Digital Commons Network^™

Protecting The Debtor Across The Atlantic: A Comparative Analysis Of The United States And European Union Regulatory Frameworks Against Debt Collection Abuse And Harassment, Terin Michelle Tyson

South Carolina Journal of International Law and Business

Consumer debt is a long-standing global phenomenon, yet the regulation of debt collection practices remains fragmented across international borders. This lack of uniform standards leaves consumers vulnerable to debt collectors who exploit weak legal frameworks, resorting to abusive, harassing, and deceptive tactics to pressure repayment. Such practices not only undermine consumer trust in the financial services industry but also prove self-defeating; aggressive collection methods can destabilize a consumer’s financial footing and daily livelihood, ultimately impairing their capacity to repay.

This article provides a comparative evaluation of consumer protections against abusive and harassing debt collection practices in the United States and …

Behind The Headlines: Media Control In Bangladesh Post July Revolution, Nahida Islam

Human Rights Brief

“I have always written for truth, for peo­ple, and for my country . . . [b]ut today, when I look at my own life, I feel that living by writing the truth is not easy.” The words from Bibhuran­jan Sarkar’s suicide note echo into the minds of all Bangladeshi journalists as fears of retaliation took precedent over the work of informing the public. Journalism in South Asia has always been a toxic balance between writing what is fair versus writing what people in power want you to write. In Bangladesh, the autocracy led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina created …

Rights On Paper, Violations In Practice: Israel, The U.S., And The Failure To Enforce Judicial Pro¬Tections And International Obligations In Cases Of Arbitrary Detentions, Anjali Narayanan

Human Rights Brief

Muhammad Srur, a 34-year-old father, en­dured small cells, restricted movement, minimal family visits, and limited access to legal counsel when detained by Israel. He was beaten during arrest and interrogation, and the food, medical care, and living conditions fell below international standards. Half a world away, Abu Zubaydah remains in extreme isolation at Guantánamo Bay, following secret CIA detention where he faced prolonged confinement, sleep deprivation, stress positions, and other forms of torture. These men will never meet. Yet, their situations reflect the same legal reality: both have been placed into categories designed to fall outside the full protections of …

Beyond Borders: Transnational Repression As A System Of Authoritarian Control In Russia, Kazakhstan, And Kyrgyzstan, Jasmine D. Cameron

Human Rights Brief

This Article examines transnational repression, state-sponsored persecution of citizens, human rights defenders, journalists, members of diaspora, and critical voices located outside physical borders, as a systemic tool of political control employed by Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Based on analysis of legislation, published reports, UN Special Rapporteur findings, and case files, this Article provides three case studies that demonstrate different stages of an escalating trend towards transnational repression systems. From Kyrgyzstan, where the government has started to develop and implement harmful practices to persecute its citizens abroad, to a more established system in Kazakhstan, where numerous incidents of transnational repression showed …

Visible At Last: Legal Recognition Of Children Born Of War (Cbow) And The Case Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Ajna Jusić, Gordana Subotić Ph.D.

Human Rights Brief

Children born of war (CBOW) — those conceived through conflict-related sexual violence— have long remained stigmatized, marginalized, and largely invisible in law and policy. Drawing on international scholarship and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s post-conflict experience, this Article examines the social, political, and legal mechanisms that sustain CBOW exclusion and traces the emergence of CBOW as a recognized category within contemporary international legal frameworks. Using Bosnia and Herzegovina as a case study, the Article argues that patriarchal norms, fragmented governance and legal structures, and decades of institutional silence have profoundly shaped CBOW lived experiences and access to rights. Furthermore, the Article assesses …

T.H. V. The Czech Republic: A Step Forward Or Back For Lgbtq+ Rights And Discourse In Europe With The First Openly Non-Binary Applicant?, Katherine Olsson

Human Rights Brief

On December 9, 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued a final judgment in the case of T.H. v. The Czech Republic.  The case concerned a non-binary individual, T.H., who was assigned male at birth and, since May 2012, had repeatedly petitioned to change their sex/gender marker and personal numerical code on their national identity card.  Because the Czech system does not provide for the option of a neutral gender marker, T.H. petitioned to have their registered gender changed to female.

Reparations Delayed, Not Denied: The Inter-American System Confronts Chile’S Dictatorship-Era Violations, Maggie Titus

Human Rights Brief

On September 24, 2025, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) submitted Gustavo Guillermo Ramírez Calderón v. Chile to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), seeking reparations and justice for victims of forced disappearances during Chile’s military dictatorship. According to the application, Chile has failed to fully comply with the IACtHR’s recommendations from Merits Report No. 154/23.

Sharenting And Child Rights In The Age Of Platform Capitalism, Christiana Essie Sagay, Unyime Abasi Odong

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The boundaries between private life, work, and visibility have become increasingly blurred in the digital age. Nowhere is this more evident than in the phenomenon of sharenting, a portmanteau of “sharing” and “parenting,” where parents routinely post images, videos, and personal narratives of their children on social media platforms. While often framed as acts of familial affection or digital memory-keeping, sharenting implicates commercial content creation and positions children as de facto participants in global digital labor markets. In this context, childhood increasingly unfolds within algorithmic and economic contexts that transcend domestic boundaries and challenge conventional legal norms, protections, and understandings …

State Complicity And The Threshold Of Knowledge: From Fragmentary Evidence To Evidentiary Saturation, Christina Bradic

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) 2007 judgment in Bosnia v. Serbia turned on evidentiary gaps. Although the ICJ recognized that genocide had been committed at Srebrenica, it declined to hold Serbia complicit, reasoning that the record did not prove awareness of genocidal purpose. Intelligence was piecemeal, contemporaneous witnesses were scarce, and the ICJ refused to infer knowledge absent direct proof.

Two decades later, the evidentiary environment looks radically different. In October 2024, ninety-nine American healthcare professionals who had volunteered in Gaza sent an open letter to the White House reporting that children with gunshot wounds to the head or …

The Doctor Won't See You Now: Legal Proscriptions For Medical Tourism Control And Regulation, Shenley W. Wish

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The Medical Tourism industry has experienced remarkable growth in the past decade and is tracking to exceed that growth dramatically in the coming decade. With this rapid expansion, however, comes growing pains—predominantly lackluster patient safety. This Note examines the opportunities and challenges that would arise from regulating Medical Tourism through an international treaty, recognizing that an international treaty approach provides the most comprehensive and practically feasible solution for addressing complex cross-border constraints to create a safer global medical industry. (from the author)

Talking Foreign Policy: "Turning Points And Paradigm Shifts In U.S. Foreign Policy" June 23, 2025 Broadcast, Talking Foreign Policy

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

The Zaporizhzhia Gambit: Great Power Conflict, Nuclear Hostage-Taking, And The P5'S Accountability Crisis, Arete Tsoukalas

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

In a troubling precedent for modern warfare, Russian forces seized Europe’s largest nuclear facility, converting the delicate infrastructure of the Zaporizhzhia plant into a fortified military garrison rigged with explosives. Inside, Ukrainian engineers were reportedly held hostage, forced to operate the controls at gunpoint while enduring torture and the psychological terror of impending meltdown.¹ This is known as the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (“ZNPP”) Crisis.²

Within the reactor itself, the processes of producing nuclear energy cannot be abandoned, and constant custodianship is paramount.³ The intricacies and vulnerabilities of the fission process must be safeguarded, even during a …

Outsourcing Migration: A Comparative Analysis Of Border Externalization And The Future Of International Refugee Law, Shawn Yousefelahi

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

The contemporary international refugee protection regime is formally anchored in the principle of non-refoulement (the prohibition against forcibly returning refugees and asylum seekers to the territories where their fundamental rights would be threatened) and the right to seek asylum at or near territorial borders. These principles have been increasingly undermined by state practices that relocate border enforcement and asylum processing beyond their territorial borders. This Article examines how the United States, the European Union, and European states operationalize a global non-entrée regime through safe third country removals and border externalization agreements that purport to comply with international law while functionally …

Table Of Contents, Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Treating Social Media Corporations As Quasi-State Actors To Address The Use Of Artificial Intelligence In Content Moderation, Michael T. Tiu Jr.

Emory International Law Review

Corporations have become powerful actors in the international system. They have the potential to disrupt the protection of values that states have been performing for decades. One of these values–freedom of expression–has been the recipient of impact of emerging technologies owned by corporations. Social media platforms have become new governors of expression. Content moderation rules cause adverse impacts on freedom of expression. The vagueness of certain criteria and the inconsistency of their application have led to censorship of speech which would have been protected offline. This situation is exacerbated by the use of artificial intelligence in content moderation, owing to …

Return To Work Mandates And Employee Engagement: The Moderating Role Of Generational Cohorts, Emily Widen

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between return-to-office (RTO) mandate intensity and employee engagement and to determine whether generational cohort moderated this relationship. Grounded in Kahn’s (1990) theory of employee engagement, the study examined total employee engagement as well as the three dimensions of engagement as defined by Shuck et al. (2017): cognitive, emotional, and behavioral. Data were collected through an online SurveyMonkey survey administered to employed adults in the United States, yielding 482 eligible responses. Employee engagement was measured using the Employee Engagement Scale (Shuck et al., 2017), while RTO mandate intensity was operationalized …

Evaluation Of A Novel Re-Crosslinkable Preformed Particle Gel For Conformance Control In Ultra-High Temperature Reservoirs, Yanbo Liu, Tao Song, Caleb Kwasi Darko, Thomas P. Schuman, Mingzhen Wei, Baojun Bai

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Preferential fluid flow remains a major challenge in subsurface energy production and gas storage operations, resulting in excessive water production in mature oil fields, reduced heat extraction in geothermal reservoirs, and low sweep and storage efficiency in CO₂-EOR projects. Polymer gels are widely used to mitigate high-permeability channels; however, conventional systems exhibit limited plugging efficiency and short lifetimes in ultra-high-temperature reservoirs due to poor thermal stability. This study presents a novel ultra-high-temperature-resistant preformed particle gel (UHT-PPG) developed for conformance control in reservoirs with temperatures of 150–275 °C and severe super-K or channeling problems. The material was evaluated in …

Progression Toward Terminal Oxidation Of Starch Via Hybrid Organic–Enzymatic Bioanode For Renewable Carbohydrate Conversion, Adam Milam, Jose Intano, Shelley D. Minteer

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

The performance of starch-based biofuel cells is fundamentally limited by inefficient utilization of the fuel's inherent energy density. Sequential oxidation of carbohydrate fuels, such as glucose, the monomeric unit of starch, using minimal catalyst systems has therefore emerged as a promising strategy to improve biofuel cell efficiency. Here, we extend a previously reported three-catalyst, organic–enzymatic glucose oxidation cascade to polymeric carbohydrate fuels by integrating enzymatic starch depolymerization with downstream electrochemical oxidation. To our knowledge, this represents the first demonstration of a defined hybrid organic–enzymatic cascade designed to drive progression of starch-derived glucose equivalents toward terminal oxidation using a minimal catalyst …

Advancing Chemotaxonomy Of Pollen, Laura Scoble

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Theses

Pollen analysis (palynology) is a valuable tool for palaeoecology, providing long-term records of vegetation change for reconstructions of past environments and revealing insights into historical climate variability, environmental change, and the vulnerability of ecosystems in response to anthropogenic impacts. However, its application in contributing to evidence-based conservation and restoration management depends on the accurate identification of fossil and sub-fossil pollen. This remains a persistent challenge for the Poaceae family (grasses), whose pollen grains are morphologically similar and often cannot be distinguished below the family level using traditional light microscopy. As a result, species-level changes in grassland communities are often obscured …

Settlers In Syria: Turkey’S Population Transfers And The Geneva Conventions, Eugene Kontorovich, Erielle Azerrad

Emory International Law Review

This Article is the first work of legal scholarship to examine Turkish population transfers in northern Syria, which constitute perhaps the most aggressive movement of settler populations into occupied territory in current times. In particular, it examines the lawfulness of such movements under Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying power from “deport[ing] or transfer[ring] parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”  In a series of major military operations beginning in 2018, Turkey has seized nearly 3,000 square miles of territory in two sectors in northern Syria and established control. While it …

An Agrarian Force Before The Flames: A Greek Blueprint For Europe's Wildfire Prevention Strategy, Panayotis (Baki) Giorgos Agelarakis

Fordham International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

International Transfers Of Personal Data In Latin America: From The Brussels Effect To The Washington Effect, Pablo A. Palazzi

Fordham International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Pure Yang-Mills Field: I: Fixed Time Existence, James Glimm, James Glimm

Department of Applied Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

The convergence of renormalized perturbation theory to all finite orders is defined and shown to be valid for the fixed time perturbation theory of a pure Yang-Mills field.

Two pure Yang-Mills quantum gauge field theories are constructed, one based on short distance asymptotics and the other based on long distance asymptotics.

The construction depends on an assumed principle of a maximum rate of entropy production.

On-Device Artificial Intelligence Solutions With Applications To Smart Environments, Fabrizio De Vita, Dario Bruneo, Sajal K. Das

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the increasing availability of computational power have accelerated the diffusion of Intelligent Cyber-Physical Systems (ICPSs), enabling smart applications with reasoning capabilities. However, the limited resources of embedded and Edge devices significantly constrain the complexity of deep learning models that can be effectively deployed. Traditional approaches rely on cloud-based training and edge-only inference, a paradigm that becomes inadequate when low latency, privacy, security, and high customization are required. In this context, On-device AI is emerging as a new paradigm in which both training and inference are performed directly on the device, avoiding data transfer …

Fairrfl: Fair And Robust Federated Learning In The Presence Of Selfish Clients, Andrea Augello, Ashish Gupta, Giuseppe Lo Re, Sajal K. Das

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Federated Learning (FL) is a paradigm that enables collaborative machine learning without disclosing the local data of the participants. However, in real-world FL deployment scenarios, some unscrupolous clients may alter the training process to skew the global model towards their local optimum, unfairly prioritizing their data distribution. Their influence can degrade overall model performance for normal clients and reduce fairness in the system. We call this novel category of misbehaving clients 'selfish'. This work proposes a Fair and Robust strategy for aggregation in the Federated Learning (FL) server to mitigate the effect of Selfish clients (FairRFL). FairRFL incorporates a novel …

Qura: Reinforcement Learning Based Routing For Quantum Networks, Tasdiqul Islam, Engin Arslan, Md Arifuzzaman

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Quantum routing deals with identifying a set of quantum repeaters to use to create entanglement between distant endpoints. Previous approaches proposed shortest-path and linear programming methods to find a solution to this problem. While the shortest path approach results in suboptimal performance, linear programming takes too long to find a solution as the network size and constraints increase. In this paper, we apply Deep Q-Reinforcement Learning (DQRL) to optimize routing in quantum networks both in terms of execution time and performance. The proposed Quantum Routing Algorithm (QuRA) first chooses which request to schedule among all requests. It then determines which …

Full Journal

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

Access To Justice In Indian Country: Empowering Pro Se Criminal Defendants Through Holistic Defense And Resource Creation, Ilse Turner, Johanna Farmer

South Dakota Law Review

The question of the right to counsel for indigent criminal defendants has consumed various courts and academic journals for decades. Part of this question has revolved around the rights of indigent defendants being prosecuted in tribal courts. There has been scholarly attention devoted to the study of the rights of indigent defendants in tribal courts and the impacts of case law and congressional acts on these rights. This Article seeks to expand the scholarly works around indigent defendants in tribal courts and provide tangible solutions tribes can begin to execute without an act of Congress. This Article will discuss the …

Parent Perspectives: Child Attendance In Community Grief Support, Janeene Sanderson

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Childhood bereavement can affect children emotionally, socially, and developmentally, creating a need for support that is both age-appropriate and grief-informed. This qualitative study explored how parents perceived the impact of community grief support programs for their bereaved children. The study focused on children ages 8–12 who attended a peer support group, grief camp, or similar community-based grief support program after the death of a loved one. Data were collected through parent interviews and reviewed through thematic analysis. Findings showed that parents perceived these programs as meaningful because they created safe spaces where children could feel normal and validated in their …

Frequency And Phase Synchronization Of Antenna Arrays With Phase Incoherent Microcontrollers, Harley W. Byrd

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

The construction of phased array antennas has traditionally been an expensive and complex task. It has recently been claimed that it is possible to construct high-performance Wi Fi antenna arrays using inexpensive consumer components. Motivated by some limited data available from online presentations of such devices, this thesis covers an attempt to construct a phased-array Wi-Fi antenna using several ESP32 chips, which have native Wi-Fi modulation and demodulation capabilities. While there are many positive aspects associated with utilizing ESP32 chips for this purpose, a key challenge is the inherent phase incoherence of their internal Phase Locked Loops (PLLs). The approach …