Digital Commons Network^™

Disarming Data: An Empirical Take On The Loaded Debate About Felon-In-Possession Of A Firearm, Jonathan Abel

Faculty Scholarship

This Article answers a crucial empirical question at the heart of the scholarly and judicial debates about the laws governing felon-in-possession of a firearm: How often do defendants charged with this offense have violent felony convictions? Using a comprehensive dataset of over 27,000 defendants charged in California from 2021 through 2024, the study provides a novel, large-scale analysis of how prosecutors deploy this most-common gun charge. The findings substantiate longstanding concerns that felon-in-possession is overbroad in its application to nonviolent felons—only 8.5% of defendants had a “violent felony” conviction as defined by California law, rising to just 28.8% under a …

Disciplining Mechanisms: Governing Data Markets With Competition And Regulation, Peter Ormerod

Faculty Publications

The past decade has witnessed conceptual renewals in both competition law and information privacy law. These regulatory movements—Neo-Brandeis antitrust and structural data governance—share the objective of recalibrating the balance of power between individuals and the massive data-processing firms that now dominate modern life.

Despite their common ends, policy interventions drawn from these schools of thought can work at cross purposes: competitive pressure can induce data exploitation, and privacy rules tend to benefit the largest firms.

This Essay exposes the friction in their relationship and offers guidance on how to mediate their tension. Competition policy alone will prove ineffective at indirectly …

Online Age Gating: An Interdisciplinary Evaluation, Noah Apthorpe, Brett Frischmann, Yan Shvartzshnaider

Faculty Publications

The recent surge in regulation seeking to establish age-based governance online is part of a decades-long attempt to establish online zoning. It is driven by active development of technologies to estimate or verify user age based on various characteristics of users, their credentials, or their activities. However, these developments have heightened prevailing concerns that online age gating technology will inevitably be abused and misused to cause a variety of privacy harms and rights infringements. This paper examines this ongoing debate by bridging technical and legal scholarship to explore the current state of online age-based governance. We discuss the current legal …

Applying Two-Stage Risk-Based Market Structures For Energy Hub-Based Plug-In Electric Vehicles Using Information Decision Gap Theory And A Hybrid Recurrent Convolutional Network, A. Heidari, R. C. Bansal, R. Bo

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper investigates the optimal operation of an energy hub engaged in both day-ahead and real-time trading. A two-stage optimization framework Information Gap Decision Theory (IGDT) for day-ahead bidding and stochastic programming with Monte Carlo scenarios for real-time recourse is applied. Risk-neutral, risk-averse, and risk-taking strategies are considered to capture different risk preferences. The hub integrates combined heat and power, renewable energy, plug-in electric vehicles, and vehicle-to-grid and grid-to-vehicle technologies. Price and load forecasts are generated using a hybrid recurrent convolutional network (HRCN). Results highlight the trade-off between risk management and economic performance: costs are 16.5 % higher in the …

Microwave Dielectric Properties Of Geopolymer Precursor Powders, Linh T. Duong, Abu Naser Rashid Reza, Kristen M. Donnell, Christopher R. Shearer

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Geopolymers are sustainable structural materials with properties similar to ordinary Portland cement concrete. To better understand the fundamental reaction mechanisms of geopolymers, a microwave materials characterization approach is used. In this research work, the dielectric properties (permittivity and loss factor) of common precursor powders used to make geopolymers (GPPs)—fly ash, lime, metakaolin, silica fume, slag, and zeolite—are measured over the S- and X-band frequency ranges (i.e., 2.0–4.0 GHz and 8.2–12.4 GHz, respectively). The physical characteristics, elemental composition, mineralogical properties, and phase characterization of the GPPs are then correlated to dielectric properties. Permittivity of GPP, classified as pozzolanic or latent hydraulic, …

Calibration Of Time-Domain Impedance Probe (Tdip) To Investigate Space Plasma Dynamics During Periods Of Ionospheric Instability, Piyas Chowdhury, Soumyajit Dey, Edmund A. Spencer

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

The traditional Plasma Impedance Probe (PIP) is popular for diagnosing parameters of the ionospheric plasma to study the space environment. However, the resolution of data measurements of existing PIP instruments, operating at higher frequencies, limits the analysis to studying the plasma features at electron scales. Studying plasma ion parameters is essential to understanding the ionospheric instability growth rates. This can only be accomplished by operating a diagnosing instrument at lower frequencies corresponding to ion scales. A recently developed Time Domain Impedance Probe (TDIP) is implementable for fast moving spacecraft using a time domain approach. The instrument has higher measurement resolution …

Detecting Sensor Data Manipulation, Ricky Green, Michael Black

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

The integration of Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) have made OT devices vulnerable to threats that have been successfully exploited with devastating results. Many modern techniques for hardening and securing enterprise IT systems are either incompatible with OT components in an Industrial Control System (ICS), reduce the efficiency of processes, or are prohibitively expensive to implement. Research in the area of ICS security focuses on a top-down approach, such as intrusion prevention by securing the perimeter of the network at layers 3 – 5 of the Purdue model by hardening IT systems. This approach is useful in Enterprise …

Postcolonial Ecocriticism And The Recovery Of Hope: Okri, Dangarembga, And The Spiritual, John C. Hawley

English

This essay stages a comparative ecocritical reading of African and transnational texts—Cajetan Iheka’s Naturalizing Africa, Ben Okri’s Every Leaf a Hallelujah, Tsitsi Dangarembga’s This Mournable Body, Greg Sarris’s Becoming Story, and Karen Armstrong’s Sacred Nature—to examine how narrative re-situates the human within more-than-human worlds. Drawing on Iheka’s “aesthetics of proximity,” postcolonial theory, and critical posthumanism, it contrasts Okri’s hopeful, child-centered fable of multispecies reciprocity with Dangarembga’s portrayal of “slow violence,” psychic dispossession, and eco-touristic commodification in neoliberal Zimbabwe. Indigenous and spiritual frameworks in Sarris and Armstrong further disclose ancient precedents for posthuman ethics, foregrounding humility, …

Evaluating The Effects Of Anti-Forensic Activities In Additive Manufacturing Devices, Daniel B. Miller

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a newer famlily of production tecchologies that constructs objects by fusing layers of material into the desired shape. Methods for achieving this as described in Gibson et al. [1] are varied and include Fused Filament Deposition, Selective Laser Sintering, Stereolithography (SLA), and Powder Bed Fusion. Computers are integral to the processes being responsible for creating and decoding design instructions, collecting and processing sensor data, and, ultimately, directing the activity of the machines which implement the process. Additionally, the AM industry is rapidly expanding, worth an estimated $23 billion in 2023 and projected to reach $88 billion …

Applying Direct Numerical Simulations To Investigate Wave Forcing Against A Vertical Wall, Hunter Boswell, Frank D. Han, Gaurav Savant, Guirong Yan, Wouter Mostert

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Current engineering standards lack the ability to predict the peak impact forces of breaking waves impinging directly upon coastal structures. In this study solitary waves impacting vertical and tapered walls are investigated. To capture the detailed physics of the wave profile that impacts the wall, two-dimensional direct numerical simulations are applied to model the wave traveling over a simplified bathymetry consisting of an initially uniform depth, followed by a uniform beach ramp and then terminating in a uniform depth inshore region and vertical wall. Such an approach can simulate wave runup on land and then the impact with the vertical …

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

Library & Learning Newsletters

PDF version of the March 2026 (Volume 4, Issue 8) Library & Learning Newsletter.

Uab Libraries News, 03 2026, Uab Libraries

UAB Libraries News

No abstract provided.

Launch Skills: Virtual Career Camp Connects Rural Youth To Diverse Career Pathways, Caroline Homan, Meagan Hoffman

Journal of Youth Development

Rural youth often encounter persistent barriers in career and workforce readiness, including limited access to career exploration resources, mentorship, and post-secondary exposure, challenges that are compounded by geographic isolation and higher rates of rural poverty. To address these gaps, this manuscript describes the development and implementation of Launch Skills, a virtual career camp designed to broaden rural youths’ awareness of career pathways within food, agriculture, natural resources management, and human sciences (FANH). Grounded in Positive Youth Development principles, Launch Skills was collaboratively developed by North Dakota State University Extension and South Dakota State University Extension to provide flexible, accessible, and …

Towards Socially Legitimized Trust In Ai-Learning Systems, Sanket Patole, Rob E. Carpenter, Reed M. Milewicz, Rose M. Baker, John R. Turner

Human Resource Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

AI-enabled learning technologies are rapidly becoming institutional infrastructure. In this context, “trust” cannot be treated as a simple user attitude or a byproduct of technical performance. We argue that durable trust in AI-enabled learning systems is fundamentally a legitimacy outcome: stakeholders must judge AI-mediated practices as appropriate, credible, and defensible within the normative and governance structures of learning environments. Building on socio-technical systems scholarship and institutional legitimacy theory, we introduce Socially Legitimized Trust (SLT), a framework that helps us understand adoption stability and contestation through alignment among three foundations: technocratic validation (credible evidence of capability, limits, and reliability), social validation …

A Phenomenological Study Of Teacher And Student Experience Within A Community Of Inquiry: Utilizing Wonder-Infused Pedagogy In An Elementary Outdoor Classroom, Andrew Gilbert, Steph N. Dean

Publications

This interpretive phenomenological study explores how wonder-infused pedagogy, enacted within an elementary outdoor classroom, supported the development of a community of inquiry. We position the community of inquiry as the overarching framework for cultivating social, cognitive, and teaching presence; wonder as the pedagogical driver; and outdoor learning as the authentic context for engaging in science practices. In response to schooling contexts that often privilege testing and individual achievement over collaborative inquiry, we examined an eight-week outdoor wonder project with third- through fifth-grade students. Data sources included group interviews, student journals, teacher reflections, and photographs. Students engaged in weekly wonder journaling …

Academic Freedom And Collective Bargaining: A Joint Report By The National Center For The Study Of Collective Bargaining In Higher Education And The Professions And The Aaup’S Center For The Defense Of Academic Freedom, William A. Herbert, Isaac A. Kamola, Timothy R. Cain, Erin Ward, Anita Levy, Kathryn Ritchie, Ariana Gonzalez

Publications and Research

This is a joint report by the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions at Hunter College (National Center) and the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom (CDAF) at the American Association of University Professors. It presents excerpts from forty-five collective bargaining agreements in higher education to demonstrate the wide range of ways academic freedom is defined in contracts, or not, and how the negotiated definitions incorporate, quote, follow, mirror, or deviate from the principles set forth in the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure (hereinafter 1940 Statement).

A Data-Guided Analytical Framework For Assessing The Value Of Additional Variables In Heart Transplant Decision Making, Ali Dag, Hamidreza A. Dolatsara, Abdullah Asilkalkan, Joseph Ekong, Kamil Ciftci, Ugur Kucuk, Ozlem Cosgun

Department of Information Management and Business Analytics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Heart transplantation is a life-saving procedure for patients with end-stage heart failure. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which administers the US organ allocation system, substantially expanded the number of clinical and demographic variables collected in its database in 2004. This study examines whether these newly added variables improve the ability to predict survival outcomes for patients on the heart transplant waiting list. An information-gain-based feature selection approach, supported by an extensive review of prior studies, was combined with survival analysis and regularized regression to identify the most influential predictors. Using the selected variables, several classification models, including tree-augmented …

A Data-Guided Analytical Framework For Assessing The Value Of Additional Variables In Heart Transplant Decision Making, Ali Dag, Hamidreza Ahady Dolatsara, Abdullah Asilkalkan, Joseph Ekong, Kamil Ciftci, Ugur Kucuk, Ozlem Cosgun

School of Business

Heart transplantation is a life-saving procedure for patients with end-stage heart failure. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which administers the US organ allocation system, substantially expanded the number of clinical and demographic variables collected in its database in 2004. This study examines whether these newly added variables improve the ability to predict survival outcomes for patients on the heart transplant waiting list. An information-gain-based feature selection approach, supported by an extensive review of prior studies, was combined with survival analysis and regularized regression to identify the most influential predictors. Using the selected variables, several classification models, including tree-augmented …

Development And Evaluation Of The Interdisciplinary Graduate-Level Experiential Global Aging Education Program In The United States: A Case Of The Gerontology In Japan Course, Takashi Yamashita, Flavius R W Lilly, Diane B. Martin, Mio Kamijo

Journal of Global Education and Research

The cultural competence of the workforce is increasingly important due to global population aging and the growing diversity of the older population. Experiential learning, particularly through study abroad programs, is a known strategy to enhance these competencies; yet such training remains uncommon in higher education, especially at the graduate level. While the United States is currently a relatively young country with 17% of its population aged 65 years and older, the percentage is projected to increase to more than 21% by the end of this decade. Recognizing the value of learning from a super-aged society, a two-week study abroad course …

Bullying And Discrimination Experiences Of Bhutanese College Students: Prevalence, Impacts, And Responses, Kezang Sherab, John Howard

Journal of Global Education and Research

Prior studies as well as media reports have identified bullying and discrimination amongst Bhutanese school and college students as a cause of concern, especially so for a nation with Gross National Happiness as its goal. Bullying and discrimination are associated with negative outcomes and can impact overall well-being. This quantitative study examined bullying and discrimination amongst college students (n = 16) in Bhutan through a self-administered online survey to a representative sample of 2043 (male = 40.8%; female = 55.8%). There was a non-significant decline from the 2016 survey in the reported prevalence of being bullied (from 45.2% to …

Tools To Build Undergraduate Nursing Student Volunteer Confidence In Case Of Disaster, Sadie Apuron, Emily F. Calkins, Natashia Forson, Rhean Kang, Corinne Pickart, Ryan Quan

Nursing Leadership in Community Engagement Projects

Building Undergraduate Nursing Student Confidence to Volunteer in Case of Disaster

This paper provides a brief overview of one project in an ongoing collaboration between the nursing department, the Office of Safety and Security, and Health Services at a private university in the Pacific Northwest. The partnership aims to improve disaster response capacity on campus by preparing nursing students to volunteer in medical triage. It builds on a previous project that created a protocol for volunteers and outlined education recommendations (Sebastian et al., 2025). The goal of this project was to create reusable training resources to increase nursing student knowledge …

Building Connections With Graduate Students Through Credit-Bearing Instruction, Michelle Desilets, Kimberly Pendell

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

Graduate students often need support with research skills and other professional development that is under-recognized by their programs. Librarians play a key role in helping students fill in these gaps. This case study reviews student feedback on a librarian-developed and -delivered credit-bearing course. The course, Library Research and Scholarly Communication Fundamentals, is offered to graduate students across all disciplines. The curriculum is flexible and applicable to each student’s research, covering topics such as researching literature, citation and data management, and publishing in scholarly journals. The course has generated positive and constructive feedback from students, encompassing themes of self-efficacy, improved research …

From Doctrine To Practice: Shūrā-Centred Islamic Ethics For Sustainable Ecological Solutions, Fatima Dhanani, Cecilee Glaus Jones

Abdou Filali-Ansary Occasional Paper Series

This paper examines how Islamic ethics, when translated into lived practice, generate both moral frameworks and scalable solutions to pressing ecological challenges. Focusing on shūrā, tawḥīd, khilāfa, and taʿaddudiyya, and drawing on case studies of Stewardship Canada and the Aga Khan University’s Carbon Management Tool, the authors show how Islamic values move beyond doctrinal abstraction to guide institutional decision-making, programme design, and community engagement. More than treating ethics as fixed theological propositions, they frame them as negotiated, context-sensitive processes that align with ecological resilience, distributive justice, and economic viability.

Grounded in shūrā …

By Fair Means: The Inapplicability Of Bristol-Myers Squibb To Flsa Collective Action Lawsuits, Paige Maxa

Washington Law Review

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), passed by Congress in 1938, sets federal workplace standards and protects over 100 million workers in the United States. The FLSA also includes a collective action provision, which allows workers to privately sue their employers for FLSA violations in a unique way. A collective action lawsuit is a distinct form of aggregate litigation that allows an employee to sue their employer for FLSA violations on behalf of other similarly situated employees in one action. Similarly situated employees who wish to join a collective action must affirmatively opt in and consent to participate in the …

Boutz Cellars Brand Guidelines, Kristen M. Burr

Graphic Communication

For my senior project, I plan to focus on creating strong brand guidelines for Boutz Cellars, a winery in Paso Robles, California. My goal is to give this winery the opportunity to gather their brand voice, focus, and pillars in one cohesive format, along with the brand’s design guidelines and rules for web and print use. The final deliverable is a designed brand standards slideshow that encourages consistency across print, digital, and promotional materials while strengthening brand recognition and supporting the company’s long term growth and market presence.

Moving Forward: Teachers Managing Challenges And Change, Victoria A. Oglan, Lauren Gehr

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

Teaching requires adapting to ongoing changes in pedagogy and technology, a reality intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic. This article situates pandemic-era instructional shifts within a broader history of educational change and reviews contemporary professional texts addressing technology integration, artificial intelligence, literacy instruction, teacher clarity, and deep learning.

Middle School Magic: Building Belonging And Brain-Aligned Classrooms, Christopher S. Culver, Katie Kinder

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

Middle school represents a critical developmental period when belonging, identity, and emotional regulation converge to shape academic and social outcomes. This article explores how belonging and brain-aligned kindness transform classroom culture through connection, collaboration, compassion, and the Science of Kindness. Drawing from recent neuroscience, educational psychology, and classroom practice, the authors demonstrate how these principles activate neural pathways of safety, motivation, and empathy that enhance learning and well- being. Integrating research with actionable classroom strategies, this article illustrates how small, consistent acts of care, such as greeting students by name, fostering collaborative learning, building relationships in trust, and practicing restorative …

Mental Health And Neurodiversity In Middle Grades Literature: Sharing Stories Of Anxiety, Identity, And Resilience For Today’S Adolescents, Brooke B. Eisenbach

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

Literature offers a powerful entry point for classroom conversation and engagement around mental health and neurodiversity. Stories invite students to challenge stereotypes and deepen their understanding through exploration of character, conflict, and voice, rather than through lecture or the expectation of personal self-disclosure. This article examines five contemporary novels exploring topics of mental health and neurological diversity that teachers can utilize to integrate mental health and social-emotional learning in the classroom. Through authentic voices and relatable narratives, these stories provide educators, parents, and teens with meaningful insights into the realities of navigating challenges while emphasizing resilience, self-worth, and the power …

Freedom On The Sea: The True Story Of The Civil War Hero Robert Smalls And His Daring Escape To Freedom, William Bintz P

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

Book Review

Villain Or Victor, Part Ii: Embodied Advocacy In A Time Of Democratic Turmoil, Kenesha Johnson, Theodore W. Anderson

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

This paper examines how middle level educators embody advocacy through movement, care, rest, and recreation as acts of democratic engagement. Extending Part I of Villain or Victor, it positions advocacy as a lived, physical, and relational practice grounded in wellness and cultural responsiveness. Through embodied pedagogy, healing-centered approaches, and intentional recreation, educators help young adolescents experience democracy through motion, connection, and collective courage. The paper links theory to practical strategies that build sanctuaries of belonging, support student voice, and nurture civic leadership in the middle grades.