Digital Commons Network^™

Nebraska And The Midwest Agtech Ecosystem: Benchmarking Innovation Investment And Translation Gaps, Ankit Chandra, Ishani Lal, Brennan Costello

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Presentations and White Papers

Agricultural innovation is central to the sustainable transformation of food systems, yet the capital that finances it is unevenly distributed relative to where food is produced. This paper develops a diagnostic framework for measuring this mismatch and applies it across the U.S. Midwest from 2021 to 2025, with particular emphasis on Nebraska's structural position within this landscape. Drawing on venture capital deal-flow data, 17 stakeholder interviews, and a novel strength-weakness-opportunity-gap (SWOG) ecosystem mapping methodology, we document $736 million in tracked Midwest AgTech funding across eight states (Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota). We introduce three …

Unwilling Consent Or Ravishment? Sexual Violence In Late Seventeenth-Century London, Susan Hernandez

Florida Atlantic Undergraduate Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Common Cybersecurity Attack Types And Zeek-Based Detection Strategies In Iot Networks, Christofer Piedra, Alain Edwards

Florida Atlantic Undergraduate Research Journal

As cybersecurity threats increase in scale and complexity, the ability to distinguish hostile traffic from benign network activity is essential. This research examines five prevalent cyberattack categories that impact IoT environments and outlines detection strategies utilizing the open-source Intrusion Detection System (IDS) Zeek. This study provides practical detection methods designed for scalable, real-time environments by classifying five commonly encountered attacks, namely: Reconnaissance, Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), Brute Force, Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) and Spoofing, and Botnet and Malware Behavior. For each attack, we analyze the prevalence, operational impact, and associated indicators. We also present Zeekbased pseudocode …

Framework For Building A Social Media Marketing Strategy For Micro-Small Businesses, Joanna Byrne

Theses

Existing social media marketing literature consistently fails micro-small businesses with five or fewer staff. These sources default to models built for brands with dedicated marketing teams and large budgets. This project addresses that gap using a mixed-methods, practitioner-based action research design. It combines quantitative platform analytics with qualitative process documentation. The research covers four businesses at distinct stages of digital development: Torched Motorsport Supply, a new automotive parts retailer built from zero digital infrastructure; Byrne Diesel Performance, an established diesel shop with an unoptimized presence; Texas Best Compost, a startup developing its brand identity and digital launch disrupted by supply …

Income Tax Over-Withholding And Household Investment Decisions, Xi Novia Chen, Jungbae Kim, Ben Lourie, Chenqi Zhu

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Over three-quarters of U.S. taxpayers over-withhold taxes, leading to tax refunds. This study explores how over-withholding impacts stock investments by comparing individuals' investment patterns from wages and tax refunds. We find that while some portion of tax refunds are promptly invested, the investment rate is lower than that of wages. This suggests that over-withholding, which alters the label and timing of wages into refunds, influences investment behavior. Our cross-sectional analysis indicates that the differential propensity to invest wages versus tax refunds are more pronounced for individuals with automatic investment setups and lower financial sophistication. These findings underscore the importance of …

What We Know About Accounting Ratios: Methodological Considerations, Wojciech Kuryłek, Oskar Kowalewski

Studia i Materiały Wydział Zarządzania Uniwersytet Warszawski

Purpose: This paper provides a comprehensive literature review of the methodological aspects of financial ratio analysis, consolidating dispersed knowledge on the computation, statistical properties, and appropriate usage of accounting ratios.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The study adopts a narrative literature review methodology, systematically surveying published research on financial ratio distributions, normality testing, data transformations, outlier handling, the proportionality assumption, dimensionality reduction techniques, compositional data analysis, and recommended ratio sets for corporate financial research.

Findings: Financial ratios predominantly deviate from normal distributions, exhibiting skewness, excess kurtosis, and sensitivity to outliers. Transformation techniques such as logarithmic, square root, and Box‑Cox methods yield mixed results in …

The Gravity Of The Ukraine War: Measuring Conflict Impacts On European Grain Trade, Stefan Bonchis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the heterogeneous structural disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine on the European Union’s agricultural trade architecture, focusing on three critical commodities: wheat, maize, and sunflower seeds. Employing a structural gravity model framework across all 27 EU Member States, the study evaluates two conflict episodes, the 2014 Crimea annexation and the 2022 full-scale invasion, to identify the net beneficiaries and heavily impacted nations within the EU agricultural trade network. The empirical strategy utilizes a dual-test design to capture the full scope of the disruption. Test A (Ukraine towards the EU trade) reveals a distinct geographic logic in …

Relationships Between Shared Group Properties: Theory, Measurement, Estimation, And Adjustment, Mark A. Maltarich, Paul D. Biese, Nichelle C. Carpenter

Faculty Publications

Teams researchers, meta-analysts, and others often study relationships between group-level constructs measured by aggregating individual-level variables, but it is well-known that group-mean correlations are influenced by individual-level relationships. We review multilevel issues and current practices in estimating and adjusting group-mean associations. We give special attention to comparisons across levels of analysis, and to adjustments for estimating population parameters. A Monte Carlo simulation study indicates that the two most commonly used adjustments in meta-analysis are ineffective in estimating population-based effect sizes. They frequently overestimate true relationships, sometimes severely. Indeed, simulations show that common adjustments move estimates away from population values in …

Female Directors In Family-Controlled Firms: Does Family Affiliation Influence Performance?, Andrae Jamal I. Tecson, Madeleine B. Estabillo, Angelo A. Unite

DLSU Business & Economics Review

Over the past decade, women’s participation in corporate boards has grown, yet their association with firm performance remains inconclusive, particularly in family-controlled firms where director independence may be constrained. This study decomposes female board representation by family affiliation and examines its association with the firm performance of publicly traded, nonfinancial family-controlled firms in the Philippines from 2003 to 2023. Using the generalized method of moments to address endogeneity concerns, we find that female family directors are positively associated with firm performance but only when measured using Tobin’s Q, a market-based valuation, suggesting that investors value stewardship. However, the lack of …

Adaptive Leadership: The Pathway To Increase Child Welfare Retention Through Perceived Organizational Support Of The Supervisor’S Voice, Shawna Higgins

PhD in Organizational Leadership

Child welfare organizations continue to experience high rates of case manager turnover, disrupting continuity of care and negatively affecting outcomes for children and families. Although previous research has established that supportive supervision influences case manager retention, little was known about child welfare supervisors’ perceptions of the organizational support they receive or how adaptive leadership behaviors demonstrated by organizational leaders influence those perceptions. This qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of 13 supervisors employed in Florida nonprofit child welfare organizations. Guided by Adaptive Leadership Theory and Perceived Organizational Support Theory, the study examined supervisors’ perceptions of organizational support, organizational silence, …

Deepfakes As Crisis Triggers: Experimental Evidence On Response Strategy Effectiveness, Responsibility Attributions, And Sharing Intentions, Alicia Mason, Mariah Laman, Tanner Glenn, Treyton Meyers

Faculty Submissions

The term deepfake refers to falsified media content created using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to manipulate audio, video, or images. Deepfake news fabrications are designed to appear highly realistic, making it difficult for audiences to distinguish them from authentic content. Responding to deepfake-induced  reputational threats therefore presents a unique challenge for organizations. Despite the growing prevalence of deepfake technology, little experimental research has examined how different crisis communication strategies perform in mitigating the reputational and relational harm posed by deepfake-induced crises. Accordingly, this study seeks to (1) examine how exposure to deepfake news relates to public perceptions and affect toward …

The Role Of Speculators In The Agricultural Futures Market And Their Impact On Prices, Clement Asamoah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study evaluates the impact of speculative activity on agricultural commodity returns, specifically in the corn, soybeans, rice, and oats markets. The study also analyzed the influence commodity returns have on speculative positions. Weekly data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission were used as a proxy for speculative activity, and futures data were also retrieved from Barchart. Vector Autoregressive models and the Granger Causality tests were estimated to identify the relationships between returns and speculation. The paper found that speculative positions do not Granger-cause returns over the course of a week except for rice Tuesday results, which recorded a statistically …

Operational Agency: A Permeable Legal Fiction For Tracing Culpability In Ai Systems, Anirban Mukherjee, Hannah H. Chang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Modern artificial intelligence (AI) systems act with a high degree of independence yet lack legal personhood—a paradox that fractures doctrines grounded in human-centric notions of mens rea and actus reus. This Article introduces Operational Agency (OA)—a permeable legal fiction structured as an ex post evidentiary framework—and Operational Agency Graph (OAG)—a tool for mapping causal interactions among human actors, organizations, and AI systems. OA evaluates an AI’s observable operational characteristics: its goal-directedness (as a proxy for intent), predictive processing (as a proxy for foresight), and safety architecture (as a proxy for standard of care). OAG operationalizes that analysis by embedding these …

Integrated Optimization Of Farmland Cultivation And Fertilizer Application: Implications For Farm Management And Crop Production, Onur Boyabatli, Lusheng Shao, Yangfang (Helen) Zhou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Motivated by the fresh produce industry, this paper studies a farmer’s joint cultivation and fertilizer (a representative farm input) application decisions facing uncertainties in yield, crop price, and harvesting cost where the latter two are yield dependent and yield is stochastically increasing in the fertilizer application rate. We develop a two-stage stochastic model of a farmer growing a commodity crop in a single season to maximize the expected profit. We then use the model to evaluate the optimal expected harvest volume (a measure of crop production). Our analytical analysis is complemented with numerical experiments calibrated to data. We characterize how …

The Power And Peril Of Awe In Leadership: Transforming Follower Identity And Behavior, Jack Mcguire, Daniel Mcallister, Jochen Menges, David De Cremer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Awe is a profound emotion that has captured significant attention within psychological research. While the potential for leaders to inspire awe in followers has received some recognition, systematic research on the nature and effects of awe in leadership—and within organizational contexts more broadly—remains limited. In this article, we offer a conceptual framework that explains the multifaceted and transformative nature of leadership through the power of awe. Specifically, we identify four leader behaviors—charismatic leadership tactics, exceptional performance, problem reframing, and self-sacrificial behavior—that elicit awe among followers. We further propose three variants of awe-inspiring leaders, describing how variation in a leader’s self-construal …

Investigating The Factors Impacting Consumer Intentions To Purchase Energy-Efficient Appliances, Yusra Memon, Raheela Haque

Business Review

Energy-efficient appliances protect the environment through reduced energy usage, lowering pollution, and preserving natural resources. Hence, this research is aimed to examine the factors influencing Pakistani consumers' intentions to purchase energy-efficient appliances. This research adopts a quantitative approach and purposive sampling technique, and the data was collected from 350 respondents belonging to major metropolitan cities of Pakistan i.e. Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore, Islamabad, while SPSS and AMOS were used for data analysis. The study supports a number of important relations suggested by the Value–Belief–Norm (VBN) theory in the framework of buying energy-efficient appliances (EEAs) in Pakistan. Biospheric values (BV) significantly forecast …

How Cultural Homogeneity Couples With Organizational Climate In Public School Environments, Steven R. Peterson

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study examines how cultural homogeneity influences teachers’ perceptions of school climate in Indiana public schools. Grounded in systems thinking and organizational theory, the study analyzes how shared values and norms shape teachers’ responses to leadership practices and stakeholder demands. Data were collected from educators using the School Culture Survey and a custom scenario-based climate instrument capturing reactions to organizational challenges. Statistical analyses explored relationships between cultural homogeneity and teachers’ perceptions of stability, workload, and adaptive capacity. Results indicate that alignment in key cultural dimensions—particularly Collaborative Leadership—significantly shapes climate experiences, while overall homogeneity alone does not predict workload pressures. …

Ensouling Progressive Partnership Synergy In Marketing To Revive The Indonesian Furniture Industry, Ahmad Ikhwan Setiawan, Fatimah Fatimah, Cheryl Marlitta Stefia

Asia Marketing Journal

This study develops a partnership marketing model to improve collaboration between suppliers and resellers in Indonesia's furniture industry by introducing Progressive Partnership Synergy (PPS), which links partnership dynamics to sales growth. A quantitative survey of 240 small and medium furniture manufacturers in Central Java tested the model using AMOS and Hayes's PROCESS Macro to examine mediation by synergy and competitive-advantage transformation. Results show PPS significantly affects sales growth while mediating the influence of competitive-advantage transformation. Market adjustment flexibility and partner orientation strengthen supplier–retailer ties. Some hypotheses were rejected, indicating additional factors are needed to optimize partnerships. Limitations include treating contextual …

The Price Of Expectation: How Luxury Consumers React To Quality Crises, Jeong Ah Yoo, Daye Hong, Yoon Hi Sung

Asia Marketing Journal

This study investigated the mechanisms underlying consumer responses to quality crises in luxury brands and examined how these responses differ depending on consumers' prior luxury brand purchase experience. The findings indicated that stronger price-quality inferences led to elevated product quality expectations. Further, when consumers encountered information regarding quality controversies, their heightened expectations produced greater perceived discrepancies, which subsequently had a negative impact on brand attitudes. Additionally, this study found that the negative impacts of perceived discrepancies on brand attitudes, purchase intentions for other products of the brand, and forgiveness intentions were more pronounced among luxury than among non-luxury consumers. Finally, …

Can Ai-Generated Ads With Future Predictions Drive Higher Donations Than Human-Created Ads?, Chaewon Song, Sujin Song

Asia Marketing Journal

The use of AI in generating ads offers benefits for NPOs, such as enhanced cost efficiency and personalized content. However, consumers often exhibit algorithm aversion when AI performs subjective tasks, like ad creation. According to mind perception theory, AI is seen as high in agency but low in experience. Given this, we hypothesized that including future predictions in AI-generated ads would mitigate this aversion. Across four studies, we found that AI-generated donation ads were generally perceived as less credible and elicited lower donation intentions than human-created ones. Crucially, when future predictions were included, the credibility and donation gap between AI …

Cognitive Awareness And Green Governance In Esg Reporting Quality Improvement, Sanusi Ariyanto, Azwirman Azwirman, Hamsal Hamsal

Jurnal Akuntansi dan Keuangan Indonesia

Background: This study examines how GRI adoption, green accounting, and green audit improve ESG reporting quality in Indonesian companies, while considering environmental unconsciousness as a cognitive moderator. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted with 151 respondents from 37 companies that had adopted sustainability or ESG reporting practices. Data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling with SmartPLS 4. Findings: GRI adoption, green accounting, and green audit have positive and significant effects on ESG reporting quality. Environmental unconsciousness also significantly moderates these relationships, showing that stronger environmental awareness helps companies translate internal sustainability mechanisms into credible …

The Impact Of Using Artificial Intelligence Tools On Enhancing Female Students’ Interaction And Participation In Online Learning, Haya Meshal Rajah Albaqami

University of Tabuk Journal for Humanities and Social Sciences

This study explores how artificial intelligence (AI) tools support student interaction and participation in online learning, through the lens of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). Sixteen female undergraduates (aged 19–23) from Turabah University College, Taif University, all experienced in using AI tools (ChatGPT, Grammarly, Canva), took part in individual interviews. Using reflexive thematic analysis, seven themes were identified describing students’ experiences: (1) Widespread AI Tool Use, (2) Enhanced Understanding of Content, (3) Facilitated Peer/Teacher Interaction, (4) Increased Academic Engagement, (5) Stimulated Independent Exploration, (6) Concerns and Challenges, and (7) AI as Support, Not Substitute. The AI tools were perceived …

English Faculty Members’ Perception And Attitude Toward The Use Of Chatgpt By English Language Teaching In Higher Education In Saudi Arabia, Wjoud Hussain Almadani

University of Tabuk Journal for Humanities and Social Sciences

Objectives: Artificial intelligence (AI) driven ChatGPT is an innovative transformation tool in the rapidly evolving educational landscape. This study aimed to understand faculty members' perspectives and attitudes toward using ChatGPT for English language teaching in Saudi Arabia, particularly in Najdi rural areas. Method: The study employed a survey-based quantitative research design involving English-language faculty members in Saudi Arabia, particularly at Shaqrah University. Result: Despite having a mixed opinion on the willingness to use ChatGPT in English language teaching, participants have identified several applications of ChatGPT, such as translation and vocabulary, creating presentations, preparing exam and quiz questions, and creating activity …

Fashion Industry: Analysis Of Strategies And Roles Of Stakeholders To Realize Indonesia As The Center Of Global Halal Fashion, Hanna Abimafy Mawaddatunnisa, Nur Fatwa, Nurwahidin Nurwahidin

Journal Of Middle East and Islamic Studies

Indonesia, through the Halal Product Assurance Agency (BPJPH), has launched the Indonesia Global Halal Fashion (IGHF) initiative in collaboration with the textile industry and fashion designers during Indonesia Fashion Week 2024. This initiative aims to position Indonesia as a global hub for halal fashion—distinct from general Muslim fashion by incorporating halal principles throughout the entire production chain. Despite its vast potential, the development of halal fashion in Indonesia still faces challenges, particularly in capturing consumer preferences and defining comprehensive regulatory standards. This study adopts a qualitative approach, integrating SWOT analysis, STP (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning), and the Quadruple Helix framework to …

Barley Virtual Water Determinants In Iraq: An Econometric Analysis Study For The Period (1990–2023), Muna Jabbar Rahim, Basim H. Al-Badri

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

The paper aims to analyze the determinants of virtual water use for barley crops in Iraq over the period (1990–2023), in light of increasing water challenges and declining inflows of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The research adopts a descriptive and econometric analytical approach, employing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to examine the relationship between imported virtual water quantity (VW) as the dependent variable and a set of independent variables, including agricultural GDP, blue water, the water self-sufficiency ratio, and the degree of agricultural trade openness. The results of the Bounds Test indicate the existence of a long-run equilibrium …

Regulatory Immunity As A Driver Of Strategic Superiority: Evidence From Team Mart Supervisors In Erbil, Iraq, Rana Nisan Yousuf, Asreen Ramzi Hasan, Mariwan Gharib Muhammad, Kosret M. Ebabekir

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

This study aims to investigate the role of regulatory immunity in enhancing strategic superiority from the perspective of supervisors working at the Team Mart Chain in Erbil, Iraq. Understand the notion of regulatory immunity by demonstrating the relationship and influence of the independent variable and its dimensions (organizational learning, memory, and DNA) in strategic superiority. To address the research problem, the following question was examined: to what extent does regulatory immunity contribute to strengthening strategic superiority? However, to acquire empirical data, the researchers created their own survey questionnaire. Empirical data were evaluated using a variety of statistical methods to test …

The Role Of The Carbon Footprint In Assessing Environmental Performance In Economic Units: A Case Study Of The Kufa Cement Plant, Muna Mohammed Murad, Bahaa Hussein Mohammed

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

This paper aims to assess the environmental performance of the industrial sector, using the Kufa Cement Plant as a case study due to the tangible environmental impacts of this activity in the areas of gaseous and dust emissions, energy consumption, and waste management. It emphasizes the importance of adopting systematic assessment tools that align with sustainability frameworks and local and international regulations. This research employs a descriptive-analytical methodology, based on the theoretical framework for environmental performance assessment and the principles of environmental management, utilizing performance indicators derived from the international standard ISO 14031 to analyze the plant's operational and environmental …

Effect Of Earnings Ratio And Capital Structure On Share Price: The Moderating Role Of Free Cash Flow In The Industrial Sector, Shakhawan Saeed Sangawi, Chnar Abdullah Rashid, Kaiwan Hasan Salih

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of the earnings ratio and capital structure on share price, with special focus on the moderating role of free cash flow (FCF) in the manufacturing sector listed on the Iraqi Stock Exchange (ISX) for the period 2016 to 2023. Using a quantitative research method, the study draws data from audited financial statements, including the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement, and analyzes 10 manufacturing companies over eight years. The analysis employs a regression model, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, ANOVA, and tests of cross-sectional dependence and non-stationarity to ensure …

Nonparametric Control Charts Estimation Using Hybrid Cyber-Intelligence Algorithms For Stock Market Monitoring, Mariam Jumaah Mousa, Munaf Yousif Hmood

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

This paper introduces a novel nonparametric hybrid cyber-intelligence-based statistical process control and anomaly detection framework in time series data. It is developed to overcome the shortcomings of the classical control schemes in dealing with complex, abnormal, and noisy input data, especially when it is autocorrelated. The proposed methodology combines three technical pillars: First, it utilizes a bidirectional long-short-term memory architecture (Bi-LSTM) to capture long-term time dependency and learn nonlinear patterns, leaving only true deviations as residuals that remove trends and noises from the market. Second, it adopts the Golden Eagle Optimizer (GEO) algorithm for optimal parameter selection. This intelligent algorithm …

Impact Of The Sustainability Indicators On Agricultural Output In Iraq For The Period (1990–2024), Noor S. Mohammed, Basim H. Al-Badri

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

This study uses an econometric approach to examine how sustainability indicators affect agricultural output in Iraq. Water sustainability, food security sustainability, the agricultural labor force, and virtual water imports are independent variables, and agricultural output is the dependent variable. The analysis uses annual data from 1990 to 2024. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model is applied to analyze both short- and long-run relationships. Specifically, the results confirm the existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between sustainability indicators and agricultural output. In the long run, water sustainability positively affects agricultural output, indicating a direct, expected relationship. Furthermore, food security sustainability has …