Weber State University

This study investigates the impact of network capabilities and deep learning techniques on companies' financial performance within buyer-supplier networks. It broadens the scope by incorporating network measures such as closeness and network constraint, whereas previous studies have primarily focused on suitable buyer-supplier relationships. The analysis evaluates the effects of these network measures on companies' financial performance metrics, including asset growth rate, return on assets, and more. In addition, this study explores the impact of extended networks on company performance using deep learning techniques. The results show that companies' network capabilities are positively associated with their financial performance, highlighting the critical role of network positions in driving success. Furthermore, the findings suggest that extending the network through deep learning offers significant benefits for companies.

Historically, American correctional institutions were designed for men. An increase in incarcerated females has required states to grapple with issues related to menstrual hygiene, including menstrual cycles. While the federal government requires that women and persons who menstruate in federal prisons be supplied with minimal menstrual hygiene supplies, there is no such mandate for menstruators incarcerated in state prisons. We conducted a review and analysis of state legal statutes and Department of Corrections’ (DoC) policies pertaining to menstrual product provision to incarcerated individuals in the United States. We assessed state statutes and policies for product type, amount and quality, requisition process, and cost. Forty-six jurisdictions had policy between state statute or a DoC manual or handbook. Results indicate policies regarding procurement processes and amount provided were vague.

The influence of families on siblings’ experiences and outcomes has been well documented outside of sport, with research dedicated to topics such as socialization, relationship quality, adjustment, resource dilution, and behavioral genetics. While these associations are understood in reference to the immediate family context, sibling dynamics are less understood in the context of youth sport. This is important because sport represents the most common extracurricular activity in which siblings participate together. Guided by family systems theory, Dorsch and colleagues’ (2022) integrated model of the youth sport system, and a social constructivist epistemology, the present study was designed to understand the interactions that take place across multiple family relationships and how these relationships impact siblings’ experiences and outcomes in organized youth sport. Twelve intact families, each consisting of two parents and two siblings, who were engaged in organized youth sport in the United States, participated in individual, semi-structured interviews. More than nine hours of interviews were conducted across these 48 participants.Three researchers engaged in the coding process, which informed the creation of case narratives for each of the 12 families. Interpretation of the case narratives led to the development of nine general themes regarding sibling relationships in youth sport. Of note, a unique pathway of influence was also recognized, wherein parents expressed support for their children’s pursuit of their own niche/identity in youth sport. Future theoretically informed research should be designed to investigate specific individual, dyadic, and family processes that influence sibling experiences and outcomes in youth sport, offering further insight into the complex and dynamic interactions that occur within and across families.

Hales T.A.

Abstract An area of particular interest in FLASH is the potential influence of the immune microenvironment in the sparing of normal tissue. After finding loss of the FLASH effect via survival studies in immunocompromised SCID mice, we examined proteomic analyses performed upon the skin of BALB/c mice for classifiers of FLASH that may be involved in the immune response. Intriguingly, one of our top hits was a known immune regulator, mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin). Here we have validated and further explored the role of mTOR in FLASH. For these studies we exposed the pelvic region of 6-7-week-old female BALB/c mice to proton radiation at two different dose rates: FLASH (∼80Gy/s) and conventional (∼0.5Gy/s), with doses of either 0, 12, or 14 Gy, and mice were irradiated in the entrance region of a 50 MeV proton beam. After 27 days, surviving animals were euthanized, and their pelts and colons were collected for analysis. Protein extracts from skin were prepared for Data Independent Acquisition-Mass Spectrometry (DIA-MS) with protein aggregation capture. Peptide and protein levels were quantified using the Skyline software platform, with normalization performed using the limma batch correction. Through recursive feature elimination using a support vector machine, we identified tryptic peptides whose abundance distinguished between FLASH and conventional radiation treatments. Our analysis revealed significant upregulation of mTOR and Raptor (the regulatory associated protein of mTOR) in response to FLASH radiation, suggesting a pivotal role for mTOR signaling in mediating the differential effects of FLASH versus conventional radiation. mTOR is known to promote PD-L1 expression on cancer cells and enhance the infiltration of immune-suppressive lymphocytes into tumors through increased signaling of interferon and TGF-β. Based on these results, we sought to explore whether combining FLASH radiation with immune checkpoint inhibitors could enhance therapeutic efficacy in melanoma treatment. We conducted experiments treating melanoma cell lines and mice with the combination of conventional or FLASH radiation, with and without anti-PD-1, and noted an increase in overall survival of mice treated with FLASH + anti-PD-1 suggesting a potential therapeutic benefit from this combination. In addition, lysates from in vitro and in vivo studies displayed increased levels of phospho-mTOR (Ser2448), as well as downstream phosphorylated substrates signifying the role of mTOR in mediation of this response. Furthermore, immunofluorescent analyses of the normal colons harvested from the MS cohort demonstrate increased mTOR signaling in FLASH via elevated downstream phospho-S6 ribosomal protein. mTOR is a known regulator of the immune response in cancer therapies; interestingly, it may also be a regulator of FLASH radiation in normal tissue. We have validated our MS hit by western blot and IF, but further studies are aimed at the elucidation of this mechanism. Citation Format: Danielle P. Johnson Erickson, Gennie L. Parkman, Alec Morimoto, Benjamin A. Shaver, Zacharias Seitz, Ava Delonais-Dick, Sunan Cui, Ning Cao, Jing Zeng, Justin Sanders, William S. Noble, Christine C. Wu, Ramesh Rengan, Michael J. MacCoss. Discovery and validation of mTOR as an immune mediator of the FLASH effect. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference in Cancer Research: Translating Targeted Therapies in Combination with Radiotherapy; 2025 Jan 26-29; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2025;31(2_Suppl):Abstract nr P001

Alian O.M., Brazelton W.J., Aquino K.A., Twing K.I., Pendleton H.L., Früh-Green G., Lang S.Q., Schrenk M.O.

Oceanic hydrothermal vent systems represent some of the oldest habitats on Earth and serve as analogs for extraterrestrial environments. The Lost City Hydrothermal Field (LCHF) near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is one such environment, and its large chimneys are unique in hosting actively venting hydrothermal fluids that are primarily controlled by serpentinization reactions in the subseafloor. Microbial communities within LCHF have been studied for insights into their functional adaptations to the warm, alkaline, and dissolved inorganic carbon-limited environment. Metagenomic and mineralogical data collected during a recent expedition to Lost City were analyzed to delineate associations between microbial populations and physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the chimneys. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences show a high degree of putative microdiversity within the relatively dominant genera Desulfotomaculum, Sulfurovum, Thiomicrorhabdus, and Serpentinicella, which represent a large core of the overall LCHF vent bacterial community. This microdiversity relates to the compositional fraction of aragonite, brucite, and calcite minerals within chimney samples rather than just the composition of nearby vent fluids. Although many species are found in both chimneys and venting fluids, the overall microbial community structures in chimney biofilms remain distinct from the hydrothermal fluids that flow through them. Shotgun metagenomic analyses reveal differences among genes predicted to be involved in carbon, methane, nitrogen and sulfur cycling with respect to their correlations to the abundances of specific minerals. These data hint at microenvironmental complexity lost within standard bulk analyses. The findings of this study underscore the need to more closely examine microbe-mineral interactions in natural environments, critically informing not just population-level distributions, but also the functional underpinnings of these extremophile microbial communities.

ABSTRACT Here, we present genomes of three strains of Serratia initially isolated from suburban soil—one strain of S. ureilytica and two strains of S. quinivorans —resistant to multiple classes of antibiotics. This expands the genomic sampling of a group relevant to the ecosystem and human health.

Healthcare is increasingly impacted by chronic short staffing of nurses, which causes and is caused by increased nurse burnout and decreased retention. Nurses’ unions seek to address these problems by proposing safer nurse-to-patient ratios, retention bonuses for working through the COVID-19 pandemic, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) stockpiles, sabbatical leaves, measures aimed at reducing workplace violence, and maintaining or increasing wages and benefits to keep nurses at the bedside. Chronic short staffing and burnout directly affect the quality and availability of patient care—as the International Council of Nurses has pointed out, there is no healthcare without healthcare workers. This article draws on Neiman’s argument that the US healthcare system is best understood as a system of competing interests aimed at fulfilling the community’s obligation to provide access to quality healthcare. Nurses’ unions use contract negotiations, legislative advocacy, and strikes to pressure other members of the healthcare community to address chronic short staffing, burnout, and retention. Nurses’ unions in the US thus play a unique role in the system of competing interest as an organized group whose primary interest aligns with the community’s obligation to provide access to quality healthcare. This article argues that nurses’ professional duty to care for patients includes a duty to support nurses’ unions as an important way to address the factors outside of nurses’ direct practice that impacts the quality and accessibility of the care that nurses provide to patients. This duty to support unions applies to unionized and non-unionized nurses in the US, and includes duties to participate in union activities, to not cross picket lines, and to avoid work for strikebreaking nurse agencies.