Digital Commons Network^™

Navigating Trauma And Scarcity: A Phenomenological Inquiry Into Well-Being Among Black Adult Males In Ohio Valley, Devron Demont Hobbs

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Black adult males in resource-scarce Ohio Valley communities have historically experienced trauma that disrupted their well-being. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study, grounded in developmental trauma disorder (DTD) theory, was to explore how Black adult males understood and sustained well-being while living with DTD in resource-scarce environments. The participants comprised six Black adult males who resided in Ohio Valley communities and experienced trauma during childhood and adulthood. Data were collected through confidential, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Five themes emerged: healing through connection and role-modeling, historical and systemic trauma as a daily barrier, navigating …

Economic Policies And Their Role In Enhancing Innovation: An Econometric Study Of South Korea (1996–2024), Ahmad M. Habeeb, Mahdi Saleh Sulaiman Al-Rikani

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

This research aims to study and analyze the impact of macroeconomic policies (fiscal, monetary, and trade) on promoting innovation in South Korea during the period 1996-2024 using the ARDL model. The results of estimating the model’s parameters in the short and long run showed a stable equilibrium relationship, with an error correction coefficient of –0.173. This indicates that the Korean economic system possesses a self-correcting mechanism that restores equilibrium shocks within approximately 5 years and 9 months. The results also demonstrated the importance of education spending and the money supply in stimulating and promoting innovation, while trade liberalization had a …

A Review On Traditional And Modern Aspects Of Vitex Negundo L.: Ethnomedicine, Phytochemistry, And Pharmacology, Tathagata Khanra, Suvasish Mitra, Subham Saha, Maitryee Mondal, Subhash C. Mandal

International Journal of Traditional Knowledge

Vitex negundo L., or five-leaved chaste tree, is a medicinally significant plant widely distributed in Asia and other tropical regions, frequently utilized in traditional healing systems for a spectrum of ailments. This comprehensive review consolidates current knowledge on the botany, traditional uses, phytochemical constituents, and pharmacological potentials of Vitex negundo L. The plant is rich in diverse bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, alkaloids, glycosides, and terpenoids, which are primarily responsible for its multidimensional therapeutic actions. Scientific investigations have substantiated its role in exerting anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antimicrobial, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, insecticidal, anticancer, and antidiabetic effects, among others. Research reveals promising enzyme-inhibitory, …

Siddha Formulations: A Traditional Reservoir Of Valuable Medicines For The Contemporary World, Agnes Preethy

International Journal of Traditional Knowledge

Traditional Medicine had been practised for many centuries in different parts of the world. However, the deep insights drawn from the traditional knowledge have remained highly localized as it had been privy only to the generations of traditional medicine practitioners. This, combined with lack of scientific evidence of their therapeutic action, had limited access, acceptance and awareness of these preparations to the larger segment of the community. The emergence of new lifestyle disorders and drug-resistant diseases in recent years has fuelled the search for alternate treatment strategies and has revived interest in traditional medicines. Concerted efforts to decipher the molecular …

Ayurvedic Herbs In The Management Of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: A Comprehensive Narrative Review, Latha Damle, Chandrasekhar C

International Journal of Traditional Knowledge

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) is a common, non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate gland, primarily affecting older men. It frequently leads to lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) such as increased urinary frequency, urgency, nocturia, and weak urine flow, which can significantly impair quality of life. Standard treatments for BPH include alpha-blockers, 5-alpha reductase inhibitors, and surgical interventions. However, limitations in efficacy and potential adverse effects have driven interest in complementary and traditional therapies, including Ayurveda. In Ayurvedic medicine, BPH is described as Mutraghata and Vatashthila, conditions attributed to an imbalance of Vata and Kapha doshas that disrupt normal prostate and …

Unveiling The Night-Flowering Jasmine: A Comprehensive Review Of Nyctanthes Arbor-Tristis’ (Oleaceae) Phytochemistry, Ethnomedicine, And Therapeutic Potential, Subham Saha, Soumya Mitra, Tathagata Khanra, Saban Karmakar, Tamalica Hore, Subhash C. Mandal

International Journal of Traditional Knowledge

Nyctanthes arbor-tristis (NAT), typically known as Night-flowering Jasmine or Harsingar or Parijat, is one of the prominent medicinal plants indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. Its application dates back to ancient times, with substantial documentation in former religious texts. Native communities have traditionally used this for various human ailments and as an ornamental plant. Leaves, flowers, seeds and stems of this plant are rich in various primary and secondary metabolites, providing a wide range of pharmacological effects. The most abundantly found phytoconstituents belong to iridoid glycosides, such as arbortristosides. Comprehensive research has investigated its potential in anticancer, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory activities, …

Agrarian Festivals Of India- Embedded Traditional Knowledge About Environment And Ecology Preserved Across Millennia, Lopamudra Maitra

International Journal of Traditional Knowledge

With a prominent agrarian economy, it is important to note the many agrarian festivals from across the nation. These festivals also help to highlight many rites, rituals and folklore, which forms the basic ethos of the celebrations and within the many layers of these are embedded knowledge about environment and ecology, which has been passed down through thousands of centuries. These have also been variously corroborated through archaeological, historical and epigraphical records of ancient India. This paper is an attempt to highlight this historicity of the agrarian festivals of India, which also corresponds to the mainstream festivals from across India, …

Gaining From Captured Indian Traditional Knowledge Systems: Paths Taken And Way Forward, Ramasami T

International Journal of Traditional Knowledge

India’s scientific heritage is deeply reflected in Ayurveda, a tradition of integrative medicine documented for over two millennia. P.C. Ray, the father of modern chemistry in India, highlighted the depth of ancient chemical knowledge and early use of mercury compounds, while M.S. Valiathan later revived and analyzed the classical texts of Charaka, Sushruta, and Vagbhata to bridge Ayurveda with modern science. Building on this foundation, the Government of India launched initiatives linking Ayurveda with genomics, personalized medicine, and rasayana therapies, yielding promising insights such as the genetic basis of prakriti classifications and protective effects of Amalaki Rasayana. Efforts like the …

The Varieties Of Precaution: Which Risks, Whose Attitudes?, Tomasz Żuradzki

Animal Sentience

The Edge of Sentience offers an ambitious and timely institutional framework for proportionate precaution under uncertainty about sentience. Its systematic treatment of empirical and theoretical uncertainty across diverse cases is a major contribution. Focusing on the problem of identifying and weighing different risks when designing proportionate precautions, this commentary suggests three areas in which Birch’s framework could be developed further: a more domain-sensitive justification of the priority given to avoiding under-attribution; a clearer distinction among competing forms of risk aversion and their divergent policy implications; and a fuller explanation of how the framework generates different recommendations across cases.

Credence Goods In Markets With Collective Reputation: Nature Of Equilibria And The Value Of Certification, Erin Krupka, Thomas P. Lyon, Arnab Mitra

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Fraud can cause markets for credence goods to collapse, but collective reputation has been suggested as a potential solution, especially when buyer valuations for quality are high. We develop a discrete model of a market for label credence goods and provide conditions for no-fraud equilibria based on collective reputation. We identify conditions under which all equilibria may be asymmetric or involve mixed strategies and hence sellers may face coordination problems. Our analysis suggests such coordination problems are the greatest when the size of the high-quality market is approximately half of the overall market (that incorporates both high- and low-quality goods), …

Lindenwood Digest, August 26, 2026, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

• Event & Date: The Lindenwood University Employee Digest was published on August 26, 2026, detailing campus schedules including the August 27, 2026 football home opener against Charleston Southern and the August 31, 2026 Library Services Documentary Night.

• Geographic Grounding: Activities and facilities referenced are situated at the Library and Academic Resources Center (LARC) and the Spellmann Campus Center, Lindenwood University, St. Charles, Missouri.

• Institutional Context: Academic Services transitioned its institutional title, forms, and primary administrative contacts to the Office of the Registrar effective for the Fall 2026 term.

Blue Space As Amenity And Disamenity: Disparity In Interstitial Water Bodies, Mara Pirone

Geography Honors Projects

Access to environmental amenities is distributed unevenly across urban areas, often due to discriminatory institutional practices such as redlining and racial covenants. Urban blue spaces (lakes, streams, rivers) can serve as either an environmental amenity or dis-amenity, depending on development and investment strategies. This paper explores how institutional racism, measured by variables such as historic redlining and racial covenant practices, shapes access to blue space as an amenity in the Twin Cities. Our results show that access to large, well-maintained, and well-invested blue space is distributed unevenly. Studying this relationship shows how cities continue to promote environmental injustice in interstitial …

Caveats For The Forensic Use Of The Pcl-R With Antisocial And Psychopathic Women, Carl B. Gacono, Ted B. Cunliffe, Jason M. Smith, Enna E. Taylor

Archives of Assessment Psychology

Special considerations are necessary when assessing antisocial and psychopathic women.  Evident throughout the evaluation process (Cunliffe et al., 2016; Gacono, 2016; Gacono & Meloy, 1994; Gacono & Smith, 2021; Smith et al., 2014, 2021; Taylor, 2015), gender differences suggest the need for modified approaches, shape the transference/countertransference between examinee and examiner, and affect the administration, scoring, and interpretation of psychological tests. In this article we summarize Rorschach findings that support the underlying dynamics in antisocial and psychopathic women, discuss the unique aspects of evaluating the female psychopath, and present eight PCL-R items in need of modification for assessing women.

Unmaking Crane Hall: Institutional Change And The Politics Of Exhibit Closures At The Denver Museum Of Nature And Science, Abigail Genene Duff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the June 2023 closure of the North American Indian Cultures Hall (NAICH) at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) as a critical moment of institutional transformation. Through a case study approach grounded in archival research, interviews, surveys, and discourse analysis of social media posts and public commentary, this project investigates how exhibit closures reflect shifting dynamics of curatorial authority, Indigenous representation, and settler colonial structures. Guided by theoretical frameworks of settler colonial theory, desire-based research, institutional critique, and museum anthropology, this study explores how internal museum politics, community opinion, and public narratives reshape accountability and …

Initial Pilot Test Of A Single-Session Social Support Program For Increasing Social Approach Behavior And Social Support In Emerging Adults, Emily L. Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emerging adulthood, the developmental stage between adolescence and young adulthood (Arnett, 2000), is marked by increases in autonomy, changes in social dynamics, and identity exploration (Arnett, 2015). During this stage, social stressors may trigger or exacerbate preexisting mental health problems (Slavich & Auerbach, 2018), though few emerging adults seek or receive mental health support (Zhao et al., 2025). Single-session interventions, or “specific, structured programs that intentionally involve just one visit or encounter” (Schleider et al., 2019), may present an opportunity to provide some support to those who face barriers to participation in traditional forms of treatment (Janota et al., 2022). …

Asian American Men's Experiences Of Gendered Racism In Online Competitive Gaming, Calvin Weiting Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the U.S., Asian Americans men make up a large portion of active players in online competitive video games. In these settings, harassment, racism, and hate speech are prevalent and often normalized. The purpose of this study was to explore Asian American men’s experiences of gendered racism in online competitive gaming spaces. Using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach (Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2022) and applying the Intersectionality Framework (Crenshaw, 1989; Collins, 2000), six Asian American men were interviewed about their experiences of gendered racism while playing online competitive games. Two Group Experiential Themes emerged from their accounts: 1) Gendered racism …

The Comforting Potential Of A Social Robot, Regardless Of Looks And Designed Affordances, Peggy Van Minkelen, Elly A. Konijn

Human-Machine Communication

Two field studies examined the comforting potential of an autonomously functioning humanoid robot and whether participants formed an affective bond with it, guided by a new Human-Robot Bonding framework. We designed a 2 (Designed Humanness: high versus low) × 2 (Designed Affordances: high versus low) mixed-factorial repeatedmeasures field experiment. Participants completed a stress-inducing task, followed by an interaction with the robot, which provided comfort. We measured participants’ stress levels (objectively via heart rate and subjectively via perceived stress) and their level of Bonding with the robot. Results showed that perceived stress, but not heart rate, decreased after human-robot interaction across …

The Right Kind Of Human-Like: Measuring And Testing Human-Likeness Perceptions Of Text-Based Conversational Agents, Carolin Ischen, Elizabeth Wang, Edith G. Smit

Human-Machine Communication

While conversational agents are designed with human-like features to facilitate interaction, the scholarly understanding of users’ perception of human-likeness as a key concept in human-machine communication remains underexplored. This paper provides a threelegged typology of human-likeness perceptions of text-based conversational agents, including the dimensions of appearance, capacity, and personality. Based on responses of 373 participants, the paper identifies measurement instruments for the different dimensions. Furthermore, it tests to what extent social cues commonly applied in customer service chatbots influence the different dimensions of human-likeness perception. Next to a set of direct measurements, factor analysis confirmed two indirect measurements for appearance-based …

Unexpected Encounters With Spot In The Wild: Sensemaking As Communicative Boundary Work With Robots, Annette Markham, Constanze M. Leeb, Brooke Ann Coco, Daniel Kirby, Lu Liu, Edoardo Lomi, Lucy Thornton, Kelly Ka-Lai Chan, Bradley R. Crammond

Human-Machine Communication

As near-autonomous and AI-embedded robots continue to appear in public settings, their sociality and interactivity is a critical part of the social fabric. This article presents emerging themes from a large-scale ethnographic study of granular-level public interactions between more than 400 people who have an unexpected encounter with Boston Dynamics’ robot “Spot” in a public square in Melbourne. Conceptualizing Spot as a boundary object enables us to highlight patterns of sensemaking as people grapple with ontological disruptions through micro-level interactions; within the self, with other people, or between the self and the robot. Based on thematic analysis of multimedia data …

Co-Dominion: The Changing Nature Of The Adamic Covenant In An Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Corey Hastings

Masters Theses

Theologians and religious bodies attest to the rising influence of artificial intelligence (AI) in governments, the economy, and the lives of the people of God. Through the covenant with Adam, God gave humans the blessing of dominion and capabilities unique to creation to till the earth. Today, humans retain the image of God but AI increasingly displaces human functions with coordinated agency. Using Hebrew language exegesis of passages from Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, this study compares capabilities gifted to humans with the scope of current and near future AI models. It incorporates direct artifact analysis of a large-language model as …

A Quasi-Experimental Pilot Study On The Effects Of The Mindfulness Oriented Recovery Enhancement Program On Emotion Regulation In Individuals With Substance Use Disorders, Alex Rhodes

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Those with substance use disorders (SUDs) often display difficulties in emotion regulation, which contributes to addictive behaviors and relapse. The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental pilot study was to examine the effects of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement program (MORE) on difficulties in emotion regulation and emotion regulation strategies among individuals with substance use disorders. Specifically, the study examined whether participation in an 8-week MORE program resulted in changes in (a) difficulties regulating emotions, as measured by the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and (b) emotion regulation strategies, as measured by the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). Participants (N = 9) enrolled …

Measure By Measure: Reflections On Building A Quiz Map For Critical Caribbean Digital Pedagogy, Ra Bacchus, Medardo G. Rosario, Alexander S. Butler

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article reflects on the web development of a digital quiz map designed to help students critically engage with the representation of the Caribbean in digital space. Emerging from workshops organized by Visiones del Caribe—a digital humanities initiative using digitized maps and archives to teach Caribbean history, culture, and cartography—this tool responds to students’ inquiries about the region’s spatial boundaries. The quiz invites students to select on a map those countries and territories they consider part of the Caribbean, prompting reflection on the diversity of perspectives shaping Caribbean identity. Drawing from the discourse of critical cartography and digital pedagogy, we …

Tun Up: Building Digital Dancehall Fashion Archives From An Artist’S Perspective, Grayson Chong

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article investigates the opportunities and challenges of building a dancehall fashion archive with particular emphasis on the transition from the material to the digital. As an artist-scholar, I use my own dancehall fashion collection as a case study to explore the process of digitizing material artifacts (in this case, fashion and textiles). I focus on dancehall fashion in particular because it speaks to themes of resistance, self-fashioning, and creativity in the global fashion market. Throughout the article, I highlight what the transition between material and digital affords scholars and public audiences. In particular, I ask: "How do we retain …

Acervos Documentales De Puerto Rico Y El Caribe @ Upr-Río Piedras: On Designing Digital Strategies For Preservation And Access Of Unique Puerto Rican And Caribbean Studies Collections, Mirerza González-Vélez, Mila Aponte-González

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This paper documents Acervos Digitales de Puerto Rico y el Caribe @ UPR-Río Piedras, its origins, goals, activities and participants. It reflects on the team engagement with fundamental discussions regarding the use of Omeka in a Caribbean context, that resulted in the articulation and enactment of ethical principles for digital curation, as well as in its commitment for fundamental digital preservation efforts based on minimal technology requirements. The paper also provides an assessment of its continuity as a DH initiative committed to preserving, improving open access, and building capacity for the effective use of unique digitized humanities collections, and poses …

“Un Compromiso Con La Tierra”: Digital Placemaking In The Art Of Rosaura Rodríguez’'S Instagram Stories, Jeannine Murray-Román

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

From a recording of a hot pink flower on a foggy hillside, its leaves trembling slightly in the wind, to the ink made from its petals pooling onto white cardstock, Puerto Rican artist Rosaura Rodríguez shares her experimental processes on Instagram stories, fifteen seconds at a time. Instagram is a fraught platform that encourages aesthetic homogeneity, and yet, continues to function as a site for developing micro-poetic techniques. This article focuses on Rodríguez’s in-process Instagram Stories, and particularly the “Highlights” feature which allows her to archive her working processes for two of her projects: 1. Temporada, a self-published comic that …

Using Posters To Increase Vegan Entrées Chosen At Classics In Wmu’S Student Dining Center, Sarah Schneider

Honors Theses

The following experiment tested the use of specifically designed posters to see the effect on eating habits of those who ate entrées from WMU’s food counter called Classics in the Student Dining Center. The independent variable was a poster with humorous and factual elements displayed at the point of choice in the dining center. The primary dependent variable was the percentage of vegan entrees chosen out of the total number of vegan and meat entrees served. The secondary dependent variables were the number of vegan entrees prepped and served, and the percentage of each entree that was served out of …

We Don't See Race, We See Blue: A Case Study Of Police Unions As Racialized Organizations, Sarahfina Aubrey Peterson

Dissertations and Theses

In the late 1960s, police began to unionize. Today, they are the most well-organized labor force in the United States, with 70% to 80% of sworn officers now represented by a union. Though it has been decades, little scholarship has developed about how police unions affect policing. Much of the research that does exist uses race-neutral frames to address an organization steeped in racial history. This study aims to address this gap in scholarship, in part, by introducing race as a motivation for and explanation of organizational output.

This research applies Victor Ray's racialized organizations theory to police unions. I …

Understanding Ourselves And Others: A Social Psychology Approach, Whitney Whitaker Ph.D., Noba Project

All Open Educational Resources

This book is a compilation of Open Education Resources for the use in an undergraduate level social psychology course at Fort Hays State University.

Openness To Experience And Creative Capacity Among Active First Responders, William Reagan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Because emergency services demand adaptive, creative problem-solving within procedurally rigid cultures, this study examined whether Openness to Experience predicted creative capacity among active first responders and whether age or tenure moderated that relationship. A cross-sectional design used N = 117 first responders from eight agencies. Openness was measured with the Big Five Inventory-2 (percentile ranks); creativity was assessed with the Divergent Association Task (DAT; n = 116) and the Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT; n = 111). Covariates were age, tenure, rank, gender, and, for 46 participants at one agency, a dispatch-derived operational exposure score. In the full sample, Openness did …

Promoting Digital Inclusion Through Mobile Learning In West African Educational Systems, Joshua Olaoluwa Jegede, Temitope Michael Jegede

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Mobile learning is the use of small and portable devices, such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones, for educational purposes. It influences where, how, what, and why students learn, as well as from whom they learn in the digital age. While the adoption of technology in education has brought a remarkable shift from traditional to digital learning, a global digital divide distinguishes developed and developing regions. However, mobile learning leverages the affordability and ubiquity of mobile devices to provide access to educational resources, bridging the digital divide in regions with limited educational infrastructure. This study is a systematic review of mobile …