Digital Commons Network^™

Increasing Operational Access: A Strategy For The Western Pacific, Shaun F. Callahan

Joint Force Quarterly

This article presents a comprehensive argument for why the United States must enhance its military and strategic mobility in the Western Pacific to counter the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) growing regional assertiveness. The article contends that maintaining a Free and Open Indo-Pacific requires a whole-of-government approach to operational access, blending diplomatic outreach, economic engagement, strategic communication, and military posture. Current U.S. basing and access agreements, rooted in Cold War dynamics, no longer suffice for effective power projection in today’s contested environment. To enable integrated deterrence and flexible crisis response, the United States must expand distributed access points, deepen partnerships, …

T-Birrd: Transforming The Future Of Military And Humanitarian Logistics, Jacob R. Bright

Joint Force Quarterly

Terrestrial Based Inserted Rocket Resource Delivery (T-BIRRD), Also Known as “Rocket Cargo” or “Point to Point Delivery”, represents a significant leap in the field of logistics, leveraging the capabilities of large commercial rockets to enhance the responsiveness and effectiveness of military operations and humanitarian efforts. This paper delves into the strategic advantages, operational controls, and legal implications associated with the use of T-BIRRD, framing it as a critical evolution in logistical practices.

This paper refers to the capability of rocket cargo delivery as T-BIRRD, a name chosen for its specificity, and clear differentiation from existing systems using rockets to deliver …

Finding Deepfakes: A Tabletop Exercise About Ai, Decisionmaking, And Algorithmic Performance, Andrea Brennan, Gwyneth Sutherlin, Lisa Pagano-Wallace, Hermie Mendoza

Joint Force Quarterly

This article explores a first-of-its-kind tabletop exercise designed to expose U.S. military and national security professionals to the real-world challenges of using AI tools like deepfake detectors in high-stakes decisionmaking. Set in a fictional scenario involving a flawed AI system, participants confronted algorithmic bias, technical uncertainty, and ethical dilemmas, revealing how AI limitations can erode trust in intelligence products. Drawing from student and faculty reflections, the article highlights the importance of preparing future leaders to scrutinize and manage AI performance failures not only as technical bugs but as complex, systemic issues with social and operational consequences. The exercise underscored the …

The Philosophical Foundations Of The Civil-Military Relationship, John Mark Mattox

Joint Force Quarterly

This article reexamines civil-military relations through a philosophical lens, arguing that they are far more complex than simple military subordination to civilian authority. Drawing on foundational models from Hobbes, Plato, medieval Christendom, and Clausewitz, it reveals a recurring tripartite structure of society: rulers, warriors, and citizens bound together by mutual responsibility and moral obligation. From Plato’s emphasis on virtue and justice to Clausewitz’s "paradoxical trinity" of people, military, and government, the article shows that the strength of any state depends on trust and collaboration among all three. True civil-military relations, it concludes, must be understood as a dynamic moral partnership …

Building Strategic Lethality: Special Operations Models For Joint Force Learning And Leader Development, Spencer B. Meredith Iii

Joint Force Quarterly

This article examines how U.S. Joint Special Operations Forces (SOF), particularly through SAG-U and CJSOTF-10, have rapidly adapted to support Ukraine amid Russia’s full-scale invasion, offering a model for future joint force innovation. SAG-U emerged as a key logistics and coordination hub, integrating NATO and interagency partners to manage complex, high-stakes supply chains. Meanwhile, CJSOTF-10 and its subordinate SOTF-10.1 shifted from traditional training and advising roles to rapid tactical adaptation, virtual assistance, and technological integration to meet evolving battlefield demands. The creation of the Remote Advise and Assist Cell (RAAC) illustrates how remote support and real-time data can bridge operational …

From High Seas To Highlands: Framing U.S. Defense Strategy With Southeast Asia’S Geography, Caitlin P. Irby

Joint Force Quarterly

The 2022 United States National Security Strategy prioritized competing with China and this focus seems likely to continue with the new administration.[i] Southeast Asia’s growing economic relevance and proximity to China mean that the US can secure significant gains on numerous goals by focusing on this region. To support developing an appropriate strategy, this paper identifies what features make Southeast Asia relevant to the US, potential flashpoints for conflict, and outlines the characteristics of a potential conflict. With this information the author then proposes specific steps to ensure that the United States military maintains the capability to protect US …

Rightsizing The Pla Air Force: Revisiting An Analytic Framework, Lauren Edson, Phillip C. Saunders

Joint Force Quarterly

This article evaluates the modernization of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) from 2007 to 2025 using the Saunders-Quam framework, which identifies four core trade-offs: changes in roles and missions, domestic versus foreign procurement, high-tech versus low-tech systems, and combat versus support aircraft. While the framework remains a useful analytical tool, it underestimated the Chinese Communist Party’s willingness to fund expensive modernization efforts and the rapid advancements in China’s defense industrial base. The article identifies key factors missing from the original framework such as doctrinal shifts, increased emphasis on counterintervention, maritime expansion, and the rise of unmanned systems. It …

Is Mobilization A Major Question?, Evan J. Ward

Joint Force Quarterly

The combination of the Supreme Court’s new Major Questions doctrine and its decision in Loper Bright v. Raimondo threatens to hobble the Executive Branch’s ability to effect a major mobilization under the Defense Production Act. The Defense Production Act followed the War Powers Acts of WWII to consolidate and update the presidential powers that were so famously marshaled to mobilize the arsenal of democracy. The Department of Defense has long planned to rely on Defense Production Act authority to mobilize should the need arise, but the risk of litigation brought about by new legal developments means that the authorities the …

Executive Summary, William T. Eliason

Joint Force Quarterly

In this issue, JFQ Editor in Chief William T. Eliason reflects on the enduring value of joint professional military education (JPME) and the journal’s role in shaping informed national security leaders. He emphasizes the importance of history, critical thinking, and learning from past conflicts, principles rooted in Clausewitzian theory, as essential to preparing for future challenges. The issue’s Forum section tackles readiness for great power competition, especially with China, examining mobilization, PLA airpower, and Southeast Asia’s strategic geography. Additional features explore leadership development in special operations, civil-military relations, AI and deepfake threats, space-based logistics, Western Pacific access strategies, distributed medical …

Joint Force Quarterly, Issue 118, 3rd Quarter 2025, National Defense University Press

Joint Force Quarterly

This issue of Joint Force Quarterly addresses key strategic, operational, and doctrinal questions shaping the future of the joint force. Articles examine mobilization as a strategic imperative, PLA Air Force modernization, Southeast Asia’s geographic role in U.S. defense strategy, and leader development for strategic lethality. Contributions also explore AI’s role in detecting deepfakes, the civil-military relationship, and innovations in military logistics and cyber force design. A retrospective on the Joint Warfighting Concept and critical reviews of recent defense literature provide context and continuity. Collectively, these pieces offer insight into how the joint force must evolve to meet emerging challenges.

Artificial Intelligence Assisted Disaster Preparation And Response, Mel Bass, Daniel V. Klein

Defensive Publications Series

During natural disasters, entire regions of communication networks can be disabled quickly. Impacted areas can be struck again shortly thereafter. Wildfires, blizzards, floods, and earthquakes present unique preparation and response challenges. A rapidly changing emergency event makes it difficult to communicate, provide accurate and timely status updates, triage responses, etc. This disclosure describes artificial intelligence (AI) techniques that aid in disaster preparation and response. Implemented with specific user permission and on devices that are configured in emergency mode, the techniques can enable tracking of people displaced by disasters and keeping families up-to-date with the status of their loved ones. The …

A System For Predictive Crowd Management Using Coupled Analysis Of Crowd State And Environmental Information, Mithun Kumar S R

Defensive Publications Series

Some crowd management systems analyze crowd dynamics, such as density and flow, in isolation from the physical environment. The disclosed system can couple a Dynamic Crowd State Vector, which may quantify real-time crowd metrics, with a Hyper-Local Condition Vector, which may quantify environmental factors such as surface integrity, passage width, and lighting. A machine learning model can process the real-time interaction between these two vectors to generate a unified, predictive risk score for a specific geographic zone. The resulting coupled analysis may facilitate the proactive identification of context-specific hazards, such as moderate crowds in some conditions, which may aid in …

Color-Coded Lane Guidance System For Dynamic Traffic Flow Optimization, Jacques Mouton

Defensive Publications Series

Traffic flow can be sub-optimal when drivers lack real-time, lane-specific information. This disclosure describes a system for dynamic lane guidance, for example, within a navigation application on a computing device (e.g., a smartphone, smart watch, wearable device, augmented reality glasses, an in-vehicle infotainment system, etc.). In some implementations, the system can utilize a probabilistic inference engine, such as a Bayesian inference engine, to analyze multiple data sources. These sources may include real-time traffic data, historical data, predictive models, and crowdsourced information. This analysis can be used to calculate a probability of congestion, delay, and/or accident risk for individual lanes. These …

Automatic Detection Of Multi-Customer Power Outages Using Aggregated Device Connectivity, Daniel Klein, Mel Bass

Defensive Publications Series

Some existing methods for detecting power outages may rely on manual customer reports, which can be slow, or inaccurate, and may be unfeasible when communication networks are overwhelmed or damaged. A method is disclosed that can enable automatic outage detection by aggregating and analyzing the connectivity status of a large number of internet-connected devices (e.g., smart speakers, IoT appliances, network routers) across multiple locations. A simultaneous loss of communication from a high density of geolocated devices in a particular area may be used to infer an outage. By correlating signals from diverse devices and service providers, including, for example, those …

Verifying Ownership Of Online Profiles And Web Sites For Creators And Publishers, Nick Krasney, Yi Li, Govind Kaushal

Defensive Publications Series

Verifying that a single creator or publisher controls multiple disparate online properties, such as websites and social media profiles, can be a challenge. Existing methods may rely on bilateral agreements between platforms, which may not be scalable and can create friction. This disclosure describes a decentralized cryptographic method for verifying ownership. A creator may generate a unique public-private key pair and can use the private key to sign the canonical URL of each online property, creating a digital signature. The creator can then provide the public key and the corresponding digital signature to each platform, which may embed this information …

Automatic Accessibility Verification Using Multimodal Data, Yash Dave, Jaydeep Untwal, Rakhi Parekh

Defensive Publications Series

Accessibility information on mapping platforms can be self-reported by businesses, which may lead to uncertainty for users with accessibility needs. This disclosure describes a method for automatically verifying accessibility claims using multimodal data. A system can analyze street-level imagery to detect physical features, such as ramps, and can process user-generated text reviews for accessibility-related keywords. This combined data may be input into a fine-tuned AI model to assess the presence of accessibility features at a given location. The outcome can be an indicator, for example a badge on a business profile, which can provide users with verifiable information, assisting them …

Continuous Private Location Tracking Of Mobile Devices Using Satellite Communications And Other Infrastructure, N/A

Defensive Publications Series

Some existing location tracking methods may not provide reliable, real-time data for mobile devices in environments with limited or no cellular connectivity, such as over air and sea. The disclosed system can address this by using a hybrid communication method that may dynamically switch between networks such as satellite (satcom), wireless local area networks (WLAN), cellular, and other networks. The system may employ virtual geofences to trigger location updates, which can help optimize power consumption. During periods of no connectivity, a predictive analytics model may estimate the device’s position by integrating device sensor data, historical travel patterns, and external data …

Dynamic Asset Allocation For Spending, Quinn Johnson, Joseph Johnson, Jr.

Defensive Publications Series

Spending appreciating assets, such as digital assets or securities, may create an opportunity cost, as their future value could exceed their present value. This can present a challenge for users who wish to spend from their investment portfolios for daily needs. This disclosure describes a method for dynamic asset allocation within a digital wallet. A system can analyze a user's portfolio of diverse assets (e.g., digital assets, stocks, cash) using an algorithm that can combine machine learning, technical analysis, and sentiment analysis to project future returns. To reduce opportunity cost, the system can automatically select assets with a lower projected …

System For Modeling Local Inventory From Multimodal, Unstructured Data Signals, Cathal D'Arcy, Nicolas Garnier, Yiqing Zhao, Alisa Khatipova, Anton Minashkin, Jack Collins, Kathrin Schuler, Pawan Kumar, Richard Ledley

Defensive Publications Series

The disclosed technology describes a method for programmatically predicting conceptual-level product availability, such as for brands, categories, and product lines, for stores that can lack detailed inventory feeds. A machine learning model can ingest and analyze multimodal signals, including unstructured data from user-generated content like in-store photos, crawled website, and text/images. The model processes this evidence to predict the level of confidence that a given product concept is available at a specific local store. This method can increase local product data coverage without requiring formal inventory feeds from merchants, enabling a system to surface more relevant in-store product information to …

الفريق المفاوض ودوره في حل الأزمات, محمود سليمان جبريل القطيشات

Journal of the Association of Arab Universities for Research in Higher Education مجلة اتحاد الجامعات العربية للبحوث في التعليم العالي

هدف البحث إلى إلقاء الضوء على دور الفريق المفاوض في حل وإدارة الازمات وكيفية التعامل مع شتى المعوقات والصعوبات التي تقف عائقاً امام حل الازمات ، والتعرف إلى الاستراتيجيات والأساليب التي يتبعها الفريق المفاوض في تعامله مع الأزمات بشكل عام . اعتمدت الدراسة المنهج الوصفي التحليلي في تناول كيفية تشكيل واختيار الفريق المفاوض ودوه في حل الأزمات ومن ثم تسليط الضوء ايضاً على الاستراتيجيات وطرق تعامل الفرق المفاوضة في حل النزاعات. أظهرت النتائج وجوب حل الازمات من خلال تبني الفريق المفاوض ابتكار نظم أو نشاطات تمكن من استيعاب ومواجهة الظروف الجديدة المترتبة على التغيرات الفجائية وبالأخص التركيز على تشكيل الفرق …

Examining Sustainable Materials: Enhancing Indoor Air Quality For Office Interiors, Ayah Eldeeb, Asmaa Elantary

Emirates Journal for Engineering Research

As awareness of environmental issues grows, the demand for healthier workspaces has led to an increased focus on sustainable building materials in office interiors. This study explores how these materials influence indoor air quality (IAQ) and the overall health of occupants. Through a qualitative analysis of multiple case studies from various regions, it is found that offices using sustainable materials, like low-emission paints and natural fiber insulation, showed a 30% improvement in IAQ compared to traditional settings. Additionally, essential criteria are identified for selecting sustainable materials, such as embodied energy and local sourcing. The findings offer practical recommendations for designers …

The Interpretation Of Wisc-V Gai-Cpi Discrepancies In Adolescents: Cognitive, Attentional, And Symptom Correlates, Cierra Hernandez

ETD Collection

No abstract provided.

Parental Perceptions Of Informal Learning From Digital Devices And Physical Toys, Julie Calderon

ETD Collection

No abstract provided.

Igda Foundation Alumni Weekend: Multiclassing For Better Leadership, Matthew Dyet

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

This talk was presented at the IGDA Foundation Alumni Weekend, an annual event that is run by and for recipients of the IGDA Foundation scholarship. The talk covered the fundamentals of leadership through the lens of multiclassing as covered in my book, Great Games Need Great Leaders.

Ghost Highway: De-Touring Albuquerque's Route 66, Madison A. Garay

Art & Art History ETDs

Route 66 was a U.S. Numbered Highway stretching from Chicago, IL to Santa Monica, CA, rising to fame through music and popular culture. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Route 66 has a troublesome twin life as Central Avenue, a highly politicized space where bodies are contested. In this thesis, the function of public arts and architecture of Albuquerque’s main street thoroughfare, Central Avenue, will be analyzed as visual devices of U.S. Highway 66, or known in popular culture as “Route 66.” I employ a critical Derridean framework through Mark Fisher’s theorization of hauntology and Gerald Vizenor (White Earth Ojibwe)’s theory of …

Truth, Resilience, And Healing: Deepen Understanding Of Native American Federal Boarding School Histories, Toya D. Holiday

Dissertations

Indigenous communities have endured the long-standing impacts of U.S. Federal Indian boarding school policy. The history of Indigenous boarding school policies and the underlying intent to enact cultural genocide is unknown and unacknowledged. The perspectives of Indigenous Peoples have been excluded from dominant narratives, and until recently, from heritage site programming, leading to intergenerational trauma, fragmented identities, and the misrepresentation of Indigenous cultures and experiences. This basic qualitative study asked the question: When the four-truth framework, developed by the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, is applied to U.S. Federal Indian boarding school policy, Native American boarding school history, and …

The Clock Is Ticking: A Systemic Review Of The Literature Informing High School Student Self-Agency In Managing Mental Health Issues For The Purpose Of Staying In Class And Learning, Chantal Ritter-Meserve

Educational Studies Dissertations

This dissertation grounded in a dual-theoretical framework of Bandura's Self-Efficacy Theory and the Black Panther Party’s Revolutionary Theory of CommunityEmpowerment presents a systematic review of the literature exploring how high school students impacted by trauma, poverty, and systemic inequities utilize self-efficacy to remain engaged in learning, especially when immediate access to school-based mental health support is limited. 150 research articles across educational, psychological and sociopolitical domains were screened and 28 articles were analyzed to answer the three guided research questions:

1. How do mental health challenges affect high school students’ academic engagement?

2. How do high school students with self-efficacy …

Flysurf: A Flying Robotic Surface With Shape Morphing And Motion Control, Kevin Aubert De Luchi Lomellini

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

This thesis introduces FlySurf, a novel flying robotic surface capable of simultaneous shape morphing and motion control. FlySurf is modeled as a mesh-based dynamic structure actuated by multiple unmanned aerial vehicles, enabling complex deformations during flight. The proposed control architecture comprises three main components. First, a state estimator to infer the robotic surface state from limited observations. Second, a shape trajectory planner that incorporates an affine deformation term to preserve surface integrity during shape transitions. Third, a surface controller to minimize the error between the desired and actual surface configurations.

The methodology is validated through realistic simulations and hardware experiments, …

Impact Of Self-Stigma And Covid-19 On Mental Health Attitudes, Distress, And Service Use Among Young Adults, Mariel Boyle

ETD Collection

No abstract provided.

Providing Instructional Literacy Videos Increases Literacy And Parent Engagement, Maryjoann Wilks

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract MaryJoAnn Wilks Providing Instructional Literacy Videos Increases Literacy and Parent Engagement 2023-2025 Thesis chair Susan Browne, Ed.D., Professor, Department Critical Literacy, Technology & Multilingual Education Master of Arts in Reading Education This qualitative research project explored the impact of a family literacy program designed to enhance third-grade students’ reading skills through the use of instructional videos and at-home literacy activities. Conducted in the town of Bridgeton, New Jersey, the study focused on themes of preparation, motivation, and participation to examine how families engaged with the program and supported their children's learning. Data were collected through observations, parent feedback, and …