Digital Commons Network^™

State Legislatures: Guardians Of The Federal Balance, Practical Strategies For Monitoring, Strengthening, And Sustaining American Federalism (Remarks), Christian G. Fritz

Faculty Scholarship

My remarks today are drawn from my book, Monitoring American Federalism: The History of State Legislative Resistance, and from an essay I wrote this year for the Center for the Study of Federalism about the responsibility of state legislators to sound the alarm when the federal government overreaches its constitutional authority.

Anglada V. Bradford

All Decisions

In this action to quiet title, the Appellate Division, 2nd Department affirmed an order granting plaintiff leave to enter a default judgment, rejecting defendant's challenges to personal jurisdiction and request to serve a late answer. Defendant argued she was improperly served because she was residing in Aguilla with her husband and children at the time of service. The court found the process server's affidavit established prima facie proper service at the defendant's Brooklyn home. Respondent's evidence did not establish that she had ceased residing in Brooklyn. The court emphasized that a person may have more than one residence and concluded …

New Locality Records And Future Habitat Suitability Of Sassanidotus Gracilis (Birula, 1900) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) In The Iran–Afghanistan–Pakistan Arid Belt, Ersen A. Yağmur, Kerim Çiçek, Homa Barati, Mohammad Moradi

Euscorpius

This study reports new locality records from Iran and a climate-based habitat suitability assessment for Sassanidotus gracilis (Birula, 1900) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in the Iran–Afghanistan–Pakistan arid belt. We document new specimens from Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran, with an updated distribution map and illustrations, and we model the species' potential distribution across south-eastern Iran and adjacent parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Habitat suitability was associated mainly with precipitation seasonality, precipitation of the wettest month, precipitation of the driest month, and slope. In an arid setting these rainfall variables are unlikely to indicate a need for moist habitat; they more plausibly track …

Resistance, Rebuttal And Risk: Exploring Black International Students’ Perceptions Of Racial Justice Organizing In Western Canada., Prof-Collins Ifeonu

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

Based on 40 interviews, this study develops a three-fold typology that captures the heterogeneous nature of Black international students’ political engagement. Drawing on diasporic consciousness, I show how students negotiate their relationship to racial justice movements through race, ethnic identity, nationality, and temporary legal status. The findings underscore the need for a more nuanced understanding of Black students’ political subjectivities and brings attention to the incessant striving for personal belonging that these students undergo in their experiences of foreign study.

Contradiction And Critical Consciousness: Engaging Canadian University Students In Racial Dialogue On Anti-Chinese Racism, Dan Cui

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This study examines how Canadian university students perceived and engaged with anti-Chinese racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on grounded theory and interviews and written reflections from 28 undergraduates at a predominantly White university, the study analyzes students’ contradictory understandings of racism shaped by media, national narratives, and prior educational experiences. Informed by Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, it conceptualizes these tensions as a contradictory racialized habitus, in which awareness and denial, empathy and distancing, coexist. Three themes emerged: contradictory orientations toward anti-Chinese racism, the transnational influence of U.S. political discourse, and the limited transformative impact of a social justice course. …

Resurrecting Anti-Apartheid Solidarity: Scholasticide, Race, And The Politics Of Internationalization In Higher Education, Divinia Jithoo, Alia Gilbrecht

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This paper interrogates how racialized internationalization and epistemic injustice shape global higher education through a comparative critical analysis of South African and Palestinian academic resistance. Drawing on decolonial theory (Du Plessis, 2021) and Fricker’s (2007) framework of epistemic injustice, we examine how scholasticide—the deliberate destruction of Palestinian educational institutions—reveals higher education as a targeted site of racialized domination rather than a neutral casualty of war. Our findings show that normalization, sustained through Global South partnerships with Israeli institutions, functions as a racialized mode of internationalization that obscures complicity in settler-colonial violence. These dynamics are reinforced by transnational anti-Palestinian racism, a …

Decolonizing Raciolinguistic Ideologies In Institutions Of Higher Learning, Chantelle M. August-Mowers, Samantha M. Hoffman

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This article examines how raciolinguistic ideologies shape global higher education (HE), highlighting the intersection of language, race, and systemic inequalities. English often functions as a gatekeeper, privileging certain knowledge systems while marginalizing students and faculty from the Global South (Flores & Rosa, 2015; Pennycook, 2007). Structural inequities persist in faculty recruitment, international student selection, and academic publishing, reflecting colonial legacies and epistemic injustice (Canagarajah, 2013; Quijano, 2000). Racialized and linguistically marginalized students experience exclusion, microaggressions, and limited mobility, revealing contradictions between diversity rhetoric and institutional practices (Sekaja, 2022; Enslin, 2024). The study advocates decolonial and multilingual interventions, including translanguaging, inclusive …

Race, Racism, And Racialization In International Higher Education: A Transnational And Mobility-Aware Approach, Benjamin Denga, Louise Michelle Vital

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

Race, racism, and racialization are increasingly recognized as central to understanding inequality in global higher education. Yet dominant frameworks in comparative and international higher education remain nationally bounded and citizenship-centered, offering limited insight into how race operates under conditions of mobility, legal temporariness, and transnational governance. As internationalization intensifies through student mobility, cross-border partnerships, and global knowledge circulation, racialized experiences are shaped by visa-dependent status, differential protection, global racial imaginaries and discourses, uneven or unequal geopolitical relations and institutional logics of internationalization (including marketization, risk management and revenue extraction). In this conceptual article we argue that race and racialization in …

Legitimacy-Seeking Tactics Employed By Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham In The Idlib Province, Kathrine Lopez

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

This paper examines how Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) sought to stabilize and normalize its authority through governance in Idlib from 2017 to 2024. It applies the legitimacy-seeking tactics framework developed by McWeeney, Cunningham, and Bauer (2025) to assess five observable strategies used outside direct combat, provision of public goods, participation in conflict mediation, lobbying and cooperation with external actors, conventional political mobilization, and public outreach. Using qualitative interpretive analysis of primary and secondary sources, the study evaluates how these tactics appeared in HTS-linked governance institutions and public-facing practices during sustained territorial rule. The findings show selective but substantial tactic use. …

Estimating The Effects Of Dark Matter Capture On The Sun Using Asteria And Analytic Stellar Scaling, Skylar G. Butler

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

We investigate how the internal structure of the Sun would change if dark matter particles were present at densities predicted by Galactic halo models. Dark matter capture rates were computed using the Python code Asteria, which implements the multi-element capture formalism of Gould (1987) to determine the rate at which dark matter particles scatter and become gravitationally bound inside the Sun. Because Asteria calculates only the capture rate, we developed a post-processing Python-based analysis to estimate the resulting physical effects using analytic scaling relations from previous solar dark matter studies. These relations were used to compute the effective dark matter …

Programmable Hybrid And Gradient Constant Mean Curvatures For High-Performance Multifunctional Mechanical Metamaterials, Ajith Annavajhula, Gary J. Cheng

MMRL-XMO Industrial Seminar

Architected solids that combine high stiffness, strength, toughness, and ductility in one geometry are difficult to manufacture without specialised feedstocks or sequential consolidation. Two complementary architectures are built here from a single curvature-programmed building-block library of four constant-mean-curvature (CMC) shell topologies — Schwarz Primitive (SP), Schwarz Diamond (SD), Schoen's I-WP, and FRD — that share commensurate cubic facets and admit C0 /C1 /C2 continuity at every interface. Multi-objective hybridisation gives an open-cell metamaterial with specific axial stiffness E*/ρ* = 63.6 GPa·cm3 ·g-1 and specific peak compressive stress σpeak/ρ* = 416.9 MPa·cm3 ·g-1, exceeding the I-WP single family by 40% in …

Multi-Scale In-Situ Powder Stream Characterization For Laser Directed Energy Deposition, Guang Yang, Clara Mock, Salil Bapat, Ajay Malshe

MMRL-XMO Industrial Seminar

Powder stream quality in laser directed energy deposition (L-DED) is a critical determinant of deposition consistency and final part quality, yet it remains largely uncharacterized in real-time during operation. This paper presents a dual-scale, vision-based in-situ characterization framework that addresses powder stream monitoring at two complementary levels: macro-scale flow quality assessment for real-time process monitoring and micro-scale particle tracking for digital twin data acquisition. Both scales are implemented on a single high-speed camera reconfigured between two resolution and frame-rate settings, eliminating the need for dedicated multi-camera infrastructure. At the macro scale, an OpenCV-based image processing pipeline operating at 1280 × …

Challenges And Opportunities For Advanced Manufacturing To Deliver War-Winning Technology To The Warfighter, Clara Mock, Jian Yu, Eric Wetzel, Isaac Nault, Robert Jensen, James Snyder, Megan Lynch, Christopher Hoppel

MMRL-XMO Industrial Seminar

Global supply chain vulnerabilities and contested logistics environments necessitate a paradigm shift in military production and sustainment. Advanced Manufacturing (AdvM) offers the critical agility required to rapidly produce and repair components. This report reviews the current state of AdvM technology and its dual role in supercharging the domestic Defense Industrial Base (DIB) while enabling distributed, Point-of-Need (PoN) manufacturing directly on the battlefield. First, we identify persistent challenges hindering widespread AdvM adoption, including material limitations, process transferability, and arduous certification pathways. To address these barriers, this paper highlights emerging solutions across four key domains: (1) the formulation of novel feedstocks, ranging …

Convergent Manufacturing Of Metal-Ceramic Architectures For High-Temperature Environments, Sk Shamim Hasan Abir, Joni C. Dhar, Sandipan Mishra, Daniel Lewis, Johnson Samuel

MMRL-XMO Industrial Seminar

High-temperature thermal barrier systems require a graded architecture that transitions from a metallic substrate to a ceramic top coat to mitigate damage caused by mismatches in coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE). This study presents a convergent manufacturing strategy that integrates twisted wire gas tungsten arc (GTA) surfacing with cold sintering (CS), followed by CO₂ laser sintering, to fabricate a robust thermal barrier. High entropy alloy (HEA) bond coats with Al-Cr-Fe-Ni-based compositions were deposited onto Inconel 625 substrates using semi-automatically twisted commercial welding wires (Inconel 625, SS308Lsi, and Al ER4043) via GTA surfacing, resulting in HEA layers predominantly composed of >60 …

Experimental Methods For Characterizing Interfaces In Multi-Material Adhesive Joints, Kevin L. Cloherty, Drupad Kadiyala Bhavani, Dante P. Stigliano, Alexander H. Krueger, Christopher J. Hansen, Amy M. Peterson, Alireza V. Amirkhizi

MMRL-XMO Industrial Seminar

Multi-material systems bonded with adhesives are increasingly used in engineering due to their design flexibility and performance. To fully optimize these systems, it is essential to characterize their interfacial properties accurately. However, standardized methods to characterize interfacial properties under pure stress states, especially in dissimilar material joints, are limited. This study presents a framework using modified poker-chip and hat-shaped specimens to promote dominant normal and shear adhesion behavior in polymer-ceramic systems. Custom fixtures were designed to reduce material use and maintain uniform adhesive thickness during sample preparation. Preliminary results demonstrate dominant mode-specific interfacial properties for various multi-material and adhesive configurations. …

Low-Cost Agile Tooling For Stamping Metallic And Composite Sheets Using A Hybrid 3d-Printed Composite Shell And A Core, Alireza Zarei, Koorosh Delavari, Mostafa Elnaggar, Madhura Athale, Taejoon Park, Farhang Pourboghrat, Srikanth Pilla

MMRL-XMO Industrial Seminar

Conventional sheet metal and composite stamping depends on machined steel dies that are expensive and slow to produce, limiting their practicality for prototyping and low-volume manufacturing. This study presents a low-cost agile tooling (LCAT) strategy that integrates a 3D-printed polymer composite shell with a concrete core. Tool shells were fabricated using FDM method with polyamide 12 thermoplastic filament reinforced with 35 wt% chopped carbon fiber. The workflow included 3D printing, machining test coupons, mechanical characterization, constitutive model development, finite element simulation, and stamping trials. Results show that the new composite tool design offers better performance and lower cost than fully …

Evaluation Of Orbit And Mission Design Parameters Considered In Real Space Missions, Enrique Alejandro Amaya Villegas

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Orbit and mission design constitute a fundamental spacecraft subsystem, as the selected orbital regime and mission profile strongly influence power availability, communications geometry, propulsion requirements, and overall mission performance. This project investigates how key quantitative and qualitative parameters guide orbit and mission design decisions in real space missions, with particular emphasis on orbital altitude and inclination, ground coverage and revisit time, mission lifetime, launch vehicle performance constraints, and propulsion budgets. The primary objective is to develop a structured understanding of how high-level scientific or commercial objectives, together with cost, risk, and operational constraints, are translated into specific orbital architectures and …

Implementation Of Artificial Intelligence In Retinoblastoma Diagnosis, Zana Moldavsky

inSIGHT

The retina is essential for vision. It is composed of 10 distinct layers and contains specialized photoreceptor cells, rods, and cones that are responsible for converting photons of light into electrical signals through a process called phototransduction.¹ These electrical signals are transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve where they are interpreted as a visual picture.¹

Retinoblastoma is a rare but aggressive malignant tumor of the retina and represents the most common intraocular malignancy in the pediatric populabon.² The disease follows Knudson's two-hit hypothesis and occurs due to biallelic inactivation of the RB1 tumor suppressor gene …

Future Meteorological Droughts In The Southeastern Us, Kunal Bhardwaj, C. Prakash Khedun, Abdul A. Khan

Journal of South Carolina Water Resources

The Southeastern U.S., despite its humid climate, experiences recurrent meteorological droughts which impact agricultural, water resources, ecological systems, and the economy and society. Knowledge of future drought conditions can guide adaptation efforts. Here, we evaluate historical and projected droughts using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) computed from an ensemble of eight bias-corrected Global Climate Models (GCMs) from the Climate Model Intercomparison Phase-6 (CMIP6). The historical performance (1950–2014) of the GCM’s mean was benchmarked against gridded observations from the Climate Research Unit (CRU). Future changes were assessed under 1.5°C, 2.0°C, and 3.0°C global warming levels.We …

Speculative Urbanism Versus Paddy Land Conservation: The Land Paradox In Policy Making, Neethu Das

Journal of Law and Public Policy

This paper argues that paddy land has become a contested space for competing policy objectives in Kerala, one of the southernmost Indian states. It critically examines two competing policy approaches in the state: one focused on fostering economic growth through investment-friendly policies and the other prioritising the preservation of ecological resources for long-term sustainability. It analyses how conservation laws are gradually weakened to foster an investment-friendly environment. In addition, it examines the shift from viewing land primarily as leverage, which has undermined efforts towards long-term sustainability. The insights informing this analysis were drawn from ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Thrikkakara, a …

A Self-Evolving, Multi-Agent Ecosystem For Autonomous Advertising, Aura Yavary

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure describes a self-evolving, multi-agent architecture and associated methods for autonomous digital advertising orchestration, structured as a deeply interconnected network of specialized, goal-directed, and continuously learning agents. Each core function of the digital advertising lifecycle is embodied as an autonomous agent that possesses adaptive, modular capabilities, performs independent decision-making, and communicates via decentralized protocols. The architecture incorporates a synchronized, high-fidelity causal digital twin that models user behavior and competitor actions. This twin is queried by the agents to perform causal counterfactual analysis, massive offline training, and real-time simulation-to-real policy validation. As automated decision-making scales, it is critical to mitigate …

The Active Metamaterial Structural Integrity Field (Sif): A Dynamic Stress-Routing Architecture For Advanced Spaceframes, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This white paper presents the design, architectural framework, and engineering specifications for a solid-state, real-time Structural Integrity Field (SIF). Traditional spaceframe engineering is bound by a rigid mass-to-rigidity paradox: mitigating extreme localized dynamic, kinetic, or thermal loads requires a proportional increase in material mass, which introduces severe propulsive and structural penalties. The SIF architecture breaks this paradox by shifting the burden of structural survival from structural mass to information-theoretic latency and active stress-routing. By treating structural loading as a continuous elastodynamic wave vector propagating through a medium, we define a modular, multi-vector design matrix.

This paper establishes three independent, hot-swappable …

Operational Synthesis Matrix (Apip-4), Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This specification establishes the final capstone module for the Global Architecture for Planetary Infrastructure Parity (APIP-4). It formalizes the Automated Cryptographic Resource Allocation Clearinghouse, the programmatic software engine that manages the Level 2 Regional Logistics and Energy Smart Grid layers.

APIP-4 replaces manual trade negotiations and political embargoes with a trustless, decentralized Resource Clearing Ledger driven by automated smart contracts. This engine balances global resource distribution dynamically based on real-time infrastructure telemetry, automatically executing system-level isolation or resource reallocation based on the compliance metrics established in MS #12661, MS #12662, and MS #12663.

By anchoring global logistics to objective network …

Architectural Framework For Decentralized Satellite Routing Schemas And Global Commons Connectivity (Apip-3), Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This specification formalizes the network transport and routing topologies of the Global Architecture for Planetary Infrastructure Parity (APIP-3). It defines the Universal Civic Identity and Voting Application (UCIVA) transport framework, engineered to bypass state-level telecommunication shutdowns, Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) firewalls, and terrestrial routing interdictions.

APIP-3 implements an un-jammable, asynchronous, Delay-Tolerant Network (DTN) utilizing a cascading local mobile Peer-to-Peer (P2P) mesh topology that interfaces natively with an orbital Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation. By utilizing hardware-bound, non-biographical cryptographic identity proofs generated via device secure enclaves, APIP-3 creates a zero-knowledge planetary consensus network.

This infrastructure decouples citizen-tier regulatory input from state-controlled …

Global Architecture For Planetary Infrastructure Parity: Silicon-Level Technical Specification (Apip-2), Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This specification formalizes the micro-architectural and firmware-level layers of the Global Architecture for Planetary Infrastructure Parity (APIP-2). It establishes the precise hardware blueprints required to embed the Multi-Agent Symmetry of Agency Protocol (MSAP) directly onto the silicon processor die. By allocating custom Machine-Mode (M-Mode) Control and Status Registers (CSRs) within open-source execution pipelines, this specification moves computing nodes from software-dependent safety configurations to hardwired, physical-layer boundary enforcement.

The architecture includes the Asynchronous Deceleration Interrupt (ADI) loop—an un-bypassable microcode trap that forces processor clock attenuation or execution thread-fencing when autonomous system entropy anomalies are registered at the pipeline stage.

Integrated alongside …

Global Architecture For Trans-National Informational Infrastructure And Sovereign Risk Mitigation (Apip-1), Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This specification establishes the Architecture for Planetary Infrastructure Parity (APIP-1), a deterministic, multi-layered technical framework engineered to eliminate the systemic risks of runaway, machine-velocity autonomous cyber-escalation. As distributed artificial intelligence systems reach agentic execution speeds that operate independently of human cognitive and diplomatic processing intervals, traditional international treaties become structurally obsolete. APIP-1 resolves this enforcement gap by embedding the Multi-Agent Symmetry of Agency Protocol (MSAP) directly into the firmware and core routing layers of the global digital commons.

By employing non-interactive zero-knowledge telemetry verification (zk-SNARKs), this framework allows sovereign states and multinational corporate entities to continuously audit cross-border system behaviors …

System For Parent-Initiated Cross-Platform Minor Identity Protection And Digital Boundary Enforcement, Eric Zavesky

Defensive Publications Series

A system and method for parent-initiated cross-platform detection of minor accounts and enhanced age verification enables a parent to register identity indicators for a child with an independent trust authority that is structurally separate from all participating online platforms. The system validates parent identity, converts child indicators including name, visual, biometric, and behavioral data into irreversible representations stored in a central detection database, and allows participating platforms to query the database at account creation. Match confidence scores are returned without revealing reference data. Upon positive matches, parents receive notifications and can issue one-click escalation instructions through the trust authority, which …

Transfemoral Approach To Patent Ductus Arteriosus Occlusion Using Acdo In A Dog With Complex Surgical History, Nawat Sannamwong, Hataichon Owatdhumma, Kornrawee Tharavanij, Thitinan Tangarsasilp, Nardtiwa Chaivoravitsakul, Kongthit Horoongruang, Patmanachatr Bunnag, Nakkawee Saengklub, Krishaporn Kradangnga, Sirilak Disatian Surachetpong, Anusak Kijtawornrat

The Thai Journal of Veterinary Medicine

A five-year-old spayed female Welsh Corgi weighing 12.4 kg presented with exercise intolerance and was diagnosed with a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). Due to signs of left-sided volume overload, the dog was initially managed with oral pimobendan and was subsequently referred to the Small Animal Teaching Hospital at Chulalongkorn University for further evaluation and intervention. Upon presentation, the patient was bright, alert, and responsive, with a body condition score of 6 out of 9 and normal muscle condition. The mucous membranes were pink and moist, with a capillary refill time of 1 to 2 seconds. A continuous heart murmur was …

Lirong Xu V. Debra Todd

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Winfield Scott Tower Urban Renewal Lp V. Lorissa Luciani

2026 Decisions

USDC for the District of New Jersey