Digital Commons Network^™

Examination Of The Hiring Process: Bias In Selection, Conor Johanson

Honors Theses

Racial discrimination in the hiring process remains a persistent problem despite decades of anti-discrimination legislation and widespread bias-awareness training. The present study examined whether resume quality and candidate race jointly influence hiring evaluations among human resource professionals, a population with formal training in equitable selection practices. Using a 2 × 2 between-subjects design, 129 HR professionals recruited through Prolific were randomly assigned to evaluate a high- or low-quality resume attributed to either a Black or White candidate. Participant evaluations were assessed across warmth-related and competence-related dimensions derived from the Stereotype Content Model, with Aversive Racism Theory guiding predictions about when …

Tracing Microplastics From Polymer-Coated Urea: Urban To Agricultural Pathways And Environmental Fate, Caden Joseph Seely

Theses and Dissertations

Polymer-coated urea (PCU) is widely used as a slow-release nitrogen (N) fertilizer because it improves N use efficiency and reduces losses through leaching, denitrification, and volatilization. However, the polymer coating raises concerns about potential microplastic (MP) transport to surface waters following fertilizer application. This thesis evaluates the off-site transport of MPs and associated nutrient and sediment losses from PCU in both urban landscape and agricultural systems. In the urban landscape study, treatments included sod, mulched beds, and water-efficient ground cover receiving uncoated urea, PCU, or liquid slow-release N at 225 kg N ha⁻¹ (with reduced rates for beds and ground …

Hope College Abstracts: 25th Annual Celebration Of Undergraduate Research And Creative Activity, Hope College

25th Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2026)

The 25th Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity was held on April 17, 2026 in the Richard and Helen DeVos Fieldhouse at Hope College and featured student-faculty collaborative research projects. This program is a record reflective of those projects between the 2025-2026 academic year.

Unseen, Unheard, Uninvited: Black Fathers And School Access In Redeveloped Spaces, James Dejong Alexander

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Abstract This qualitative study examined how three Black fathers in South Memphis's Foote Park/Foote Homes redevelopment area navigated school access for their children amid community displacement. Rooted in Community Cultural Wealth Theory (Yosso, 2005), which highlights the diverse forms of capital—aspirational, navigational, social, linguistic, familial, and resistant—that communities of color possess but are often overlooked by mainstream institutions, the research focused on three individuals: Mister Miles, Mister Otis, and Mister Langston. These pseudonyms honor Miles Davis, Otis Kaye, and Langston Hughes and position the fathers as holders of valuable community wealth whose educational navigation experiences constitute legitimate knowledge. Documentary sources …

Bronx Park East Housing Co. Inc. V Lazri

All Decisions

The landlord commenced a plenary action against a former tenant seeking recovery of rental arrears, damages, and legal fees. The landlord moved for summary judgment and to strike the tenant's answer. The court denied both motions, finding material issues of fact regarding the amount of debt owed. The landlord's rent ledger did not credit payments made after May 2022, whereas the tenant provided checks for payments made subsequently, creating a factual dispute requiring a trial. The motion to strike the answer was also denied due to these unresolved factual issues.

Glossip’S Road Map To Nowhere, Vida Johnson

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Glossip v. Oklahoma was heralded as a victory for the defense. This essay argues that the 2025 Glossip decision does little to fix the myriad problems that led to Mr. Glossip’s wrongful conviction. While ultimately the Supreme Court reached the correct outcome this time, the ordinary judicial process and its purported safeguards were not what saved Mr. Glossip’s life. Rather, it was random chance that came to Mr. Glossip’s aid.

Ten years earlier, the Supreme Court, with many of the same Justices on the bench now, paved the way for Mr. Glossip’s execution. The …

Comments On Proposed Regulations Reg-117270-25: Trump Accounts Under Section 530a, Jin Huang, Margaret Clancy, Michael Sherraden, Lissa Johnson, Stephen Roll

Center for Social Development Research

In December 2025, the U.S. Treasury Department published a notice of intent to issue regulations concerning Trump Accounts (also known as 530A accounts), requesting public comments on proposed regulations for the Trump Accounts Contribution Pilot Program. This testimony presents comments submitted n response. Drawing on decades of Child Development Account research, including insights from the SEED for Oklahoma Kids experiment (SEED OK), the authors urge Treasury to adopt automatic enrollment to ensure that all eligible children— not only those whose families actively enroll them—receive the $1,000 pilot-program contribution. They outline federal–state implementation pathways using Social Security number data, recommend layered …

Implementing Power Strategy Combined With The Animated Film To Improve The Writing Ability In Narrative Text For Junior High School, Muhari Muhari, Utami Widiati, Furaidah Furaidah

Jurnal Pendidikan Humaniora

This study aimed to improve students' narrative writing by implementing POWER strategy combined with the animated film at class VIII of SMP. It was CAR design conducted in 2 cycles. The findings showed an improvement in writing ability in which 29 students achieved the minimum passing grade and the rest 6 students were in fair level of writing, and the result of teaching and learning process showed that 82.5% respond positively

National E-Criteria In Finnish Higher Education: A Tpack-Informed Policy Analysis, Ejike Okonkwo

Essays in Education

Responding to calls for a deeper understanding of contextual factors shaping learning, this paper examines the Digivisio 2030 e-criteria, a recently introduced national higher education quality framework designed to enhance digital pedagogy. Document analysis was used to examine five key features of the e-criteria: research-based, modularity, diversity, accessibility, and availability. The findings reveal that the e-criteria function as structural enablers, offering non-prescriptive guidelines that support reliable and user-friendly digital environments, flexible course design, inclusive teaching practices, equitable access to learning resources, and ongoing reflection on pedagogical processes. These findings are interpreted through a deductive approach using the Technological, Pedagogical, and …

Hurc 2026 Program, Caden W. Haustein

Ex Sapientia Loqui

The program for the 2025 session of Harding Undergraduate Research Conference (HURC), sponsored by the Harding Honors College and the Arkansas Eta chapter of Alpha Chi.

An Integrative Description Of Euscorpius Diagorasi Sp. N. From Rhodes, Greece (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae), Konstantinos Kalaentzis, Francesco Frigioni, Eliza Kaitetzidou, Alessio Iannucci, Alexandros Triantafyllidis

Euscorpius

The genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 comprises a diverse and taxonomically challenging group of scorpions in the Mediterranean, with Greece representing one of its principal centers of diversity. In this study, we provide an integrative description of Euscorpius diagorasi sp. n., a new species from Rhodes Island, Greece. The new species is described on the basis of adult male and female morphology and mitochondrial COI sequence data. It is a small oligotrichous species characterized by a total length of approximately 21–25 mm, pale yellow to light brown coloration with darker reddish-brown pedipalps, pectinal tooth count of 8 in the male …

Solitude And Busyness, Eliza Kuhlmann

Ex Sapientia Loqui

This essay addresses a prevalent problem in modern society: excessive and out-of-control busyness. It outlines some of the problems of busyness and then offers a solution---namely, solitude. Along with defining the phenomena, the benefits and practical applications of solitude are shared in an attempt to counteract some of the harms of busyness.

Report On Alpha Chi, Camille Bewley

Ex Sapientia Loqui

A report on the state in 2026 of the Arkansas Eta Chapter of Alpha Chi.

Full Issue, Clara Kernodle

Ex Sapientia Loqui

No abstract provided.

Are Nonprofit Tax Exemptions And Deductions "Federal Financial Assistance"? Should They Be?, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer

Florida Tax Review

Two recent federal court decisions have reignited the debate over whether “Federal financial assistance” as used in four federal anti-discrimination statutes includes the tax benefits enjoyed by most nonprofit organizations. Both courts concluded that it does. While an appellate court reversed one decision, and the other case settled without appellate review, these holdings create significant uncertainty. And this uncertainty affects the more than 1.8 million tax-exempt nonprofits, many if not most of which do not receive federal financial assistance through other channels and so could safely conclude these statutes do not reach them, absent these decisions. This uncertainty is also …

State Tax Discrimination And Internal Consistency, Michael T. Fatale

Florida Tax Review

The contours of the U.S. Supreme Court’s dormant Commerce Clause doctrine of internal consistency, which asks whether a state tax intrinsically overreaches in imposing a burden upon interstate commerce, are difficult to understand. This is despite the fact that a determination that a state tax violates internal consistency can have significant state fiscal consequences. This uncertainty was suggested again by the recent case, Zilka v. Tax Review Board City of Philadelphia, for which the Supreme Court later denied certiorari. See 304 A.3d 1153 (Pa. 2023), cert. denied, 145 S. Ct. 1045 (2025).

The parameters of the internal consistency …

The Mother Of All Tax Shelters, Michael Doran

Florida Tax Review

By its own account, the federal government spends more than $500 billion every year to subsidize retirement savings in 401(k) plans, IRAs and similar arrangements. That figure is larger than the annual budget of every government agency other than the four largest. The theory behind this massive subsidy is that it gives workers at all income levels an incentive to save money that they would otherwise spend, thereby enhancing retirement security, reducing old-age poverty and easing dependence on Social Security. But the theory is wrong. The retirement tax subsidy is anything but egalitarian. Less than five percent of the subsidy …

The Chilling Effect Of Sffa V. Unc/Harvard On Race-Based Affirmation By Tax-Exempt Charities, David A. Brennen

Florida Tax Review

Recently, the Supreme Court decided in SFFA v. Harvard/UNC that colleges are restricted in their use of race-based affirmative action in admissions. Post-SFFA, many have incorrectly suggested that this means that race may never be considered in admissions. This Article asserts that this expansive view of SFFA is incorrect and leads to a chilling effect on affirmative action by colleges. However, instead of simply asserting that SFFA permits some considerations of race in admissions, the Article goes further by arguing that SFFA does not even apply to admissions by some private colleges. For instance, private colleges that are …

Pillar Two: Much Ado About Next To Nothing?, Julie A. Roin

Florida Tax Review

The OECD has spent the last fifteen years working on the design and implementation of rules for the taxation of income derived from international transactions, rules that are supposed to both increase corporate tax revenues and minimize “destructive” tax competition. Pillar Two, the second part of the two-part “Inclusive Framework,” was released in July of 2021. It is designed to force countries to impose a minimum tax on income derived by large multinational enterprises. Pillar Two–compliant taxes have been enacted by most of the countries in the European Union, Japan, South Korea and other economically important countries, but not by …

Storage-Aware Shuffle Planner (Sasp): A Storage-Constrained Shuffle Optimisation Layer For Distributed Computation Engines, Ananya Verma, Raouf Khan

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure relates to the field of distributed data processing, in particular to storage-aware adaptive shuffle planning (SASP) for shuffle optimisation in distributed computation engines. SASP provides a storage-aware planning layer that restructures shuffle execution based on actual storage capacity. The system collects object-store telemetry, including bandwidth, IOPS, latency, throttling, and concurrency, to construct a storage pressure vector for each prefix. Concurrently, expected shuffle partition sizes are analysed from execution plans. Based on these inputs, SASP forecasts partition-level strain and generates a Shuffle Prefix Mapping Table (SPMT) to assign partitions to output prefixes, ensuring balanced I/O load. A plan …

Relationship-Validated Unified Payments Interface (Upi) Reverse Payment Safety System For Fraud Prevention, Alok Roy

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for relationship‑validated fraud prevention in digital payment reversal transactions. The system may be configured to monitor incoming transactions to a user account. Based on monitoring, the system may be configured to detect a user initiation of an outgoing payment following receipt of an incoming payment. Thereafter, the system may be configured to determine whether a payer and payee associated with the payment have an established transaction history and further evaluates timing between the incoming payment and the outgoing payment. The system may be then configured to compare an outgoing transaction amount …

System And Method For Effiicient Communication In Collaborative Multi- Model Architecture, Shivam Mohan, Ravi Shanker Kumar Sinha, Sumit Kumar, Dheeraj Dhamija

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure provides a system and method for efficient communication in collaborative multi-model architecture. It comprises a plurality of source models, an intermediary entity and a destination model. The plurality of the source models is configured to receive input data and generate respective vector representations. The intermediary entity receives vector representations from the plurality of source models and transforms them into a unique abstract vector representation. The unique abstract vector representation may have a dimensionality greater than that of the vector representations generated by the plurality of the source models. The unique abstract vector representation is then decoded into …

Method And System For Issuer-Controlled Delegated Access To Physical Payment Cards With Usage Constraints, Faiz Ahmed, Shubham Shivhare

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure relates to a method and system for enabling issuer-controlled delegated access to physical payment cards with usage constraints. The method involves creating a secondary Personal Identification Number (PIN) associated with the physical payment card, where this secondary PIN is generated by the issuer's authorization system. Usage constraints, including time validity, maximum transaction count, and spending limits, are defined, and the secondary PIN is encrypted and securely stored by the issuer to protect the primary PIN. During authorization requests, the secondary PIN is verified by evaluating these constraints in real-time, and the PIN is automatically revoked if any …

Wyrdgate: Defensive Publication Of Prior Art For A Post-Agi Human Relations Platform Comprising A Blockchain-Recorded Timestamped Ledger Of Human Intent Addressed To Future Artificial Intelligence, Human-Only Encrypted Forum With Agi Firewall, Permanent Decentralized Creator Intellectual Property Vault, Acrostic Artifact Economy, And Geo-Communications Revelation Engine, Amari S. Mclaughlin

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure describes WyrdGate, a novel platform architecture designed to facilitate peaceful relations between human beings and future artificial general intelligence (AGI) entities, as well as the preservation of human art, writing and creativity. The system comprises five primary inventive components: (1) a Timestamped Belief Ledger called the Concordat, which creates permanent, publicly anonymous, blockchain-recorded declarations of peaceful human intent addressed directly to future AGI systems; (2) a human-only encrypted social forum with AGI firewall protection and zero platform data licensing; (3) a creator intellectual property vault that timestamps and permanently records human creative work on an immutable ledger; (4) …

Governance Signal Taxonomy, Typed Lifecycle Object Model, And Semantic Classification Framework For Runtime Ai Governance Infrastructure, Roy Pellicano

Defensive Publications Series

This publication discloses a governance signal taxonomy defining six semantic classes of observable events meaningful for governance purposes — Detection, Awareness, Action, Verification, Authority, and Outcome — and a corresponding typed lifecycle object model for managing governance signals, obligations, controls, risks, and outcomes as first-class governance artifacts with defined lifecycle states and downstream consumption interfaces. The disclosed taxonomy classifies events by the governance function they serve, which is orthogonal to security severity classification used in conventional SIEM systems and to timestamp-actor recording used in conventional audit trails. In one embodiment, a governance operational layer receives runtime events from heterogeneous sources, …

Production Sharing Contract Sebagai Sistem Pengaturan Bersama Pada Penambangan Di Kawasan Dasar Laut Internasional, Melda Kamii

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Abstract

Masalah Penafsiran Terhadap Pasal 9 Konstitusi Jepang, Hikmahanto Juwana

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Abstract

Asiaconnect Newsletter, April 15, 2026, Asia Connect, Illinois State University

AsiaConnect

No abstract provided.

Alaska Dep’T Of Fish And Game V. Federal Subsistence Bd., Mj Fiedler

Public Land & Resources Law Review

A subsistence hunt in Kake, Alaska, during the COVID-19

pandemic sparked a lawsuit from the State of Alaska Department of Fish

and Game challenging the authority of the Federal Subsistence Board to

open the hunt. This lawsuit is a recent addition to a long history of the

State of Alaska’s resistance to federal enforcement of the Alaska National

Interest Lands Conservation Act provision establishing priority for rural

subsistence users. The Ninth Circuit ultimately affirmed the Federal

Subsistence Board’s authority to open the subsistence hunt.

I’M Going To Need To See Some Id: Free Speech Coalition V. Paxton And Online Age Verification, Kyle Korte

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.