Digital Commons Network^™

The Court Of Small Things, The Curse Of Legal Superstition: The Precipitous Decline Of Small Claims Court, Why It Matters, And What Can Be Done About It, Telia Mary U. Williams

Nevada Law Journal

This Article addresses the precipitous decline of small claims courts in the United States and argues that their erosion is more than administrative; it is a democratic and constitutional crisis. Small claims courts were once the laboratories of everyday justice, where ordinary citizens could access law without lawyers, ritual, or mystery. The seemingly minor disputes of the small claims court illuminate the democratic soul of American law. Yet, over recent decades, filings have declined dramatically, and the locus of power has shifted from the poor to repeat-player institutional actors. This is in part due to what I call, “legal superstition,” …

University Of Nebraska At Omaha Division Of Biomechanics And Research Development Annual Report 2023-2025, Uno Biomechanics

Biomechanics Annual Report

This report contains:

A letter from the Director: Dr. Nick Stergiou

Highlights articles

Center for Cardiovascular Research in Biomechanics (CRiB) articles

The Center for Research in Human Movement Variability (MOVCENTR) articles

People of UNO Biomechanics

Student Centered articles

Education Initiative articles

Rethinking Pakistan Studies: The Grounds Of Regional Knowledge After South Asia, Zoya Sameen

FAS Pakistan

This article rethinks Pakistan Studies as both a pedagogical project and a field of knowledge by examining the limits of history as a tool of legitimation. It argues that in the public sphere, history often serves to authorize the present, and shows how Pakistan Studies has historically operated within this framework. At the same time, the article suggests that this condition opens up another possibility: to understand history not as passive inheritance but as an active demand upon the present. Seen in this light, Pakistan Studies emerges not as a stable body of knowledge but as a series of shifting …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Vicarious Trauma And Emotional And Somatic Resource Replenishment Among K-12 School Principals In Suburban Communities, Rachael A. Garcia

Education Doctoral

This qualitative study, grounded in the job demands-resources (JD-R) theory, explores the lived experiences of K-12 principals in suburban communities as they encounter vicarious trauma (VT). The study aims to fill a gap in the research by examining how these leaders deliberately employ strategies to replenish their emotional and somatic resources and develop resilience. The role of school principals has evolved significantly, now requiring them to provide substantial social-emotional support for both students and staff, which exposes them to others' traumatic experiences. This exposure can lead to vicarious trauma, a deep psychological transformation resulting in emotional exhaustion, compassion fatigue, and …

Loint: A Framework For Geospatial Data Quality Management Of Integrated Bim-Gis Models To Support Digital Twin Development In Construction And Renovation Applications, Peshawa Mohammed

Doctoral

The development of high-quality digital twins of built assets is essential for resolving defects and integrating off-site fabricated components in construction and renovation applications. A key component of digital twins is the three-dimensional (3D) digital models. Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographic Information Science (GIS) models serve as valuable geospatial sources for these models. The integration of BIM and GIS data enables the creation of comprehensive digital twins within a georeferenced national mapping framework. Since digital twins are developed to reflect the existing conditions of the assets in the real world, geospatial surveying instruments and techniques are typically used to …

Ai Suppression: E-Discovery Software And Brady, Jason Hartline, Liren Shan, Alec Sun, Rebecca Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

Prosecutors regularly rely on AI e-discovery software, known as technology assisted review (TAR) tools, to sort and prioritize digital evidence. These tools implicate constitutional concerns: they can either risk suppressing or help to surface exculpatory and impeachment evidence that prosecutors must disclose under the Brady due process rule. Yet doctrine, agency guidance, and scholarship offer virtually no direction on their use.

This Article examines how TAR affects Brady compliance. Using computer science simulations on synthetic data sets, we show that TAR can either hide or help to expose Brady evidence, depending on how it is configured and the configurations of …

Gerald Edwards V. Donald Trump

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

U.S. Regulation And Litigation Regarding Gmos: A Cautionary Tale Of A Piecemeal Framework, Michael R. Reese, George V. Granade

Northern Illinois University Law Review

Bioengineered crops using genetically modified organisms (GMOs or GM) are big business in the United States. In little more than two decades, GM agriculture constitutes more than 90% of crops such as corn, soy, and canola. The acceptance of GMO foods by consumers, however, has not been as robust—leading to demand for labeling regulations so consumers can identify whether their foods contain GMOs. U.S. law governing GMOs, particularly food labeling, lacks a comprehensive regulatory scheme and is instead highly fragmented. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has debated how to label such foods for over a decade, issuing no rules …

Bringing The Museum To The Library: A Collaboration Between A Natural History Museum And An Academic Science Library, Angela D. Price, Jean Bossart

Collaborative Librarianship

A persistent challenge on college campuses is effectively connecting students with the wide array of university resources available to them. At the University of Florida, an opportunity to address this challenge emerged when the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH), a major campus institution with extensive scientific collections, was scheduled for a 15-month closure due to renovations. In response, librarians at the Marston Science Library initiated a collaborative partnership with FLMNH, offering the library as a venue for science-related events and programming. This collaboration enhanced student engagement, added a non-traditional venue for science learning and interaction, and proved mutually beneficial …

But That’S Not What We Said: Communication Strategies For Digital Project Collaboration, Robert G. Weaver, Matthew Mceniry, Megan Scott

Collaborative Librarianship

The Texas Tech University (TTU) Digital Scholarship Lab (DSL) often collaborates on digitization projects with the Southwest Collection (SWC) archives. Within the past three years the DSL has branched out to new sources of projects, including university research institutions, other colleges and departments, and Lubbock community entities. At times, these partnerships became entangled with the SWC’s collecting goals, resulting in the need for expanded and more effective communication about integrated project management. This paper will look at three examples of communication and collaboration between the DSL and the SWC on unique projects, their results, as well as the interdepartmental enhancements …

‘Insistent’ Objectors: The (Ab)Use Of Procedural Defenses Before The International Court Of Justice, Damian A. Gonzalez-Salzberg, Eoin Campbell

Michigan Journal of International Law

Procedural defenses refer to tactical devices that object to either a court’s jurisdiction or to the admissibility of an application, aimed at stopping a court from deciding on the merits of a case or, at least, at limiting the scope of its decision. From its creation in June 1945 and up to the end of 2024, the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) has adjudicated 101 cases, with almost 80% of them featuring procedural defenses raised by states. These defenses have not only been plentiful, but have been extremely effective, leading to the ICJ’s refusal to decide on the merits of …

From Lineage Discovery To Conservation Prioritisation, Zachary G. Macdonald, Joscha Beninde, Julian R. Dupuis, Thomas W. Gillespie, H. Bradley Shaffer, Gregory F. Grether

Entomology Faculty Publications

Accurate inferences of diversification and evolutionary processes depend on knowing how many independently evolving lineages exist within nominally widespread taxa. Uncertainty in lineage number and composition also limits our ability to meaningfully prioritise conservation efforts. Addressing these knowledge gaps requires frameworks that sequentially identify distinct lineages, assess mechanisms that contribute to their divergence, and quantify spatial and environmental determinants of their genomic diversity. With these goals in mind, we apply whole-genome, ecological, and morphological analyses to the American rubyspot damselfly (Hetaerina americana), a widespread and well-studied North American insect that has been long regarded as a single species of least …

A Novel Hexagonal-Zigzag Cellular Infill Structure For Additive Manufacturing, Md. Saidur R Roney, Amm Nazmul Ahsan, Prosenjit Barua

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

The rigidity of the Additively Manufactured objects can be tailored by manipulating the infill lattice type and density. In this research, an island type novel infill structure termed as Hexagonal-Zigzag pattern is introduced, and its mechanical performance is investigated. In this pattern, the zigzag raster reflects the repeating hexagonal shaped cell constituting the parallel-oriented islands and 90° rotation of the pattern in each layer distributes the island span along both transverse and longitudinal directions of the printing contour. A mathematical model is established to illustrate the effect of the infill parameters on hexagon unit cell size and relative infill density. …

Liturgical Renewal And Mcdonaldization, Daniel Johnson

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

What is McDonaldization? Imagine with me that it is the 1950s, and you are going on a road trip down Route 66. You get hungry, so you decide to stop for food. You pull off the side of the road and park in front of a classic American diner to get yourself a burger and fries.

Writ 101.50: College Writing I - Rhetoric And Storytelling, Kelly Schirmann

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2026-2030

No abstract provided.

A Blind Eye To Justice: Blind Pleas In The American Courtroom, Meghan Koza, Makayla Nolen, Stuti Kokkalera

Journal of Criminal Justice and Law

Over 90% of criminal court cases are decided through plea negotiations, rather than through a jury or bench trial. Within the broader context of plea negotiations is the use of a “blind” or “open” plea, where defendants consent to the court’s decision without a chance to participate in the bargaining process. In entering blind pleas, defendants must waive constitutional trial rights with the hope that they will be given a more lenient sentence but are largely left in the dark during the process. This study aims to provide a national overview of the utilization of blind pleas in the United …

Informal Humans? Rights To A Clean Environment In Bangkok’S Informal Settlements, Maisie Pike

Geography Undergraduate Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

From Trade War To Green Transition: Optimal Electric Vehicle Tariffs With Revenue-Funded Subsidies, Panle Jia Barwick, Jack Collison, Pinelopi K. Goldberg, Shanjun Li, Yucheng Wang

Discussion Papers

We study the optimal design of trade and industrial policy when governments pursue environmental objectives alongside traditional national welfare. Motivated by the global transition to electric vehicles (EVs) and growing concerns about competitiveness, resilience, and the environment, we develop a framework in which policymakers choose tariffs and domestic production subsidies to maximize national welfare, defined as the sum of consumer surplus, domestic profits, environmental benefits, and tariff revenue net of subsidies. We combine a theoretical model of differentiated-product oligopoly with a structural demand model estimated using vehicle-level data from 13 countries during 2004-2023 that together account for the vast majority …

Gauss Composition And Orthogonal Modular Forms On Binary Lattices, Haochen Wu

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

We revisit Gauss composition over a general base scheme, with a focus on orthogonal groups. We show that the Clifford and norm functors provide a discriminant-preserving equivalence of categories between binary quadratic modules and pseudoregular modules over quadratic algebras. This perspective synthesizes the constructions of Kneser and Wood, reconciling algebraic and geometric approaches and clarifying the role of orientations and the natural emergence of narrow class groups.

As an application, we restrict to lattices and show that binary orthogonal eigenforms correspond to Hecke characters. Using theta series, we show the explicit connection between Hilbert modular forms and orthogonal modular forms …

Lidar At Poly Canyon, An Binh Chuong

Architectural Engineering

Poly Canyon serves as a living laboratory that reflects Cal Poly’s “Learn by Doing” philosophy through a collection of student-designed and student-constructed structures. Among these is Fratessa Tower, a reinforced concrete observation tower distinguished by its tripod support system, cable-suspended observation deck, and steel spiral staircase. The tower’s unconventional geometry and exposed structural system present unique challenges for documentation, making it well suited for evaluating modern reality-capture and modeling techniques.

This project focused on creating an accurate as-built Building Information Model (BIM) of Fratessa Tower using LiDAR-based scanning, field verification, and Autodesk Revit. Point cloud data were processed to reconstruct …

Immobilizing Migrants, César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández

Michigan Law Review

A review of The Migrant’s Jail: An American History of Mass Incarceration. By Brianna Nofil.

International Advice, Mature Democracies And The Venice Commission, Maartje De Visser

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The aim of this article is to explore the role and practice of constitutional advice-giving as it relates to mature democracies. More precisely, this article considers how the Venice Commission – the official advisory body for constitutional matters of the Council of Europe – exercises its mandate vis-à-vis such democracies through the delivery of country-specific Opinions, based on a close reading of all such Opinions rendered between 2002 and 2024. It examines the substantive focus of those Opinions, the way they engage with constitutional experiences elsewhere, as well as the tone of the assessment and the approach taken in formulating …

Brief Of Evidence – Bill C-16 Protecting Victims Act, Emma Cunliffe

All Faculty Publications

This brief focuses specifically on the proposal in Bill C-16 to create a new criminal offence of coercive control and the absence of any correlate defence for offences committed by a person who is subject to coercion. Reviewing evidence from research in other jurisdictions that have adopted such an offence (Scotland, England and Wales, and the Australian jurisidictions of NSW and Queensland), as well as Canadian research, there is abundant evidence to suggest that more criminal law, including new offences, will not necessarily increase women’s safety; and in fact, can be predicted to expose women to greater risk of harm …

Reimagining The Cully 5 Corners, Samuel Anderson, Noah Brown, Kaitlyn Cook, Nicholas Pelster, Michael Wickham, Steven Yee

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Reimagining the Cully 5 Corners is a project spearheaded by the Cully Coalition and Confluence Planning + Design, aiming to create a vision and plan for a centralized, connected, resilient hub for this area of NE Portland, Oregon.

The Cully Coalition envisions Cully as an equitable and socially just neighborhood that enriches and uplifts all community members while minimizing displacement, improving community cohesion, and supporting economic vitality.

Like many Portland areas annexed in the late 20th century, the Cully neighborhood has experienced decades of relative underinvestment in terms of public services, urban design, and business development.

Uplifting Cully starts with …

The Spectrum Of Authority: A New Approach To Teaching Ai And Primary Source Literacies, Kristen Howard

Communications in Information Literacy

This article presents an information literacy workshop designed for undergraduate history courses that introduces students to generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) while strengthening primary source literacy. Anchored in the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, “Authority Is Constructed and Contextual,” the workshop employs an innovative pedagogical device, the Spectrum of Authority, to help students critically evaluate information sources. Through comparative analysis and guided discussion, students increased their ability to assess credibility in information sources. Student feedback indicated increased confidence in analyzing primary sources and a greater understanding of GenAI’s capabilities and …

Critical Information Literacy In Higher Education: An Evolution In Theory, Practice, And Assessment, Dan Williford

Communications in Information Literacy

This article offers a critical synthesis of scholarship on critical information literacy (CIL) in higher education from 2015 to 2026, extending and recalibrating prior longitudinal reviews to account for post-2020 theoretical, political, and technological shifts. Drawing on a corpus of 48 peer-reviewed publications published between 2020 and 2026, the study employs thematic cluster analysis—building on Tewell’s four-domain framework—to examine developments in theory, pedagogy, digital and political engagement, reflexive critique, and assessment. Rather than treating critical information literacy as a settled framework, this review positions it as an evolving and contested practice shaped by the political economy of higher education. It …

The Social Construction Of Risk: How Media Socially Constructs Risk Perceptions Surrounding School Shootings Among College Students, Natalie Jobe

University Honors Theses

Although school shootings are statistically rare events, public fear surrounding them has continuously increased across the United States. This thesis explored how college students perceive the risk of school shootings despite the relatively low probability of experiencing these violent events, with particular attention to the role of media framing, sensationalized reporting, and repeated exposure to violent social and digital media. In order to examine how media framing, social and digital media exposure, as well as ongoing encounters with violent content affect risk perception, this research conducted six interviews with traditionally aged college students from Portland State University regarding their experiences …

Reconfiguring Dependency: China's Belt And Road Initiative And Development In Ethiopia And Nigeria, Alexander Freund

University Honors Theses

This thesis examines China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Africa through the frameworks of dependency theory, postcolonial theory, and neo-colonialism. As China's global economic influence has expanded throughout the twenty-first century, the BRI has emerged as a major source of infrastructure financing and development across the Global South, particularly in Africa. While critics frequently portray the initiative as a form of "debt-trap diplomacy," supporters argue that Chinese investment offers an alternative to the neoliberal conditionality historically associated with Western-led International Financial Institutions (IFIs) such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. This study addresses two central research questions: …

The Power Of Perception: Latine Threat Narratives And Immigration Control In The United States, Nina Gallo

University Honors Theses

Despite America's rich history as a self-proclaimed "nation of immigrants," immigration policy in the United States has functioned as a tool of social control designed to systematically exclude and restrict groups of people that pose a perceived threat to national identity and safety. This perceived threat has effectively been communicated through harmful narratives that stratify immigrant communities from the rest of society. Through this framing, support for punitive immigration policies thrives. Currently, Latine immigrants and their families have been the target of discriminatory immigration policies and enforcement tactics. No work to date has synthesized the current state of the immigration …

Jazz V. Law: An Overview Of Copyright Law For Jazz Musicians, Trevor Thompson

University Honors Theses

The United States copyright system has become increasingly complicated and has developed a bias toward written, notated mediums over performance mediums. This bias can be traced from the Statute of Anne through the modern system under the Copyright Act of 1976, and it directly affects jazz musicians' ability to comply with copyright laws and properly receive royalties for their work. This study traces the evolution of copyright law from 1710 to the present, noting important cases such as White-Smith Music Pub. Co. v. Apollo Co., McIntyre v. Double-A Music Corporation, and Tempo Music, Inc. v. Famous Music Corp. …