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The Shareholder Movement: Shareholder Rights and Activism in 20th Century United States
No full text“The Shareholder Movement: Shareholder Rights and Activism in 20th Century United States” – the first sustained historical study of modern American shareholder activism – investigates the loose coalition of shareholder activists united around the ideal of shareholder democracy in the middle of the twentieth century. Beginning in the 1930s with individual shareholders, shareholder activists increasingly exercised their rights using new protections from the Securities and Exchange Commission to expand their role in corporate governance. These shareholders challenged managerial dominance, promoting shareholders as a source of democratic power and legitimacy. Individual shareholders were later joined by social activists and then social institutional shareholders including unions, pensions, churches, universities, and civil rights groups. I argue that shareholder democracy provided a unifying principle for the different groups of activists, aiding the Shareholder Movement’s success in the middle of the twentieth century. Further, commitment to democratic corporate governance gave the Shareholder Movement a sustained connection, transforming what might have been isolated protests into a coherent movement. Support for shareholder democracy linked together activists demanding better reporting and voting rights in the 1940s to those activists focusing on anti-Apartheid resolutions in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The Shareholder Movement’s success in the middle of the twentieth century showed the potential for shareholder democracy in corporate governance as an alternative to government regulation to managing corporate power. However, the success and increasing number of shareholder resolutions led to structural changes that halted the Shareholder Movement’s momentum. Beginning in the 1980s, a new emphasis on shareholder primacy led to a different class of shareholders aided by regulators that successfully narrowed shareholder activism and its role in corporate governance. Combined with the Shareholder Movement’s own limited connections, the push for shareholder democracy receded in the final quarter of the century
Nanogel-Based Drug Delivery: Tailoring BMP-2 Release for Bone Regeneration
No full textCritical sized bone defects (CSBDs) do not heal spontaneously, requiring medical intervention. Continuous bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) delivery to an injured site is necessary for CSBD regeneration. However, direct BMP-2 delivery is ineffective due to the protein’s short half-life. Nanogels can be used to encapsulate and sustain bioactive BMP-2 release for long time periods. In this study, novel BMP-2 loaded nanogels composed of thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) and hydrolytically degradable dextran-poly(lactate (PLA)-2-hydroxyethyl-methacrylate) or dextran-poly(caprolactone (PCL)-2-hydroxyethyl-methacrylate) macromer were synthesized using emulsion polymerization. Macromers containing PCL or PLA with different degrees of substitution and degree of polymerization (DP/DS), 6/3.8, 6/2.49, 8/3.73 and 8/4.7 were used during synthesis. All nanogels load BMP-2 with approximately 90% encapsulation efficiencies, and range in hydrodynamic diameter between 80 and 196 nm with increasing DP and DS. In vitro BMP-2 release from the nanogels were carried out for 18 days, and released BMP-2 was quantified by ELISA. Among nanogels sustain releasing BMP-2, PCL macromer nanogels with a DP/DS of 6/3.8 had the slowest overall cumulative BMP-2 release, while BMP-2-loaded nanogels containing PLA macromers showed the slowest release with increasing DP and/or DS. Nanogel vehicle cytotoxicity to dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) was tested using MTT and showed that nanogels were not cytotoxic to DPSCs at concentrations up to 5mg/mL. Overall, the nanogel systems demonstrate a promising approach to sustain BMP-2 release with tailored release kinetics for CSBD regeneration.ARCS® Foundation Metro Washington Chapter
Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF) Validation Award 2023-MSCRFV-6020
Frederick G. Smith, MS, DDS and Venice K. Paterakis, DDS Endowment Fun
Teacher Strategies When Addressing Social Exclusion
No full textUndergraduate Research Day 2025 PosterTeachers have a powerful impact on shaping developing children’s attitudes towards inclusion and cross-group friendships (Skinner & Meltzoff, 2019). Previous research has explored teachers’ comfort with discussing discrimination and how perpetuating bias impacts students (Kaufman et al., 2024). But how teachers approach discussion of intergroup exclusion among their students is less examined. For this project, our goal was to explore teachers’ reported strategies of addressing intergroup social exclusion in the classroom and the ways in which they perceive administrations support discussions of intergroup exclusion. Data were part of the Developing Inclusive Youth (DIY) program to examine teachers’ roles in supporting an intervention to reduce bias and increase intergroup friendships among children. A sample of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade elementary school teachers (N = 51, 86% female, 76% White) in U.S. public schools in the Mid-Atlantic region took a pre and post test survey as a part of the DIY intervention. Our team of undergraduates developed a coding scheme to code and analyze teachers’ open-ended responses. Teachers reported addressing social exclusion by disseminating moral and prosocial principles to the entire class more often than speaking to individual students, yet they reported facilitating group discussion on the topic less than any other approach. And teachers cited professional development as administrations’ primary contribution. These results suggest teachers treat exclusion at the group level but aren’t trained to facilitate group conversations. This knowledge of teachers’ approaches and administrative support can inform future school interventions.National Institute of Healt
Adjoint-Based Projections for Quantifying Statistical Covariance near Stochastically Perturbed Limit Cycles and Tori
No full textThis paper presents a new boundary-value problem formulation for quantifying uncertainty induced by the presence of small Brownian noise near normally hyperbolic attracting periodic orbits (limit cycles) and quasiperiodic invariant tori of the deterministic dynamical systems obtained in the absence of noise. The formulation uses adjoints to construct a continuous family of transversal hyperplanes that are invariant under the linearized deterministic flow near the limit cycle or quasiperiodic invariant torus. The intersections with each hyperplane of stochastic trajectories that remain near the deterministic cycle or torus over intermediate times may be approximated by a Gaussian distribution whose covariance matrix can be obtained from the solution to the corresponding boundary-value problem. In the case of limit cycles, the analysis improves upon results in the literature through the explicit use of state-space projections, transversality constraints, and symmetry-breaking parameters that ensure uniqueness of the solution despite the lack of hyperbolicity along the limit cycle. These same innovations are then generalized to the case of a quasiperiodic invariant torus of arbitrary dimension. In each case, a closed-form solution to the covariance boundary-value problem is found in terms of a convergent series. The methodology is validated against the results of numerical integration for two examples of stochastically perturbed limit cycles and one example of a stochastically perturbed two-dimensional quasiperiodic invariant torus in , , and , respectively, for which explicit expressions may be found for the associated covariance functions using the proposed series solutions. Finally, an implementation of the covariance boundary-value problem in the numerical continuation package \textsc{coco} is applied to analyze the small-noise limit near a two-dimensional quasiperiodic invariant torus in a nonlinear deterministic dynamical system in that does not support closed-form analysis. Excellent agreement with numerical evidence from stochastic time integration shows the potential for using deterministic continuation techniques to study the influence of stochastic perturbations for both autonomous and periodically excited deterministic vector fields.https://doi.org/10.1137/23M159931
Program for the Spring 2025 MARAC Conference: Crossroads and Bridges in Archival Practice
No full textThe program for the spring 2025 MARAC conference "Crossroads and Bridges in Archival Practice," held in Harrisburg, PA May 1-3
EXPLORING A TRANSDIAGNOSTIC GENERAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY FACTOR: RELATIONSHIPS WITH NEGATIVE EMOTIONALITY, POSITIVE EMOTIONALITY, AND CONSTRAINT
No full textThis study explores the role of core personality traits, positive emotionality (PEM), negative emotionality (NEM), and constraint (CON), in relation to broad dimensions of psychopathology, including general psychopathology, internalizing, and externalizing. Using the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) framework, the study tests the hypothesis that psychopathology is associated with increased NEM and decreased PEM and CON. The study further examines whether CON moderates the relationship between PEM, NEM, and psychopathological dimensions, proposing that lower levels of CON are linked to higher levels of all three dimensions.To assess these relationships, the study utilizes the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), a self-report measure that includes three higher-order dimensions associated with underlying neurobiological processes: PEM, NEM, and CON. The hypothesis is that the general psychopathology factor will be associated with a general pattern of increased NEM and decreased levels of PEM and CON, with CON moderating the effects of PEM and NEM on internalizing, externalizing, and the general psychopathology factor.
The study pooled four archival datasets. Internalizing was operationalized through self-report measures of depression and anxiety, while externalizing was assessed via the Externalizing Spectrum Inventory. An estimate of the HiTOP general psychopathology factor was operationalized by the shared variance of internalizing and externalizing. Zero-order correlations examined the relationships between MPQ dimensions (PEM, NEM, CON) and HiTOP spectra (internalizing, externalizing, general psychopathology factor). Path analyses assessed the general psychopathology factor’s role in the relationships between the MPQ factors and psychopathology dimensions. Moderation analyses tested whether CON moderated the effect of PEM and NEM on these dimensions.
The results supported the hypotheses, showing that the general psychopathology factor was linked to increased NEM and decreased PEM and CON. Internalizing evidenced a similar pattern for PEM and NEM, but with a significant drop in the role of CON, suggesting affect may have more impact than control for internalizing. Externalizing, on the other hand, evidenced no significant relationship to PEM, and decreases in the role of NEM and increases in the role of CON suggest COG has the strongest role in EXT (relative to INT and GP), with a prominent role of negative affect. Moderation analyses demonstrated PEM and NEM on the general psychopathology factor were moderated by CON, where higher levels of CON were associated with a significant reduction in the pattern of increased NEM and decreased PEM, predicting lower levels of externalizing and the general psychopathology factor. Notably, the interaction between NEM and CON was not significant in predicting internalizing, consistent with the significantly reduced role of CON for INT, relative to EXT and GP. These findings suggest that higher levels of constraint may contribute to more adaptive emotional functioning, which is associated with reduced externalizing and general psychopathology.
By estimating the relationships between these transdiagnostic mechanisms, the present study contributes towards an understanding of how affective and control processes influence psychopathology. This framework offers new directions for research and potential targets for transdiagnostic treatments
THE FLUTE AND DANCE: AN EXAMINATION OF DANCE STYLES AND MOVEMENT INFLUENCES IN THE REPERTOIRE
No full textThis dissertation project presents music in the flute repertoire representative of differing dance and movement styles, consisting of three recitals. The final culminating performance has been presented in collaboration with the University of Maryland’s Dance Department, featuring original choreography by undergraduate dance students. Across three recitals, the programs of music were selected from flute repertoire representing both standard and non-standard works, different types of dance, and works for solo flute, chamber instrumentation, and orchestral instrumentation. The repertoire features a wide range of dance style influences, including court dances, peasant and folk dances, techno music, ballet, and kabuki theater. This document serves as a summary and discussion of the three recitals and their respective programs
Opposing Forces
No full text“Opposing Forces” encompasses both the beginning of a novel-in-progress as well as short stories, which examining the dualities of life. How can we make peace with the dissonance that lies within us and the world-at-large? When the labels and boundaries we impose on ourselves become more entrenched, how can we find refuge in our contradictions? Who are we when those labels fall away?
The novel-in-progress chronicles four generations of women in the Peterson family as they make a home on the Sea Islands of South Carolina in the early1900s, and follow the Great Migration north to Baltimore and Philadelphia, continuing their lineage to the present day. Structured as a series of vignettes before and after actual historical hurricanes known for their intensity and destruction, the narrative illuminates the dualities in the Peterson women lives’: motherhood and infertility, familial bonds and disowned outcasts, Christian faith and hoodoo practice, and generational trauma and solace
Characterization of the Unannotated Transcriptome: Investigating the Evolution of sORFs and Proto/De Novo Genes in the Drosophila pseudoobscura Subgroup using Comparative Transcriptome and Genome Data
No full textThe discovery of small open reading frames (sORFs) and de novo genes has reshaped our understanding of genome functionality, revealing that a much larger portion of the genome is transcribed than previously recognized. However, identifying and validating these unannotated transcripts remains challenging due to their short sequence lengths, low expression levels, and lineage-specific divergence. Here, we employ a multifaceted approach to refine the unannotated transcriptome of Drosophila pseudoobscura and Drosophila persimilis using a large RNA-seq dataset. By assessing expression consistency across multiple strains, developmental stages, and tissues, we identify a subset of small ORF-encoded peptides (SEPs) and proto/de novo genes (p/DNGs) with potential biological relevance.Our analysis reduced the unannotated transcriptome to a refined set of 2,864 consistently expressed transcripts in D. pseudoobscura, of which 1,260 exhibit conserved consistent expression in D. persimilis. Clustering these transcripts into distinct expression profiles revealed 764 transcripts with coordinated developmental regulation, and among them, 85 contained ORFs supported by mass spectrometry in D. pseudoobscura. Further validation through Kozak sequence analysis strengthened the case for their potential translation.
To contextualize these transcripts, we examined attributes of the genes that encode them, including their genomic distribution, chromosomal localization, and enrichment within Topologically Associated Domains (TADs). Our findings reveal significant differences in transcript expression relative to TAD boundaries, suggesting stable gene expression patterns and potential shared regulatory mechanisms. Additionally, we investigated their co-localization with transposable elements (TEs), uncovering striking differences in TE composition between transcript subsets based on biological support and expression profiles. These results suggest that THE activity may influence the regulatory landscape of unannotated transcripts.
By integrating expression conservation, genomic architecture, and evolutionary dynamics, this study refines the strategies for identifying functional sORFs and p/DNGs. This work provides novel insights into the transcriptional landscape of D. pseudoobscura and D. persimilis, offering a framework for future studies on the evolutionary constraints and functional relevance of unannotated genes