Digital Commons Network^™

Advancing Devsecops In Smes: Challenges And Best Practices For Secure Ci/Cd Pipelines, Jayaprakashreddy Cheenepalli, John Hastings, Khandaker Mamun Ahmed, Chad Fenner

Research & Publications

This study evaluates the adoption of DevSecOps among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), identifying key challenges, best practices, and future trends. Through a mixed methods approach backed by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory, we analyzed survey data from 405 SME professionals, revealing that while 68% have implemented DevSecOps, adoption is hindered by technical complexity (41%), resource constraints (35%), and cultural resistance (38%). Despite strong leadership prioritization of security (73%), automation gaps persist, with only 12% of organizations conducting security scans per commit. Our findings highlight a growing integration of security tools, particularly API security …

Marketing For Musicians And Artists: A Pedagogical Model For Creative Business Education, Aron Levin, Jose Luis Saavedra Torres

AMTP Proceedings 2025

The myth of the "starving artist" persists, but marketing and entrepreneurial skills can empower creatives to thrive in the gig economy. This paper presents a pedagogical framework for a marketing course tailored to non-business students, particularly those in the creative arts. Using Sam Ryder, a musician who leveraged digital platforms to achieve meteoric success, as a case study, we explore the role of higher education in equipping artists with business skills. Grounded in experiential learning theory, the course integrates modules on branding, digital marketing, pricing, and work-life balance, emphasizing hands-on projects like SWOT analyses, brand identity design, and marketing strategy …

Motivators And Barriers To Healthy Food Consumption: Qualitative Study With Gen Z Living In Bratislava, Emel Yarimoglu, Lucia Vilcekova

AMTP Proceedings 2025

People in Europe have been caring about physical activity, healthy eating, and healthy body weight. The study aimed to explore the motivators and barriers to healthy food consumption among university students living in Bratislava, Slovakia. Qualitative research was conducted with sixteen students, and data were collected by written text. Self-reported written data were collected by convenience sampling and analyzed via content analysis. Four motivators of healthy food consumption were revealed (personal appearance, health-consciousness, physical activity, and social), and four barriers to healthy food consumption were obtained (functional, personal, psychological, and social). This research is original since it demonstrated motivators and …

Corsets Of Empowerment, Dorsa Farzi

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This project explores the intersection of fashion and activism, using contemporary design to reflect on significant women’s rights movements from around the world. This exhibition presents four uniquely crafted corsets, each representing a pivotal movement, from the Suffragette era to the ongoing fight for gender equality in Iran. Through modern aesthetics, innovative construction, and symbolic details, this project transforms clothing into a medium for dialogue and advocacy. Fashion becomes more than just design—it becomes a powerful tool for storytelling, sparking awareness, and encouraging new perspectives on gender equality and activism.

This project was exhibited at the Robert Hillestad Gallery, University …

State Of Women In The Media: A Look At Kenya, Tanzania, And Uganda - Policy Brief 2025, Hesbon Owilla, Nancy Achieng' Booker, George Nyabuga, Shitemi Khamadi, Alykhan Peermohamed, Clare Mogere, Pauline Muriuki

Graduate School of Media and Communications

In 2023, Aga Khan University’s Graduate School of Media and Communications (AKU-GSMC) undertook a study examining the representation of women in East African news media organisations with a focus on the coverage and portrayal of women in prominent newspapers, television, and digital news platforms across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. The study specifically sought to assess gender representation within the media workforce, the distribution of leadership roles and responsibilities in media companies, and the way women are covered and portrayed in the media. Using content analysis, the study reveals that women are frequently underreported in news stories and disproportionately portrayed in …

Seasonal Wages And Program Outcomes In Wisconsin’S Non-Profit Outdoor Education Industry, Michael H. Schneck

Master of Public Administration Capstone Papers

Non-profit outdoor education is an important tool that helps participants build meaningful relationships and positive perspectives of the natural world. Many non-profit outdoor education programs in Wisconsin rely on seasonal staff to fulfill the mission and vision of their programming through meaningful and tedious work. Because these staff are asked to help facilitate ideal program outcomes, it is important to analyze how seasonal wages for these roles influences staff effectiveness. This case-study analyzes the relationships between wages and program outcomes through the lens of human capital and workforce development and equity theory to better understand what most notably influences seasonal …

Reducing Information Asymmetry: Economic Value Of Airbnb Signals In A Small College Town, Hatice Sena Akkurt

Theses and Dissertations

Trust is the backbone of platform operations. Airbnb platform designers implement various methods including trust-building mechanisms, user interface (UI) artifacts, and reputation management systems. Previous research has explored trust in Airbnb, yet little is known about the economic value of trust indicators in smaller cities and rural areas. Thus, this thesis investigates the economic significance of User Interface (UI) artifacts, including the “Superhost” badge, star ratings, and listing photographs, within the peer-to-peer accommodation sector in the Columbia Metropolitan Area. Drawing on signaling theory, we conducted quantitative analysis, to examine the relationship between trust indicators and listing prices, controlling factors like …

Essays On Empirical Asset Pricing, Qi Fan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

My dissertation consists of three studies on how investor behavior affects the outcomes in financial markets. The first study focuses on the investors’ limited capacity on processing the complicated information transmitted through interconnected firms. The other two studies explore the investor heterogeneity on preferred time of trading, due to their personal traits or irrational judgements on the market conditions.

In Chapter 2, I focus on the return predictability across economically linked firms, due to investor limited attention. I document significant outperformance of stocks whose industry peers currently experience salient (attention-grabbing) gains, especially for those with strong social ties. The long-short …

The Impact Of Sustainable Urban Development On The Issuance Of Urban Investment Bonds, Xinglin Shou

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Investment, export, and consumption have been viewed as the three driving forces behind economic development in China. Among these, investment has remarkably contributed to the urbanization in the context of China's sustained growth and development. Urbanization involves the mergingof large and medium-sized cities with surrounding areas, renovation of shantytowns and aging urban neighborhoods, and transformation of rural regions into urban areas, culminating in the establishment of a unified market. Such advancements have promoted infrastructure projects that are spearheadedby local governments and aligned with urbanization, thus catalyzing the growth of China's real estate industry, stimulating the Chinese economy, andextending the urbanization-related …

Internal Control And Urban Investment Bond Issuance, Feixiong Zhu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

With the rapid growth of China's economy, the financing needs of local governments are increasing, and municipal investment bonds, as animportant financing tool for local governments, play a pivotal role in the capital market. However, the rapid development of the municipal investment bond market has also brought about problems such as inadequate informationdisclosure and accumulation of market risks, which has aroused widespreadconcern about potential financial risks. Against this background, the state has strengthened the regulation of municipal bonds, emphasized the importance of compliance management, and introduced a series of policies and measures toimprove the transparency and standardization of the market. …

The Impact Of Awards And Honors On Project Bidding, Ren Wang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation conducts a systematic study on the successful transformation and upgrading of China's automotive industry over the past decade, especially the remarkable progress made in the field of Electric and Intelligent Vehicles, and examines how China's automotive industry chain has seized the historical opportunity of the great transformation of the global automotive industry by “Four Modernizations”—electrification, intelligentization, lightweighting and modularization along the path of "Independent Innovation", and realized the overall improvement of both corporate performance and industrial strength under the synergy of strategic investors.

China has newly become the world's largest automotive exporter and successfully built up an advantageous …

Corporate Environmental (Ir)Responsibility Of Chinese Construction Companies, Bin Zhang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Grounded in a multi-stakeholder perspective, this study delves into the impact of Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER) on the performance of firms in the Chinese construction industry. Utilizing a panel dataset of listed companies in the Chinese construction sector from 2008 to 2023, the research conducts empirical analysis by incorporating key stakeholder relationship indicators (customer concentration, government support, and bank loan costs) while controlling for firm characteristics, aiming to assess the effect of corporate environmental information disclosure on financial performance. The findings reveal that CER significantly positively affects financial performance. More crucially, this relationship is partly attributed to the strengthening of …

The Effects Of Financial Vulnerability On The Prosocial Behavior Of Medical Staff At Pet Hospitals, Guoxing Xu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has fundamentally disrupted business operations, causing widespread financial strain and uncertainty for employees, and research shows that financial vulnerability – the sense of insecurity regarding one’s economic resources – has reached unprecedented levels among workers. But while conventional wisdom might suggest that financial stress leads to decreased work performance, a critical gap exists in understanding how financial vulnerability influences employee behavior in service-oriented environments.

Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between financial vulnerability and employee behavior within the context of pet hospitals in China, examining how organizational factors moderate this relationship. Data were collected …

Research On The Impact Investment Evaluation System For Photovoltaic Power Generation Projects, Shumeng Tong

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This study aims to put forward a more comprehensive and scientific impact of photovoltaic power generation project investment evaluation system, in order to make up for the inadequacy of existing research, for photovoltaic power generation project investment decision-making to provide a more powerful support. The conclusions and contributions of this study are as follows.

（1）Build impact of photovoltaic power generation project investment evaluation system, can comprehensively reflect more interests related subject of value, makes up for the traditional investment evaluation tend to focus on economic benefit analysis of the defects.

（2）The impact investment evaluation system of this study highlights the …

Culture And Sustainability: Understanding The Roles Of Values, Norms, And Cultural Tightness In Sustainable Consumption Behaviour, Sook Sum Au

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The past decade has seen an increased interest in environmental sustainability. Yet, few studies have examined the relationship between culture, sustainable consumption intention (SCI), and sustainable consumption behaviour (SCB). This study addresses this gap by examining the roles of values, norms and CTL in an integrative model to predict SCI and SCB. This study focuses on four types of values that are considered most relevant in environmental research (biospheric, altruistic, egoistic, and hedonic). Drawing on data from a sample across the 10 most culturally "tight" and 10 most culturally "loose" states in the US, this study applied multilevel modelling to …

Impact Of Supervisor Support And Organisational Support On Individual Employee Engagement In Environmental Organisational Citizenship Tasks, Yuen Mei Susan Chong

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

With the rising importance of sustainability in the light of climate change challenges and the rising voices of society, government and investors (UNEP, 2024a, 2024b) as well as the recent report that 2024 was the warmest year on record (Bardan, 2025), organisational sustainability is growing in importance and can be achieved when the organisation is able to contribute to sustainable development by achieving the triple bottom line of economic, environmental and social/human performance simultaneously i.e. profit, planet and people (Boyer et al., 2016; Hart & Milstein, 2003a; Kim et al., 2016a; Spreitzer et al., 2012). The triple bottom line with …

The Impact Of Eva Performance Evaluation System On Market Value Management Of State-Owned Listed Companies, Xiaohua Cai

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Against the backdrop of intensifying global economic competition and the deepening reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), improving the operational efficiency of central state-owned enterprises has become a core issue in China’s pursuit of high-quality economic development. Meanwhile, as market-oriented reforms advance and capital markets open further in both directions, central state-owned enterprises’ market value management has increasingly emerged as a pivotal mechanism connecting national strategies with market value, necessitating the establishment of an institutional framework that balances value creation and value realization. In 2009, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council introduced the Economic Value Added …

Flow Experience In Immersive Tourism Performance: Antecedents And Tourists’ Satisfaction, Xiaoli Zhu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

With the deep integration of culture and tourism, immersive tourism performance has emerged as a new form of experiential consumption and has gradually become an essential vehicle for shaping destination branding and enhancing tourists’ cultural identity. By breaking the boundaries of traditional stages and integrating spatial construction, narrative mechanisms, and multidimensional interactive experiences, immersive performances create a sense of presence and immersion for tourists. This study focuses on the mechanism influencing tourists’ flow experience and satisfaction in immersive tourism performances. A theoretical model incorporating authenticity, interactivity, sense of presence, and value congruence was constructed and tested to reveal how multidimensional …

Risk Management For Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment Suppliers Within Rapid Changing International Environment: An Empirical Study, Youbing Cao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Semiconductors, as a key upstream component in the electronics and information industries, have attracted global attention from nations and corporations due to their vast market values. The emergence of global semiconductor supply chains has fostered specialized industrial divisions, such as semiconductor materials, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and semiconductor fabrication. While China’s semiconductor industry holds certain global market shares across various sectors, it still lags in advanced technologies and high-end markets. Since 2018, the United States has imposed increasing tariffs and export restrictions on many Chinese firms (known as the US-China trade war) to prevent technology outflows, leading to substantial uncertainties that …

Exploring The Impact Of Entrepreneurship Coaching And Mentoring Models On Founder Capabilities And Business Performance, Zhixiang Wu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

China's current economic development faces multiple pressures, including contracting demand, supply shocks, and weakening expectations. Coupled with changes in the market environment and structural employment mismatches, entrepreneurship has become a key driver for economic growth, job creation, and the enhancement of social resilience. Against this backdrop, the impact of entrepreneurship coaching on founder development and business performance has drawn increasing attention. This study systematically explores how external coaches, through various coaching methods, frequencies, and competencies, influence entrepreneurs' growth and further improve business performance.

Based on literature review and theoretical analysis, a mediation effect model is constructed to empirically examine the …

Entrepreneurial Orientation In Family Firms: The Role Of Intergenerational Dynamics, Firm Size, And External Working Experience, Wai Sam Kong

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Family firms are key contributors to the global economy, yet their long-term entrepreneurial sustainability remains uncertain, particularly during intergenerational transitions. While entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has been studied widely in general business contexts, the interplay between intergenerational dynamics and EO remains underexplored in family firms. This study addresses the existing gap by methodically studying how family-specific factors influence EO, thereby contributing a novel perspective to entrepreneurship and family business research. Drawing on Constructivist Learning Theory, we conceptualise EO not as a static firm attribute but as a developmental process shaped by intergenerational interactions, governance structures, and external influences. Using a multi-method …

The Impact Of Moral Courage On Peer-Reporting Intentions, Taterial A. Mcclendon

Theses and Dissertations from DePaul University

Occupational fraud remains a pervasive threat across all organizational levels, with the potential to undermine ethical standards and organizational integrity. Employees are not only central to shaping the ethical climate but also serve as critical agents in identifying and addressing unethical conduct (Brink et al., 2022). Understanding how individuals evaluate unethical behaviors such as occupational fraud through the lens of their own moral standards offers valuable insight into mitigating such misconduct.   In this context, professional moral courage emerges as a key factor, representing the willingness to uphold ethical values despite potential personal or professional risks. This study explores the role …

The Impact Of Ai Usage On Employee Work Outcomes: The Mediating Roles Of Personal Control And Job Insecurity And The Moderating Role Of Ai Trust, Tiantian Wang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The widespread application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the workplace offers significant potential for process optimization andperformance improvement. However, the psychological mechanisms throughwhich AI usage affects employee outcomes remain underexplored. To address this gap, the present study investigated a sample of 170 employees froma media company in China, utilizing a three-wave longitudinal survey design. Specifically, this study examined how AI usage influenced employee creativity and task performance improvement through two mediatingmechanisms: the enhancement of personal control in problem-solving and the elicitation of job insecurity. Furthermore, the moderating role of trust in AI inthe relationship between AI usage and job …

Digital Capabilities And Customer Service Levels Of Small And Medium Sized Manufacturing Enterprises, Yuegang Niu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The level of customer service, as an important tool for the differentiatedcompetition of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises, has reshaped the value creation model of these enterprises. With the rise of service-oriented manufacturing enterprises under the "manufacturing service- oriented" model, this is a business model that combines manufacturing andservices. It not only provides physical products but also offers related value- added services. This indicates that small and medium-sized manufacturingenterprises urgently need to enhance their digital capabilities in the digital age to achieve dynamic upgrades and further improve their customer service capabilities. High-quality customer service capabilities have put forward newrequirements for …

The Message Framing Effects In The Process Of Health Behavior Change, Zixia Fang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

As a key means to promote health behavior change, information intervention has gradually attracted widespread attention from all walks of life. The same information presented in different ways may lead to different decision-making judgments, especially in the process of transmitting and receiving health information, which affects individual behavioral intentions and health consumption decisions. This information framing effect is considered by most scholars to be an important factor in health behavior intervention, but its specific mechanism of action in health behavior change has not been fully discussed. This paper constructs a theoretical model of information framing effect to explore the specific …

Authentic Leadership As Predicted By The Fisher Temperament Inventory Scales, Stephanie J. Giddings

PhD in Organizational Leadership

Authentic leadership has garnered increasing attention from scholars and practitioners for its emphasis on ethical and transparent leadership practices that foster positive organizational outcomes. Despite its popularity, research into its antecedents remains underdeveloped. This study is a response to calls to examine potential psychometric predictors of authentic leadership, focusing on temperament as a biologically-rooted factor. This quantitative research involved surveying 338 U.S. leaders on temperament and authentic leadership. Temperament, as measured by the Fisher Temperament Inventory (FTI), offers a neuroscience-based perspective and resolves the potential crossover issues found in the widely studied Five-Factor Model (FFM). Using the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire …

Behind The Curtain: The Influence Of Tourism And Production Costs On Broadway Success, João Branco Chaves

Student Publications

Broadway’s success is closely tied to the fluctuating dynamics of tourism and the rising costs of production. This paper explores how the growth in NYC tourism impacts Broadway’s profitability and the challenges producers face as production costs (lumber and cotton) continue to soar. Through an analysis of various sources, this study highlights the key role tourism plays in sustaining Broadway’s revenue and the vulnerabilities created by its unpredictability. It also examines the increasing financial burden of mounting Broadway productions, exploring how producers are adapting to stay financially viable. The paper identifies key strategies for managing these challenges, including innovative cost …

Smart Strategies: The Impact Of Social Media And Ai In Modern Marketing, Waverly O. Smith

Student Publications

In recent times, social media and artificial intelligence (AI) have become increasingly popular in the world of marketing. With these technologies, companies can more efficiently and effectively find consumers and create tailored product advertisements. AI has helped companies segment consumers, identify trends, and predict consumer needs. Social media has created a platform in which companies can connect with consumers and gain direct feedback. Additionally, it has created a space in which anyone can become an influencer or market a product. With the evolution of technology and digital marketing, it has also become increasingly important for companies to use high quality …

The Effectiveness Of Sms Marketing Campaigns Versus Email Marketing Campaigns, Akriti Nepal, Edward A. Porter, Eliza M. Hoover, Kyla G. Cordell

Student Publications

In the present study, we examine the effectiveness of using SMS marketing campaigns versus email marketing campaigns when marketing towards consumers. We used the e-commerce direct messaging multichannel from 2021 to 2023 to test our hypotheses. A random sample was taken of a messages-demo data set with 7,564 rows that contains 10 million messages to test our hypotheses. The effectiveness of purchasing rates in email and SMS marketing campaigns was tested using an independent samples t-test. The results demonstrate that email marketing messaging had a more positive customer perception compared to SMS marketing messaging, as measured by whether customers opened …

Going Non-Par: What Are Your Options?; With Sidebar: One Dentist’S Experience With Going Non-Par, Alan Laing Dds, Mba, Greg Maxson Dds

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

The article discusses the considerations for dental practices contemplating dropping insurance participation (going non-par). It emphasizes the importance of analyzing practice objectives, patient demographics, competition, and financial policies before making this decision. The transition to non-par status can impact patient relationships and requires a strong financial and collection policy. Ultimately, the decision should be based on a thorough understanding of the practice and its goals.

The sidebar presents supplementary content and includes a call for MDA members to share their experiences with non-participation in insurance plans and features Dr. Greg Maxson's personal account of going non-par. Dr. Maxson emphasizes that …