Digital Commons Network^™

Never Trust, Always Verify, Securing Medicare's Future To Defend Against Ai Driven Cyber Threats, Dana G. Jones

DePaul Journal of Health Care Law

Healthcare cybersecurity stands at a pivotal juncture, analogous to the Cold War's most perilous moments. When President Ronald Reagan declared "trust but verify"^[1] during nuclear disarmament negotiations with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, he established systematic verification as the cornerstone of security in high-stakes environments where the cost of misplaced trust meant potential human extinction. Today, the rapid integration of artificial intelligence and networked medical devices into America's healthcare infrastructure has created stakes equally grave for the nation's sixty-five million Medicare beneficiaries^[2]; however, the threat landscape has evolved beyond Reagan's paradigm. Modern healthcare cannot afford even conditional …

Death Wish: A Comprehensive Analysis Of Physician Assisted Suicide, Janna George

DePaul Journal of Health Care Law

Physician-assisted suicide is an extremely complex and controversial legal issue, deeply rooted in morality, legality, and ethics. Countries around the world are split as to how to approach this concept, with some permitting physician-assisted suicide under particular circumstances, and others strictly prohibiting it. ^[1] This division is evidence of the subject’s complex underpinnings. According to the United States Declaration of Independence, all Americans are deserving of certain unalienable rights, “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”^[2] But what about the right to die?

There are a number of reasons as to why physician assisted suicide is complicated, including …

Revolutionizing Campus Operations: Using Ai For Intelligent Resource Optimization, Jared Evans

Staff Professional Development Week

Jared Evans from GTS will present a case study in using AI to combine information from multiple sources to create solutions that save time, achieve more, and maximize the use of limited resources. Technical? Maybe a bit. Boring? Not at all!

True Leases Versus Disguised Installment Sale/Purchases: Factors The Courts Use To Distinguish, Ray A. Knight, Lee G. Knight

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Tax Reform Act Of 1986 Changes Affecting Real Estate Investment Trusts, Linda Galler

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Tax Clinic, Gerald W. Padwe

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Real Time Transfer System Using Multiple Networks, Ramji Sethuraman

Defensive Publications Series

Present disclosure provides a method comprising: receiving, by a network computer from a sending entity computer, a first transfer message for a transfer interaction from a sender to a receiver, comprising a receiver alias and a value; transmitting, by the network computer, the first transfer message to an intermediate entity computer, wherein the intermediate entity computer resolves the receiver alias to a credential, and transmits a second transfer message to a receiver entity computer, wherein the receiver entity computer credits the value to a record of the receiver, wherein the first transfer message is received by the intermediate entity computer …

Modular Aerial Suppression Architecture (Masa), Michael Victor Caldwell Mr.

Defensive Publications Series

The Modular Aerial Suppression Architecture (MASA) is an open-hardware conceptual aerial firefighting platform designed around segmented ballistic fire-suppressant deployment rather than conventional liquid-tank dumping systems. The architecture proposes the use of modular cargo-based deployment systems integrated into reversible commercial or cargo aircraft platforms, allowing suppressant payloads to be delivered through stabilized aerodynamic cone units intended to improve directional placement accuracy in high-wind wildfire environments.

Unlike traditional airtankers that rely on large liquid retardant releases susceptible to wind drift, atomization, and severe center-of-gravity slosh dynamics, MASA utilizes discrete suppressant payload units engineered with forward-weighted ballistic stability and passive fin-controlled descent characteristics. …

Light Straw Clay Alternative Building Material, Natalie M. Durdle Miss

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure details a 100% organic, non-hazardous, and fully biodegradable insulation system engineered specifically as a high-performance alternative to traditional light straw-clay (leichtlehm) construction in northern, non-agricultural, or arctic climates. The system completely replaces both geological clay and agricultural straw with locally harvested, invasive, and wild northern biological inputs. The structural insulation matrix utilizes a high-silica, woody, and hollow-stemmed fiber substrate sourced from standing dead, wild invasive perennial weeds—specifically European Common Reed (Phragmites australis), Common Mullein (Verbascum thapsus), Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense), or Giant Reed Sweetgrass (Glyceria maxima). These plants …

Boreal Dome Tension Ring System, Natalie M. Durdle Miss

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure establishes a low-cost, portable, field-expedient geodesic and hexagonal framework optimized for rapid deployment in remote, sub-arctic, or northern environments. The system replaces heavy, old-growth timber and manufactured metal connectors with high-flexibility juvenile saplings (under 25 years old) reinforced via an exterior high-tensile biocarbon matrix. This document establishes prior art to prevent corporate patenting or monopolization of low-tech, non-industrial tensegrity framing systems that utilize local biomass and organic binders for disaster relief, medical evacuation shelters, or off-grid construction.

Invisible Rotorcraft Using Boreal Glass Technology, Natalie M. Durdle Miss

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure establishes a low-tech, field-expedient, manned rotary-wing aircraft (specifically a gyroplane or autogyro) optimized for rapid tactical evacuation, medical casualty transport, or emergency egress from remote, unorganized, or contested sub-arctic environments. The aircraft completely eliminates the need for advanced industrial aviation manufacturing, mechanical gearboxes, complex transmission driveshafts, or petroleum-based internal combustion. Instead, it relies on un-milled juvenile wood cores, high-tensile algae-derived carbon fibers, unrefined conifer sap resins, and calcined bio-ceramic linear alternators powered by a closed-loop, phase-changing propane cycle. This document formally places these structural and mechanical configurations into the public domain to serve as un-patentable prior art for …

Creating Transparent Boreal (Wood) Glass, Natalie M. Durdle Miss

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure establishes a low-cost, field-expedient, non-industrial process for the manufacturing of optically translucent, structurally reinforced bio-synthetic wood composites (commonly referred to as "transparent wood"). The method utilizes commonly available household chemical equivalents and manual automotive tools to safely strip light-absorbing lignin from native wood veneers and replace the resulting empty cellular voids with clear plant or synthetic resins. This document explicitly establishes prior art to prevent the commercial monopolization or patenting of small-scale, decentralized, and DIY variations of this material processing cycle.

Implicit Bias In Hiring: Leveraging Avatars To Foster More Inclusive Hiring Practices, Alexa Trifilo, Gary Blau, Crystal Reeck

Engaged Management ReView

This research investigated implicit racial in-group bias in hiring and examined extended reality (XR) as a mechanism for masking visual identity cues during the interview process. By introducing avatars that obscure physical characteristics, such as race, the study extends the concept of “blind” hiring into immersive virtual environments. In our experimental design, randomly assigned participants evaluated job candidates represented by avatars that had three variations of racial identifiability (White, Asian, or racially unidentifiable avatar) and two qualification levels (strong and ambiguous). We controlled for gender by including only experienced, full-time female professionals as participants in the evaluation of female avatars …

The Tax Adviser, Volume 18, Number 1, January 1987, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Home Office And Hobby Loss Deductions After Tax Reform, Christine L. Courtnage, Lisa Estes

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Caldwell Adaptive Plasma Conditioning & Sensing System (Capcs V4.0), Michael Victor Caldwell Mr.

Defensive Publications Series

The Caldwell Adaptive Plasma Conditioning & Sensing System (CAPCS v4.0) is a next‑generation, fully autonomous microfluidic biosensing platform designed for real‑world plasma analysis under variable biological, thermal, and mechanical conditions. CAPCS integrates differential quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensing, surface acoustic wave (SAW) focusing, adaptive closed‑loop control, predictive fouling detection, dynamic thermal stabilization, and hybrid inertial–acoustic cell removal into a single disposable cartridge.

Unlike traditional biosensor concepts that rely on static assumptions, CAPCS v4.0 continuously adapts to fouling, drift, clogging, viscosity changes, hematocrit variability, and thermal fluctuations. Every major failure mode is paired with a dedicated countermeasure. The system uses dual‑QCM …

An Agentic Ai System For Meeting-Centric, Time-Bounded Security Policy Enforcement, Niranjan M M

Defensive Publications Series

Enterprises increasingly rely on meetings as the primary unit of collaboration for sensitive decision-making, training, customer engagement, and incident response. However, current firewall and network security systems remain largely static and topology-driven, forcing administrators to manually create, deploy, and later remove temporary security policies for short-lived events. This approach is operationally complex, error-prone, and does not scale in modern hybrid and highly collaborative environments.

The proposal introduces a meeting-centric, agent-driven firewall policy framework that automatically derives security intent from meeting context and participant composition. By treating the meeting identifier as the authoritative security signal, the system dynamically forms a meeting-specific …

Supernova-Ejected Planetary Core Fragments As A Mechanism For Anomalous Interstellar Objects: Application To 3i/Atlas, Daniel Austin Harbison

Defensive Publications Series

This paper proposes that the third confirmed interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS, is a dense fragment of a planetary core, ejected from its parent stellar system by a supernova event, rather than a primordial cometary nucleus. The hypothesis is constructed from first-principles physical reasoning and accounts for five anomalies observed in 3I/ATLAS that strain conventional cometary models: high inferred bulk density, nickel-rich coma chemistry, non-gravitational acceleration patterns, advanced age of the material, and the kinematic signature consistent with thick-disk galactic origin. The model further proposes that the same class of supernova event, when interacting with surrounding hydrogen clouds at the 1420 MHz …

The Whisper Web: A Mail Intelligence Framework For Semantic Coordination In Communication Systems, Johny Manuel-Devadoss, Joanna Johnson, Jayden Jack Johnson, Deepthi Prasad

Defensive Publications Series

This paper introduces The Whisper Web, a communication intelligence framework designed for post-static digital correspondence ecosystems operating under conditions of planetary-scale coordination complexity. Unlike conventional email systems that treat messages as isolated immutable payloads exchanged between endpoints, the Whisper Web reconceptualizes communication as a continuously evolving semantic biosphere composed of dynamic probabilistic entities known as Whisper Units. Each Whisper Unit functions as a compressed socio-semantic organism capable of propagating influence through adaptive trust topologies, negotiation-energy fields, obligation gradients, institutional resonance maps, and multi-agent predictive coordination networks.

The proposed framework abandons the traditional paradigms of inboxes, message queues, folders, labels, and …

Scalable High-Voltage Substation Architectures, N/A

Defensive Publications Series

A modular high-voltage substation architecture enables the scalable delivery of power to large-scale computing campuses. The system utilizes standardized high-voltage switching building blocks, typically rated for one gigawatt, which can be interconnected via sectionalizing breakers to expand capacity incrementally. Each module provides integrated connectivity for various energy sources, including utility lines, onsite backup generators, and battery energy storage systems. The design incorporates configurable switching mechanisms that allow backup resources to be deployed either for localized support of specific server buildings or as campus-wide assets. This decentralized but integrated approach enhances operational reliability by enabling islanded operations and automated power redistribution …

Gesture Control Of Operations Via Wearable, Russell William Myers, Yeabkal Assegid Wubshit

Defensive Publications Series

This document describes a wearable computing device (e.g., smart watch, smart ring, fitness tracker, hearable device, or other body-mounted devices or sensors) that facilitates gesture control of operations, such as media sessions and applications. For instance, the wearable computing device may allow a user of the wearable computing device to execute gesturebased commands to control a media application or launch specific applications without changing a visual display and/or navigating a menu of the wearable device. The wearable computing device may control media applications across devices (e.g., a video playing on a phone, music playing on headphones, etc.) and monitor gestures, …

Improvement Of Ac State Handling In Evpn, Anonymous

Defensive Publications Series

Systems and methods are disclosed for signaling Attachment Circuit (AC) state in an Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN) without withdrawing Ethernet Auto-Discovery per EVPN Instance (ETH-AD per EVI) routes. A local Provider Edge (PE) router sets an AC Down Bit within the Layer 2 Attributes Extended Community of an ETH-AD per EVI route to indicate that an associated AC has transitioned to a non-operational state, while retaining the existing route advertisement and the associated label programming in the control plane and the data plane. A multi-homed PE that receives the route excludes the advertising local PE from Designated Forwarder (DF) …

A Qualitative Job Posting Analysis From Missouri To Guide Competency-Based Curriculum In Slp Education, Megan Batzer

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

Competency-based education is a major trend for health professions education and one of the topics the Ad Hoc Committee to Plan Next Steps to Redesign Entry-Level Education for Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) recently explored. Competency-based education is an outcomes-based educational model where the focus is on development and mastery of specific knowledge and skills through instruction, assessment, and feedback. Competency-based education encompasses multiple educational theories including the self-determination theory, self-directed learning, self-assessment, and self-efficacy. Understanding the perspectives of key constituents, such as employers, on the setting-specific and across-setting knowledge, skills, and attributes required for the clinical fellowship (CF) experience could guide …

Improving Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Student Confidence In Evidence-Based Practice, Courtney Olson, Carla Tierney-Hendricks

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is widely acknowledged to be beneficial and necessary for the treatment of patients. However, a gap between evidence-based practice research and use is present. One way to improve EBP implementation is by focusing on incorporating explicit EBP instruction at the graduate student level. This study describes the development of a series of learning modules based on key EBP principles in order to increase graduate student confidence in EBP. Twenty-four first-semester graduate students were followed over the course of 8-weeks, with one group of twelve students receiving structured supplemental learning and the other group receiving only their traditional …

Pengaruh Polltik Luar Negeri Terhadap Struktur Masyarakat Hukum Internasional Dan Paradigma Hukum Positif Berkemanusiaan, Muhammad Ridwan

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Abstract

3d Puzzle Generation Beyond Voxelized Parts, Iris Xia

Computer Science Theses

Burr puzzles are interlocking assemblies whose pieces must be inserted and removed through tightly constrained motions. Designing them is difficult because geometric fit, interlocking behavior, and disassembly order are tightly coupled, while existing computational methods remain largely limited to voxelized or template-based constructions.

This work presents a framework for 3D puzzle generation beyond voxelized parts. The method replaces local mobility heuristics with a certified search over geometry edits. Starting from a topological contact specification, it constructs signed distance fields for individual parts, applies complementary local edits, and validates each candidate using exact geometric checks and a kernel disassembly graph. The …

Node Differentially Private Algorithms For Survivable Networks And Graphs Analysis, Jinghua Sun

Computer Science Theses

This thesis studies two graph algorithmic settings where additional structure gives stronger guarantees than worst-case black-box methods. The paper considers higher order edge connectivity under node differential privacy. We study the minimum k-edge-connected spanning subgraph problem (k-ECSS) and the minimum k-edge-connected component problem (k-ECC). These objectives have large global sensitivity under node privacy, since adding or deleting one vertex and its incident edges can significantly change robust connectivity structure. To address this, we use Propose-Test-Release for locally stable k-ECC instances and a Lipschitz extension framework for k-ECSS, based on bounded-degree complement objectives and the Generalized Exponential Mechanism.

The second part …

Multi-Level Variable Selection Using A Bart-Enhanced Mixed-Effects Framework, Keming Zhang, Yaoyao Li, Jungang Zou, Sijian Wang, Bernadette A. Fausto, Liangyuan Hu

College of Health Professions Faculty Papers

Selecting important individual- and cluster-level predictors has become increasingly critical in healthcare research, where data often exhibit hierarchical structures due to collection from multiple clusters. Mixed-effects models, which account for within-cluster correlation and between-cluster heterogeneity, are a natural approach for multilevel variable selection. However, currently available variable selection methods for multilevel data are predominantly based on mixed-effects models that impose restrictive parametric assumptions, potentially limiting their utility when the underlying relationships are nonlinear or involve interactions. While nonparametric methods have shown promise for variable selection in non-clustered data, they have been much less studied in the multilevel setting. Moreover, nonparametric …

Crisis Preparedness And Confidence Levels In Faculty & Staff At Rowan University, Paige Bathurst

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined faculty and staff confidence and preparedness in responding to crisis situations at Rowan University. As higher education institutions face an increasing range of emergencies, understanding how employees perceive their readiness is essential for strengthening institutional crisis management efforts. Using a quantitative research design, data were collected through an anonymous online survey distributed to all faculty and staff. The survey measured participants’ confidence across multiple crisis scenarios, perceptions of preparedness and response competency, and participation in crisis-related training. A total of 135 participants completed the survey, and descriptive statistics, including mean confidence and agreement scores, were used to …

Robert, Powers; Unl Chemistry; Nmr-Assisted Drug Discovery, Mark Griep, Robert Powers

Department of Chemistry: Faculty Interviews

Dr. Robert Powers became a chemistry professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2003 and is about to retire after 23 years. Prior to UNL, Bob was a drug discovery researcher for 11 years at American Cyanamid, which eventually became Wyeth and is now part of Pfizer. Bob was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. Something in his youth must have sparked an interest in chemistry because he earned a bachelor's in that subject from Rutgers University in New Brunswick. Then he traveled 1200 miles west to Purdue University in Indiana where he earned his doctorate. Next, he did postdoctoral …