Digital Commons Network^™

The Expanding Digital Border: Ai, Surveillance, And The Fight For Justice, James Chesser

Immigration and Human Rights Law Review

As artificial intelligence transforms the mechanisms of immigration control, the modern border has become a digital filter—one governed less by geography and more by code. This Article examines the legal, technical, and ethical implications of AI-driven systems now central to global border enforcement, including biometric surveillance, algorithmic risk scoring, and predictive profiling. It explores how states use these technologies not only to manage irregular migration, but to compete for global talent—constructing migration regimes that reward capital and compliance while eroding transparency, due process, and equality.

Through an international and comparative lens, the piece highlights the expansion of algorithmic decision-making across …

Are Missourians Voting For Conservative Candidates And Liberal Policies? A Case For Ballot Measure Ticket Splitting, Kimberly L. Casey, Andrew Strunc

Missouri Policy Journal

Missouri voters have recently been observed engaging in a form of ticket splitting in which support for Republican candidates is accompanied by approval of liberal ballot measures. This study examines that phenomenon using data from the Northwest Policy and Civic Engagement Center’s exit poll of the 2024 general election, conducted in Maryville, Missouri. The data reveal a strong tendency among voters to support candidates from a single party, Democratic or Republican, yet split their votes on ballot measures aligned with opposing ideological positions. We define this behavior as Ballot Measure Ticket Splitting (BMTS): the act of casting a straight-ticket …

Abortion Policy Opinions: Results From 2022 And 2024 Election Day Exit Polls, Mariliz Kastberg-Leonard

Missouri Policy Journal

Missouri has approached abortion policy in a post-Dobbs world, in an interesting way. As one of the states with a trigger law in effect, following the overturning of Roe v. Wade (1973), abortions were banned in Missouri except in very few cases. Just two years later, a constitutional amendment, Amendment 3, was added to the 2024 general election ballot to restore the right to abortion. This paper explores the results of two exit polls administered on Election Day 2022 and 2024, asking voters in Maryville, Missouri, their opinions about abortion. The results show Maryville voters support abortion protections, in …

The Last Human Question: Generative Ai's Existential Threat To Consensus And Law, Joshua Fairfield

West Virginia Law Review

The true risk of artificial intelligence (“AI”) is not that the toasters will rise up. It is that AI will be competent to perform human tasks and indifferent to human welfare. The risk is that we will be outcompeted by generative automated processes that create output similar to ours (although never the same, as this Article explains), but which need none of the outputs of the economy for food, shelter, or human flourishing. Further, a more precise and existential description of the threat is that generative AI will disrupt and crowd out humanity’s evolutionary superpower, our ability to generate agreement …

Ai And Law Milestones: From Top-Down To Bottom-Up Computational Models Of Legal Reasoning (And Back), Kevin Ashley

West Virginia Law Review

This Article introduces five research and development milestones in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Law and then discusses how large language models (“LLMs”) and generative AI (“GenAI”) are affecting each of them. The milestones include legal expert systems, lessons learned in computationally modeling legal rules and statutes, knowledge-based models of legal argument, machine learning models that classify case texts and predict outcomes, and the design and evaluation of legal applications of LLMs and GenAI. These milestones illustrate how top-down knowledge-based computational models of legal expertise have rapidly given way to bottom-up models based on machine learning. Knowledge-based models explicitly …

A View Under The Hood: Duquesne Kline's Law And Computing Program, Wesley M. Oliver, Katherine L.W. Norton, Martin Mckown, David Horrigan

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Next-Generation Democratic Cyber Statecraft - Balancing The Signal: Shutdown Shocks And Democratic Digital Governance, Scott M. Di Panni

School of Public Policy Capstones

This paper develops Next-Generation Democratic Cyber Statecraft (NG-DCS), a unified strategic doctrine for democratic governments to contest the cognitive domain against authoritarian adversaries. Drawing on twenty-six years of cross-national panel data (1999–2024) spanning 213 countries, game-theoretic modeling, and qualitative case analysis, the paper establishes three interconnected empirical and theoretical foundations. First, cross-national OLS regression across 160+ countries demonstrates that regime type is the dominant structural determinant of internet freedom (R²=0.615, β=2.513, p< 0.001), explaining more than twice the variance attributable to per-capita wealth (R²=0.268). Democratic governance, not economic development, produces open digital environments. Second, a two-way fixed effects (TWFE) difference-in-differences study exploiting government-ordered internet shutdowns as discrete policy interventions finds that digital restrictions causally degrade V-Dem governance quality by 0.21–0.38 standard deviations (p< 0.001 across all specifications). Treatment effects are immediate (β=−0.302 at k=0) and persist through five post-treatment years (β=−0.246 at k=+5), indicating structural rather than transitory governance damage. Parallel trends validation (p=0.352) and Callaway–Sant’Anna heterogeneity-robust estimation (ATT=−0.230, SE=0.077) support causal identification. Instrumental variable triangulation (2SLS β=−0.949, p=0.005) confirms that simultaneity was attenuating, not inflating, the primary estimates. Third, formal game-theoretic analysis reveals that the current U.S.–adversary equilibrium is (Restrain, Escalate)—the risk-dominant but Pareto-inferior outcome of a Stag Hunt structure. China, Russia, North Korea, and Venezuela each occupy structurally distinct positions (Stackelberg commitment, asymmetric two-level, autarky, and reactive trigger, respectively), requiring differentiated doctrinal responses rather than a uniform strategic playbook. Generative AI and algorithmic governance are shown to accelerate cognitive vulnerability by collapsing influence operation costs and exploiting engagement-optimized platform architectures that systematically degrade deliberative capacity in democratic populations.

The Necessity Of U.S. Aid: The Russian-Ukrainian War, Lelin Spriggs

The Dialogue

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the conflict has emerged as a defining foreign-policy challenge of the twenty-first century. In the United States, the war dominates political discourse and continues to shape debates on national security and the appropriate scope of American global leadership. Although President Trump vowed during his campaign to end the war upon entering office, hostilities intensified following his inauguration, prompting renewed policy debates regarding the future and extent of U.S. military and economic support for Kyiv.

This paper argues that the United States must continue providing sustained military and economic …

How Did We Get Here? The Rise Of Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric As A Sociopolitical Force In U.S. Immigration Discourse And Enforcement Policy Through A Latino Lens, Andrea Maldonado

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

1st Place Research Paper: "Gaps In The Academy: Evaluating Pre-Service Criminal Justice Training For Interactions With Vulnerable Populations", Rowan Eiselman

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This research investigates pre-service training for law enforcement officers (LEOs), specifically examining how current educational practices prepare them to interact with vulnerable populations, including victims, suspects, and individuals in crisis. The quality of this training is critical, as it directly shapes officer behavior, decision-making, and ethical conduct in the field (Mier, 2018). Amid heightened public scrutiny of police practices and calls for reform, the effectiveness of law enforcement education has become a central concern.

The significance of this topic is underscored by extensive research on training methodologies such as procedural justice and de-escalation, which aim to improve police-community relations and …

Why Capitalism Needs Democracy And Democracy Needs Capitalism, Luigi Zingales

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Augmented Advocacy: Ethical Constraints And Regulatory Gaps In Ai-Driven Legal Practice, Molly M. Rowlands

West Virginia Law Review

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (“AI”) and particularly generative AI (“Gen AI”) is reshaping the legal profession in unprecedented ways. AI-powered tools enhance efficiency, improve accuracy in legal analysis, and expand access to justice by automating research, contract review, litigation support, and predictive analytics. However, these benefits come with significant ethical, regulatory, and procedural challenges, including competency concerns and AI “hallucinations,” data confidentiality risks, algorithmic bias, and the environmental impact of AI-driven computing. This Note critically examines the evolving role of AI in legal practice and evaluates the inadequacies of existing regulatory frameworks—such as Rule 11 of the Federal …

Determinants Of Evaluation Demand In The United States Federal Government: A Sequential Mixed Methods Study With Hierarchical Linear Modeling, Ruqayyah Abu-Obaid

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the factors that influence demand for evaluation in the federal government of the United States. Although evaluation has become a central element of evidence-based policymaking, limited empirical research explains what drives variation in evaluation activity across federal agencies. The study addresses this gap through a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design that integrates qualitative document analysis with quantitative hierarchical (panel) data modeling. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was employed to analyze longitudinal data from 23 federal agencies (2008–2024), accounting for both within- and between-agency variation over time and providing more accurate estimates of factors influencing evaluation demand.

In the qualitative …

Social Capital As An Intervening Explanatory Mechanism Linking Socioeconomic Status And Deliberative Decision-Making In Citizen Advisory Boards In California Municipalities, Christopher Gerry

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Citizen advisory boards (CABs) are widely used in local government as institutional mechanisms for participatory governance and public input. While these bodies are intended to promote inclusive and deliberative decision-making, persistent socioeconomic inequalities raise concerns about whether CABs mitigate or reproduce disparities in participation and influence. This dissertation examines how socioeconomic status (SES) shapes deliberative decision-making within CABs and whether this relationship operates indirectly through board-level social capital.

Integrating perspectives from participatory governance, deliberative democracy, and social capital theory, the study conceptualizes deliberative decision-making as a collective, board-level process shaped by relational and institutional dynamics rather than individual attributes alone. …

Sequencing Dengue Control Policy In Singapore: An Evolutionary Perspective For Policy Design, Ishani Mukherjee, Panchali Guha

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

About half the global population is now at risk of contracting dengue, a mosquito-borne viral infection that can cause severe morbidity and fatalities. Effective dengue control depends on controlling the mosquito vector, but finding the right mix of vector control policies has proved challenging. Using a content analysis of 208 Hansard records from parliamentary proceedings in Singapore, where dengue outbreaks have significantly increased in both frequency and magnitude since the early 1990s, we trace the processual evolution of Singapore’s anti-dengue policy mix from 1960 to 2023 and conclude that the evolution of dengue control policies is consistent with a customized …

Empowering Change: Building Environmental Sustainability Initiatives And Becoming A Sustainability Champion, Amanda C. Karls

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

In an era marked by escalating environmental challenges and an urgent need for sustainable development, higher education institutions (HEIs) are increasingly positioned as critical actors in advancing sustainability within the communities they serve. Regional comprehensive universities (RCUs), in particular, occupy a distinctive position as access‑oriented, community‑embedded public institutions; yet sustainability efforts at these institutions often unfold under conditions of limited resources, diffuse responsibility, and informal governance. This dissertation examines how individual actors at RCUs effectively advance environmental sustainability initiatives in the absence of centralized infrastructure or formal authority.

Guided by the overarching research question—How can individual actors at regional comprehensive …

"On The Same Rope": An Exploratory Study Of Staff Experiences At The Mountain Seed Foundation's Healing Base Camp Program, Jill C. Kivikoski

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Since the escalation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ukrainians have faced significant social and public health challenges, particularly among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families (SMVF), including disability, traumatic stress, and barriers to mental health care (Kostenko et al., 2024; Krasnodemska et al., 2023; O’Grady & Galouchka, 2023). Retreat based programs grounded in shared military identity may offer an accessible form of support (Barrett & Currin, 2024). Mountain Seed Foundation’s (MSF) Healing Base Camp (HBC) was developed to promote healing and resilience among Ukrainian SMVF (Mountain Seed Foundation, n.d.).

This qualitative dissertation used a single-case study design (Yin, …

Herding Cats: The Behavioral Foundations Of Successful Multi-Sector Partnerships, Paul B. Olsen

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Multi-sector partnerships (MSPs) are problem-solving groups composed of government agencies, nonprofit organizations, private firms, community groups, and individuals. These partnerships have often struggled to achieve consistent success, with performance rates estimated at 30%–50%, largely because MSPs are tailored to the specific interests, resources, and implementation contexts of the constellation of stakeholders involved in each project. This situation raised important questions regarding how MSP performance can be predicted and whether the likelihood of success can be enhanced during the early planning stages of partnership formation.

Social value orientation (SVO) is a behavioral public administration theory that may help explain variation in …

National Security, Macroeconomic Stability, And The Future Of Nigeria's Development: Policy Priorities In A Volatile Global Environment, Suleiman Yusuf Usman Mr.

Bullion

Nigeria confronts a dual crisis: escalating domestic insecurity and intensifying global geopolitical volatility. Rising insecurity undermines productive capacity, diverts fiscal resources, and erodes investor confidence, whilst external shocks—including policy pronouncements from major economies and geopolitical tensions—threaten capital flows, foreign exchange reserves, and macroeconomic stability. This article examines the economic and developmental implications of these intertwined pressures, evaluates their impact on monetary policy effectiveness and financial sector resilience, and presents actionable policy recommendations to strengthen governance, restore stability, and safeguard Nigeria's long-term development trajectory. The analysis emphasises the urgent need for coordinated fiscal and monetary responses, institutional reforms, and strategic repositioning …

What Holds High-Speed Rail Back: Lessons From Global Systems And California’S Experience, Deepak K. Sharma, Rajnish Lekhi, Scott Parr

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report examines benefits and challenges of integrating California High-Speed Rail (CHSR) with other rail systems and reviews California legislation impacting HSR’s contracting and financing alternatives. The research compares CHSR with high-speed rail systems around the world to identify similarities and differences in costs, speeds, ridership, and operating conditions. It also reviews Japan’s Land Readjustment Act as a model for value capture and land assembly and explores international experiences on rail integration, along with U.S. cases from the East Coast and Los Angeles. A review of California’s transportation legislation highlights how laws for highways and bridges differ from those for …

The Development Of Poker As A Sport In Japan: Intersections With Culture, Law And Public Administration, And Community, Masatoshi Minowa

Japanese Society and Culture

This study examines the emergence of poker as a competitive mind sport in Japan, a country where strict anti-gambling laws (Penal Code Article 185) prohibit cash wagering. Drawing on secondary materials—including newspaper and magazine reports, and online media—as well as primary data from Poker Guild Corporation and interviews with the Kamiichi Town Planning Division, the research applies established theoretical frameworks (Getz & Page’s event tourism, Putnam’s social capital, Reith’s techno-economic systems) to analyze the distinctive evolution of Japanese poker culture. Findings reveal that tournament‐focused venue operations and the innovative Poker Web Coin system have fostered a nationwide network of skill‐based …

Healthcare Decision-Making In An Ageing Society: Legal, Policy, And Ethical Challenges In Japan, Yukio Sakurai

Japanese Society and Culture

This paper examines the evolving landscape of healthcare decision-making in Japan’s rapidly ageing society, with a focus on the legal, policy, and ethical challenges it entails. It analyzes the limitations of the adult guardianship system, the risks associated with family-dependent decision-making, and the underutilization of advance care planning (ACP). The study further considers how demographic shifts, advances in medical technology, and socio-legal inertia affect end-of-life care, particularly for individuals with diminished capacity. A central theme is the inherent ethical dilemma in balancing individual autonomy with Japan's cultural context, where explicit self-assertion can be challenging, especially for older adults. Cultural dimensions …

Institutional Transitions In The Employment Of Foreign Workers In Japan’S Agriculture And Food Manufacturing: From Technical Intern Training To Employment For Skill Development And Specified Skilled Worker In Comparison With The Uk, Tomoyuki Kuwaharada

Japanese Society and Culture

This paper investigates the institutional transition in Japan’s acceptance of foreign workers in the agriculture and food manufacturing sectors, focusing on the restructuring of entry-stage training schemes and their linkage to skill-based employment. In particular, it traces the shift from the Technical Intern Training Programme (TITP) to the Employment for Skill Development (ESD) Programme as the primary entry route, and examines how these institutional changes are embedded within the Specified Skilled Worker (SSW) framework.

Drawing upon official statistics from 2012 to 2024 and sector-specific case studies, the analysis demonstrates that the introduction of the SSW status in 2019 marked a …

A Consideration Of Food In A Diversity Society, Masayo Morofushi

Japanese Society and Culture

In recent years, the number of foreign visitors such as tourists and businesspeople, and the number of foreign residents such as workers and international students, have been steadily increasing in Japan. However, the decrease in the number of foreign residents in Japan is relatively small compared to the number of foreign visitors to Japan, due to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding restaurants, Japan has experienced diversity, progress, and cross-cultural understanding; however, these changes have been stagnant due to a decrease in the number of foreign visitors to Japan during the pandemic. Many natural disasters have recently occurred, and …

Exploring The Definition Of Child Poverty : For Consideration Of Legal Policy, Kazuko Ikeya, Fumie Adachi, Kazutoshi Imade

Japanese Society and Culture

We explore the definition of child poverty for consideration of legal policy.

Survey of the actual situation in local governments and private organizations concerning child poverty.

① Some parents don’t know how to prioritize their spending, and there are cases where parents don’t provide for their children.

② This cannot be addressed only with financial investment.

It is inappropriate to define child poverty only by low household income. It should also be

defined as whether children are being provided for through their development.

Study Of Full-Process Funding Mechanisms Of National Research Institutes, Baicun Li, Ruhan A, Xiaoxuan Li

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Funding mechanism is a crucial institutional guarantee for national research institutes to achieve their goals and fulfill their roles. Against the backdrop of new global challenges, such as geopolitical shifts, these institutions shoulder even greater responsibilities. Therefore, to better leverage their roles, this study addresses two key issues. What funding challenges do national research institutes currently face? And what are the characteristics of a funding mechanism that can meet their needs? To answer these questions, firstly, this study systematically analyzes the prominent problems faced by the funding mechanisms of national research institutes in China. Subsequently, it analyzes the characteristics of …

Construction Of Emerging Contaminants Risk Governance System, Cheng Li, Mingcheng Wang, Chunlei Li

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Emerging contaminants pose considerable risks to the ecological environment, human health, and social safety. The establishment of an emerging contaminants risk governance system constitutes a crucial component of the national ecological security strategy and the ecological civilization framework in the new era. When examined through the lens of the holistic view of national security and guided by the ecological civilization philosophy of the new era, China’s current efforts in managing emerging contaminants reveal several shortcomings—including a fragmented and incomplete risk management system, as well as preliminary stages in chemical environmental management policies and related technologies. Therefore, grounded in national conditions …

Strategic Knowledge: Innovation, Technological Sovereignty, And Geopolitical Competition, Chick Edmond

Knowledge and Creativity Expo

The Twenty-First Century's Shift in Advanced Technologies as Instruments of Economic Growth to central pillars of geopolitical competition States are increasingly using technologies such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, biotechnology and digital infrastructure not simply as commercial assets but as strategic resource bases to enhance their national security and global influence. This paper will examine how innovative systems have been incorporated into broader geopolitical competitions creating "strategic knowledge politic”. This paper dwells on International Political Economy (IPE), Security Studies and Innovation Theory literatures to analyze the changing concepts of technological sovereignty and their implications for the global order. The …

Legal Permanent Residents’ Five-Year Residency Benefits Restriction, Enoch Olayinka Badamosi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The contemporary U.S. welfare system, shaped by the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and reinforced by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, established structural exclusions that bar lawful permanent residents (LPRs) from accessing core social welfare programs during their first five years of residency. Existing research provides support that exclusionary provisions caused economic instability, bureaucratic discrimination, and racialized stigma for immigrant participants, limiting access to basic needs, reinforcing poverty, and ultimately eroding trust in U.S. institutions. The purpose of this study was to bridge the gap in knowledge by examining the cumulative socio-economic and moral …

Review Of Chosen Peoples: Christianity And Political Imagination In South Sudan, John Ashworth

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.