Digital Commons Network^™

Assessing College Tuition And Wage Prospects For Careers In Archaeology, Angelina H. Gutierrez

Honors Capstones

The pressures of rising college tuition are raising questions about whether a degree in higher education is worth the return on investment in today's society and economy. This study aims to acknowledge the issues of affording college and the opportunities granted in the face of college wealth premiums from the perspective of the field of archaeology. The college wealth premium is understood as additionalopportunities and increased salaries offered to those with a degree in higher education compared to those without. Using the Midwestern United States as a case study, I discuss the gender/race wage gap, college debt, loan inequity, and …

A Study On Community And Technical College Students' Identification Of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Cynthia J. Carow Schiebe

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether students could identify culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) and, to what extent, in a community or technical college classroom where a set of goals and strategies had been established to guide methodology. Previous research on CRP traditionally focused on the educators’ or administrators’ interpretation of what students had learned when CRP was used as a methodology to reduce the opportunity gap. Students in classrooms where CRP was used were able to identify content that was aligned with their needs and wants, bring their own lives into the class without fear, balance their …

The Response Of Child Protection Services To Prenatal Substance Exposure, Cierra Hassel

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Prenatal Substance Exposure (PSE) is a growing public health concern that requires Child Protection Services (CPS) involvement. CPS is a government agency that investigates child safety to determine whether child removal is necessary. Due to the increase of substance use during pregnancy, often linked to the opioid epidemic, more mandated reporters are submitting reports for positive drug tests at birth, which are screened in as neglect by the mother. PSE has significant implications for developing fetuses, potentially causing both short- and long-term behavioral, medical, and developmental challenges.  

Pregnant women with substance use disorder may often neglect prenatal care, as they …

The Impact Of The Science Of Reading Initiative On Reading Test Scores Among Rural Elementary Students In Arkansas, Julie A. Ferguson

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

This study examines changes in reading achievement among rural elementary students in Arkansas following the statewide implementation of the Science of Reading initiative. Beginning in 2019, Arkansas required educators in kindergarten through sixth grade to receive training in evidence‑based literacy practices emphasizing phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Despite these efforts, rural districts continue to face challenges related to staffing, access to professional development, and instructional resources, raising questions about whether statewide reforms have produced measurable improvements in reading outcomes.

Using a quantitative, longitudinal, quasi‑experimental design, this study analyzes ACT Aspire reading assessment data collected from rural Arkansas schools …

Uncertain Roads, Resilient Journey: At The Intersection Of Love, Wealth, And Undocumentedness Lies A Critical Examination Of Career Development Challenges And Aspirations, Daniel Caballero

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Undocumented college students in the United States graduate with degrees in hand, but face a labor market that, for many, remains legally inaccessible. Despite growing enrollment across higher education institutions, this student population continued to navigate career development in the near minimal institutional support designed for their specific circumstances. This qualitative study examined how career services at small private liberal arts colleges responded to the needs of undocumented students, particularly those without Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA; Napolitano, 2012), as they navigated career development during and after college (Kantamneni, Dharmalingam, et al., 2016; Kantamneni, Shada, et al., 2016; Morales …

Table Of Contents

Mercer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Jack Chenette

Mercer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Admiralty, John P. Kavanagh Jr.

Mercer Law Review

The cases discussed herein represent decisions from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, as well as district courts within the circuit, issued in 2025. While not an all-inclusive list of maritime decisions during that timeframe, the Author identified and provided summaries of key rulings of interest to the maritime practitioner.

Criminal Law, Thomas D. Church, Reid M. Koski

Mercer Law Review

This Article provides a tour of the most important criminal law opinions published by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in 2025. Rather than engage in an exhaustive review of the facts and laws in each case, we focus on the key holdings from the most noteworthy, published decisions. Section I of this Article addresses rulings specific to substantive offenses such as fraud, drug trafficking, and sex crimes, while Section II covers issues arising under the U.S. Constitution, the Federal Rules of Evidence, and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Section III deals with the Federal …

Bankruptcy Law, E. Tate Crymes, Siena Berrios Gaddy, Victoria Barbino Grantham

Mercer Law Review

This Article focuses on bankruptcy opinions issued by the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Topics addressed include: (1) Trustee’s avoidance powers under § 544(b) and waiver of sovereign immunity for state law claims; (2) priority of a claim and determination of whether the federal tax claim sounded in tort or contract; (3) subchapter V eligibility plan confirmation, stay relief, abstention, and bankruptcy court jurisdiction; (4) annulment of the automatic stay; (5) applicability of § 523(a) to corporate debtors in the context of a subchapter V bankruptcy case; (6) …

Labor And Employment, W. Jonathan Martin Ii

Mercer Law Review

This Article focuses on recent cases concerning federal labor and employment laws. The following is a discussion of those opinions.

Risky Business: Uncertainty, Trade Policy, And The Impact On Mergers & Acquisitions, Talia E. Levine

Mercer Law Review

“If there’s one thing that’s certain about life, it’s uncertainty.” It’s closing day for a deal. Executives, lawyers, and advisors surround the boardroom table. Diligence is complete, financing is secured, and the goals of the buyer and target are aligned. Then, a midnight executive order rolls through, imposing a 10% tariff on half the target’s supply chain. Uncertainty ensues. Negotiations stall. The deal does not close.

The rise of trade-related uncertainty has become a significant disruptor in mergers & acquisitions (“M&A”) and private equity (“PE”) transactions. Uncertainty impedes the flow of strategic transactions in the M&A and PE markets by …

Title Ix Without Tenure: The Eleventh Circuit Bars Sex Discrimination Suits By Educational Employees In Joseph V. Board Of Regents, Lily Kachmar

Mercer Law Review

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” In just thirty-seven words, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 ushered in a transformative era of protections for gender equality in higher education. Yet, courts remain split on the overall scope of those protections.

In Joseph v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (“Joseph II”), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit became the latest …

Stabilized Cargo Relay Aircraft For Precision Payload Yielding, Dato A. Tabidze, Michael Conely, Ben Courtney

Senior Design Project For Engineers

As military missions become more complicated, warfighters need more capable drones to use across diverse scenarios. The same also applies to civilian applications, like infrastructure inspection, package delivery, and disaster response. Current multirotor drones, also known as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), provide simplicity, affordability, and ease of operation; however, their primary limitation is their low payload-to-weight ratio, which typically falls at 1:1 or less. The DARPA Lift Challenge aims to shatter the heavy lift bottleneck, seeking novel drone designs that can carry payloads more than four times their weight, which would revolutionize the way we use drones across all sectors. …

Jara V. Melmel Llc

All Decisions

The Supreme Court granted summary judgment to a 67-year-old rent-stabilized tenant in Jackson Heights whose landlord refused to process her Section 8 Emergency Housing Choice Voucher. After three years, the tenant filed an affirmative action under NYCHRL and NYSHRL. The landlord failed to comply with discovery and provided only a rent demand. The court found the landlord violated both human rights laws, ordered immediate processing of the voucher, and directed the tenant owe only her Section 8 share of the rent retroactive to 2024.

1988 Anthony Ave Llc V Alvarez

All Decisions

In this nonpayment proceeding, the court grants the tenant's motion to vacate the default judgment and dismisses the case. The tenant showed a reasonable excuse — she alleges she did not receive service and that neither she nor any household member matched the process server's description of the person served. The court then dismisses the proceeding outright because the landlord failed to serve a 30-day rent demand as required by the CARES Act, which applies because the unit is subject to a HUD Regulatory Agreement under the National Housing Act.

80 Varick St. Group, L.P. V Lutz

All Decisions

In this failure-to-renew holdover, the Appellate Term reverses the Civil Court and restores a 45-year rent-stabilized tenant to possession on conditions. The tenant was evicted on a default judgment entered within months of the proceeding commencing. The court finds the default was not willful — the tenant had temporarily relocated due to facade work and health issues — and that equity warrants restoration conditioned on signing the renewal lease and paying all arrears, noting the landlord had declined to accept a $150,000 certified check tendered by the tenant.

From Stranger To Self: The Role Of Familiarity In Modulating The N170 And N250 Erp Components, Tabish Gul

Dissertations

This study investigated how varying levels of face familiarity modulate the N170 and N250 event-related potential (ERP) components, two neural markers of face perception and recognition. While the N250 is widely considered familiarity-sensitive, the N170 has traditionally been linked to the structural encoding stage of face perception. However, recent research suggests that face familiarity may also influence N170 amplitude and latency. While most previous studies have compared up to three familiarity levels, the present study examined five levels of familiarity: own face, friend’s face, famous face, experimentally familiar face, and unfamiliar face. Twenty-six participants viewed face images while completing a …

The Politics Of Sustainability: Corporate Environmental Responsibility And Policy Implications, Andy Tuholski

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

This literature review aims to examine how political factors influence corporate environmental responsibility (CER) initiatives and the subsequent policy implications for environmental sustainability. By synthesizing existing research, it will (a) provide a comprehensive overview of the political dynamics that shape CER and highlight the role of policy in promoting sustainable corporate practices; and (b) offer information for policymakers, corporate leaders, and environmental advocates on fostering sustainable corporate practices through informed policymaking.

Forging Trust In Conflict: The Role Of Threat Assessment Team Dynamics In Countering Targeted Violence And Terrorism, Cynthia J. Kennedy

Psychology Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

Threat assessment teams charged with preventing targeted violence and terrorism make consequential decisions under conditions of ambiguity, time pressure, and incomplete information, yet little empirical research has examined how team processes relate to effectiveness in this setting. This mixed-methods study investigated cognitive trust and task conflict in relation to perceived team effectiveness among threat assessment professionals (N = 63) and examined how team members manage disagreement and build consensus in practice. Participants completed survey measures of these constructs and responded to open-ended questions. Quantitative analyses used hierarchical regression and path analyses; qualitative responses were analyzed using codebook thematic analysis. Higher …

Betting On The Body: Private Equity Portfolio Funding Of Medical Malpractice Litigation And The Financialization Of Patient Justice, Barry J. Cohen

Journal of Law and Health

Portfolio-level third-party litigation funding in medical malpractice creates conflicts of interest that existing professional responsibility doctrine under Model Rule 1.7 was not designed to address. Unlike single-case consumer funding, which may improve access to justice, portfolio funding aggregates dozens or hundreds of malpractice claims into diversified investment vehicles, optimizing for internal rates of return on the portfolio instead of outcomes for individual plaintiffs. What follows, is the first sustained analysis of this gap.

Drawing on clinical and legal perspectives, the analysis distinguishes a single-case from portfolio funding and identifies four portfolio-specific conflicts under MRPC 1.7: the swing-for-the-fences problem, cross-subsidization, information …

Mental Illness, Probation, And Recidivism: Standardizing Uniform Mental Health Docket Legislation In Ohio, Holly Lloyd

Journal of Law and Health

The rise of Mental Illness diagnoses in the United States unique to the criminal justice system. Specifically in Ohio, individuals with mental illness diagnoses have increased within the criminal justice system leading to the implementation of the Mental Health Court Docket. The Mental Health Docket has led to a decrease in recidivism by providing Defendants with appropriate mental health treatment. Within Ohio there is no universal standard for individuals being admitted into the Docket which has led to inconsistencies throughout the State and restrictive clinical requirements like requiring a diagnosis with psychosis. These inconsistencies contribute to higher recidivism rates and …

Online Voting: Should Ohio Adopt Online Voting For Voters With Disabilities?, Audrey Mcconihe

Journal of Law and Health

This Note argues that Ohio should implement a limited online voting system for voters with disabilities in order to expand meaningful access to the voting while preserving election integrity. Drawing on the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Help America Vote Act, this Note contends that Ohio’s current absentee voting framework continues to impose substantial barriers on disabled voters by denying many individuals the ability to cast ballots privately, independently, and safely.

The Note examines how the COVID-19 pandemic exposed longstanding deficiencies in American voting infrastructure, particularly for disabled …

Criminalizing Resistance: The Black Panther Party And State Terror In The U.S., Tyler Messinger

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the rise, suppression, and eventual collapse of the Black Panther Party (BPP) between 1966 and 1972, arguing that the organization was dismantled not primarily due to internal failures, financial issues, or criminal activity, but through a sustained campaign of state repression led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Using a document-based historical case study approach, the paper draws extensively on declassified FBI memoranda, COINTELPRO records, congressional testimony from the Church Committee, contemporary newspaper coverage, and the Black Panther Party’s own publications. Placing the BPP within the broader trajectory of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, …

Commitment Problems In Political Situations Involving Multiple Strategic Actors And How Actors Try To Overcome Commitment Problems, Mohamud Ajama

Political Science Theses, Dissertations and Student Creative Activity

Commitment problems explain why multiple parties cannot agree on issues of concern due to a lack of trust, even when cooperation would benefit all parties involved. These problems take place when actors cannot make credible commitments about future behavior because of mistrust, uncertainty, or the absence of neutral enforcement mechanics, leading to delays, lack of cooperation, and sometimes conflict or war. Scholars have approached commitment problems from multiple angles. Fearon (1995) identifies them as empirically observable mechanisms that prevent states from reaching peace agreements. Powell (2006) extends this framework, arguing that commitment problems are due to the inability to bind …

Task-Based Language Teaching For Afghans Resettled In The United States Since 2021: Meeting Integration And Employment Needs, Madison E. Wilhelm

Senior Honors Theses

In the aftermath of the 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the United States military evacuated tens of thousands of Afghans, many of whom were resettled in the United States. This population has faced many challenges in their resettlement, including barriers to language learning and difficulty finding skilled employment. There is great diversity within this population, including individuals with limited schooling and those with valuable employment skills.

This integrative literature review explores how Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) can be used as a strategy for Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) with the post-2021 Afghan population in the United States. It …

The 2017 U.S. Recognition Decision On Jerusalem: Human Security Implications For Israelis And Palestinians, Joel Patrick Essome Tillard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Rational Design And Efficacy Evaluation Of A Novel Solid Dispersion-Based Bempedoic Acid–Ezetimibe Fixed-Dose Combination Tablet Versus Nexlizet®, Mohamed A. Heikal, Wael Ali, Mahmoud A. Mahdy, Eman Gomaa

Nanotechnology Research Centre

Background/Objectives: For hyperlipidemic patients with statin resistance, a fixed-dose combination of a non-statin drug such as ezetimibe (EZT) and bempedoic acid (BA) provides a significant benefit. Although both drugs exhibit poor aqueous solubility, the oral bioavailability of EZT is more critically limited by dissolution, whereas BA maintains adequate absorption due to its high intestinal permeability. With regard to the reference product, Nexlizet® (180/10 mg), our study focused on developing a novel tablet with superior in vitro performance without incorporating sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), as it may potentially alter BA absorption. Methods: The solid dispersion technique (co-precipitation) was applied using the …

Beyond The Rally Effect: U.S. Military Deployments And Their Independent Impact On Presidential Approval, Griffin M. Petersen

Honors Thesis

This thesis examines the relationship between the United States military and presidential job approval ratings from 1955 to 2021 through a mixed method approach. Using a multiple regression analysis, the study tested the independent effects of total active-duty troop levels and the frequency of active overseas conflicts while controlling for economic variables such as GDP and unemployment. The quantitative results indicate that while military variables are significantly correlated with approval in isolation, these effects diminish or disappear when analyzed alongside economic indicators. Specifically, the size of the military was a weak predictor of public approval, potentially due to low public …

Storytelling As A Pedagogical Tool For Improving Memory In Lectures, Sydney E. Rutter

Honors Theses

The purpose of the study was to examine if utilizing storytelling in lectures caused a positive effect on students' memory over a week-long period. Storytelling has been used as a mnemonic device to improve memory, however its benefits have not been experimented much in higher education. In this study, 53 undergraduate psychology students were placed into two groups: traditional lecture or storytelling lecture. Students then watched the lecture they were assigned, both lectures discussed the ASURE model. A week later, students returned and took a 17 question memory test. Results indicated that students who watched the storytelling lecture performed significantly …