Digital Commons Network^™

Electoral Threshold: Pros-Cons And Political Party Consensus In Indonesia, Azka Abdi Amrurobbi, Donis Daviska, Alam Mahadika

Jurnal Wacana Politik

The debates surrounding the parliamentary threshold and presidential threshold have become a recurring phenomenon, particularly in the period leading up to general elections in Indonesia. This paper aims to examine the pros and cons of the implementation and determination processes of both thresholds. Employing a qualitative research method and library research as the primary data collection technique, to validate the data then this research used data triangulation technique. In the Indonesian context, the thresholds applied constitute a form of formal threshold, namely thresholds determined through political and legislative processes in parliament. Consequently, threshold policies are heavily influenced by the configuration …

Exploring Intimate Partner Relationship Satisfaction Among Women Who Have Experienced Discrimination And Childhood Trauma, Rachel L. Gaglio

Dissertations

Objective: Connections may exist between intimate partner relationship satisfaction outcomes and experiences of childhood trauma and discrimination among women. The majority of existing research highlights individual trauma impacting relationship satisfaction that includes military experience, childhood trauma, domestic violence, and sexual assault, yet there is a gap in research which expands on both childhood trauma and discrimination endured among women in relation to intimate partner relationship satisfaction outcomes, as they relate to intimacy and closeness and resolving conflict and arguments. The present study explored the links between childhood trauma and discrimination experienced by women and their connection in intimate partner relationship …

Stablecoins, Geopolitical Shocks, And Imperfect Arbitrage: A Case Study Of Türkiye, Vincient Arnold

Master in Public Policy Theses

On March 19, 2025, a key Turkish opposition political figure was unexpectedly arrested on what were presumed to be politically motivated charges. In response, the lira depreciated sharply. Meanwhile, Türkiye has a large and active dollar stablecoin market. Using a time series dataset of trade-frequency Tether vs. lira trading, I exploit this natural exogenous geopolitical risk-off event to investigate the response function of stablecoin traders active in Türkiye to this shock. I find that the shock is associated with a large (5.33% ) abnormal depreciation of the lira. Further, I show that the shock is associated with an abnormal widening …

Uneven Ranks: Geographic Deepening Of The All-Volunteer Force, Christine Hogestyn

Master in Public Policy Theses

Who is enlisting in Fiscal Year 2025, and what state-level characteristics are associated with military enlistment rates, service selection, and recruit quality? This study documents the geographic landscape of U.S. military accessions during a period of recruiting recovery, filling a gap in the literature by providing a current, empirical description of who enlists and from where in today’s All-Volunteer Force. Drawing on personnel data from the Department of War, the U.S. Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates, and a federal dataset of military installations, I analyze 203,987 new accessions across the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps from …

Silicon Rivalry: Understanding The U.S.-China Ai Competition In Southeast Asia, Daniel Christopher Kent

Master in Public Policy Theses

In the rising global strategic competition between China and the United States, artificial intelligence (AI) has taken on a special significance given its potentially transformative impact upon economics and security. Yet while the dialogue around the “AI race” is typically centered on foundational model capability enhancement, application in security contexts, and chip design and manufacturing, there is much less attention paid to its impact on geopolitics. In particular, AI diplomacy—the work of a state to spread its model of AI governance, evangelize its AI companies, and develop critical AI interdependencies and linkages around the world—is far less studied. Nowhere is …

Global Health Financing Of Diagonal Interventions: Building Resilient And Sustainable Health Systems In Sub-Saharan Africa, Lucy Kim

Master in Public Policy Theses

Background: Global health financing has historically prioritized disease-specific “vertical” programs over broader “horizontal” strengthening of general health systems. Vertical programs in HIV have led to unprecedented reductions in mortality worldwide, but HIV remains a significant public health threat in sub-Saharan Africa, where vertical strategies have long been criticized for creating fragmented health systems. In response, global health strategies have shifted towards combining vertical investments with broader horizontal activities, commonly referred to as “diagonal” programming. While evidence suggests that diagonal programming has the potential to create more resilient and sustainable health systems, evaluating its value for money is challenging due to …

The Digital Rentier State: Saudi Arabia, George Ngoh

Master in Public Policy Theses

As artificial intelligence reshapes Great Power Competition, control over digital infrastructure has become a key measure of global hegemony. In this context, Saudi Arabia is using its Vision 2030 strategy to pivot from traditional hydrocarbon reliance toward diversification into the AI and emerging technology sector, seeking to secure a position of power in an increasingly multipolar world.

This thesis analyzes whether Saudi Arabia’s AI investments signal a transition away from traditional resource rentierism or the creation of a new digital rentier model. Through primary and secondary research, this study argues that the Kingdom is establishing a sustainable pathway toward a …

Beyond The Ban: Chhaupadi Abolition And The Governance Of Menstrual Autonomy In Western Nepal, Nikita Paudel

Master in Public Policy Theses

This thesis examines how two decades of efforts to abolish chhaupadi have shaped the everyday conditions under which women and girls experience menstruation in western Nepal. Chhaupadi, commonly understood as menstrual seclusion, has been addressed through Supreme Court directives, national policy, criminal law, municipal implementation instruments, hut demolition campaigns, public health programming, and rights-based advocacy. Yet the practice has persisted, adapted, and in some cases moved into less visible spaces. Rather than treating this as a simple gap between law and practice, this thesis asks how abolition efforts themselves have become part of the regulatory regime through which menstruation is …

A Rarer Earth: The Many States Of Peat In Central Kalimantan, Layna Chen Ms.

Masters of Environmental Design Theses

Peat currently occupies a central place within climate discourse, with Indonesia’s peatlands as a key site of concern since the late twentieth century. Yet this contemporary understanding is historically unstable. Over the last two centuries, what we commonly consider peat has been repeatedly redefined by scientific and bureaucratic institutions. Within popular media, peat has circulated as a low-grade fuel, an infertile swampland, an agricultural soil awaiting rehabilitation, and a hydrological body requiring remediation. Tropical peatland fires, once treated as a scientific improbability, have become a recurring environmental crisis. This history of shifting definitions suggests that ‘peat’ is not a stable …

Improving Amber Alerts: Results From A National Experimental Study Of Wireless Emergency Alerts, Lauren B. Cain, Jeannette Sutton, Hugh Walpole, Micki Olson

Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity Faculty Scholarship

In the United States, Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) are used to notify the public of abducted children. However, there is no established guidance for writing AMBER Alert WEAs, and the vast majority have been incomplete. Using three randomly assigned groups recruited via a Qualtrics survey panel, we test an incomplete message containing a link to additional information, which reflects baseline messaging practices, against complete ‘plain language’ messages written using the MEP Message Framework with and without links. We find that plain language messages outperformed the baseline message when participants did not click the link for outcomes including message understanding, belief, …

Big Game License Fees—Seeking Price Optimization Equity, Chip E. Miller, Brian Vander Naald

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Nfts And The Value Of Provenance On Digital Art, Jessica Scheld, Pamila Dembla, Stef Nicovich

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Corporate Sociopolitical Activism On Instagram: Brand Responses To Covid-19 And Black Lives Matter, Cynthia B. Hanson

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Economic Drivers Of International Migration To Türkiye: A Regional Comparison Study, Bekir Gündoğmuş, Musa Bayir, Ahmed Yusuf Sarihan

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

This study investigates the macroeconomic determinants of registered international migration to Türkiye by employing panel data regression techniques at the NUTS-2 regional level for the period 2016–2022. The results reveal that per capita income, employment, and the share of industry, services, and construction sectors in total production have a statistically significant and positive impact on migration inflows, while inflation exhibits a negative effect. However, agricultural production proportion and export performance do not appear to significantly influence regional migrant preferences. Causality tests further support the existence of both bidirectional and unidirectional relationships between economic indicators and migration. The findings underscore the …

Rehabilitation Belief And Engagement Transformation (Rbet) Model: A Grounded Theory Approach, Jade Ibhar V. Cuambot, Marc Eric S. Reyes, Karen Katrina V. Trinidad

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

Competitive sports injuries have significant physiological and psychological consequences for athletes. While rehabilitation medicine effectively addresses the physical aspects of injury recovery, the psychological and emotional journey of injured athletes remains neglected. Thus, the current study addresses this gap by examining athletes’ transforming belief systems and emotional experiences during injury rehabilitation. A qualitative research design grounded in grounded theory principles was conducted with professional athletes to understand how their beliefs toward rehabilitation evolved over time. Findings revealed a dynamic process of belief transformation consisting of seven interconnected stages, captured in the Rehabilitation Belief and Engagement Transformation (RBET) Model: (1) Pre-rehabilitation …

A Climatology Of Heat Domes Over North America, Paul C. Loikith, Siiri Bigalke, Graham P. Taylor, Dmitri A. Kalashnikov, Deepti Singh, Amanda Laverty

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

The term heat dome in reference to extreme heat events has grown in popularity. While a heat dome definition has recently been added to the Glossary of the American Meteorological Society, a quantitative meteorological definition is currently lacking. Here we present such a definition and use it to develop a novel 85-year climatology of extreme heat and associated mid-tropospheric circulation over mid-latitude North America. Our definition groups extreme heat objects (EHOs), defined daily as spatially contiguous regions where 2-m maximum temperature exceeds the May-September 99th percentile, into two categories: those directly associated with a 500-hPa closed anticyclone and those that …

From Chennai To Texas: Major League Cricket, Glocalization, And The Uber-Sport Assemblage, Glenn Houlihan

Journal of Global South Sport Studies

This article examines Major League Cricket (MLC), an American professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket franchise league which began in July 2023 with a sold-out match at Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas. The fans in attendance were predominantly immigrants from South Asia, a region where cricket is the dominant sport. MLC’s connection to South Asia, however, extends beyond domestic U.S. fandom, as four of the league’s six franchises are operated by Indian Premier League (IPL) teams. Here, the IPL is expanding operations into the U.S. market, leveraging the recognizable branding of the league’s teams to offer the nascent MLC a …

Guilty Plea Appeals Across Two States: Who Appeals And Who Wins?, Jacqueline G. Lee, Kelsey S. Henderson, Mason Scott

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

Though the vast majority of criminal convictions stem from guilty pleas, what occurs after the plea is relatively unknown. Data on appeals of guilty pleas was collected from two states to explore the prevalence and outcomes of guilty plea appeals, in addition to characteristics of those cases. One state produced approximately 5.5 times more plea appeal opinions per month than the other. Interestingly, one state's appeals largely centered around excessive sentencing claims (73.6%), while the other saw a range of grounds (e.g., ineffective assistance of counsel). Appealing defendants in one state almost always lost (only a 2% likelihood of success), …

Acute And Chronic Oral Administration Of Cannabidiol-Dominant Cannabis Products: Sex- And Formulation-Dependent Effects On Anxiety-Like Behavioral Patterns In Rats, Carlos R. Maestas-Olguin

Psychology ETDs

Interest in the anxiolytic-like effects of cannabidiol (CBD), the non-intoxicating phytocannabinoid found within the genus, Cannabis, has grown significantly in recent years. However, preclinical investigations of CBD’s anxiolytic potential often elect to forgo translationally relevant models that maximize external validity in favor of greater internal and mechanistic validity. As a result, the effects of relatively low dose (< 3mg/kg) oral CBD administration on anxiety-like behaviors are not yet fully characterized. The present studies examined the impact of two orally delivered CBD-dominant cannabis products – a “full-spectrum” formulation derived from the whole plant and a CBD isolate derived from the same chemovar – on innate defensive behaviors exhibited by adult male and female rats in various tests of anxiety. Results indicated that acute and chronic low dose oral CBD administration attenuated anxiety-like behavior in rats, regardless of sex or formulation. These findings extend the growing corpus of literature describing anxiolytic-like effects of CBD.

The Environmental Cost Of Artificial Intelligence, Ava G. O'Connor

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper addresses the increasingly innovative and evolving world of artificial intelligence. As artificial intelligence becomes more integrated within global economies and infrastructures, its  environmental and economic impact has grown significantly, but still remains understudied in the conversation surrounding societal advancement and growth. This thesis delves into the history and development of artificial intelligence, AI's integration into modern life, Big Tech jumping to get ahead of AI development through investment, the cost of artificial intelligence, and the ethical and environmental implications of increasing artificial intelligence usage. Using multiple case studies, this thesis deeply explores the emergence of artificial intelligence as …

Examining Associations Between Socioecological Factors And Addiction Cycle Domains In Separate Community And Treatment- Seeking Samples, Kara Link

Psychology ETDs

The Addictions Neuroclinical Assessment (ANA) is a multimodal clinical assessment framework designed to capture the heterogeneity of addictive disorders and inform personalized treatment. The ANA is grounded in three neurofunctional domains aligned with the Koob and LeMoal addiction cycle stages: incentive salience (IS; binge/intoxication), negative emotionality (NE; withdrawal/negative affect), and executive function (EF; preoccupation/anticipation). In addition to these primary domains, the ANA also proposes ancillary assessment domains thought to be related to these neurofunctional domains. However, the ANA developers do not provide a rationale for including these ancillary measures in the framework nor hypothesize about their relevance to the ANA …

A Characterization Of Fat Acceptance Across Identities In A College Sample, Brynn Liabraaten

Psychology ETDs

Weight stigma is a class of discrimination in which those who are of higher weight face biases and discrimination. This can lead to worse outcomes ranging from poor mental health to societal barriers. Fat acceptance is the idea that all people, regardless of weight, deserve respect and equal treatment. The study of fat acceptance is in its infancy in the field of psychology, and there is little research addressing what kinds of people may be more or less fat accepting. The present study utilized a college sample to create a characterization of which intersecting identities and characteristics may correlate with …

Predictors Of Opposite-Sex Antipathy, Mikayla R. Poe

Psychology ETDs

Evolutionary pressures have shaped men’s and women’s motivations to cooperate and compete with one another. Sexual conflict is generated in natural conditions but may be exacerbated by features of the modern world. The current study recruited participants from Prolific to respond to a Qualtrics survey (n = 812) to investigate the correlates of opposite-sex distrust/antipathy using the newly developed Opposite Sex Antipathy (OSA) scale, which is the first of its kind to allow cross-sex comparisons. Men and women’s antipathy for each other was predicted by perceptions that the opposite sex was of lower value to society, more harmful experiences …

Through A Pueblo Lens: Sovereignty, Ethics, And Research In Tribal Communities, Elaine Suazo-Miller

Public Administration ETDs

This thesis explores the intersection of tribal sovereignty, ethical research conduct, and data ownership through an auto-ethnographic examination of my experience seeking research approval with the Pueblo of Santa Clara Tribal Council. Using the Pueblo’s protocols and decision-making processes as a lens, the study highlights how sovereignty is practiced in daily governance and how it shapes relationships between Indigenous communities and academic institutions. Three themes frame the analysis: (1) tribal sovereignty and building trust, (2) ethical research conduct and navigating the research process, and (3) data ownership, sensitivity, and sharing results. Each theme connects personal experience to key literature in …

Tiktok And The Brain: Neuropsychological Correlates Of Short-Form Video Consumption, Caty Enders

Psychology ETDs

Short-form video platforms like TikTok have quickly become the fastest growing segment of social media, thanks to powerful algorithms serving up personalized content driven by large quantities of user data. This study investigates the neuropsychological correlates of digital media use, with a particular focus on TikTok and smartphone screen time among young adults. Combining correlational analyses and an experimental design (n = 49; n = 44 included in final sample), we examined the relationship between digital media use and cognitive and emotional functioning across multiple domains. Objective measures of digital media consumption (daily average screen time and time on TikTok) …

Identity, Sexuality, And Gender: Perspectives From Self-Identified Sexually Fluid People, Mattilyn Wiseman

Psychology ETDs

Research on sexual fluidity has relied on categorical, gender-based measurement frameworks that prioritize quantifying change over exploring the lived experience of sexually fluid people. This study employed Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to qualitatively and ideographically explore how self-identified sexually fluid people made sense of their own sexual identity, gender (more broadly), and attraction as it relates or does not relate to gender. Three participants completed structured interviews with open-ended questions. Participants unanimously made sense of identity as a self-constructed journey and tied to their social realities. Participants’ lived experiences of their own gender identities informed their sense-making of gender more …

Clarifying The Illusory Truth Effect: The Role Of Truth Status And Source Memory, Kamille Koger

Psychology ETDs

The present study investigated whether repetition increases perceived truth even for information explicitly known to be false and how repetition effects interact with source memory. Participants (N = 102) completed two sessions (exposure and test) one week apart. During exposure, they rated the truth of trivia statements presented three times each. Half were explicitly labeled as "true" or "false" (known condition) and half were unlabeled (ambiguous condition). In the test phase, participants judged the truth of all previously seen statements and an equal number of new statements, followed by source memory judgments. Results showed a classic illusory truth effect (ITE) …

Sexual Violence By Government Security Forces: Leaders, Institutions, And Culture, Margaret Avera

Political Science ETDs

I assess how the interaction between leader preferences, regime type, and agent personal motives impacts patterns of sexual violence. I ask, “Why do some government security forces perpetrate sexual violence while others do not?” and “How does the interaction between leader motives and institutions impact victimization patterns?” I found that police corruption was correlated with sexual violence by government security forces, but military corruption was not. My findings indicate the importance of moving beyond a conflict scope and distinguishing between different types of state security actors. In addition, I use natural language processing methods to collect disaggregated allegation data to …

Inherited By “Merit”: What Caste Carries Across The Indian American Diaspora, Aarushi V. Jaiswal

English Undergraduate Distinction Projects

This project traces the rhetorical formation termed “meritocratic nationalism,” a political vocabulary that makes national belonging conditional on moralized merit, converting structural advantage into the language of individual character. Meritocratic nationalism is traced across three political figures whose rhetoric represents successive moments in a single ideological trajectory. Reading Narendra Modi’s 2014 and 2018 Independence Day addresses and his 2014 Madison Square Garden speech to the Indian American diaspora as the formation’s originating texts, this project argues that Modi’s recurring moral tetrad of conduct, values, traditions, and ability translated the structurally concentrated advantages of India’s upper-caste professional class into a universalist …

Rural Minds In Modern Politics: Kinship Networks And Voting Patterns: A Comparative Analysis Of Appalachia And Rural Spain, 1986–2024, Alyce Sarah Blow

Senior Theses

This paper examines how rural identity, kinship networks, and community relationships shape voting behavior through a comparative analysis of rural regions in the United States and Spain. With a base structure on sociological and political research on rural development and the rural–urban political divide, this study explores how social trust, family reputation, and community ties influence electoral support in rural communities. Using electoral data from national archives and the Global Elections Database, the analysis focuses on voting patterns from 1986 to 2024 in two rural U.S. congressional districts, West Virginia’s 2nd and Pennsylvania’s 9th, and two rural regions in Spain: …