Digital Commons Network^™

Deportations And Debt: How The Trump Administration’S Immigration Policies Affect The United States’ National Debt Situation, James D. Webster

Honors Theses and Capstones

The value of the United States’ national debt measured as a share of its economic output, otherwise known as its debt-to-GDP ratio, is projected to reach an all-time high and continue to climb over the span of the next 30 years. This can be attributed to a combination of tax and spending policies which generate annual budget deficits as well as a projected slowdown of economic growth. A major factor contributing to this situation is the slowing growth of the labor force in the United States. As time goes on, the growth of the U.S. population slows, and immigration becomes …

Hit Me, Baby, One More Time: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of The Celebrity Gossip Magazine Shaming Of Britney Spears, Anna Rae Drabik

Honors Theses and Capstones

Britney Spears is an American pop star who rose to fame in the late 1990s at the age of 17 with her music, performances, and fashion. Spears was a prominent figure in celebrity gossip magazines, a genre which grew to prominence alongside and, in many ways, because of Spears. The distinct aesthetic and style of celebrity gossip magazines involved stories, blurbs, and images which wielded praise and shame—directly and indirectly—as tools to enforce norms and expectations for both female celebrities and female readers. Through a critical discourse analysis of 378 People and Us articles throughout the first ten years of …

Keynote: Promoting Disability Equality Behind Bars, Margo Schlanger

Articles

A few years back, I finished a five-year appointment as a “settlement monitor” in a state prison system for a civil rights case about deaf and hard-of hearing people incarcerated there. With the consent of the parties, I had been appointed by a federal court to spend time in the state’s prisons, talking to prisoners and staff, and reviewing records and facilities. I saw some obvious problems. I recall one deaf prisoner; he used American Sign Language to communicate and could not speak at all. He was found to have committed a disciplinary infraction at a proceeding where he could …

Labor Law, Ownership, And The Firm, Sanjukta Paul

Articles

In shaping economic coordination within and across both firms and markets, one significant action of law is to allocate privileges or rights between people or groups of people. These include the right to coordinate with other people or groups of people in particular ways regarding core economic decisions-a type of activity that is not always or in all circumstances legally permissible. An area that makes this more general action of law especially concrete is antitrust or competition law, with its collection of "exemptions." Antitrust's formal and informal exemptions quite directly allocate economic coordination rights, for particular kinds of activity, and …

Memory, Resistance, And Doubt, Richard Primus

Articles

Burroughs v. United States is not a famous case. But it could be. Its central character was a famous man. James Cannon, Jr., was a bishop in the Methodist church, a player in the worlds of business and banking, a ruthless political power broker, and a zealous Prohibitionist. In Virginia, where he lived, his role within the Democratic Party earned him the informal title of “the dry boss of the state,” and his influence extended well beyond the Old Dominion. Indeed, the essayist H.L. Mencken identified Cannon as the most important Prohibitionist in the country. “More than any other man,” …

The Three Lives Of Mamengwaa: Toward An Indigenous Canon Of Construction, Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Articles

For too long, tribal judiciaries have been an afterthought in the story of tribal selfdetermination. Until the last half-century, many tribal nations relied on federally administered courts or had no court systems at all. As tribal nations continue to develop their law-enforcement and police powers, tribal justice systems now play a critical role in tribal self-determination. But because tribal codes and constitutions tend to borrow extensively from federal and state law, tribal judges find themselves forced to apply and enforce laws that are poor cultural fits for Indian communities—an unfortunate reality that hampers tribal judges’ ability to regulate and improve …

The New Substantive Due Process, Leah M. Litman

Articles

After the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, commentators made much about the possible demise of substantive due process—the idea that the Constitution safeguards certain substantive liberties that are not specifically or explicitly spelled out in the Constitution. Judges and scholars are debating which substantive due process decisions are next on the chopping block and whether the entire domain of substantive due process is in jeopardy. But a curious thing happened as the Court scaled back and openly questioned the traditional individual-rights line of substantive due process: Rather than eliminating it entirely, the Court seems to have transposed it elsewhere. …

Introduction, Malia Willey, Scott P. Libson

Faculty Scholarship

The introduction to Teaching Information Literacy by Discipline: Using and Creating Adaptations of the Framework.

Training Module And Assessment Strategy For Light Microscopy Skills Training In A Research Environment, Kristopher E. Kubow, Joseph A. Harsh

Faculty Scholarship

Training in specialized techniques and instrumentation is an important component of undergraduate and graduate education. While such training can occur in formal lab courses, it also occurs as students engage in research. Although training in a research lab setting is typically informal, implementing evidence-based practices from the classroom would be beneficial, particularly for learning complex techniques and instruments, for example, light microscopy. Using advanced microscopes for research is more complicated than using teaching microscopes in a course. In addition, microscopes are easy to misuse because they will generally always produce an image even if that image is suboptimal, misleading, or …

Harnessing Digital Twins: Advancing Virtual Replicas For Optimized System Performance And Sustainable Innovation, Muuhammad Nawaz Khan, Imtiaz Ahmad

Babylonian Journal of Mechanical Engineering

Digital twins (DTs) have recently become an extremely influential and disruptive concept in engineering and technology. They are characterized as dynamic virtual replicas of physical systems used for real-time monitoring, simulation, and optimization. In the face of growing complexity in modern industries, digital twins offer the capacity to aggregate data from IoT sensors, utilize AI-based analytics, and provide predictive and prescriptive decision-making to achieve operational excellence and drive sustainable innovation. This review presents an in-depth overview of the state-of-the-art in digital twin technologies, covering their conceptual foundations, enabling technologies, application domains, theoretical frameworks, as well as the key challenges and …

Optimizing Mechanical Performance Of Agc-Reinforced Polymer Nanocomposites: A Quantitative Analysis Of Stiffness–Ductility Trade-Offs, Taseer Muhammad, Ali Akgül

Babylonian Journal of Mechanical Engineering

This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the mechanical behavior of polymer nanocomposites reinforced with varying loadings of silver-coated carbon (AgC) nanoparticles. Using a systematic experimental approach, five compositions ranging from 0% to 20% AgC loading were evaluated through tensile testing, with data processed and analyzed using Python-based workflows. The results reveal that increasing AgC content leads to significant improvements in stiffness and strength, as evidenced by a steady rise in Young Modulus and ultimate tensile strength. However, this reinforcement is accompanied by a progressive reduction in ductility, highlighting a pronounced stiffness–ductility trade-off. Toughness exhibited a nonlinear response, peaking at …

Comparative Analysis Of Ftcs, Richardson, And Dufort-Frankel Numerical Methods For Temperature Distribution In A One-Dimensional Rod, Ahmed Sarhan Abdulsitar

Babylonian Journal of Mechanical Engineering

This Forward Time Centred Space (FTCS), Richardson, and Dufort-Frankel finite difference methods for solving the one-dimensional heat conduction equation are examined and compared in this paper. The goal is to evaluate each method's accuracy, stability, and computational efficiency by analysing the temperature distribution along a rod. To put the approaches into action, the same starting and ending points for each were used. Not only is FTCS simple and quick to construct, but the results also show that it is conditionally stable. Despite its improved accuracy, Richardson is prone to numerical instability. While the Dufort-Frankel approach is more complicated, it provides …

Rural Girl Comedy Hour, Riley Mccall

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Behavioral Reassignment In School Systems: A Restorative Model For Holistic Intervention, Gabriel M. Velez, Thomas Durkin, Kristin Haglund, John H. Grych, Julie Novak, Sherri Walker, Emily Goldstein Nolan, Amanda Krzykowski, Janessa Doucette, Drew Deluito, Bridget Schock

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Growing evidence over the last few decades has highlighted that punitive approaches in schools perpetuate violence, furthering inequities, deepening issues of safety, and negatively impacting young people’s development. These impacts are particularly felt in under-resourced urban schools situated in contexts of community violence. Partially, in response, an increasing number of schools and school districts are engaging in restorative practices. This trauma-informed, strengths-based framework focuses on relationships, healing, and accountability. This article contributes to the growing literature on the potential of restorative justice to promote equity in urban schools and educational systems by outlining the development and model of a restorative …

A Biphasic Microstructural Model Of Skeletal Muscle To Study Structure-Function Mechanisms Under Multiaxial Tensile And Compressive Conditions, Benjamin Wheatley, Minhaj U. Bhuiyan, Sabrina S. Lorza, Kevin M. Moerman, Pierre-Yves Rohan

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Leadership And Management In Action Program (L-Map) Supplement: Case Studies For Humanities And Social Sciences, Giovanna Bonadonna Ph.D., Kevin Kadowaki Ph.D., A. Patricia Mendoza Ph.D., Matthew Thompson Ph.D., Shirl Yang Ph.D.

Office of Postdoctoral Affairs

The Leadership and Management in Action Program (L-MAP) Workbook and Facilitator Guide are authored by Erin Heckler, Ph.D., Jessica A. Hutchins, Ph.D., Molly Grisham, M.A., and Elizabeth Luckman, Ph.D., M.B.A. The L-MAP Project was supported by a Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) Career Guidance for Trainees grant to Washington University in St. Louis, 2019-2021 (co-principal investigators: Erin Heckler, Ph.D., and Jessica Hutchins, Ph.D.).

This Supplement does not (nor does it intend to) replace the L-MAP curriculum. The case studies in this document are designed to accompany the theory in the L-MAP curriculum applying it to discipline-specific situations in the humanities and …

Breaking The Ice: Disability Representation In The “Ice” Love, Death + Robots Adaptation, Danbee You

Dean James E. McLeod Freshman Writing Prize

This essay examines how Netflix’s Love, Death + Robots (LDR) adaptation of Rich Larson’s short story “Ice” transforms its original sibling dynamic into a commentary steeped in ableist tropes. While Larson’s story portrays Sedgewick, the unmodded brother, as autonomous and confident, the episode reinterprets him through infantilizing and victimizing lenses, casting him as a disabled figure in need of rescue. The LDR episode’s decisions to downplay or embellish certain elements of Larson’s short story reveal eco-ableist and transhumanist-ableist themes that link bodily limitation to environmental incompatibility and valorize technological modification as physical superiority. Furthermore, Fletcher’s deceptive “help” exemplifies the heroic …

Using A Community Of Practice Perspective To Analyze Mte Learning During Lesson Study, Mollie Appelgate, Lara Dick, Dittika Gupta, Melissa Soto, Shawn Broderick

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Insuring The Uninsurable: The Case For Nontraditional Data, Catherine Ingram

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Focus Group: Academicians, Rogelio Paquini, Kristina Freed

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

How Artificial Intelligence Will Shape Securities Regulation, Gabriel Rauterberg

Faculty Scholarship

How will the increasing prevalence and sophistication of artificial intelligence (AI) change the doctrine and practice of securities law? My main thesis is that it will push securities regulation toward a more systems-oriented approach. This approach will replace securities law’s emphasis, in areas like manipulation, on forms of enforcement targeted at specific individuals and accompanied by punitive sanctions with a greater focus on ex ante rules designed to shape an ecology of actors and information.

Prevalence Of Emergency Management Across The Conservation Reserve Program And Effects Of Emergency Management On Field Vegetation, Gretchen Steffensmeier

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is an extensive government program established by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1985 where farmers across the country agree to take land out of agricultural production and plant species to improve environmental health and quality in exchange for yearly rental payments. The main goals of CRP include re-establishing valuable land cover to improve water quality, preventing soil erosion, and reducing the loss of wildlife habitat. Currently, there are approximately 22 million acres enrolled across the country. The CRP is portrayed as a powerful tool that can be used to mitigate the impacts …

Reflections On Linear B, (Part 7): Sign 75, Which Looks Like A Backwards Letter S, Might Derive From The Ancient Egyptian Uraeus Figure, Gerald Leonard Cohen

Arts, Languages and Philosophy Faculty Research & Creative Works

Linear B sign 75 is evidently of unknown origin, both with respect to its intended portrayal and a rationale for its pronunciation /we/. And yet, like several other signs of Linear B, I believe this one too derives from ancient Egyptian, viz., the mythological cobra figure poised to spit fire to protect the god/goddess or sovereign on whose crown or headdress the cobra stands guard.

C 3 An: Custom, Compact And Composite Ai Systems - A Neurosymbolic Approach: 4Th-Generation Evolution Of Intelligent Systems, Amit P. Sheth, Kaushik Roy, Revathy Venkataramanan, Venkatesan Nadimuthu

Publications

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems continue to evolve rapidly. From the architecture perspective, it is evolving from large, monolithic models trained on massive internet data to complex, multi-component “compound” systems and “agentic” frameworks capable of semi-autonomous decision-making. These systems show immense promise yet face numerous challenges in reliability, consistency, transparency, and alignment with user goals. In this article, we propose Custom, Compact and Composite AI with Neurosymbolic (C3AN) approach, a framework that paves way to 4th-generation of AI that integrates data, knowledge, and human expertise to build robust, intelligent and trustworthy AI systems defined by 14 foundation elements.

Custom emphasizes …

Crime In Tennessee 2025, Tennessee. Bureau Of Investigation

Crime in Tennessee

The information contained in the report is based upon crime statistics information submitted by all law enforcement agencies in Tennessee to TBI’s Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System (TIBRS) Program. TIBRS is the state version of the FBI’s National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) Program.

Elephant Megacarcasses Increase Local Nutrient Pools In African Savanna Soils And Plants, Courtney G. Reed, Michelle L. Budny, Johan T. Du Toit, Ryan Helcoski, Joshua P. Schimel, Izak P.J. Smit, Tercia Strydom, Aimee Tallian, Dave I. Thompson, Helga Van Coller, Nathan P. Lemoine, Deron E. Burkepile

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

African elephants (Loxodonta africana) are the largest extant terrestrial mammals, with bodies containing enormous quantities of nutrients. Yet, we know little about how these nutrients move through the ecosystem after an elephant dies. Here, we investigated the initial effects (1–26 months postmortem) of elephant megacarcasses on savanna soil and plant nutrient pools in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. We hypothesized that (H1) elephant megacarcass decomposition would release nutrients into soil, resulting in higher concentrations of soil nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and micronutrients near the center of carcass sites; (H2) carbon (C) inputs into the soil would stimulate …

Global Decoupling Of Functional And Phylogenetic Diversity In Plant Communities, Stefan A. Schnitzer

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Plant communities are composed of species that differ both in functional traits and evolutionary histories. As species’ functional traits partly result from their individual evolutionary history, we expect the functional diversity of communities to increase with increasing phylogenetic diversity. This expectation has only been tested at local scales and generally for specific growth forms or specific habitat types, for example, grasslands. Here we compare standardized effect sizes for functional and phylogenetic diversity among 1,781,836 vegetation plots using the global sPlot database. In contrast to expectations, we find functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity to be only weakly and negatively correlated, implying …

Apocalyptic Technical Communication From Clockface To Briefcase: Revealing The Spurious Coin Of Nuclear-Security Rhetoric, Ryan Cheek

English and Technical Communication Faculty Research & Creative Works

This article the Doomsday Clock and the Nuclear Football as interconnected technical communication artifacts that function as two sides of a "spurious coin" in the securitization of nuclear deterrence. While the Clock externalizes existential risk through apocalyptic rhetoric, the Football internalizes it within exclusive military command structures—together legitimizing perpetual nuclear crisis. Drawing on technical communication scholarship and critical security studies, the analysis argues that both artifacts sustain nuclearist ideology by reinforcing deterrence as common sense. The Clock's ominous countdown and the Football's ever-present launch capability are mutually validating and together normalize nuclear brinkmanship as the price of global security.

Caveolin-Mediated Endocytosis: Bacterial Pathogen Exploitation And Host-Pathogen Interaction, Dibyasri Barman, Rishi Drolia

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Within mammalian cells, diverse endocytic mechanisms, including phagocytosis, pinocytosis, and receptor-mediated endocytosis, serve as gateways exploited by many bacterial pathogens and toxins. Among these, caveolae-mediated endocytosis is characterized by lipid-rich caveolae and dimeric caveolin proteins. Caveolae are specialized microdomains on cell surfaces that impact cell signaling. Caveolin proteins facilitate the creation of caveolae and have three members in vertebrates: caveolin-1, caveolin-2, and caveolin-3. Many bacterial pathogens hijack caveolin machinery to invade host cells. For example, the Gram-positive facultative model intracellular bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes exploits caveolin-mediated endocytosis for efficient cellular entry, translocation across the intestinal barrier, and cell–cell spread. Caveolin …

Heterotrophy Of Particulate Organic Matter Subsidies Contributes To Divergent Bleaching Responses In Tropical Sclaractinian Corals, Connor R. Love, Kelly E. Speare, Michael D. Fox, Veronica Z. Radice, Kelton W. Mcmahon, Gretchen E. Hofmann,, David L. Valentine, Marie E. Strader

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Heterotrophic feeding on plankton and particulate organic matter (POM) by tropical Scleractinian corals is known to aid in the resistance and recovery from thermally induced bleaching. However, the relative importance of heterotrophy in promoting bleaching resistance and recovery is likely to vary based on ecological context and the severity of heat stress. In 2019, the Pacific Island of Mo'orea experienced mass coral mortality during a widespread marine heatwave. Many Acropora hyacinthus colonies on the shallow reef slope (5 m) were resistant to bleaching, while colonies on the deeper fore reef (14 m) often bleached and subsequently recovered, despite similar thermal …