Digital Commons Network^™

The Autonomy Default Paradigm In Contract Law, Hanoch Dagan, Michael Heller

UC Law Journal

You can scribble an agreement on a napkin or hire lawyers to negotiate a hundred-page contract. Either way, most of your contractual obligations will not be in your document. They will be in the background rules contract law applies absent your express agreement. Justifying these defaults is a core task of contract theory; getting them right is a core task of contract law.

This Article introduces the autonomy default paradigm, a conceptually coherent and normatively attractive account of contract law defaults. We show that defaults are justified to the extent they enhance our autonomy, understood as self-determination. They vindicate our …

The Forever Fight Against Forever Chemicals: Analyzing Loopholes In California’S Pfas Ban For Consumer Products, Jake B. Goldman

UC Law Journal

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of synthetic chemicals used for their unique qualities in manufacturing across numerous industries. PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” persist in the environment for long periods of time and cause serious health risks to consumers. Given mounting research on PFAS and their adverse health effects, the California legislature passed four laws banning the chemicals in specific consumer products.

This Note argues that three new California laws requiring manufacturers to replace PFAS with “the least toxic alternative” are inadequate because they are ambiguous. This ambiguity will invite litigation and create business challenges by …

A Collection Of Greenleaf's Works, Robert K. Greenleaf, Jiying Song

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

A collection of works written by Robert K. Greenleaf and compiled and edited by Dr. Jiying Song.

A Reconceptualization Of Servant-Leadership And Measurement, Lori Doyle, Larry H. Ludlow

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Servant-Leadership (SL) has been gaining traction as an evidence-based leadership theory and there are a range of existing measurement tools focused on self-report attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and behaviors. Concordia University Irvine has embedded a SL framework throughout all programs of study offered by the School of Education in order to encourage current and future education professionals in their understanding of servant-leadership as an effective way to lead. It was determined that a published instrument did not exist for measuring knowledge growth as a pre- and post-test focused on increased understanding. Work to define SL in terms of four specific virtues …

Investigating The Feasibility Of Practicing Servant-Leadership In Hong Kong School Environment: An Exploratory Study, Keyi Zhang, Wing Shan Chan, Benedict S. K. Shum, Daniel H. K. Chow

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Servant-leadership is an emerging area of study in leadership research that emphasises a people-oriented leader-follower relationship and a humanistic approach to leadership behaviour. Due to the limited research on servant-leadership, this study adopts an exploratory approach to examine the applicability of Cheung’s servant-leadership model in Hong Kong schools. Our research investigates both the practical implementation of this model and the challenges encountered in translating theory into practice. We conducted semi-structured interviews with twelve experienced school leaders who had participated in a long-running servant-leadership training programme. The interview transcripts were analysed to assess the twelve servant-leadership qualities outlined in the model. …

Implementing A Nurse Navigator Role In An Outpatient Procedural Setting To Improve Patient Satisfaction Scores: A Quality Improvement Project, Lashanti King

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Much focus has been placed on patient experience since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010 due to its regulatory, financial, and business growth implications. Patient satisfaction is crucial to maintaining and growing a customer base and fulfilling the target growth established in institutional strategic plans. This project aimed to determine whether implementing a nurse navigator role to perform rounds in the preoperative and waiting areas for two months would increase patient-reported satisfaction scores regarding being informed about delays and the likelihood of recommending the facility. Due to its subjective nature, it is challenging to consistently maintain …

Work-Related Pathology At Tell El-Amarna: The Physical Cost Of Building A New Capital City In The New Kingdom, Egypt, Heidi Suzanne Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines patterns of work-related indicators of physical stress in a skeletal sample from the non-elite adult population of the South Tombs Cemetery (STC) of Amarna, Egypt. Assessing work-related pathology using an integrative model of physical stress, this study considers the interactions of demographic parameters of age, sex, and injury recurrence, along with archaeological and documentary data to provide a biocultural contextual approach to physical stress in this population. The STC sample is compared to other samples from Egyptian and Nubian sites as well as historical samples believed to be under high physical demands and stressful conditions. The STC …

Environmental Beliefs Among Evangelical Leadership, Jeffrey Stark

Dissertations

There has been consensus among climate scientists for over a decade about the reality of human caused climate change. Even with this consensus, the public understanding of this issue remains divided based on factors generally unrelated to the science. Evangelical Protestants are one group which consistently polls as more skeptical of climate change. This is true not only when compared to the general population but also when compared to other religious demographics. Most large-scale surveys of evangelicals assume the demographic to be a monolith and do not attempt to break the demographic down further. In this mixed methods study, we …

Faculty Senate Xxx 2025-2026 - December 1, 2025 Agenda, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Agendas & Minutes

No abstract provided.

Fall 2025 Faculty Senate Newsletter, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Beyond Comprehension: Why Tax Code Complexity Necessitates Irs Deference, Doron Narotzki, Tamir Shanan, Julianne Jones, Ori Barel, Yifat G. Ben-Yaakov, Tomer Surujon, Revital Yusupov, Or Haim Anidjar

UC Law Business Journal

This Article argues that deference to Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) interpretations is essential for the effective interpretation of U.S. federal income tax law due to the technical demands inherent in this uniquely complex area. The U.S. federal income tax code, often considered one of the most intricate legal systems, consists of dense, specialized language, nuanced policy considerations, economic theories, and frequently updated provisions. Judges, as generalists, face a daunting challenge in interpreting this complex, ever-evolving body of law without the specialized expertise that the IRS professionals bring. Frequent amendments further add to this complexity, layering additional provisions that require in-depth …

An Analysis Of Face Synthesis Methods And Their Influence On Human Perception, Maha Habib Almaimani

All Dissertations

Synthetic faces (e.g., computer-generated characters) have been increasingly utilized across various fields, including entertainment, healthcare, and education. Perceptual studies are often conducted to understand how synthetic faces are perceived by humans, aiming to enhance both quality and user experience in these domains. Over the years, numerous methods have been developed to create synthetic faces, ranging from traditional techniques such as image composites, Active Appearance Models, and 3D Morphable Models to more recent machine-learning-based frameworks like Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and Variational Autoencoders (VAEs).

Despite the growing adoption of synthetic face generation and the variety of algorithms available for their creation, …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Lack Of Contractual Protections In Female Dominated Opportunities: Collegiate Competitive Dancers And Cheerleaders Compared To Ncaa Student-Athletes And National Pageant Organization Titleholders Compared To Employees/Independent Contractors, Abigail Church

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

The lack of contractual protections and regulations throughout female-dominated opportunities is abundantly clear in the collegiate competitive dance & cheer and the national pageant organization titleholders. Collegiate competitive dancers and cheerleaders have no standardized contractual requirements regarding their commitment to an academic institution or their engagement in NIL opportunities. Their NCAA recognized student-athlete counterparts, on the other hand, have extensive regulations and protections in place for both categories of contracts. In the pageant industry, pageant titleholders have no protection against the all-too-common procedural and substantive unconscionability of their service agreements, which can be found in confidentiality and arbitration clauses. In …

Reviving Civil Discourse: A Leadership Imperative In The Age Of Polarization, Katie Herritage

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

This paper examines the current erosion of civil discourse as a pressing leadership challenge in an era defined by polarization and distrust. Civil discourse, the respectful and constructive exchange of ideas, underpins democratic societies yet is increasingly undermined by hostile rhetoric and deepening societal divides. Drawing on servant-leadership and relational leadership theory, this study explores how leaders can counteract this decline by fostering trust, empathy, and open dialogue. The discussion is grounded in the philosophical contributions of bell hooks, Friedrich Nietzsche, Viktor Frankl, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr., whose ideas illuminate pathways for revitalizing civil discourse through compassion, …

On Robert K. Greenleaf's Archival Writings And Selected Published Works, Larry C. Spears

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

IJSL Associate Editor Jenny Song’s essay that follows, along with Robert K. Greenleaf’s four rare writings that are included here, provides an opportunity for me to share some thoughts on the Robert K. Greenleaf Archives, and on two of the five books of Greenleaf’s writings that I helped to curate and bring to the public some thirty years ago.

Wofford Today Winter 2025, Wofford College. Office Of Marketing And Communications

Wofford Today

No abstract provided.

Volume 109, Number 2 (2025)

Judicature

No abstract provided.

Hb 150 - Postsecondary Education, Justin W. Morris, Danielle T. Murphy

Georgia State University Law Review

The Act requires Georgia universities to release biannual reports, no later than January 31 and July 31, detailing all funding received from foreign countries, entities, or individuals of concern, as designated by the United States Secretary of Commerce. The Act also provides definitions of these terms and establishes reporting requirements. Funding must be reported if it exceeds $1,000, except for tuition payments by an individual or family.

The Role Of First Amendment In Equal Protection And Affirmative Action Analysis: The Compelling Governmental Interest, Simona Grossi

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

The Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College has transformed the legal framework governing university admissions, sharply limiting race-conscious policies and compelling institutions to align their diversity objectives with the newly shaped heightened scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause. Concurrently, the Trump administration’s broad-based attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs—culminating in executive orders restricting race-conscious initiatives— has further intensified the legal and political pressure on colleges and universities striving to foster inclusive academic environments. This article contends that the First Amendment—particularly its protections of academic freedom and free speech—plays a critical and underutilized role …

From Static Prediction To Mindful Machines: A Paradigm Shift In Distributed Ai Systems, Rao Mikkilineni, W. Patrick Kelly

Barowsky School of Business | Faculty Scholarship

A special class of complex adaptive systems—biological and social—thrive not by passively accumulating patterns, but by engineering coherence, i.e., the deliberate alignment of prior knowledge, real-time updates, and teleonomic purposes. By contrast, today’s AI stacks—Large Language Models (LLMs) wrapped in agentic toolchains—remain rooted in a Turing-paradigm architecture: statistical world models (opaque weights) bolted onto brittle, imperative workflows. They excel at pattern completion, but they externalize governance, memory, and purpose, thereby accumulating coherence debt—a structural fragility manifested as hallucinations, shallow and siloed memory, ad hoc guardrails, and costly human oversight. The shortcoming of current AI relative to human-like intelligence is therefore …

The Price Of Priorities: How Human Choices Fuel Climate And Ecological Decline, Keisha Hickman

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines the ways in which human priorities and behaviors contribute to the escalating climate crisis and ecological systems. We will first analyze the role of social media in shaping public discourse on climate change and critically evaluate the priorities of institutions that have the means to assist in wildlife conservation. Both speak to the current behaviors of humankind prioritizing their own entertainment over meaningful efforts to mitigate climate change and preserve biodiversity. We will then shift to exploring the profound impact of human population growth and its associated activities on other species and ecosystems. Finally, the thesis will …

A Mixed-Methods Design-Based Research: Study Of Teacher Self-Efficacy And The Implementation Of Social Emotional Learning In The High School Classroom, Avia Brown

Dissertations

The escalating mental health crisis among adolescents, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, positioned schools as critical intervention sites for supporting student well-being (K. McNamara, 2020). However, teacher capacity and self-efficacy in implementing social-emotional learning (SEL) competencies remain significant barriers to effective, sustainable practice. This mixed-methods design-based research study examined the efficacy of professional development and instructional coaching in enhancing teacher self-efficacy and supporting the implementation of SEL competencies in high school classrooms.

The researcher employed a comprehensive, five-stage design thinking framework (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test) to develop and evaluate a structured eight-week professional development and coaching intervention targeting SEL …

Privacy Rights: Their Evolution, Expansion, And Narrowing, Rebecca Nichole Ivans

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Privacy rights in the United States have evolved significantly through judicial interpretation, with reproductive rights playing a central role in their expansion and contraction. This paper examines how the Supreme Court's treatment of reproductive rights has shaped the broader understanding of constitutional privacy rights, focusing on landmark cases from Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) to Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022).

The analysis begins by exploring how the Court first established privacy rights through "penumbras" found within various constitutional amendments, particularly in Griswold's protection of contraceptive access for married couples. The paper traces the expansion of these rights through subsequent …

Bundled For The Beyond: Material Analysis Of A Canine Mummy Bundle For Contextualizing And Conserving Legacy Objects, Sascha Anna-Rose Baldauf

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Legacy collections¹ and objects with little context are often untapped opportunities for both museums and museum studies students. The purpose of this study is to display how students can utilize object research to engage in experiential learning and develop their skillset in scientific methodologies and disseminating findings, while also offering museums the opportunity to develop relationships with research facilities and benefit from student research findings. This study demonstrates the utility of student research by investigating an Egyptian canid mummy bundle, dating to the Late Period² or early Ptolemaic Period³, received by the Museum of Anthropology at …

Bundled For The Beyond: Material Analysis Of A Canine Mummy Bundle For Contextualizing And Conserving Legacy Objects, Sascha Anna-Rose Baldauf

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Legacy collections¹ and objects with little context are often untapped opportunities for both museums and museum studies students. The purpose of this study is to display how students can utilize object research to engage in experiential learning and develop their skillset in scientific methodologies and disseminating findings, while also offering museums the opportunity to develop relationships with research facilities and benefit from student research findings. This study demonstrates the utility of student research by investigating an Egyptian canid mummy bundle, dating to the Late Period² or early Ptolemaic Period³, received by the Museum of Anthropology at …

A Persistent Homology Framework For Scrna-Seq: Assessing Clustering Robustness And Quantifying Preprocessing And Integration Effects On Topological Features., Jonah Daneshmand

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data expands, robust methods for integrating diverse datasets are critical. This dissertation applies Persistent Homology (PH), a technique from Topological Data Analysis (TDA), to a collection of scRNA-seq datasets spanning eight tissue types to quantify how data integration affects topological features and biological interpretability. We assessed global topological structure using Betti curves, Euler characteristics, and persistence landscapes across raw, normalized, and integrated data representations. Our analysis revealed a performance inversion: while conventional methods excelled on unintegrated data, high-granularity topological methods, particularly those sensitive to global data structure, became superior after integration. This suggests a synergy …

A Ralgef Inhibitor Suppresses Lung Cancer Stem Cell Development And Tumorigenesis., Raphael Ngozichi Suarez Jigo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The RALGEF family of proteins are direct downstream effectors of the RAS oncoprotein. RALGEFs act as guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) for downstream RAL proteins, thus tying RAS to the regulation of RAL. Genetic studies have demonstrated RAL proteins to be key drivers of RAS-driven transformation and metastasis. Furthermore, this pathway has been implicated in chemoresistance, exocyst-mediated transport, and the modulation of cancer stem cells. Previous work in our lab reported the activity of a novel pan-RALGEF inhibitor (C4-180) against RAS-driven pancreatic cancer models. Here we show the agent to be active against in vitro and in vivo models of …

The Autonomic And Arrhythmogenic Effects Of Gestational E-Cigarette Exposure., Brittany Rachelle Reynolds

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction. E-cigarettes (e-cigs) have been shown to be pro-arrhythmic in both human and male rodent studies; however, little is known about how e-cig use impacts patients with a predisposed heightened risk for arrhythmias, including pregnant women. Both pregnancy and e-cig use have independently been shown to increase heart rate, diminish heart rate variability, and increase ventricular premature beats, which is suspected to be due to sympathetic dominance. Importantly, β-blockers have been shown to reduce sympathetic activity, reduce heart rate, increase HRV, and reduce arrhythmias. Thus, the use of β-blockers may help prevent adverse health effects driven by sympathetic dominance from …

Feasibility And Potential Of Electric Air Taxis For Long Distance Airport Access/Egress Trips, Atul Subedi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Getting to the airport is often one of the most stressful parts of a trip, especially for people who live far from the airport. In the United States, many travelers live more than an hour’s drive from a major airport, and their choices such as driving, using public transit, or paying for ride-hailing can be time-consuming, expensive, and inconvenient. A new technology, Electric Air Taxis (EATs), is being developed as a potential solution. These small, battery-powered aircraft could offer faster, cleaner, and more direct connections to airports. However, the success of EATs depends not only on the technology itself but …

Acceptance And Commitment Therapy As A Transdiagnostic Approach To Improve Quality Of Life Among Adults Living With A Physical Chronic Health Condition, Marissa L. Donahue

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The research contained in this dissertation presents rationale and empirical support for the application of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) as a transdiagnostic approach in improving quality of life for adults living with chronic health conditions (CHCs). The first study consists of a systematic review that aims to examine (1) the current state of evidence of ACT for adults living with a CHC, (2) how outcomes are being characterized within this population, (3) the methodological quality of the included trials, as well as (4) summarizing the health conditions in which ACT has been evaluated for. The second study examines the …