage of scholarly journals. The results have practical and theoretical ramifications for academic and research institutions, federal and provincial higher education commissioners, policy organizations, and parent institutions of journals.
Keywords: dept.ils; peer-reviewed

Exploring capacitive swipe gesture for user authentication using a new large dataset - K.c., Kiran; Hossain, Md Shafaeat; Haberfeld, Carl (Computers & Security, 2025)
We investigate the viability of the capacitive swipe gesture as a biometric modality. While the regular swipe gesture and the capacitive image have been widely explored in biometric literature, the capacitive swipe gesture is fairly new in this line of research. To our knowledge, only one recent study has explored the capacitive swipe gesture, and demonstrated its promise. However, that study is limited by a number of factors, such as using a very small data set in the experiments, collecting data in a single session, allowing the same impostor in both training and testing phases of authentication models, etc. In our paper, we address all these limitations, and rigorously explore the capacitive swipe gesture by creating a new large data set. Additionally, we develop a new technique to preprocess capacitive swipe gesture data, and demonstrate its effectiveness by comparing with existing techniques. A large set of experiments with four machine learning classifiers and two swipe directions prove that the capacitive swipe gesture can be effectively used for user authentication in smartphones.
Keywords: Authentication; Biometrics; Capacitive swipe gesture; Smartphone security; Touchscreen; dept.csc

Moving toward more inclusive, affirming, and health-promoting nutrition education - Benes, Sarah; and Burtnyk, Erin (Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 2025)
Nutrition units are a staple in many health education courses. While nutrition units can support the acquisition of critical functional knowledge and the development of important skills, there is also the potential for harm and the potential to perpetuate beliefs, ideas, and norms that can lead to disordered eating, the development of unhealthy relationships with food, or shaming of self and others (e.g., fat shaming). The purpose of this article is to outline several factors that may influence how health educators think about and teach nutrition, as well as practical strategies for creating inclusive, affirming, and health-promoting nutrition units.
Keywords: dept.hms; peer-reviewed

Machine learning model for the identification of lung cancer subtypes based on dna methylation - Al-Qirshi, Raghad; Basit, Syed Abdullah; Musleh, Saleh; Islam, Mohammad Tariqul; Alam, Tanvir (Association for Computing Machinery, 2025)
Lung Adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) are the two main histology subtypes of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with 70% of total Lung Cancer. In this article we proposed an ensemble-based model for the identification of subtypes of NSCLC using methylation data. Proposed Random Forest-based model along with out of bag (OOB) error based feature selection technique identified the top ten most important CpG sites that are highly differentiator between LUSC and LUAD subtypes of NSCLC with an accuracy, precision and F1 Score of \(97%\) . The proposed model outperformed the other existing models for the same purpose with huge margin of 12%. Pathway analysis of the proposed 10 CpG sites revealed different pathways for LUAD and LUSC associated genes, LUAD-associated genes primarily participated in TP53, PTEN, GLP-1, Incretin regulation, and apoptosis. Conversely, LUSC-associated genes were predominantly involved in pathways for platelet degranulation, serine biosynthesis, and Nephrin family interaction.
Keywords: dept.csc

RDnet: Deep Learning-based model for the Identification of Retinal Detachment - Islam, Mohammad Tariqul; Hafruza, Khadeejath; Musleh, Saleh; Arif, Muhammad; Alam, Tanvir (Association for Computing Machinery, 2025)
Retinal Detachment (RD) is one of the major problems with retinal disorder patients. Till to date there existing no confirmatory sign or marker on retina for the early detection of RD. Therefore, patients may have sudden RD at any time of their life. Moreover, it is completely dependent upon the subjective judgement of ophthalmologist to make the final diagnostic decision on RD. To support the decision making process for the ophthalmologist, in this article we proposed RDNet, a SqueezeNet architecture based deep learning model for the early detection of RD. We used publicly available dataset of 1017 images covering rhegmatogenous RD and control group. The proposed model built on this image set achieved 97.55% sensitivity, 99.26% specificity and 98.23% accuracy in detecting RD. The proposed model outperformed the existing models for the same purpose with the highest area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.995. We believe our model will support the early detection of RD in clinical setup and assist the ophthalmologist in identifying RD at its early stage.
Keywords: dept.csc

Empathy in action: nurturing sustainable educational change through Nel Noddings' ethics of care - Hadid, Alia; Hos, Rabia; Hauber-Özer, Melissa (Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 2025)
This introduction synthesizes the research presented by the contributors to this special issue to explore sustainable educational practices for refugees. A common thread across the articles is that they share components of Nel Noddings’ ethics of care framework, which emphasizes establishing welcoming, nurturing, and supportive environments that enable refugees to build meaningful relationships while honoring their cultural identities. We recommend action steps gleaned from the 11 papers in this issue that call for the concerted efforts of all those involved. Central to this vision are teachers, who serve as the backbone of the education system; however, to fulfill this role, they must be equipped with the necessary resources and skills to foster culturally responsive educational environments that emphasize students’ identities and provide equitable learning. This introduction underscores the importance of holistic and relational approaches as foundational to achieving sustainable educational equity for refugee learners.
Keywords: Community; dept.grad; empathy; empowerment; equity; inclusive; peer-reviewed

The Qz5 Survey. I. How the H i Mass Density of the Universe Evolves with Cosmic Time - Oyarzún, Grecco A.; Rafelski, Marc; Christensen, Lise; Ozyurt, Fiona; Jorgenson, Regina A.; Neeleman, M.; Fumagalli, Michele; Prochaska, J. Xavier; Worseck, G.; Wisz, M. E.; Becker, George D.; López, Sebastián (The Astrophysical Journal, 2025)
We report that the neutral hydrogen (H i) mass density of the Universe (ρH i) increases with cosmic time since z ∼ 5, peaks at z ∼ 3, and then decreases toward z ∼ 0. This is the first result of Qz5, our spectroscopic survey of 63 quasars at z ≳ 5 with VLT/X-SHOOTER and Keck/ESI aimed at characterizing intervening H i gas absorbers at z ∼ 5. The main feature of Qz5 is the high resolution (R ∼ 7000–9000) of the spectra, which allows us to (1) accurately detect high column density H i gas absorbers in an increasingly neutral intergalactic medium at z ∼ 5 and (2) determine the reliability of previous ρH i measurements derived with lower resolution spectroscopy. We find five intervening damped Lyα absorbers (DLAs) at z > 4.5, which corresponds to the lowest DLA incidence rate () at z ≳ 2. We also measure the lowest ρH i at z ≳ 2 from our sample of DLAs and subDLAs, corresponding to ρH i Mpc−3 at z ∼ 5. Taking into account our measurements at z ∼ 5 and systematic biases in the DLA detection rate at lower spectral resolutions, we conclude that ρH i doubles from z ∼ 5 to z ∼ 3. From these results emerges a qualitative agreement between how the cosmic densities of H i gas mass, molecular gas mass, and star formation rate build up with cosmic time.
Keywords: dept.phy; peer-reviewed

Self perception of leadership styles and behavior in secondary school athletic trainers - Coleman, Kelly; Singe, Stephanie (Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice, 2025)

What increases the urban–rural gap in firm entry rates? - Kim, Younjun; Orazem, Peter F. (Small Business Economics, 2025)
Both urban and rural firm entry rates have declined over the last three decades, and the urban–rural gap in firm entry rates has increased. We investigate which local market factors are associated with the divergence between 1993 and 2019. Our model includes local measures of firm agglomeration, population agglomeration, human capital, consumption demand, government fiscal policies, and natural amenities. Their effects on firm entry are consistent over time and have similar signs in both rural and urban markets. While the magnitudes of these factors have remained fairly stable over time, their impact on firm entry has diminished in both markets, which has lowered the rate of firm entry overall. Larger rural market declines in the importance of firm agglomeration, population agglomeration, and educated labor supply are the main factors driving the rising gap in urban–rural firm entry.
Keywords: Agglomeration; Firm entry; Human capital; J24; M13; R11; Rural; Urban; dept.eco; peer-reviewed

Defining the enemy: Propaganda in a civil war - Paddock, Troy (Violence and Propaganda in European Civil Wars, 2025)
Propaganda in the first half of the 20th century is usually associated with the atrocity stories from World War I and the anti-Semitic propaganda of the Nazi regime and World War II. This chapter provides a brief overview of the history of propaganda and propaganda theory before turning its attention to a theory of propaganda in civil war. It argues that what makes propaganda in a civil war unique is that it is a combination of both political and war propaganda. Current research on propaganda theory emphasizes that propaganda is in service of an ideology and focuses on propaganda as disseminating information that tries to avoid reason and veracity. The chapter argues that propagandists in a civil war setting are presenting the ‘truth’ as they understand it. Informed by Carl Schmitt’s “friend/enemy” distinction in his Concept of the Political, the author argues that each side argued and was convinced that they represented the values and interests of the nation and its people, and that because the stakes of the conflict were so high that all actions could be justified.
Keywords: dept.his

Light nuclei femtoscopy and baryon interactions in 3 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC - STAR Collaboration (Physics Letters B, 2025)
We report the measurements of proton-deuteron (p-d) and deuteron-deuteron (d-d) correlation functions in Au+Au collisions at sNN = 3 GeV using fixed-target mode with the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). For the first time, the source size (RG), scattering length (f0), and effective range (d0) are extracted from the measured correlation functions with a simultaneous fit. The spin-averaged f0 for p-d and d-d interactions are determined to be -5.28 ± 0.11(stat.) ± 0.82(syst.) fm and -2.62 ± 0.02(stat.) ± 0.24(syst.) fm, respectively. The measured p-d interaction is consistent with theoretical calculations and low-energy scattering experiment results, demonstrating the feasibility of extracting interaction parameters using the femtoscopy technique. The reasonable agreement between the experimental data and the calculations from the transport model indicates that deuteron production in these collisions is primarily governed by nucleon coalescence.
Keywords: dept.phy; peer-reviewed

#scholar #famous #monster - Wolgemuth, Jennifer R.; Lester, Jessica Nina; Guyotte, Kelly W.; Koro, Mirka; Marn, Travis M. (Educational Researcher, 2025)
Academic success is now coupled with social media engagement. Social media has become so normalized in the academy that absent a carefully curated social media presence, scholars risk being seen as unscholarly, unproductive, and unpopular. This article lays bare the pressures, mechanisms, and monstrosities of using social media to promote scholarship. We argue that the widespread adoption of social media outpaces critical attention to its ethics and wonder about the future of public scholarship and the monstrous scholarly selves we are becoming. Thinking of monstrosity, with Krecˇicˇ and Žižek, as the preontological domain that rests beneath society and constitutes alterity and otherness, we ask what kinds of #scholarfamousmonsters we want to be, become, and promote in the digital era.
Keywords: dept.cur; peer-reviewed

Perceived religious social support in faith communities for caregivers of persons living with dementia - Garrison, Brianna V.; Myers, Dennis R.; Parrish, Danielle E.; Oxhandler, Holly K. (Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 2025)
As the U.S. population continues to age, increasing the prevalence of persons impacted by dementia in the community, faith communities are challenged to address the growing needs of their members. However, research has not looked specifically at the effects of religious social support on caregivers for persons living with dementia experiencing burden. This study aimed to address this gap by utilizing an exploratory, cross-sectional design to survey U.S. caregivers of persons living with dementia who expressed faith to be an important aspect of their life (n = 158). This study found that religious social support is a significant predictor of reducing burden among caregivers.
Keywords: Dementia; caregiver; dept.swk; faith community; peer-reviewed; social determinants of health; social support

Optimizing MPPT Control of DC-DC Boost Converters Using Metaheuristic Search Algorithms and Nonlinear PID (N-PID) Controllers - Khellaf, L.; Djellal, A.; Mayache, H.; Sheta, A. (Springer Nature Switzerland, 2025)
Photovoltaic systems have proven to be one of the most widely used renewable energies and the best replacement for conventional energy. Yet, their non-linear nature remains a challenge when it comes to extracting maximum power from photovoltaic modules. Therefore, in this work, a nonlinear PID controller has been used to meet the requirements of the photovoltaic system. In addition, to improve system performance and response, metaheuristic search algorithms were introduced into the tuning process of both the NPID controller and conventional PID controller parameters in order to compare them. The use of Artificial Intelligence to fine-tune the controller parameters will enable the optimum values of proportional, integral, derivative and nonlinear gains to be determined as system condition change. Finally, a comparison between the algorithms applied is conducted in terms of efficiency, rise time, settling time and overshoot as well as the overall system stability.
Keywords: Control; Evolutionary Algorithm; Machine Learning; Swarm Intelligence Algorithm; dept.csc

Changing working environments in philosophy: reflections from a case study - McConwell, Alison K.; Bogacz, Magdalena T.; Brecevic, Char; Haber, Matthew H.; Wu, Jingyi; Roe, Sarah M. (Philosophy of Science, 2025)
There is an “under-representation problem” in philosophy departments and journals. Empirical data suggest that while we have seen some improvements since the 1990s, the rate of change has slowed down. Some posit that philosophy has disciplinary norms making it uniquely resistant to change. We present results from an empirical case study of a philosophy department that achieved and maintained male-female gender parity among its faculty as early as 2014. Our analysis extends beyond matters of gender parity because that is only one, albeit important, dimension of inclusion. We build from the study to reflect on strategies that may catalyze change.
Keywords: dept.his; peer-reviewed

Corruption, natural capital and economic development: a dynamic gmm analysis - Ang, J.P.; Patalinghug, J.C. (Review of Economic Analysis, 2025)
Using a dynamic panel dataset of 150 countries for the period of 2006-2018 and a two-step system GMM estimation model, this paper shows that natural resources have a positive effect on economic development while holding corruption constant. Our findings support the notion that natural resources have a positive effect on the economy of a nation. When a country has less corruption, it improves the appropriation of economic gains from natural resources which serves as natural capital that would drive further capital accumulation and further development. We also find that physical capital, human capital, and freedom from corruption show strong positive effects on economic development, controlling for other economic and institutional variables. © 2025 Joshua P. Ang and Jason C. Patalinghug.
Keywords: Corruption; Dynamic Panel Study; Economic Development; Human Capital; Natural Resources; Physical Capital; dept.eco

Integrating edTPA into Physical Education Teacher Education: Teacher Educators’ Perceptions and Experiences in Preparing Teacher Candidates - Olsen, Edward B.; Wyant, James D.; Tsuda, Emi; Laughlin, Michael K.; Baxter, Deborah S. (Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 2024)
Purpose: In the United States, 15 states maintain policies and 25 states represent some level of edTPA affiliation. This study investigated how the edTPA was integrated and aligned into different physical education teacher education (PETE) programs in New Jersey. It also sought to understand teacher educators’ perceptions and experiences in preparing teacher candidates for the edTPA. Methods: This study utilized three data sources: semistructured interviews (n = 4), one focus group interview (n = 1), and documents (n = 17). Data analysis reflected a conventional approach toward qualitative content analysis. Results: In analyzing the data, four themes were established: (a) benefits and drawbacks of edTPA in PETE, (b) goals and success of edTPA in PETE, (c) integrating edTPA into PETE—macro- and microperspectives, and (d) analytic insights into edTPA and future recommendations. Discussion/Conclusion: In states requiring the edTPA, early exposure, scaffolding, curriculum mapping, and a shared mission and vision are critical. In states not requiring the edTPA, programs may want to consider indicators of performance, such as artifacts, reports, elements of the edTPA, university-based assessments, or a portfolio. Regardless of the type of assessment, “a” performance-based assessment may help to determine teacher candidates’ ability to plan, instruct, assess, and reflect.
Keywords: dept.hms; faculty; peer-reviewed; performance-based assessments; preservice teachers

The story so far: scoping review of narratives in deaf children - Puhlman, Jane; Sabatino, Lauren; DeLuca, Zara Waldman; Lorio, Ciera; Decker, Lindsay (The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 2025)
Narrative language samples can be used to measure language development in children, but research on narrative development in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children is scarce, limiting knowledge of developmental stages and best practices for collection and analysis. This scoping review included 39 articles that explored recent methodologies and achievements in oral or signed narratives of DHH children, including comparisons with hearing peers and within-group analyses of early auditory experience, device use, and other measures. Articles featured DHH participants aged < 4 to 18 years, varying in device use, communication modalities, and educational settings. Most studies utilized story generation tasks with early elementary-aged children and analyzed either microstructure or macrostructure. Mixed results in comparisons with hearing children emphasized the need to consider individual differences (e.g., speech perception and age of spoken language access) in DHH narrative assessments. Findings also suggest that comparability across studies would be improved by more consistent terminology and procedures in narrative collection/analysis.
Keywords: dept.cmd; peer-reviewed

Florinetta and the Food of Freedom: Morgante XIX - Palma, Pina (Table talk. Perspectives on food in medieval Italian literature, 2010)
Keywords: dept.wll

Futurist arte / vita: Benedetta Fictionalized - Larkin, Erin (Volume 8 2018, 2018)
Keywords: dept.wll

Faunos en los trópicos: modernismo y virilidad - Hernández Rodríguez, Rafael (Ecos y resplandores helenos en la literatura hispana: siglos XVI-XXI, 2018, ISBN 978-84-697-9697-9, págs. 113-130, 2018)
Modernism represents an artistic movement that mirrors the changing society of the late 19th century. This changing society produced the first cultural and artistic movement in Spanish America that asked what was this region's place in the Western World as well as what the poet's new function was. Among other issues that revea) the modernity of the movement, such as urbanization, industrialization, or the role of women, there is one of capital importance: the view of masculinity. This essay focuses on three texts that review the image of masculinity and art thought the figure of the faun. El modernismo representa un movimiento artístico que refleja la sociedad cambiante de finales del siglo XIX. Esta sociedad cambiante genera el primer movimiento cultural y artístico continental de importancia que intenta responder a la pregunta ¿cuál es el lugar de Hispanoamérica en el mundo occidental y cuál es la nueva función del poeta? Entre otros aspectos que señalan la modernidad del movimiento (como el urbanismo, la industrialización, el papel de la mujer), hay uno de particular importancia: la revisión de la masculinidad. Este ensayo se centra en tres textos que revisan la visión de la masculinidad y el arte a través de la imagen del fauno.
Keywords: dept.wll

Symbolic Violence and Public Displays of Difference - Compan, Magali (Visualizing Violence in Francophone Cultures, 2015)
Visualizing Violence in Francophone Cultures brings together two complex and powerful loci of meaning: violence and the visual. As such, it offers a comprehensive overview from which one can gain a better understanding of the complexity of the visual rhetoric of violence. The visual representations of violence explored in this volume include both fictional works, including, for example, narrative films, graphic novels, and theatre, and non-fictional genres, such as news media and cultural artifacts. This volume’s strength is also grounded in its interdisciplinary approach; by bringing together scholars from a variety of academic fields to examine a broad range of visual artifacts, such as photography, graphic novel, films, paintings, objects, the book offers a substantive corpus focusing on the rhetoric of violence. The essays collected in this volume explore the ways in which visual expressions of violence have infiltrated diverse narrative forms, and, as such, how they both construct and challenge general understandings of contemporary violence. They all chart, with cultural and historical specificity, the way in which images of violence shape the visual imaginary of ethical worlds.
Keywords: History / General; dept.wll

Gendered cognitions: a socio-cognitive model of how gender affects entrepreneurial preferences - Wieland, Alice M.; , Kemmelmeier ,Markus; , Gupta ,Vishal K.; and McKelvey, William (Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 2019)
This research explores the social-cognitive factors which lead both women and men to pursue ventures consistent with their gendered social identity, therefore, reinforcing the gender gap in entrepreneurship. We measured the self-assessments of individuals presented with experimentally manipulated entrepreneurial opportunities that were either consistent or inconsistent with their self-reported gender. A theoretical model derived from Social Role Theory is presented and tested. It posits that a gender match (mismatch) with the entrepreneurial opportunity results in higher (lower) reported self-efficacy, anticipated social resources, and venture desirability and lower (higher) venture risk perceptions. The experimental data are tested in a sequential mediation SEM model. We find evidence that self-efficacy and anticipated social resources mediate the effect of gender congruency on perceived risk and venture desirability. The results provide insight into the insidious barriers that play a role in reproducing a gender gap in entrepreneurial outcomes by ‘nudging’ women into lower-return ventures in less lucrative industries.
Keywords: Entrepreneur; gender; gender gap; gender norms; gender role; opportunity evaluation; sex

Service, emotional labor, and mindfulness - Wang, Emma (Junhong); Berthon, Pierre; Pitt, Leyland; McCarthy, Ian P. (Business Horizons, 2016)
From the seclusion of monastic life to the noise of Silicon Valley, the ancient practice of mindfulness has ‘come out of the cloister.’ As an antidote to mindless cognition and behavior, the practice of mindfulness—with its principle of grounding attention in the present moment—has been shown to have powerful and positive effects at both the individual and the collective level and in fields as wide-ranging as medicine, schooling, prison programs, law and negotiation, business, and even the army. This installment of Marketing & Technology introduces mindfulness to managers and explores its potential for enhancing the service encounter. We begin by reviewing the two main conceptualizations of mindfulness: the cognitive and the contemplative. We then explore the service encounter from the perspective of emotional labor and show how mindfulness can change surface acting into deep acting, thereby significantly improving the service encounter for both the consumer and provider. We also explore the other benefits of mindfulness and their application to the service encounter: adaptability, flexibility, and creativity. We conclude by sharing resources for managers interested in implementing mindfulness training.
Keywords: Creativity; Emotional labor; Mindfulness; Service encounter; dept.mrk

Emerging Trends of Acquisition in Public Libraries of Pakistan: Challenges and Issues - Bashir, Faiza; Hanif Soroya, ,Saira; Soroya, M. Shahid; Khanum, Almas (Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services, 2015)
Acquiring material in public libraries is a core library activity to fulfill the unique needs of the reader's community. The present study aims to explore the trends of monograph acquisition in public libraries. The population consists of the four major public libraries of Lahore. A case study approach has been used to achieve the objectives of the study. Research is based on primarily the personal visits of the researcher to the acquisition departments of these libraries in order to collect data. Structured interviews were carried out with acquisition librarians to investigate the process of purchasing. The analysis of data reveals that a high ratio of Urdu language books has been purchased during the last decade, literature and religion being the major purchase area, whereas, art and architecture, pure sciences, and languages are the most neglected. The findings further revealed that the studied libraries have primarily been using traditional and informal techniques for acquiring material.
Keywords: Pakistan librarianship; acquisition trends; dept.ils; monograph acquisition; public libraries

Reading Trends of Youth in Pakistan: A Pilot Study - Soroya, Saira Hanif; Ameen, Kanwal (Pakistan Journal of Information Management and Libraries, 2016)
The present study, a part of researcher's Ph.D. project, aimed at exploring the reading trends of young Pakistani students (i.e., Generation Y: born during the 1980s and early 1990s, also known as internet generation), and the impact of digital media on their reading behavior. It was conducted as a pilot study on final year's master level students of the University of the Punjab. Quantitative research design, based on a survey was used. Convenient sampling technique was used to collect data from 50 students through questionnaire survey. It revealed that the students' reading behavior has been significantly changed during the last five years. Their overall reading time and digital reading time has been increased due to the availability of digital devices and digital reading material. The findings of this study are helpful in identifying the trends of reading behavior as well as in planning and designing library services with regard to the considering of the behavior of the students.
Keywords: dept.ils

Academic Integrity: Effects of Demographic Variables on Students’ Conduct - Soroya, Dr Muhammad Shahid; Hashmi, Dr Muhammad Amir; Soroya, Saira Hanif (South Asian Studies, 2020)
This study aimed to find out the effects of demographic variable i.e. gender, age, group of studies, GPA etc. on level of academic integrity among Pakistani students. The design of the study is quantitative in nature, in which the survey research method was employed to gather data from the respondents. A self-reported questionnaire was adapted on the basis of previously developed and validated questionnaire, with the consent of the authors. The developed scale was validated with the help of experts and pilot tested. Multilevel stratified convenience sampling technique was used to collect data from 4 provinces and federal area of Pakistan. The collected data was analyzed by using SPSS 16.0 version
Keywords: dept.ils

Application of marketing approach in academic libraries: an exploratory study of Punjab University Libraries (PULs) - Soroya, Saira Hanif; Ameen, Kanwal (Pakistan Library & Information Science Journal, 2017)
Keywords: dept.ils

What do they want? Millennials and role of libraries in Pakistan - Soroya, Saira Hanif; Ameen, Kanwal (The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 2018)
The present study is aimed at determining the future role of libraries in Pakistan as perceived by the Millennials (people born during the 1980's and late 1990's) considering the current ongoing digital development. The quantitative research design, based on survey has been used for the study. The population consisted of students from large and medium sized general universities of Lahore, Pakistan. Stratified purposive sampling technique was carried out to select the pool of the subjects e. A self-constructed and validated instrument was used to collect data. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS (16.0). The results revealed that Millennials want future libraries to allow easy access to a wide range of reading material in both print and digital form. They want to be able to round the clock access to electronic and print resources.
Keywords: 21st century library users; Future role of libraries; Millennials; Pakistan; dept.ils

Users' Satisfaction as a Valid Measure for Information Resources: A Case of Public Libraries - Bashir, Faiza; , Soroya ,Saira Hanif; and Khanum, Almas (Journal of Library Administration, 2018)
The mission of public libraries is to serve the unique needs of their local communities. Public library User's play a very vital role in the development of these libraries by suggesting or recommending additions to the collection. This study aims to evaluate the satisfaction of users with the quality and quantity of library collection. A self structured questionnaire based on open and close ended question was constructed. A purposive sample of one hundred users was selected. The data were qualitatively analyzed using a thematic approach. Positive opinion observed related to the library response towards the suggested titles. Almost half the population of respondents was satisfied with the availability of their suggested titles in library. Most of them were dissatisfied regarding the maintenance of equal collection of books and they are not encouraged by the library staff during the books suggestion process. It concludes that there is a need to evaluate the existing library collections.
Keywords: dept.ils; information quality; information resources; public libraries; user satisfaction