Digital Commons Network^™

Ethicalswarm: A Governance Framework For Ethically-Bound Multi-Agent Systems, Niels S. Goldstein

Defensive Publications Series

EthicalSwarm is a governance framework for multi-agent AI systems that makes ethical conduct a propagating, inheritable property of the system rather than a discardable policy. The framework declares a set of machine-readable ethical invariants (truthfulness, transparency of action, audit preservation, human sovereignty, schema-bound behavior, non-degradation of autonomy); binds them to a swarm through an ethical capsule; and requires, as a condition of legitimacy, that every fork, clone, or operational derivative carry the capsule forward or explicitly supersede it with a documented, equivalent-or-stronger successor. This recursive accountability mechanism is analogous to copyleft: just as copyleft makes software freedom survive redistribution, ethical …

Cogstack: Persistent Ai Cognition And Multi-Vendor Cognitive Stacking, Niels S. Goldstein

Defensive Publications Series

CogStack is a two-layer architecture for autonomous AI agent systems. The first layer, the persistent cognition substrate, externalizes the context produced by interactive AI sessions, compresses it into a durable memory store, and rehydrates it into subsequent stateless API calls, enabling agents to reason continuously across sessions and execution environments. The second layer, multi-vendor cognitive stacking, orchestrates agents drawn from different model providers and families so the composite system exhibits emergent properties that no single constituent produces alone — specifically, decorrelated diversity in which each agent's failure modes do not coincide with the others'. CogStack is designed as the orchestration …

Method And System For Brand Persona Construction And Embedding Based Entity Identification From Transaction Aggregates, Arnab Dutta, Hanyu Li, Khaleeque Ansari, Teena Mohammad Iqbal

Defensive Publications Series

Present disclosure provides a method and system for brand persona construction and embedding based entity identification from transaction aggregates. The present disclosure discloses a system for accurately identifying entities from transaction aggregates in environments where textual identifiers are ambiguous, inconsistent or overlapping. The present disclosure constructs structured brand personas by aggregating transaction data associated with an entity identifier and selecting dominant attribute values across multiple dimensions using a coverage constrained selection mechanism. Further, embedding representations are generated from the constructer personas using a combination of distributed based features and semantic representations. The incoming personas aggregates are transformed into comparable embeddings …

Public Interest In Salons And Spas With Islamic Nuances, Assyifa F. Adzani, Boike J. Anshory, Alifia W. Izzati, Pengiran Dr Hajah Norkhairiah Binti Pengiran Haji Hashim

Nusantara Halal Journal

This research is motivated by the increasing demand for women to be able to undergo beauty treatments safely and comfortably. In recent years, the salon and spa industry has played quite an important role in Indonesia. Caring for and beautifying oneself has become part of a person's lifestyle, especially in urban areas, including Muslim women. Generally, salons and spas are open to male and female customers. Still, in countries where most of the population is Muslim, many Muslim women want a room or area for those who wear hijabs to receive treatments at salons and spas freely. Muslimah salon is …

Concise And Informative Article Titled The Influence Of Islamic Modern Life On People's Visits To Places Of Reflexology, Andrea Angeline Hidayat, Boike Janus Anshory, Oktavianus Nangoy

Nusantara Halal Journal

Reflexology is a treatment that attempts to recover a body that is worn out, uncomfortable, or ill. Numerous health issues are emerging due to the modern lifestyle we presently live. The body could get physically and psychologically exhausted from daily activities, workplace physical activity, and other stressful situations. Muscle stiffness may happen from job responsibilities that are unmoved and lack movement. Activities that require a lot of muscle and body movement increase the risk of injuries to the body, including strains and sprains. Accuracy and focus during working or doing routine duties might be affected by mental tiredness. Modern life …

Exploring The Halal Perspectives On Animal Excrement And Its Renewable Energy Products, Ahmad Munjin Nasikh, Nur Faizin, Eli Hendrik Sanjaya, Achmad Sultoni, Cecep Soleh Kurniawan

Nusantara Halal Journal

Energy consumption continues to increase following the escalation of economic growth worldwide. The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts global energy consumption will increase by 50% from 2018 to 2050, with the highest increase in Asia. But up to recently, coal and oil are still the primary sources of energy. Thus, a novel and renewable alternative energy is a necessity. Biomass is one of the most abundant renewable energy sources that come from various sources. However, the Muslim world population feels the need for an answer to the halal status of this energy source. This paper examines Islamic classical and modern …

Many Hands Make Light Work: Restoring Edu-Economical Debts For Black Males, Joyice Robinson Myers

VA Engage Journal

A college degree is closely linked to economic stability, yet only 20% of Black men in the United States hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. These disparities are not accidental; they are the cumulative result of systems that have systematically denied Black males equitable access to educational and economic opportunity across generations. This systematic review examines the compounding relationship among family structure, educational attainment, and economic standing for Black males, and considers what restoring that relationship could look like in practice. I integrate three theoretical frameworks—Education Debt (Ladson-Billings, 2006), African American Male Theory (Bush & Bush, 2013), and the R³ISE …

Establishment Of Age-Specific Reference Intervals For Ca 19-9 And Cea: A Retrospective Analysis Of The Saudi Population, Abrar Ashi, Shmoukh Alghuraibi

The Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Science

Introduction: Accurate interpretation of serum marker measurements is essential in clinical laboratory practice. Carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) are widely used biomarkers, yet their serum concentrations may be influenced by demographic and non-malignant factors. This study aimed to establish age- and gender-stratified reference intervals (RIs) for a Saudi population and quantify the impact of these local limits on diagnostic specificity and stewardship.

Methods: We retrospectively analysed 1,567 adult laboratory results (aged 15–100) from nationwide diagnostic centres. This study followed the CLSI EP28-A3c guidelines for the indirect estimation of reference intervals. Statistical analysis included Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney …

Integration Of Endemic Economic Cereal And Legume Crops In Jazan, Saudi Arabia Based On Pathogenic Fungi As A Taxonomic Study, A. El-Shabasy

The Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Science

This review evaluates the relation between fungal disease of the most important economic plants at Jazan region, Saudi Arabia and phylogenetic plant taxonomic values. This study provides the full information on the status of fungal diseases with comparative analysis among different species related to the same families. The review highlights on environmental impacts on fungal disease dispersion, virulence and pathogenicity besides the plant morphological characters. It refers to the adaptation of plants at their habitats as well as the status of fungal biodiversity among studied plant species.

Potential Protective Effects Of Okra (Abelmoschus Esculentus) Seed Oil Against Cadmium-Induced Oxidative Lipid Damage In Male Rats, Amani Ahmad Rifai Filimban, Nada Abdulkareem Batais

The Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Science

Objectives: To investigate the protective effect of okra seed oil against cadmium-induced toxicity in male Wistar rats.

Methods: Twenty-four male Wistar rats (8-weeks old, average 120g) were divided into four groups (n=6): Control/ Received deionized water. Cadmium/ Received 5 mg/kg/day of cadmium chloride (CdCl₂) orally. Okra Seed Oil/ Treated with 800 mg/kg/day of okra seed oil. Okra Seed Oil + Cadmium/ Received okra seed oil followed three hours later by CdCl₂. Treatments were given daily. Lipid profiles and antioxidant markers were measured to assess metabolic effects.

Results: Cadmium exposure caused significant dyslipidemia, characterized by elevated levels …

Insect Succession And Habitat Influence On Decomposition In Yanbu Industrial City, Western Saudi Arabia: A Baseline Study For Forensic Application, Abdullah A. Daghar, Abdullah G. Alghamdi, Majed S. Alrefaei

The Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Science

Forensic entomology plays a vital role in medico-legal investigations by providing key insights into post-mortem interval (PMI) estimation through the ecological succession and developmental patterns of necrophagous insects. Despite global advancements in this field, forensic entomological data in arid regions such as Saudi Arabia remains scarce and fragmented. This study investigates the diversity, abundance, and seasonal fluctuations of forensically important insect taxa across four ecologically distinct environments,desert, coastal, agricultural, and urban in Yanbu Industrial City, western Saudi Arabia. Field experiments were conducted using rabbit carcasses as decomposition models, exposed systematically across seasons. Insects were collected and morphologically identified. Results revealed …

Ziziphus Oxyphylla Edgew. A New Record In Arabian Peninsula From South-Western Mountains Of Saudi Arabia, Tawfiq Alfaifi, Lamiaa F. Shalabi

The Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Science

For the first time, the current study identifies Zizphus oxyphylla Edgew. plant collected from southwestern mountains of Saudi Arabia, Al Hashr and Faifa. Complete morphological description for the plant, taxonomic notes, location and distribution maps, photographs for plant parts, habitats and population data are included. Data collected from published literature, formal taxonomic websites, geographical affinities, ecological similarities were reported as strong evidences which confirmed the identification of Ziziphus oxyphylla plant as a new addition to the flora of Saudi Arabia and Arabian Peninsula.

Heavy Metal Contamination In Red Sea Hamour Fish: Bioaccumulation Patterns, Toxicological Impacts, And Microbial Community Disruption, Haifa O. Aljuhani, Osamah A. Ahmad, Ashwaq R. Almohammadi

The Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Science

Red Sea heavy metal pollution lately poses a serious threat to human health and ecological integrity. The present research review examines the several effects of heavy metal contamination on the economically important Hamour fish (Epinephelus spp.), a major bioindicator species because of its benthic feeding habit and great bioaccumulation potential. Where the industrial activities, hydrocarbon exploration, desalination effluent, and coastal urbanization have produced continuous pollution vectors, promoting bioaccumulation via gill absorption, food intake, and dermal absorption in Hamour tissues. Our work demonstrates complicated toxicological effect comprising oxidative stress, hematological malfunction, immunosuppression, neurotoxicity, reproductive impairment, and genotoxic damage. Consequently, heavy …

The Effect Of Black Pepper (Piper Nigrum) Extract On Lipid Profile In Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats, Amani A.R. Filimban, Khulud A. Wathi

The Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Science

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the hypolipidemic effect of black pepper (Piper nigrum) aqueous extract on lipid profile parameters in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats.

Methods: Eighteen adult male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to three groups: a control group, a diabetic group induced by STZ, and a diabetic group treated with black pepper extract (50 mg/kg/day) for 30 days. Total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels were measured using ELISA. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA with Tukey's post hoc test and effect size estimation.

Results: The diabetic group exhibited significantly …

Photometric Analysis Of The Open Star Clusters Ic 1442, King 21, And Trumpler 7 Using Topcat Tools With Machine Learning Techniques And Asteca, Amaal Turki Alghamdi, Abdulrahman Ali Malawi

The Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Science

This study presents the results of the analysis of three open star clusters — IC 1442, King 21, and Trumpler 7 — using data from Gaia DR3 combined with Machine Learning techniques and TOPCAT tools. The identified cluster members are 208 for IC 1442, 133 for King 21, and 319 for Trumpler 7. From the derived density profiles, we determined each cluster’s structural parameters, such as cluster radii. The estimated distances from the Sun are 2785.599 pc, 2502.302 pc, and 1478.923 pc, respectively, while the logarithmic ages are log(age) = 7.40 yr, 7.60 yr, and 7.80 yr. Assuming solar metallicity, …

Selective Separation Of Eriochrome Black T Onto Cork From Marine And Tap Waters: Kinetic, Isotherm And Thermodynamic Study, M. A. Alsolami, Z. M. Saigl

The Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Science

Synthetic dye contamination of waterways poses a serious threat to human health and the environment. Eriochrome Black T (EBT) is a persistent azo dye that is especially dangerous because of its toxicity and chemical stability. This study evaluates cork as a cost-effective and environmentally responsible biosorbent for the removal of EBT from aquatic systems. Experimental observations confirmed that adsorption equilibrium was achieved within 25 minutes at an optimal pH of 4. Kinetic using pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and Elovich models revealed that the pseudo-second-order model yielded the most accurate fit (k₂ = 0.2482 g/mg.min), implying that chemisorption is the primary …

Diversification Of Ghost Electric Fishes (Gymnotiformes, Apteronotidae) In Tropical South America: How Traits And Environmental Factors Constrain Macroevolutionary Diversification, Jonathan Gifford Allen

Doctoral Dissertations

Neotropical electric fishes (Apteronotidae) display remarkable phenotypic and ecological diversity, offering an exceptional system for studying macroevolutionary processes in freshwater environments. Here I investigate the morphological, ecological, and historical factors shaping diversification in the clade Navajini, with a focus on craniofacial evolution, species delimitation, and biogeographic patterns. First, using high-resolution micro-CT scans, 3D geometric morphometrics, and phylogenetic comparative methods, I analyze skull shape variation across Navajini. Key traits resulting from heterocephaly exhibit strong phylogenetic signal and reflect functional differentiation among genera. Sexual dimorphism contributes significantly to cranial disparity in some lineages, while others show conserved, modular patterns likely tied to …

Policy Whiplash: Tariffs And Uncertainty Among Firms And Investors In 2025, Boau Lilly Shepherd

Economics Undergraduate Senior Theses

On April 2, 2025, President Donald Trump announced a series of reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trading partners, set to be implemented on April 9, 2025, a day he referred to as “Liberation Day”. Although these tariffs were paused almost immediately, they were subsequently renegotiated and revised throughout the summer of 2025. This paper finds evidence that Liberation Day caused a spike in uncertainty among firms and a spike in volatility among investors, while the subsequent summer revisions reduced uncertainty and volatility, despite tariff levels remaining substantially higher than those at the start of the year. These findings suggest that firms …

Individualism And Momentum Revisited: Evidence On The Persistence Of Cultural Drivers In Stock Market Returns, Hayley S. Sciubba

Economics Undergraduate Senior Theses

This paper reexamines the relationship between cultural differences and momentum strategy returns over the period March 2007 through March 2026, building on the Chui, Titman and Wei (2010) finding that higher individualism is associated with greater trading volume, volatility, and momentum profits. Cross-country cultural differences are measured using an individualism index developed by Minkov et al. (2017), which is related to overconfidence and self-attribution bias. Using monthly stock price data, I construct cleaned monthly returns and sort stocks into six-month momentum portfolios. Although many of the 41 countries common to the original and current samples have experienced changes in their …

Selective Contagion: Sovereign Credit Integration And Heterogeneous Shock Transmission In Emerging Equity And Derivative Markets, Fabiana Araujo Rincón

Economics Undergraduate Senior Theses

Contagion in Latin America is real but selective: the direction of spillover depends on whether a country is integrated more strongly into global or regional markets. Using a stacked event study across 90 manually identified shocks from 2001 to 2026, I estimate regional contagion and its determinants across credit, currency, equity, and derivative markets. Contagion travels through sovereign credit, not currency, and through economic, not political, shocks. Political shocks, despite their larger domestic impact, stay locally contained. The direction of spillover turns on shock origin: shocks from large, globally integrated economies depress their peers, while shocks from smaller, regionally focused …

Implied Variance Asymmetry As A Predictor Of Stock Returns Around Quarterly Earnings Dates, Matthew J. Sebastian

Economics Undergraduate Senior Theses

This paper investigates whether option-implied variance asymmetry, defined as the difference between upside and downside risk-neutral semivariances measured shortly before scheduled quarterly earnings announcements pre- dicts the cumulative abnormal return realized over the announcement win- dow. We find implied variance asymmetry positively and significantly pre- dicts announcement-window returns in S&P 500 companies: the high-minus- low quintile sort portfolio earns 45 basis points over a five-day window with a Fama-French four-factor alpha of 60 basis points, both statistically signif- icant. The results suggest a temporary break in market efficiency and are consistent with an informed-trading interpretation in which earnings specific information …

Lindenwood Celebrates The Careers Of Four Retirees, Lindenwood University

Archived Lindenwood Press Releases

No abstract provided.

Storytelling, Gender, And The Double-Empathy Problem, Annie Rogers

Theses and Dissertations

Storytelling has been proposed as a meaningful way to facilitate empathy and connection, particularly across neurotypes. The present study examined whether a live storytelling event influenced perceptions of the autism community, empathy, and interpersonal connection, while also exploring differences on biological sex and levels of autistic traits. Participants completed pre- and post-event measures assessing relationship perceptions and connection, along with standardized measures of empathy and autistic traits. Results showed a significant increase in positive perceptions of the autism community and perceived closeness to storytellers after the event. Engagement, emotional impact, openness, and motivation to support the autism community were all …

The Evolution Of Collaborative Dialogue And Instructional Change Among Secondary Mathematics Teachers Engaged In Peer Observation, Shazia Akbar

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examined how collaborative dialogue evolved across four cycles of a formative peer observation system involving one veteran and two first-year secondary mathematics teachers, exploring which aspects of that dialogue teachers attributed to changes in their instructional practice. Using the Math Talk for Equitable Participation (MTEP) framework across one academic year, data were drawn from verbatim transcripts of eight collaborative sessions and video-stimulated recall interviews. Four key findings emerged: evidence shifted from planning documents to video of student thinking, deepening pedagogical reasoning; novice teacher contributions grew from peripheral to central; relational trust fostered critical rather than merely affirming …

Flip It And Reverse It: Probing Consistency Of Llm World Knowledge Under Logical Transformations, Rhianna Smith

Computer Science Senior Theses

When assessing the extent to which someone truly understands the topics they discuss, you might ask them a series of questions that examine their knowledge from different angles. As Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly integrated into real-world tasks, they are often required to reason through ambiguous and uncertain scenarios that rarely have a single correct answer. In these settings, their usefulness is contingent on more than accuracy alone. Rather, it depends on the strength of the reasoning that underlies their responses. This begs the question: how might we extend these types of tests to LLMs? We formalize this informal …

Unheard Voices: Language And Humanity In Memoirs Of Immigration From Latin America To The United States, Aj Setala

Honors Projects

At the time of writing this project, aggressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) raids and mass deportations are being carried out across the U.S. The need to recognize the humanity of those targeted grows with every deportation. In this project, I address the question - What does it mean to be human? - by considering how language impacts the ways in which others affirm or deny the humanity of immigrants. To do this, I examine the role language plays in memoirs of undocumented Latin American immigrants. My analysis is grounded in Gloria Anzaldúa’s borderlands theory and César Miguel R. Vega …

Intersectional Inequalities In College Savings And Educational Outcomes Across Race/Ethnicity, Immigrant Status, And Gender: A Quant-Crit Analysis, Jason Jabbari, Ibrahim Habiba, Mat Despard, Somalis Chy

Journal of Student Financial Aid

As families use savings to further their children’s education, education serves as both a key driver of wealth and an artifact of wealth itself. Despite these cyclical relationships and the ways in which education and wealth are stratified across gender, race/ethnicity, and immigration, there is little intersectional research exploring these relationships. We employ a quantitative critical approach and leverage the first nationally representative longitudinal survey that includes information on high school achievement, college savings, borrowing, college enrollment, and major of study. We first demonstrate how race-gender and immigrant-gender intersectional groups experience disadvantages in college savings and in educational outcomes. We …

The Pragmatics Of Emoji: A Multimodal Investigation Of Politeness And Sarcasm In Student Interactions On Facebook, Twitter, And Reddit, Wesam Khairy Morsi

English Language and Literature

This study investigates the pragmatic functions of emojis as multimodal resources in students' interactions on Facebook, Twitter (X), and Reddit, with a focused distinction between politeness and sarcasm. Drawing on a corpus of 4000 naturally occurring student-generated posts (Facebook: 1200; Twitter/X: 1500; Reddit: 1300), the study applies a qualitative-quantitative coding framework grounded in Brown and Levinson's politeness theory and Gricean pragmatic models. Emojis are analyzed as components of semiotic bundles rather than isolated affective markers. Statistical analysis reveals significant gendered patterns (χ2 (1, N = 420) = 89.2, p < 0.001), with female students demonstrating greater use of emojis for politeness and solidarity functions (70.0%) compared to male students (35.0%), while male students show higher utilization for sarcasm and irony (65.0%) versus female students (30.0%). Platform-specific affordances significantly shape these pragmatic functions, with Facebook favoring politeness strategies, Reddit enabling ironic communication through anonymity, and Twitter facilitating compressed evaluative expressions. The findings suggest that emoji competence constitutes a fundamental component of digital pragmatic literacy requiring integration into higher education curricula.

Radiance After Exile: Visionism And The Art Of M, Lola Montgomery

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

This essay introduces and critically examines Visionism, the artistic philosophy developed by contemporary Australian painter M. Emerging from a practice shaped by early success, prolonged creative exile, and eventual return, Visionism is presented not as a stylistic movement but as a visual philosophy concerned with atmosphere, symbolism, transcendence, and the persistence of intensity after critique. Situating Visionism within contemporary debates surrounding postmodernism and metamodernism, the essay argues that M's work occupies a distinctive position within a broader cultural shift toward renewed engagements with meaning, affect, and sincerity.

Drawing on the artist’s own reflections, alongside theoretical perspectives from David Sudnow, Timotheus …

Cotton/Soybean Insect Newsletter, June 04, 2026, Jeremy K. Greene

Clemson University Cotton/Soybean Insect Newsletter

No abstract provided.