Digital Commons Network^™

Avenida 10 De Julio Huamachuco By Nona Fernández: An Exploration Of Individual Guilt And Collective Responsibility, Helene C. Weldt-Basson

INTI: Revista de literatura hispánica

No abstract provided.

Dancing In Circles: Bon Dance As Performance Of The Past, Travis Robb Kim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This capstone project traces the contours of the Japanese folk dance tradition of Bon Dance in Hawaiʻi through the nuances of public scholarship, diaspora, and racial capitalism by producing an original play which aims to perform the knowledge and praxis which the performance ritual puts forward. Treating Bon Dance as muse, the original play examines the necessity of turning to the past in order to disrupt a future made inevitable by oppressive systems; a fiction that comments on and critiques the predictive and generative technologies that have embedded themselves into society at large. Through intertwining conversations that explore prophecy and …

Analyzing Harmony In Bulgarian And Bulgarian-Influenced Choral Arrangements From The Radio To The Screen, Annie Beliveau

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates developments in arrangements and compositions made for Bulgarian choirs between 1950 and 2025. Arrangements from Bulgaria’s communist period (1944-1989), when musical radio broadcasts were tailored to promote nationalist sentiment, eventually reached the ears of foreigners on the other side of the Iron Curtain via recordings and ensemble tours. These obrabotki (arrangements of folk tunes) became popular in the “world music” boom of the 1980s, and foreign composers soon began to create new compositions for Bulgarian choirs to sing on albums and in scores for film, television, and video games. Over time, the uses of Bulgarian choir in …

The Coming Health Insurance Transition, Brendan S. Maher

Faculty Scholarship

For decades, the dominant form of private health insurance in the United States—by far—has been employment-based group health insurance. Somewhere in the range of 175 million employees and their families receive health care coverage through a system in which employers serve as financiers, procurers, administrators, and fiduciaries of the health insurance promise. An overwhelming percentage of those health insurance arrangements are governed by ERISA, with little room for state law.

That is going to change.

This Article explains—for the first time anywhere—why and how. Because of the tremendous and as-yet unrecognized power of an obscure-sounding funding arrangement called the Individual …

A Mixed-Method Study To Determine The Relationships Between Academic Confidence, Anxiety And Success In College Physics I At A Small Midwestern University, Jason Fenske

Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-method study is to examine the effect of a variety of factors on student success in College Physics I. These factors include the transfer of knowledge from both high school physics and prerequisite mathematics courses for use in physics as well as anxiety, academic confidence, physics confidence, and methods designed to address these. The experiment occurred in a medium-sized midwestern university in two different classrooms. The results of this experiment showed that there is a direct correlation between mathematics confidence and physics confidence and therefore between these and student success. The study found that students who …

A History Of University Of Rhode Island Partnerships In The Philippines With Marine Resources And Fisheries Management As Primary Drivers, Michael A. Rice, Donald D. Robadue, Brian Crawford

Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Maternal Violent Injury And Child Exposure To Violence-A Call For Trauma-Informed And Structural Responses., Gunjan Tiyyagura, M Katherine Henry, Kimberly Randell

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

No abstract provided.

Characteristics Of Individuals With Cerebral Palsy Across The Us., Bhooma R. Aravamuthan, Amy F. Bailes, Micah Baird, Kristie Bjornson, Ira Bowen, Angeline Bowman, Elizabeth R. Boyer, Rose N. Gelineau-Morel, Laurie Glader, Paul H. Gross, Stacey Hall, Edward A. Hurvitz, Michael Kruer, Thomas Larrew, Neena I. Marupudi, Patrick G. Mcphee, Stephen A. Nichols, Garey Noritz, Joyce Oleszek, Justin Ramsey, Jeffrey S. Raskin, Heather Riordan, Brandon G. Rocque, Manish N. Shah, Benjamin J. Shore, M Wade Shrader, David Spence, Charles B. Stevenson, Richard Stevenson, Sruthi P. Thomas, Joyce P. Trost, Stephen R. Wisniewski, Cerebral Palsy Research Network

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

This cross-sectional study examines how demographics and characteristics of individuals with cerebral palsy across the US associate with Gross Motor Function Classification System level and genetic etiology.

Borders And Bids: Assessing How Competition In Transportation Projects Is Shaped By The Presence Of Out-Of-State Contractors, Mariam Elazhary, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Competitive bidding in transportation construction is vital for securing better value for money and higher-quality proposals. Prior research has attempted to encourage more competition by proposing novel delivery methods, contractual incentives, or alternative bidder profiles. However, one viable bidder profile, which has received limited attention in the literature, is to encourage cross-border participation to expand the pool of qualified firms and thereby increase competition. While, in theory, this may improve economic efficiency, the inclusion of more out-of-state contractors (OSCs) is not costless. The goal of this paper is to assess whether participation by OSCs is associated with strengthening competition in …

A Hip-Hop-Based Workshop Cultivates Urban Underserved Youths’ Critical Consciousness Around Food Systems, Jacob Rowell, Hannah Scherer, Kim Niewolny, Anthony Kwame Harrison, Kendrick Spencer

Journal of Youth Development

Hip hop is social commentary and critique that highlights the complexity of issues within society, including systemic inequity in the food system, which disproportionately affects urban and African American populations. After-school and non-formal programs are innovative educational opportunities to engage youth in learning about and addressing local problems through culturally-relevant program design and enactment of critical pedagogy. To meaningfully connect middle-school-aged urban youth, their lived experiences, and inequities in the food system, we designed a hip-hop-based workshop and delivered it in an established afterschool program. In this qualitative case study, we explored participants’ critical consciousness related to the food system …

Modeling Bald Eagle Habitat Suitability In The Del Rio Springs Ecosystem Using Lidar And Spatial Analysis, Noah Morales, Hank Vincent, Ronny Schroeder

Student Works

This study expands upon prior research that utilized NDVI-based hotspot analysis from UAS and satellite imagery (Morales et al. 2026) to identify potential bald eagle nesting and foraging areas. While NDVI effectively captures vegetation density, it does not distinguish between vegetation types or landscape structural characteristics necessary for nesting. To address this limitation, this research integrates LiDAR-derived canopy height, terrain slope, and proximity to stream networks to develop a more refined habitat suitability model within the Del Rio Springs ecosystem.

Airborne LiDAR data were used to generate Digital Surface Models (DSM) and Digital Elevation Models (DEM), which were employed to …

September 2026 Faculty Senate Packet, University Of Nebraska At Kearney Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Packets

No abstract provided.

2026 Report On The State Of Great Salt Lake Social Science, Creed Jones, Avyrlie Smith, Shae Barber, Stacia Ryder, Mufti Nadimul Quamar Ahmed, Georgie Corkery, Jennifer Givens, Anna Mcentire, Carla Trentelman, Jessica Ulrich-Schad, Kirsten Vinyeta, Bryn Watkins

Publications

Great Salt Lake (GSL) faces rapid decline that presents more than just a hydrological risk; it poses an existential social hazard. As water levels decline, ecosystems, economies, cultures, and societies face irreversible harm. Since the lake reached its lowest levels in 2022, this issue has specifically gained increased attention in Utah and beyond. Given both the degree to which human consumption contributes to the problem, and the potential risks that the drying of the lake poses for community health, social science research is a crucial for informing successful water management policies and mitigating impacts. The purpose of this report is …

Possibilities Of Being: Black Women's Storytelling As Archival Undoing, Dasharah Green

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation constructs a discursive genealogy of Black women’s storytelling, positioning its art and aesthetics as a form of colonial archival undoing. Each chapter explores how transmission and documentation can transform—and circumvent—traditional colonial archives. Beginning at the start of the twentieth-century to present, this project traces the discursive legacies of Zora Neale Hurston, Audre Lorde, Michelle Cliff, and Staceyann Chin, examining each writer as a site of becoming as they individually (and collectively) seek to articulate an expansive idea of a Black world that constitutes a broader understanding of Black freedom. They each share a common goal of creating a …

Vibe Diggers: The Sampling Of Brazilian Music In Hip-Hop, Romulo De Carvalho Moraes Barbosa

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates the trend of musical borrowings of 1970s MPB (música popular brasileira) by contemporary American hip-hop producers, especially in terms of what they have called a “Brazilian vibe.” A lot has been said about sampling already from legal, sociological, and historical points of view, but less has been said about its aesthetic procedures, and even less about the wider implications of a tendency for using transnational sources. In the case of MPB, hip-hop artists seem to understand the music they sample through an often vague, intuitive representation, which fuses qualities of those recordings with an intersubjective mood, a …

Brooding Upon The Waters: A Memoir Of Farming, Fishing, And Failure In America's Lost Landscape (Book Review), Abby De Groot

Pro Rege

Reviewed Title: Brooding Upon the Waters: A Memoir of Farming, Fishing, and Failure in America's Lost Landscape by Howard Schaap. Slant Books, 2025. 238 pp. ISBN: 9781639822096.

Fiscal Decentralization, Local Government Size, And Regional Economic Growth: Evidence From Indonesia, Faizul Mubarok, Hasta Dwi Pradana, Etty Puji Lestari

Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking

This study investigates the dynamic relationship between fiscal decentralization, local government size, and regional economic growth in Indonesia. Integrating fiscal federalism theory with the Armey curve framework, the study examines whether decentralization reshapes the scale of subnational governments and how this influences growth outcomes. Using balanced panel data from 26 Indonesian provinces over the period 1995–2020, the analysis employs dynamic panel estimators based on the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to address endogeneity, persistence, and unobserved heterogeneity. The results reveal a nuanced relationship between fiscal decentralization and government size. Greater revenue autonomy is associated with a contraction in government size …

Designated Eld Through Evidence-Based Practices, Aida Walquí, Ph.D., Magaly Lavadenz, Ph.D.

Center on English Language Proficiency Implementation Briefs

Designated English Language Development through Evidence-Based Practices is the third in a four-part series assisting educational agencies in implementing high-quality, comprehensive English Language Development (ELD) systems. This brief bridges the gap between research and practice by illustrating what implementation looks like for evidence-based practices in Designated ELD (DELD) curriculum and instruction. It introduces an ecological model of learning—conceptualizing education across macro- and micro-systems—alongside five fundamental shifts in classroom practice: Teaching as Apprenticeship, Language as Action, No Isolated Language Practice, Non-Linear Spiraling Design, and Vocabulary Taught in Context. Additionally, the brief outlines key guidelines for heterogeneous group composition and a productive …

Narcos, Inc.: Drug Cartels And The Architecture Of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Samuel T. Hunter, Amanda N. Moeller, Alex Bruens

Reports, Projects, and Research

As the U.S. State Department increasingly designates drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), scholars and policymakers face a pressing need to better understand the structure and behavior of these groups. This report argues that drug cartels, particularly the thirteen currently designated as FTOs, are more accurately conceptualized as criminal entrepreneurial ecosystems than as traditional terrorist organizations.

Best Practices For Managing Human–Beaver Conflicts In North America: Balancing Ecological Benefits And Human Interests, Alec J. Sundelius, Jerry Altermatt, Doug Brimeyer, Derek J. Broman, Jared Duquette, Cory Mosby, Falyn Owens, Shawn Rossler, David B. Ruid, Brian F. Wakeling, H. Bryant White

Human–Wildlife Interactions Monographs

We explore the complexities of managing beaver (Castor canadensis) conflicts in North America, describing the most common approaches used by natural resource management agencies to address conflicts. We identify specific conflicts caused by beavers, the ecological benefits beavers provide, and the tools commonly used to address conflicts. We discuss regional differences in beaver management strategies, including ecosystem restoration and conflict prevention. We specifically discuss a variety of management practices including public education, land use management, trapping, translocation, exclusion, shooting, dam removal, repellants, and harvest incentive programs; we then review the challenges and benefits of these tools. We discuss …

Complete Issue 11.3, Christopher Tremblay, Moya Malcolm, Patrick J. O'Connor Phd, Laura Owen, Diana Camilo

Journal of College Access

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Parents In Shaping The Postsecondary Decisions For Their Students, Jihye Lee, Robert Toutkoushian, Jennifer Stephens

Journal of College Access

Most research on college decision-making frames students as the primary decision-makers, often overlooking the role of parents. Using data from the 2009 High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS:09), this study examines how two dimensions of parental involvement, aspirational alignment between students and parents and family decision-making roles, are associated with students’ postsecondary trajectories. Results indicate that parental involvement operates in stage-sensitive ways: partial aspirational alignment is associated with a higher likelihood of college application, whereas enrollment is most strongly associated with shared aspirations and collaborative decision-making. Overall, the findings highlight college choice as a relational and staged process and underscore the …

The Pickleball Opportunity: A Case Study To Evaluate The Market Demand And Feasibility Of Opening A Private Pickleball Facility, Dene Williamson, Janet Jones

Global Sport Business Journal

This case study explores the market demand and financial feasibility of opening a privately owned, indoor pickleball facility in Warrensburg, Missouri. The central character, Mr. Dink, returns to his rural hometown with the goal of building a community-centric recreational space centered around America’s fastest-growing sport—pickleball. Students are asked to evaluate the business opportunity through comprehensive market research, financial forecasting, and risk assessment. Drawing from comparative data provided by an established facility in Florida, the case challenges students to adapt proven strategies to a smaller, lower-cost market. The case provides a platform to practice feasibility analysis, pricing strategy, break-even modeling, marketing, …

September 2026 Library & Learning Newsletter, Minnesota State University, Mankato. Library & Learning Dean's Office Communication Team

Library & Learning Newsletters

PDF version of the September 2026 (Volume 5, Issue 1) Library & Learning Newsletter.

Whose Neighbourhood: A Study Of Early Challenges And Opportunities In Delivering Pride In Place, Katharine Willis, Kasper De Graaf

School of Art, Design and Architecture

’Whose neighbourhood?‘ examines the early challenges and opportunities in delivering the Government’s Pride in Place programme and asks what is needed to turn the devolution of funding into genuine community power.Pride in Place provides 284 neighbourhoods across the UK with up to £20 million each in funding and support over ten years, with local communities intended to play the leading role in deciding how that investment is used. The report welcomes the scale, duration and community-led ambition of the programme, but finds that there remains a significant gap between that ambition and the practical capability needed to deliver it — …

2026 Annual Report – Celebrating 40 Years Of Research Excellence, Melissa Weddell

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report marks the 40th anniversary of the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research (ITRR) at the University of Montana, founded in 1987 as the research arm of the state's tourism and recreation industries and funded through a small share of the Lodging Facility Use Tax.

It covers the 2025 travel year, when 13.2 million nonresident visitors spent $5.6 billion in Montana, supporting 52,610 jobs and $360 million in state and local tax revenue. Featured studies cover the state's museums and paleontological sites, its $1.27 billion outfitting and guiding industry, and tourism's growing role in Eastern Montana's rural economies. Additional …

Aligning Tenure With Institutional Values: Supporting And Rewarding Engaged Scholarship In College Tenure Policies, Sian Bareket, Alexander R. Barron, Abigail O’Meara, Charavee Basnet Chettri

Environmental Science and Policy: Faculty Publications

Scholars have described the current era as a polycrisis, with climate change overlapping and interacting with other social justice and environmental challenges. While the expertise and capacity housed in academia has tremendous potential to help society face these threats, scholars and others have long critiqued academia as too isolated from the practical problems of society and front-line communities. While engaged scholarship (ES) connects academia and real-world problems, tenure policies are usually designed to primarily reward “traditional” scholarship focused on journal articles and academic books. This study sought to investigate the contrast between higher education institutions’ publicly shared values aligned with …

‘A Sense Of The Sea’: Grassroots Culture, Care, And Endurance In Swansea, Cymru, Katy Clark

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis argues that under present conditions, everyday political-aesthetic life is not only about resistance or reproduction but about holding: the work of keeping people, practices, and attachment present and oriented as conditions change. Holding takes the form of care and maintenance; as practices of making, assembling, and imagining; and as the work that keeps open the possibility of renewed attachment to public things and to each other. In the field, this was named as ‘a sense of the sea’, an affective register characterized by wariness, attunement, attentiveness, orientation, and endurance. I am calling this a fragile infrastructure of …

New York City Women’S Experiences With Perinatal Depression Inquiries, Diagnosis, And Treatment Initiation, Caterina Pisciotta

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Perinatal depression represents a significant public health concern, yet many women who experience depression symptoms during the perinatal period (either during pregnancy and/or after birth) do not receive treatment. Initiatives, such as ThriveNYC, were designed to address these gaps by screening and treating perinatal women for maternal depression, integrating screening into routine perinatal care and strengthening pathways to treatment. Using representative survey data collected between 2016 and 2021 via the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), this study examined trends in perinatal depression inquiries (a proxy for “screening”) and postpartum diagnosis, as well as …

The Revival Of Honor Killing In Iranian Kurdistan: A Sociological Analysis Of Gender, Land, And Identity, Parviz Sobhani

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Honor is a foundational yet restrictive sociocultural construct in Kurdish society of western Iran. Transgressions of its boundaries, particularly by women, are historically met with violent sanction. Despite processes of modernization, honor killings have re-emerged as a conspicuous phenomenon in Iranian Kurdistan, suggesting an active revival rather than a passive residue of tradition. This study employed a qualitative, interpretive phenomenological approach. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 21 social scientists and researchers from January 2022 to February 2024 in Iranian Kurdistan.  A grounded theory framework guided the thematic analysis. Findings reveal a dual symbolic encoding of honor: it …