Digital Commons Network^™

Can Financial Inclusion-Based Interventions For Poverty Alleviation Build Sustainable Livelihoods? Voices From Mutual Solidarity Groups (Muso) In Haiti., Meera R. Bhat

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Scholars, policymakers, changemakers, and social workers have attempted to define, understand, and eradicate poverty. Its endurance raises the prospect that these efforts may be incomplete or faulty. This thesis will probe this concern by examining poverty and poverty alleviation programs through the lens of a holistic intervention-based framework known as the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF). The first paper introduces the SLF and uses it to undertake a conceptual analysis comparing demand and supply driven poverty alleviation interventions that are based on financial inclusion. Next it uses the SLF as a methodological tool to compare financial inclusion programs, as operationalized by …

Generative Identity Theft: Criminalizing Deepfakes Using The Right Of Publicity, Dustin Marlan

Faculty Publications

The right of publicity grants individuals control over the commercial use of their identity, particularly name, image, and likeness. Currently, publicity laws are a fragmented patchwork of state statutes and case law, leading to frequent calls for reform, including the establishment of a federal right of publicity. This issue has gained renewed urgency amid the rise of generative artificial intelligence and deepfake technologies. In response, Congress has introduced multiple bipartisan proposals—most prominently, the Senate’s No FAKES Act and the House’s No AI FRAUD Act—that seek to create federal protections against unauthorized digital replicas of likeness, voice, and other aspects of …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Voting Matters: Materiality Considerations And The Shareholder Vote, Renee M. Jones

Seattle University Law Review

For the shareholder franchise to have meaning, shareholders must have access to relevant information to inform their voting decisions. The securities laws’ disclosure requirements play an essential role in informing the shareholder vote.

This Essay focuses on the question of the materiality of information in the context of shareholder voting. It addresses the question of whether ESG-related information is material, positioning the materiality inquiry within the context of shareholders’ voting decisions. It explores the definition of materiality with a focus on the “reasonable investor” concept embedded within the definition. The Essay argues that the implicit expectations of many commentators that …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Understanding The Big Three’S Wavering Support Of Environmental And Social Shareholder Proposals, Jeff Schwartz, Jefferson Jensen

Seattle University Law Review

Because of their substantial equity portfolios, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street (the Big 3) are central players in corporate governance. It is, therefore, critical to understand how they vote. One puzzle is that their support for shareholder proposals on environmental and social matters appears to waiver. In 2020, for instance, BlackRock supported 11.1% of environmental proposals at S&P 500 firms. In 2021, it seemingly reversed course, supporting 55.2%. It then flipped again, supporting 32.1% in 2022. Such statistics suggest that the Big 3 are constantly changing their views on these topics. This Article seeks to better understand whether this is …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

The Wind In The Willows Effect: Does Age Affect Human Versus Animal Faux Pas Recognition?, Gray Atherton, Lucy Robinson, Lucie Guy-Smith, Liam Cross

School of Psychology

Children’s literature is rife with anthropomorphic or non-human characters that may be used as a scaffold to teach children about theory of mind (ToM) or the ways in which people think or feel about the social world. In this study, 107 typically developing U.K. school children in Years 1, 3, and 5 (5–10 years of age) completed a human and anthropomorphic ToM test that tested their understanding of faux pas. Specifically, children from these three age groups were given a human version of 20 faux pas stories and an identical animal version of the same stories 1 week apart (with …

Categorical Perception Of The Index Finger As An American Sign Language Phonological Construct, Lareina Hingson, Jeffrey Jack Green, Brooklyn Lorenc

Faculty Publications

In American Sign Language, specific handshapes found in the manual alphabet and/or numbering system (such as the pointed index finger—the number “1”—and its bent counterpart—the letter “x”) are assumed to be phonologically distinct under the rationale that bentness of the finger(s) constitutes a phonemic distinctive feature. This study investigates this notion, building on previous behavioral studies of American Sign Language categorical perception of bentness of the index finger. We examined varying levels of bentness between 180◦ and 90◦ using a scale ranging from the signs BLACK and SUMMER in the standard dialect. Experiment 1 found that when presented with all …

Teacher Delivered Block Construction Training Improves Children's Mathematics Performance, Emily K. Farran, Katie A. Gilligan-Lee, Denis Mareschal, Marija Živković, Santa Bartušēvica, Derek Bell, Tim Jay, Camilla Gilmore

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

There is robust evidence for a causal association between spatial thinking and mathematics achievement. However, most research has been lab-based, with spatial training delivered by researchers. We present a teacher delivered, whole-class 6-week spatial training study that involved professional development for practitioners coupled with teacher-led LEGO® block construction training for 6- to 7-year-olds. Using a quasi-experimental design, N = 409 children completed the training and N = 103 children formed a business-as-usual control group. For spatial ability and mathematics, but not spatial language, children in the training condition showed improved performance relative to controls. This finding extends evidence of the …

Neither King's Horses Nor King's Men: The Proposed "Uniform Alt-Currency Act" Of 2025, J. Scott Colesanti

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Fascist Government Speech, G. Alex Sinha

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

On the day he was sworn in for a second term, President Donald Trump issued pardons and commutations to all of his supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. This sweeping act of clemency gave legal effect to a longstanding grievance: since the attack, which disrupted congressional certification of his 2020 election defeat, President Trump has consistently glorified the attackers and denounced their prosecutors. In defending the clemencies two days after issuing them, President Trump reiterated familiar themes. Once more he refused to acknowledge that he lost the 2020 election, celebrated the patriotism of his supporters, and …

“When I Farm, I Am Free:” Navigating Hmong Identity And Citizenship Through Farming, Stephen Kwas , '25

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

No abstract provided.

Toxic Sweetness And Abstinence: The Citationality Of Robert Lustig's Anti-Sugar Rhetoric, Tyler J. Snelling

Iowa Journal of Communication

Robert Lustig’s (2009) lecture on YouTube “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” animated a widespread conversation about whether sugar poisons bodies. Discourse following the lecture warrants analysis to gage how the meaning of the lecture transformed from a critique of food systems into individual actions. I argue that citationality of “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” fosters healthism by grounding sugar’s toxicity in scientific and affective reasoning that compels individual actions like abstinence from sugar. The pediatrician's lecture enabled the construction of a supposedly "moral eater" who removes sugar from consumption to avoid the poison's consequences. This paper offers tools for examining the spread …

Race, The Academy, And The Constitution Of The War On Drugs, I. Bennett Capers, Jeffrey Bellin

Faculty Scholarship

The war on drugs is widely viewed as a policy failure. Despite massive government intrusions on personal liberty, drug addiction, overdoses, and drug-related violence have only increased since the war was declared in 1971. David Pozen’s new book, The Constitution of the War on Drugs, reveals a constitutional failure as well. Pozen chronicles a host of constitutional arguments that American litigants deployed to protect a “right” to use drugs with surprising, if fleeting, success. Pozen asks what might have been, exploring why the courts backtracked and effectively removed the Constitution as a meaningful obstacle to drug prohibitions. 

This Review …

Front Matter - Table Of Contents - Preface

Iowa Journal of Communication

No abstract provided.

Scholarly Program Notes For "Songs Of Love & Loss", Seth A. Tanner

Research Papers

This document presents the extended program notes for the graduate voice recital of Mr. Seth A. Tanner which took place on March 1, 2025 in the Old Baptist Foundation recital hall at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. These extended program notes also contain the program of repertoire performed at the recital in addition to the texts of all pieces with translations for those non-English songs.

The repertoire list includes operatic arias from the Baroque and late Romantic periods, and art songs from the late Romantic period, early 20th century, and mid 20th century. The repertoire is representative of a …

Queer Form And Romantic Friendship In Ghost World, Elaina Gilley

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

Teaching Functional Skills To Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder And Intellectual Disability Using Behavior-Analytic Curricula, Catrina Barber

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

Food Allergies And Quality Of Life In Older Adults: Development Of A Food Allergy Questionnaire, Avalon F. Mustafa

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The United States is experiencing a rapid increase in the number of older adults, yet there is a lack of research on food allergies in this demographic. While there are survey instruments available to study food allergies and quality of life, none of these are tailored to the unique needs of elderly individuals. This study aims to create and validate an on-line survey instrument specifically designed for older adults, focusing on their quality of life in the context of food allergies. The survey will be used to establish a food allergy severity score and a quality-of-life score, enabling comparison between …

Potential Of Brewer's Spent Grain Bioactive Fractions As Functional Ingredients For Companion And Farm Animal Foods – A Reviews, Emmanuel Duah Osei, Azza Silotry Naik, Gemma Kinsella, Terence Delaney, Kirwan Stuart

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

No abstract provided.

From Conjugation To Detection: Development Of Lateral Flow Assay For Zearalenone, Vinayak Sharma, Bilal Javed, Hugh J. Byrne, Furong Tian

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

The development of rapid, sensitive and cost-effective lateral flow assays is crucial for the detection of mycotoxins, ideally at the point-of-care level. This study presents the design and optimization of a competitive lateral flow assay based on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for the detection of zearalenone in food samples. Beginning with the synthesis and functionalization of gold nanoparticles, it proceeds to compare the immobilization of antibodies using chemical conjugation and physical adsorption binding strategies, upon optimizing parameters including the pH, antibody concentration and blocking conditions to enhance the stability of the prepared bioconjugates. The bioconjugates are characterized using UV–visible absorption spectroscopy …

Prevalence And Concentrations Of Four Waste-Pathogen Combinations From Land-Spreading Across High-Income, Temperate Regions: Meta-Modelling And Distribution Fitting For Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (Qmra), Jennifer E M Mccarthy, Paul D Hynds, Declan J Bolton, Jesús M Frías Celayeta

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

No abstract provided.

A Post-Normal Environment-Centered Approach To Engineering Ethics Education, T Børsen, Shannon Chance, G Meskens

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

This chapter probes engineering responses to contemporary socio-ecological challenges – like climate change and loss of biodiversity – and advocates for a new, post-normal engineering (PNE) paradigm. The chapter promotes cultivating, via reflection and dialogue, a nuanced ethical understanding for grappling with urgent socio-ecological problems, underscoring the need for a diverse palette of ethical frameworks for current and future engineers. The proposed PNE paradigm rejects today's conventional engineering practices and extractive cradle-to-grave model, prioritizing global responsibility and advocating for reflexivity in constructing new approaches to complex present-day issues. Existing theories like virtue ethics and utilitarianism (covered elsewhere in this handbook) …

2025 Cheshire County Advisory Council Agenda & Minutes, Diane Dugray

Advisory Council

No abstract provided.

Iowa Journal Of Communication, Volume 57, Number 1, Fall 2025 [Download Entire Issue]

Iowa Journal of Communication

No abstract provided.

Fixation On Viruses: Eye-Tracking, Image-Based Agency, And Fear-Appeal Desensitization, Braden Bagley, Lijie Zhou, Hayden Coombs, Matthew Barton

Iowa Journal of Communication

This study examined the effects of image-based assignment of agency (IAA) on COVID-19 and flu fear-appeals by employing eye-tracking technology. Volunteers participated in a 2x2x2 between-groups experiment. Fixation-count and fixation-duration were collected by a Tobii Pro X3-120 Screen-Based Eye-Tracker. After reviewing a fact sheet, participants answered a 29-item survey that included items aligning with the extended parallel process model. The flu/agentic-image/virus-agentic-language message produced significantly higher fixation-frequency to the image and a higher perception of severity than the COVID-19/real-image/human-agentic-language message. Fixation-frequency on the image produced significantly higher fear perceptions, but significantly lower message-quality and message-credibility perceptions. Flu messages led to significantly …

Protective Effects Of Calligonum Comosum As A Natural Remedy To Counteract Pregabalin-Induced Toxicity: Insights From Chemical Profiling, In Vivo, And In Silico Analyses, Smail Mehda, Ibtissam Laib, Feriel Diab, Raounek Attia, Yousef Benaissa, Attia Hanane, Khiari Rayhana, Meriem Bellabidi, Huda Alsaeedi, David Croun, Mikhael Bechelany, Ahmed Barhoum

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

This study explores the therapeutic potential of Calligonum comosum extract in alleviating pregabalin (PGB)-induced toxicity in male Wistar rats, with a focus on hepatic, renal, and reproductive health. PGB exposure led to significant biochemical disturbances, including elevated liver enzymes (AST, ALT, LDH), impaired kidney markers (urea, creatinine, uric acid), reduced reproductive hormones (testosterone, FSH, LH), and notable histopathological damage in liver, kidney, and testicular tissues. Treatment with C. comosum extract effectively restored liver and kidney functions and partially corrected hormonal imbalances. The extract reduced AST, ALT, and LDH levels by 18.5%, 25.2%, and 13.7%, respectively. Similarly, urea, creatinine, and uric …

Is It Real Enough? A Mixed-Methods Study Of Realism, Engagement And Counterargument In Transmedia Edutainment For Sustainable Behaviors, Aya Shata, Michelle Selig

Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies Faculty Research

Advancements in technology have driven media convergence, paving the way for innovative storytelling formats like Transmedia Edutainment (TE-E), a new promising strategy for advocating prosocial behaviors. However, there is limited research on narrative processing and the persuasive outcomes of TE-E, particularly in environmental contexts. Therefore, this paper examines TE-E as a new communication strategy that leverages storytelling across multiple platforms to promote pro-environmental messaging. Drawing on entertainment-education literature and narrative persuasion theories, specifically the narrative engagement model and perceived realism as theoretical frameworks in this study, to help understand the role and influence of TE-E. Using a mixed-method design, five …

A “Bangladeshi” Descendant Muslim Community In Northern Thailand Its Formation Process, Mineo Takada

Asian Review

Thailand is a majority Buddhist country. However, there is a Muslim population in some parts of the country. One such community is a so-called "Indian" Muslim community in northern Thailand. In fact, they originally came from East Bengal, now Bangladesh, not India. A large community of such Bangladeshi descendants can be found in Chiang Mai and other groups of them live in some smaller towns in northern Thailand.  This paper discusses the migration processes, routes, and settlement processes of a group in northern Thailand. When the author started researching them, they declared themselves "Bangladee" (Thai pronunciation of Bangladesh), but they …