Digital Commons Network^™

Literature Carries Philosophy’S Open Secret: On Derrida’S Reading Of Romeo And Juliet, Rajesh Sampath

Critical Humanities

This paper attempts a close reading of Derrida’s texts, particularly with a focus on his brief but significant reading of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet in “Aphorism Countertime” (originally published in French in 1986). We compare this short work with his more sustained engagement with the philosophy of death in Aporias (1993), which itself is an attempted critique of Heidegger’s Being and Time (1927); the latter is, arguably, the most influential work of twentieth-century continental European philosophy, particularly on issues of time, death, and authentic life. The paper tries to show that a fruitful engagement between philosophy and …

Evaluating The Impact Of Early Contractor Involvement On Enhancing The Performance Of Construction Projects In Egypt, Samah Saleh Abdelraof, Ayman Ahmed Ezzat Othman, Lamees Mostafa Ahmed

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The construction industry constitutes a critical pillar of Egypt’s national economic growth and sustainable development. Despite its strategic importance, the sector continues to face persistent challenges, including chronic cost overruns, schedule delays, and inadequate coordination among stakeholders. These inefficiencies are largely attributed to the dominance of the traditional Design–Bid–Build (DBB) system, which enforces a rigid separation between design and construction, fostering adversarial relationships and project disputes, which highlights the need for alternative procurement approaches. This research investigates the impact of Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) as a collaborative procurement alternative to enhance project performance. Case studies show that ECI improves early-stage …

The Role Of The Cdg Group In Property Development, Moha Ben Satti

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

Since its creation in 1959, the CDG (Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion) has continuously strengthened its intervention in the highly social real estate sector to contribute toward placing a significant number of decent housing units at reasonable prices on the market. This choice is justified by the nature of the Caisse's resources, primarily constituted from CNSS affiliate contributions and popular savings collected by CEN. After focusing its first fifteen years on establishing appropriate intervention instruments through generalized housing promotion, the CDG adopted a new orientation from 1975 onward, particularly from the 1980s, marked by massive housing programs for low-income …

An Exploration Of The Experiences Of Black Women College Leaders: Reflections On Support, Amplifiers, Barriers, And Success As Leaders In Higher Education, Katherine L. Acevedo

Student Theses

Black women have had to deal with the “double jeopardy” of race and gender in higher education for centuries (Khosroshahi, 2021). This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of Black women serving in senior-level leadership roles within institutions of higher education (IHEs) in New York State. Utilizing aspects of phenomenological methodology informed by Black Feminist Thought (BFT) (Collins, 1989, 2000, 2022), this study amplifies the voices of Black women senior-level leaders, centering their narratives to understand how race and gender shape their professional journeys, challenges, and strategies for success. Ten participants, all self-identified Black women with at least 3 years …

A Folk Taxonomy Of Magic, Gustav Kuhn, Cyril Thomas, Griffiths Thomas

School of Psychology

Magic tricks provide a uniquely powerful window onto the boundaries of what people consider possible, and the ways in which those boundaries can be challenged. Although there exists an effectively infinite variety of magic tricks, relatively little is known about how different magical effects relate to one another at a psychological level. Previous attempts to classify magic have largely relied on the judgments of a small number of expert magicians, rather than capturing people’s intuitive understanding of magical phenomena. Here, we introduce a new multi-dimensional taxonomy of magic that treats the observable effect (e.g., an object vanishing) and the attributed …

The Tagamo3 Accent: Linguistic Stylization, Enregisterment, And Social Meaning In Egyptian Digital Discourse, Jannah M. Abdelaziz

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the Tagamo3 Accent (TA), a socially recognizable speech style associated with elite urban Egyptian identity, through a qualitative multimodal discourse analysis of twelve Egyptian TikTok videos, including both naturally occurring lifestyle and influencer content as well as parody and commentary videos that explicitly imitate, discuss, or evaluate the accent. Drawing on theories of enregisterment (Agha, 2003), stylization (Coupland, 2007), and indexicality (Silverstein, 2003; Eckert, 2008), the study examines how TA is linguistically performed, socially recognized, and ideologically circulated within Egyptian digital spaces. The findings suggest that TA does not function as a structurally bounded dialect or geographically …

Mothers’ Childhood Maltreatment And Developmentally Appropriate Attributions Of 12-Month-Old Infants, Katelyn M. Lamberton

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

This study examined associations between developmentally appropriate attributions (DAAs), an understudied construct, with maternal history of childhood maltreatment and maternal reflective functioning (RF) with their 12-month-old infants. The study examined if 1) DAAs at 12 months were concurrently associated with parental RF at 12 months for construct validity, and 2) higher levels of maternal childhood maltreatment were associated with lower DAAs for predictive validity. Participants were 156 mothers (40.0% White, 25.5% Latinx, 14.9% Black, 5.5% Asian, 2.1% Native-American, 12.0% biracial/multiracial) and their 12- to 15-month infants. Childhood maltreatment and RF were assessed by parental self-report at three-months and 12-months postpartum …

The Contentious Politics Of Abortion: Understanding The Black Protests And Women’S Strikes In Poland, Taubie Sanders

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

In 1993, the Polish Parliament, the Sejm, passed a law called ‘The Abortion Compromise’ permitting abortion only in cases when there is a serious threat to the life or health of the woman, pregnancy is the result of a crime, or prenatal tests show the fetus to be severely or incurably damaged. The current abortion laws in Poland are the most restrictive in all of Europe. Poland’s abortion laws have undergone much contestation in recent years. In 2016, the Black Protests erupted across the country in opposition to a proposed total ban on abortion. In 2020, the Women’s Strikes commenced …

Digital Bodily Autonomy: Consent Issues, Labor Displacement, And Legal Understandings Of Ai Generated Deepfake Pornography, Mariah Barrett

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

In the United States, nonconsensual pornographic deepfakes are becoming an increasingly prevalent problem as AI deepfake creation software improves and becomes widely available. Despite this, patchwork legislation across the country is inconsistent and conflicting regarding this issue. In this paper, I explore the background of pornography and obscenity laws and demonstrate how these frameworks are not properly constructed to apply to the digital sphere. Then, I address major themes within deepfake literature such as consent issues, bodily autonomy, labor displacement, and verifiable identity as a commodity through the case study of OnlyFans. I explore current and proposed legislation within the …

Explaining Variation In Medical Aid In Dying Policy Across U.S. States, Abigail Hopper

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

This paper asks why Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) policy in the United States does not follow a simple partisan pattern between states. Existing scholarship on morality policy emphasizes ideological conflict and partisan alignment, but this framework cannot fully explain why states with similar political compositions have adopted different MAiD policy outcomes, indicating that some key mechanisms shaping the variation have been overlooked. To address this, this paper combines a national dataset of MAiD policies across all fifty states with a comparative case study of Montana, Colorado, and West Virginia, focusing on differences in institutional venues, framing strategies, and coalition …

“Three In A Jeep”: Exploring The Conditions For Successful Peacekeeping Through United Nations Special Political Missions, Audrey Duff

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

This thesis examines a specific type of United Nations peacekeeping operation, referred to as Special Political Missions (SPMs) and their progress in transitions from war to peace. While traditional peacekeeping has made advances in separating conflict and human rights development, SPMs provide concentrated specialization in areas, including electoral support, government mediation, and disarmament. Through a structured focus comparison of three unique SPM case studies, this research explores what key dimensions are involved in successful Special Political Missions. By comparing the United Nations Mission in Nepal, United Nations Mission in Colombia, and United Nations Observer Mission in Bougainville, this thesis intends …

Welsh, British, And Argentine: Identities Of Convenience In The Welsh Colonies Of Patagonia, Benjamin Welch

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

In this thesis, I examine the Welsh colonies in Patagonia (in Welsh, Y Wladfa) and how the Welsh negotiated their complex identity. Founded in 1865 as a nationalist project intended to preserve Welsh language, culture, and religion, the colony faced extreme hardships and was forced to ask for help. Drawing on British, Welsh and Argentine sources, I argue that Welsh colonists adopted a pragmatic approach to identity, emphasizing their Welshness, Britishness, or Argentinity as needed. While this flexibility was necessary for the colony to survive, it undermined the original goal of a Welsh homeland free of outside influence. Ultimately, the …

Gendered Justice: The Role Of Women’S Civil Society Organizations In Shaping Chile’S Truth Commissions, Frankie Stroud

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Scholarly literature has increasingly recognized that the inclusion of women and gender in formal transitional justice processes is essential for addressing the gendered nature of mass atrocities. This thesis seeks to contribute to the existing literature on how and why some transitional justice processes have come to address women and gender by specifically studying Chile’s Rettig Commission and Valech Commission. Several hypotheses have emerged from the literature for why the Valech Commission addressed gender to a greater extent, including that women’s civil society organizations, diffusion of international norms, and shifting domestic politics each played a role. Grounded in an anti-reductionist …

Industrial Democracy: Unionization, Power, And Control In Rockefeller’S Southern Colorado, Ava Welty

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

By 1914, democracy was clearly connected to America’s political ethos, and Wilson and Frank Walsh only amplified the term. Against this backdrop, labor and CF&I sought to define their movement as aligned with the national project of industrial democracy, despite having divergent understandings of the term. CF&I and Rockefeller built upon decades of social betterment, in addition to new ideas of company unionism to create their definition of industrial democracy, while workers returned to union recognition as a tool of power to construct their definition of industrial democracy. This paper argues that conflicting definitions of industrial democracy after the Ludlow …

The Disproportionate Impact Of Legal Deserts: A Policy Proposal To Address The Legal Needs Of Rural Nevadans, Madelyn Wold

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Despite the large number of attorneys in the United States, the disproportionate concentration of attorneys in urban areas leaves rural residents to navigate the complex legal system on their own. This uneven distribution creates ‘legal deserts’, or areas where residents lack access to attorneys. The Southwestern United States has especially dire legal deserts, and Nevada is no exception. While defendants in criminal matters are guaranteed legal representation, parties in civil legal issues are not granted the same right to representation. Civil legal issues largely impact vulnerable populations and can have profound impacts on individuals’ family, economic circumstances, and physical wellbeing. …

Did King Arthur Conquer Greenland?, Christopher Berard

Humanities Program Faculty Publications

Did medieval people really believe that King Arthur conquered Greenland, Iceland, and lands stretching as far as Russia? Christopher Berard examines how a remarkable legal tradition transformed Arthur into the ruler of a vast northern empire.

https://www.medievalists.net/2026/06/did-king-arthur-conquer-greenland/

A Novel, Embedding-Based Approach To Longitudinal Survey Data Imputation, Julia Rezvani

University Honors Theses

Longitudinal surveys are ubiquitous in the social sciences as a means of tracking changes in behavior and opinions with time and identifying potential causal mechanisms. These surveys are frequently plagued by missing data and semantic drift, both of which limit their effectiveness and scientific utility. Imputation algorithms allow researchers to fill gaps in collected survey datasets, imperfectly reconstructing lost data. Although deep learning algorithms have been used in imputation to great success, approaches which simultaneously leverage the semantic and temporal structure of longitudinal surveys have not yet been developed. We propose a novel imputation architecture which is capable of leveraging …

Fluorescence Cryotomography For Preclinical Validation: Applications In Gene Therapy And Fluorescence-Guided Surgery, Caleb Y. J. Kwon

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Fluorescence imaging has become a powerful tool in biomedical research and clinical practice, offering molecular specificity and high sensitivity for visualizing biological processes in real time, However, the successful translation of novel fluorescent probes or medicines from preclinical development to clinical applications requires rigorous validation of their biodistribution and target specificity. Traditional methods for assessing performance, such as bulk excised organ analysis or two-dimensional histology, provide limited information as they cannot capture the complete, organism-wide distribution of these probes or medicines. This thesis aims to improve this analysis pipeline through the application and optimization of fluorescence cryotomography for quantitative, high-resolution …

Constitutional Inferences On Emerging Technologies: Analyzing Government Overreach, The Fourth Amendment, And Democratic Process In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Alan To

McNair Research Journal SJSU

The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)

technologies by federal agencies presents novel constitutional questions that

existing legal doctrine has not yet adequately addressed. This paper

examines the emerging constitutional dimensions of the 2026 conflict

between Anthropic and the Department of Defense (DOD), in which the

Pentagon demanded unrestricted use of Anthropic's AI model Claude for

domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapons systems, ultimately

designating Anthropic a supply chain risk when the company refused.

Drawing on three salient constitutional frameworks, specifically the Fourth

Amendment doctrine established in Kyllo v. United States (2001) and

Carpenter v. United …

Front Matter, Maria Cruz

McNair Research Journal SJSU

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

McNair Research Journal SJSU

No abstract provided.

Educating Ncaa Student-Athletes To Mitigate Social Media Risks: Results From An Intervention Pilot Program, Ksenia Power, Nataliya Bredikhina, Bomin Paek

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

With the introduction of the NCAA’s Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policy in July 2021, student-athletes have become increasingly reliant on social media for personal branding and monetization. However, prior research suggests that excessive social media use can negatively impact student-athletes’ well-being, highlighting the need for targeted digital literacy education. Addressing these concerns, this study designed and evaluated an online intervention, “Student-Athlete Training for Online Resilience Management” (STORM), aimed at improving student-athletes’ perceived knowledge and confidence in navigating social media-related risks. Using two waves of survey data (N = 117), the study assessed changes in perceived knowledge of social …

Big Fish Or Little Pond? National Evidence On The Relationship Between Transferring And Athletic Performance Within Division I Men's College Basketball, Kendall Cole, Francis A. Pearman Ii, Saurabh Khanna

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

Beginning with the introduction of the transfer portal in 2018, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has made several policy changes that have made transferring both easier and more desirable among student athletes, particularly in Division I (DI) revenue-generating sports. Yet, little is known about the relationship between transferring and student athletes’ athletic performance. Using individual- and team-level data on all DI men’s college basketball student athletes from the 2018-19 season through the 2023-24 season, we examine the relationship between transferring and athletic performance, specifically one’s points per game, minutes per game, and number of games started per season. Results …

Understanding Parents Perceptions Concerning Division I Student-Athlete Mental Health, Jonathan M. Casper, Jason Bocarro, Marie Amidon

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

Collegiate student-athletes (SAs) frequently underreport mental health concerns and are less likely to seek professional support compared to their non-athlete peers. Given the substantial emotional and academic support parents provide, this study examined NCAA Division I parents’ perceptions of their student-athletes’ mental health and overall well-being, as well as their awareness and perceptions of available mental health services. An online survey (N = 178) was administered across two Division I universities. Parents reported considerable concern regarding mental exhaustion, anxiety, academic pressures, and future planning. They also identified sport-specific stressors, including relationships with coaches, playing time, team dynamics, and injuries. Although …

The Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025: Policy, Politics, And Performance, Noor Ameena

Journal of Law and Public Policy

This legislative note examines The Waqf (Amendment) Act at the intersection of religious minority rights and state control. It begins by outlining the concept of waqfs, their significance in the Muslim world, types of waqfs, and modalities of their creation. Providing a brief history of the regulation of waqfs, it highlights the close connection of these Muslim religious endowments with the history of Hindu religious endowments. It evaluates the 2025 legal developments across three key areas: (i) family waqfs, testamentary succession, and gender, (ii) ‘government property’, waqfs, and state appropriation, and (iii) waqf regulation as a potential infringement on religious …

Escaping Quarantine: Marine Hospitals, The Constitution Act, 1867 And Canada’S First Federal Health Care Program, Dan Dwyre

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

Previous scholarship has argued that the enumeration of marine hospitals as a federal head of power in the Constitution Act, 1867 reflected a national concern over immigration and quarantine. This article disputes that. Using primary sources, this paper demonstrates that Canadian marine hospitals were established in port communities to provide for the general health of itinerant merchant sailors, who would otherwise be a burden on local hospitals and charitable organizations. The article concludes that marine hospitals can be viewed in retrospect as one of Canada’s first federal health care programs.

One Step Further: An Overview Of Canada’S Past And Present Responses To Homelessness And The Argument For Alternative Conceptions Of Property Ownership, Logan Billard

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

Homelessness in Canada continues to worsen year after year. Despite the shift from punitive, neoliberal policies to a human rights-based model, homelessness remains a national crisis. Federal initiatives like the National Housing Strategy Act and the Housing First Model aim to provide stable housing, but their impact remains limited. This paper explores the structural factors contributing to homelessness, including poverty, housing financialization, and systemic discrimination, particularly against Indigenous communities. It also highlights the limitations of the current human rights-based approach, focussing on the lack of enforceability and failure to create substantial, sustainable change due to systemic reliance on the financialization …

Quadri Ademola Bankole V. Attorney General United States Of America

2026 Decisions

Agency

The Republican Party And The Creation Of The Bipartisan Foreign Policy, 1945-1953, Alexander Gellos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a historical and structural reexamination of the Republican Party’s role in shaping American foreign policy from 1945 to 1953. Defying the historiography of a frictionless postwar consensus and an executive branch-centered narrative, this historical chronological study demonstrates that the Republican Party’s role in formulating the bipartisan foreign policy was a contingent and debated legislative construction. Far from representing passive submission or a surrender of partisan identity, the GOP’s role was an indispensable exercise in creating it, and due to politics being what it is, straining it. Through historical chronology spanning from 1945 to 1953, the party's center …

The Palm Farm Next-Door: Land Concessions, Livelihoods, And Nutrition In Plantation-Adjacent Communities, Julia Entwistle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Large-scale land concessions have reshaped agrarian landscapes globally, yet their implications for community land tenure, livelihoods, and nutrition remain unevenly understood. This dissertation examines how plantation agriculture and foreign investment have transformed land access, labor relations, and food systems in Liberia, a country with one of the highest proportions of land under concession globally. Guided by a political ecology framework, the study employs a mixed-methods design integrating policy analysis, in-depth interviews, and household surveys across two palm oil concession sites. The findings show that ambiguous land policies historically facilitated dispossession, while recent legal reforms have enabled communities to strategically mobilize …