Digital Commons Network^™

Early Learning Across Decades: Advances In Measuring Head Start Effectiveness, Chloe R. Gibbs

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The Head Start program, launched in 1965 and targeted to children from disadvantaged backgrounds, remains the largest early childhood care and education (ECE) program in the United States and the only one deployed at the federal level. As such, the Head Start literature spans several decades and now allows for synthesis of findings from different contexts, time periods, and research designs. This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of the rigorous evidence measuring Head Start’s effects on children, their families, and society. The focus is on how (1) the contrast between program and counterfactual conditions, (2) takeup of the program among …

Research Review: "Black Veterans' Insight On Racial Disparities In Military Administrative Separations", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

Military service provides a path toward the middle class by granting veterans benefits, including healthcare and compensation for disabilities acquired during service. Military characterization of service, assigned by the Department of Defense at separation, can qualify or disqualify veterans from benefits access. Black service members are 50% more likely than White service members to receive an Other Than Honorable rather than an Honorable discharge, resulting in disproportionate impediments to the benefits designed to facilitate re-entry into civilian life and prevent poverty. Yet, the Department of Defense provides little meaningful remedy for Black veterans to correct less than Honorable discharges, instead …

Artificial Intelligence In Medical Ethics Education: A Descriptive Study Of Eight Models In Multiple Choice Question Generation, John Obeid, Christopher Bobier, Alex Gillham, Adam Omelianchuk, Daniel Hurst

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Introduction: Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into medical education poses barriers and opportunities for medical educators. One of those opportunities is content creation for medical ethics assessment. Assessing the performance of AI in generating multiple choice questions (MCQs) in ethics that aligns with United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) is important. The present study evaluates the performance of eight AI models-GPT-4 Turbo, GPT-3.5 Turbo 0125, o1 Mini, o1 Preview, GPT-4, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3 Opus, and Gemini-in regard to the relevance, clarity, and accuracy of generated ethics-based MCQs.

Methods: Each of the eight models was tasked with generating two sets …

The Stories Of African American Mothers Working Part-Time Without Mandated Job Protections, Chantelle Sharese Yancy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides unpaid, job‑protected leave only for eligible workers, and rules tied to hours, tenure, and employer size often exclude mothers working part-time. Research on U.S. family and medical leave has documented inequities in access to job protections. The lived experiences of African American/Black mothers navigating this gap remain underrepresented. The purpose of this narrative qualitative study was to explore the lived experiences of African American/Black mothers who worked part-time without mandated job protections, with specific attention to FMLA. General systems theory provided the theoretical framework, and an Afrocentric paradigm centered African/African American/Black voice …

First Nations Education Policy: Joint Response, Ninti One, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Shaping educational policy

This is a joint submission made by Ninti One Limited and the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to the development of the new First Nations Education Policy. The submission is grounded in a significant body of evidence derived from recent collaborative work, including the First Nations Teacher Strategy (FNTS), the Closing the Gap Schools Initiatives evaluation, and the VET Workforce Study. Insights are drawn directly from the lived experiences of First Nations students, educators, families, and communities with whom we work across our collective and independent projects. The paper presents recommendations across four interconnected focus areas to strengthen educational …

What Is Happening In The World Today And Why: Humanity’S Evolving Consciousness And The Role Of Archetypal Energies As Guides During An Unfolding Weeding Out And Alignment Process, Carroy U. Ferguson

Psychology Faculty Publication Series

What is happening in the world today and why? Humanity is evolving its consciousness at individual and collective levels. Given these seemingly tumultuous times, as of this writing (January 2026), to make such a statement may sound like a strange thing to say. However, I suggest that if you are alive today and if you are reading these words, these are the very times for which you were born--to assist Humanity as it evolves its consciousness with your unique gifts, whatever they may be. That is, this period of our individual and collective human being-ness may be characterized as an …

Food Security Through Church-Sponsored Food Programs, Samantha Scott

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A south-suburban Cook County, IL city lacks grocery stores with high-quality food options, which contributes to food insecurity. Residents often rely on highly processed, low-nutrient foods, contributing to nutritional vulnerability. Friendship Church’s food bank sporadically serves this food desert, but sustaining its operations is challenging. Using community-based participatory action research design and the food security theory, data were collected from 25 semistructured interviews with food bank beneficiaries and church staff/volunteers and analyzed using reflective thematic analysis. The four dimensions were examined: availability, access, utilization, and stability. Two questions guided the research: How do parishioners in one south-suburban Cook County community …

On The Legal-Theoretical Foundations Of Property Taxation Under State Ownership Of Land, Tianke Ban, Yilin Hou, Ping Zhang

Center for Policy Research

The general public and even some scholars challenge the legitimacy of levying the property tax under conditions where land is state-owned and multi-year land-use fees have already been collected at the time of house sales. This challenge points to the legal- theoretical foundations of property taxation: the core issue is whether the rights and economic utility of China's construction land-use-rights (CLUR) are sufficient to be treated as the object of property tax levy. China's Civil Law stipulates that CLUR holders have the rights to possess, use, and profit from the land during their use period, as well as the right …

After A Wildfire: Considerations For Building Environmental Testing, Andrew J. Whelton, E. Bollens, C. Ferrarezzi

Resilience to Emergencies and Disasters

No abstract provided.

Increasing Housing Stability Through State-Funded Community Mediation Massachusetts Housing Mediation Program Fy2025 Evaluation Report, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Karina Zeferino

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

Mediation offers a flexible alternative to court for resolving housing disputes, allowing parties to address a wider range of issues and solutions without the delays and formalities of the judicial system. The Housing Mediation Program (HMP or Program) was established in FY2021 as part of the Eviction Diversion Initiative (EDI), a coordinated state and federal response to the housing challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Led by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC), the EDI brought together housing agencies, Community Mediation Centers (Centers) through MOPC, and legal services to provide robust support for tenants and …

Empowering Rural Voices Through Deliberative Mini-Publics, Elizabeth B. Hinchcliff

The Rural Educator

This conceptual paper explores the tension between valuing and listening to community voices, while also providing a space wherein rural advocates and community members can come together to address difficult issues prevalent within rural schooling, through deliberative mini-publics. A multiplicity of reasons supports deliberative mini-publics, but I explore three in particular, the first being that they provide a space wherein an intentionally diverse set of community voices and perspectives can be shared, listened to, and explored. Second, the goal of any democratically deliberative space is to explore multiple perspectives as part of the process to seek solutions that contribute to …

Calculated Risks: The Power Of Predictive Risk Models To Regulate Families Of Color, Ashleigh Washington

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines predictive risk modelling (PRM) in New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS), specifically exploring AI-enabled design features, practices, and encoded and racialized assumptions about risk in child welfare prevention services. Guided by Critical Race Theory and the Algorithmic Ecology framework, this study traces how PRM in ACS evolved from a service termination tool into a broader, largely internal surveillance apparatus that leverages families’ personal information, including health information, to assess risk of future maltreatment and to evaluate contracted service providers. Drawing on analysis of public records and in-depth interviews with Black parents, the findings describe how …

20 Things You Should Never Say To A Patient, Richard H. Madow Dds

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This feature article details the financial advantages of utilizing MDA-endorsed vendors to improve practice profitability. It explains the vetting process performed by volunteers to ensure vendors offer meaningful discounts and vetted solutions. The source highlights specific services, such as PPO fee negotiation, dental marketing, and insurance verifications, which can save a practice over $58,000 annually. By leveraging collective bargaining, members gain access to revenue-boosting solutions without exhaustive trial-and-error searching.

February 2026 Nh Ece Research Consortium Newsletter, Evan England, Jess Carson, Harshita Sarup

New Hampshire Early Care and Education Research Consortium

The February 2026 NH ECE Research Consortium Newsletter features a spotlight on the NH Child Care Scholarship Program. Also find the latest data, research publications, Consortium resources, upcoming events, opportunities, and more.

Border Perceptions: Security And Immigration In The South Texas Borderlands, Carla Angulo-Pasel, Mi-Son Kim, Adrien A. Halliez

School of Political Science, Public Affairs, Legal and Security Studies Faculty Publications

With the Trump administration, we witnessed a hardening of border security policy and practices. Trump used his leadership and celebrity to explicitly attack and criminalize “undocumented” migrants with a discourse of threat, danger, invasion, crisis. Policywise, he took steps to further securitize the borderlands. In this paper, we examine how public opinion has differed with regards to the support or opposition to these hard security policies, especially in borderland areas when compared to the overall national population. The aim of this paper is to examine this difference by directing our attention to the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), a borderlands region …

Counter-Urbanization In China: A Systematic Review Toward A Comprehensive Typology, Chengxue Yang, Qian Forrest Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Drawing on a systematic review of both international and Chinese-language scholarship on counter-urbanization in China, this article proposes a comprehensive typology of counter-urbanization migrations—consisting of eight types of new migrants—based on the diverse motivations driving such migration. We build a bilingual corpus of 273 research papers published between the 1970s and 2025. Integrating bibliometric mapping and qualitative synthesis, we conduct a systematic review to trace the temporal evolution and thematic diversification of counter-urbanization research. The review reveals persistent conceptual ambiguity surrounding counter-urbanization in the Chinese context, which this study addresses by conceptually distinguishing counter-urbanization from suburban expansion, population decentralization, and …

Towards Enabling Environmental Social Enterprises: Two Case Studies From Egypt, Rana Emad Kamaly

Theses and Dissertations

Social enterprises (SEs) and environmental social enterprises (ESEs) are emerging as promising potential players in addressing global and Egyptian social and environmental challenges. Operating as a hybrid model of financial sustainability and environmental and social impact, ESEs operate through innovative business models to address community issues, waste management, and resource scarcity through financial sustainability. However, there is a lack of research on ESEs operations, challenges, and the enabling factors that can support their growth and impact. This study explores the enabling factors and challenges affecting ESEs in Egypt through qualitative research, analyzing two case studies from Egypt by conducting semi-structured …

2026 February, Morehead State University. Office Of Communications & Marketing.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for February of 2026.

Roadmap To Implement Statewide Veterans Coordinated Care In New Mexico, Nosa Akol, Zachary Bridgewater, Vincent Delsignore, Emily Graham, Mary Rachel Keville

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

The New Mexico State Legislature is interested in building a statewide coordinated care network to better connect veterans and their families to service. This document translates community input into an actionable roadmap for implementation. This outlines key activities, objectives, and milestones across each phase of the project--designed to guide state leaders and implementation partners from design to launch to steady state operations.

The Uncomfortable Truths About Inclusive Growth In Singapore, Kong Weng Ho

Research Collection School Of Economics

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Economics (Education) Ho Kong Weng said that the Ministry of Finance’s Occasional Paper provides food for thought on the way forward on social mobility, growth and redistribution. Assoc Prof Ho stated that these macro statistics suggest Singapore’s socioeconomic compact has performed well, and suggests that sustaining inclusive growth is a multifaceted effort that cannot be boiled down to one single metric, whether income, wealth, inequality or mobility. He noted that pursuing ever-lower Gini coefficients through heavy regulation risks deadweight losses without guaranteeing better mobility outcomes. He added that Singapore’s approach of tempering market-driven …

Bridging Policy And Grassroots Action With Technology: A Framework For Civic Engagement In Environmental Sustainability, Mikhail Ola Adisa, Sonny Rosenthal, Shola Oyedeji, Ifeoma Adaji, Jari Porras

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Grassroots and civic organizations are increasingly recognized as “middle actors” in sustainability, leveraging ICT-driven solutions to bridge top-down policies with bottom-up citizen engagement and behavioral change. This study examines how civic organizations in Finland and Singapore integrate digital tools to support sustainable waste management practices aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 11, 12, and 17. Guided by a Design Science Research (DSR) approach and drawing on Middle-Out and multi-level governance theories, we developed and validated the Integrated Sustainability Engagement Framework (ISEF) based on interviews with 21 civic organizations and iterative feedback. Findings highlight the central roles of policy translation, localized practices, …

Navigating Climate Change In Carbon Negative Bhutan: Insights From Policy Influencers And Comparison To The Wider Himalayan Region, Tashi Dorji, Angus Morrison-Saunders, David Blake

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Climate change is one of the most pressing global challenges and spares no nation. Bhutan, as the only carbon negative country in the world, is no exception and being in the Himalayas – a region warming faster than the global average – further intensifies climate risks. This study explores how Bhutan navigates climate change through the perspectives of 41 policy influencers, including politicians, civil servants, and leaders from nongovernment organisations and the media. The findings are compared with scientific literature from the broader Himalayan region to identify shared vulnerabilities (e.g., glacial lake outburst floods, water scarcity, and agricultural disruptions) and …

Rules Before Relief: International Organizations And The Administrative Burdens Of G5 Donor Counterterrorism And Sanctions Frameworks In The Mena Region, Khloud Awad

Theses and Dissertations

The international humanitarian system relies on a small group of powerful donor governments. The G5, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Japan, collectively provide the majority of bilateral humanitarian financing and attach extensive counterterrorism and sanctions compliance requirements to their funding. This study examines how these frameworks generate administrative burden for the international organizations that translate funding into assistance in conflict settings in the MENA region. The study draws on Administrative Burden Theory, adapted from its original citizen-state context to the donor-international organization relationship. Moreover, it adopts a qualitative design across four conflict-affected settings: Sudan, Palestine, Syria, …

Humanity Is Evolving Its Consciousness: The Role Of Archetypal Energies As Guides During An Unfolding Weeding Out And Alignment Process, Carroy U. Ferguson

Psychology Faculty Publication Series

Humanity is evolving its consciousness at individual and collective levels.  Given these seemingly tumultuous times, as of this writing (January 2026), to make such a statement may sound like a strange thing to say.  However, I suggest that if you are alive today and if you are reading these words, these are the very times for which you were born—to assist Humanity as it evolves its consciousness with your unique gifts, whatever they may be.  That is, this period of our individual and collective human being-ness may be characterized as an unfolding period of weeding out and alignment with the …

Private Sector Healthcare Investment In Indonesia: Leveraging Australia-Indonesia Partnerships For Health System Transformation, Susan Josephine Neuhaus

Journal of Indonesian Health Policy and Administration

Australia and Indonesia are strategic partners with expanding bilateral trade valued at AUD 26.7 billion (2022-23). Health care partnerships between the two countries offer significant opportunities for private sector engagement. Indonesia’s large population, rapidly growing middle class, and implementation of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) through the Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional (JKN) present partnership opportunities to strengthen health system capacity, address infrastructure gaps and workforce shortages, and contribute to shared economic and prosperity goals. This study explores how Australian private healthcare investment can complement government initiatives in supporting Indonesia’s UHC while advancing Australia’s regional engagement. A descriptive qualitative analysis was conducted using …

Analysis Of Coverage Of Tuberculosis Prevention Therapy (Tpt): Literature Review, Septia Rahmalina, Ede Surya Darmawan

Journal of Indonesian Health Policy and Administration

Tuberculosis Preventive Therapy (TPT) is a crucial intervention for tuberculosis (TB) control, particularly among high-risk groups such as household contacts of TB patients and people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Despite being recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), TPT implementation still faces challenges at the primary care level. This study employed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method to review 11 articles published between 2021 and 2025 that were relevant to TPT implementation in various high-TB burden countries, including Indonesia. The main barriers identified were input (logistics, training), process (tracing, education, monitoring), and output …

Prophylactic Antibiotic Analysis In Obs-Gyn, Orthopedics, Gastrointestinal Surgery At A South Tangerang Hospital, January-March 2024, Evelina Endang Nurjaman, Helen Andriani

Journal of Indonesian Health Policy and Administration

Inappropriate use of prophylactic antibiotics (PAs) remains a primary driver of antimicrobial resistance (AMR); however, global adherence to established prescribing guidelines remains suboptimal. This study aimed to analyze the compliance and rationality of PA prescription and to evaluate the underlying causes of physician non-adherence in obstetrics, orthopedic, and gastrointestinal surgeries at a hospital in South Tangerang City, Indonesia. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, this investigation combined a quantitative assessment of 208 surgical patient records (January–March 2024) with qualitative exploratory interviews conducted with three specialist peer group heads. This design allowed the triangulation of prescribing data with underlying clinical perspectives. PA rationality …

Advancing Climate Transition Through Fiscal Tools: The Role Of Carbon Taxation And Fuel Subsidy Reform, Farah Amgad Zayed

Theses and Dissertations

This study highlights how fiscal policy tools can accelerate Egypt's climate transition, with emphasis on carbon taxes and fossil fuel subsidies reforms. It investigates how fiscal tools can reduce carbon emissions and promote economic development by primarily relying on qualitative interviews with policymakers, consultants, representatives of the private sector, and civil society actors, paralleled with some descriptive and comparative analysis. The results show that even though Egypt has made significant strides in advancing green transition, including updating the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), introducing the first African Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM), as well as phasing out fossil fuel subsidies gradually, institutional …

Keeping It Together: Assessing The Wellbeing Of Project-Based Development Practitioners In Egypt, Amira Ahmed Abdallah Fekry Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the wellbeing of project-based development practitioners in Egypt, revealing how systemic pressures—bureaucracy, job insecurity, and fragmented workloads—undermine both wellbeing and productivity. The study employed a mixed-approach, combining 10 in-depth interviews with subject matter experts and practitioners and 75 surveys with development practitioners in Egypt. Data revealed that while many practitioners are driven by purpose, structural challenges erode resilience and motivation over time. Social support networks and personal coping strategies help but cannot replace institutional protections. The study argues that wellbeing must shift from being treated as an individual concern to a structural responsibility. Reframing organizational models around …

Harmonization And Ambiguity In Regulations For Physicians With Family Medicine Competence Post-Law No. 17 Of 2023, Danar Wahyu Giwang Katon, Dumilah Ayuningtyas, Purnawan Junadi, Wahyu Sulistiadi, Roberth J. Pattiselanno, Fitria Fitria, Ika Fitri Alfiani

Journal of Indonesian Health Policy and Administration

Strengthening primary care services in Indonesia requires that community health centers, namely Pusat Kesehatan Masyarakat (Puskesmas), involve medical personnel with family medicine competence. However, the fulfillment of physicians with this competence, especially Primary Care Family Medicine Specialists or Spesialis Kedokteran Keluarga Layanan Primer (Sp.KKLP), still face significant obstacles. This qualitative research uses the integrated Easton's System Model and Buse's Policy Framework to analyze the dynamics of this policy. The findings reveal a gap between the strong legal foundation and weak implementation mechanisms on the ground. First, there is ambiguity in terminology and lack of harmonization among regulations, especially concerning the …