Digital Commons Network^™

Russian Linguistic Policy In The Post-Soviet World, Payton G. Deichler

The Dialogue

This paper examines the role of the Russian language as an instrument of soft power in the post-Soviet space, arguing that its geopolitical influence extends beyond demographic prevalence to the institutional frameworks through which it is promoted and mediated. Rather than functioning solely as a neutral medium of communication, Russian operates as an infrastructural component of influence that shapes access to media ecosystems, educational systems, and professional mobility across former Soviet republics. Drawing on the concept of a “Monopoly of Interpretation,” this study proposes that the centralized, state-linked promotion of Russian enables the consolidation of political narratives within shared linguistic …

Maritime Piracy In The Straits Of Malacca And Singapore, Brian Kenny

The Political Realm: Journal of Undergraduate Research in Political Science and International Relations

This article examines the sharp rise in maritime piracy in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, arguing that the surge stems from the convergence of structural vulnerabilities—dense shipping traffic, poverty-driven motivated offenders, and limited state enforcement capacity—now intensified by global supply chain disruptions and new technologies. It shows that piracy, though currently less violent than in past decades, poses significant economic and security risks for Southeast Asia and the broader global economy. The paper concludes that effective long‑term mitigation requires both strengthened regional maritime cooperation and domestic reforms addressing the socioeconomic roots of piracy, particularly in Indonesia.

Artificial Intelligence For Customer Relationship Management In The Nigerian Commercial Banking Sector, David Tobi Akobe, Wallace Chigona, Laban Bagui

The African Journal of Information Systems

The continuous increase in the volume of customer data stored by commercial banks necessitates the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to enhance customer retention and satisfaction. While a few Nigerian commercial banks do currently leverage these technologies, a significant knowledge gap limits their use across the wider Nigerian commercial banking sector. Guided by Organizational Information Processing (OIP) theory, we carried out a multiple case study to explore how AI technologies were utilized in three commercial banks in Nigeria. Purposive sampling was used to select experienced data professionals employed by these banks and semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data. …

Evaluation Of The Compliance Of Ultra-Low Dose Drugs Available In Local Iraqi Markets With Regulatory Weight Variation Test, Yousif K. Younis

Al-Mustaqbal Journal of Pharmaceutical and Medical Sciences

Mixing and formulation of drugs with very low dose is a brutal challenge to formulators sometimes due to all kinds of difficulties like segregation, content uniformity and physicochemical stability issues. A careful consideration of all related factors is essential during manufacturing of very low dose drug products. The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality control of ultra-low dose drugs of different companies available in local Iraqi and their compliance with regulatory weight variation test. Quantitative analysis conducted to five drugs using weight variation technique with 20 randomly selected tablets for each drug. All of these drugs passed …

Ethnopharmacology, Phytochemistry, And Pharmacological Potential Of Philenoptera Laxiflora: An Emerging African Medicinal Plant For Drug Discovery, Albashir Tahir

Al-Mustaqbal Journal of Pharmaceutical and Medical Sciences

Medicinal plants remain an important source of therapeutic agents and play a significant role in modern drug discovery. Philenoptera laxiflora (Fabaceae) is a tropical African plant widely used in traditional medicine, but the scientific evidence supporting its therapeutic potential remains fragmented. This review aims to comprehensively summarize the current knowledge on the ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemical composition, pharmacological activities, and toxicological profile of P. laxiflora, while highlighting research gaps and future directions for drug discovery. A comprehensive literature search was conducted using electronic scientific databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect. Relevant publications on the ethnobotany, …

Cfd-Based Thermal Performance Analysis Of Dimpled And Grooved Heat Pipes, Mazen M. Othayq, Khalid M. Alanazi

Yanbu Journal of Engineering and Science

Heat-transfer enhancement techniques such as fins, dimples, and grooves are widely employed to improve the thermal performance of heat exchangers; however, their application is often accompanied by increased pressure losses. Most existing studies investigate a single enhancement technique over a limited Reynolds number range, with few comparative analyses conducted at high Reynolds numbers using identical geometries. Therefore, this study numerically investigates the thermal–hydraulic performance of five pipe configurations using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). All geometries share the same diameter (48.34 mm) and length (7.45 m) and are examined over a Reynolds number range of 4,000–57,000. The configurations include: (1) smooth …

Optimizing The Interaction Between Rotational Speed, Tool Geometry, And Cooling Conditions In Friction Stir Welding Of Aa6061, Karwan B. Mohammed, Ayad F. Shahab

Engineering and Technology Journal

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid-state joining process. It is widely suitable for welding high-strength aluminum alloys. This study presents a systematic optimization of friction stir welding parameters for AA6061-T6 aluminum alloy by investigating the interaction effects of tool rotational speed, tool pin geometry, and cooling conditions. A Taguchi L27 orthogonal array was employed to examine three rotational speeds (820, 1120, and 1420 rpm), three pin profiles (square, triangular, and tapered), and three cooling conditions (compressed air, water, and crushed ice) while maintain a constant traverse speed of 35 mm/min. Mechanical performance was evaluated through tensile testing and stir-zone …

Stratified Deception-Inference Architecture (Sdia) - A Multi-Layer Adversarial Intelligence Framework For Log Semantics, Intent Inference, And Deception-Aware Observability Systems, Johny Manuel-Devadoss

Defensive Publications Series

Modern observability systems treat logs, traces, and metrics as noisy data sources requiring denoising, aggregation, and statistical anomaly detection. However, this assumption breaks down in adversarial, highly distributed, or rapidly evolving systems where signals may be incomplete, obfuscated, or implicitly deceptive due to system complexity, emergent behaviors, or malicious interference.I propose the Stratified Deception-Inference Architecture (SDIA), a hierarchical cognitive framework that reinterprets observability data as an adversarial communication system rather than a passive telemetry stream. Inspired by strategic deception paradigms from classical warfare, SDIA introduces a multi-layer architecture that explicitly models noise, semantic drift, and hidden intent as first-class computational …

On-Device Multi-Sensor Fusion With Machine Learning For Continuous Transit Navigation, Hui Ling Shi, Louis Lai, Oliver Dolk, Gul Kamisli Hasanoglu, Si Min Ong

Defensive Publications Series

Mobile navigation applications for public transit can experience degraded performance in environments with poor global positioning system signals, such as subway tunnels, which may cause a user's location display to freeze and guidance to cease. A described on-device system may address this by fusing data from a plurality of sensors, such as a barometer, magnetometer, and accelerometer, on a computing device like a smartphone or wearable device. A lightweight machine learning model can process this sensor data to generate a real-time probability that the user is on a moving transit vehicle. This probability may then be combined with a user's …

Hardware-Assisted Microarchitectural Context Cache With Kernel-Guided Predictive Prefetching For Efficient Context Restoration, N/A

Defensive Publications Series

A hardware-assisted Temporal Context Cache (TCC) system is described, including dedicated recorder and loader, integrated with each CPU core and interacting with a global context cache, as well as a controller component of which there may be several instances per SOC. During execution the recorder captures critical microarchitectural state, which may include L2 cache line addresses, L1 instruction cache addresses, branch prediction metadata, TLB state, prefetcher metadata, storing it in a local cache. When a thread yields or is preempted, the recorder saves this data to a global context cache asynchronously. The kernel scheduler then informs the hardware controller of …

Pinning Messages In Large Language Model Chat Interfaces, Florian Hartmann, Victor Carbune

Defensive Publications Series

A lack of persistent message visibility in large language model chat interfaces often requires users to repeatedly request information or results in the model regenerating previously provided content. This disclosure describes a method for pinning specific messages within a chat thread to ensure they remain visible regardless of scrolling position. The core technology involves an inference flow where either a user or the model identifies a message to be pinned via a user interface or tool call. Metadata regarding the pinned status is integrated into the model prompt, enabling the model to reference or highlight specific sections of the pinned …

Refractive Index Determination Of Rectangular Optical Slabs Using Modified Ray Tracing Method, Ubong Williams Robert, Sunday Edet Etuk, Okechukwu Ebuka Agbasi

Engineering and Technology Journal

The traditional ray tracing method (TRM) for determining the refractive index of optical materials is often time-consuming and poses challenges for individuals with visual impairments. Accurate refractive index determination is essential for selecting materials in optical instruments, optoelectronic devices, and optical communication systems. With the emergence of new materials, there is an increasing need for techniques that overcome the limitations of the TRM. In this study, a Modified Ray Tracing Method (MRTM) incorporating the use of a plane mirror to enhance image localisation and reduce alignment ambiguity was developed for determining the refractive indices of various optical materials, including soda, …

The Impact Of People Interests In Evaluating The Open Public Spaces' Quality In The City Centre, Hasan Hadi, Adil Al-Saidi, Haitham Alshamari

HBRC Journal

The quality of open public spaces in city centres significantly affects people's satisfaction and responses to their built environment. The significance of these areas allow people to assess their performance. this paper addresses the issue of People's interests that affect their evaluation of public urban spaces in city centres. The research applied an ontological methodology that is people's experiences determine the spatial quality of the public spaces in city centres. In order to discover and assess the seven value variables, it recommended diagnosing a random sample of users as a group (A) and (B). The urban space in the historic …

Ultra Vires Dan Pertanggungjawaban Direksi, Chatamarrasjid Ais

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Abstract

Commerce Identity Backend For Deterministic Online-To-Offline Transaction Attribution, Keith Hall, Alan Stapelberg

Defensive Publications Series

Connecting a user's online discovery with their offline purchasing behavior can be challenging due to fragmented ecosystems and a lack of visibility at physical point of sale (POS) terminals, which can impede transaction attribution. A headless commerce identity backend system is described that can address this gap by establishing a cloud-based account-level primitive. This primitive may use a payment account reference, a stable, non-sensitive identifier, as a federated key to map a user's account to their offline transactions. Such an architecture can facilitate the ingestion of stock keeping unit-level receipt data from POS terminals (e.g., cash registers, payment kiosks) via …

5t-Isc-Awg Technical Addendum 8, Vesa Olavi Lius

Defensive Publications Series

This Addendum extends the 5T-ISC-AWG Defensive Publication (2026) with a rigorous long-term thermal balance analysis of the bedrock-tunnel condenser, addressing a question that the parent publication acknowledged as a known limitation but did not quantify in detail: how the plant maintains passive operation over decadal timescales when the bedrock condenser is continuously absorbing latent heat of condensation at megawatt-class rates. The analysis confirms that the published Nordic and Mediterranean yields (0.93 and 1.16 ML/day respectively) are fully sustainable in passive 24/7 operation, and identifies the physical mechanisms through which long-term thermal balance is achieved: dew-point-pinning of the warm inlet wall …

Mapping The Void In Electric Vehicle (Ev) Adoption Research: Uncovering Lack Of Socio-Economic Study In The Global South, Satvik Pandey, Rahul Tiwari, Rajat Soni

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are considered an effective contemporary alternative to Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles. Research in the domain of EV is being conducted globally across a variety of fields; among them, our study explored research on consumer adoption. Going through the bibliometric analysis of the data taken from the Scopus database, what came to our attention is the minimal amount of work that is done on understanding consumers of EVs. From the literature, we found that consumer preferences are shaped through the influence of several parameters related to EVs, and this influence varies according to the consumer’s socio-economic and …

Optimization Of A Point Absorber Wave Energy Converter (Wec), Rutwa Dilipkumar Nagar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

This study examines the performance and optimization of a point absorber wave energy converter with a partially submerged spherical float. A comprehensive open-source computational framework integrates frequency-domain hydrodynamic analysis with time-domain simulation using Capytaine, BEMIO, and WEC-Sim. Hydrodynamic coefficients such as added mass, radiation damping, and excitation forces are calculated and integrated into the governing equation of motion using the Cummins formulation. A parametric analysis varies the float diameter and geometric configurations across several cases. Hydrodynamic coefficients and response amplitude operators are assessed to analyze system behavior and resonance characteristics. Results indicate consistent trends in normalized added mass, with radiation …

Communication Strategies To Support Collections And Budget Management, Evan Rusch, Heidi J. Southworth, Nat Gustafson-Sundell, Lisa Baures, Daardi Mixon, Joe Holtermann

Library Services Publications

As budget management grows more challenging, we will need to communicate as successfully as possible to achieve the best possible outcomes. Communication with departments and administration about budget management and related changes to collections can be crucial to maintain constructive relationships and to improve cooperative planning. Academic libraries often rely on librarian liaisons to communicate directly with departments, but additional communication efforts are sometimes pursued. Our library has recently focused on collections communication across a range of projects and audiences. These projects have included a budget reduction plan and major print deselection project, as well as ongoing, prospective budget management. …

April 29, 2026 General Faculty Minutes, University Of South Carolina

Faculty Senate

No abstract provided.

Automated, Modular, Agentless Adversarial Emulation In Cloud Environments For Higher Education And Student Training, Doc Harley

Senior Honors Theses

Currently, the leading technologies in the market of adversarial emulation are MITRE Caldera, Atomic Red Team by IBM, and multiple proprietary products that come with support packages for different vendors like AttackIQ, Cymulate, SafeBreach, and many more. While it is clear that much work has been done in the broad category of adversarial emulation, when it comes to open source solutions, there are no agentless options with built in automation and modularity that have good support for cloud environments. Agentless adversarial emulation provides a unique advantage in that it can be both simpler and a better representation of the true …

Changing Employee Motivation From Obligation To Opportunity: Increasing Intrinsic Motivation In Non-Profit Organizations, Evelyn L. Williams

Senior Honors Theses

Motivation is a key driver behind tasks within the workforce. Harnessing employee motivation increases productivity, employee retention, efficiency, and output quality. Non-profit organizations, however, are often unable to devote resources to externally increasing motivation. This study presents a motivational model that is built from three motivation theories: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory, and Self-Determination theory. By incorporating principles from these theories this model helps organizations internalize and increase the effectiveness of their employees’ motivation through increasing the autonomy, competence, and relationality felt by each employee. The six tenets of the REWARD model give non-profit organizations a framework …

The Pid-Based Three Quadcopter Uavs Formation Control Under External Disturbance, Vo Van An, Trinh Luong Mien

Makara Journal of Technology

This paper presents the design and evaluation of a formation control strategy for three quadcopter UAVs, based on a PID controller in a leader–follower structure, under the influence of external disturbances. Each UAV employs a six-degree of-freedom dynamic model and utilises a cascade PID control architecture, in which the inner control loop stabilises the attitude. In contrast, the outer control loop regulates position and maintains the formation. The PID parameters are tuned using the Ziegler–Nichols method to ensure simple implementation and low computational cost. The performance of the control system is evaluated through simulations in the MATLAB environment for two …

Echoes Of Deception: The Historical Impact Of Propaganda And Disinformation On Public Opinion, Justina Zgaljardic

Honors Theses

This study reconceptualizes propaganda not as a collection of regime-specific messaging practices, but as a structured and adaptive system of perception management operating across political and ideological boundaries. Addressing fragmentation within existing scholarship, it examines how propaganda constructs legitimacy, organizes interpretation, and aligns individual cognition with state objects through recurring narrative strategies and disinformation mechanisms. Using a qualitative framework, the analysis draws on primary materials from four wartime cases: the Stalinist Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, the United States during World War II, and wartime Britain. The findings demonstrate that, despite variation in political systems, propaganda consistently operates through three interrelated …

Commonwealth Times 2026-04-29

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Improving Transfer Portal Decision-Making Through A Microsoft Excel Optimization Model, Peyton Steffes

Honors Projects

The creation of the transfer portal has increased the mobility of collegiate athletes, giving players the autonomy to switch teams throughout their career. As a result, the roster development process has become more complex, as coaches are tasked with the challenge of recruiting from the transfer portal, which involves an extensive decision-making process. Coaches not only have to evaluate a substantial pool of players, but they also must consider the following constraints they are under: scholarship budget, roster spots available, and positional needs. To simplify this decision-making process, this analysis includes the results of a Microsoft Excel data optimization model …

Parents As First Teachers Living In Their Home Environment: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study, Dana Lynne Horne

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of parents as their child’s first teachers and how these experiences influence their child’s early educational development for Head Start parents at a school in Virginia. The central phenomenon of the study was generally defined as the multidimensional lived experiences of parents of children ages 0 to 6, living in unstable or substandard housing, and navigating the roles of caregiver, teacher, and advocate within complex social-cultural ecological environments. The theory guiding this study is Bronfenbrenner’s (1974) sociocultural environmental framework. This study focused on understanding Head Start Program parents’ …

Age Of First Smartphone Ownership With Social Media Access And Its Impact On Mental Health Outcomes, Derrick W. Swandol

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between the age of smartphone ownership with social media access (ASO) and self-esteem and depression symptoms, as well as to determine if the results could be moderated by adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) as an individual transitions from adolescence to adulthood. The study was conducted with n=54 (72% female), of whom 83% first owned a smartphone with social media access ≥ 12 years-of-age. This study was unable to obtain the minimum sample size for a statistically significant study and is considered underpowered due to needing a minimum sample size of …

Lived Experiences Of Individuals With Adverse Childhood Experiences And Mitigating Factors Of Personal Spiritual Disciplines, Carolyn Potts Simoneaux

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative phenomenological study sought to understand the impacts of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and what mitigating factors can help alleviate the pain and suffering caused by their residual life-long impacts. A literature review was done, and a gap was found on the subjects of personal spiritual disciplines (PSDs) of prayer, Bible reading/study, public/private worship, repentance and forgiveness as mitigating factors for the impacts of ACEs. This study recruited 15 participants who identified as victims of ACEs and used PSDs as mitigating factors to overcome the lifelong impacts. Interviews were done, using an online forum, to question participants on their …

Smartphone Addiction And Issues Associated With It, Clifford C F Massie Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The focus of this research is the possible addiction to smartphones and the effects on mental, physical, and social health. Smartphones are one of the most commonly used devices in the world today with billions of people in the world having them. People of all ages have formed a connection to and dependence on these devices and use them multiple times daily. People obsess over these devices daily by checking them or just touching their pocket to ensure they are still there. This could be considered a form of addiction. This study aimed to look at the connection to these …