Digital Commons Network^™

2025 Fall Commencement, Georgia Southern University

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Soccer Sheikhs: Qatar, Football, And The Quest For Self-Confidence And Global Prominence, Ali Ahsan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation examines Qatar’s strategic use of football as a mechanism for securing ontological security within the international system. Moving beyond standard International Relations explanations of state behavior, the study draws on ontological security theory which emphasizes the need of states to sustain a coherent sense of self through routines, narratives, and recognition. By framing football as such a practice, the dissertation advances the study of sport as a growing area of interest in the political sciences. Through a qualitative methodology employing Reflexive Thematic Analysis of expert interviews, the research analyzes Qatar’s football policies, including hosting the 2022 FIFA World …

Youth Sport Organizational Leaders’ Perceived Strengths And Challenges Working With Volunteer Coaches: A Case Study, Hannah Swartz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Youth sport organizations in the United States rely heavily on volunteer coaches to deliver accessible and developmentally aligned programming, yet little research has examined how organizational leaders perceive and manage this volunteer workforce. Existing scholarship has focused primarily on volunteer coach motivations and experiences from the coach perspective, leaving a gap in understanding the views of those responsible for recruiting, training, retaining, and supporting volunteers. Guided by the youth sport social-ecological model (NYSS, 2019), the recent USOPC Commission Report, and principles of self-determination theory (Ryan. & Deci, 2000), this instrumental case study explored youth sport organizational leaders’ perceptions of working …

2025 Georgia Southern University Men's Soccer Roster, Georgia Southern University

Men's Soccer Records

No abstract provided.

Catalog 2025-2026, University Of North Florida

UNF Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Nirsa Student Referees: Exploring The Connection Between Sense Of Community And Positive Health And Well-Being Outcomes, Jacob K. Tingle

School of Business Faculty Research

Despite working in complex environments, which require managing antagonistic and abusive relationships, sport referees are essential to ensure fair and safe competition. Evidence suggests officiating can positively impact well-being and officiating communities provide social support. Despite those positives, there remains a shortage of qualified officials, which is compounded by aging referee populations. These concerns emphasize the need to attract young people and examine well-being benefits resulting from involvement in officiating communities. As such, the aim of this study is to help NIRSA professionals better understand how the community or social networks made through officiating intramural sports could better support student …

Cultural Differences In The Use Of Augmented Reality Smart Glasses (Arsgs) Between The U.S. And South Korea: Privacy Concerns And The Technology Acceptance Model, Se Jung Kim, Yoon Lee, Tamara Chock

Media Studies - Open-Access Faculty Scholarship

Augmented Reality Smart Glasses (ARSGs) allow users to engage in picture-taking and video recording, as well as real-time storage and sharing of pictures and videos through cloud services. Unlike smartphones, newer ARSGs resemble ordinary sunglasses, allowing for unobtrusive recording. As these devices become available on an international market, it is important to understand how different cultural attitudes towards privacy and the recording and sharing of images of bystanders could impact the acceptance and adoption of ARSGs. South Korea and the United States have vastly different culturally based perceptions of photography and recording in public. S. Korea has cultural and legal …

Toward A Combine-Style Approach To Predicting Future Esports Success, Nicholas David Bowman, Kevin Sweeney, Aaron R. Seitz, C. Shawn Green

Media Studies - Open-Access Faculty Scholarship

Historically, there has been a great deal of interest in using basicmeasures of individual difference factors to predict future success in traditional sports. For instance, the National Football League (NFL) holds a scouting combine each year prior to the NFL draft during which a host of attributes about players are measured, from basic height and weight, to sprint speed, to jumping capacity, to strength. Even among an already highly selected group of individuals (i.e., individuals skilled enough to even be considered for the NFL), such measures have been seen to have some degree of utility in predicting future performance. The …

Harvest Gold Distillery, Alexis Mackey, Alexander Grecco, Cole Smith, Maggie Patterson, Blake Benko

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of our research project is to establish and grow Harvest Gold Distillery: a corn-based liquor distillery in Ohio that aims to produce and sell high-quality spirits while offering unique services that enhance outreach in the community. The motivation behind this business venture is rooted in one of our team member’s family traditions; Alex’s family makes homemade liquors, which has fostered an in-depth understanding of the distillation process. Alex’s firsthand experience with the craft provides a solid foundation, yet we recognize that starting a distillery involves significant challenges and requires thorough research in several functions of business. This project …

The Leadership Pivot: How Labor Market Dynamics And The Ncaa Transfer Portal Impacts Leadership, Evan Wilson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project will cover a multitude of topics specific to my major, and also will use my in depth knowledge and connections within a collegiate sport to analyze how labor market changes effect the leadership styles of leaders within a given industry. This project is going to challenge me as a student because of the in depth research and data collection that will be necessary to not only educate myself about labor markets and leadership styles, but also educate myself enough to be able to present the information in a way that is digestible to readers. The other aspect of …

Belief Systems Amongst Black Women: A Qualitative Study Of Social Supports And Factors That Facilitate Pathways To Leadership Positions Within Professional Sport, Rachel Lofton

Theses and Dissertations

Despite notable advancements made by Black women in both athletic and professional settings, their representation in leadership roles within the sports industry remains disproportionately low. The underrepresentation of Black women in leadership positions within professional sport organizations underscores the need for research to identify the social supports and factors facilitating their career progression. This study addresses the gap in the literature through qualitative interviews with twelve Black women who hold director-level positions or higher in professional sports teams or leagues. Grounded theory was employed to gather, examine, and interpret the data from the interviews. Critical race theory, standpoint theory, intersectionality, …

The Ole Miss, University Of Mississippi

The Ole Miss (1897-)

The Ole Miss Annual, 2025

Hunting And Fishing Ceos: Environmental Plunderers Or Saviors?, Thomas Covington, Steve Widler, Keven Yost

Finance Faculty Works

CEOs who participate in hunting and fishing benefit by appreciating natural environments and permanently consuming natural resources. We examine whether CEOs who hunt and fish make different environmental decisions and find that firms led by CEOs who obtain the most hunting and fishing licenses have lower environmental performance as measured by MSCI-KLD. This effect is strongest in the environmental category of climate change but also extends to pollution, waste, and the protection of natural capital. Furthermore, firms led by CEOs with the most hunting and fishing licenses are significantly more likely to pay a regulatory settlement for an environmental regulatory …

Effects Of Mental Fatigue On Gait Performance And Variability, Ali Zardosht

Dissertations and Theses

Mental fatigue has been shown to negatively impact physical performance, including motor skills and neuromuscular function. This study aimed to investigate the effects of mental fatigue on gait performance and variability in healthy young male adults. Eighteen participants walked over-ground at their preferred speed before and after completing a mentally fatiguing Stroop task. Kinematic data were recorded to assess gait variables such as speed, step length, step time, and step width, along with their coefficients of variation (CV). While subjective ratings of mental fatigue significantly increased following the Stroop task, no significant changes were observed in gait performance or CV …

Uri Undergraduate And Graduate Course Catalog 2025-2026, University Of Rhode Island

URI Course Catalogs Archive

This is a downloadable PDF version of the University of Rhode Island course catalog.

Elevating Service Quality In Mass Sports Events Through Trapezoidal Neutrosophic Weighted Product Models, Yifang Zhao

Neutrosophic Sets and Systems

The evaluation of service quality in mass sports events is a structured process assessing aspects such as event organization, venue facilities, safety measures, staff services, and information dissemination. This evaluation assists organizers in identifying strengths and weaknesses, enabling optimization of services to enhance participant and spectator satisfaction. This study applies to the Weighted Product Method (WPM) integrated with Trapezoidal Neutrosophic Numbers (TNN) to address uncertainties inherent in multi-attribute decision-making. By presenting numerical examples and comparative analyses, the study demonstrates the effectiveness of the TNN-WPM technique. The findings provide a reliable framework for systematically evaluating service quality in mass sports events, …

Nil Education At Universities As Student Athletes Face The Wild West, Ainsworth A. Bailey, Geoffrey Christopher Rapp, Shawn Tysiak

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Undergraduate Students' Perceptions Of Philanthropy, Importance Of Affinity-Based Giving And Impact On Student Giving, Kristine Herrington

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As technology continues to advance, and alumni donor numbers decline, fundraising professionals are exploring new ways to encourage alumni to give back to their alma mater and continue building a strong donor pipeline. With a myriad of economic and political factors contributing to increased and inflated costs for colleges and universities, and students alike, maintaining a steady pipeline of donors to ensure ongoing philanthropic support is important. As budgetary concerns and funding cuts continue to work their way into the higher education landscape, college and university annual giving departments are increasingly tasked with exploring student philanthropy programs (SPPs) on campus …

Impact Of An Online Teaching Faculty Development Course On Student Social Engagement, Preston P. Bennett

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ample evidence supports the impact of greater student social engagement on student success outcomes, particularly for first time in college freshmen students (Avison et al., 2007; Tinto, 1997; Wilcox et al., 2005). Keeping students engaged socially online can be challenging for some faculty due to reliance on strategies that worked previously within face-to-face environments (McQuiggan, 2012). At the University of North Florida, a Teaching Online (TOL) certification course provides instructors with evidence-based online pedagogy aimed at bolstering social engagement.

This dissertation investigated whether and how faculty implementation of TOL design principles impacted freshmen students’ social engagement with both peers and …

Leaving It All Behind: A Storied Experience, Brandi Sheree Wynne Winfrey

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) professionals are experiencing an unprecedented time as conservative politicians and legislators work to dismantle DEI in higher education. In 2022, Florida became one of the first states to introduce and enact anti-DEI legislation. Few studies have examined or investigated the lived experiences of DEI professionals currently living in the midst of this experience. The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to capture and restory the lived experiences of DEI professionals employed at public Florida universities during the introduction and enactment of anti-DEI legislation. Five co-composers contributed their stories of experience as data to this narrative …

Exploring Student-Athlete Perceptions On Nil Opportunities In The Cannabinoid Industry, Katherine Klimchock

Theses and Dissertations

The introduction of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) regulations in collegiate athletics has created new financial and branding opportunities for student-athletes. Simultaneously, there has been an evolving legal landscape surrounding cannabinoids both at the state and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) levels. This dissertation in practice explores this emerging intersection by examining student-athlete perceptions of NIL opportunities with cannabinoid brands and highlighting the perceived advantages and disadvantages of such deals. This dissertation in practice consists of three artifacts. Artifact I provides essential background information on NIL, cannabinoids, and the House v. NCAA settlement. Recognizing the legal, institutional, and cultural shifts …

Mental Fatigue Effect On Joint Repositioning, Collin Kehrwald

Dissertations and Theses

Mental fatigue influences both cognitive and physical performance, but its specific effects on proprioception have not been widely explored. This study aimed to examine how mental fatigue affects shoulder and knee joint repositioning senses. A joint repositioning task was used to assess proprioception in 18 college-aged males, with measurements taken for both shoulder and knee joint angles before and after a mental fatigue-inducing intervention. The Stroop task was employed to induce mental fatigue between the conditions. Results showed a significant increase in shoulder flexion variable error (p = 0.01, pre-Stroop = 2.79 ± 1.31 degrees, post-Stroop = 4.97 ± 3.20 …

2025-2026 Graduate Catalog, Morehead State University. Registrar's Office.

Morehead State Catalog Archive

2025-2026 graduate catalog for Morehead State University.

The Physiology Of Exercise, Rosie Lanphere

Open Educational Resources

The Physiology of Exercise (3rd Edition) is an essential resource for upper-level undergraduates studying exercise science. Written by Rosie Lanphere, PhD, CSCS, this text provides a clear and comprehensive exploration of how the human body responds and adapts to physical activity.

Covering metabolism, energy expenditure, and the integrated roles of the nervous, cardiovascular, endocrine, muscular, and respiratory systems, this edition reflects the latest research and practical applications in the field.

Designed with students in mind, each chapter includes learning objectives, key terms, and scholarly questions to reinforce understanding. Whether preparing for a career in exercise science or professional certification, this …

Adapting To Win: Churchill Downs Inc. And The New Era Of Entertainment And Betting., Mahesh Gupta, William Ferko, Thomas E. Lambert

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of Churchill Downs Inc. (CDInc), a cornerstone of the Thoroughbred racing industry and the distinguished host of the Kentucky Derby. Situated at a critical juncture in the rapidly evolving spheres of gambling and entertainment, CDInc faces unique challenges and opportunities to maintain its preeminence and adapt to new market demands. Utilizing the Service Triangle framework, this study offers a deep dive into CDInc’s strategic operations, service delivery, and competitive positioning. The framework helps illuminate how shifts in consumer behavior, technological innovations, and regulatory changes are reshaping the industry. Despite facing challenges such as declining …

Reimagining Coach Evaluations: High School Athletic Directors' Perspectives On Program Evaluation Practices, Ashley Gerome

Master of Education in Applied Human Development Graduate Projects

High school athletic programs increasingly face the challenge of ensuring coaches not only are technically proficient but also how well the coaches support their student-athletes’ personal growth, well-being, and development. As traditional, performance-focused evaluation models fall short in addressing these broader goals, there is a growing need for more effective, holistic approaches to coaching evaluation. This study explores how athletic leadership is evolving to meet that need, focusing on the shift from results-driven metrics to athlete-centered, developmental evaluation practices. Though interviews with seven athletic directors to understand how coaching experience, professional identity, and evaluation methods affect leadership and program growth. …

The Ultimate Sport Agent, Chidiebere Anugwolu

Master of Education in Applied Human Development Graduate Projects

My earliest interest to become a sports agent was sparked during my four years of work with the Badminton Federation of Nigeria between 2019 - 2022. But even then, I could not say that I really understood what it meant to be called a “Sport Agent”. As the media lead for Badminton Nigeria, I worked closely with national team athletes where I performed media related responsibilities and some marketing. Since the sport of Badminton was not a very lucrative sport, I observed first hand some of the funding challenges the athletes faced to either travel abroad for training tours or …

2025-2026 Craft Academy Student Handbook, Morehead State University. Office Of Communications & Marketing.

Communications and Marketing Publications Archive

The 2025-2026 Craft Academy Student Handbook.

Governors State University College Of Business Annual Report - 2024-2025, College Of Business

Annual Reports

A report of the accomplishments of College of Business faculty, staff, students, and alumni in the 2024-2025 academic year.

Graduate Catalog 2025-2026, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Graduate Catalogs

No abstract provided.