Digital Commons Network^™

Defending Southern Nationalism: The Investigations Of The Alabama Legislative Commission To Preserve The Peace, 1963-1975, Nola Aycock

Theses - ALL

The Alabama Legislative Commission to Preserve the Peace, also called the Peace Commission, was an investigative agency created by the Alabama state legislature in 1963. It was abolished in 1975. During its existence it investigated and created reports on a variety of targets engaged in civil rights activism, communism, or anything the Commission deemed “un-American.” In this thesis, I argue that the Peace Commission was an unusual example of a southern nationalist institution in the Cold War south because of the timing of its creation, the opposition it faced, its small size and budget, and its unsuccessful conflict with the …

Yardie Epistemologies: Queer Survival, Respectability, And Political Economy In Contemporary Jamaica, Nicole Hylton

Theses - ALL

This thesis examines how queer Jamaicans navigate, survive, and theorize life within a social order structured by colonial legacies, racialized class hierarchy, nationalist masculinity, Christian moral authority, and neoliberal austerity. Drawing on qualitative, narrative-centered research conducted between 2012 and 2014, with consistent return visits in subsequent years, the study employs grounded theory, critical ethnography, and Black feminist political economy to analyze how sexual citizenship is unevenly distributed across lines of color, class, gender expression, and access to resources. Participants include LGBTQ individuals, activists, academics, state actors, and community members whose narratives are treated not as illustrative data but as sites …

From Hot Dog Soup To Wine Pairing: Exploring Taste & Palate Development Through America's Latchkey Generation, Gabrielle Reagan

Theses - ALL

This thesis interrogates how tastes and palates develop across a lifespan through the lens of America’s latchkey generation. As an analytic, this generation—raised amid a rising availability of ultra processed foods, declining culinary skill transfer, and an uptick in both divorce rates and women in the workforce—is crucial for understanding the palate as a site where corporate capture and individual agency intersect. It asks: What broadens palate development, what limits it, and what conditions support or hinder its evolution over time? How might the reintroduction of culinary literacy broaden palate development and how do gender and pleasure play a role …

From Maps To Meadows: Ecologically Literate Zoning And The Regeneration Of Wildlife Habitats, Jonathan Rosenbloom

Cleveland State Law Review

For more than a century, zoning has shaped the American landscape, often at the expense of wildlife and ecosystems. Rooted in legal doctrines that treated animals as property and nature as a raw material, zoning codes have fragmented habitats, erased migration corridors, and accelerated biodiversity loss. At the same time, federal protections are narrowing, leaving critical gaps in environmental governance. This Article argues that local governments possess both the authority and the obligation to respond. By embedding ecological principles into zoning—through conservation districts, wildlife corridor protections, wetland buffers, pollinator protections, dark skies, wildlife fencing, habitat restoration, and others—municipalities can transform …

An Era Of Silent Overruling: Lack Of Transparency In The Supreme Court And The Expanding Unworkability Doctrine, Sydney Washburn

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note examines the Supreme Court’s growing practice of “silent overruling," the effective displacement of precedent without explicit acknowledgment, and argues that this phenomenon threatens transparency, stability, and public trust in the judiciary. While the doctrine of stare decisis is intended to promote consistency and predictability, the Court has increasingly relied on the vague and discretionary “unworkability” doctrine to justify departing from precedent without clearly articulating its reasoning. Focusing on the Court’s recent decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, this Note argues that the Court silently overruled Robinson v. California while purporting not to reconsider it. In …

From Regionalism To Continentalism: Lessons From Ecowas For The Implementation Of Afcfta., Michael Agbo

Theses - ALL

Abstract: This thesis examines the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a test for understanding Africa’s continental economic integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It argues that the persistent failures of state-led integration, in this matter, the ECOWAS, from the repeated inability to roll out a single currency for trade within West Africa to the deliberate infiltration of France and other Western capitalist interests in the economic lives of the people of West Africa, are not just incidental failures of political will or technical implementation setbacks. They are consequences of building Pan-Africanism and integration efforts …

Binding Energy Of Muonic Beryllium: Perturbative Versus All-Order Calculations, Shikha Rathi, Ulrich D. Jentschura, Paul Indelicato, Ben Ohayon

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We compute the ground-state binding energy of muonic (Formula presented) (Formula presented) Be in two ways: first, the fully perturbative treatment of the nuclear-size effect often employed in light systems, and second, an approach that accounts for the finite-nuclear-size to all orders (and is inspired by calculations otherwise employed for heavy muonic ions). The results are compared term by term and show that both approaches agree to better than one part-per-million of the total energy. The objective of this work is twofold. The first is practical: to provide a parameterization that allows the extraction of the (Formula presented) (Formula presented) …

|Vcb| Measurement From Decay Λ⁰_B → Λ⁺_C Μ⁻ Ν̅_Μ, Xixin Liang

Dissertations - ALL

A measurement of the CKM matrix element |Vcb| is performed using the decay Λ⁰_b → Λ⁺_c μ⁻ ν̅_μ. This analysis is based on the data sample collected in the year 2016-2018 with the LHCb detector at the LHC proton-proton collider at CERN. The yield for the exclusive final state considered is extracted from a sample of inclusive semileptonic decays Λ⁰_b → Λ⁺_c μ⁻ ν̅_μ X, where X represents the hadrons produced in Λ⁺*_c decays. The normalization mode is the inclusive semileptonic decay Λ⁰_b → X⁺_c μ⁻ ν̅_μ. The value of |Vcb| is then determined by comparing the measured differential decay …

Trustworthy Reinforcement Learning And Communication-Efficient Multi-Agent Systems, Rui Zuo

Dissertations - ALL

The rapid proliferation of autonomous systems, such as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) transitioning to large-scale Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations, demands a paradigm shift toward reliable, transparent, and resilient autonomy. While Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) and Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL) have demonstrated exceptional capabilities in complex decision-making and coordination, their real-world deployment in safety-critical domains is hindered by two fundamental challenges. First, the opaque, "black-box" nature of DRL models prevents human operators from understanding and trusting the agents' underlying logic. Second, as multi-agent operations scale, they become severely constrained by the stochastic link qualities and strict bandwidth limitations …

Clinical Designs For Two Dependent Binary Endpoints In Comparison With A Control, Chishu Yin

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation studies clinical trial designs for comparing multiple experimental treatments with a control when each treatment is evaluated using two possibly dependent binary endpoints, typically efficacy and safety. Motivated by the growing importance of multi-endpoint decision making in clinical research, the dissertation develops exact ranking-and-selection procedures that avoid large-sample normal approximations and instead rely on exact probability calculations. Throughout, dependence between the two endpoints within a treatment arm is accommodated through an odds-ratio-based framework, and the underlying computations are carried out using bivariate binomial and quadrinomial distributions. After an introductory chapter that reviews the methodological background and motivates treatment …

Sequential Subset Selection From Binomial Populations: Early Stopping, Randomized Calibration, And Adaptive Elimination, Yifang Zhang

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation studies sequential subset selection from binomial populations under a frequentist framework. Building on the classical subset selection framework of Gupta and Sobel and later sequential developments, it develops a sequence of refinements designed to improve subset selection efficiency while preserving the required probability of correct selection. The first contribution is a curtailed subset selection procedure that allows sampling to stop once the current leader can no longer be overtaken. The second contribution is a randomized calibration that reduces conservatism caused by the discreteness of the selection threshold and improves the balance between selection accuracy and efficiency. The third …

Learning Under Information And Experience Constraints In Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning, Qinwei Huang

Dissertations - ALL

Reinforcement learning is a powerful approach for training cooperative multi-agent systems. However, it is usually studied under idealized conditions. Standard formulations assume abundant experience, reliable communication, and cleanly observable state. Physical multi-agent systems rarely satisfy these assumptions, and instead operate under several kinds of scarcity. This dissertation studies reinforcement learning for cooperative multi-agent systems under two practical resource constraints. We show that effective learning in these settings depends not only on how much communication, computation, or experience is available, but also on how limited information and experience are represented, reused, and evaluated. Part I addresses information constraints in cooperative multi-agent …

Using Low-Frequency Vibrational Spectroscopy To Develop Analytical Profiles For Polymorphic Organic Molecular Crystals, Salvatore Zarrella

Dissertations - ALL

Low-frequency vibrational spectroscopy provides a sensitive approach for characterizing polymorphism and intermolecular dynamics in organic molecular crystals. Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) and low-frequency Raman spectroscopy probe collective lattice vibrations arising from weak intermolecular interactions, offering direct insight into crystal packing, phase stability, and structural organization that is often inaccessible to conventional diffraction and mid-infrared techniques. To interpret these modes, experimental measurements are combined with periodic solid-state density functional theory (ss-DFT), which enables vibrational assignments to specific intermolecular motions, and crystal structure prediction (CSP), which maps accessible polymorphic energy landscapes. Together, these methods form a unified experimental–computational framework for understanding molecular …

Bio-Inspired Visual Intelligence: Improving Efficiency And Robustness Through Foveal-Peripheral Sampling And Learned Saccades, Jiayang Liu

Dissertations - ALL

Deep neural networks have achieved state-of-the-art performance across a wide range of computer vision tasks, yet their deployment in real-world and safety-critical domains remains limited by two major challenges: vulnerability to adversarial perturbations and high computational cost. While adversarial training can improve robustness under certain threat models, it is computationally expensive and often generalizes poorly to black-box or transferable attacks. At the same time, conventional vision pipelines process uniformly sampled high-resolution images, introducing substantial data redundancy, latency, and energy overhead. In contrast, the human visual system achieves efficient and robust perception through space-variant foveal-peripheral sampling, attention-guided saccadic eye movements, and …

Ralph Carter V. Adam Baumcratz

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Subliminal Priming Effects On Motor And Cognitive Performance: Pilot Evidence With Implications For Neurorehabilitation, Rehab E Aljuhni, Ghader A Alqadhi, Saud A Alhassan, Sultan A Alanazi

Neurosciences

Objective: To investigate whether subliminal priming modalities (visual, auditory, or word-based) influence motor and cognitive performance in healthy young adults, and whether these effects vary by gender.

Methods: A total of 30 healthy adults were assigned to visual, auditory, or word-based priming using single-blind, stratified randomization. Subliminal stimuli were presented for 50 ms. Motor outcomes included reaction time on dominant (RT-R) and non-dominant (RT-L) sides, comfortable and maximal walking speeds measured by the 10-Meter Walk Test (10MWT), and functional mobility assessed using the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test. Cognitive performance assessed using the Trail Making Test (TMT). Outcomes were …

Sub-Regional Motor–Somatosensory Connectivity And Lifespan Plasticity In Functional Networks, Adnan A. S. Alahmadi

Neurosciences

Objectives: To determine how cytoarchitectonically defined subdivisions of the primary motor cortex, somatosensory cortex, and supplementary motor area (SMA) reorganize their integration with large-scale brain networks during healthy aging. This study investigated the lifespan trajectories of functional connectivity within cytoarchitectonically defined subregions of the primary motor cortex, somatosensory cortex, and supplementary motor area (SMA).

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of resting-state fMRI data from 150 healthy individuals (aged 23–80 years), stratified into young, middle-aged, and older groups. Data were sourced from the Southwest University Adult Lifespan Dataset (SALD) and analyzed between June 2024 and June 2025. Using the Jülich …

Clinical Characteristics Of Multiple Sclerosis And Association Of Ms Severity With Vitamin D Level In The Madinah Region Of Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study, Majed M. Alluqmani

Neurosciences

Objective: To determine the prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the western region of Saudi Arabia and correlate it with its predictors among a cohort of patients. The prevalence of MS is increasing in Saudi Arabia, and is attributed to various factors such as recent lifestyle changes, improved disease recognition, and parental consanguinity. Knowing the exact prevalence of the disease may enhance disease management.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among individuals diagnosed with MS at clinics in the Madinah region.

Results: The study found that the prevalence of multiple sclerosis is lower in the Madinah region. Additionally, …

Wearable Sensor Technology And Biomechanical Gait Analysis In Post-Stroke Rehabilitation: A Review With Implications For The Saudi Healthcare System, Abdullah H. Alzahrani

Neurosciences

Stroke remains a major cause of disability worldwide, with gait impairment affecting up to 80% of survivors and contributing to long-term dependence, fall risk, and reduced quality of life. In Saudi Arabia, stroke incidence is rising, with a significant burden on younger populations and disparities in access to post-stroke rehabilitation services. Conventional gait analysis tools rely on expensive, specialized laboratory equipment, which limits their availability in low-resource and rural settings. Recent advances in wearable sensor technologies, including inertial measurement units, pressure insoles, and electromyography systems, offer portable, scalable, and cost-efficient options for assessing gait in real-world environments. These systems can …

Investigating The Patent Foramen Ovale–Migraine Link In Southern Saudi Arabia, Al-Amir Bassiouny Mohamed, Maeed Alkathiri, Saad Mushabab Ali Alqahtani, Naif H. Ali, Saima Kashif, Saad A. Alshahrani, Mohammed S. Alqahtani, Mohamed Gaber Mahmoud Gabr, Eltohami Zydan Dafalla, Basharat Hameed Zargar, Wael Qenawi, Ali Mohammed A. Alshehri, Fatimah Asiri, Ahmed Borai

Neurosciences

Objective: Migraine is a highly disabling neurological condition, and increasing attention has focused on a possible connection with patent foramen ovale (PFO).

Methods: This single-center observational study enrolled 45 individuals from January to April 2024: 30 migraine patients with PFO (Group 1) and 15 migraine patients without PFO serving as controls (Group 2). All subjects underwent transthoracic echocardiography and completed standardized instruments including the Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS), Headache Impact Test (HIT-6), Migraine Symptom Severity Scale (MSSS), Allodynia Symptom Checklist (ASC-12), Visual Aura Rating Scale (VARS), and Migraine Treatment Optimization Questionnaire (mTOQ-6).

Results: The participant's mean age was 37.3 ± …

(R2153) Advanced Numerical Method For One Dimensional Burgers Equation With A Source Term, Yahaya Alassane Mahaman Nouri, Djibo Moustapha, Maman Yarodji Abdoul, Saley Bisso

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

This paper investigates a numerical strategy for the one-dimensional Burgers equation with a nonzero source term. Such equations arise in simplified models of transport and diffusion processes and are often used to assess the performance of numerical schemes for nonlinear evolution problems. The proposed approach combines a second-order Crank–Nicolson time discretization with a projection-based procedure that separates the nonlinear convective contribution from diffusive effects. Spatial approximation is carried out using a Chebyshev spectral collocation method, which provides high accuracy for smooth solutions with a limited number of degrees of freedom. The resulting fully discretized system is solved through an iterative …

(R2138) Analytical Approaches To Integral Equations In The Dynamics Of The Oblate Spheroidal: Earth-Sun-Satellite System, Kumari Ranjana, M. Shahbaz Ullah, M. Javed Idrisi

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

The deployment of artificial satellites in different gravitational environments has significantly impacted space exploration. We have introduced the study of artificial satellites under the influence of gravitational forces from oblate spheroids. To confront complex obstacles the myriads of both numerical and analytical techniques have been formulated. Among these methods, a new approach involving the integration of integral equations has been introduced. This innovative approach has been applied to study the trajectories of artificial satellites as they navigate the gravitational influence of oblate spheroids. Suitable kernels have been carefully chosen to solve the integral equations. The solutions have been found and …

Locate Alternative Media In The Digital News Ecosystem: A Cross-Country Comparative Study Of Alternative-Mainstream Audience Overlap Networks, Qinfeng Zhu, Fan Liang, Gabriel Miao Li

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study examines alternative media within the digital news ecosystem in six European countries: Norway, Sweden, Austria, Germany, France, and Spain. Using a network approach and a cross-country comparative design, we analyze audience overlap between alternative and mainstream media, the positions alternative media occupy within these networks, and how media systems and political contexts may shape these dynamics. Our findings show that while overall audience overlap is low, it is higher in countries where far-right populist parties have greater institutionalized access to political discourse. We also identify alternative media enclaves within the Northern-type media system characterized by strong professional journalism—particularly …

Behavioral Drafting: Defining A Field Hiding In Plain Sight, Christopher R. Trudeau

Cleveland State Law Review

Fine print is everywhere. It governs how we bank, shop, work, travel, and even receive medical care. Yet most people never read it—and those who try often give up because they are overwhelmed by technical jargon, impenetrable legal clauses, and strategically hidden terms. Still, these documents are not neutral. Every choice of wording, structure, and design quietly shapes behavior: nudging people to click “I agree,” to remain enrolled, or to give up rights they never realized they had.

This Article gives that reality a name—behavioral drafting. Borrowing insights from behavioral science, it shows how legal documents exploit well-documented tendencies to …

A Bone To Pick: Back To The Basics In Food Product Liability With A Necessary Reformation Of The "Hybrid" Negligence Standard, Clay Cutteridge

Cleveland State Law Review

Ohio does not use the traditional negligence standard in determining negligence in food product liability cases. Instead, Ohio uses what is called the hybrid test. The hybrid test analyzes what a consumer would reasonably expect to find in their food, and Ohio courts consider the naturalness of an object to the food it is in to be the determinative factor: natural objects should be reasonably expected and cannot give rise to successful claims of negligence. This hybrid test fails to consider that food is complex, and consumers often cannot know what to reasonably expect in the food they buy. The …

Drawing The Line: Roadbeds, Dedications, And Title Uncertainty In Louisiana, Mary Catherine Joiner

LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources

No abstract provided.

Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion Project: Navigating Endangered Species Act Litigation For Human Welfare, Dane Eastman

LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources

No abstract provided.

Sunny Side Up: Why Louisiana Should Modify Louisiana Revised Statutes § 47:6030 And Reinstate Tax Credits For Solar Energy Systems, Isabella Lodrigue

LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources

No abstract provided.

Career Decidedness Among Multicultural Adolescents In South Korea: Relational Support And Internalized Psychological Resources, Kahyen Shin

Dissertations - ALL

Despite the growing number of multicultural adolescents in South Korea, little is known about how to support their career development. Specifically, Korean multicultural adolescents who have foreign-born mothers and Korean fathers have experienced educational and career gaps compared to non-multicultural adolescents in Korea. Given that relational supports are documented to have significant associations with adolescents' career decidedness, this study aims to examine the relationship between relational supports and career decidedness through internalized psychological resources such as self-esteem and achievement motivation. Grounded in the Relational Theory of Working (RTW; Blustein, 2011), the researcher focused on the mediating role of internalized psychological …

Syphilis And Hiv Co-Infection Risk Factors At Dr. Moewardi Hospital, 2018–2022: A Retrospective Study, Endra Yustin Ellistasari, Prasetyadi Mawardi, Pratiwi Prasetya Primisawitri, Stella Gracia Octarica

Journal of General - Procedural Dermatology and Venereology Indonesia

Background: Treponema pallidum, the agent causing syphilis, is transmitted through contact with infectious lesions, bodily fluids, blood transfusions, or perinatally. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection can mask the clinical manifestations of syphilis, while syphilis may exacerbate HIV progression. This study aimed to analyze risk factors associated with HIV co-infection among patients with syphilis.

Methods: This retrospective, analytical, observational study reviewed medical records from the Dermatology and Venereology outpatient clinic at Dr. Moewardi Hospital, Surakarta, Indonesia, between January 2018 and December 2022. Demographic, behavioral, and clinical variables were extracted. Univariable analysis was performed using simple binary logistic regression to …