Digital Commons Network^™

The Sovereign Acre, Match Dawson

Faculty Articles

What if the next constitutional crisis is not declared from a presidential podium but tyranny forged into a deed? Not a contested election. Not a rogue legislature. Not even a runaway court. This time, it is quieter—with a deed signed and title passed, a new sovereign is crowned in private ink. Across the country, billionaire land grabs are redrawing the map of municipal governance itself. As wealthy elites and corporate oligarchs carve out private enclaves—from the privatized contract city of Sandy Springs, Georgia, to the unsettling governance of The Woodlands, Texas—we bear witness to public sovereignty giving way to oligarchic …

Dean's Update, January 2025, Neil W. Schluger

SOM Dean's Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Intensity On The Copy And Recall Treatment (Cart) In Aphasia, Maria Aprile

Brehm Scholars Research

No abstract provided.

Multilinguals And Aphasia: Slp Perspective On Intervention, Matt J. Eby

Brehm Scholars Research

Aphasia is an acquired language disorder typically affecting language production and comprehension, both to varying degrees. Onset of aphasia typically follows a cerebrovascular event, such as a stroke or traumatic brain injury. In this study, particular interest is paid to people with aphasia who conversationally spoke two or more languages pre-onset and the therapists who treat them. Past research has investigated the additional considerations taken when assessing and treating aphasia in multilingual clients, focusing on enhancing therapy efficacy in this population. However, current theoretical and clinical reviews of research often leave out the lived experiences of those involved.

This study …

Liking Gap(S) In Getting-Acquainted Interactions, Susan Sprecher

Faculty Publications – Sociology and Anthropology

In first interactions, people often think about how much they like the other and how much the other likes them in return. Recently, a liking gap has been identified, which is the tendency for people to underestimate how much a new acquaintance likes them. With data from a compiled sample of pairs of strangers interacting for the first time, this investigation contributes to knowledge on how common it is to experience this perceived liking gap (versus no gap or an overestimation of how much one is liked). Also examined is an actual liking gap, the difference between how much people …

Exploring Slp & Special Education Clinicians' Readiness For Diversity, Amiya Carreras

Brehm Scholars Research

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Teriparatide On Surgical And Medical Outcomes In Osteoporotic Patients Undergoing Multilevel Anterior Cervical Discectomy And Fusion, Samuel Akhnoukh, Uttsav Patel, Kenny Ling, Ivan Zapolsky

Background: Osteoporotic patients undergoing multi-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) are at increased risk of pseudarthrosis and perioperative complications, including higher rates of reoperation compared to non-osteoporotic individuals. Teriparatide, an anabolic agent used in osteoporosis treatment, has shown promise in enhancing fusion and reducing complications in lumbar spine procedures, but its role in multi-level ACDF remains unclear.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of postoperative teriparatide use on outcomes in osteoporotic patients undergoing multi-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). Specifically, the study aimed to determine whether teriparatide could reduce long-term complications such as …

Identifying Authenticity In Orthopaedic Residency Applications: Can Selection Committees Detect Ai-Written Personal Statements, Samir Baig, Lekha Yaramada, David E. Komatsu, James Barsi

See article.

Femoral Avascular Necrosis And Triptan Therapy: A Multicenter Retrospective Study, Joseph Bisiani, Francisco Martos Jr., Brian Lynch

Aims: Migraines are one of the most common neurological disorders that patients typically suffer from. One of the more common prescription medications for migraines are triptans, which can lead to vasoconstriction throughout the peripheral vasculature as a potential side effect. However, a possible risk of femoral avascular necrosis may arise from these treatments, as it has been well known that a lack of blood flow to the femur can arise due to this peripheral vasoconstriction. Therefore, research is warranted for whether taking anti-migraine medications is associated with a higher risk of developing avascular necrosis within the femur, an area highly …

Association Between Glp-1 Agonist Use And Site-Specific Fracture Risk: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis, Nathan Zou, Joseph Bisiani, Brian Lynch

Background: Type 2 diabetes and obesity rates are expected to rise, possibly increasing the usage of Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists. Use of these agents for nondiabetic patients for weight loss I s approaching the number prescribed for diabetes. GLP-1 agonists may influence bone metabolism by promoting formation and reducing resorption, but their impact on fracture risk remains unclear. While some studies show no association, others suggest increased vulnerability. Most prior research has examined overall fracture risk without considering specific skeletal sites. This study aimed to compare site-specific fracture rates in adults with T2DM or obesity receiving GLP-1 therapy with those …

Measuring The Effectiveness Of Internship Programs In Aligning Education With Industry During Covid-19: A Case Study, Fokiya Akhtar, Tarannum Parkar

All Works

This study aimed to analyze the effectiveness of internship programs in aligning education with industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research focuses on the internship outcomes of College of Communication and Media Sciences (CCMS) students in various UAE organizations. This study employs Kirkpatrick's framework and analyzes 64 student reports over ten weeks to understand the strengths and areas of improvement in aligning academic instruction with real- world applications. The research focuses on the reaction and learning constructs in the alignment of theoretical teachings with practical experiences based on Kirkpatrick's framework. The study revealed that internships offer students a chance to …

Improving Public Sector Procurement Methods In International Practices: A Comparative Study, Karem Sayed Aboelazm, Fady Tawakol, Emad Ibrahim, Hanadi Sharif

All Works

Objective: This paper presents the methods of public sector procurement in some public procurement laws such as UNITRAL law, Egyptian Law, Indian Law, Kenyan Law, and UAE law. Theoretical Framework: Some of the modern methods used by many countries, the research also sought to develop a clear definition of public sector procurement and relied in this research on the comparative approach as a significant approach to study for comparing the laws of countries. Method: This paper used descriptive-analytical methodology to analysis the legal frameworks of public sector procurement methods in Egypt, UAE, and other laws in comparison, the research reached …

Explicit Inverse Of Symmetric, Tridiagonal Near Toeplitz Matrices With Strictly Diagonally Dominant Toeplitz Part, Bakytzhan Kurmanbek, Yogi Erlangga, Yerlan Amanbek

All Works

Let T n = tridiag ( - 1 , b , - 1 ) , an n x n symmetric, strictly diagonally dominant tridiagonal matrix ( divided by b divided by > 2 ). This article investigates tridiagonal near-Toeplitz matrices T n & colone; [ t i , j ] , obtained by perturbing the ( 1 , 1 ) and ( n , n ) entry of T n . Let t 1 , 1 = t n , n = b not equal b . We derive exact inverses of T n . Furthermore, we demonstrate that these results …

Preliminary Validation Of Two Math Screening Tools To Identify Gifted Students In Grades 3–5 In Jordan, Bashir Abu-Hamour, Hanan Al Hmouz

All Works

Introduction: Early screening for mathematically gifted students (MGSs) in Jordan and other Arab countries is limited, posing challenges in identifying and providing appropriate educational services. This study evaluates the validity and reliability of the Arabiya Calculation Test and Math Curriculum-Based Measurement (M-CBM) as tools for effectively screening and supporting MGSs in inclusive education settings. These tools were developed based on the Jordanian curriculum and international assessment tools and require further validation for use in other Arabic-speaking countries. Methods: A quantitative research design was employed, using the Arabiya Calculation Test and M-CBM to assess 78 MGSs in grades 3, 4, and …

Prevalence, Phenotype, And Correlates Of Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder Symptoms In The Gulf Cooperation Council: An Underserved Region, Bernou Melisse, Hassan Fakhri, Lynne Kennedy, Maria J. Figueiras, Munirah Alshebali, Hala Abu Taha, Carine El Khazen, Dalal Alkazemi, Sandra Mulkens

All Works

Introduction: Prevalence estimates and correlates of ARFID in non-Western samples are lacking. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of ARFID symptoms, identify its phenotypes, and explore its correlates in a community sample from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Method: Participants were parents of children aged 4–13 years (n = 87) and individuals of ≥ 14 years old (n = 433). They completed the Pica, ARFID, and Rumination Disorder Interview-ARFID-Questionnaire (PARDI-AR-Q), the Nine Item ARFID Screen (NIAS) and the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q). Multiple regression analyses were performed with body mass index or its standard deviation score, comorbid psychopathology, EDE-Q …

Interactions Between Lipopolysaccharide And Capsule Retention In Klebsiella Pneumoniae And The Resultant Effects On Macrophages, Juliane Leigh Nguy

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Klebsiella pneumoniae is the third most common cause of nosocomial infections in the United States. The capsular polysaccharides (CPS) are virulence factors allowing K. pneumoniae to evade host immune systems. The current model of capsule structure indicates that CPS fibrils interact with the external O-antigen of lipopolysaccharide molecules to enhance retention to the bacterial outer membrane. These interactions may influence pathogenicity in clinically relevant strains. This study characterized alterations to LPS and CPS structure, the impact of these changes on capsule retention, membrane permeability, biofilm formation, and macrophage interactions. LPS and CPS were quantified and visualized in four strains of …

Traffic Safety In Tacoma: A Dual Study On Community Perceptions Of Vision Zero And The Application Of The Safe System Framework, Janeroza W. Matyenyi

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The city of Tacoma adopted Vision Zero in 2020 and is planning to achieve zero traffic deaths and severe injuries by 2035. As part of its outreach plan to engage the local community, the city of Tacoma’s Vision Zero team surveyed the critical issues affecting traffic safety as perceived by road users. One of the Vision Zero strategies is to implement safer speeds across streets by reducing speed limits that are too high. This study aims to analyze the factors influencing the perceptions of speeding and high-speed limits as safety concerns, analyze narratives from respondents on issues affecting traffic safety, …

Time And Flesh: Exploring The Embodied Experiences Of Black Mothers, Amber Tucker

Social and Cultural Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Drawing on Black feminist theories of intersectionality and concepts of temporality and embodiment, this study centers Black girlhood to understand Black girls embodied journeys of “becoming” Black women. Findings revealed that: (a) Black girls often have complicated histories that lead to constrained and liberatory choices in adulthood and motherhood; (b) becoming a Black woman involves continual adaptations to temporal and historical contexts; and (c) Black motherhood is a contested space, deeply shaped by remembering Black girlhood and navigating maternal responses to legacies of harm. This study highlights the challenges and strengths in the transitory states of Black womanhood.

The Failed Experiment Of §230 Of The Communications Decency Act: How It Facilitates Exploitation And How It Must Be Reformed, Mary Graw Leary

Scholarly Articles

Two truths coexist: The Internet has brought with it tremendous changes for learning, connection, and business; and the Internet and other digital platforms have led to an unprecedented exploitation of children on a scale never before imagined. This is due in large part to §230 of the Communications Decency Act – the law which tech platforms have perverted to immunize them from liability for their activity which causes extreme harm. This duality has led to a current vigorous debate about whether this 1996 law has any value in the 21st Century.

This article answers that question with a resounding no, …

Thinking Outside The Box With Ai: Adapting 20th Century Labor And Employment Law To 21st Century Algorithms That Select, Monitor, And Control Employees, Roger C. Hartley

Scholarly Articles

A transformative era is unfolding in the rapidly changing world of work. Increasingly, to a hitherto unimaginable degree, employers are able to deploy predictive analytics—artificial intelligence (AI)—that processes data about workers and their behaviors to identify patterns and make algorithmic predictions. There is a widely-held view among labor practitioners, scholars, and non- specialists that our current labor and employment regulatory scheme is insufficient to address many, perhaps most, of the workplace issues that workplace AI systems create. The thesis of this article is that skepticism is largely unfounded as it seriously underestimates the capacity of currently enacted federal labor and …

The Human Dimension Of “Home”, Robert A. Destro

Scholarly Articles

All societies provide a legal framework that protects the pivotal functions of home and family. None provide a clear legal definition of “home”. Nor, this article argues, can they. “Home” is a concept rooted in the lived experience of human persons. In this article, the second in a series, the author employs the “human dimension” [HDIM] concept, initially developed by the U.S. military and later adopted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as the lens through which one can examine the “human element” of human rights. The framework for this analysis is the “four clusters of value-types” …

Finding The Major Questions Doctrine, Chad Squitieri

Scholarly Articles

The major questions doctrine has been invoked primarily in the rulemaking context, where it requires agencies to identify particularly clear statutory authority before promulgating rules of “major” importance. Some scholars have suggested that the doctrine is a tool that should be limited to agency actions that are purportedly “legislative” in nature (e.g., rule makings)—meaning the doctrine would not apply in other contexts, such as agency adjudications and enforcement actions that may not be similarly “legislative.” This Essay responds by arguing that the major questions doctrine is best understood as a limit on executive authority—meaning the doctrine could apply across a …

Public Right And Humane Punishment, Adam J. Macleod

Scholarly Articles

Retribution is the strategic lynchpin for securing justice and the presumption of innocence. It is the justification that takes the criminal defendant to be a human being rather than a mere instrument of social engineering and political control. By contrast, modern, results-oriented theories of punishment—deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation—have made our institutions of criminal justice less humane in important ways. Gerard Bradley’s contemporary, detailed account of the old idea of retribution can be cashed out in legal doctrines that secure the presumption of innocence and limit the corrosive effects of strict-liability offenses. This new articulation of an old juristic concept provides …

The Great Writ Of Popular Sovereignty, William M.M. Kamin

Scholarly Articles

American habeas corpus, long conventionally known as the Great Writ of Liberty, is more properly understood as the Great Writ of Popular Sovereignty—a tool for We the People to insist that when our agents in government exercise our delegated penal powers, they remain faithful to our sovereign will. Once we grasp this conceptual shift, the implications for the law of habeas are profound.

In the past fifteen years, novel archival research has shown the Great Writ of Liberty’s founding myth to be ahistorical—that ideas about sovereignty, rather than individual liberty, drove the common-law writ’s development in the centuries of English …

Informing Choice: The Role Of Adoption In Women’S Pregnancy Decision-Making, Elizabeth R. Kirk, Ryan Hanlon

Scholarly Articles

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the authors of this Article offer a practical, collaborative response to a seemingly intractable, divisive issue. Kirk and Hanlon draw on their academic expertise in law and social science, respectively, to address the paradox of the general esteem for the institution of adoption alongside the rarity with which adoption is chosen. In this Article, they examine social science data and literature on women’s pregnancy decision-making in order to explain the need for laws and policies that promote informed choice. They introduce never-before-published survey data and …

The President’S Authority To Impose Tariffs, Chad Squitieri

Scholarly Articles

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”) empowers the President to “regulate . . . importation.” In Learning Resources v. Trump, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that such language did not empower the President to impose tariffs. The District Court reasoned that there was a distinction between the power to “regulate” and the power to “tax,” and that tariffs required a power to tax. This Essay explains why the District Court was wrong.

The Constitution’s original meaning and Supreme Court precedent indicate that tariffs can be an exercise of Congress’s power to regulate …

Charitable Giving And Civil Rights: A Defense Of Private Remedial Action, Roger Colinvaux

Scholarly Articles

Private charitable organizations have long enjoyed the freedom to determine their mission and render appropriate charitable assistance, including by taking race, ethnicity, gender, and other traits into account when responding to the harmful effects of past discrimination, a practice this Feature terms “private remedial action.” The legality of this kind of trait-conscious assistance is strongly supported by the early American history of trait-based associations, federal tax law, and core values of free association. However, new legal and political attacks on affirmative action of all types have put charities on the defensive, leading many groups to change their programs and behavior …

The Impact Of Structural Gamification On Student Motivation And Engagement In A Middle School Language Arts Classroom, Natalie Campbell

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Engagement through gamification can play a crucial role in enhancing student motivation. Gamification provides direct feedback, makes learning interactive, fosters collaboration, and makes learning more autonomous (Kuh, 2001; Reeve & Tseng, 2011). Including game-thinking and game mechanics in the classroom adds an aspect of engagement that may otherwise be lacking.

This action research study explored the impact of structural gamification on student engagement and motivation when incorporated in a middle school language arts classroom. Using a mixed-methods approach, the researcher measured student engagement and motivation. It reported detailed perceptions of participants through survey responses, examined achievement data from summative assessments, …

Editorial: Midlife Brain Health: Understanding Brain Aging In Middle-Age And Effects Of Interventions To Prevent Neurodegeneration In Late Life, Junyeon Won, Marissa A. Gogniat, Takuya Kurazumi, Kristy A. Nielson

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

With the rapid increase in the aging population, the prevalence of age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) has risen significantly, affecting over 55 million people worldwide in 2023, with projections suggesting this number will exceed 78 million by 2030 (Better, 2023). While much research has been focused on understanding and treating AD in older adults, there is growing emphasis on early interventions to prevent its onset (Crous-Bou et al., 2017; Dohm-Hansen et al., 2024). In this regard, middle-age has gained recognition as a critical period for the development and prevention of AD (Ritchie et al., 2017). For example, …

Alcohol Misuse During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Stressors And Intersectionality Among Latinx Women, Lucas Torres, Alison Cerezo, Isaiah J. Jones, Fiorella L. Carlos Chavez, German Cadenas

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Objectives:

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated previously existing disparities and introduced new challenges for individuals living at the intersection of marginalized identities, such as Latinx women. For instance, increases in alcohol use have been noted during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet it is unclear which circumstances experienced are more likely to predict alcohol use among Latinx women.

Method:

The present study sought to identify the profile of intersectional factors, namely immigrant status, socioeconomic standing, and age, and COVID-19 stressors that predicted high or hazardous alcohol use among 1,227 Latinx women living in the United States.

Results:

The main findings, in the …