Digital Commons Network^™

Fostering Student Innovation Through Entrepreneurship Education: The Roles Of Alertness, Proactivity, And University Support, Emmanuel Mensah Kparl

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Although widely studied, the way entrepreneurship education drives innovative behavior in resource-limited contexts is still unclear. While prior research has explored its influence on entrepreneurial intention, few studies have examined how individual traits and institutional contexts shape the link between education and innovation. Drawing on Entrepreneurial Alertness Theory and Social Cognitive Theory, this study investigates how entrepreneurship education influences innovative behavior through the cognitive pathway of entrepreneurial alertness and the dispositional factor of proactive personality. It also examines how university support strengthens these relationships. A three-phase survey design was employed among 718 undergraduate students, using structural equation modeling for analysis. …

Healthcare Professionals’ Perspectives On Implementing Postoperative Care Alongside Phase 1 Cardiac Rehabilitation: A Descriptive Qualitative Study, Dima Nasrawi, Sharon Latimer, Debbie Massey, Brigid M. Gillespie

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Following Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) surgery, Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) implement postoperative patient care alongside Phase 1 Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR). Yet, HCPs’ experiences, including enablers and barriers to the implementation of postoperative care alongside Phase 1 CR, are largely unknown. This study aimed to explore HCPs’ perceptions of implementing postoperative care alongside Phase 1 CR, including assessing patient engagement, following CABG surgery.

Design: A qualitative study was undertaken using semi-structured interviews with 10 HCPs in a cardiothoracic unit at a large Australian tertiary hospital. Interview questions were underpinned by the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF). Using purposive sampling, HCPs (registered …

Living On Display: Reciprocal Gazes, Everyday Encounters, And The Politics Of Visibility In The Sunshine Coast Tourism Community, Madura Thiwanka Pathirana, Noel Scott

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This community case study analyses the production, negotiation, and contestation of reciprocal gazes within everyday settings, particularly focusing on contemporary lifestyle tourism destinations, and the examination of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. Based on 48 in-depth interviews with tourists and locals, this case study looks at the politics of visibility that are part of host-guest relations in everyday encounters at the beach, cafe, marketplace, and online-mediated market. Intersecting with critical tourism studies, and tourism studies on the traveler, host, and reciprocal gaze, this study focuses on residents' experiences of being observed, judged, and photographed and the impacts of their experiences on …

Selective Human Resource Practices, Psychological Safety Climate And Employee Wellbeing, Yvonne Brunetto, Matthew J. Xerri, Geremy Farr-Wharton

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose: Engineers and healthcare professionals perceive higher levels of stress compared with the general population, suggesting that past human resource management (HRM) systems have failed to manage them appropriately. This study examines whether psychosocial safety climate (PSC) acts as a psychological conduit in translating HRM practices and mediating their impact on wellbeing using the common good HRM (CGHRM) and Conservation of Resources theoretical frameworks.

Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected using surveys collected at two points – one-month apart, and then analysed using structural equation modelling (Analysis of Moment Structures) to manipulate survey data from 300 matched employees.

Findings – The variance …

Restorative Restitution, Lula A. Hagos

American University Law Review

How to best meet the needs of crime victims while also furthering the imperative of decarceration has long vexed advocates and scholars alike. This dilemma comes into sharp focus when one examines two developments in criminal procedure that, until now, have been analyzed separately: victim restitution and restorative justice.

Criminal restitution, the monetary payments ordered from defendants to victims, often fails both groups. Because most defendants are indigent, restitution obligations lengthen defendants’ involvement with the criminal legal system without delivering meaningful compensation to victims, making restitution more symbolic than restorative. At the same time, interest in restorative justice has surged …

Playing It Safe Or Playing Favorites? Miller Act Bonds And The Cost Of Exclusion Of Women- And Minority Owned Businesses, Fernando Mendoza López

American University Law Review

As federal contracting policy has moved away from race- and gender-conscious contracting initiatives, the need to identify and remove facially neutral requirements that create disparate impacts has assumed heightened significance in shaping access to government contracting law. In construction projects, the federal government has long required contractors to purchase surety bonds under the Miller Act to protect subcontractors and the government in cases of prime contractor default. While that original purpose remains valid today, bonding requirements are widely believed to unnecessarily limit participation by women- and minority-owned businesses.

Federal, state, and local governments have tacitly accepted the claim that bonding …

“Necessary” Jurisdiction: Veterans’ Rights In Article Iii Courts, Dana Montalto

American University Law Review

U.S. veterans should possess the same access to courts as other Americans, but a misreading of a federal law has led many veterans to be denied an opportunity to assert their civil rights in any judicial forum. That law—38 U.S.C. § 511—grants exclusive jurisdiction over certain federal veterans benefits appeals to a specialized Article I court, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. But federal judges and Department of Veterans Affairs leaders have mistakenly interpreted that grant of exclusive jurisdiction to also close the door to Article III courts, leading veterans’ meritorious claims of systemic discrimination and injustice to be …

Antidiscrimination Law Against Labor, Jordan Laris Cohen

American University Law Review

In recent years, employer compliance with antidiscrimination law has emerged as a major justification for limiting the rights of employees to organize and engage in collective action in the workplace. In IBM Corp., a Republican majority of the National Labor Relations Board cited “laws addressing workplace discrimination and sexual harassment” as a primary reason to deny nonunionized employees the right to a coworker representative during investigatory interviews. In General Motors, a Republican Board majority invoked antidiscrimination law in upending four decades of precedent regarding employer discipline of employees engaged in “opprobrious conduct” in the course of protected organizing …

The Lawyer Of The Future: Ethics And Identity In The Age Of Ai, David Yosifon, Michael Santoro, Isaac Nikssarian

American University Law Review

The dawn of artificial intelligence (AI) poses a fundamental challenge to the legal profession’s practical function and social identity. We argue that this challenge should be met as an opportunity to reclaim the profession’s core ethical intentions. We approach the emergence of AI as an occasion to define and safeguard what is irreducibly human in legal work. We ground our approach in the ethical imperatives set out in the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct, while extending them into an invigorated framework for the AI era.

We survey the uses and ethical challenges associated with cutting-edge deployment of …

By Design, Roger Allan Ford

American University Law Review

In recent years, scholars and policymakers have increasingly embraced regulation “by design” to address new problems, especially those caused by new technologies. These approaches go by various names, like privacy by design, security by design, even the rule of law by design. Despite the popularity of these approaches, though, describing what goes into regulation “by design” is surprisingly challenging. Different speakers use the term in strikingly different ways, with little consensus about why design is important, how design and new technologies interact, or how design can be harnessed to deliver policy results.

Design exists along multiple dimensions: process versus result, …

The Trademark Bargain: Registration As Disclosure, Dustin Marlan

American University Law Review

This Article highlights the central—and under-theorized—role that disclosure plays within trademark law. By loose analogy, the patent disclosure requirement is a cornerstone of patent law, embodying the “patent bargain” where an inventor must disclose their invention in exchange for a twenty-year monopoly. This quid pro quo is believed to stimulate the progress of science and technology, making patent disclosure the very pulse of the patent regime. However, the fundamental importance of disclosure in trademark law remains underexplored. Like patents, trademark law imposes a rigorous bargain—to obtain the enhanced rights granted by federal registration, trademark owners must first make significant disclosures …

Federal Hiring Dysfunction And The Self-Shrinking Skew, Lindsey Barrett

American University Law Review

A half-century of remodeling agency workforces against corporate blueprints has hollowed out the civil service, enervated oversight, and facilitated the rise of tech oligarchy. Progressive commentors have criticized the neoliberal turn and proposed reinvigorating reforms, but they’ve overlooked a foundational obstacle: federal hiring dysfunction. Hiring dysfunction entrenches low-resource, deferential regulatory tactics, makes sharper or more onerous approaches less feasible, and undermines recruitment of technical staff for policy and regulatory functions. Concerns about hiring dysfunction and capacity dampen regulatory ambitions. Finally, hiring dysfunction creates plausible-seeming capacity pretexts to oppose novel or more confrontational tactics. The cumulative effects cement regulatory dismantlement to …

A Quantitative Analysis Of Barriers To College Students’ Seasonal Vaccination Intentions And Behaviors, Kelly S. Clemens, John Matkovic

Faculty Publications – Health Sciences

Objective
Vaccination is crucial to college student health, but quantitative analyses of barriers in this population are limited. The present study expands the work of Su and Chen to determine the relative influence of structural, psychological, and social vaccination barriers.

Participants
Participants were 650 students from a large, midwestern university during the 2024 vaccination season.

Methods
Participants were recruited from a college campus and randomized to respond to items assessing their barriers to, intentions to receive, and uptake of the COVID-19 or influenza vaccination.

Results
Structural, psychological, and social barriers were differentially important to vaccinations and to intentions vs. uptake …

The Effects Of A Work-Strengths Affirmation Intervention On Death Anxiety, Begüm Orhan, Margaret M. Nauta

Faculty Publications – Psychology

Meaning Management Theory suggests that engaging with meaning-related resources helps individuals constructively regulate consciously experienced death anxiety. Consistent with that theory, we tested whether a single-session, online work-strengths affirmation intervention reduces college students’ (N = 201) death anxiety. Participants completed baseline measures of death anxiety, meaning in life, and self-esteem. One week later, they were randomly assigned to complete either a work-related strengths reflection exercise or a neutral writing task. We assessed outcomes immediately post-intervention and two weeks later. The intervention did not significantly reduce death anxiety in the full sample. Exploratory analyses showed small, immediate reductions among participants …

Ex Vivo Assessment Of Keratinocytic Carcinomas Using A Fast Mid-Infrared Probe., Maria G Vazquez De Vasquez, Rebecca C Bradley, Charles L Hitchcock, Angela S Casey, Austin Cusick, James V Coe, Ronald Siegle

Ambulatory and Primary Care Articles

A fast mid-infrared spectral probe was used to record infrared (IR) spectra of fresh skin tissue removed from patients with biopsy-proven keratinocytic cancer (KC) during Mohs surgery. A 150-patient library of IR spectral data was obtained to see if KC on the epidermal side (outside) of tissue samples can be differentiated from adjacent nonmalignant tissue and normal skin. A linear support vector machine model minimized overtraining predicting the contributions to decisions at each step in the spectrum. Training with an equal cost for KC and nontumor cases samples demonstrated a KC sensitivity of 93% ± 5% and specificity 82% ± …

Energy Poverty, Economic Growth And Environmental Degradation In South Asia: Do Energy Resources Matter?, Memona Rasheed, Hooi Hooi Lean, Nam Foo

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Developing countries can combat energy poverty by enhancing renewable energy and economic growth with minimal adverse environmental effects. In this paper, we present a comprehensive analysis of energy poverty, renewable energy, economic growth, carbon dioxide emissions, and urbanization (URB) in South Asian countries from 1990 to 2021, focusing on Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. We employed econometric analysis techniques like Panel Pooled Mean Group (PMG)-Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL), Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) to provide empirical results, as they enable panel data and control for endogeneity. The findings suggested that the fight …

Transforming The Public Plate: A Menu Of Options For Public Food Procurement That Nourishes People, Place And Planet, Leah Galvin, Emma-Kate Rose, Stephanie Godrich, Dheepa Jeyapalan, Joanna Horton

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Public food procurement stands as one of the most powerful, yet chronically underutilised, policy levers available to Australian governments. Every day, publicly funded institutions – hospitals, residential aged care facilities, long day care, prisons, schools, defence facilities and community food programs – purchase and serve food to millions of Australians. These are not simply transactions. Collectively, these purchasing decisions shape production systems, supply chains, diets, livelihoods and environmental outcomes. They determine who thrives within our food system and who is left behind. Transforming the Public Plate is an Australian first. It provides the most comprehensive national picture to date of …

Effect Of Traditional And Cluster Set Structures On Bar Path Kinematics During High-Volume Power Clean Training, Tsuyoshi Nagatani, Shayne Vial, Kristina L. Kendall, Paul Comfort, Jiahao Yang, G. Gregory Haff

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of traditional (TRAD) and cluster (CLU) set structures on bar path kinematics during a series of high-volume power clean sets, and compare insights gained from discrete versus waveform analysis. Twenty participants completed TRAD or CLU protocols in a randomised, crossover design. Each protocol involved three sets of nine repetitions at 70% of one-repetition maximum. In CLU sets, a 30-second inter-repetition rest was applied. During TRAD sets, peak velocity declined, and significant (p ≤ 0.05) changes were observed in both vertical and horizontal barbell displacement across repetitions, indicating fatigue-related technical alterations. …

Corporate Social Responsibility In Iranian Knowledge-Based Companies: Exploring Barriers And Solutions, Mansoureh Mahdizadeh, Mehran Nejati

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose: This study aims to understand the barriers to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Iranian knowledge-based companies and explore possible solutions to address them. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a qualitative research design, comprising semistructured in-depth interviews with key informants. Findings: Study findings show that the most important barriers to CSR in Iranian knowledge-based companies include insufficient financial resources, lack of competition between companies, lack of CSR importance, lack of people’s shareholding of most companies, lack of structure, lack of awareness, knowledge and information on CSR, lack of institutionalization of CSR concept in organizational culture, lack of management commitment, lack of …

Elementary Teachers’ Perceptions Of Differentiating Tier 1 Reading Instruction Within A Multi-Tiered System Of Support Framework, Ivonne Ciresi

Theses and Dissertations

This generic qualitative dissertation explored elementary teachers’ perceptions and experiences of implementing Tier 1 differentiated reading instruction within a Multi- Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework. Establishing effective systems and supports for comprehensive reading instruction in the Tier 1 classroom is a critical component of MTSS. Given the range of structures required, including instructional routines, resources, and ongoing professional development, it is important to understand how teachers navigate the challenges of differentiating reading instruction. The purpose of this study was to examine how teachers implement differentiation during core reading instruction, the challenges they encounter, and the role of professional learning …

Examining Language In Exclusionary Discipline Practices: A Mixed Methods Study Of A Medium Florida School District, Kathleen A. Wonnell

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation examined office discipline referrals and the language used by teachers when describing disciplinary incidents. Additionally, it explored the coding assigned by administrators to these office discipline referrals and how those codes impacted the consequences assigned, possibly contributing to the use of exclusionary discipline. This mixed-methods study sought to contribute to the body of research on exclusionary discipline and disproportionate disciplinary outcomes. Office discipline referrals that resulted in exclusionary discipline in two comprehensive high schools were examined and administrators from the same schools who are responsible for coding disciplinary incidents were interviewed.

Themes that emerged from examining the …

Why Educators In South Florida Are Leaving The Profession, Keyona Burnes

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to provide better access to current information for the students and staff in a middle school. The printed materials located in the school’s media center were outdated, scarce, or inadequate. Electronic databases were available in the media center for online searching and information retrieval. However, the students did not know how to use databases as a source for completing class assignments or how to browse within these online services to find additional information. Teachers also did not know how to use electronic information to enrich their lessons.

The researcher developed lesson plans and strategies to …

Instructional Systems Design In Lesson Planning For Substance Use Treatment Groups: A Mixed Methods Exploratory Study, Michelle Robin Gould

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored lesson planning for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment groups, investigating the presence of components from the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) instructional systems design (ISD) process in routine facilitator lesson planning practices. Using an exploratory mixed-methods convergent parallel design, data were collected via an online survey featuring closed- and open-ended questions regarding self-reported planning activities and perceived effectiveness. Quantitative analysis confirmed that SUD facilitators perform tasks associated with all five ADDIE phases. Qualitative findings showed that facilitators perceive themselves as effective planners despite logistical and organizational constraints. However, facilitators do not appear to conceptually link instructional …

The Investigating Factors Affecting Teacher Retention In Rural Areas, Lajada Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigated the factors influencing teacher retention in Mississippi's rural communities. The purpose of this study was to identify the specific variables that contribute to teacher retention in rural areas within Mississippi and to investigate strategies for improving teacher recruitment, retention, and job satisfaction. A mixed-methods research design was utilized, which included quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews with teachers, administrators, and education stakeholders in rural Mississippi.

By conducting a mixed-methods research design incorporating quantitative and qualitative interviews, the study sought to collect comprehensive data from teachers, administrators, and education stakeholders in rural Mississippi. The study explored key factors such …

Impact Of Job Demands On Performance, Satisfaction, And Environment, Michelle Chin Loy

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation examined the relationships between job resources, job demands, work engagement, perceived stress, and job satisfaction among university employees. The target participants for the study were employees at an academic institution in the South Florida area. The researcher e-mailed two surveys to the employees, and a response rate of 20% was achieved. One survey was conducted to assess the psychosocial work environment factors, and the impact on the employees’ well-being. The sub-scales used were Job Resources, Job Demands, Well-being outcomes, and Stress. The other survey measured the work engagement, the employees’ well-being, and how they experience enthusiasm, commitment, …

Increasing Reading Comprehension Of Middle School Students With Hearing Disabilities, Abbis Bivins

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, the effectiveness of researcher-created training sessions for teachers designed to improve reading comprehension in class for students who are deaf or hard of hearing was examined. The training was focused on key instructional components, including morphology, syntax, vocabulary, phonology, explicit feedback, and activation of prior knowledge. Additionally, parent-focused strategies such as collaboration with professionals, reading routines, summarization, interactive reading, and the use of home language were taught. A qualitative research design was used to explore the perceptions for both teacher and parent groups following participation in six 1-hour training sessions.

Teachers’ findings indicated increased confidence, intentional instructional …

How Leadership Styles Can Effectively Alleviate Some Of The Organizational Stressors Of Food-Plant Workers, Latarshe Mccuthin

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to investigate how leaders in the food processing industry perceive their management style and how they may alleviate some job related employee stress. There was no management training at the organization; the only training provided was for food safety for certification and licensure procedures. Once a year, the company listed a management course, but the supervisors had to pay for it without reimbursement. Further, although the course was available, most supervisors did not know of it.

The researcher developed semi-structured, in-depth interviews to answer the research questions regarding how supervisors perceived leadership styles, strategies, and …

Usage Behavior Of Hispanic English Learners With Bilingual Homework Resources In Developmental Mathematics At Community College, Debra Krieg

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation, grounded in the theoretical framework of metalinguistic awareness, was designed to understand how six Hispanic English learners (ELs) were utilizing homework help resources when offered in both English and Spanish. Specifically, the study was conducted at a mid-Atlantic community college with students enrolled in a developmental mathematics course. Homework has long been established as a tool that increases the probability of academic success. The shift to web-based assignments in developmental mathematics from traditional pencil and paper homework has yielded positive results yet little is known regarding how learners utilize bilingual digital assessment tools to achieve mastery of …

The Continuity And Fluidity Between Emergent Literacy Skills And Literacy Acquisition, Shiesha D. Otokina

Theses and Dissertations

This research study was undertaken because emergent literacy skills are crucial in helping children develop their reading abilities. Research suggests that early intervention is a key strategy for closing the achievement gap, and that early literacy skills develop as early as when children begin to communicate verbally and nonverbally. Studies show that the larger a child's vocabulary is, the quicker they learn to read.This study examined the significance of reading development and a child’s ability to acquire reading skills across the stages of reading acquisition.

This study compared student scores in the experimental and control groups to determine whether the …

Higher-Level Questioning In Elementary English Language Arts, Charity Zawatski

Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory case study addressed the difficulty with higher-level metacognition and questioning in a primary level elementary English Language Arts. This case study was determined as a need based on underperforming scores from the state assessment in ELA.

The research method look at the social phenomenon through inquiry around the rigor in higher-level questioning and the use of hand signals to support connections in learning. The researcher applied a semi-structured interview, an observation checklist, and a random sample of student artifacts as instruments for data collection. The researcher analyzed teachers’ lesson plans for a unit, observed a virtual classroom lesson …