Digital Commons Network^™

Does A Common Threat Unite?: Alliance Formation In East Asia Under Chinese Pressure, Sean G. Mcclellan

Honors Theses

The study explores whether a shared geopolitical threat fosters alliance formation among East Asian nations, focusing on Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea in the context of increasing Chinese influence. Integrating insights from international relations theory and social psychology—particularly Realistic Conflict Theory and the out-group unifying effect—the research evaluates whether perceived Chinese aggression corresponds with increased positive sentiment toward the United States. Utilizing data from the Asian Barometer Survey, linear regression analysis is conducted to assess how perceptions of Chinese and U.S. influence, democratic values, and political affiliation shape public attitudes. Results show that while negative views of Chinese and U.S. …

Foundations' Deep, Emily Williams, Morgan Williams

University Honors Theses

Most historic buildings do not survive as they were built, yet preservation frameworks still tend to evaluate them as if they did.

Foundations' Deep begins with a structure located in Helena, Montana 59602, a building that sits uneasily within the categories it has been asked to meet. Built in the early twentieth century, it has persisted through alteration, abandonment, and use. What remains is not a stable artifact but a record of accumulated decisions, some careful and many indifferent, now embedded in the fabric of the building itself.

The thesis grows from this condition and from the limits of the …

The Impact Of Social Media Use For Service Delivery By Library Personnel In Nigeria., Jamiu Adewale Abdulsalam, Soliudeen Idowu Sanni, Shasil Adedoyin Opoola

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study examined how social media is impacting service delivery by the library personnel in two universities of Ogun State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design, correlational type was followed and a total enumeration sampling technique was applied to get all 105 members of the library staff from the two selected universities. Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire, which was developed to capture the social media patterns of users and service delivery. Descriptive statistics (frequency counts, percentages, means, and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation) were used for data analysis. It was found that the most common library services …

Managing Ai Bot Access To Open Scholarly Infrastructures, Petr Knoth

FORCE 2026

The rapid rise of generative AI has created unprecedented demand for large, high-quality research corpora. Open access repositories and other open scholarly infrastructures have therefore become primary sources for AI bots, because they host research that is not universally reliable, but remains far more evidence-based than most web content. This is both an opportunity and a strain: repositories are now more valuable than ever, but machine traffic brings sustainability, capacity and policy challenges. Repositories may be able to scale, but who should fund that scaling, and under what conditions?

The core dilemma is how to curb abusive high-load bot activity …

Research Integrity Without Borders: How Getftr Extends Trust Across The Scholarly Ecosystem, Joris Van Rossum

FORCE 2026

As research discovery increasingly happens beyond publisher platforms (through aggregators, institutional repositories, AI tools, and citation networks) maintaining trust in the integrity of the scholarly record becomes ever more complex. Visibility is not enough; researchers need confidence that what they find, read, and cite is current, authoritative, and trustworthy.

GetFTR (Get Full Text Research) addresses this challenge by embedding integrity and transparency signals, including retractions, errata, updates, and license information, directly into the researcher’s discovery experience. Through its cross-publisher API and integrations with major discovery tools, GetFTR ensures that researchers are always connected to the version of record and alerted …

Bridging Metrics And Meaning: Integrating Traditional And Alternative Indicators For Responsible Research Assessment, Junjie Shen, Sarah Ormes

FORCE 2026

How do we recognise great research in all its diverse forms? Around the world, institutions are trying to move beyond simple citation counts toward something fairer and more meaningful. At the University of Bath in the UK, we’ve been experimenting with ways to combine traditional bibliometrics with richer indicators of engagement, such as policy influence, media attention, and real-world impact, to build a more balanced picture of research quality.

In this lightning talk, we’ll share what we’ve learned so far: how we co-created guidance with researchers, librarians, and research managers; how we built discipline-sensitive approaches; and how we trained our …

Political Power In The Digital Shadows: The Surveillance State And Far-Right Party Strength In Central And Eastern Europe, Abby K. Finley

Political Science Honors Projects

The recent rise of far-right leaders, from Donald Trump challenging democratic institutions in the United States to Viktor Orbán's fifteen-year autocratic reign in Hungary, has led me to my main research question: Why are some far-right parties stronger than others? Conducting process tracing analysis of Hungarian, Polish, Slovak, and Czech far-right politics from 2005 to 2025, I argue that far-right parties are stronger when they utilize the surveillance state to limit democratic institutions and actors. My findings clarify how far-right parties use the surveillance state and other tactics to maintain power within their nation.

Archiving In Advance Of Mission Completion, Molly Stothert-Maurer

Journal of Western Archives

This paper presents a detailed case study of the born-digital archiving efforts associated with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) Asteroid Sample Return Mission at the University of Arizona Libraries Special Collections. From the perspective of an archivist, the project exemplifies the integration of digital archiving into an active scientific mission, conducted in collaboration with multiple departments across the university. By preserving mission-critical content, including project management documents, social media interactions, and web content, this initiative serves as a model for resource light digital products utilizing batch descriptive techniques. The paper …

Enhancing Digital Literacy Programmes For Advanced Search Skills Of Adult Public Library Patrons, Santel Smit Ms., Nikiwe G. Momoti Dr

Urban Library Journal

Digital literacy enables individuals to confidently engage with electronic devices and digital resources. While many adults use these tools to search for information, some still lack the essential skills to do so effectively. This pragmatic paper investigates the basic digital literacy skills of adult patrons at Adriaanse Public Library in Cape Town. Framed by SCONUL Seven Pillars of Information Literacy through a Digital Literacy “lens”, we employed a sequential mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative pre- and post-tests with qualitative interviews among 30 purposively selected participants. Quantitative data was analyzed statistically while thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. The findings revealed …

Blended Family Dynamics And Executive Functioning In Preschoolers: A Cross-Sectional Study, Kayla Butler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Modeling The Spread Of Competing Narratives In Multimodal Social Media Network, Mayor Inna Gurung

Theses and Dissertations

Social media has fundamentally transformed how narratives are produced, contested, and disseminated, enabling competing interpretations of the same event to spread rapidly across networked populations. Understanding how narratives gain traction over others in these environments is critical for addressing misinformation, supporting informed public discourse, and designing effective counter-messaging strategies. Yet existing research largely treats narrative propagation as a single-process phenomenon and focuses predominantly on textual data, overlooking both the competitive dynamics between opposing narratives and the growing role of visual symbolic communication in shaping how narratives are received. This dissertation addresses these gaps through a multi-platform, multimodal framework applied to …

The Relationships Between Adult Cyberbullying Victimization, Introversion, Extroversion, And Demographic Variables, Amber Paige Arrington

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Researcher Impact Framework: Building Audience-Focused Evidence-Based Impact Narratives, Giovanna Lima

FORCE 2026

While a wealth of resources has been developed to help researchers plan for and communicate their projects anticipated impact when applying for funding proposals, not many resources have been developed for researchers when communicating their own impact as researchers at an individual level.
To support researchers in doing this Dr Giovanna Lima and Sarah Bowman have developed the Researcher Impact Framework (RIF). This framework helps to better share a broad spectrum of the researcher’s achievements in generation of knowledge, development of individuals, forming collaborations, supporting the research community and broader society.
The RIF provides a structure for crafting audience-focused evidence-based …

Opening Keynote: From 'Publish Or Perish' To Purpose And People: Going Together On Research Assessment Reform, Lily Kong

FORCE 2026

Universities hold a unique position as the brain trusts of society — creating knowledge, countering misinformation, and catalysing innovation that drives societal progress. Yet the cultures of "publish or perish" and competitive rankings have led academia to focus on certain metrics, and in so doing, chase misplaced goals. This has resulted in some misdirections: misconduct, data manipulation, mistreatment of early-career researchers, and a troubling misalignment between what scholars pursue and what society needs. How can we begin to rethink research impact beyond standard metrics to embrace both academic excellence and societal contribution? In the spirit of FORCE 2026's theme, Prof …

Cross-Cultural Differences Among Children And Youth With Special Health Care Needs: A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Chinese, Spanish, And English-Speaking Families, Kathleen Mcgrath, Miriam Franco, Amy Morales-Lara, Karen Bonuck Phd, Joanne Siegel

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

One in five U.S. children has a special health care need, with prevalence rates rising each year. Children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) from immigrant and/or non-English speaking families face heightened barriers to care, unmet health needs, and worsened health outcomes. This mixed-methods study explores cross-cultural similarities and differences among English-, Spanish-, and Chinese-speaking families of CYSHCN across four key domains – (1) the diagnostic process, (2) access to essential services, (3) community integration, and (4) social supports. As part of a statewide, New York State Department of Health funded initiative implemented across three University Centers for …

User Interaction, Service Effectiveness And Digital Resource Utilization In Private University Libraries Telangana State: An Empirical Study, Chandra Chary Sreeramoj, Dr. M. Sadik Batcha

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The purpose of this study is to observe the operational design, cognizance levels, complications faced and complete fulfillment of users regarding numerical resources in designated private university libraries in the state of Telangana. The study predominantly emphasizes on graduates, postgraduates, research scholars, and faculty members of Malla Reddy University and S.R. University. The study adopted quantitative descriptive design, and data were collected by means of a Google Form survey, resulting in 1796 legal valid responses. The examination included descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests and ANOVA to classify variances across different user groupings. The outcomes reveal that most respondents are mindful of …

Lindenwood Digest, June 3, 2026, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

• Event & Date: The Lindenwood University Employee Digest, dated June 3, 2026, details multiple upcoming events including the Staff and Academic Administrators' Retreat on June 9, 2026; the Advising and Mentoring Fellowship Training on June 10, 2026; and the Benefits and Bites Professional Development Event on June 17, 2026.

• Geographic Grounding: The featured events take place at specific designated venues, including the VIP Room within the Hyland Arena, the AB Leadership Room, and online, all hosted by Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri.

• Key Honorees/Awards: The Information Technology Network and Systems team is recognized in the Q2 Moments section for …

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“I Was Well Informed. It Was A Great Advantage”: Pre-Arrival Information Seeking, Information Intelligence, And Immigrants’ Settlement, Nafiz Z. Shuva, Paulette Rothbauer

Publications and Research

This study reports on the role of pre-arrival information seeking and informed decision making in the settlement experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants in Canada. Despite the importance of immigrants in shaping Canada’s future in innovation, economy, and population, this research shows a significant mismatch between immigrants’ expectations and their actual settlement experiences, particularly in terms of their employment. This mismatch can lead to depression, frustration, and anxiety, affecting integration into Canadian society. While there has been a recent increase in immigrants’ settlement information behavior research in LIS, most focus on post-arrival information needs and seeking. Research findings of this study contribute …

Wrack Lines Spring-Summer 2026 Volume Number 1, Margaret Cozens, Johann Heupel, Owen Placido, Paul Salopek, Judy Benson

Wrack Lines

“Building community around the places we love,” is the theme of the Spring-Summer 2026 issue of Wrack Lines magazine. Learn about the work of the Six Lakes Park coalition in Hamden, Riverfront Recapture in Hartford, MyCoast in southeastern Connecticut and the statewide land conservation conference. Additional stories tell about the artistry and mission of photographer-videographer Tomas Koeck, and National Geographic explorer Paul Salopek, who is traveling the world on foot.

Southeastern Librarian 74(1) Spring 2026 (Full Issue), John H. Barnett

The Southeastern Librarian

Complete issue of the Southeastern Librarian, Volume 74 Number 1, Spring 2026

Holistic Strategies For Optimizing Municipal It Operations And Cost Efficiency, Joseph Yazdanpanahi

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

Municipalities work to deliver secure and impactful IT (information technology) services while often working within tight budget constraints. To address this problem, this article offers an experience-based and comprehensive framework to optimize municipal IT operations. It emphasizes leveraging automation, streamlining hardware and software management, and forging strategic partnerships to drive cost savings and efficiency gains. Designed to equip municipal IT leaders with practical tools and insights, this article aims to help modernize IT processes.

Character Demographic Assessment In An Academic Library's Graphic Novel Collection: Implications For Collection Development, Bridgette L. Whitt

The Southeastern Librarian

This article presents an analysis of the main character demographics across a graphic novel collection housed at the Paul Meek Library, University of Tennessee at Martin. The study evaluates the presence of specific identified character traits such as race, ethnicity, ability, emotional or psychological themes, and the settings of the 451 evaluated titles. The assessment also evaluates the genre distribution of fiction, nonfiction, and biographical content and how often the novels were set outside of the United States. The goal of this study was to better understand the narrative scope and representation within the graphic novel collection, with a focus …

Building Community At An Academic Library With Bilingual Story Trails, Laura Bright, Janice S. Lewis

The Southeastern Librarian

A story trail is an activity that combines exercise and literacy as visitors read sequentially displayed book pages while walking. Story trails are often set up outdoors along existing paths and feature rotating selections of children’s picture books. Many story trails are set up and maintained by community groups, public libraries, or schools. Academic libraries can use story trails as opportunities to promote literacy, foster a sense of local community, support families, and encourage healthy habits. The authors of this article use City of Greenville (North Carolina) StoryWalks® created by staff at East Carolina University’s Joyner Library as an example …

The Sustainable Autonomy Framework: Explaining Autonomy In Aceh And Southern Yemen, Abdulsalam Saad, Arie Kusuma Paksi

Jurnal Politik

This article examines why post-conflict autonomy consolidates into durable self-governance in some cases while remaining fragile and externally dependent in others. While Aceh has maintained stable self-governance since the 2005 Helsinki Agreement, Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council remains a fragmented authority sustained by external patronage. To explain this divergence, the article develops the Sustainable Autonomy Framework (SAF) and asks: under what conditions does post-conflict autonomy become viable and sustainable? The SAF argues that durability depends on the alignment of three mutually reinforcing pillars: elite legitimacy, resource sovereignty, and mediation credibility. Using a most-similar systems comparison of Aceh’s Free Aceh Movement and …

Defining The Dynamic Role Of Belongingness In Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment, Brendan E. Walsh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drinking is intertwined with social processes, including social support and group belongingness. Although drinking can transiently enhance social functioning, escalating to heavy use can be detrimental to it. It is well-known that excessive drinking and social dysfunction exacerbate each other over time, and it follows that social support and belonging are key mechanisms of addiction recovery. Yet, less is known about how changes in belongingness throughout treatment dynamically affect drinking outcomes, and even less is known about how drinking outcomes and other social processes (e.g., therapeutic alliance, interpersonal drinking consequences) dynamically influence belongingness. The current project (N = 210) studied …

An Exploratory Study: The Presence Of Imposter Syndrome In New Graduate Allied Health Professionals And Its Relationship To Location Of Practice, Samantha J. Barber, Carol A. Flavell Dr, Moira Smith Dr

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Purpose: Imposter syndrome (IS) explores the feelings of fraudulence within personal and professional settings. Commonly IS results in impaired self-confidence, and self-perceptions of one’s own abilities, their mental health, and places them at a higher risk of burnout. Imposterism is linked to transitionary periods, such as being newly graduated, and while IS addressed amongst the medical community [doctors and nurses], there is a gap in literature relating to IS amongst allied health professionals (AHPs). Additionally, there is no known literature in which IS presence or severity is explored in relation to an individual’s geographic location. The aim of this study …

A Study On The Perception Of Fear Of Crime Among Ul Lafayette Students, Md Rakibul Hasan

Masters Theses

Research has constantly found that campus crime rates are relatively low compared to those in the surrounding areas. Many students still experience a meaningful level of fear of crime that significantly influences their daily routines and impacts their lives. This study examines the perceived fear of crime among students at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette) and how it varies across demographic groups. The study used a quantitative, cross-sectional design with a non-probability convenience sampling technique. Data were collected from 512 currently enrolled UL Lafayette students during the spring 2026 semester using a Qualtrics online survey. The survey …

Viral Visions Of Femininity: A Visual Thematic Analysis Of Trending Tradwife Imagery On Instagram, Phoebe L. Lim

Masters Theses

This study uses visual thematic analysis and a semiotics lens to examine how trending tradwife content on Instagram constructs domestic femininity through recurring signifiers of whiteness, homemaking, motherhood, and hyperfeminine aesthetics. Current rhetorical analysis of the tradwife movement argues that the imagery of sweet, nostalgic traditionalism functions to mask visual and semiotic codes associated with patriarchal hierarchies, anti-feminism, pronatalism, and alt-right ideologies (Proctor, 2022). Drawing on the theoretical models of Saussure, Peirce, and Barthes (1972), this research analyzes how strategically curated visuals of domesticity and femininity function as ideological signifiers within digital culture. Analysis of 100 posts under #tradwife found …

The Effect Of Perceived Support On Black College Students' Sense Of Belonging, Jamillia Domani Mckinley

Masters Theses

Black college students oftentimes navigate higher education environments while managing academic demands alongside racialized stressor that can weaken their sense of belonging. Existing literature and research examined peer relationships, faculty support, and institutional support separately; however, little to no studies considered how these forms of support operate together in shaping belonging. The current study addressed that gap by examining whether perceived peer support, teacher support, and institutional support predict Black students’ sense of belonging in college and university settings. Through the lens of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, belonging was viewed as a foundational need for confidence, connection, growth, and self …

From Fear To Action: The Role Of Media In Scam, Goodness Okhumode

Masters Theses

Scams have existed for a long time and are still prevalent today, with little indication of decline. Understanding how media exposure influences scam perceptions and motivates protective behavior among young adults has become pertinent in communication research. Drawing on Cultivation Theory and Protection Motivation Theory, this thesis examines how self-reported exposure to scam-related media content influences threat perceptions, efficacy beliefs and the adoption of preventive safety measures among young adult social media users. A quantitative online survey was used to collect data from undergraduate students of the CMCN 100 Spring 2026 class at a U.S. university. Seven hypotheses and two …