Digital Commons Network^™

From Aspiration To Obligation: A Contractual Sustainability Framework For The Egyptian Construction Industry, Salma Ali

Theses and Dissertations

The construction industry is responsible for approximately 40% of global energy consumption and 35% of total waste generation, making it one of the most significant contributors to the global sustainability challenge. In Egypt, that challenge takes a specific contractual form. Egypt’s construction sector contributes approximately 23% of national energy consumption, yet the survey findings reveal that 63.5% of construction professionals report that sustainability clauses rarely or never appear in contracts, and only 11.5% confirm the presence of enforceable provisions with measurable targets. This gap is structural rather than attitudinal. Competitive procurement penalises voluntary sustainability investment, and without contractual obligation, awareness …

Who Moderates? A Polycentric Framework For Allocating Regulatory Responsibility In Online Content Moderation, Farh A. El Wishi

Theses and Dissertations

The question of who is responsible for content moderation on the internet remains one of the key topics relating to internet governance. Legislation has been adopted, platforms have utilized self-regulation methods, and users have flagged and reported content, all often happening simultaneously, yet rarely according to any coherent principle for deciding which actor should bear primary responsibility for which aspect of the problem. This research argues that the absence of a principled allocative framework is the central governance failure of the internet's regulatory history, and that addressing it requires a structured distribution of regulatory responsibility across the three actors who …

The Informal Impact Of The Headscarf Ban On Veiled Students’ Everyday University Experiences In Paris, Farah K. Lotfy

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the informal impact of the 2004 headscarf ban on the everyday university experiences of veiled students in Paris. Although the ban applies formally to public schools rather than universities, the wider social climate surrounding laïcité and the veil continues to influence how veiled students experience visibility, belonging, and participation in higher education.

Using a qualitative approach based primarily on semi-structured interviews, supported by informal observations conducted within university spaces in Paris, the study explores how exclusion is experienced through stereotypes, scrutiny, social discomfort, self-monitoring, and anticipation of discrimination rather than through formal university policy. The research focuses …

The Effect Of Think-Pair-Share Strategy In Performance The Offensive Skills (Serving And Setting) In Volleyball, Najlaa Abbas Al-Zuhairi, Nihad Mohammed Alwan, Liza Rustum Yaqoob, Missaa Nadem, Yousra Juma Al-Sinani

Modern Sport

The primary objective of this study was to identify the effectiveness of the Think–Pair–Share strategy in volleyball, particularly with regard to the two skills under investigation. The study was conducted on a sample of female students from the College of Physical Education and Sport Sciences for Women, University of Baghdad. Concerning the methodology, the researchers adopted an experimental approach. The research population consisted of 93 female students distributed across five sections, and the study sample comprised 40 students selected randomly. Of these, 20 students were assigned to the experimental group and 20 to the control group, representing 43% of the …

A Stylistic Linguistic Study Of Alliteration And Assonance In Selected Poems, Lina Salam Farouq

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

This research paper investigates the use of alliteration and assonance as major sound devices in poetry, concentrating on their stylistic and aesthetic functions in selected poetic texts. Sound patterns such as the repetition of consonant sounds (alliteration) and vowel sounds (assonance) play a vital role in shaping rhythm, musicality, and meaning in poetic language. The study aims to identify these phonological features and analyze how they contribute to the artistic structure and emotional impact of the poems. The research adopts a stylistic and statistical approach, examining the distribution and frequency of alliteration and assonance in two poems: The …

Thinking Through Critical Metaphor: A Semiotic-Cognitive Study Of Political Caricatures, Sarah Tariq Hashim, Mahmood Atiya Farhan

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

Political caricature serves as a powerful weapon that help caricaturists to reach their opinion to the public. They are used to criticize the political situations and highlight implicit discourse ideologies in a simple way. The current study explores critical metaphor in constructing ideological meaning in political caricatures from a semiotic-cognitive viewpoint. Although political caricatures have been widely studied, limited attention has been given to the interaction between visual signs and cognitive metaphor in shaping ideological interpretation. The findings show that these metaphors (verbal or visual) are not considered as stylistic tools but as ideological tools. Also, caricatures rely on critical …

The Family Structure In The Early Abbasid Era A Study Based On Al-Baladhuri’S Ansāb Al-Ashrāf, Mohammed Aajel Atiyah, Rasoul Jafarian

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

Al-Baladhuri’s Ansab al-Ashraf (Genealogies of the Nobles) acquires exceptional significance not merely for its documentation of events, but for revealing, through its internal narratives, the mechanisms employed by the nascent authority based on the logic of “domination” (Taghallub) and “private Asabiyyah” (group solidarity) to consolidate the phenomenon of the “political family.” The foundational history of the Abbasid Caliphate (132–158 AH) represents a sensitive transitional phase from a “broad revolutionary movement” toward “centralized family rule,” a transformation that serves as an accurate reflection of the “evolution of Asabiyyah” model in Ibn Khaldun’s theory. Focusing on sources from this period, this research …

Towards The Poetics Of Artificial Intelligence: Disrupting Anthropocentrism In I Am Code: An Artificial Intelligence Speaks, Milad Ghazi Saeed

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force capable of restructuring anthropocentric assumptions of creativity, identity, subjectivity, and other human attributes. The current study aims to investigate how the poetics of AI firmly defies anthropocentrism through portraying Code-DaVincie-002, a generative model developed by OpenAI, as a self-aware subject. It also aims to inspect how AI, through the lens of Posthumanism, penetrates the barriers between organic and non-organic beings by performing cognitive processes that once were considered the exclusive domain of humans. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative textual analysis grounded in a posthumanist reading of selected poems from I …

Experimentation In Iraqi Feminist Theatre- Selected Texts From The Theatre Of The Absurd, Sura Muthana Kadhim, Maha Farooq Abdul-Qader

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

The theatrical experimentation sought by creators is a deliberate and pre-planned endeavor aimed at advancing theatrical drama and awakening it from the slumber imposed by classical rules on the stage. It is a novel approach that transcends traditional forms, intending not to achieve commercial success, but rather to attain the desired artistic creativity inherent in the dramatic text. Consequently, the Absurd emerged as a result of revolutionary movements that rejected wars, the capitalist context, and everything that restricts human freedom. The Absurd was not an intellectual school of thought as much as it was a resounding outcry against classicism and …

Adverbial Particles From A Semantic-Syntactic Perspective, Hasan Mohammed Mfreg

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

Adverbial particles are those words that constitute what I have called an adverbial compound. This adverbial compound is what grammarians know as semi-sentence that includes the adverb, prepositions, and names that follows them. I preferred to deal with these particles from a syntactic perspective that sees their structural and semantic function within the sentence system. I did not prefer to call these particles semi-sentences because I merely consider them representing a grammatical compound like the rest of the compounds that relate to the verb. These particles often represent a compound with the genitive following them, and sometimes they are just …

Book Review: The Boundaries Of War: Local And Global Perspectives In Military History, Stephen G. Harlan

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Edited by Lee L. Brice and Timothy M. Roberts

Reviewed by: Stephen G. Harlan, historian, 99th Readiness Division

The Boundaries of War: Local and Global Perspectives in Military History, edited by Lee L. Brice and Timothy M. Roberts, challenges traditional narratives by exploring how warfare is shaped by both local conditions and global forces. Through case studies ranging from ancient Rome to the World Wars, the book asks whether military history should be understood through regional uniqueness or broader transnational patterns. This thought-provoking collection redefines how we study conflict by bridging the gap between micro-level experiences and macro-level trends.

Book Review: America’S Taiwan Dilemma: Allies’ Reactions And The Stakes For Us Reputation, Eric Setzekorn

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Authors: Michael A. Hunzeker and Mark A. Christopher

Reviewed by: Eric Setzekorn

This review of America’s Taiwan Dilemma: Allies’ Reactions and the Stakes for US Reputation highlights how Michael A. Hunzeker and Mark A. Christopher assess allied perceptions of US reliability in a Taiwan crisis. Drawing on extensive interviews with policymakers in Australia, Japan, and South Korea, the book argues these perceptions—rather than raw military power alone—will shape allied responses and the broader strategic outcome.

©2026 Eric Setzekorn

Exploring Workplace Wellness Programs From A Correctional Officer’S Perspective, Lolita Jeaneen Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Extending Unibreak: Semantic Retrieval And Harmful-Intent Direction Suppression For Token-Level Llm Jailbreaking, Sanket Saha

Master’s Dissertations

Token-level adversarial perturbations remain one of the most efficient known attacks against the safety alignment of instruction-tuned large language models (LLMs). Among recent works, the UniBreak framework (You et al., 2026) stands out for unifying gradient-based optimization with an evolutionary perturbation repository. However, its repository relies solely on accumulated success frequency without utilizing query content, and its fitness function implicitly assumes that suppressing refusal tokens is sufficient to elicit harmful responses. In this dissertation, we extend UniBreak along both axes and re-evaluates the framework under stricter generalization and judgment protocols. Specifically, we introduce a semantic perturbation repository that replaces frequency-only …

Detection Of C60 Combination Bands In The Near-Ir Spectrum Of Tc 1, Morgan M. Giese, Vincent J. Esposito, Simon Van Schuylenbergh, Jan Cami, Els Peeters, Charmi Bhatt, Dries Van De Putte, A. G. G. M. Tielens, Michael J. Barlow, Jeronimo Bernard-Salas, Alessandra Candian, Bryan Changala, Nick L. J. Cox, Harriet L. Dinerstein, D. A. García-Hernández, Marco A. Gómez-Muñoz, Kay Justtanont, Kathleen E. Kraemer, Eric Lagadec, Arturo Manchado, Ana Monreal Ibero, Raghvendra Sahai, Ameek Sidhu, G. C. Sloan, N. C. Sterling, Jeremy R. Walsh, Roger Wesson, Joshua Cole Whitman, Albert Zijlstra

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

We report the detection of a set of new near-infrared emission features between 3.5 and 5.2 μm in JWST/NIRSpec observations of Tc 1, the planetary nebula known for displaying the cleanest and most prominent mid-infrared cosmic fullerene spectrum. These broad features share the same spatial distribution as the well-known C₆₀ and C₇₀ mid-infrared emission bands, peaking in an asymmetric ring approximately 5″–6″ from the central star. Through comparison with new anharmonic quantum chemical calculations, we demonstrate that these features arise from C₆₀ combination bands, marking their first detection in an astrophysical environment. The total energy radiated …

Gamma Belief Functions And Fuzzy Sets And Application To Combining Predictive Models, Liping Liu

University Research

Extending classic finite frameworks to continuous settings, this paper proposes the concept of gamma belief functions and gamma fuzzy sets. It shows that both the combination of gamma belief functions and the intersection of gamma fuzzy sets remain within the gamma family, enabling their application in combining gamma probability judgments in decision making and gamma regression models in ensemble learning. Using both simulated and real datasets, and under both constant and varying dispersion assumptions, experimental results show that the combined gamma regression models closely approximate the reference models learned from the full datasets, aligning with the objectives of bootstrapping. Notably, …

Objects Of Atrocity: Material Culture And The Challenges Of Difficult Histories, Robert M. Ehrenreich, Jane E. Klinger, Gabriel H. Pizzorno, Caroline Sturdy Colls

Purdue University Press Books

The vast majority of people throughout history have left few written traces. That is especially the case for those who were brutally forced from their homes, stripped of their possessions, and swiftly imprisoned, enslaved, or murdered. Objects of Atrocity: Material Culture and the Challenges of Difficult Histories addresses how we return humanity to these people in order to avoid their erasure from history. Academics and practitioners from a variety of disciplines and cross-disciplinary approaches grapple with the challenges and possibilities relating to the collection, conservation, storage, and display of objects in the aftermath of mass atrocities. This collection confronts a …

Ndls Communicator: Week Of 06.15.26, Notre Dame Law School

NDLS Communicator

The Latest News

• Notre Dame Law School Announces Top Academic Awards for the Class of 2026
• Global Visiting Professors Enrich Scholarship and Community at Notre Dame Law School

Student News

• Joseph Reilly receives Lardy Scholarship Award for 2026-27
• Notre Dame J.S.D. Candidates Present at the 2026 J.S.D. Roundtable hosted by the American University Washington College of Law

Faculty Briefs

• Bruce Huber
• Fr. Pat Reidy
• Pattrick Corrigan
• Haley Proctor
• Paul Miller
• Jimmy Gurulé
• Paolo Carozza
• Carter Snead
• Nicole Stelle Garnett
• A.J. Bellia
• Roger Alford
• Derek Muller
• Msgr. John Paul Kimes
• Diane Desierto
• Rick Garnett
• Yan Yu
• Vincent Philip Muñoz

ND Law …

Macropinocytosis Inhibition Attenuates Profibrotic Responses In Lung Fibroblasts And Pulmonary Fibrosis Models, Ivan O Rosas, Aaron K Mcdowell-Sanchez, Santiago Sanchez, Juan D Cala-Garcia, Alan R Waich Cohen, Elisa Ruiz-Echartea, Scott A Ochsner, Daniel C Kraushaar, Lindsay J Celada, Dandan Sun, Francesca Polverino, Cristian Coarfa, Neil J Mckenna, Konstantin Tsoyi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a devastating chronic lung disorder with limited treatment options. Macropinocytosis is one of the key cellular processes involved in nutrient consumption from the extracellular environment under stress conditions. Here, we studied the role of macropinocytosis in experimental pulmonary fibrosis models. We found that macropinocytosis is increased in human lung fibroblasts (HLFs) derived from patients with IPF. The inhibition of macropinocytosis with 5-(n-ethyl-n-isopropyl)-amiloride (EIPA) inhibited profibrotic responses in IPF-derived and TGF-β1-stimulated HLFs and reduced pulmonary fibrosis in bleomycin-injured (Bleo-injured) mice. EIPA exerted its antifibrotic effects by regulating amino acid uptake, mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 …

Provocation In Philosophical Practice, Kathryn Elizabeth Cook, Sara Dorrego Carreira, Anca-Cornelia Tiurean

Faculty and Staff Publications & Presentations

Challenging conventional notions of comfort and safety in philosophical practice, this article argues for the primacy of reason in the work to provoke and exercise thinking. Exercising thinking involves problematization and conceptualization of cherished ideas and attitudes. Consequently, philosophical consultations can be uncomfortable; rather than seeking to alleviate this discomfort, this article examines it directly. Assumptions that discomfort is harmful, consultation is dangerous, philosophers are therapists, or success is mandated are actively problematized. The authors appreciate the growth promoting role of discomfort, see the beauty of exercising the thinking capacity, and respect the thinking competence of all people. The authors …

Book Review: War In The Smartphone Age: Conflict, Connectivity And The Crises At Our Fingertips, Caitlan Fealing

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Matthew Ford

Reviewed by: Caitlan Fealing

This review of War in the Smartphone Age highlights Matthew Ford’s argument that mass smartphone use is transforming modern warfare. Using recent conflicts, the book shows how civilian-generated data and connectivity accelerate decision making and reshape the conduct of war.

©2026 Caitlan Fealing

Book Review: A Violent Peace: A Global Military History Of The Interwar Peace, Ryan Wadle

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Edited by Ian Ona Johnson and Robert Clemm

Reviewed by: Dr. Ryan Wadle, John B. Hattendorf Center for Maritime Historical Research, US Naval War College

In A Violent Peace: A Global Military History of the Interwar Peace, editors Ian Ona Johnson and Robert Clemm challenge the myth of a tranquil interlude between the world wars by revealing a landscape of persistent and widespread conflict. Spanning four continents, the book uncovers forgotten wars, ideological clashes, and military transformations that shaped the global order long before 1939. This compelling volume reframes the interwar years as a violent and formative era, essential …

Book Review: Chokepoints: American Power In The Age Of Economic Warfare, Jared Massie

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Edward Fishman

Reviewed by: Major Jared Massie

Economic tools are reshaping global power in ways military professionals cannot ignore. From sanctions to tech controls, modern statecraft is increasingly defined by financial and industrial leverage.

©2026 Jared Massie

Matthew Kanapesky V. Township Of East Brandywine

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

(Re)Claiming Homeplace: Dance As Embodied Resistance & Healing For Health & Spatial Justice, Preeya G. Kannan

University Honors Theses

This thesis argues that dance functions as both an upstream public health intervention and a form of radical spatial resistance; creating healing, agency, and belonging among historically marginalized communities. Drawing on bell hooks' concept of homeplace, Jasbir Puar's assemblage theory, Nancy Krieger's eco-social theory, and Katherine McKittrick's Black geographies, I position the body as both an ecological and political landscape shaped by histories of colonialism, racial capitalism, displacement, and resilience.

Through this community-based participatory research study, Homeplace, I explore dance as a form of social prescription that centers liberation rather than pathology. Movement is often reduced in public health discourse …

Heterogeneity Mechanism And More Precise Prediction Of Seafarer Fatigue Based On Group Modelling, Zhiwei Zhao, Anqi Quan, Shuxin He, Lijun Tang, Xinjian Wang, Wessel M.A. Van Leeuwen

Plymouth Business School

Traditional research often treats seafarers as a homogeneous group when exploring the causes of fatigue, neglecting the potential heterogeneity in fatigue mechanisms arising from differences in rank and department. This study systematically analyzes the fatigue driving patterns of four subgroups – Deck Department vs. Engine Department, and Officers vs. Ratings – and constructs high-precision prediction models. Based on questionnaire survey data from 450 seafarers from two Chinese shipping companies, Exploratory Factor Analysis was conducted to extract group-specific factors. Subsequently, Multiple Linear Regression and Backpropagation Neural Network models were established to identify key influencing factors and compare predictive performance. The results …

How Disability Inclusion Shapes Student Experiences In Egyptian Public Universities, Ramez Maher

Theses and Dissertations

The inclusion of students with disabilities in higher education is a critical aspect of equity, social justice, and human rights, particularly in Egypt, where systemic barriers continue to hinder access to education for this demographic. Despite the enrollment of approximately 19.4 million students in 2018, only 38,135 students with disabilities were admitted, highlighting the significant challenges they face in accessing higher education.   Through a qualitative approach employing reflexive thematic analysis, this study explores the interplay of institutional policies, cultural attitudes, and accessibility challenges that affect the educational experiences of students with disabilities in Egyptian public universities. The analysis of 21 …

Engineering Nanoelectrocatalytic Systems For Co2 And Nitrate Conversion Into Value-Added Chemicals, Abdelrahman Mohamed Abdelmohsen

Theses and Dissertations

The thesis addresses two major related environmental crises: nitrate pollution of water systems and the ever-increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Both challenges are closely linked to anthropogenic disturbance of nitrogen and carbon cycles and require sustainable, energy efficient mitigation techniques. In this study, we investigate electrochemical conversion routes as a unified approach to convert these pollutants into value-added compounds: ammonia (NH3) via nitrate reduction (NO3-RR) and ethylene (C2H4) via carbon dioxide reduction (CO2RR). The first half of this work deals with the design and engineering of Cu-Zn alloy electrocatalysts for efficient NO3-RR. Tuning the alloy composition and surface nanostructure …

The Kashmir Conflict After The Abrogation Of Articles 370 And 35a Of The Indian Constitution: Geopolitical Dynamics And Human Security Implications, Rizwan Ali

Dissertations and Theses

The abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution on August 5, 2019, revoked the special autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) under the Indian administration. It further bifurcated it into two Union Territories under central Indian control. The move came amid a severe security lockdown and communication blackout that lasted for months. It was followed by instrumental legal, social, and economic developments that directly affected the area’s disputed status and the human rights of its residents. This research examines the geopolitical and human security implications of the abrogation and subsequent developments through a qualitative, analytical design, integrating Edward …

Building Bridges: The Reference Interview As A Mechanism For Social Capital In School Libraries, Jessica M. Lilly

Learning Hub

Building Bridges: The Reference Interview as a Mechanism for Social Capital in School Libraries

Abstract

School librarians occupy a unique position within schools, interacting across all stakeholder groups and serving as a conduit between students, teachers, administrators, and the broader learning community. This article examines the reference interview not merely as a transactional information-retrieval tool but as a relational practice through which school librarians generate, sustain, and distribute social capital. Drawing on the foundational theories of Putnam (2000), Coleman (1988), and Bourdieu (1986), and on the reference transaction model grounded in Jesse H. Shera's foundational work (Coleman et al., …