Digital Commons Network^™

Our Children Are Sacred: Faith, Disability Justice, And Educational Hope, Charles E. Becknell Jr., Pricella Morris, Monique Matute-Chavarria, Deirdre A. Williams

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

This manuscript examines how Black families interpret dis/ability through faith, caregiving, and communal life using Sacred Narrative Inquiry (SNI), a collaborative approach that treats family stories as sources of sacred and cultural knowledge. Grounded in disability theology and informed by Black liberation theology and Womanist epistemology, the study explores how families understand dis/ability as sacred and embodied, shaped by struggle, endurance, and hope. Through shared storytelling and collective interpretation, the analysis identifies recurring patterns of early moral formation, embodied knowledge that precedes institutional recognition, faith as a sustaining practice under constraint, and moments of recognition that affirm dignity and interrupt …

God > Grit: A Phenomenological Analysis Of Intrinsic And Extrinsic Motivating Factors For Black Male Students Previously Labeled “At-Risk”, Marcia J. Watson-Vandiver

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

This phenomenological study examines the intersections of faith, learning, and racialized experiences in K-12 schooling. In doing so, this research explores the experiences of Black[1] males in U.S. public schools who were once labeled academically or behaviorally “at risk.” Here, at-risk is a term that typically applies to students “in jeopardy of progressing academically due to circumstances that may impact educational performance” (MSDE, 2018). While the purview of academic, school discipline, and behavior discourse are saturated with conversations on racial disparities, the exigent problem still remains. As such, this research provides a nuanced probe into intrinsic and extrinsic motivating …

Navigating Identity, Finding Belonging: Exploring Muslim Students’ Experiences In Higher Education, Milie Majumder

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

This phenomenological, qualitative study explores how institutional experiences contribute to Muslim students’ sense of belonging in higher education institutions on the West Coast of the United States. The data presented are drawn from a subset of a larger dissertation study conducted in May 2024. Using an informational survey with open-ended questions and semi-structured interviews, the study examined students’ perceptions of belonging. The sample included 23 survey responses and 10 in-depth interviews. Grounded in the Minoritized Religious and Spiritual Campus Climate (MRSCC) framework, the study examines how participants interpreted the adequacy of institutional accommodations for their religious and spiritual needs and …

Perceptions Of The Divine In Secular Spaces: A Study Of U.S. Public-School Teachers, Dennis Eastman, Nicholas Block

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

Teaching is often understood by Christian educators as a vocation shaped by divine purpose, yet little empirical research has examined how teachers perceive God’s active involvement in their daily professional practice. This qualitative study investigates how Christian teachers interpret perceived divine activity in their work, focusing on specific experiences of guidance, influence, and sustenance rather than general religious identity. Thematic analysis of open-ended survey responses from practicing teachers (N = 267) identified seven themes, including perceived impact on students’ lives, divine guidance in instructional and relational decisions, and endurance amid professional strain. Participants commonly described God’s activity as …

Application Of Assistive Technologies And Rendering Assistive Services To Students With Special Needs By Federal University Libraries: A Survey, Emmanuel Chidiadi Onwubiko

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The world as of today, is being said to be witnessing what one may tagged a technological revolution as never before and is transforming for the better, the future of global education in which case, every learner is considered. These newly created technological tools and plans did place librarians as information managers and digital literacy drivers in better position to come up with environments that are inclusive for all learners to achieve their desired goals. The study therefore is a survey on the application of assistive technologies and rendering assistive services to students with special needs by federal universities libraries …

Trust And Signaling: An Exploratory Study Of Residential Attitudes Towards Energy Efficiency Advisors And Outdoor Media, Hal T. Nelson, Ivana Osmanovic

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

As the building sector shifts toward community-led energy efficiency (EE) initiatives to mitigate the climate crisis, scaling adoption requires understanding behavioral drivers. This study examines key drivers of EE measure adoption: perceived non-energy benefits, trusted advisors, and behavioral signaling. This research contributes to the energy policy and social science literature by empirically linking social trust with signaling preferences. It extends existing EE adoption decision theories by identifying distinct clusters of “expert” versus “close” advisors across demographic groups. Data from an experimental survey (n = 238) in Portland, Oregon, were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and multivariate regression modeling. Results …

Scheduled Coal Plant Retirements In The Mountain West, 2022-2031, Kerima Awol, Sophia Booth, Ty Tan, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Environment

This fact sheet presents data on publicly announced coal-fired power plant retirements in five Mountain West states: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, between 2022 and 2031. The Visual Capitalist’s 2021 report, “Road to Decarbonization: U.S. Coal Plant Closures,” includes information on the location, retirement year, and electricity generation capacity of coal-fired power plants scheduled for retirement across the United States.

Trustworthiness As Inferential Accountability In Qualitative Research, Aamir Rashid, Rizwana Rasheed

Publications and Research

Trustworthiness is a cornerstone of qualitative research rigor, yet it is frequently operationalized as a procedural checklist rather than as a coherent logic for justifying qualitative knowledge claims. As a result, qualitative studies often demonstrate methodological diligence without fully explicating how empirical materials warrant the interpretations advanced or how the scope of those interpretations should be bounded. The purpose of this paper is to reconceptualize trustworthiness as inferential accountability, understood as a governing evaluative principle for qualitative inquiry that provides a coherent and contemporary framework for the justification, evaluation, and delimitation of qualitative claims. The paper adopts a conceptual and …

How Migrants Fleeing The Mexican Drug War Changed American Labor Markets, Mark Borgschulte, Yuci Chen, Eduardo Medina-Cortina

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Scraping The Earth: Testing Ndvi As An Indicator Of Military Ground Maneuver Within The Israeli Invasion Of The Gaza Strip, Thomas A. Bergeron

LSU Master's Theses

The advancement of open-source (OSINT) and geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) has allowed independent researchers to study human conflict in new ways, with tools that were previously reserved only for state intelligence agencies. In order to advance methodologies, researchers must continue to evaluate new tools to study war.  Valued for its accessibility and moderate spatial resolution, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is one such tool that has not been widely systematically tested for its use in an open-source GEOINT investigation of modern conflict. This study tests NDVI as an indicator of military maneuver by leveraging a mixed-method approach against open-source kinetic …

Law Enforcement Help-Seeking Behaviors And Organizational Mental Health Supports, Jordan Elizabeth Longendorf

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Due to the traumatic and repetitive nature of law enforcement work, mental health support is often needed by officers, but is not consistently sought. Law enforcement leaders need to understand this concern as a leading indicator of workforce well-being, organizational effectiveness, and officers’ willingness to seek needed mental health support. Guided by the conceptual framework of Rickwood and Thomas’s help-seeking behaviors, the purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to explore law enforcement officers’ lived experiences of help-seeking behaviors for emotional and mental health issues. Data were collected through six semistructured interviews with current law enforcement officers in four different …

From Research To Decision In A Uk Parliamentary Office: How Internal Communication Translates Complex Information Into Workplace Action, Donovan Singh

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

This project examines how internal workplace communication translates complex information into guidance that a decision-maker can use. The project uses an anonymised UK parliamentary office as a practice-based case study. The elected representative is referred to as MP A, the placement office as Parliamentary Office A, and the placement supervisor as Supervisor B. Anonymisation is necessary because the project analyses briefing practice and workplace feedback rather than the identity, political position, or internal operations of a specific office.

The research question is: How does internal communication translate complex information into clear, accurate and actionable guidance for workplace decision-makers? The project …

Blue Economy In Madura: Research Trends And Structural Change, Herry Yulistiyono, Aditya Tri Prasetyo, Ari Warokka

Jurnal Ekonomi dan Studi Pembangunan

This study examines the development of the blue economy in Madura through bibliometric analysis, focusing on research trends and economic structural changes from 2020 to 2024, as well as analyzing gaps and potential areas for future research. The methodology employed is a quantitative approach utilizing bibliometric methods. Data were obtained from scientific publications and analyzed using metrics that measure the ratio of citations to publications.

The results indicate a significant increase in the number of publications on the blue economy in Madura, peaking in 2023 with 29 researchers focusing on diverse topics. Performance metrics analysis revealed Marine Policy as the …

The Impact Of Leadership Communication And Organizational Trust On Psychological Safety And Employee Voice In Healthcare Organizations, Crystal D. Smith

M.S. in Leadership

Healthcare organizations operate in increasingly complex environments where effective communication, employee engagement, and patient safety are essential to organizational success. Despite the importance of employee voice, many healthcare professionals hesitate to express concerns, report errors, or share ideas for improvement because of perceived interpersonal and organizational risks. This study examines how leadership communication and organizational trust influence psychological safety and employee voice within healthcare organizations. Using a qualitative literature review, the study synthesizes scholarly research from healthcare leadership, organizational behavior, organizational psychology, healthcare management, and patient safety. The review explores major themes, including psychological safety, leadership communication, organizational trust, employee …

Nil And Contract Law: Advising A Prospective College Athlete Through Competing Name, Image, And Likeness Agreements, Jason Kight, Marcy Faircloth, Lori Mikl, Rachel Silverman

The COSMA Journal

Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) agreements have created significant financial opportunities for amateur and collegiate athletes while also introducing complex legal, ethical, and strategic decision-making challenges. This decision-focused teaching case places students in the role of trusted advisors to Archie Stafford, a highly recruited high school athlete who must evaluate and compare multiple NIL contract offers connected to his preferred college options. By analyzing NIL agreements, students assess contract enforceability, identify key legal and business risks, weigh legal, contractual, ethical, and reputational disclosure obligations, and formulate a reasoned recommendation aligned with Archie’s academic, athletic, financial, and long-term career goals. The …

A Quantitative Content Analysis Of Media Framing Of Illegal Mining In Ghana, Ebenezer Ato Kwamena Aidoo, Patrick Ansah, Fredrick Daoyenikye, Maame Aba Afful

Faculty Scholarship

Illegal mining in Ghana has attracted considerable public and policy attention due to its far-reaching environmental, social, and health consequences. Our study examines how Ghanaian news media frame illegal mining, the tone of media coverage, and the stakeholders represented in news narratives. Using a quantitative content analysis, 800 news articles were sampled from six widely read media outlets, Daily Graphic, Ghanaian Times, TV3 Ghana, GTV, Joy FM, and Citi Newsroom. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was employed to examine differences in framing, tone, and stakeholder representation across outlets. Findings indicate that news organizations emphasize distinct frames, resulting in varied …

Notes From The Field - Conference Proceedings, Summer Fellows 2025, Center For Latin American, Caribbean, And Latino Studies (Clacls)

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

CLACLS presents proceedings papers from the third CLACLS Summer Fellows Showcase Conference, held on November 12, 2025.

The daylong event showcased the research endeavors of fourteen Summer Fellows, who offered succinct presentations on their projects funded by the CLACLS Summer fellowship. The included three panels: “Feminist and Queer Critical Perspectives”, “Language, Archive and Power”, “Social Movements and Political Imaginations.”

Immigration-Related Sociopolitical Stress, Mental Health, And Tobacco Use Among Mexican American College Students, Seth R. Schwartz, C. Nathan Marti, Liza Talavera-Garza, Caroline E. North, Qingua Yang, Dhiraj Murthy, Srishty Arora, Anna V. Wilkinson, Alexandra Loukas

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Sociopolitical stress associated with the policies and rhetoric coming from recent U.S. presidential administrations is of particular concern vis-à-vis Hispanic individuals, who have been disproportionately targeted for detention and deportation. Such stress may be associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety, and ultimately with tobacco use. However, there is a paucity of research examining how sociopolitical stress is associated with mental health problems and substance use among Hispanic emerging adults. Accordingly, the present study was designed to examine the extent to which, within a sample of Mexican American college students, sociopolitical stress would be linked with tobacco use indirectly through …

Illuminating Sanja Matsuri: Lived Religion And Festival Practice In Asakusa, Caleb R. Merckle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Sanja Matsuri, a major Shintō and Buddhist festival in Asakusa, Tokyo, through the lenses of lived religion, participant observation, autoethnography, and anthropology. Departing from institution-centered approaches, it foregrounds the experiential dimensions of festival participation, showing how physical devotion, collective movement, and festive intensity function as expressions of spiritual meaning. Ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2023 and 2025 included participant observation, informal interviews with local and foreign participants, and Reflexive Discourse Analysis of fieldnotes and bilingual transcripts. Analysis reveals a dynamic interplay between formal sacralization strategies — such as mitama-ire rituals and structured processions — and spontaneous, informal participant …

The Specifics Of Green Mortgages: A Case Study Of Poland, Mateusz Tomal, Ewa Gorlecka-Łabiak

Journal of Banking and Financial Economics

The green mortgage market in Poland has received limited research attention. Therefore, this article aims to present the specifics of the green mortgage market in Poland. To thoroughly investigate the issue, in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 banking sector representatives, each with varying experience and professional roles. The study’s findings revealed that there is no formal definition of green mortgages, which hinders both banks and their customers. Currently, green mortgages are rarely granted due to their limited economic benefit to borrowers and the small number of residential properties that qualify. For banks, green mortgages present an opportunity to expand their …

Addressing The ‘Chicken-And-Egg’ Dilemma: Pension Reform, Market Coordination, And Policy Design, Shujaat Khan, Bo Li, Yunhui Zhao

Journal of Banking and Financial Economics

Why do domestic stock markets in many emerging market economies fail to develop, even in the presence of high savings rates? In this paper, we argue that this may be a ‘chicken-and-egg’ problem, which we formalise as a market coordination failure. We first develop a stylised game-theoretical model, showing that when long-term equity investment is subject to network externalities, the Pareto-optimal, high-investment equilibrium is not robust to noise. Individual investors, fearing defection by others, will rationally choose a low-investment (or ‘run’) strategy, trapping the market in a state of underdevelopment. We then show how a specific institutional design – a …

Female Resistance To Patriarchal Norms: A Study Of Identity And Self-Determination In The Film Enola Holmes (2020), Mikkial Muna, Eli Nofriati, Zuraini Zuraini

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

This study examines the representation of women's resistance to patriarchy through identity formation and self-determination in the film Enola Holmes (2020). Set in the Victorian era, the film portrays a patriarchal society that limits women's rights, educational opportunities, and freedom to determine their own lives. This study employed a descriptive qualitative design with a grounded theory approach. The primary data were collected through repeated observation of the film, focusing on relevant scenes, dialogues, character actions, and visual elements, and were analyzed using thematic analysis interpreted through the perspectives of patriarchy and liberal feminism. The findings reveal that patriarchy is represented …

Artificial Intelligence And Challenges Of Sustainable Library Services For Children And Young Adults In Nigeria, Ishioma Nwanapayi Iwegbue, Chigozie Blessing Mba

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

No abstract provided.

Emophilia: An Integrated Guide For Mental Health Professionals, Joseph H. Preckajlo, Erica Baer, Richard P. Conti

Forensic Scholars Today

Emophilia, the tendency to fall in love quickly and frequently, has emerged as a distinct, nonpathological relationship trait with implications for early-stage romance, sexual health, and relationship stability. This integrated guide synthesizes conceptual, psychometric, motivational, personality, and clinical findings to support assessment and intervention. Emophilia appears to be an approach-oriented, reward-sensitive construct (vs. anxiety-driven attachment needs), shows satisfactory measurement properties, modest associations with personality, and consistent links to rapid bonding, relational churn, and attraction to antisocial traits. We offer practical assessment strategies, pacing and screening interventions, and ethical/cultural considerations, while highlighting research gaps (e.g., longitudinal tests, neurohormonal mechanisms, and mediation …

Signal And Substance: Why Methodological Sophistication Fails To Guarantee Inference, Aamir Rashid, Rizwana Rasheed

Publications and Research

Despite increasing analytical sophistication, empirical research in organization studies continues to suffer from fragile inference, uneven theoretical accumulation, and contested credibility. This paper seeks to explain why these problems persist by shifting attention from authors’ methodological choices to the evaluative dynamics of peer review. Adopting a conceptual and theory-analytic approach, the paper theorizes peer review as an inferential gatekeeping system. Drawing on research design, theory evaluation, and philosophy-of-science literatures, this study develops an analytical framework to examine how evaluative routines shape what constitutes empirical rigor during the review process. The analysis identifies five recurring reviewer blind spots: inferential scope inflation, …

Diplomacy Country Desk Updates, Susan Craig

Generative AI Teaching Activities

Students will use the gem/activity through the semester to stay up-to-date on their assigned country desk for a graduate level course on diplomacy.

Civic Activism Of Refugee Community Organizations And Their Effectiveness In Supporting Refugees, Anis Zaman

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

The development and governance architecture of migration policy often lacks migrants' perspectives. Thus, in most cases, migration policies generate conflicts between migrants and host communities. In this regard, refugee-led community organizations (RCOs) offer solutions by promoting collective action among refugees. RCOs play a vital role in fostering collective action by refugee communities to alleviate suffering and assert refugee rights. However, RCO’s operations and interactions in the host country are challenging and are shaped by the nature of migration governance and the host government’s tolerance for refugee activism. The nature of migration governance dictates the spaces for refugee civic activism. This …

Domestic Gastrodiplomacy In The U.S. During The Great Depression And International Relations Theory, Leah Tucker

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

International Relations scholarship has generally treated food as an outward-facing instrument of soft power, leaving its domestic political functions comparatively underexamined. This paper argues that, during periods of systemic crisis, food policy can also operate inwardly as a mechanism of regime stabilization with broader political implications. Using New Deal food programs during the Great Depression as a case study, it introduces the concept of “domestic gastrodiplomacy” to describe how the management of subsistence can reinforce confidence in governing institutions when that confidence is under strain.

The paper evaluates this claim through realist, liberal, and constructivist perspectives. Each highlights a different …

Unspent Donations In Donor Advised Funds - Policy Recommendation, Oriel Nolan-Smith

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

Billions of dollars are sitting in Donor Advised Funds, delaying support for charitable organizations seemingly at odds with the intent of U.S. charitable tax policy. With no requirement for annual distribution nor timelines for disbursement, Donor Advised Funds allow individual and institutional donors to postpone directing funds to charitable organizations - despite already claiming tax benefits. As a result, some DAFs distribute less than 5% of assets annually, while many of the institutions managing the DAFs continue collecting fees.

Two complementary policy interventions are recommended: (1) the issuance of a federal regulation requiring annual minimum distributions from all DAFs, and …

Senator Mark O. Hatfield And The Commitment To Intellectual Rigor And Integrity, Carlos A. Arias

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

No abstract provided.