Digital Commons Network^™

A Poetic Call For And A Reflection And Commentary On Clarity, Understanding, Hope, Courage, And Compassion, Carroy U. Ferguson

Psychology Faculty Publication Series

Finding a published poem I had written as a teenager, titled “The Heavens Weep.” this article uses that poem as the basis for a commentary that reflects on the state of the world today (2026),  As a commentary, the article uses the poetic and metaphoric words in the poem as a relevant "reality check" for what is still going on today.  In essence, the commentary is about a call for Clarity, Understanding, Hope, Courage, and Compassion, or what I call Archetypal Energies, Higher Vibrational Energies that operate deep within our individual and collective psyches to creatively urge us to "see" …

Rethinking Methodological Frameworks In Qualitative Comparative Migration Policy Research, Afag Javadova

The Qualitative Report

Capturing the nuanced dynamics of sub-national migration policy requires methodological frameworks that integrate multiple sources of evidence while remaining attentive to context-specific processes. Such approaches are well-suited to tracing interactions among policy actors and institutions within evolving, locally embedded systems of comparative policymaking. This study examines why municipalities operating under similar macro-level conditions pursue divergent policy trajectories in migration governance and demonstrates the analytical rigor and explanatory power of qualitative thematic analysis in accounting for this variation. Drawing on policy documents, archival records, and media sources from Toronto, San Francisco, and Wellington, it employs a hybrid inductive–deductive coding approach to …

Translating English‑Language Cosmetic Catalogues Into Persian: A Thematic And Content Analysis Of Health Information And Product Marketing Across Cultural Contexts, Afshin Soori, Laleh Khojasteh, Sanaz Mojarrad, Sedigheh Shakib Kotamjani

The Qualitative Report

The translation of English-to-Persian cosmetic catalogues presents unique challenges due to their hybrid nature, combining health communication with marketing language. These challenges, including linguistic inaccuracies, cultural misalignment, and functional inadequacies, can compromise consumer safety and trust. This study investigates the root causes of these issues and proposes strategies to enhance translation practices. A qualitative design was employed, analyzing 100 English-to-Persian cosmetic catalogue translations and incorporating feedback from 10 experts in TESL, translation studies, and health communication. The analysis revealed recurring issues such as misinterpretations of technical terms, omissions of safety warnings, and inconsistent terminology use. These issues were primarily attributed …

Reimagining Photovoice: Leveraging Ai For Inclusive And Equitable Engagement In Refugee Research, Areej Al-Hamad, Kateryna Metersky, Yasin M. Yasin, Victoria Hayrabedian, Rezwana Rahman

The Qualitative Report

This methodology paper reimagines photovoice, a visual research method, by integrating artificial intelligence (AI), thereby expanding methodological options for both researchers and participants to foster more inclusive and equitable engagement in refugee research. Using AI-generated images, metaphors, and photocollage, displaced Ukrainian women in Canada co-created symbolic visuals to express complex emotions and experiences that may be difficult to capture through traditional photography. This approach addresses limitations of conventional photovoice by reducing technological and linguistic barriers, enhancing emotional expression, and supporting diverse representations of displacement and resettlement. Rather than replacing existing methods, this AI-assisted approach expands the methodological options available to …

The Internet Did This To Me: Forms, Consequences, And Coping Strategies Of Cyberbullying, Isaac Oppong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined self-reported cyberbullying experiences recounted in a subreddit (r/cyberbullying) to identify forms of cyberbullying, its effects, and ways to cope with it. The findings indicate that there are several types of cyberbullying, such as verbal aggression, deceptive manipulation, privacy invasion, and coercive control. These experiences led to emotional, social, and behavioral consequences, including fear, anxiety, withdrawal, and decreased online activity. Based on concepts from Social Information Processing theory and Symbolic Interactionism, this study reveals how cyberbullying can produce the same or similar consequences as traditional bullying. People experienced disturbances in their self-presentation, contended with spoiled identities, and dealt …

Using Photovoice And Life Course Theory To Understand The Lived Experiences Of Filipino Teenage Parents, Nina Linly D. Capulong, Liane Peña Alampay, Bernice Landoy Mamauag, Jennel Drezza Fe C. Reyes

Psychology Department Faculty Publications

Teenage parents face the unique challenge of simultaneously navigating adolescence and parenthood. Rising adolescent pregnancy rates in the Philippines necessitate urgent efforts to better understand and support them. Using Photovoice, Filipino teenage parents captured their lived experiences through photographs, resulting in eight themes: (1) Managing stresses and conflicts in partner relationships, (2) Peers as a source of emotional support, (3) Support and strain in family relationships, (4) Shifts in normative adolescent experiences and priorities, (5) Strain and agency in balancing roles, (6) Desire to enhance parenting knowledge and skills, (7) Environmental drivers of early sexual exposure, (8) Sexual knowledge from …

Temporal Legitimacy And Civilizational Logic: A Sociological Perspective On The Foundational Principles Of Chinese Civilization, Yuk Man Cheung

Comparative Civilizations Review

This article departs from the recent social-scientific analytical framework for comparative civilizations proposed by the sociologist Liah Greenfeld (2024a, 2024b, 2025) and puts forward several basic conjectures regarding the analysis of the characteristics of Chinese civilization, with the aim of assisting our understanding, execution, and integration of empirical studies. Precisely because these are conjectures, they differ from conventional academic research–especially the case-study-oriented research style dominant in contemporary Anglophone academia. Accordingly, this article can only be regarded as an attempt that, starting from sociological theory, offers preliminary conjectures and tentatively constructs a theoretical framework within which specialists from different fields may …

The Concept Of A ‘State-Civilization’ In Russia: The Contest For National Dignity In The Form Of A Civilizational Analysis, Ivan Nokhrin

Comparative Civilizations Review

This article examines the contemporary Russian concept of the “state-civilization” as articulated in official discourse, educational materials, and nationalist thought. It argues that the notion of Russian civilization functions primarily as a symbol of national dignity and exceptionalism rather than an analytically coherent concept. Through analyzing narratives surrounding traditional values, state-centrism, family, and patriotism, the study demonstrates that these themes largely reproduce longstanding patterns of Russian nationalism and its opposition to the West. Drawing on Greenfeld’s theory of civilization, the article contends that Russia is best understood as part of the broader monotheistic civilization rather than a distinct civilization of …

The Family As A Mechanism Of Civilizational Continuity: Absorption, Localization, And Rejection Of Modern Values In The Indic Case, Monika Monika

Comparative Civilizations Review

Contrary to the common view that the family socializes the individual into a given culture, this paper insists that the family performs a far more profound, indeed, a constitutive function. It is not simply the first school of civilizational values; it is the primary institutional site through which a civilization reproduces its symbolic order and, in so doing, acts as the gatekeeper of civilizational continuity and change. It is here that a civilization’s foundational principles are first internalized; and it is here, too, that modern values, or new norms thrust upon it by encounters with alien civilizations ⎯ are first …

Black Protection: Black Social Media Competency And Urban, Black Adolescents On Social Media, Taylor A. Williams

Dissertations

While urban, Black adolescents interact with racial identity content on social media, their identity is primarily shaped through offline experiences and later reflected or reinforced online. Through the concept of Black social media competency (B-SMC), this study examined the relationships between Black urban adolescents’ social media use, exposure to race-related content, and experiences navigating the digital environment. The study used a qualitative design, grounded in the phenomenological and ecological frameworks, with 21 adolescents recruited from two urban, Midwestern schools and programs to participate in semi-structured interviews, and data were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify patterns in how the participants …

Pathways To The Streets: A Proposed Model Examining The Factors Influencing Gang Affiliation And Involvement Among Young Black Men In The United States, Ceauna L. Juarez

Dissertations

This literature review examined gang involvement among young Black men in the United States and explored the factors that contribute to joining gangs and the consequences that may follow. The first chapter provides a brief history of gang involvement in Black communities and introduces Erikson’s development model, self-determination theory, and the minorities’ diminished returns as the three theoretical frameworks. The second chapter discusses common challenges faced by young Black men who are currently involved in gangs or are at risk of joining. The chapter explores issues such as life expectancy after gang involvement, adverse childhood experiences, mental health concerns, and …

Content Mapping: An Experimental Analysis Of Missing Message Content, Jeannette Sutton

Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity Faculty Scholarship

The Warning-Response Model recommends the inclusion of five key content areas in warning messages to reduce information seeking that can lead to warning response delay: the message source, hazard (including its impact), affected location, recommended guidance, and time. Research has found that complete messages, that is, those that include all of five recommended content areas, help people make decisions about the protective actions they may take.  Unfortunately, a large majority of WEA messages omit information from one or more of the recommended content areas. This study examined the impact of omitting each of the five recommended content areas on message …

A Qualitative Study Of Immigration Trauma, Posttraumatic Growth, And The College Experience Among Mena Immigrant Students, Braa A. Elkhidir

Dissertations

Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) immigrant students who are seeking to earn a higher education in the United States have to navigate acculturative stressors and systemic barriers. Prior research has focused primarily on the challenges MENA immigrant students experience without deeply exploring how these students adapt and grow. The focus in this qualitative study was to understand how MENA immigrant college students experience and make meaning of their academic journeys. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the academic experiences of seven MENA immigrant college students in the United States and assess how acculturative stressors, personal strengths, coping strategies, and …

Religious Practice And Attitudes Toward Immigration And Racial Justice In America, Amya Douglas

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This study aims to understand how Christians’ knowledge of Scripture and involvement in the church have an impact on their social-political views, specifically, racial justice and immigration. By using the survey responses from the 6th wave of the Baylor Religion Survey, more frequent church attendance and reading Scripture were correlated with a greater recognition of racism in terms of being against white supremacy and white nationalism, supporting racial justice when asked about racial gaps, and possessing greater support for immigrants. This study highlights the distinction between religious affiliation and religious practice, and it suggests that certain policy sentiments can be …

Oak Savanna Expansion: Indigenizing Psu's Urban Landscape, Ash Herb

University Honors Theses

Since time immemorial Indigenous Peoples have resided in what is now named Portland of the Pacific Northwest in the Willamette Valley. For hundreds of years, this forested Land has been colonized, razed to stumps and covered in cement in order to build the urban landscape. Due to such destruction on a broad scale, we are experiencing the results of climate catastrophe. By finding ways to reclaim our relationship with Land and returning to Indigenous epistemologies, our urban landscape has the opportunity to shift towards restoration and prosperity. Indigenous plants have existed here, supporting humans in a reciprocal relationship, for thousands …

The Legend Of The Bear Lake Monster, Melissa Anderson Asay

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

The Bear Lake Monster is a legend that has persisted for centuries. This monster is rooted in Shoshone oral traditions and hold the potential to be based off of fossils found in the Shoshone territory. This living legend was later amplified by Mormon settlers. One settler in particular, Joseph C. Rich, played a significant role in shaping its narrative. Though he eventually admitted to fabricating sightings to encourage settlement, belief in the creature remains alive today. The serpent’s presence in local lore has undeniably influenced the Bear Lake region, shaping both its identity and tourism industry. This legend serves as …

Social Support As A Resource In Emerging Adulthood: Examining Siblings' Unique Potential, Leslie A. Page

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This dissertation consists of three studies that examined the influence of multiple relational processes and partners across adolescence and emerging adulthood. Drawing on family systems (Bowen, 1978; Cox & Paley, 1997) and social convoy (Antonucci et al., 2013) theories, social support was conceptualized as a relational dimension that shapes how close others function as resources during key developmental transitions. With this perspective, siblings were included as important, but relatively understudied, members of the social convoy who may provide enduring and flexible support that is extremely relevant for this population. In Study 1, support was treated as an outcome of longitudinal …

Impact Of Chronic Stress And Nutrition On Functional Connectivity And Neural Networks In Young Kichwa Children From The Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest, Matthew L. Cook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Early childhood is a critical period for brain development. Positive and negative experiences during this time can have lasting effects on learning, health, and well-being. However, most research on children’s brain development has been conducted in wealthy, industrialized nations, leaving important gaps in our understanding of how children develop in other cultural and environmental contexts.

This study examined brain development in Indigenous Kichwa children living in two rural communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest. The goal was to better understand how chronic stress and nutrition may influence a child’s developing brain during early childhood. Children participated in noninvasive brain assessments …

Developing A New Uas Method For Estimating Heat Exposure On Western Us Trails, Jared Young

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Heat exposure and the risks to human health that stem from it have been studied extensively in the context of urban and occupational settings. Less studied however, is the effect of heat exposure in a recreational setting such as on hiking trails. What makes this fact more surprising is that recreation, especially in the Western US, is extremely popular, with national parks such as Zion and Arches bringing in hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. With millions of recreationists exposed to the hazard of heat every year, it is critical that recreationists are made aware of the dangers they …

Ssw 701.50: Social Welfare Policy, Ian G. Williams

Open Educational Resources

This syllabus is an Open Educational Resources (OER) remixed version of SSW 701.50: Social Welfare Policy, which is taught at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College. This version updated the content and integrated additional OER materials, as part of the Summer 2026 cohort of The Open Knowledge Fellowship at the Mina Rees Library. It is a Zero-Textbook (ZTC) cost course and integrates materials from a range of academic disciplines. Official course description is as follows:

"This foundation course furnishes you with the orienting knowledge and skills needed to examine social welfare policies and to understand their relevance …

Impunity: A Case Study Of Sex Trafficking In Nevada Brothel Prostitution, Christen Price

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

It is well-documented that legalization and other forms of official protection for prostitution lead to an increase in sex trafficking, including by encouraging demand for prostitution. This paper will consider the relationship between official protection, organized crime, and sex trafficking in pro-prostitution legal regimes, both historical and contemporary. Prostitution is legal in rural counties in Nevada that have fewer than 700,000 residents, if prostitution occurs within a brothel. There is significant overlap between sex trafficking and legal brothel prostitution in Nevada, as well as a nexus to corruption and organized crime, illustrating the normalization of coercion that occurs within legalized …

The Confluence Of Conflict-Induced Vulnerability, Organized Crime, And Sex Trafficking In Receiving States: A South African Civil Society Perspective, Monique Emser

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The crime-conflict nexus has been well-documented in conflict-affected and post-conflict states. Criminal networks make use of manifold methods and strategies to exploit individual and structural vulnerabilities, particularly those affected by war, displacement, and precarious migration journeys, forming the backbone of most conflict-induced trafficking ecosystems, whether in countries of origin, transit, or receipt. This article examines the intersection of sex trafficking, diaspora communities, and organized crime within South Africa as a receiving state from a civil society perspective. It underscores the deficiencies in traditional, reductionist, enforcement-based approaches to counter-trafficking by the state, where nested subsystems, such as those produced by endemic …

Leveraging Technology To Measure The Strength Of Demand For Commercial And Trafficked Sex, Michael D. Shively, Bob Rodgers, Courtney Furlong, Brooke Ruffin

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The article examines Transaction Intercept (TI), an artificial‑intelligence platform designed to reduce sex trafficking by disrupting the revenue streams that draw organized crime into the market. Transaction Intercept deploys decoy online ads that appear to offer commercial sexual exploitation or prostitution. Automated "decoy" personas connect to individuals who click on these ads and engage them in text conversations. These exchanges can remain fully automated, ending with deterrence messages, or be transferred to police for potential enforcement action or to trained volunteers who attempt to discourage further attempts to buy sex. Transaction Intercept generates extensive, real‑time data on local demand for …

Behind The Screen: Online Sex Buyer Networks And The Organized Criminal Promotion Of Exploitation, Ava Kamdem, Vanessa Bouché, Ben Silver, Nick Freeman, Justin Euteneier

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This study investigates the extent to which online sex buyer communities in the United States function as organized criminal networks pursuant to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime’s definition of organized criminal groups. Drawing from theories of organized crime, social network analysis, and digital ecosystems, we conceptualize sex buyers not as isolated actors but as participants in coordinated, mutually reinforcing networks that share information to facilitate exploitation, mitigate risk, and sustain criminal behavior. To test this framework, we scraped over 1.2 million posts from a publicly accessible sex buyer forum, comprising 72,974 unique users and nearly 800,000 direct …

Casual Killing In The Home: Ecological Citizenship And The Micro-Geopolitics Of Mosquito Cohabitation, Orlando Woods, Junxi Qian

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This article explores how the visceral acts of being bitten by and killing mosquitoes can underpin the formation of ecological citizenship. This form of citizenship is premised on human-nature entanglement and raises questions concerning how the rights and responsibilities stemming from such entanglement become distributed across the public and private domains. As a space in which mosquito cohabitation is contested daily, the home is a key site through which ecological citizenship can be forged and theoretical debates concerning urban political ecology can be extended. Human-mosquito entanglements in the home can reveal the limits of public pest management strategies, the partiality …

Bridging The Gap: Action-Oriented Vs. Community-Minded Mentalities And Behaviors In Cold Case Investigation Units, Samantha Strine

Dissertations

One key group in policing that has seen an increase in public and media attention but not research is the cold case investigation unit. These units tend to be more “bureaucratic”, focusing on communication, community-engagement skills, and “desk work”. Thus, this is a potential area for learning techniques and policies that shift the mentalities within police culture to be more accepting of new community focused policies. This study also seeks to address a gap in current research related to studying specialized police units.

The purpose of this study is to describe the organizational dynamics and officers’ tactics, perceptions, and interactions …

When Work Is Not Enough: Food Insecurity Among Employed Latinos Receiving Snap In Massachusetts And The Burden Carried By Latina Women, Phillip Granberry, Rafael M. Pérez Medina, Florita Coto Tristán

Gastón Institute Publications

Across Massachusetts, many SNAP recipients are workers, caregivers, parents, elders, people with disabilities, and families navigating low wages, unstable work schedules, high housing costs, and limited access to wealth building opportunities. Many of these workers held jobs that were labeled “essential” during the COVID-19 pandemic: food service, caregiving, cleaning, healthcare support, retail, transportation, construction, and other service sector jobs. Yet the public recognition of their essential labor has not been translated into adequate wages, benefits, or economic security.

Gender And Professional Identities In Businesswomen’S Negotiation, Chi-Ying Cheng, Amy J. Lim, Yi Wen Tan, Fiona Lee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Gender roles and expectations for women have been shown to account for why women tend to negotiate ineffectively in business settings. Drawing from the psychological literature on multiple identities, this paper examines how individual differences in perceived compatibility between gender and professional identities–captured by the construct Gender-Professional Identity Integration (G-PII)–shape businesswomen’s negotiation behaviors. Two studies examined how G-PII interacts with identity cues and cue valence to influence negotiation outcomes. We found that those who perceived their gender and professional identities as compatible (high G-PII) exhibited an “assimilation” effect–they negotiate more effectively when their professional identity was primed by professional identity …

Genwriter 2.0: A Hybrid Case-Based And Llm Rewriting Approach For Mitigating Implicit Gender Cues In Text, Shweta Soundararajan, Sarah Jane Delany

Conference papers

Gendered language is the use of words or phrases that indicate an individual's gender. Although useful in some contexts, gendered language can reinforce gender stereotypes and introduce bias, particularly in machine learning models for tasks involving people such as recruitment or occupation classification. When textual content about individuals, such as biographies, contain gender cues, models can learn spurious associations between gender and other characteristics of individuals, such as profession, potentially resulting in unfair outcomes such as reduced hiring opportunities for women.

To address this challenge, we propose GenWriter 2.0, a hybrid approach that integrates Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) with Large …

Parent Emotion Socialization And The Influence On Child Emotion Regulation In A Clinical Sample, Crystal Tracy

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to contribute to existing literature by examining parent emotion socialization (i.e., parent orientation to child emotion) and its influence on child internalizing symptoms. Prior research suggests that parent emotion socialization impacts child emotion regulation and internalizing symptoms; however, there is little research at present focused specifically on the influence of parent orientation to child emotion on child internalizing symptoms through child emotion dysregulation. This study adds to the literature by considering the association between parent orientation to child emotion and internalizing symptoms in a sample of children referred for an ADHD evaluation. Participants included 161 children ages …