Digital Commons Network^™

The Federal Death Penalty As A Sign Of The Times, Ngozi Ndulue

Georgia State University Law Review

Scholars have been predicting the demise of the American death penalty for much of the twenty-first century. This prediction finds support in state-by-state abolition, reduced numbers of new death sentences, and continued reductions in the death row population. Despite significant movement away from the death penalty, the punishment remains stubbornly persistent, with a small number of states continuing to aggressively pursue executions and scattered local jurisdictions securing a disproportionate amount of new death sentences.

While several legal academics have looked to historical precedent and international experience to map the future trajectory of the American death penalty, this Article seeks to …

Hstr 291.01: Special Topics - History Of Iran, From Ancient Persia To The Iranian Revolution, Mehrdad Kia

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2026-2030

No abstract provided.

Grmn 102.04: Elementary German Ii, Marton M. Marko

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2026-2030

No abstract provided.

Spns 102.05: Elementary Spanish Ii, Manolita L. Connor

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2026-2030

No abstract provided.

Distribution Of Power In South Asia: Assessing Sino-Indian Conflict Propensity, Fatima Faisal

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In international relations, the distribution of power is a key theme impacting the propensity for nations to break into wars; however, the vast academic literature is Eurocentric with a concentration on the United States and the Soviet Union. This paper shifts to the unexplored distribution of power in South Asian with a particular focus of Sino-Indian border conflicts namely the Sino-Indian War (1962), the Nathu La and Cho La clashes (1967), the Arunachal Ambush (1975), Sumdorong Chu standoff (1987), the Armed Confrontation (2013), and the Doklam Standoff (2017), and the Galwan Valley (2020) to determine if the region was more …

Finding Luis: A Creative Nonfiction Account Of Law & Society, Jason M. Leggett

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This essay explores the contradictions in legal theory and human experience through creative nonfiction. Its main purpose is to argue that a truly just society requires acknowledging the profound influence of individual narratives on the law. This is supported by blending personal narratives, critical analysis, and philosophical inquiry to reveal the gap between codified law and lived realities for marginalized individuals. This unique Legal Poetics methodology employs a series of six vignettes, such as the author's and Luis's shared experiences with traumatic brain injury and the denial of justice, as data. By integrating autoethnography, law as narrative, and performativity theories, …

Visualizing Six Decades Of Polish Migration: An Interactive Analytics Approach (1966–2024), Alexandra Gilarowski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project presents an interactive, data-driven visualization of Polish migration patterns between 1966 and 2024. Using multi-series line chart, cumulative flow analysis, and an animated geospatial map, the project explores six decades of demographic mobility shaped by political, economic, and social forces. Major historical events - including the fall of the Berlin Wall, Poland’s accession to the European Union, Schengen integration, and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine - are incorporated directly into the visualization to contextualize shifts in migration. The dataset, compiled from historical migration statistics published by the Polish Central Statistical Office (GUS), is transformed into a browsable …

Cecil Taylor, 1950–1976: Theory & Practice In His Own Words, Michelle A. Yom

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cecil Taylor (1929–2018) was a poet, composer, pianist, and dancer who is widely regarded as one of the founding figures of Free Jazz. Despite this historical significance, Taylor has not been a subject of substantial archival research. Some scholars have written his name into music scholarship through explicitly or implicitly reiterating the notion of “freedom” that circulated among contemporary jazz critics of the late 1950s and the 1960s. Others have focused on analyzing Taylor’s solo piano music, often reducing Taylor’s musical theories and practices into the formal structures of the music itself. To date, the scholarship has simplified Taylor’s work …

Precarious Status, Essential Work: Migrant Labor, Social Reproduction, And The Politics Of Regularization In Covid Quebec, Jessie Lauren Stein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines how migrant justice struggles in Quebec during and immediately after the COVID‑19 pandemic challenged and reshaped the cultural politics of membership in a neoliberal welfare state under strain. The research is centered on an ethnography of the Status for All campaign, a coalition effort spearheaded in Montreal to secure permanent immigration status for all people with precarious status in Canada. I situate pandemic‑era regularization efforts within overlapping crises of border governance, social reproduction, and federal–provincial relations. I argue that Quebec’s growing reliance on migrants with precarious status to sustain essential public social reproductive functions in care work, …

Calculated Risks: The Power Of Predictive Risk Models To Regulate Families Of Color, Ashleigh Washington

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines predictive risk modelling (PRM) in New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS), specifically exploring AI-enabled design features, practices, and encoded and racialized assumptions about risk in child welfare prevention services. Guided by Critical Race Theory and the Algorithmic Ecology framework, this study traces how PRM in ACS evolved from a service termination tool into a broader, largely internal surveillance apparatus that leverages families’ personal information, including health information, to assess risk of future maltreatment and to evaluate contracted service providers. Drawing on analysis of public records and in-depth interviews with Black parents, the findings describe how …

Exploring The Value Of International Research Experience For Leadership Development, Lisa Luken

Leadership Studies

The world has become more complex and interconnected, with challenges that span countries and disciplines. To navigate these challenges, individuals are needed who are equipped with skills and competencies to lead in cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary environments. These leadership skills and competencies can be developed through participation in experiential learning programs. However, the impact of international research-based programs remains unexplored. This is a qualitative, phenomenological study within a bounded case that explored the lived experiences of students who participated in an international graduate student research program from a leadership development perspective. Mezirow’s (1978a) transformative learning theory was utilized as a theoretical framework …

Marx And Engels On Prisons And Capitalism, James Parisot

Sociology Faculty Publications

This paper rethinks Marx and Engels’ comments on imprisonment and capitalism. While there has been a tendency to suggest the authors’ comments on crime and punishment were peripheral and secondary to their major projects, such as Marx’s Capital, this paper claims, in fact, their writings on incarceration were guided by their shared theoretical project which included historicizing systems of punishment as correlating with modes of production. Also, while more has been written on their ideas of criminality, instead, this paper excavates their thoughts on prisons, which have often been neglected. Overall, it shows there has been a tendency to …

Mapping Of Wetland And Riparian Habitat For The National Wetland Inventory: Wetland-31 Utah 2, Emma R. Chantegros, Ryhan T. Sempler, Melissa L. Moser, Faith O. Hardin, Ella S. Hartshorn, Miles L. Fenolio, Liana N. Heberer, Sara K. Owen, Kay L. Hajek

EMMA Publications

This report details the wetland and riparian mapping methodologies implemented for the Wetland-31 Utah 2 project. The project area consists of 70 1:24,000 US Geological Survey (USGS) quads across Southeastern Utah with quads in Grand, San Juan, Emery, and Sevier counties, and Western Colorado with quads in Mesa County.

The Poly Problem In Zoning: Redefining "Family" For A Changing Society, Aric K. Short, Tanya Pierce

Faculty Scholarship

Single-family zoning has long dictated not only where people may live but also with whom. Although extensively critiqued for perpetuating racial and economic exclusion, these laws also privilege relationships defined by blood, marriage, or adoption and marginalize nontraditional families. This Article focuses on a particularly overlooked group: polyamorous families who often face legal uncertainty, social exclusion, and housing discrimination due to restrictive zoning definitions of “family.”

As polyamory gains cultural visibility and increasing legal recognition—through West 49th Street, LLC v. O’Neill and municipal reforms in cities like Somerville and Cambridge—now is the time to examine zoningÊs role in reinforcing outdated …

Geospatial Analysis Of Urban Heat Islands And Heat Vulnerability In Chattogram, Bangladesh: Implications For Public Health Risks, Mst Sanjida Alam

Student Publications [Scholarly]

Rapid urbanization and land use change are intensifying the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect and its associated health risks. It is the most common problem in the cities across the Global South. Chattogram the second-largest city in Bangladesh that has highly urbanized and experiencing transformation of croplands and vegetation into impervious surfaces. The changes contribute to the increase in the surface temperature and vulnerability of urban residents. This study aims to determine spatiotemporal patterns of UHI between 2011 and 2024 and the Heat Vulnerability Index (HVI) for 2024 and its associated health risk of Chattogram District. The HVI was developed …

Montana On Screen: Exploring Film Tourism In Montana, Kika Bradford, Elena Bigart, Melissa Weddell

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report presents a study exploring how film and TV show exposure influences tourism to Montana, a state long celebrated for its cinematic landscapes and Western heritage. Using data from an online survey of 311 visitors who had both watched a Montana-related production and visited a filming location in the past five years, the research examines visitor profiles, motivations, travel behaviors, spending, and perceptions.

Gulf Coast Faculty Council Minutes - February 19, 2026, Eric Saillant

Gulf Coast Faculty Council Minutes

No abstract provided.

Genomic Comparisons And The Adaptive Basis Of Brain Size Plasticity And Chromosomal Instability In The Eurasian Common Shrew, William R. Thomas, Tanya M. Lama, Cecilia Baldoni, Laia Marín-Gual, Diana Moreno Santillán, Marta Farré, Linelle Abueg, Jennifer Balacco, Olivier Fedrigo, Giulio Formenti, Nivesh Jain, Jacquelyn Mountcastle, Tatiana Tilley, Ying Sims, Alan Tracey, Jo Wood, David A. Ray, Dominik Von Elverfeldt, John Nieland, Angelique P. Corthals, Aurora Ruiz-Herrera, Dina K.N. Dechmann, Erich Jarvis, Liliana M. Dávalos

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Sorex araneus, the Eurasian common shrew, has seasonal brain size plasticity (Dehnel's phenomenon) and many intraspecific chromosomal rearrangements. Genomic contributions to these traits, however, remain unknown. We couple a chromosome-scale genome assembly with seasonal brain transcriptomes to discover relationships between molecular evolution and both traits. While Positively Selected Genes (PSGs) enriched the Fanconi anemia DNA repair pathway (FANCI, FAAP100), which is likely involved in chromosomal rearrangements by preventing the accumulation of chromosomal aberrations, genes under positive selection or showing seasonal differential expression in the brain implicate neurogenesis (PCDHA6, SOX9, Notch signaling) and metabolic regulation (VEGFA, SPHK2) as key mechanisms underlying …

Microtransit In Florida: Strategic Considerations And Research Needs, Jennifer Flynn, Martin Catala, Victoria Perk

CUTR Internal Grant Research Program

In response to increasingly dispersed trip patterns, changing travel behavior, and new technology platforms, transit agencies are under pressure to modernize their services to sustain ridership and remain relevant. One strategy gaining traction is microtransit, an on-demand service model that allows riders to request trips (in real time or in advance) and receive service in smaller vehicles that may be shared with other passengers.

Agencies are exploring microtransit to address well-known fixed-route challenges, particularly in low-density areas where limited demand, circuitous routing, and weak pedestrian connectivity can lead to low productivity. By right-sizing service to real-time demand, microtransit can reduce …

February 2026 Library & Learning Newsletter, Minnesota State University, Mankato. Library & Learning Dean’S Office Communications Team

Library & Learning Newsletters

PDF version of the February 2026 (Volume 4, Issue 7) Library & Learning Newsletter.

26 Conference - Advancing Manufacture Of Cell And Gene Therapies ​Ix, John Moscariello, Corinne Hoesli, Bruno Marques

Advancing Manufacture of Cell and Gene Therapies IX [2026]

No abstract provided.

Voices In Transit: Intersectionality, Silence, And Political Engagement In Ride-Sharing, Soran Tarkhani

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Abstract This study examines Uber as a digitally governed “third space” for political discourse. Based on 4,716 ride observations from Louisville–Southern Indiana—3,676 collected in 2023–2024 and 1,040 in 2025—it uses a mixed-methods design combining multinomial logistic regression and qualitative observation. Political conversations are defined as discussions of parties, elections, policies, or major social issues. Results show that White and male passengers were most likely to initiate such talk, while African American and female riders often remained silent, consistent with Noelle-Neumann’s spiral of silence. African American women faced the strongest intersectional constraints. Women and LGBTQ passengers leaned liberal, while men displayed …

Imagined Nations: Ireland, Palestine, And The Politics Of Anti-Colonial Memory, Grace P. Wingerter

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

This paper covers the life and career of notable IRA operative Brendan “the Dark” Hughes and how his thoughts on the “Armed Struggle” or “Cause” changed over time. Brendan Hughes was forced to frequently deal with violent and heavy handed discrimination from Protestants, which led to him joining the Paramilitary movements as a result of frustration and misplaced youthful vigor. Brendan played a major role in the Troubles through his planning of prolific violent attacks such as the Four Square Laundry attack, Bloody Friday, and the H Block blanket protest and subsequent hunger strike in the Maze Prison. Brendan’s disconnect …

Vol 71 #1, Rebecca Chavez

MPLA Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Grmn 202.01: Intermediate German Ii, Hiltrudis M. Arens

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2026-2030

No abstract provided.

Spns 102.01: Elementary Spanish Ii, Micaela O. Downey

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2026-2030

No abstract provided.

Spns 102.80: Elementary Spanish Ii - Honors, Micaela O. Downey

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2026-2030

No abstract provided.

Spns 102.02: Elementary Spanish Ii, Manolita L. Connor

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2026-2030

No abstract provided.

Spns 202.80: Intermediate Spanish Ii - Honors, Micaela O. Downey

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2026-2030

No abstract provided.

Spns 102.03: Elementary Spanish Ii, Manolita L. Connor

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2026-2030

No abstract provided.