Digital Commons Network^™

The Emmaus Conversation: A Cohort Model For Building Bridges Between Lgbtq+ Lived Experience And Church Leadership, Jon Ciccarelli

Doctor of Ministry

Need Problem Opportunity (NPO) Statement

Adventism fosters a harmful culture for LGBTQ+ individuals who want to grow as beloved disciples of Jesus.

Key Insights from Research

• Religious trauma greatly impacts LGBTQ+ individuals.
• Adventism is not pursuing the inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals.
• The Adventist Church is not benefiting from the fruit of the Spirit experienced and expressed through Adventist LGBTQ+ individuals as part of the body of Christ.
• Empathy, reconciliation, and healing were experienced during the project's prototyping.
• Many Southeastern California Conference pastors and leaders want to grow and engage in this area and be proactive in including LGBTQ+ individuals in …

Turn On The Light Of Life(Tll) Pastoral Theology For Integrated Mental And Spiritual Health In The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Perspective, Leulekal Akalu Alemu

Doctor of Ministry

This study explores a unified framework for integrating mental health counseling with spiritual guidance within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church pastoral theology, emphasizing the essential role of clergy in promoting both spiritual and mental well-being. The initiative aims to establish a structured approach that aligns mental health strategies with theological principles, thereby enhancing the connection between mental wellness and spiritual vitality.

Current observations indicate that many clergy members lack adequate training in pastoral counseling, which significantly impedes their ability to effectively address the mental and social issues faced by their communities. This research seeks to empower church leaders by providing …

Betrothed To Jesus: Embracing Uncertainty As The Key To A Lasting Romance, Kyle H. Chase

Doctor of Ministry

NPO:

Churches are not giving college students the tools they need to navigate uncertainty with Jesus.

Key Insights:

For college students who decide to follow Jesus, the experience of uncertainty after college can result in a deconstruction of faith. Church leaders often respond by equipping students with tools aimed at eradicating uncertainty (biblical and cultural apologetics, catechisms, formulaic practices, etc.). The solution is more elegant: If students are to remain adaptable and resilient for a lifetime, they do not need to eradicate uncertainty but to embrace it—not as an occasion for explanation but as an opportunity to encounter the living …

Re-Imagining Church As A Spiritual Family, Abraham Acosta-Newball

Doctor of Ministry

The contemporary Christian church faces a crisis of belonging; many members are opting out for non-theologically related reasons or differences. The claim for this exodus is a lack of genuine community that serves as an extended spiritual family. Modern churches function as event-centered gatherings, and less like a multigenerational community, reflecting instead a culture of individualism and spiritual consumerism. The purpose of this project is to explore strategies for churches to assume a more biblical role of a spiritual family. Particularly focusing on practical ways for building stronger community within multigenerational and multiethnic Worship settings. The project culminates in three …

Ai-Powered Lawyering: Ai Reasoning Models, Retrieval Augmented Generation, And The Future Of Legal Practice, Daniel Benjamin Schwarcz, Sam Manning, J.J. Prescott, Patrick Barry, David R. Cleveland, Beverly Rich

Articles

Generative AI is set to transform the legal profession, though its most promising uses and ultimate effects are still unclear. While AI models like GPT-4 improve efficiency, they can also “hallucinate” and may undermine legal judgment, particularly in complex tasks typically handled by skilled lawyers. This article examines two emerging AI innovations that may mitigate these concerns: Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), which grounds AI-powered analysis in legal sources, and AI reasoning models, which structure complex reasoning before generating output. We conduct the first randomized controlled trial assessing these technologies, assigning upper-level law students to complete legal tasks using a RAG-powered …

Grading Machines: Can Ai Exam-Grading Replace Law Professors?, Kevin L. Cope, Jens Frankenreiter, Scott Hirst, Eric A. Posner, Daniel Schwarcz, Dane Thorley

Articles

In the past few years, large language models (LLMs) have achieved significant technical advances, enabling legal-advocacy organizations to adopt them as complements to—or substitutes for—lawyers and other human experts. The role of LLMs in legal education, however, is underexplored. While several studies have examined LLMs’ performance in taking law school exams, finding mixed results, there have been no published studies systematically analyzing LLMs’ competence at one of law professors’ chief responsibilities: grading law school exams. This paper presents results of an analysis of how LLMs perform in evaluating student responses to legal analysis questions of the kind typically contained in …

Assessing Interdisciplinary Learning And Knowledge: A State-Of-The-Art Review And Heuristic, Kacey Beddoes, Kristi Bartlett

Product Design Faculty Publications

Background – The need for interdisciplinary training is increasingly important, but assessing the effects of interdisciplinary education initiatives remains challenging. One of the leading difficulties is identifying and selecting the best instrument or technique for a given purpose.

Purpose -- To help researchers and educators identify available options and determine the best options for their purposes, we conducted a literature review and created a heuristic table of available techniques. Our review addresses the questions: 1) What domain-general techniques and instruments exist for assessing interdisciplinary learning or knowledge? 2) What research scenarios, populations, and questions are each technique or instrument most …

The Transport Of New Make Spirits Through American White Oak, Taylor E. Scott, Jarrad Gollihue, Michael P. Sama, Michael Shaffer, Brad J. Berron

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Why was the work done: The reduction of maturation loss is a significant opportunity for increased revenue in aged spirits and varies through several factors. This work aims to better understand maturation loss by isolating and measuring spirit flow through wood.

How was the work done: Bourbon stave disks were fabricated by computer numeric control milling and loaded into a sealed module consisting of flanges holding the stave disk over a liquid filled pipe. The modules were filled with new make spirit at 50, 62.5 or 70% ABV, with either liquid or vapour contact with the stave disk. Further, the …

The First Resurrection, James M. Taylor

Heritage Material

No abstract provided.

An Investigation On Downwind Impacts Of The Keweenaw Peninsula On Lake-Effect Snow Events, Thomas M. Pavell

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Lake-effect snow (LES) produces copious amounts of snow across the Great Lakes region. While mechanisms and impacts are well-understood, they remain difficult to observe and study over Lake Superior and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan due to a large gap in radar coverage and sparse in-situ measurements. The goal of this project aimed to characterize variables present across Lake Superior and counties on and downstream of the Keweenaw Peninsula that contribute to the formation and evolution of lake-effect snowbands. Nine different lake-effect snow events were analyzed in this project, identifying structures and features resulting from upstream passage over the Keweenaw …

Modeling Determinants Of Significant Noncompliance In The U.S. Mining Sector: A Fixed Effects Logistic Regression Approach, Eli Johnson

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This study examines environmental compliance behavior among mining facilities regulated under the U.S. Clean Water Act (CWA). Using a national quarterly panel of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)-permitted mining facilities, the analysis evaluates whether local socioeconomic and demographic indicators are associated with the likelihood that a facility enters significant noncompliance (SNC) status. Facility compliance histories are compiled from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) database and is merged with county- and state-level socioeconomic indicators and election data. A fixed-effects logistic regression model is used to account for time-invariant facility heterogeneity. The results suggest that …

Nevada_Raw_Data_06.02.2026_2, Yasha Kahn, Lori Nichols, Panduka Nagahawatte

Nevada

No abstract provided.

New Mexico_Quality Assurance Test - All Licensees-2024-02-23.Csv, Yasha Kahn, Panduka Nagahawatte, Lori Nichols

New Mexico

No abstract provided.

Michigan_Raw_Data_06.02.26, Yasha Kahn, Lori Nichols, Panduka Nagahawatte

Michigan

No abstract provided.

How To Manage The Wolf In The Fold, Susan Bisom-Rapp, Urwana Coiquaud

Faculty Scholarship

Recent scholarly work on regulatory capture in the platform economy accounts for the political role and power wielded by app-based firms aiming to reform the existing legal environment to favor their low-cost labor business models. This article adds to scholarly perspectives on the platform economy by shifting the focus to government actors, the role of narrative in communicating with the public, and institutional constraints which may hamper the government’s ability to provide a cogent rationale for opposing or implementing legal change. The article’s central contribution is underscoring the role the government plays in facilitating or preventing regulatory capture. To that …

Discursive Footnotes, Daniel Yeager

Faculty Scholarship

This essay offers a comprehensive account of the past forty years of scholarship on footnotes within law. Not just any old footnotes, but footnotes that are discursive in form, that is, those with an expressive rather than bibliographic function. After contrasting the function of discursive footnotes in judicial opinions with those in academic legal literature, this essay identifies and decodes a comparatively hidden avant garde footnotes literature. Borrowing from techniques of literary criticism, that literature, properly understood, provides a foundation for our making more subtle judgments about both the relation of primary to secondary texts and the allocation of responsibilities …

Newjersey_Raw_Data_06.02.2026, Yasha Kahn, Lori Nichols, Panduka Nagahawatte

New Jersey

No abstract provided.

Newjersey_Raw_Data_06.02.2026_2, Yasha Kahn, Lori Nichols, Panduka Nagahawatte

New Jersey

No abstract provided.

Expanding The Good Samaritan Program: Cleaning Up The Colorado River, One Mine At A Time, Jordan Carlson

Wyoming Law Review

The headwaters of the Colorado River Basin supply nearly 90% of the river’s flow and are among the most hydrologically sensitive areas in the U.S. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, westward expansion and the allure of gold and other valuable minerals drove thousands of miners into the basin. When the mining boom ended, the mines were left behind. Today, thousands of abandoned hardrock mine sites continue to leach acidity and heavy metals into streams, leaving a lasting impact on water quality. For decades, strict environmental liability laws made cleanup nearly impossible, creating a chilling effect that discouraged even …

Full Issue, Wyoming Law Review Editorial Board

Wyoming Law Review

No abstract provided.

Better Than Clarity: The Case For A Function-Based Crypto Regulatory Framework, Mercedes Reed

Wyoming Law Review

In an attempt to provide regulatory authority within the digital asset market, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the CLARITY Act. Under the Act, a blockchain first falls under the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission and then transitions to the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as the blockchain “matures.” While the Act attempts to bring clarity to regulation within the digital asset industry, it falls short. Because of the Act’s transitional form, gaps are left for issuers to distort definitions and manipulate timelines to secure the oversight they want.

This Article discusses the Act’s shortcomings and …

Coming Out, Eliot T. Tracz

Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality

No abstract provided.

High Expectations? Minnesota’S Cannabis Social Equity Statute Falters, Claire Cavanagh

Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality

No abstract provided.

Immigrants Vs. Artificial Intelligence: The Human Cost Of Ai In Asylum Decisions, Jems Guirguis

Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality

No abstract provided.

Administrative Staff, Housing & Dining

Central Staff

No abstract provided.

Fading Prestige: A Comparative Analysis Of Trademark Dilution's Impact On Luxury Fashion Brands In The United States And European Union, Pravalika Surakanti

IP Theory

The paper focuses on the concept of trademark dilution in relation to luxury fashion brands in international markets. Focusing on the United States and the European Union, it will look at the different approaches these regions take and how certain holdups in dilution law affect fashion companies’ global brand protection strategies. The paper looks at the application of the Federal Trademark Dilution Act, the EU Trademark Directive, and other essential laws to their respective jurisdictions’ cases to determine the trends of trademark dilution claims. It is found that both regions provide luxury fashion houses with substantial protection; however, the European …

Tribal Sovereignty, Sales Tax, And States Interference: Why Tax Compacts May Be The Best Way Forward, Emiliana Almanza Lopez

Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality

No abstract provided.

Refunding The Community: What Defunding Mpd Means And Why It Is Urgent And Realistic, Jli Vol. 39 Editorial Board

Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality

No abstract provided.

Adaptive Control For A Robotic Bipedal Device Using A Hybrid Discrete-Continuous Reinforcement Learning Strategy, Karla Rincon-Martinez, Wen Yu, Isaac Chairez

Mathematics Faculty Publications

This research develops and implements a novel reinforcement learning (RL) architecture to address the trajectory-tracking problem in bipedal robotic systems under articulated-joint constraints. The proposed RL framework extends previously designed adaptive controllers characterized by state-dependent gain structures. The learning mechanism comprises two hierarchical adaptation layers: the first employs an adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) formulation to approximate the Bellman value function using a class of continuous-time dynamic neural networks. In contrast, the second uses an iterative optimization scheme based on the deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) algorithm. The resulting control strategy minimizes a robust performance index defined over the tracking trajectories …

Newyork_Raw_Data_06.02.2026_1, Yasha Kahn, Lori Nichols, Panduka Nagahawatte

COAs

No abstract provided.