Metropolitan State University of Denver

ABSTRACT Subsurface excavations, paleoenvironmental sampling, and Bayesian modeling clarify upland field development in Kula, Maui. We report 26 radiocarbon determinations from 13 agricultural and two ritual feature complexes associated with swale terraces, enclosure walls, and water channels. We model five architectural phases: Preconstruction, Primary Construction, Secondary Modification, Enclosure Works, and Post-European Reuse. Preconstruction land use begins at least in the late 13th–15th centuries a.d., followed by terrace expansion, mainly from the 14th–17th centuries a.d., and later rebuilding on aggraded swales. Enclosure Works appear chiefly in the late 17th–early 19th centuries a.d. and likely supported plot subdivision and pig management. Paleoecological and faunal records indicate persistent open shrubland, trees concentrated along field margins, more warm-season grasses, and increased fire use and crop processing without forest recovery. Terraces and channels redistributed stormwater and soil moisture in a dry upland setting without perennial streams, creating a district-scale productive system linked to ritual authority and wider dryland and wetland economies.

We present a short review of the analytical aspects of recent progress in the study of black hole spectral instability and its potential observational consequences. This topic, inspired by earlier foundational works, has attracted considerable attention in the recent literature. It has been demonstrated that both the low-lying modes and high overtones of black hole quasinormal spectra can be substantially influenced by small deformations in the effective potential of the wave equation that describes black hole perturbations. The temporal evolution of gravitational wave signals is primarily governed by the first few low-lying quasinormal modes. In contrast, the asymptotic behavior of high overtones is closely associated with the phenomenon of black hole echoes. We review relevant studies on spectral instability in both regimes, highlighting their potential to produce substantial observational signatures in gravitational wave data. Additionally, recent proposals of Regge poles and reflectionless modes as alternative stable observables for probing black hole spacetimes are summarized.

In our current hyper-polarized socio-political environment and amidst renewed aggrandized cultural battles playing out across the U.S. most notably in school districts, it is crucial that student teachers are exposed to critical ways of knowing. The urgency becomes evident when examining how student teachers, from a very young age, are socialized into thinking, feeling, believing, and viewing the world and others. In this paper, the authors discuss the intersections of our socially positioned identities (white, cisgender, able bodied, heterosexual, men professors of teacher education), the current national, state, and local socio-political climate (e.g., deeply conservative political power, book bans, anti-CRT and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation), and how we teach critical and contemporary issues in education. In doing so, we reflect on and discuss our own onto-epistemological journeys and how we apply them to teaching.

Scalability remains a fundamental challenge for blockchains under highly concurrent workloads and evolving Layer-2 (L2) topologies. We present Orion, a committee-based L2 protocol that combines off-chain execution with on-chain coordination: committees execute transactions using a streamlined primary-backup protocol with linear communication in the common case, while the mainchain manages primaries via leases and coordinates cross-committee operations using vector-clock ordering, avoiding heavyweight two-phase commit. To capture dynamic network conditions (e.g., committee resizing/creation and shifting cross-committee traffic), we evaluate Orion across a range of committee sizes, numbers of committees, and crosscommittee intensities (modeled as snapshots of an evolving interaction graph), and compare against HotStuff- and FastPay-based <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\mathbf{L 2}$</tex> baselines under the same wide-area deployment and workload. Orion achieves <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\mathbf{8. 5} \times \mathbf{- 1 5} \times$</tex> higher committee throughput than HotStuff and up to <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$26.5 \times$</tex> higher throughput than FastPay, reduces end-to-end latency by up to <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$7.6 \times$</tex> at peak load, and scales near-linearly as the number of committees increases.

This paper examines small business taxpayer compliance by analyzing the barriers to compliance with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the discussion and resolution process. Through the lens of the theory of tax morale, we explore common factors that contribute to reduced compliance intention. Using small business taxpayer cases, we will highlight and summarize the underlying penalty code sections that most commonly relate to tax issues experienced by small business owners. By analyzing existing IRS protocols for resolution, we will discuss their application to the actual cases to discover ways to simplify and encourage quick, painless resolution. We hope to share knowledge of procedural options that have become increasingly important as the façade of the “kinder, gentler” IRS is eroding. The purpose of this paper is to demystify resolution options and to aid small business taxpayers in understanding their options for resolving conflicts with the IRS. We also aim to send a message to the IRS that, to increase compliance, procedures, and processes should be manageable and understandable by taxpayers rather than being prohibitive.

ABSTRACT Curriculum materials can play an essential role to help teachers shift their instruction. However, curricular enactment does not look identical in every classroom, because teachers need to be responsive to their students. In this study, we investigated the customizations teachers made while enacting storyline science curriculum. Specifically, we collected two data sources: a teacher survey and interviews. The survey was completed by 169 participants and included 20 follow‐up interviews with middle school science teachers enacting the OpenSciEd curriculum across the United States. Teachers reported frequently making changes to the curriculum, particularly small changes, which were made daily or almost daily. The frequency of these changes illustrates that enactment is jointly constructed by the curriculum, teacher and students in a specific context. The teachers’ goals motivating these changes stemmed from wanting to be more responsive to their students and constraints within their school systems. In terms of being responsive, the customizations focused on the goals of student engagement and participation as well as more support for students. While many of these changes aligned with the overarching vision of the curriculum, others appeared to potentially be in tension, particularly in relation to student epistemic agency and coherence. The other two most frequent goals for customizations were a lack of time and logistics (e.g., space, resources) highlighting the importance of the organizational context. Future research needs to develop tools, examples and professional learning experiences to support teachers in customizing for their students and context while aligning with the overarching instructional vision in curriculum.

Transmembrane receptors in neurons act as transducers of extrinsic growth cues by regulating local protein synthesis of specific mRNAs to facilitate axon guidance. In the absence of cues, receptors tether and silence translation at the membrane, but little is known about this receptor-ribosome interaction. Here, we show the direct and specific interaction between the transmembrane receptor Deleted in Colorectal Cancer, DCC, and the 60S subunit that leads to translation inhibition in the absence of DCC’s growth cue, netrin-1. We combined translation assays, equilibrium binding, and NMR spectroscopic approaches and identified the plasma membrane-proximal portion of DCC’s cytoplasmic tail, specifically residues 1123 to 1158, bind the 60S subunit. We show that this region is unstructured, providing evidence for how the subunit is tethered at the membrane. Pinpointing the electrostatic interaction between DCC and the 60S subunit protein eL5/uL18 that leads to translational silencing, we propose a two-part binding interaction that facilitates this function. Our findings reveal how DCC directly regulates local translation, shedding light on the role of transmembrane receptors in controlling protein synthesis during axon guidance.

ABSTRACT Membership-based organizations rely heavily on effective communication strategies to sustain engagement and promote long-term retention. While previous research has identified key factors influencing membership renewal – such as service quality, engagement, and demographic characteristics – there remains limited empirical insight into their relative influence on retention outcomes. This study addresses that gap by analyzing survey responses from over 4,100 current and lapsed members of U.S. Masters Swimming (USMS), a large national membership organization. Using classification tree analysis, we assess the comparative impact of member demographics, engagement behaviors, and perceived service quality on the likelihood of renewal. The results reveal that perceived service quality is the strongest predictor of retention, followed by engagement indicators, while demographic variables exert comparatively weaker effects. These findings offer both theoretical and practical contributions: they reinforce the central role of enhancing services within membership communications and provide a foundation for developing targeted retention strategies. By translating predictive insights into actionable communication approaches, this study advances understanding of how membership organizations can improve retention through more focused and data-informed engagement efforts.