Digital Commons Network^™

From Risk Perception To Readiness: Understanding Us Wildfire Preparedness Drivers, Dominic Kyei, William Donner, Arlett Sophia Lomeli, Dean Kyne

Sociology Faculty Publications

Background: Wildfires in the USA are becoming more frequent and severe as climate change and population growth expand exposure in fire-prone regions. Understanding the human dimensions of wildfire preparedness—particularly how individuals perceive risk, build awareness, and develop evacuation readiness—is critical for effective fire management.

Methods: This study examines cognitive, experiential, behavioral, and sociodemographic predictors of wildfire preparedness using the wildfire-specific subsample (n = 509) from the 2023 FEMA National Household Survey. Generalized structural equation modeling (GSEM) was used to analyze three key outcomes: readiness awareness, evacuation readiness, and perceived wildfire risk.

Results: Results show that readiness awareness and preparedness self-efficacy …

Interviewing Civilians For A Local Perspective Of Violent Extremism In West Africa, Benjamin Ellis

Masters Theses

This study examines how civilians in West Africa experience violent extremism, with the goal of informing more effective policy solutions. Using a qualitative research design, the study draws on a focus group conducted with ten participants from various countries in West Africa. Data was transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis to identify recurring patterns in participants’ responses. Six major themes emerged: prolonged fear and restricted daily movement; economic and infrastructural disruption; psychological distress and uncertainty about the future; recruitment into extremist groups driven by complex factors; limited outsider understanding of local realities; and support for multidimensional responses rather than purely …

The Impact Of Workplace Wellness Programs On Workers’ Compensation Claims And Absenteeism: A Quantitative Study In Public Administration, Stephen Michael Douglas Coy

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Employee absenteeism is detrimental to organizational effectiveness and efficiency. Workers’ compensation claims are a potential liability to government organizations, as claims filed by employees for work-related injuries or illnesses may impact insurance premiums based on the number and severity of claims filed. Identifying and implementing solutions to mitigate the effects of absenteeism and workers’ compensation claims are critical to organizational sustainability. This quantitative study seeks to determine if workplace health and wellness programs decrease absenteeism and reduce workers’ compensation claims levels among public sector employees. Post-positivism and functionalism provide this study with a theoretical underpinning. The variables of interest were …

State Government, The Forgotten Cyber Actor, Joshua D. Strubel

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Cyber incidents are among the most pervasive threats facing the United States, with the FBI recording over 859,000 reported attacks and an estimated $16.6 billion in losses in 2024 alone. Despite widespread recognition that effective cyber defense requires a whole-nation approach, the existing research literature overwhelmingly focuses on federal policy, leaving state governments as largely overlooked actors. This study addresses that gap by examining the research question: How does state cybersecurity policy affect malicious cyber actors' frequency of operations? Drawing on multilinear regression analysis augmented by Random Forest machine learning models, this study evaluates the relationship between state-level cyber deterrence …

Fentanyl At The Border: A Critical Analysis Of U.S. Customs And Border Protection Strategies Against Synthetic Opioid Smuggling, Patricia Salinas

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation will investigate the efficacy of tactics employed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in detecting and intercepting fentanyl at legal ports of entry along the U.S border during the fiscal years 2022 to 2025. Given that fentanyl continues to be a pivotal element in the ongoing opioid crisis within the United States, it is imperative to understand the mechanisms by which this synthetic opioid is smuggled into the country and to evaluate the efficacy of federal initiatives. These efforts are crucial for protecting public health and enhancing national security. This quantitative study examines fentanyl seizure data from …

Manufactured Homes In The Mountain West, 2025, Yiselle Olivas Ruiz, Dre Boyd-Weatherly, Taylor Volk, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Housing & Real Estate

This fact sheet presents 2025 data on manufactured homes in the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The Construction Coverage report, “U.S. States Investing Most in Manufactured Homes,” based on analysis from the U.S Census Bureau and Zillow’s Home Value Index, includes data on all fifty states. This fact sheet focuses on the number of manufactured homes, site-built home permits, and the average price of manufactured homes in the Mountain West.

Innovation Hubs In Mountain West Cities, 2025, Cason Noll, Sean Curry, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet presents data on 20 innovation-dense Mountain West cities across Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The CommercialCafe report, “Santa Clara, Berkeley & Tempe Lead Among Western Innovation Hubs,”  uses 15 indicators to rank 63 western cities for innovation hub activity across three categories: employment and talent, education, and business activity.

Book Review: A Violent Peace: A Global Military History Of The Interwar Peace, Ryan Wadle

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Edited by Ian Ona Johnson and Robert Clemm

Reviewed by: Dr. Ryan Wadle, John B. Hattendorf Center for Maritime Historical Research, US Naval War College

In A Violent Peace: A Global Military History of the Interwar Peace, editors Ian Ona Johnson and Robert Clemm challenge the myth of a tranquil interlude between the world wars by revealing a landscape of persistent and widespread conflict. Spanning four continents, the book uncovers forgotten wars, ideological clashes, and military transformations that shaped the global order long before 1939. This compelling volume reframes the interwar years as a violent and formative era, essential …

Book Review: The Boundaries Of War: Local And Global Perspectives In Military History, Stephen G. Harlan

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Edited by Lee L. Brice and Timothy M. Roberts

Reviewed by: Stephen G. Harlan, historian, 99th Readiness Division

The Boundaries of War: Local and Global Perspectives in Military History, edited by Lee L. Brice and Timothy M. Roberts, challenges traditional narratives by exploring how warfare is shaped by both local conditions and global forces. Through case studies ranging from ancient Rome to the World Wars, the book asks whether military history should be understood through regional uniqueness or broader transnational patterns. This thought-provoking collection redefines how we study conflict by bridging the gap between micro-level experiences and macro-level trends.

Exploring Workplace Wellness Programs From A Correctional Officer’S Perspective, Lolita Jeaneen Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

“Between Cultural Norms And Economic Survival: Navigating Egyptian Lower And Middle Income Women’S Challenges In The Informal Versus The Formal Work: “A Case Study From Cairo”, Rowan Mahmoud Abdelnazer

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the ongoing gender inequities experienced by low and middle-income women in Egypt’s formal and informal labor economy, specifically it is based in Cairo. Although there are many advances made globally on women's rights, yet women still face great challenges such as discrepancies in salary, fewer leadership roles and cultural expectations which put child-bearing duties before professional growth. On the one hand, flexible work for women in developing countries is through informal sector, which makes them vulnerable and serves as a source of their exploitation and insecurity (e.g., lack of social security; workplace hazards), on the other hand, …

Mobilizing Social Capital In Social Entrepreneurship: Strategies, Networks, And Growth In The Egyptian Context, Doaa Alaa

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how social entrepreneurs in Egypt strategically mobilise social capital to access resources, legitimacy, and opportunities within a fragmented and institutionally ambiguous ecosystem. Drawing on qualitative case studies of eight legally registered, mission-driven for-profit enterprises, the study analyses how founders build and leverage offline and online networks through practices such as emotional bonding, community formation, knowledge sharing, symbolic positioning, ecosystem engagement, and digital presence. Through thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and secondary data, the research identifies a set of relational strategies that function as core mechanisms for entrepreneurial growth in contexts where formal support structures and legal definitions …

Parental Gender Bias In Youth Employment Standards: Evidence From Upper Egypt, Mahmoud Saeed

Theses and Dissertations

Youth unemployment remains a critical challenge in Egypt, with female labor force participation among the lowest globally. While structural factors such as limited job creation and public sector contraction are well-documented, the role of family-level decision-making in constraining women's labor market entry has received limited quantitative attention. This thesis examines parental gender bias in employment standards in Upper Egypt, investigating whether and how parents impose systematically different job requirements for daughters compared to sons. Using primary survey data from 17,284 unemployed youth aged 18-35 across six governorates, paired with responses from their parents, this study analyzes parental preferences across six …

Book Review: War In The Smartphone Age: Conflict, Connectivity And The Crises At Our Fingertips, Caitlan Fealing

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Matthew Ford

Reviewed by: Caitlan Fealing

This review of War in the Smartphone Age highlights Matthew Ford’s argument that mass smartphone use is transforming modern warfare. Using recent conflicts, the book shows how civilian-generated data and connectivity accelerate decision making and reshape the conduct of war.

©2026 Caitlan Fealing

Book Review: Chokepoints: American Power In The Age Of Economic Warfare, Jared Massie

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Edward Fishman

Reviewed by: Major Jared Massie

Economic tools are reshaping global power in ways military professionals cannot ignore. From sanctions to tech controls, modern statecraft is increasingly defined by financial and industrial leverage.

©2026 Jared Massie

The Human Side Of Humanitarian Work: Well-Being And Performance Among Aid Workers In Egypt, Mai Osama Kenawy

Theses and Dissertations

Well-being and productivity are widely recognized as central to the work performance of humanitarian aid workers. Despite increasing attention to staff well-being, performance within the humanitarian sector in Egypt remains stagnant or, in some cases, declining. This study examines why expanded well-being initiatives have not yielded sustained performance improvements by examining how actors' external roles, organizational factors, and individual factors affect humanitarian workers’ well-being and work performance. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, combining ten in-depth interviews with humanitarian workers from international organizations, INGOs, and local NGOs, as well as a survey of eighty workers operating in the same context. The …

Work Precarity, Mental Health, And Performance Among Humanitarian Aid Workers In Egypt Post-2025 U.S. Funding Reduction, Mariam Allam

Theses and Dissertations

The humanitarian sector is increasingly characterized by precarious employment conditions and work precarity, including short-term contracts, unclear renewal terms, inadequate compensation, heavy workloads, and job insecurity, exacerbated by volatile donor funding. The 2025 U.S. funding cuts have intensified these vulnerabilities, particularly in countries like Egypt, with massive humanitarian operations because of being a significant destination for asylum applications and one of the largest refugee host countries. Despite the prevalence of precarious work in the humanitarian sector, limited research examines its effects on workers' mental health and work performance, especially during funding crises. This qualitative study explores the perceived effect of …

Michigan's Automotive Workforce Transition, Erik Vasilauskas, Michael Horrigan

Upjohn Institute Technical Reports

This report examines how changes in automobile production, specifically the shift from internal-combustion-engine (ICE) vehicles toward hybrids and battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), are likely to affect employment in Michigan’s automotive manufacturing and distribution system over the next decade. The goal is to quantify how many jobs in Michigan depend on the automotive supply chain today, how that employment has evolved since the early 2000s, and how it may change through 2030 under alternative production-and-demand scenarios. The results are intended to inform the workforce planning and community transition strategies of the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity’s Community and Worker Economic …

(Re)Claiming Homeplace: Dance As Embodied Resistance & Healing For Health & Spatial Justice, Preeya G. Kannan

University Honors Theses

This thesis argues that dance functions as both an upstream public health intervention and a form of radical spatial resistance; creating healing, agency, and belonging among historically marginalized communities. Drawing on bell hooks' concept of homeplace, Jasbir Puar's assemblage theory, Nancy Krieger's eco-social theory, and Katherine McKittrick's Black geographies, I position the body as both an ecological and political landscape shaped by histories of colonialism, racial capitalism, displacement, and resilience.

Through this community-based participatory research study, Homeplace, I explore dance as a form of social prescription that centers liberation rather than pathology. Movement is often reduced in public health discourse …

Strategic Anti-Transgender Policy Diffusion: Interest Groups, Courts, And The Two-Track Politics Of Gender Regulation, Henry Danford

University Honors Theses

This thesis analyzes the strategic diffusion of anti-transgender policy in the United States following the passage of Idaho House Bills 500 and 509 in 2020. It argues that conservative lawmakers and advocacy organizations employed a coordinated "two-track" policy strategy in which transgender sports bans served as highly visible and politically popular mode legislation while identity-document restrictions advanced more quietly through courts and administrative policy. Drawing on policy diffusion theory, the Advocacy Coalition framework, and minority stress theory, the study combines qualitative policy analysis with quantitative analysis of Household Pulse Survey mental health data and Media Cloud new coverage data from …

Transforming Equity: A Systemic Analysis Of The Equity Model Of Social Justice Education Through The Lens Of Conflict Transformation Theory, Precious J. Golden

University Honors Theses

Current pedagogical theory and practices grounded in social justice aim to rectify systemic barriers to equity, yet despite decades of teaching through a social justice lens, social inequality and cultural division are on the rise.  "Justice," as a noun, has several meanings (Cambridge Dictionary). It can mean "judge", "law," or "fairness," and justice, no matter its meaning or its need, is achieved through methods of conflict resolution and conflict transformation. This inquiry seeks to present conflict transformation as a radical means of achieving transformative social justice, bringing voice to the voiceless and oppressed, and rectifying the contradictions in the current …

Policy Solutions In The Ev Battery Supply Chain Addressing Unethical Social And Environmental Practices, Mateo Mazariego-Halpern

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

California should adopt a phased supply chain accountability framework for electric vehicles sold in the state, combining the immediate implementation of a voluntary Fair Trade Decal program with the mandatory adoption of COFFEE (Corporate Operations Free From Environmental Evil) Standards based on CAFÉ standards, by 2035. This thesis identifies a critical gap in U.S. EV policy: current federal legislation regulates where batteries are sourced but not how cleanly or ethically they are produced. The consequences of this regulatory gap are severe, with emissions simply shifting further down the supply chain rather than being eliminated, child labor and indigenous displacement going …

The Role Of Urban Forests In Mitigating Flooding Effects: A Case Study In Savannah, Georgia, Gillian Bush

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Flooding in coastal communities is shaped by the interaction between natural systems and urban development. Chatham County, a low-elevation region in the Savannah, Georgia metropolitan area along the eastern coast of the United States, is prone to coastal storms and frequently affected by flooding. It serves as a useful case study to better understand the factors behind flooding and the areas that are most at risk. This study uses GIS-based analysis to examine the overlap between flood risk, urban forest cover, and impervious surfaces. The results indicate elevated vulnerability along major transportation corridors and barrier islands, where high-risk flood zones …

Collaboration In Conservation: Examining Environmental Policy Perspectives Among Ranchers In Rural America, Adeline Braun

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Rural Americans play an essential role in environmental protection policy in the United States due to their political influence and their management of large amounts of land. This study examines what factors affect rural support for and opposition to environmental management policies in order to gain a deeper understanding of when and why rural Americans support and oppose certain environment-related policies. Data collected from interviews with seven current and former ranchers in Wyoming along with information gathered from three relevant environmental organizations is analyzed through the lenses of economics, partisan politics, rural identity, and policy framing. The findings of this …

Explaining Variation In Medical Aid In Dying Policy Across U.S. States, Abigail Hopper

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

This paper asks why Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) policy in the United States does not follow a simple partisan pattern between states. Existing scholarship on morality policy emphasizes ideological conflict and partisan alignment, but this framework cannot fully explain why states with similar political compositions have adopted different MAiD policy outcomes, indicating that some key mechanisms shaping the variation have been overlooked. To address this, this paper combines a national dataset of MAiD policies across all fifty states with a comparative case study of Montana, Colorado, and West Virginia, focusing on differences in institutional venues, framing strategies, and coalition …

“Three In A Jeep”: Exploring The Conditions For Successful Peacekeeping Through United Nations Special Political Missions, Audrey Duff

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

This thesis examines a specific type of United Nations peacekeeping operation, referred to as Special Political Missions (SPMs) and their progress in transitions from war to peace. While traditional peacekeeping has made advances in separating conflict and human rights development, SPMs provide concentrated specialization in areas, including electoral support, government mediation, and disarmament. Through a structured focus comparison of three unique SPM case studies, this research explores what key dimensions are involved in successful Special Political Missions. By comparing the United Nations Mission in Nepal, United Nations Mission in Colombia, and United Nations Observer Mission in Bougainville, this thesis intends …

Gendered Justice: The Role Of Women’S Civil Society Organizations In Shaping Chile’S Truth Commissions, Frankie Stroud

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Scholarly literature has increasingly recognized that the inclusion of women and gender in formal transitional justice processes is essential for addressing the gendered nature of mass atrocities. This thesis seeks to contribute to the existing literature on how and why some transitional justice processes have come to address women and gender by specifically studying Chile’s Rettig Commission and Valech Commission. Several hypotheses have emerged from the literature for why the Valech Commission addressed gender to a greater extent, including that women’s civil society organizations, diffusion of international norms, and shifting domestic politics each played a role. Grounded in an anti-reductionist …

The Disproportionate Impact Of Legal Deserts: A Policy Proposal To Address The Legal Needs Of Rural Nevadans, Madelyn Wold

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Despite the large number of attorneys in the United States, the disproportionate concentration of attorneys in urban areas leaves rural residents to navigate the complex legal system on their own. This uneven distribution creates ‘legal deserts’, or areas where residents lack access to attorneys. The Southwestern United States has especially dire legal deserts, and Nevada is no exception. While defendants in criminal matters are guaranteed legal representation, parties in civil legal issues are not granted the same right to representation. Civil legal issues largely impact vulnerable populations and can have profound impacts on individuals’ family, economic circumstances, and physical wellbeing. …

Big Fish Or Little Pond? National Evidence On The Relationship Between Transferring And Athletic Performance Within Division I Men's College Basketball, Kendall Cole, Francis A. Pearman Ii, Saurabh Khanna

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

Beginning with the introduction of the transfer portal in 2018, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has made several policy changes that have made transferring both easier and more desirable among student athletes, particularly in Division I (DI) revenue-generating sports. Yet, little is known about the relationship between transferring and student athletes’ athletic performance. Using individual- and team-level data on all DI men’s college basketball student athletes from the 2018-19 season through the 2023-24 season, we examine the relationship between transferring and athletic performance, specifically one’s points per game, minutes per game, and number of games started per season. Results …

The Palm Farm Next-Door: Land Concessions, Livelihoods, And Nutrition In Plantation-Adjacent Communities, Julia Entwistle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Large-scale land concessions have reshaped agrarian landscapes globally, yet their implications for community land tenure, livelihoods, and nutrition remain unevenly understood. This dissertation examines how plantation agriculture and foreign investment have transformed land access, labor relations, and food systems in Liberia, a country with one of the highest proportions of land under concession globally. Guided by a political ecology framework, the study employs a mixed-methods design integrating policy analysis, in-depth interviews, and household surveys across two palm oil concession sites. The findings show that ambiguous land policies historically facilitated dispossession, while recent legal reforms have enabled communities to strategically mobilize …