Digital Commons Network^™

Career, Self-Worth, And The Need For Self-Care: Understanding Urban Indian Women’S Journeys From Career Break To Re-Entry, Prabha Masilamani, Priya Gupta

Journal of International Women's Studies

Women often take career breaks as a response to major life events such as marriage, childbirth, and migration; nevertheless, the emotional complexities and nuanced decision-making attached to these events are hardly discussed. This study explores the lived experiences of twenty-two urban Indian women from the information technology sector who took career breaks and then returned to work. Using an interpretivist phenomenological approach and reflexive thematic analysis, five themes were identified across the three phases of career transition: before, during, and after the career break. Drawing on feminist frameworks including Kabeer’s (1999) agency within constraints and Kandiyoti’s (1988) patriarchal bargaining, the …

The Unseen Burden: A Rural Indian Woman’S Resistance To Political Marginalization And Mankeeping, Suraj Kumar Verma

Journal of International Women's Studies

This qualitative study examines how “mankeeping”—invisible emotional labor— undermines women’s political autonomy and sense of belonging in rural India, despite the implementation of gender equality policies. Women often perform unrecognized emotional, interpretive, and relational labor to maintain intimate relationships and community cohesion. Drawing on contemporary concepts of intersectionality, epistemic injustice, testimonial injustice, hermeneutical injustice, and the “third shift,” this study systematically employs a reflexive, narrative inquiry approach focused on Varsha, a forty-five-year-old lower-caste woman from Uttar Pradesh, India. The study reveals how her daily care work, such as caregiving, managing household dynamics, and navigating community expectations, affects her access to …

Beyond The Double Burden: A Gendered Analysis Of E-Commerce, Unpaid Care Work, And Financial Resilience In Indonesian Msmes, Mia Ajeng Alifiana, Mamduh M. Hanafi, Bowo Setiyono

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study challenges the narrative of e-commerce’s potential for empowering women in the Global South by exploring the structural barriers that women entrepreneurs face in Indonesia, both as paid and unpaid workers. The study also challenges the notion of “techno-optimism,” which suggests that digital entrepreneurship inherently empowers women, by highlighting the obstacles women face in economic engagement due to a “second shift” of domestic labor. Through a systematic review and bibliometric analysis of 158 articles indexed in Scopus and Web of Science, we map the intellectual structure of the literature on e-commerce and the financial performance of micro, small, and …

Crafting Resistance: Kalpourgan Pottery As Gendered Expression And Cultural Identity Among Baloch Women In Iran, Arman Ovla

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article examines the Indigenous pottery tradition of Kalpourgan, a remote village in Iranian Baluchistan, where women have sustained a thousand-year-old ceramic crafting practice that does not require a wheel. Drawing on visual ethnography, field interviews, and postcolonial feminist theory, the study explores how Kalpourgan pottery functions not only as material culture but also as a gendered form of labor embedded within household economies. Through direct observation, semi-structured interviews with women potters, and visual documentation—including photography, drawing, and video—the research traces how design is embedded in oral transmission, ritual practice, and intergenerational knowledge systems. The findings demonstrate that pottery production, …

Moralized Patriarchy In Kazakhstan, Aigul Zabirova

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article examines how patriarchal norms persist in post-socialist Kazakhstan despite expanding opportunities for women in education and public life. Using nationally representative survey data (N=8,101), I analyze attitudes toward maternal employment, educational priorities, labor market rights, and household income arrangements. I find a hybrid gender regime in which support for women’s education and public participation coexists with continued endorsement of men’s economic priority and authority within the family. Gender hierarchy does not disappear under modernization. Rather, it is reproduced through culturally valued ideas of duty, virtue, and family harmony. I call this gender order “moralized patriarchy.” To explain how …

Home As A Workplace: Gender, Labour, And Domesticity In Homestays In Kerala, India, P P Anjusha, Prachi Thakur, Toney K Thomas

Journal of International Women's Studies

Tourism homestays are increasingly presented as an opportunity for women’s empowerment and inclusion around the world. However, this study argues that the focus on homestays as entrepreneurial opportunities for women obscures the persistence of patriarchal structures that limit women’s agency when their labour is commercialised. Grounded in theories of “doing gender” (West & Zimmerman, 1987) supplemented by role theory and critical feminist perspectives, the study highlights how gender is enacted and reproduced daily in homestays. This research draws on qualitative interviews with women hosts in the state of Kerala, India to explore how the gendered division of labour operates within …

Rural-To-Urban Migration And Household Reconfiguration In China: Lived Experiences Of Muslim Migrant Women Workers In Jinan, Ila Joshi

Journal of International Women's Studies

Rural-to-urban migration in China has profoundly reshaped Chinese society since 1979, resulting in separated families, so-called “left-behind children,” and socio-economic inequalities as part and parcel of the migration process. This paper examines the impact of rural-to-urban migration by focusing on the experiences of migrant women belonging to the Muslim (Tatar/Hui) community in Jinan, Shandong province of China. Despite the relaxation in restrictions on migration in the post-reform era, migrants—especially women migrants—face persistent legal and emotional challenges. Through ethnographic fieldwork, this study analyses the experiences of eight migrant women employed in formal, semi-formal, and informal work sectors. These in-depth interviews are …

Special Issue Editorial Introduction: Family Formation, Gender Equality, And The Gendered Division Of Labor In The Global South, Tatiana Karabchuk, Soumaya Abdellatif, Aizhan Shomotova, Malina Voicu, Muhamad Olimat

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Criteria For Determining The Level Of Media Literacy Development Of Students In The Summative Assessment System, Bakhtiyor Kadirov, Dilnoza Kadirova, Rashid Omanov, Anvar Allamurodov, Asqar Kholturayev

Journal of Media Literacy Education Pre-Prints

The integration of digital technologies into education necessitates how students’ media literacy is developed and assessed. High school students require skills in critical thinking, digital content evaluation, and the identification of manipulative information.This study examines the effectiveness of summative assessment in measuring media literacy skills and explores the impact of an artificial intelligence-based digital platform enriched with augmented and virtual reality modules. An empirical design was employed involving 120 students from five schools assigned to control and experimental groups. The experimental group engaged with AI-supported media literacy platform over a ten-week period. Data were collected through pre- , post-tests, summative …

Letting Time Serve You: Boot Camps And Alternative Sentencing For Female Offenders, Wilson Z. Liu

Florida Journal of International Law

Across multiple American presidential administrations, the United States has made its discontent with the dispute resolution bodies of the World Trade Organization known. The actions of the United States initiated a crisis of confidence in the World Trade Organization. This Note examines that crisis and posits what comes next for the World Trade Organization and the resolution of international trade disputes in general.

Look What You Made Me Do: The Impact Of Taylor Swift's Re-Recording Project On The Global Copyright Industry, R. Jacob Gilbert

Florida Journal of International Law

Taylor Swift redefined the relationship between artists and their labels. Although there has been discussion about the impact of these new recordings on Swift’s personal catalog, there has been no analysis of how Swift’s action will impact the global copyright industry. Taylor Swift is viewed as a trailblazer by many in the music industry. This is because many artists have rerecorded or remastered their original works out of spite, but only one other major artist even attempted to complete a rehaul of their entire discography. In the digital age of master recordings, Swift’s impact has far-reaching effects. This Note examines …

A Review Of International Surrogacy Arrangements From A Private International Law Prespective And China's Policy Response, Yingying Wu

Florida Journal of International Law

Surrogacy has risen on a global scale due to the development of medical technology. International surrogacy is intensive as a result of forum shopping out of the variety of national policies on surrogacy and laws on legal parentage, resulting in some private international law issues. For instance, the complexity of parentage in many international surrogacy cases in recent years often leads to parentless surrogate born children. To that end, the Hague Conference on Private International Law has been working on this affair in order to protect children and women in international surrogacy from a private international law perspective.

In light …

Class Struggle And The Socialist Economic Calculation Debate, Tiago Camarinha Lopes

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

The socialist economic calculation debate is often portrayed as a sharp and straightforward conflict between two opposing sides. While this characterization is valid given the ideological clash between defenders of capitalism and proponents of socialism, this paper offers a more nuanced perspective on the interaction between the main schools of economic thought involved in the debate, the Marxist and the Austrian. Drawing on the humanist approach of critical pedagogy developed by Brazilian philosopher Paulo Freire (1921–1997), the paper argues that the debate over socialist economic calculation is not only a clear expression of class struggle within economics. It also involves …

From Models To Modules: Towards A Change Of Approach In Postcapitalist Political Economy, Simon Tremblay-Pepin

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

In this article, I take for granted the existence of a field of social sciences called postcapitalist political economy. This field of research emanates from the critique of capitalism and seeks to establish, in theory and practice, alternative political and economic systems to capitalism. I argue that in its late and post-Soviet period (1988 – 2012), this field has mostly, but not solely, been based on debates between all-encompassing models. Analyzing its contemporary period (2013 to now), I will sustain that we are partly witnessing a transfer from a model-based approach to a modular one. I present six arguments to …

Economic Analysis Of Publicity Rights In The Machine Learning Age: The Need For A Federal Statute Protecting The Non-Famous, Alyssa J. Devine

Florida Entertainment and Sports Law Review

The 1970s were a period of rapid change. Personal computers were conceived, Walt Disney World opened to the public, the first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan was published, Elvis Presley performed the first worldwide concert broadcast live by satellite, and your only child was born. Your son was born with hemophilia, a disease that prevents his blood from clotting. He required regular infusions, one of which gave him acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). His peers and his community immediately shunned him. You helped him fight fear-based discrimination in your community and in the world. Together, you made an impactful difference, but …

"What's In A Name?": Authorship Without A Subject, Ownership Without A Self In The Age Of Algorithmic Fame, Mira Moldawer

Florida Entertainment and Sports Law Review

In the context of authorship, the question “What’s in a name?” has never been more urgent. As generative artificial intelligence (AI) blurs the boundaries between human and synthetic creativity, the function of an author’s name is increasingly symbolic, performative, and legally unstable in the digital age. It follows that the question “What’s in a name?” may become the key to redefining authorship itself. Lil Miquela, also known as Miquela Sousa, is a computer-generated influencer with millions of followers that embodies the shift from human authorship to algorithmic persona and might serve as a suitable test case.

As leading scholars caution …

Fiduciary Failure And Institutional Drift In The Nflpa: Legal Duties, Member Harm, And The Need For Structural Reform, Chris Hanna, Jeffrey Levine

Florida Entertainment and Sports Law Review

When the Cleveland Browns provided controversial quarterback Deshaun Watson with a fully guaranteed contract, it established a recent precedent that National Football League (NFL or League) teams did not wish to see followed. Soon thereafter, three quarterbacks—Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, and Russell Wilson—failed to receive fully guaranteed contracts. The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) filed a grievance arbitrable under the collective bargaining agreement. The union alleged ownership colluded to keep any post-Watson quarterback (and hundreds of NFL veteran players) from receiving a fully guaranteed contract. This manuscript examines the alleged activities of the NFLPA surrounding this case and ancillary activities of …

Career Spotlight: Emily Hays, Esq., Emily Hays

Florida Entertainment and Sports Law Review

An interview with Emily Hays. She is Senior Counsel, Intellectual Property (IP) at The Walt Disney Company, where she advises creative, business, and legal teams on issues related to copyright, trademark, defamation, right of publicity, and more to help bring the magic of Disney to life. In her role, she works at the intersection of law and storytelling: addressing copyright and trademark clearance, acquisition, protection, and management issues, analyzing complex rights matters, and reviewing and drafting IP-related language for agreements throughout development, production, and distribution. Before joining Disney, Hays served as Counsel, Content Legal at Paramount and was a litigation …

The Impact Of Mandatory And Voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility (Csr) On Firm Value (A Study On Lq45 Index Companies During 2021–2024), Carissa Cetta Dravita, Nanny Dewi Tanzil, Runita Arum Kanti

Journal of Accounting Auditing and Business

This study examines whether mandatory and voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure have different associations with firm value among companies included in Indonesia's LQ45 index during 2021–2024. Using a balanced panel of 25 consistently listed and reporting firms (100 firm-year observations), the study constructs two non-overlapping, binary content-analysis indices: a mandatory disclosure index based on POJK 51/POJK.03/2017 and SEOJK 16/SEOJK.04/2021, and a voluntary disclosure index based on additional GRI Standards 2021 items. Firm value is measured using Tobin's Q. The pooled Main Model includes firm size and return on equity as controls and reports firm-clustered robust standard errors, with year-effects, …

Recommerce Transaction Processing Within A Payment Network, Shivam Sharma, Sindhu Shankar Rao, Vrushali Khorgade

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure relates to a system for processing recommerce transactions within a payment network. The system includes a transaction messaging module configured to receive a transaction message from a merchant, the transaction message including a recommerce flag identifying the transaction as involving a pre-owned, refurbished, or second-hand good. The system includes a recommerce transaction processing module configured to apply predefined rules and protocols specific to recommerce transactions, and a global database storing product information including product identifiers, condition data, maintenance history, and ownership records. The system includes an artificial intelligence and machine learning fraud detection module configured to assess …

Generating Affective Metadata From Physiological Signals For Media Navigation, Nikita Agarwal

Defensive Publications Series

Navigating long-form media to locate scenes of a particular emotional intensity may be inefficient using conventional methods that rely on static thumbnails or broad metadata. Disclosed systems and methods can generate crowd-sourced affective metadata from physiological signals. These techniques may involve collecting anonymized physiological data, such as heart rate, from a population of consenting users via their computing devices (e.g., a smartphone, smart watch, wearable device, augmented reality glasses, etc.) during media consumption. This data can be processed and aggregated to generate a time-series representation of the collective emotional intensity for a media asset. The resulting data may then be …

Arbitrating Playback And Logging For Co-Watching Sessions, Nikita Agarwal

Defensive Publications Series

Managing co-watching sessions may present difficulties when one user becomes inactive while others remain engaged, as continuing playback could create an inaccurate viewing history for the inactive user, while pausing could disrupt the session for active users. Systems and methods are described that can arbitrate playback by evaluating an inactivity signal from one user's device, such as a smartphone, tablet, or smart television, against countervailing activity signals from other session participants' devices. If playback continues, a split-state logging mechanism can decouple individual viewing histories, for example, by pausing the viewing progress record for the inactive user while continuing to update …

Gesture-Gated Transaction System For Media Displays Using A Proximity-Aware Companion Device, Rohit Jain

Defensive Publications Series

Existing methods for making purchases through media displays, such as connected televisions, can introduce user interaction friction that may lead to transaction abandonment. A system can utilize a primary media display device to broadcast encrypted commerce information using short-range wireless protocols, for example, ultra-wideband or Bluetooth low energy, when media playback is paused. A secondary companion computing device (e.g., a smartphone, wearable device, tablet computer, or augmented reality glasses) can receive this information. A transactional user interface may be presented on the companion device upon detection of both the broadcasted information and a specific physical user gesture, which can act …

Spatial Pointing Architecture Using Fused Inertial And Ultra-Wideband Data, Rohit Jain

Defensive Publications Series

Navigating user interfaces on connected displays with conventional remote controls or motion-sensor-based pointers may present issues such as cursor drift, instability from hand tremors, and user fatigue. Described systems and techniques can use a companion computing device (e.g., a smartphone, smart watch, wearable device, etc.) as a six-degrees-of-freedom spatial pointer by fusing sensor data. High-frequency relative motion data from an inertial measurement unit (IMU) can be combined with lower-frequency absolute spatial positioning data from an ultra-wideband (UWB) radio that communicates with a display system. This fusion process may use the UWB data as a periodic reference to correct for cumulative …

On-Device Voice Processing With Adaptive Ui And Automated Memory Management, Rohit Jain

Defensive Publications Series

A system for on-device voice processing can feature an adaptive user interface (UI) and automated memory management. The system may utilize a lightweight, on-device artificial intelligence model for local processing of voice commands on a media consumption device, for example, a smart television or streaming player. An adaptive UI can present results by reflowing content in-place, which may allow media playback to continue without interruption. The system could also incorporate a collision avoidance mechanism that can dynamically reposition UI elements to avoid obscuring on-screen text, such as closed captions. An automated memory management system may temporarily unload the model to …

Les Choix Dans La Procédure Arbitrale Libanaise, Ibrahim Najjar

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

No abstract provided.

Actualité De L'Arbitrage, Poej

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

Actualité de l'arbitrage : - Allocution du R.P. Jean Ducruet - Allocution de M. R. Debbas représentant M. Adnan Kassar - Discours d'ouverture de M. Bahige Tabbarah - Introduction par Richard Chémaly - Introduction par Bertrand Moreau

Le Rôle Émergent De La Justice Dans La Reconstruction De L’État De Droit : Le Cas Du Liban D’Après‑Guerre, Georges Assaf

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

No abstract provided.

Industrial Silencer Pre-Dimensioning And Rapid Quotation Software, Deian St Tachev

Defensive Publications Series

Industrial Silencer Pre-Dimensioning and Rapid Quotation Software

The invention relates to standalone software for the rapid pre-dimensioning, optimization, and cost estimation of industrial silencers used in HVAC, power generation, process industries, and environmental noise control.

Current practice relies either on empirical methods, which are fast but inaccurate, or on CFD/FEM/BEM simulation tools, which require specialist engineers and long computation times. These approaches are unsuitable for preparing competitive quotations within short deadlines.

The invention provides a physics-based calculation engine that generates technically reliable silencer designs in seconds without requiring CFD software or external dependencies. The software combines analytical and semi-analytical acoustic …

Energy Accounting For Pfas Treatment: Endpoint Definition, Concentration Dependence, And The Service-Equivalence Constraint, Ernest N. Sumrall

Defensive Publications Series

Energy performance in per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) treatment is often reported on a volumetric basis, in kilowatt-hours per cubic metre of water processed. Volumetric energy is necessary for hydraulic design and utility sizing, but it is insufficient by itself for cross-study comparison because it does not reference the quantity of contaminant addressed. This paper develops the mass-normalised complement and, more importantly, establishes the conditions under which either metric may be used comparatively.

Three results are presented. First, a taxonomy separating five distinct endpoints — transfer, removal, degradation, defluorination, and mineralisation — that are not interchangeable, and a corresponding pair …