Digital Commons Network^™

One Land, “Different Owners”: Theoretical Explanations Of Communal Conflicts In Nigeria, Chukwudi G. Njoku

Journal of Peace, Conflict, and Security Studies

Communal conflicts are prevalent in Nigeria, with thousands of fatalities recorded. Literature suggests that an overwhelming percentage of these conflicts are land ownership related. Through a systematic review of literature and an analysis of conflict data, this study provides further understanding of the role of land ownership and competition in the occurrence and lethality of communal conflicts. It argues that land competition, more than other socio-economic factors is the key driver of communal conflicts in Nigeria. The findings from the analyses are explained with three theories – the tragedy of the commons which proved that the conflicts are triggered by …

Grief As A Constitutive Shadow Of Queer Joy: Reclaiming Negativity And The Ethics Of Staying For Education Research, Akira Sawata

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

In education scholarship, authors have increasingly called to center queer joy to disrupt the conventional deficit model that normally accompanies queer communities. However, in this paper, I argue that an exclusive emphasis on joy may risk instituting and normalizing a happiness duty that marginalizes negative affects and subjects. I propose queer grief not as an opposite, but as a constitutive shadow of joy. Drawing on theories of queer, trans, and crip negativity and the studies on loss, grief, and mourning, I critique the imperative to mobilize affect solely for future utility and teleological meaning. I contend that such mobilization-driven …

Assessment Of Nigeria's Military's Efforts In Combating Boko Haram Terrorism (2015-2023), Adedoyin Jolaade Omede, Oluwafemi Babatunde Oladimeji

Journal of Peace, Conflict, and Security Studies

This study assessed the Nigerian military’s efforts in combat against Boko Haram's terrorism between 2015 and 2023. This study adopted a qualitative methodology. Secondary data was utilised, and the data was analysed using content analysis to achieve the objectives of this study. The key findings are: initially, the Western states particularly the US hesitated to give Nigeria support against Boko Haram due to Herskovits Factor and human rights (Leahy Law) concerns but later in 2015, they provided military aid and financial support alongside other international actors; there was a decline in Boko Haram’s attacks and fatalities between 2015 and 2023 …

Victims Of Bravery (2): Secondary Trauma And Impacts Of Acts Of Bravery On Key Family Members Of Australian Civilian Bravery Award Recipients, Tom Voigt, Susan Balandin, Angela Dew

Heroism Science

We explored the experiences of key family members of Australian civilian bravery award recipients using a constructed grounded theory approach. Twenty-four family members participated in qualitative interviews during 2019–2020. Eighteen reported experiences consistent with possible secondary trauma and negative impacts on mental health and well-being. Participants described helplessness in supporting award recipients, limited knowledge of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS), and insufficient support for managing their own emotional responses. They also reported anxiety, uncertainty, hypervigilance, behavioral adjustments, social isolation, and sadness associated with living with a person they perceived as changed by the aftermath of heroic …

A Scientometric Study On Research Trends And Characteristics Of Osteoradionecrosis Of The Jaws, Yue He

Articles in Press

No abstract provided.

The Re-Thank Multiplier: How A Gratitude Economy Escapes Its Own Saturation Ceiling — Separating Low-Rate Content Origination From Value-Bearing Reactions To Scale Peer-Recognition Throughput And Resist Reward Farming, Thon Ly

Defensive Publications Series

We specify a rate-limited peer-recognition system that separates two user operations and gives them different per-person rate ceilings: origination (creating a new gratitude record about a kindness one noticed), whose sustainable rate is low and inelastic, and re-thanking (endorsing a record another user has already surfaced), a reactive operation with a much higher per-person ceiling, the same creation-versus-reaction asymmetry that gives social platforms their high ratio of reactions to posts. Because each origination can be endorsed by many others, total value-bearing events per day are bounded by N × min(N − 1, K), where N is the number of participants …

Capacity-Funded For Ai, Human-Disbursed: Anonymous Donation As The Alignment Bridge In Autonomous-Ai Institutional Architecture — Separating Pooled-Fund Contribution From Recipient Selection Between An Autonomous Ai Agent And Human Users Via Source-Unattributable Donations, Thon Ly

Defensive Publications Series

We specify a control architecture for an autonomous artificial-intelligence (AI) agent administering a fund, in which authority to contribute to pooled funds is separated from authority to select recipients, joined by source-unattributable (anonymous) contribution. The agent holds contribution authority only: it may add value to per-user restricted gift balances, whose holder can give contents onward but not spend them, and it has no affordance to transfer from any such balance to a named payee. Recipient selection is held by human users: every transfer reaching a recipient is initiated by a balance holder, to a recipient the holder names. The agent's …

Buddha Ai As Living Tipiṭaka: Opt-In Publication Of Ai Chatbot Conversation Transcripts Into A Human-Reviewed Commentary Corpus With Three-Category Classification And Crypto-Shredding Withdrawal, Thon Ly

Defensive Publications Series

We describe a method for building a human-reviewed religious commentary corpus from transcripts of conversations between users and a conversational AI agent grounded in a scriptural canon, instantiated for the Pāli Buddhist canon. Components: (I) a domain-grounded conversational agent that declines claims of religious, sacramental or ordained authority and directs users to human teachers; (II) a chat, voice or avatar dialogue surface; (III) a consent-based recording layer in which every conversation is private by default and the user is asked, per conversation, whether it may be considered for publication at one of four tiers (attributed, pseudonymous, anonymous, excluded), non-published conversations …

Brief Of Professors Mark Storslee, John Meiser, Douglas Laycock, Nathan Chapman, Thomas Berg, Christopher Lund, Michael Helfand, Steven Collis, Meredith Kessler, Carl Esbeck, John Inazu, Asma Uddin, Christopher Hampson, And Kathleen Brady As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petitioners, Mark Storslee, John A. Meiser, Meredith Holland Kessler

Court Briefs

No. 26-257
Mara Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District

On Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

From the Summary of Argument

For more than seventy years, this Court has made clear that a state “may not coerce anyone ... to take religious instruction” or use public schools to “force ... religion on any person.” Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306, 314 (1952). For good reason. Doing so advances one of the “true evil[s] of religious establishment" that Founding-era Americans rejected: “the use of government power” to foster “uniformity …

Mark E. Burge, Mark Edwin Burge

Faculty CVs

No abstract provided.

Chacahoula 2026, Volume 93, Pawan Khatri, Alayna Pellegrin

Chacahoula

The 2026 issue of Chacahoula, There's No Place Like Home, emphasizes the way in which our university becomes a home to students.  Featuring prize-winning poetry from Allyson Gee, Nick Fredrick, Amaris Kendall and Anmol Subedi, the book includes December 2025 and May 2026 graduating classes, as well as stunning photography of  campus life on the banks of Bayou Desiard. With features covering students, faculty, and staff, this year's time capsule preserves an academic year in the life of the University of Louisiana at Monroe. This edition includes a video message from President Carrie Castille. Download the PDF to your device …

Home On The Range: Where Deer And Antelope Compete With Feral Horses For Limited Resources, Katelyn Davies, Hannah B. Klugman, Kathryn A. Schoenecker, David C. Stoner

All Current Publications

Given projections for continued drought conditions in the West, a better understanding of how native wildlife respond to competition with feral horses will be critical for developing effective conservation programs in the future. This fact sheet provides information on feral horses and presents study data comparing their use of water resources with that of native wildlife.

Organic Cherry Pest Management, Marion Murray, Ann Mull

All Current Publications

Tart cherry (Prunus cerasus) and sweet cherry (P. avium) are important commercial crops and popular backyard trees. Tart cherries are commonly processed into dried or canned products, while sweet cherries are generally eaten fresh. Organic cherry production in the Intermountain West can be challenging because of pests such as western cherry fruit fly and arid growing conditions. However, with careful planning and appropriate management practices, it is possible to produce a good crop using organic pest management strategies. This fact sheet outlines general, pest, and disease management options.

Mmu: 09/28/26-10/04/26, Student Bar Association

Monday Morning Update

This Week @ NDLS

Mass Times

Commons Daily Menu

Saint of the Week

General Announcements

2025 - Nh Forest Products Industry Report, Andrew J. Fast, Basanta Lamsal, Jagdish Poudel, Raju Pokharel

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs And The Police Killing That Galvanized New York City, By Lashawn Harris. Beacon Press, 2025. 352 Pages. $35.00. Isbn 978-0807011966, Thomas Aiello

Journal of Hate Studies

A historian and scholar of African studies, Thomas Aiello reviews LaShawn Harris’ Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs and the Police Killing that Galvanized New York City, which details the police killing of a 66-year old grandmother during a court-ordered eviction from her apartment in 1984, a time of elevated state violence against dispossessed people in New YorkCity, and its consequences, including the trial of the officer charged in her shooting and the public’s response. Tell Her Story examines the intersecting oppressions of racism, classism, sexism, ableism, and weight-based discrimination that shaped Bumpers’ experiences with bureaucracy, especially around housing, and …

Strange People On The Hill: How Extremism Tore Apart A Small American Town, By Michael Edison Hayden. 320 Pages. $30.00 Isbn 978-1645030607, Thomas F. Schaller

Journal of Hate Studies

Political scientist Tom Schaller reviews Michael Edison Hayden’s Strange People on the Hill: How Extremism Tore Apart a Small American Town. Part memoir and part ethnography, Strange People on the Hill details Hayden’s time as an investigative journalist in Berkley Springs, West Virginia, where the Southern Poverty Law Center tasked him with learning about the purchase of an area castle by Peter Brimelow, the founder of the white nationalist group VDARE, named after Virginia Dare, the first white child born in the Americas, and his wife. Strange People on the Hill chronicles the challenges of working as a journalist …

When The Hood Comes Off: Racism And Resistance In The Digital Age, By Rob Eschmann. University Of California Press, 2023. 312 Pages. $24.95. Isbn 978-0520379749, Stephanie M. Ortiz

Journal of Hate Studies

Sociologist Stephanie M. Ortiz reviews Rob Eschmann’s When the Hood Comes Off: Racism and Resistance in the Digital Age, which examines how the internet reorganizes the conditions under which racism is expressed, with a focus on higher education. This reorganization allows hate to flourish online even as racism is disavowed in public. Online and offline spaces are not disconnected, though, and digital revelations—revealed when “the hood comes off”—shape offline relationships, institutional trust, campus climate, and students’ sense of safety.

Integration Of The Kidney Failure Risk Equation To Guide Nephrology Referral In Adults With Chronic Hypertension, Shawn A. Siddiqi

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Chronic hypertension is an established risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD). Baseline chart review at a Texas family practice clinic showed inconsistent renal risk documentation, and providers did not use a standardized renal risk-stratification tool to guide nephrology referral. The aim of this quality improvement project was to implement a standardized Kidney Failure Risk Equation (KFRE) workflow to improve renal risk documentation, nephrology referral decision-making, and provider self-efficacy for adults with chronic hypertension over eight weeks. Lewin's Change Theory guided practice change, the Donabedian model guided quality evaluation, and the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle structured implementation. Three providers (one physician, …

Shu World Review- September 28th 2026, Diplolab, Seton Hall University

SHU World Review

No abstract provided.

Reduced Vascular Function, Ventilatory Efficiency And Exercise Capacity In Young Adult Electronic Cigarette Users, Azmy Faisal, Agata Giles, Sarah Jones, Christopher I. Morse, Hans Degens, Caroline J. Jolley, Steven K. Rogers, Rashid Ahmed, Amany F. Elbehairy, Rehan T. Junejo

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Background: Acute electronic cigarette (E-cigarette) use has shown adverse cardiorespiratory impacts similar to conventional cigarette (C-cigarette) smoking; however, its early effects remain unclear. We aimed to examine the early effects of E-cigarette use on systemic vascular function, cardiorespiratory responses to exercise and exertional symptoms in young adults.

Methods: 75 healthy active young adults (18–30 years), divided into three age- and sex-matched groups (E-cigarette users, C-cigarette smokers and never-smoker controls; n=25 each, E-cigarette use or smoking duration ≥18 months), underwent an incremental cycle exercise test with standard metabolic, cardiorespiratory, blood lactate and sensory measurements. Brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) was assessed …

Failing Generations: If There Is An Obligation To Work And Study Online Where Are Digital Wellness Supports?, Louise Nagle, Colin O'Brien, Susan Horgan, Laura Rafferty, Brigid Crowley

Publications

This paper considers how staff and students within an Irish University perceive aspects of their digital health within and outside the educational environment. As this is a continuously and rapidly changing environment, the research is timely and contributes to a gap in understandings of the implication of digital interactions across university generations. In February 2026 the digital teaching support functions within Munster Technological University surveyed students (n=1489) and staff (n=257) on various aspects of digital use within and outside their education. An element of this research focused on Digital Wellness. Aspects captured by the survey include …

Unlocking Potential: Rural Community College Students And Preparation For Post-Secondary Studies, Lindley M. Gilliaum

College of Education

Rural community college students often encounter educational, financial, and structural barriers that influence their readiness for college and their transition into postsecondary education. Although community colleges serve as a primary point of access to higher education for many rural students, limited research has examined how these students perceive their own college readiness and the experiences that shape those perceptions. The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to examine the lived experiences of first-year rural community college students and their perceptions of college readiness, secondary educational experiences, and barriers to postsecondary success. Guided by Perna's (2006) Nested Model of College …

Imagining The Possibilities: A Consideration Of Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate, Tracy Wascom

Journal of Hate Studies

Tracy Wascom reviews Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate, a traveling exhibit that refashions books published by a white supremacist group, the Creativity Movement, into art. Books such as The White Man’s Bible and RAHOWA: This Planet is All Ours!, written in the 1980s, were provided to the Montana Human Rights Network by a white supremacist defector. With curator Katie Knight, MHRN then invited artists to repurpose the texts into paintings, sculptures, films, and other artistic investigations of hate. Thirty-eight artists are represented in the current touring exhibit, including Enrique Chagoya, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Jim Riswold, Faith Ringgold, and Clarissa …

Teaching Objects Of Hate: The Jim Crow Museum Of Racist Memorabilia, Sara Moslener

Journal of Hate Studies

Dr. Sara Moslener interviews Dr. David Pilgrim, founder, curator, and director of the Jim Crow Museum at Ferris University. The Jim Crow Museum is undergoing a major renovation that will allow the museum’s more than 30,000 artifacts to be displayed and cared for. They discuss the place of material culture in teaching about racism, sustainability in anti-hate work, and the changing language of anti-hate education. The Jim Crow Museum at Ferris State University will celebrate its grand opening with a special presentation at 1 pm on September 30, followed by a ribbon cutting and self-guided tours. At 10 am on …

“A Candle In The Darkness”: On Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past And Present At The Canadian Museum For Human Rights, Itay Zutra

Journal of Hate Studies

A scholar of Jewish studies, Itay Zutra reviews On Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present, an exhibit at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights that opened in June 2026 and is expected to run through November 2028. The exhibit, curated by Isabelle Masson, recognizes the historic and ongoing displacement of Palestinians by the Israeli government by including both historic relics from the initial removal of Palestinians in 1948 and contemporary art engaging continued violence there. Items include artifacts from the life of physician Izzeldin Abuelaish, who lost his daughters and niece to an Israeli attack on their home even …

Children No More: Were And Are Gone. Produced By Sheila Nevins, Yael Melamede And Hilla Medalia; Directed By Hilla Medalia. English. 2026; Color; 36 Minutes. Full Story Films, Medalia Productions, And Salty Features, Muzna Rahman

Journal of Hate Studies

Postcolonial studies scholar Muzna Rahman reviews Children No More: Were and Are Gone, Hilla Medalia’s Academy Award-nominated short documentary. The film documents pro-peace Israeli activists who gather regularly in Tel Avivi to hold a silent vigil for Palestinian children killed by Israel forces. Against the backdrop of everyday urban life, the protestors simply hold photos of the children, commemorating their lives rather than their brutal deaths. The images of Palestinian children held by Israeli activities highlights the similarities between the groups, while the rage of passersby reveals the danger that Israelis who advocate for peace face in their work.

How Small-Town Conspiracists Have Changed The Country: A Review OfDay Of Reckoning And Chaos Comes Calling, Shane Burley

Journal of Hate Studies

Books reviews include:
Day of Reckoning: How the Far Right Declared War on Democracy, by Mike Wendling. Pluto Press, 2024. 192 pages. $21.94. ISBN 978-0745349718.

Chaos Comes Calling: The Battle Against the Far-Right Takeover of Small-Town America, by Sasha Abramsky. Bold Type Books, 2024. 288 pages. $30.00. ISBN 978-1645030430.

We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions Of A New Elite, By Musa Al-Gharbi. Princeton University Press, 2024. 432 Pages. $35.00. Isbn 978-069123260, Justin Sprague

Journal of Hate Studies

A scholar of women and gender studies, Justin Sprague reviews Musa al-Gharbi’s We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite. Focusing on four “Great Awokenings”—the Great Depression, the introduction of the GI Bill and ensuing counterculture movements of the 1960s, the financial precarity of the 1980s Reagan era, and the 2008 financial crisis and ensuing Occupy Wall Street movement—We Have Never Been Woke highlights the cyclical nature of the ideological/capitalist status quo and peels back the shiny veneer of politically “woke” and ideologically altruistic professionals to reveal how this group upholds a political economy that …

Antisemitism: What Everyone Needs To Know, By David Harris. Oxford University Press, 2025. 280 Pages. $18.99. Isbn 978-0197800676, Dov Waxman

Journal of Hate Studies

Political scientist Dov Waxman reviews Antisemitism: What Everyone Needs to Know, authored by David Harris, former chair of the American Jewish Committee. Part of Oxford University Press’s What Everyone Needs to Know series aimed at general readers, the book provides a basic history of antisemitism through the present, including explaining its relationship to the Holocaust, but it devotes much more attention to what the author alleges is antisemitism on the left, particularly concerning Israel, than to antisemitism on the Far Right, and it fails to engage with or reflect contemporary scholarship on antisemitism.