Digital Commons Network^™

Kidfluencers, Public Relations And Human Rights: An Exploration Of The Impact On The Human Rights Of Children As Social Media Influencers Within Public Relations And Promotional Practice, Catherine Archer, Kate Mirandilla Delmo

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In this article we explore the human rights of children as important stakeholders in public relations (PR) practice by examining the phenomenon of social media influencer children, commonly termed kidfluencers. Children’s human rights in the digital realm have been a focus for the United Nations and those researching from media, communications and law disciplines, but have largely been ignored by PR scholarship. Given social media influencer relations is now an important part of PR practice, and a multibillion-dollar global industry, the need for more research on the genre from a PR perspective is apparent. Our research, using the UN (Human) …

Community Engagement In Digital Banking: Insights From Jakarta And Perth, Safaruddin Husada, Ulani Yunus, Latifa Ramonita, Mark Mcmahon

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: In the digital era, community engagement plays a pivotal role in driving market share expansion in the banking sector, yet the impact of such initiatives across diverse regulatory and cultural contexts remains underexplored. Purpose: This study examines the influence of community engagement on the digital bank market share in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Perth, Australia, while addressing disparities in digital access and customer experience. Methods: Employing a quantitative methodology, the study analyzed structured surveys from 300 respondents (150 each from Jakarta and Perth) to uncover relationships between community engagement and market expansion. Results: Findings reveal that robust community engagement significantly …

The Feminist Frontier: Reimagining And Reenergizing Pedagogy From Osclg 2024, Karla D. Scott, Lakresha Graham, Jennifer Jackson

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

A Four-Truth Exploration Of Memory, Social Connection, And Belonging In Fairground And Tower Grove Parks In St. Louis, Missouri, Kenya D. Womack, Adeola N. Adewale, Marie E. Boesch, Gelene M. Strecker-Sayer

Dissertations

Historic racism supported practices such as redlining, discriminatory zoning, and racial steering that separated people and determined the flow of resources and investment into neighborhoods. Communities continue to experience the long tail effects of historic patterns of racism. That is, historic inequities influence the opportunities that residents have to connect with each other and thrive in urban areas. Urban neighborhood parks have the potential to bridge social divides and bring a community together. This basic qualitative research study examines two contested heritage sites in St. Louis, Missouri: Fairground Park, a park in a Black neighborhood that has been historically disinvested …

The Craft Of Tally: Tracing Marketability And Economic Sustainability Of Crafts, Mariam Mabrouk

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the marketability and economic sustainability of the Tally craft in Gezeirit

Shandaweel, Sohag, Egypt, with a focus on how the craft navigates the tension between cultural

preservation and economic adaptation. Tally, a traditional form of embroidery, has deep cultural

roots in Egypt but faces significant challenges due to global market dynamics, shifting consumer

preferences, and systemic institutional neglect. Through an ethnographic case study, this research

investigates how artisans, institutions, and market forces interact to shape the craft's future. The

study examines the role of cultural perceptions, innovation, and institutional support in fostering

or hindering Tally's economic viability. …

Comparative Analysis Of Water Management Practices In Denmark, Egypt And Uganda: Implications For Sustainable Water Management In Uganda, Junior Twehamye Ashaba

Theses and Dissertations

Water scarcity and mismanagement are escalating global challenges, with over two billion people lacking access to safe drinking water and projections indicating that nearly two thirds of the world’s population could face water shortages by 2050 (Jones et al., 2024). This thesis presents an analysis of water governance and management practices in Denmark, Egypt, and Uganda-three countries that exemplify diverse hydro-climatic conditions, socioeconomic realities, and institutional frameworks. The study explains how governance structures, technological innovation, stakeholder participation, and policy design shape water resource outcomes, and how lessons from Denmark and Egypt can inform more resilient and sustainable water management in …

"You Need To Make The Decision You Can Live With": An Observational Study Of Anti-Abortion Centers In Tampa Bay, Anna Broich

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anti-Abortion Centers (AACs) pose a grave threat to the reproductive health outcomes of Americans. Disguising themselves as licensed health clinics, AACs target vulnerable communities to prevent or delay abortion care through the spread of medical misinformation, contributing to abortion stigmatization. Situated in a state with a near-total abortion ban, this secret-shopper study aimed to understand the ways in which AACs in Tampa, Florida communicate anti-abortion rhetoric to pregnant people seeking abortions. Under the guise of people who suspect they are pregnant searching for abortion care, the main researcher and her assistants conducted the first phase of the study through 25 …

Louisiana’S Neverland: Alternatives To Revising The Public Trust Doctrine Informed By Promising Tales Of Faith, Trust, And Pixie Dust, Madeline Kraus

LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources

No abstract provided.

Our Common Cause: Advocating For Human Labor For Outreach, Technical Expertise, And The Future Of Institutional Repositories, Grace R. Swinnerton, Dylan Mohr

Librarian Publications

Since 2021, SURFACE, Syracuse University’s institutional repository, has seen substantial growth in both content and commitment to long-term digital preservation. This progress is largely due to the Syracuse University Libraries’ investment in a dedicated three-person team focused on sustainability and development. As we face emerging technologies and AI, we question whether AI can replace human labor to reduce costs. Despite the financial appeal of cost-cutting, our presentation underscores the essential role of human labor. Through community-focused outreach and technical advancements like mass minting DOIs and restructuring our platform, we have demonstrated the irreplaceable value of human involvement. This presentation will …

Bridging Science And Sports: The Role Of Paralympic Science Support Nl In Creating A Sustainable Community, Eline Blaauw

International Symposium of Adapted Physical Activity and International Symposium on Physical Activity and Visual Impairment and Deafblindness

Dutch researchers at the top of their field were frequently asked to share knowledge at international conferences or sports programs abroad, yet Dutch sports federations often lack awareness of their work or how to engage with them. This disconnection between research and practice created a gap in effectively supporting Paralympic athletes. To close this gap, Paralympic Science Support NL (PSS-NL) was established with support from the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sports.

PSS-NL aims to create a supportive environment where adaptive sports programs can develop using knowledge. PSS-NL serves as a national hub for paralympic sports federations and academia, …

Connecting Policy With Practice: How The Dutch Ministry Of Sport Builds Inclusive And Sustainable Communities, Biko Blommestein, Lisa Snooy

International Symposium of Adapted Physical Activity and International Symposium on Physical Activity and Visual Impairment and Deafblindness

To address the challenges faced by persons with disabilities in accessing sports and recreation, the Dutch Knowledge Centre for Sport & Physical Activity (KCSA) has developed a sustainable, two-way system that bridges the gap between national policy and local practice. This initiative stimulates regional communities to create an inclusive sports infrastructure.

The Netherlands has a multi-level governance system, with national policies set by the government, provinces overseeing regional implementation, and municipalities responsible for local execution. Within this structure, KCSA has trained “knowledge holders” in every province, who are tasked with supporting stakeholders (e.g. coaches and healthcare professionals) when they face …

Maximising Solar Pv Potential: A Comprehensive Review Of Factors Affecting Photovoltaic Installation And Generation In A Mild Temperate Oceanic Climate, Aiza Ahmad, Niamh Power, Evan Finnegan

Publications

The urgency of addressing the climate emergency and clean energy transitions have spurred worldwide initiatives to increase utilisation of renewable energy sources. The integration of rooftop photovoltaic panels at domestic level, often underestimated, is a priority across Europe to meet targets of net-zero emissions by 2050. PV systems represent a crucial technology for renewable energy generation and mitigating climate change. However, their performance and potential are influenced by various factors, including environmental conditions, building parameters and geographical factors. This paper demonstrates multiple factors that affect PV potential in mild temperate oceanic climates, using Ireland as a representative case study. Unlike …

Where's The Dim Sum? Art, Oral History, And The Chinese American Diaspora In Portland, Or, Rayli Dornan

University Honors Theses

This thesis examines the history, transformation, and contemporary significance of Portland's Chinatown through an oral history framework, emphasizing the voices of Chinese American artists. Beginning with a comprehensive historical overview from the mid-nineteenth-century Gold Rush migrations and railroad labor to twentieth-century exclusion, dispossession under urban renewal, and the late-twentieth-century dispersal into suburbs, the thesis traces how structural racism and policy shaped both the physical landscape and communal life of Oregon's Chinese diaspora. Through in-depth interviews with local artists, this research aims to illuminate how individual experiences of identity, belonging, and creative expression navigate the tensions between heritage and adaptation.

Drawing …

“Why Us, Though?” Gendered Resilience In Climate-Displaced Bangladesh Narrated By Child Brides, Marzuka Amal Binthe Akber

Lawrence University Honors Projects

This thesis explores the resilience strategies narrated by women and girls displaced by climate change and subjected to child marriage in Bangladesh. Centering their voices and lived experiences, it highlights the intricate, often invisible methods through which these women navigate the intersectional precarity of environmental displacement, gender norms, and socio-economic marginalization. Through qualitative fieldwork conducted in riverine islands (chars), urban informal settlements, and government resettlement sites, the study foregrounds community practices like adda (social storytelling), mutual caregiving, informal healthcare, bodily negotiations, and strategic silence. Challenging dominant narratives of passive victimhood, it reveals resilience as relational, iterative, and context-specific acts rooted …

Culture And Environment: The Calling Lakes Ecomuseum As A Community Sustainability Initiative, Kace N. Anders

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Located in Saskatchewan, Canada, the Calling Lakes Ecomuseum, CLEM, is a community-based organization focused on water management and sustainability. Ecomuseums are holistic organizations that occupy landscapes, are responsive to community needs, conserve in situ heritage, and incorporate sustainability along with community development. The ecomuseum movement came from a need for holistic heritage management that disengaged with conventional museology and created space for communities to engage with their heritage in ways that promote community identity. This thesis analyzes the Calling Lakes Ecomuseum and how it utilizes the ecomuseum concept alongside environmental sustainability. Both semi-structured interviews and place-based field observations were used …

Impact Of Trap-Neuter-Return Programs On Municipal Spending, Natalie Maria Hanna

Student Theses and Dissertations

Trap-neuter-return (TNR) programs are an effective way to reduce the number of free-roaming cats without relying on euthanasia by preventing further reproduction. Despite substantial research into the effectiveness of TNR, few studies explore the financial implications of implementing TNR at the municipal level. The purpose of this research was to identify if there is a relationship between the implementation of TNR and municipal spending on animal services by analyzing annual budgets and financial reports pre- and post- TNR implementation in a single municipality alongside shelter data in the same time period. Findings in this research suggest that implementing a TNR …

Hidden In Plain Sight: Community-Based Human Trafficking Prevention During Major International Events, Jordan Leeds

Criminology and Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

Human trafficking is a pervasive and persistent global problem, affecting almost every nation. The United Nations developed a standard known as the Palermo Protocol that provides a comprehensive definition and international strategy for criminalizing and punishing trafficking offenders. This protocol defines human trafficking in terms of its act, means, and purpose. Human trafficking can take on many contexts, such as sex, labor, or servitude, but is uniformly concerned with exploiting individuals, usually from vulnerable populations, for personal profit. The unique characteristics of international sporting events, including increased demand for services, time-sensitive labor needs, and reduced oversight, create conditions for human …

Support Beyond Services: Examining The Role Of Neighbor Relationships, Housing Staff, And Place In Mental Health Recovery, Kenna Estell Dickard

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation explores the role of non-clinical support for individuals with serious mental illness (SMI). Through three interconnected manuscripts, this dissertation highlights the importance of housing staff support, places in the community, and neighbor relationships in fostering recovery for individuals with SMI. The first manuscript analyzes how housing staff support influences residents' well-being through an ecological lens. This study found that staff support is associated with reduced loneliness, higher residential satisfaction, and increased sense of community. This study also considers the role of self-determination as a moderator, demonstrating the importance of resident agency in maximizing well-being outcomes. The second manuscript …

Tourism Networks As A Mechanism For Degrowth: The Case Of The Burren Ecotourism Network In Ireland, Aisling Ward, Shirley Millar

Publications

This exploratory paper examines how a community-based ecotourism network can sustain a destination from an economic, environmental and social perspective while pertaining to a degrowth approach that measures success beyond the traditional economic variables of volume and revenue. It focuses on the Burren Eco-tourism Network (BEN) in the West of Ireland, a region known for its unique landscape and natural heritage. Nine qualitative in-depth interviews were completed using a community-based tourism case study methodology. Evidence of a degrowth mindset was littered throughout the research and this was verified through the voluntary nature surrounding its origins, the equal requirements, training and …

Empowering Community Through Extension: Identifying Community Health And Wellness Strengths And Needs, Allyson A. Spears, Alexis Zickafoose, Emily Wintermute, Peng Lu, Matthew Baker, Scott Cummings

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Health and wellness are foundational to thriving communities, yet many Americans face barriers that impact their access to essential health education and services. This study used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to assess the perceived strengths and needs of health and wellness resources of rural and urban Texas communities. Data were collected through a statewide survey (n = 9,418), targeting key aspects of health and wellness. The results identified critical strengths, including school lunch programs and grocery stores accepting electronic benefit transfers (EBT), while reducing obesity and addressing mental health emerged as top community needs in both urban and …

Community-Based Approaches For Strengthening Quality, Access And Utilization Of Maternal And Newborn Health Services In Kenya—Stakeholders Workshop Report, Population Council Kenya

Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Choices

No abstract provided.

Research Nexus : Volume 26 - 2025, Office Of Research And Graduate Studies

Office of Research and Graduate Studies

• Researcher Spotlight
• AKU joins UN Academic Impact Network
• Research Townhalls: Listening, Learning, and Looking Ahead
• Call for Applications: Last Mile Travel Awards – Round 3
• Capacity Building Initiatives
• Balancing the Load: Strategies for Pre and Post Award Management
• Promoting Research Integrity
• Strengthening Grant Support: Training for Research Administrators
• The Collective Spark: AKU Academic Entities
• Newborn Infections: Can Home Treatment Be Just as Safe?
• From Data to Impact: Advancing Injury Research Capacity in Kenya

Redirecting Power Into The Hands Of Communities Through Neighborhood Resilience Hubs, Yasmin Urzua-Gutierrez

Silicon Valley Power Sustainable Futures Program

Climate change has been on the global agenda for decades now, whether that is through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the annual Conference of the Parties summits, or varying regional agreements across the world. Policy suggests that global cooperation will address the increasing natural disasters and rising temperatures, but new initiatives are challenging this traditional model of climate change solutions. One of these emerging, innovative solutions are Neighborhood Resilience Hubs. As we know, climate change disproportionately affects historically marginalized communities, especially BIPOC and low-income populations. In Santa Clara, Neighborhood Resilience Hubs offer a path forward by empowering local communities …

Podcast: One To Grow On – Why Black Studies Matter When Working And Living In Black Communities, Celia E. Ceballos

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper examines the transformative potential of Black Studies in enhancing community work within Black and Brown communities in New York City. The research is driven by the author's firsthand experiences and the realization of the importance of Black Studies, which was largely absent from earlier education. Through the interdisciplinary approach of the Graduate Center’s MALS program, the author has gained a deeper understanding of key topics such as the legacy of slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movements, and the ongoing struggle for racial justice. This journey inspired the creation of a capstone project, …

Ending War, But Beginning Peace?, Alain Tschudin

New England Journal of Public Policy

The end of war, conventionally marked by the implementation of a ceasefire agreement, is popularly celebrated and politically lauded in the aftermath of extreme violence. However, the so- called “silencing of the guns” is regarded only as “negative peace” or first steps away from direct violence. What about beginning Peace? Johan Galtung, esteemed for his life work in peace studies, suggests that the situation after the cessation of hostilities might be worse than the status quo ante. With reference to contemporary violent conflict in the Middle East, focusing on hostilities between Israel and Palestine, I suggest that pursuing lasting “positive …

Land Access As Liberation: A Qualitative Study On Faith, Food, And Farming Of Urban And Rural Black Land Stewards In The United States, Dominique Edwards

Dissertations

Since 1920, Black farmers in the United States have held less than 2% of the nation's farmland, a direct result of race-based discriminatory policies embedded within federal, state, local, and county-level institutions (Daniel, 2013). Structural barriers—ranging from exclusionary lending practices by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to the systematic dispossession of land through legal loopholes, heirs’ property laws, and violent racial terror—have contributed to this staggering decline in Black land ownership (Gilbert et al., 2002). The erosion of Black agrarian landholdings intensified in the latter half of the 20th century, as government programs, civil rights legislation, and technological advancements, …

Navigating Crisis: An Intersectional Analysis Of Marginalized Women’S Role In Sustaining Community Cooperatives Through The Covid-19 Pandemic, Rizky Septiana Widyaningtyas

The Indonesian Journal of Socio-Legal Studies

This study analyzes the challenges faced by PEKKA women in Bantul regarding economic empowerment amid the Indonesian government's social restriction policies. It also explores the strategies these women have implemented to survive and strengthen community cooperatives during and after the pandemic. Using a socio-legal method with an intersectional approach, the results indicate that the pandemic and social distancing measures have significantly impacted the economies of female-headed households compared to those supported by both husbands and wives. This impact is particularly pronounced for women who run small businesses that had to close during the pandemic. PEKKA women work collectively in community …

Infrastructural Splintering Along The Bri: Catholic Political Ecologies And The Fractious Futures Of Sri Lanka’S Littoral Spaces, Orlando Woods

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This article considers the ways in which the material infrastructures of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) intersect with other infrastructural formations, and how the resulting overlaps can trigger processes of what I call “infrastructural splintering”. These processes cause infrastructure to be experienced in differentiating ways, creating divisive politics where there might once have been unity. Embracing these politics as an analytical starting point undermines the techno-material stability of the BRI, and reveals its more-than-material affects. I illustrate these ideas by developing a case study of the effects of the China-backed Colombo Port City project on Catholic fishing communities that …

Engaging A Community-Academic Partnership To Implement Community-Driven Solutions, Abiola O. Keller, Lindsey St. Arnold Bell, Kristin Haglund

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Community engagement is a pivotal public health tool for addressing population health challenges and advancing health equity. Community–academic partnerships that use community-engaged approaches can prioritize community strengths and ensure that resources and interventions match local needs. In 2021–2022, a community-academic partnership, guided by the principles of community engagement, collaborated with residents of Milwaukee’s Near West Side (NWS) to identify strengths and assets and prioritize actions to improve health and quality of life. To inform the development of a planned community resource center, residents were invited for group concept mapping (GCM).

Foundations Of Belonging, Yerim Jang

Masters Theses

In the early 1900s, hundreds of thousands of immigrants displaced by World War II sought refuge in the United States, drawn by the promise of a new life and the hope of finding community in an unfamiliar land. To navigate the challenges of a new country, these immigrants formed ethnic social clubs that provided essential support, including housing, employment, and spaces for social connection. Over time, as later generations assimilated and established new identities, these once-thriving social hubs diminished, barely operating their original functions and transitioned into bars, event halls, or restaurants. Since the early 2000s, a new wave of …