Digital Commons Network^™

A Real Account Of Deep Fakes, Benjamin L.W Sobel

Michigan Law Review

Laws regulating pornographic deepfakes are written to prohibit “digital forgeries,” “false” images, or media “indistinguishable” from “authentic” recordings. Yet the typical anti-deepfake law covers materials that aren’t forgeries, aren’t false, and that reasonable observers can easily distinguish from authentic recordings. Though drafted as if they regulate statements of fact, anti-deepfake laws actually target certain outrageous depictions per se—and rightly so, because pornographic deepfakes cause harm irrespective of their truth or falsity. However, the inapposite language of facts results in statutes with crucial ambiguities. Moreover, because anti-deepfake laws ban outrageous depictions irrespective of the factual assertions they make, they differ fundamentally …

Collecting Dust (Jackets): Regarding The Life And Ephemerality Of Dust-Jackets Through The Early To Mid-Twentieth Century, Kelsey Clodfelter

Munn Scholars Awards

Collecting Dust (Jackets): Regarding the Life and Ephemerality of Dust-Jackets through the Early to Mid-Twentieth Century examines the dust-jacket as a liminal form of printed ephemera, tracing its evolution between disposable packaging to a culturally significant archival object. Using theories of paratext, archival practice, and book history by Gerard Genette, Jacque Derrida, and G.T. Tanselle, and through three cases within the West Virginia & Regional History Center, the paper argues that the increasing incorporation of aesthetics, information, and advertising transformed dust-jackets into cultural artifacts with value beyond their protective function. Their preservation challenges conventional distinctions between ephemera and archival material.

Judicial Underreach: Tiktok Inc. V. Garland'S Implications For National Security And Free Speech, Olivia Sharp

Colorado Law Student Scholars

No abstract provided.

The Domestic Mirror: Tiktok V. Garland, Data Privacy, And Meaningful Free Expression, Olivia Sharp

Colorado Law Student Scholars

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Shield: The Business Judgment Rule As A Tool For Esg Initiatives, Samuel Hawkinson

Colorado Law Student Scholars

No abstract provided.

Wooster Magazine: Spring 2026, Caitlin Paynich Stanowick

Wooster Magazine: 2021-2030

The spring 2026 issue of Wooster magazine showcases the enduring value of a liberal arts education in moments of change. Alumni Bill Colvin ’79, Scott Bloom ’94, and Hannah Samuell ’09 share how their Wooster education prepared them to navigate unexpected career paths and professional pivots. Additional features examine the College’s approach to artificial intelligence with an emphasis on learning and ethics, revisit a historic campus debate over teaching evolutionary theory and evidence-based scholarship, and there’s also a Q&A with President Anne McCall on the role of academic freedom in society. Oak Grove features “Why I Play” with baseball infielder …

Implementing Blockchain Into Accounting Software, Noam Kimbro

Senior Honors Theses

Accounting has been fundamentally reshaped by the use of computational systems and digital information storage. This Honors Thesis seeks to research accounting software and to build upon it through the development of fresh software implementing blockchain into the accounting system. This Honors Thesis Proposal provides preliminary research into the field of accounting to allow for better understanding of the proposed software system. This Honors Thesis will further the body of knowledge by implementing blockchain into accounting data storage to allow transactions to be retroactively verified.

Resurrecting Natures With Charlotte Smith And Ebony G. Patterson, Leila Walker

Publications and Research

Recent scholarship on the botanically influenced poetry of the early Romantic period, particularly that of Charlotte Smith, has emphasized the genre’s formal engagement with the herbarium, treating botanical poetry as a non-extractive alternative to the violence of specimen collection. Yet such readings isolate the act of specimen collection and poetic return from the larger systems of extraction, translocation, and violence in which they participate. In this article, I read Smith’s Beachy Head alongside Ebony G. Patterson’s recent installation at the New York Botanical Garden, which artistically resurrected extinct species from herbarium specimens and “planted” them among living flora, in order …

Beyond The Mic: A Documentary Of Kaor’S Voices & History, Sydney M. Kolln

Honors Thesis

The University of South Dakota’s Media & Journalism Department celebrated the 40th anniversary of KAOR, the university’s student-run radio station, on Oct. 2, 2025. The celebration recognized generations of students whose creativity, leadership, and dedication contributed to the station’s growth and continued legacy on campus. This thesis explores the history and growth of KAOR through research, historical documents, and personal accounts from former and current KAOR students. By examining the station across multiple decades, the project highlights how student radio has adapted to changing technology and campus culture. This written thesis accompanies a 30-minute documentary focused on key eras in …

Fallen Light, Joshua Do

Posters - 2026

Lucifer is often portrayed in popular media as purely evil; however, this interpretation overlooks the more complex idea of gradual moral corruption through deception and pride. The purpose of Fallen Light is to explore how doubt, pride, and subtle deception can lead even a highly exalted being away from God over time.. The game emphasizes the internal struggle between obedience and self-exaltation rather than immediate rebellion, and the problems with Being overly prideful.

The Role Of Short-Form Video Content Strategy In Campaign Performance In Service Operations, Arianna Yates, Aileen Olivares

Posters - 2026

Short-form video content, particularly Instagram Reels, has become central to digital marketing strategies aimed at increasing engagement and campaign effectiveness. As consumer attention spans decline, marketers increasingly rely on visually engaging, concise, and interactive content formats. Prior research highlights the importance of content characteristics in shaping engagement outcomes. However, limited empirical evidence exists on which specific attributes most strongly influence performance in short-form video contexts. This study examines how call-to-action (CTA), audio type, and authenticity influence engagement rates in Instagram Reels.

Developing A Church Growth Strategy For Church Revitalizations In Suburban Communities Within The U.S. Assemblies Of God, Thomas A. Galban

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Suburban communities are experiencing demographic and socioeconomic shifts that have presented challenges for the local church. These changes have correlated with the decline and plateau of many suburban churches within the U.S. Assemblies of God. This dissertation explores which successful models of church revitalization can be adapted, learned from, and created for suburban church contexts within the U.S. Assemblies of God. Using a qualitative research approach utilizing interviews, this study examined seven suburban churches and the pastors who successfully led through a revitalization process. Each pastor was interviewed concerning their leadership approach, strategies that were employed, contextual realities, funding models, …

Reclaiming The Listening Pastor: A Pastoral Introduction To Spiritual Direction And Its Implications For A Recovery Of Pastoral Identity, Formation, And Sustainability In The Pentecostal Tradition, Hannah E.R. Sims

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

American Pentecostalism has long been marked by spiritual vitality, yet its theology of pastoral identity remains comparatively underdeveloped. Pentecostal pastors are often recognized as Spirit-led leaders and compelling communicators, but many now find themselves functioning primarily as organizational executives or cultural personalities—roles shaped more by business strategy and therapeutic expectation than by historic practices of spiritual care. In this quiet shift, something sacred has thinned. Pastors frequently experience role confusion, spiritual fatigue, and a subtle distancing from the relational and formational heart of their vocation. This dissertation explores what has been diminished within Pentecostal pastoral identity and what might yet …

Haitian Protestant Leaders’ Perceptions Of Social Media Use For Discipleship, Cherubin Dorcil

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

This qualitative descriptive study explores how Haitian Protestant church leaders in a large urban area of the northeastern United States describe the influence of their use of social media on promoting discipleship. The study addresses a gap in understanding how digital ministry practices are interpreted within Haitian Protestant diaspora contexts and how these practices inform both theory and ministry application. Using a qualitative descriptive design, data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 Haitian Protestant church leaders selected through convenience sampling. The data was analyzed using thematic analysis, which resulted in the identification of five primary themes: social media as …

Reshaping Church Culture To Reflect The Imago Dei: A Genesis-Rooted Case Study Of Female Identity And Leadership In The Pacific Northwest, Cassandra Wilson

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Many Evangelical churches in the Pacific Northwest minister within a cultural environment marked by high individualism, religious disaffiliation, and contested narratives of gender and identity. This project explores how one Free Methodist congregation, Sage Hills Church in Wenatchee, Washington, has sought to embody a Genesis-anchored theological anthropology of imago Dei and ezer kenegdo in its leadership culture and congregational life. Using a qualitative case study design, the research examines how a single congregation navigates the tension between conservative church habits that restrict women’s roles and secular narratives that dissolve stable categories of gender. The study draws on an anonymous online …

Digital Discipleship And Whole-Person Flourishing: A Mixed-Methods Study At Celebration Church, John W. Wyatt

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

This study examines how digital participation influences whole-person flourishing within the context of Celebration Church, a contemporary American megachurch, addressing a critical gap in empirical research on digital discipleship and its theological implications. Using a convergent mixed-methods design, quantitative data from the Barna ChurchPulse survey compared in-person and online participants, while qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with leaders from eighteen American megachurches were analyzed thematically. Findings indicate that flourishing outcomes are largely comparable across digital and in-person cohorts, challenging assumptions that embodied participation is inherently superior for spiritual formation; however, statistically significant differences emerged in leadership involvement, serving, and engagement …

The Psychology Behind Ai-Generated Phishing And Social Engineering Attacks, A’Shya Reynolds

School of Cybersecurity Master's Level Projects and Papers

Cybercrime has evolved significantly with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), transforming traditional phishing and social engineering attacks into highly sophisticated and personalized threats. While early phishing attempts relied on generic messaging and low success rates, modern AI-driven attacks leverage advanced data analytics, natural language processing, and behavioral prediction to manipulate victims more effectively.

This research examines how cybercriminals utilize AI to enhance psychological manipulation techniques in phishing and social engineering attacks, increasing victim susceptibility. Drawing from interdisciplinary literature in cybersecurity and psychology, this study explores key psychological mechanisms, including cognitive biases, emotional triggers, and decision-making processes that influence victim …

2026 Greenleaf Review-- Better Days (No. 39), Sigma Tau Delta

The Greenleaf Review

No abstract provided.

Who Benefits From The Transition? Environmental Justice And The Politics Of Climate Governance In New Mexico, United States, Abdul Ganiu Tanko

Student Publications

New Mexico’s Priority Climate Action Plan (2024) positions the state as a national leader in climate mitigation and energy transition under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant framework. Yet questions remain about who truly benefits from this transition and how justice, power, and inclusion are embedded in the governance process. This article critically examines New Mexico’s climate governance through an environmental justice lens, exploring how state priorities align with equity commitments, community participation, and fair distribution of benefits and burdens. Drawing on a qualitative review of the plan, complementary policy documents, and current scholarship on just transitions, …

From Our Stories, To Our Streets (Osos), Jennifer Lopez

Student Publications

Youth traffic safety persists as a critical planning challenge and public health concern in New Mexico, where pedestrian fatality rates consistently rank among the highest in the United States (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NTSA, Governors Highway Safety Association, GHSA, 2023; Baca, 2025). Students (children), due to their daily interactions with roadways, whether when they walk, bike, ride transit, or drive/get driven to and from school, are among the most vulnerable groups within the transportation system (Ferenchak, N. Wesley, M., 2017. For many students in Albuquerque, the commute to or from school is one of the most dangerous parts of …

3rd Place Contest Entry: "More Money, More Votes? Not Always", Levi Ramirez Garcia

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is Levi Ramirez Garcia's submission for the 2026 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won third place. It contains their essay on using library resources, and a summary of their research project on the relationship between money and elections, and their bibliography.

Levi is a fourth-year student at Chapman University, majoring in Political Science and Strategic Corporate Communication. Their faculty mentor is Dr. Ann Gordon.

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 …

2nd Place Contest Entry: "Destablizing U.S.-Japan Relations: Nikkatsu Film Noir As Postwar Social Critique", Thomas Graham Buchanan

Eric M. Scandrett Graduate Library Research Prize

This is Thomas Buchanan's submission for the 2026 Eric M. Scandrett Graduate Research Prize, which won second place. It contains their essay on using library resources, a summary of their research project on how a generation of Japanese filmmakers in the 1950s and 1960s borrowed the formal strategies of Hollywood film noir to mount a critique of U.S. Cold War policy, and their bibliography.

Thomas is a student in the Master of Arts in Film & Media Studies program at Chapman University. Their faculty mentor is Dr. Emily Carman.

Thomas' thesis is the scholarship that emerged from the research discussed …

Engaging Adult R3 Outdoor Educational Program Design To Strengthen Participation In Hunting And Fishing, Lauren Redmore, Shelby Isensee, Joshua Stafford, Jennifer Zavaleta Cheek

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Declining participation in hunting and fishing has been slowed by women who are learning numerous outdoor skills through recruitment, retention, and reactivation [R3] programs. R3 programs are hosted by state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and businesses that take a variety of approaches to develop participant skills and confidence. To understand how R3 program design influences hunting and fishing participation, we conducted 11 focus group interviews with 72 participants at women’s R3 programs to identify program design components that women appreciate when learning to hunt and fish. Well-designed programs offered customized educational approaches to align with participants’ needs, created a supportive environment …

Rhetorical Violence: The Rhetorics Of Women's Counter Political Violence, Kylie Rowland

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Protest is omnipresent, and yet not much is known about the efficacy and impacts of its different rhetorical strategies—particularly so for marginalized populations, whose available means of protest are already limited by both material realities and assumptions that govern who and what can make waves. This bind is further exacerbated by gendered and racialized civility politics that determine which bodies can be disruptive and which already are considered “violent.” To address this gap, I turn toward the under-researched rhetorical potentials of marginalized people’s—specifically women and queer folks’—use of symbolic protest “violence,” which works to strategically make evident the larger ongoing …

Dirges Of Hope, Manasseh Azure Awuni

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Among the varied themes that African fiction explores, politics and governance remain the most dominant across generations. Writing under oppressive and exploitative colonial administrations, the first generation of African storytellers used fiction to highlight the injustice of colonial rule. With fidelity to the African proverb that says the tales of hunting will always glorify the hunter until the lion learns to tell its own stories, African writers also used fiction to push back against one-sided, toxic narratives about the continent. After independence, when rulers of the new republics continued the colonial legacies of oppression, inflicting untold hardships on their citizens, …

Restricting Phones And Reaching Students: How Ab 235 Could Restore Adolescent Mental Health And Focus In The Classroom, Brynne Suder

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Nude: Reimagining Feminist Agency In The Art Of Suzanne Valadon, Sofia Harris

Theses

This thesis examines the work of Suzanne Valadon (1865–1938) through a feminist art historical lens, challenging long-standing interpretations of her female nudes as inherently resistant to the conventions of Western art. Structured as a three-part lecture series, the project situates Valadon within a visual tradition in which women have been overwhelmingly represented by men, arguing that her engagement with the nude remains embedded in the same systems of objectification it is often said to subvert. Lecture One establishes the historical framework by tracing enduring archetypes of femininity, demonstrating how representations of women have functioned as projections of gendered power. Lecture …

Resolving Cross-Border Nft Disputes: Jurisdictional Approaches, Smart Contracts, And Proposed Solutions, Aparna Vaitla

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

The emergence of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) has significantly impacted the enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights, particularly in the digital environment. NFTs enable the creation, transfer, and monetization of unique digital assets such as artwork, music, and virtual goods, raising new legal challenges for IP protection. Among various IP concerns, copyright law is the most directly implicated in NFT-related disputes. While existing copyright frameworks remain broadly applicable, they require refined interpretation and targeted regulatory adaptation to address blockchain-specific issues such as pseudonymity, decentralized ownership, and cross-border enforcement. This Article focuses exclusively on copyright law, examining its applicability to NFT transactions …

Alabama Prairie Reconstruction: Comparing Management Pathways For A Southeastern Landscape, Cecelia R. Geyer

Theses

Southeastern prairies are highly biodiverse yet increasingly threatened by land-use change, fire suppression, and habitat fragmentation. These disturbance-dependent systems rely on periodic fire and grazing to maintain plant diversity and ecosystem function. This study evaluates prairie restoration strategies by testing predictions from the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis and the Patch Mosaic Burn Hypothesis. The study site was divided into three treatments: prescribed burned only (B), prescribed burned with mowing (BM) to simulate grazing, and an undisturbed control (C). A standardized mix of native plant seeds was broadcast across all treatments. Ecosystem health and function were evaluated using plant community diversity and …