Digital Commons Network^™

Ecowas: The Little Human Rights Organization That Could, Thomas Kelley

Faculty Publications

Part I of this Article provides a detailed description of the origins of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Part II describes its transformation from a sleepy trade bloc to a dynamic peace and security and human rights enforcement institution. Part III examines arguments about whether ECOWAS’s aggressive human rights enforcement is or is not legal under international law. Part IV summarizes developments in West Africa after ECOWAS created its robust peace and security and human rights enforcement architecture, concluding that, until the recent crisis in the Sahel States, it has been extremely effective despite the scant resources. …

Judgment Holders In Sovereign Debt Restructurings, W. Mark C. Weidemaier, F. Andrew Hessick

Faculty Publications

Sovereign bond restructurings depend on collective voting mechanisms called Collective Action Clauses (CACs) in bond contracts. CACs let a bondholder supermajority modify the bond and bind dissenters to the outcome. But what if dissenters can avoid being bound by rushing to court and getting a judgment? Existing analyses suggest that the legal doctrine of merger and bar might cause the CAC to “merge” into a court’s judgment, effectively allowing judgment holders to escape the restructuring. Other bondholders would be unable to stop judgment holders from enforcing their judgments. Policymakers have long worried that this risk might undermine the contractual architecture …

Mass Corporate Governance, Caleb N. Griffin

Faculty Publications

Democracy is a compliance cost. At least, that is the modern conception of performative corporate governance. Structurally contingent legal and market characteristics mean that shareholder voting is now conducted with an unusual combination of zealous devotion to the voting process and general ambivalence as to substantive outcomes.

This dynamic arises because financial and voting rights are routinely decoupled, resulting in a fundamental transformation of the incentives, constraints, and power dynamics through which the world’s largest corporations are governed. The ironic result is that the governance actors with the greatest power often have little incentive to use it. Regulators have “solved” …

Instructional Systems Design In Lesson Planning For Substance Use Treatment Groups: A Mixed Methods Exploratory Study, Michelle Robin Gould

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored lesson planning for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment groups, investigating the presence of components from the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) instructional systems design (ISD) process in routine facilitator lesson planning practices. Using an exploratory mixed-methods convergent parallel design, data were collected via an online survey featuring closed- and open-ended questions regarding self-reported planning activities and perceived effectiveness. Quantitative analysis confirmed that SUD facilitators perform tasks associated with all five ADDIE phases. Qualitative findings showed that facilitators perceive themselves as effective planners despite logistical and organizational constraints. However, facilitators do not appear to conceptually link instructional …

Religious Freedom Without Material Autonomy: Property Dispossession And The Containment Of Religion In Socialist Macedonia, 1945-1958, Aleksandar Spasenovski

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the relationship between religious freedom and property rights in socialist Macedonia within Yugoslavia between 1945 and 1958. It argues that the formal constitutional recognition of religious freedom did not necessarily guarantee the institutional autonomy of religious communities. Through a legal-historical analysis of federal Yugoslav and Macedonian legislation, implementing regulations, and administrative mechanisms, the article shows how agrarian reform, nationalization of private economic enterprises, expropriation, and the nationalization of rental buildings and construction land progressively reduced the material foundations of religious organizations. The central claim is that property was one of the clearest indicators of the practical scope …

Faith, Doubt, And Belonging: Spiritual Trajectories Of University Students Under Conditions Of Full-Scale War, Nataliia Ishchuk, Anna Laputko, Yaroslava Demydenko, Iryna Vasiuk, Serhii Kiriienko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article examines the transformation of religiosity among Ukrainian university students under conditions of the full-scale russian-Ukrainian war. The study aims to identify the specific features of religious self-identification among students of the Bogomolets National Medical University and changes in their attitudes toward religion following the outbreak of the full-scale invasion. The application of the case study method made it possible to examine these processes within a local student community by comparing different dimensions of religiosity, including the place of religion within individuals’ worldviews, denominational affiliation, and subjectively perceived changes in attitudes toward religion under wartime conditions. The findings reveal …

“A Civilised Order”: Political Economy Of Welfare State Development In United States And South Africa, Camden M. Webb

Masters Theses

The welfare state and its development across national contexts in the twentieth century signaled a marked change in the state’s relationship with its citizens. They developed in a structural crisis between two political economy organizations, moving from liberal structures to regulated ones. As the world continues the current ongoing structural crisis out of the neoliberal structure, the future of welfare policy is uncertain. My research presents a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) using the United States and South Africa as most-different cases to explore the similarities and differences in their national contexts that shaped their welfare state development in the early …

The Disability History Of Brown V. Board Of Education, Britney Wilson

Articles & Chapters

In 1952, two years before the Supreme Court of the United States decided Brown v. Board of Education, Black deaf students in Washington, D.C., who had been prohibited from attending the local school for white deaf students and forced to go to school in Maryland, won the right to be educated in their hometowns in Miller v. Board of Education of District of Columbia. Brown is heralded as one of the most important racial justice cases of all time. It overturned Plessy v. Ferguson's longstanding "separate but equal" mandate and ruled that the segregation of students based on race violates …

Investigation Of Succinylated Zwitterionic Polyethylenimine/Dna Complexes: Performance In Serum, Internalization, And Intracellular Fate, Levi Lampe

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Gene therapy has promised to revolutionize medicine since the earliest clinical trials, but a lack of delivery methods that are both safe and efficient has hampered progress. Gene therapy with viral vectors is effective at delivering nucleic acids to cells, but is associated with dangerous immunogenic responses and cancer-causing insertions into the genome. Viral vectors are also among the most prohibitively costly therapeutics in medicine. Polymeric vectors avoid these dangers and are made from inexpensive, off-the- shelf materials, but have been hindered by poor efficiency compared to viral vectors.

A benchmark polymer for in vitro nucleic acid delivery has been …

Religious Radio Broadcasting In Ukraine In The Context Of Digital Mediatisation And Social Transformation, Oleh Sokolovskyi, Olena Yurchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The study carries out a religious studies analysis of contemporary forms of spiritual communication implemented through audio and digital media platforms. The work highlights the particular features of organizing religious broadcasting under conditions of transformation of the information space, when traditional models of transmitting doctrine become integrated into new technological formats. Mechanisms of the formation of religious identity, ways of maintaining spiritual continuity, and strategies of interaction between religious institutions and their audiences are examined. An analysis is conducted of the structures that ensure access to spiritual content, including forms of catechetical communication, mentoring practices, and models of pastoral support …

The Cross And The Flag: Papal Diplomacy And John Paul Ii’S Struggle Against The Tyranny Of The Possible: A Review, John Grondelski

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

A review of Lebui, John Tanyi Nquah. The Cross and the Flag: Papal Diplomacy and John Paul II’s Struggle Against the Tyranny of the Possible. South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine’s Press, 2024. Pp. xxvi + 322. PB, $30. ISBN 978-1-58731-143-7.

Signs Of Life: Interkingdom Communication And The Sympoietic Organism, Scott F. Gilbert

Biology Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Anaerobic Digestion Of Food Waste Components: Modeling Biogas Production, Opeyemi E. Adelegan

Civil Engineering Dissertations

Food waste constitutes the single largest component of municipal solid waste landfilled in the United States — approximately 22% of 292.4 million tons generated in 2018 — and its anaerobic decomposition releases methane, a greenhouse gas with global warming potential approximately 27–30 times that of carbon dioxide over a 100-year horizon (IPCC, 2021). Anaerobic digestion (AD) offers an alternative management pathway that recovers energy and produces nutrient-rich digestate, but AD performance varies by as much as five-fold across food waste streams (130–630 m³ CH₄ per Mg VS added), and existing predictive tools either treat food waste as a …

Cultivating Advocates: The Impact Of Early Student Advocacy On Future Professional Engagement And Community Involvement, Leah Simpkins, Geela Spira, Julie Duckart, Megan Speck Craig

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

It is important for students to understand what community advocacy is early on in their college experience and how it can impact future career achievements and advocacy for their profession. Early advocacy involvement for the profession is key to a lifelong progression championing advocacy. Development of advocacy occurs in segments

Odious Debt And The Legal Mechanisms Of Imperialism, Jaylen Spears

Emory International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Remarks Of Professor Jennifer Trahan, Jennifer Trahan

Emory International Law Review

No abstract provided.

International Human Rights Intervention: Collective Self-Defense Of Humanity, Anthony J. Colangelo

Emory International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields For Extracellular Vesicle Engineering: From Electro-Exocytosis To Cargo Modulation, Art Neal, Teresa Graham, Mohamadmahdi Samandari, Arash Ghorbannia, Anca Dobrian, Stephen J. Beebe, Ruben M. L. Colunga-Biancatelli

Bioelectrics Publications

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), including small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) and medium/large extracellular vesicles (MVs), have emerged as promising therapeutic vectors and diagnostic biomarkers across various branches of biomedicine. However, the clinical translation of EV-based technologies remains constrained by persistent challenges in manufacturing: insufficient yield from primary cell sources, limited control over cargo composition, and the absence of scalable, standardized production platforms. Nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEF) represent an emerging biophysical approach that can address several of these limitations. Unlike conventional electroporation, which targets the plasma membrane using microsecond-to-millisecond pulses, nsPEF delivers ultrashort (1–300 ns), high-amplitude (10–300 kV/cm) pulses that penetrate intracellularly …

Axillary Neuroendocrine Carcinoma: Unmasking A Puzzling Mass, Ahmed Qaedi, Chelsea Palmer

UAB Huntsville Research Day - All Presentations

2026 clinical vignette poster

How Does Consumer Animosity Affect Consumer Behavior? The Case Of Filipino College Students As Consumers Amid The West Philippine Sea Conflict, Reynaldo Bautista Jr., Luz Suplico Jeong, Myla Arcinas

DLSU Business & Economics Review

There are consumers who participate in political consumerism by avoiding, rejecting, or condemning products and services from countries perceived as aggressors through their military or economic action. This study examines how Filipino college students in Metro Manila, Philippines, who are frequently exposed to social media, will be affected as consumers amid the current tension in the West Philippine Sea. Using the theories of social identity, uses and gratifications, and echo chamber as frameworks, 770 college students from private and public universities in Metro Manila were surveyed. The results show that consumer animosity strongly predicts both purchase intention (β = 0.591, …

Design Considerations For Development Of A Youth Advisory Board, Michelle I. Graef, Penny Putnam Collins

Center on Children, Families, and the Law (and Related Organizations): Publications

This guide provides an overview of youth advisory board (YAB) design components. The guide is organized around key design components, with examples from States across the country to illustrate different approaches. A range of examples are provided that highlight diverse and instructive models of the various ways YABs have been structured. Each section describes approaches that states have used in practice, offering jurisdictions a menu of options to consider when developing or strengthening their own YABs. Descriptive information about state YABs was gathered through interviews conducted with state YAB administrators and contractors from 8 states, conducted from October–December 2024. Examples …

Bridging The Gap: Predictors Of Alignment Of Parent And Caseworker Perceptions Of Engagement, Jianchao Lai, Michelle I. Graef

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

This study examined predictors of alignment between parents’ and caseworkers’ perceptions of family engagement in child welfare services. Using data from 2,274 Alternative Response (AR)–eligible families randomized to AR or Traditional Response, engagement was assessed across the domains of Receptivity, Buy-in, Worker-family Relationship, and Mistrust using a modified Yatchmenoff (2005) scale. Multinomial logistic regression models identified factors associated with agreement and discrepancy between ratings of family engagement within the parent and worker dyad. While both parents and workers valued engagement, workers were more likely to provide higher overall engagement ratings, although the direction of discrepancy varied across specific subscales. Greater …

The Flooded House, Lucía Revenga Bulo

Grado en Diseño de Interiores

This project originates from a reflection on the emotional relationship that many people maintain with the sea and on how contemporary urban life, characterised by speed, density, and a disconnection from natural rhythms, tends to distance us from the feelings of calm, contemplation, and freedom that it evokes. From this premise, the intervention proposes to symbolically bring the maritime experience into the Casa del Marqués de Villora, reinterpreting the house as a space capable of restoring this emotional connection through architecture. The initial question that gave rise to the project was both simple and radical: what would happen if the …

Golden Symbiosis, Marta Susperregui Muñoz

Grado en Diseño de Interiores

The concept of Golden Symbiosis emerges from the desire to redefine the relationship between aesthetics, wellbeing, and nature. The term Golden refers to the therapeutic and symbolic value of bee-derived products such as honey, propolis, royal jelly, beeswax, and pollen. For centuries, these natural substances have been associated with healing, nourishment, and regeneration. Within the project, they form the basis of the clinic’s treatment philosophy while representing a return to more restorative and preventative approaches to skin health. The term Symbiosis refers to a mutually beneficial relationship between different living systems. Applied to this project, it becomes the guiding architectural …

The Third Space, Aitana Ariza Aguilera

Grado en Diseño de Interiores

Today’s children inhabit two worlds: Home, where there is often overprotection or a lack of time, and School, where there are rules and schedules to follow. This project was born to fill the gap between them. “The Third Space” is a childhood territory designed to give children back their autonomy, quality free time, and the right to learn without being taught. It is not a place to “be,” it is a place to “be.”

From Ship To Shore: The Impact Of Sailor Resistance On The Anti-Vietnam War Movement, Trent Chamberlain

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis explores the often-overlooked role of United States Navy personnel in the broader anti-Vietnam War movement. While civilian protests dominate historical narratives of the era, the impact of active-duty sailor resistance remains underexplored. To address this gap, this thesis examines shipboard and shore-based dissent to determine how Naval resistance influenced both military operations and domestic anti-war efforts. By conducting a historical analysis of primary source materials, including military records, underground press publications, and personal accounts, this research traces the evolution of sailor organizing and its intersections with civilian peace movements. The thesis shows that Naval dissent not only posed …

Complexity Theory And Environmental Conservation Management: A Case Study With Coyote And Red Wolf Hybridization, Gretchen E. Mahalic

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Conservation biology and invasion biology are value-led scientific disciplines founded on environmental advocacy, operating at the intersection of research and action. Though these disciplines are known for their scientific veracity, unexamined values are often promulgated without scrutiny and drive decisions that work against good ecological outcomes. A case in point is that coyotes migrating into southeastern territory are framed as the greatest threat to the conservation of the endangered red wolf because hybridization is seen as diminishing their species integrity. Applying Val Plumwood’s ecofeminist account of dualistic frameworks, I will use this case to show how the vilification of the …

Investigating The Role Of Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine For Cancer Symptom Management In Older Adults: A Rapid Review, Isabelle C. Karshner

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Background: Patients with cancer often experience symptoms related to disease, complications, and treatment. One potential method of alleviating these symptoms is traditional Chinese herbal medications (TCHM). This rapid review explores the role of traditional Chinese herbal medications in treating cancer-related symptoms in older adults.

Purpose: The purpose of this rapid review is to gain and provide a better understanding of the effects of TCHM on cancer-symptom management in the older adult population. This review explores the association between TCHM and effects on cancer symptoms in older adults, including interactions, toxicity, and signs/symptoms of TCHM use that may be useful information …

Navigating Mental Wellness: A Peer-Led Journey Into Adult Services, Kristin G. Haberek

DSW Capstone Projects

Students with severe emotional disturbances (SED) occupy one of the most underserved intersections in American education and mental health care. As they age out of children’s services, they face abrupt service discontinuation, disrupted therapeutic relationships, and adult systems ill-equipped to meet their needs. These vulnerabilities, including heightened risks of crisis, hospitalization, homelessness, and justice involvement, constitute a central practice problem. This capstone addresses these transitions across three scholarly products: a systematic literature review, a theoretical concept paper, and a practical application paper, tracing a unified arc from diagnosing structural failures to proposing an evidence-informed, equity-oriented clinical response. Synthesizing key findings …

Distributional Reinforcement Theory, Girardeau A. Spann

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

As Donald Trump’s assault on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) reveals, the concept of racial equality is sufficiently malleable that what used to be viewed as remedies for discrimination against racial minorities can now be recharacterized as reverse discrimination against the White majority. Such recharacterization is possible because the concept of equality itself lacks any stable meaning that exists independent of one’s normative preferences about race. In a democracy, normative disputes are properly resolved through the political process, unless there is some representation reinforcement defect that makes judicial intervention necessary to ensure compliance with our second order constitutional equality principle. …