Digital Commons Network^™

From Withdrawal To Impact: Smu Libraries’ Book Rehoming Initiatives, Kai Leong Heng, Eng Ling Lynn Yeo

Research Collection Library

Academic libraries are no strangers to large-scale deselection exercises. Driven by space constraints, evolving curricula, and the shift towards digital resources, the question is no longer whether to withdraw print materials, but what comes next. In the past year, SMU Libraries explored a different answer: instead of recycling withdrawn books, could we reimagine their next chapter, and rehome them to create meaningful impact for the community?

Recruiting Research Participants With Community Research Partners, Will Hoard, Krys Standley, Catherine Ipsen, Rtc: Rural

Independent Living and Community Participation

This fact sheet examines recruitment experiences from the Rural Health Pathways Project, a community-based research initiative partnering with Centers for Independent Living (CILs) to deliver health promotion programming for people with disabilities in rural communities. Through interviews with staff from seven participating CILs, the project identified key factors that influenced recruitment success and challenges. Findings highlighted the importance of trusted relationships, team-based planning, clear communication about participant benefits, and individualized enrollment support. Common barriers included scheduling uncertainty related to study design, technology navigation difficulties, time commitments, language barriers, and concerns about sharing personal information. These insights demonstrate the critical role …

The Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences, Protective And Compensatory Experiences, And Parenting Attitudes Among Fathers, Kylie Schmidt

Dissertations

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are defined as potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood particularly between the ages of 0 and 17 years that negatively influence long-term health, relational functioning, and parenting practices (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2026; Felitti et al., 1998; Merrick et al., 2019). Conversely, protective and compensatory experiences (PACEs) have emerged as protective factors that foster resilience and possibly buffer against the adverse outcomes of ACEs (Narayan et al., 2018). As the existing research has greatly focused on mothers, little is known about how men’s early life experiences shape their parenting attitudes, particularly during the …

The Effects Of Chronic Nicotine Exposure On Dopamine-Mediated Reinforcement Learning And Striatal Neurotransmission, Srishti Bose

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Tobacco is one of the most widely used substances across the United States; tobacco consumption is linked with several diseases and is one of the leading causes of preventable death in the country. Nicotine is the active substrate found in tobacco products, acting as a stimulant, which reinforces continued use. The introduction of tobacco-free options such as e-cigarettes and oral pouches has driven an increase in nicotine exposure across the population, especially in young adults. Acute nicotine use induces neuroadaptations in the mesolimbic dopaminergic system, which mediates reinforcement learning and addiction, that potentiates reward-related neurotransmission. Furthermore, there are clinical studies …

Rethinking Road Racing Standards: Comparing New York Road Runners Race Results To Running Industry Standards, Jennie Coughlin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Running has undergone a third boom in participation since 2020, driven largely by people seeking fitness options that were outside and socially distanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social media has also allowed runners from groups that did not traditionally participate to find community. As the road racing population has expanded to include more people, some road racing industry standards have not kept up. This project assesses what the road racing community looks like and measures industry standards against the community of participants to see what changes in those standards would be needed to make them inclusive for all participants.

To …

Religious Change In The Context Of Modernity: Innovation, Restoration, And Decline, Feyza Akova, Amy Lawton, Diane Winston

Sociology Faculty Research and Scholarship

In this paper we examine how the modern conditions of the twenty-first century and the contemporary United States context shape religious change and religious life. Rather than treating modernity as a force that only weakens religion, as classical secularization accounts have largely argued (Berger 1963; Chaves 1994; Wallis and Bruce 1992), or as a context that promotes vitality primarily through pluralism and competition, as the religious economy paradigm suggests (Finke and Iannaccone 1993; Finke and Stark 1992, 2000; Iannaccone 1994), we show how it can also shape and produce broad patterns of religious change with particular attention to various characteristics …

Remembering The Great Gumpert, Susan Drucker

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

No abstract provided.

Gary Gumpert As Mentor, Teacher, Friend, Thom Gencarelli

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

No abstract provided.

Remembering Gary Gumpert, Lance Strate

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

Thoughts on Gary Gumpert.

A Sign Of Our Times: Cities, Protest And Public Space, Susan Drucker

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

The U.S. is a country born out of protest, a nation which enshrined in its Constitution the right to assemble and petition the government, which includes the right to protest peacefully. Cities are spatial media and the site of much current contentiousness and controversy in the Trump administration’s America.  Cities can be symbols of protest such as sanctuary cities. Appropriation of everyday urban spaces and activities has been key to opposition politics. City streets have historically been the site of sign toting protesters watched o masked members of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This paper explores the historical and …

Nonverbal Communication In New York Fashion Week, Lianna Cruz, Maia Coyle

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

Nonverbal communication research has largely explored materiality and performance independently, leaving their joint role in meaning-making underexamined. The authors applied Langerian aesthetic theory and examined how three key kinesic variables intersect with clothing to create significance and symbolism by asking, “How do rhythm, body movement, and dance build meaning in New York Fashion Week?” Following Langer and Edward T. Hall, we conducted close visual analyses of three Spring and Fall 2025 New York Fashion Week shows: Coach, Off-White, and Thom Browne. Findings indicate that these variables build meaning by creating degrees of professionalism, reinforcing meanings through clothes, and renegotiating meanings …

Social Media Management: The Career That's Still Growing Up, Gabrielle Iorio

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

This paper explores social media management careers through in-depth interviews with 10 social media managers, analyzed using organizational communication theories. The interviewees reveal gendered and age-specific labor dynamics of the profession, struggles with mental health and work-life balance, and difficulty attaining internal visibility and fair compensation within organizations.

The Unintended Consequences Of Metaphors On Navigating Careers In The U.S.: Focus On International Students And Women Of Color, Yeongbin (Ellen) Jeon

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

This paper examines how workplace metaphors such as the glass ceiling, sticky floor, maternal wall, and motherhood/fatherhood penalty continue to illuminate structural inequality in the contemporary U.S. labor market. Focusing on the experiences of international students and women of color, it argues that these metaphors are not merely symbolic descriptions but practical frameworks for understanding how race, gender, immigration status, and caregiving expectations shape unequal career outcomes. Drawing on class readings, policy analysis, and personal experience, the paper shows how visa-based hiring restrictions, limited parental leave protections, and racialized gender stereotypes constrain access to employment, advancement, and leadership. It further …

The Trump Administration's Assault On Higher Education, Salvatore J. Fallica

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

This essay opens the roundtable “The Disinvitation to Knowledge: The Expanding Assault on (Higher) Education and the Humanities.” After analyzing texts and contexts of news stories and commentary from legacy media sources and social media platforms collected over a five-month period from June to October 2025, the author describes the Trump Administration’s authoritarian actions attacking and destabilizing the mission of colleges and universities – and the professors and administrators charged with implementing them. The author concludes that because of its ideological censorship and defunding efforts, the Trump administration presents a major threat to the educational institutions in the United States.

The Instability And Unsustainability Of Our Planned, Or Imagined Media Future, Thom Gencarelli

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

In the face of the growth and planned growth of industrial developments in artificial intelligence, embodied AI, immersive media/virtual reality, and the fintech industry and cryptocurrencies – and the energy requirements for each of these and all of them together – this paper examines the question of whether the plans for growth and future development in these areas is probable, possible, problematic, or impossible.  Additionally, the examination is situated atop both state-based and criminal threats to use the Internet and mobile Internet to wreak havoc and instability.

Letter From The Editor, Salvatore J. Fallica

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

No abstract provided.

The Ramifications Of Covid-19 On Young Adults With Ocd, Clare E. Mcintosh

Dissertations

The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was a profound event in modern history, contributing to significant disruptions on a societal and individual level. This period of time was marked by elevated uncertainty and fear among individuals. COVID-19 contributed to deterioration in not only physical health but also psychological well-being. One mental health condition frequently under-examined and saturated with misconceptions is obsessive-compulsive disorder. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a condition characterized by the presence of obsessions and/or compulsions. Intolerance of uncertainty is a core component of the condition, and the pandemic was riddled with unpredictability. The purpose of this study was to …

4-H Builds Work Readiness Skills In Youth, Mike Knutz

Journal of Youth Development

4-H Programs provide work readiness skills like teamwork, respect, leadership, critical thinking, work ethics, and communication. Supported studies are highlighted as well as results from an evaluation of youth participants from a Know Your Government statewide program. Data was collected from middle and high school age youth to measure their self-reported increase in work readiness skills as well as knowledge of government. Results are discussed in terms of their relevance to life skill theory and measurement. The study supports the value of 4-H Youth Development Programs as a means for youth to acquire work readiness skills.

The Game Within: An Anthropological Approach To Games And Play, Nehal Maged Mohamed

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is based on an eighteen-month ethnography of El Ghawasa, an Egyptian play-based organization that designs educational games, tools, and services. Claiming that El Ghawasa, with its ethos of play, seeks to create an alternative to the capitalist corporate structure. Through tracking how this organization navigates ruptures, negotiates constraints, and experiments with different practices and internal restructuring, I explore the possibilities and limitations of El Ghawasa, while attempting to resist absorption by the very system it opposes. I ask: when the rules keep changing (while the logic of the capitalist corporate structure remains the same), and the boundaries of …

Authoritarianism, Hostility And Threat: An Analysis Of American Political Podcasts Surrounding The 2024 Presidential Election, Noah D. Cohen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Political rhetoric surrounding key events has seen sharp increases in emotionally affective speech, intergroup sentiment, and rhetoric unbecoming of democratic societies in recent years. Similarly, semi-democratic and ideologically driven speech has become increasingly normalized within an era of political polarization and hardline beliefs in modern media. Within this economy of outrage, sensational and largely unmoderated media formats, particularly podcasts, have become a mainstay of political information and discourse. This raises an important question: how does rhetoric surrounding political events construct intergroup sentiment and authoritarian rhetoric within political media, particularly American political podcasts? Further, given political podcasts’ growing social influence in …

The Information Edge - Library Newsletter - September 2026, Rose Gillen, Jennifer Rosenstein

University Library Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Pickleball Opportunity: A Case Study To Evaluate The Market Demand And Feasibility Of Opening A Private Pickleball Facility, Dene Williamson, Janet Jones

Global Sport Business Journal

This case study explores the market demand and financial feasibility of opening a privately owned, indoor pickleball facility in Warrensburg, Missouri. The central character, Mr. Dink, returns to his rural hometown with the goal of building a community-centric recreational space centered around America’s fastest-growing sport—pickleball. Students are asked to evaluate the business opportunity through comprehensive market research, financial forecasting, and risk assessment. Drawing from comparative data provided by an established facility in Florida, the case challenges students to adapt proven strategies to a smaller, lower-cost market. The case provides a platform to practice feasibility analysis, pricing strategy, break-even modeling, marketing, …

September 2026 Library & Learning Newsletter, Minnesota State University, Mankato. Library & Learning Dean's Office Communication Team

Library & Learning Newsletters

PDF version of the September 2026 (Volume 5, Issue 1) Library & Learning Newsletter.

J Mich Dent Assoc Sept. 2026

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Each month, the Journal of the Michigan Dental Association delivers news, information, and features about Michigan dentistry to our state's oral health community and the MDA's 6,200-plus members. It remains the main publication reaching Michigan dentists and is available worldwide through ADA Commons.

The September 2026 (Volume 108, No. 9) issue of the Journal is published in print format to provide updates and insights for Michigan's oral health community and MDA members. Print editions occur every other month beginning with January.

This full compilation of the September 2026 Journal of the Michigan Dental Association features the deans' reports from the …

Tennessee Archivist 45, No. 4, Society Of Tennessee Archivists

Tennessee Archivist newsletters

Fall 2026 issue of the Tennessee Archivist, a newsletter produced by the Society of Tennessee Archivists.

W&L Law Library Annual Report 2025-2026, The Law Library At Washington And Lee University School Of Law

Law Library Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

An Enduring Mission, Expanding Responsibilities: Reexamining Educating Students To Think Forty Years Later, Victoria Therriault

Learning Hub

This article reexamines the role of school librarians forty years after the publication of Educating Students to Think. It argues that the central mission of school librarianship, helping students locate, evaluate, synthesize, and use information thoughtfully, has remained consistent while librarians’ responsibilities have expanded. The article connects this mission to contemporary practices including inquiry learning, instructional collaboration, digital and media literacy, AI literacy, digital citizenship, equitable access, and instructional leadership. It also presents an updated framework and practical strategies for applying these responsibilities in modern school library programs.

2026 Annual Report – Celebrating 40 Years Of Research Excellence, Melissa Weddell

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report marks the 40th anniversary of the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research (ITRR) at the University of Montana, founded in 1987 as the research arm of the state's tourism and recreation industries and funded through a small share of the Lodging Facility Use Tax.

It covers the 2025 travel year, when 13.2 million nonresident visitors spent $5.6 billion in Montana, supporting 52,610 jobs and $360 million in state and local tax revenue. Featured studies cover the state's museums and paleontological sites, its $1.27 billion outfitting and guiding industry, and tourism's growing role in Eastern Montana's rural economies. Additional …

‘A Sense Of The Sea’: Grassroots Culture, Care, And Endurance In Swansea, Cymru, Katy Clark

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis argues that under present conditions, everyday political-aesthetic life is not only about resistance or reproduction but about holding: the work of keeping people, practices, and attachment present and oriented as conditions change. Holding takes the form of care and maintenance; as practices of making, assembling, and imagining; and as the work that keeps open the possibility of renewed attachment to public things and to each other. In the field, this was named as ‘a sense of the sea’, an affective register characterized by wariness, attunement, attentiveness, orientation, and endurance. I am calling this a fragile infrastructure of …

Pornography And Men's Violence Against Women And Children: From Production To Consumption, Gail Dines Phd., Mandy Sanchez Phd

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The average age of first viewing mainstream pornography for boys is around ten to twelve years old. The pornography they encounter is largely from “tube sites,” named after YouTube, which are popular because they require no registration, no payment, and no subscription. For the most part, an adolescent only needs access to a digital device to view hundreds of thousands of free videos. As we discuss in this article, the weight of the scientific evidence shows that viewing pornography is associated with multiple social, emotional, sexual, and cognitive harms. However, none of these studies provide a detailed analysis of …