Digital Commons Network^™

Turning Local Strength Into Regional Change: An Operational Plan For Capacity Building In Virginia’S Tobacco Region, Ellie Plisko

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Virginia's Tobacco Region possesses meaningful community assets including committed local leadership, established social networks, and demonstrated resilience, yet many localities consistently struggle to translate those strengths into high-impact economic development projects. The gap is not one of vision or funding, but of organizational capacity: the ability to develop, manage, and implement complex projects over time.

This capstone plan was developed for the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission (TRRC) to address that gap directly. Drawing on semi-structured stakeholder interviews, document and case analysis, and comparative institutional assessment, the research identifies the structural, relational, and process-based conditions that distinguish successful projects from …

Too Warm To Win Big? Unpacking The Backer Dynamics Behind Female Crowdfunding Success Using A Warmth And Competence Perspective, Dan Liu

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

While crowdfunding is often heralded as a democratized funding avenue that empowers women with higher success rates, this study reveals a more nuanced picture of gender dynamics. The Stereotype Content Model suggests that women are often perceived as warmer but less competent. Using a large dataset from Kickstarter, we find that female-led projects can attract more backers, likely due to warmth-driven appeal, but receive smaller average contributions, potentially due to concerns about risk linked to lower perceived competence. However, the total funding raised by female-led campaigns is comparable to that of male-led ones, showing no clear advantage or disadvantage. This …

The Role Of Ict In Enhancing National Logistics Performance And Economic Productivity, Jin Ho Kim

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This study sheds light on the transformative impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on national productivity via logistics performance. By distinguishing between mobile and wired Internet speeds, the research demonstrates how these technologies influence logistics performance and, in turn, national productivity across different economic contexts. The findings reveal a nuanced relationship between ICT and logistics performance, with mobile ICT playing a more significant role in developing countries due to its accessibility and cost-effectiveness. In contrast, developed countries benefit from a balanced integration of both mobile and wired ICT. Moreover, the study highlights the mediating role of logistics performance in …

Colorectal Cancer Screening In Saudi Arabia: Current Challenges And Future Directions, Abdulrahman A. Aljabri, Abdulrahman G. Alharbi

Saudi Medical Journal

Abstract Colorectal cancer has become a major public health concern in Saudi Arabia. It is the most prevalent cancer among men and the third most prevalent among women. Although screening for people aged 45-75 is recommended by national recommendations, screening uptake is still below 10%, and less than 1% of older persons have a colonoscopy. With regional differences that vary from age-standardized rates of 3.2 per 100,000 in Jouf to 21.8 per 100,000 in Riyadh among men, approximately 29% of cases are detected at late stages. Therefore, we assessed the epidemiological, social, and health-related systemic structures preventing effective colorectal cancer …

Escenarios Coreográficos, Sara Juárez Díaz

Grado en Diseño de Interiores

Although Espacios Coreográficos is conceived as a contemporary intervention, it establishes a conceptual dialogue with the principles that informed Rafael Bergamín’s original design. Beyond its physical language, the Casa del Marqués de Villora embodies a rationalist approach in which architecture becomes a tool for organising everyday life through clarity, order and carefully articulated relationships between spaces. Spanish Rationalism was not exclusively concerned with constructional efficiency or aesthetic reduction. It also sought to redefine domestic experience by proposing new ways of inhabiting space, where movement, light and functional organisation shaped daily routines. In this sense, architecture operated as an instrument capable …

Ai-Powered Lawyering: Ai Reasoning Models, Retrieval Augmented Generation, And The Future Of Legal Practice, Daniel Schwarcz, Sam Manning, J. J. Prescott, Patrick Barry, David R. Cleveland, Beverly Rich

Articles

Generative AI is set to transform the legal profession, though its most promising uses and ultimate effects are still unclear. While AI models like GPT-4 improve efficiency, they can also “hallucinate” and may undermine legal judgment, particularly in complex tasks typically handled by skilled lawyers. This article examines two emerging AI innovations that may mitigate these concerns: Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), which grounds AI-powered analysis in legal sources, and AI reasoning models, which structure complex reasoning before generating output. We conduct the first randomized controlled trial assessing these technologies, assigning upper-level law students to complete legal tasks using a RAG-powered …

Finders Weepers, Losers Keepers Mark 8:27-37, Alyce Mckenzie, Ph.D.

Apuntes: Reflexiones teológicas desde el margen hispano

No abstract provided.

Nanoparticle Carriers Enhance The Prophylactic Antiviral Effects Of Dsrna In Vitro And Ex Vivo, Shayne Oberhoffner, Stephanie Dewitte-Orr, Starla Richardson, Leah Haile, Dominique Daniels, Erin Cooper, Aizah Ijaz, Janet Velasquez Perez, Mathilde Peruzzi, Bertrand Collet, Paul Craig, Kristof Jenik

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Aquaculture now outpaces traditional capture fisheries as the world population and demand for sustainable protein sources increases. Wild and farmed species are increasingly susceptible to pathogen spread as global temperatures rise and stocking densities increase. Despite the devastating losses experienced by aquaculture due to viral infections, there remain few effective prophylactic antiviral therapeutics. Long double-stranded (ds)RNA is a uniquely viral molecule produced by nearly all viruses during their replication cycle, and its detection by salmonids like rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytsha) leads to the establishment of a defensive antiviral state. Previous in vitro studies demonstrated a …

Envisioning The Role Of Community-Owned Stores & Aligning Federal Food Policies: A Participatory Approach To Food Security And Food Sovereignty In Sambaa K’E, Denendeh (Northwest Territories, Canada), Narayan Subramoniam

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Northern Indigenous communities have relied on traditional food systems for meaningful, nutritious diets since time immemorial. But many Indigenous communities in remote northern regions of Canada still face disproportionately elevated levels of food insecurity due to climate change radically altering the availability for traditional foods, colonial food policies imposing Western diets, and the high costs of transporting store-bought foods. Extreme weather events such as wildfires further isolate fly-in remote communities increasing both the costs of transporting store-bought foods and the difficulties of harvesting traditional foods. There are many examples of community-based initiatives for supporting traditional and locally grown foods, however, …

Investigating The Impact Of Winter Exposure To Natural Environments On Perceived Health And Well-Being Using Geographic Ecological Momentary Assessment: A Case Study At Arrowhead Provincial Park, Faith M. Laing

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study examined how winter exposure to specific natural environments influenced perceived health and well-being outcomes using Geographic Ecological Momentary Assessment (GEMA) in Arrowhead Provincial Park. Studies performed in the wintertime are limited, as is our understanding of how specific park features and/or activities impact health and well-being. To address this, GEMA was used with a video component to capture participants’ real-time experience and emotional responses in specific park locations defined by polygon boundaries. Two surveys were administered through participants mobile devices, one being an in-situ engagement survey triggered by entering a bounded location, which included a video and …

At A Crossroads: Crisis, Vulnerability, And The Possibility Of Transformation Of Nature-Based Tourism In Canada, Brooklyn Rushton

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

We live in an era shaped by a global polycrisis, where climate change, pandemics, economic shocks, geopolitical tensions, and social inequities are converging to create complex, cascading, and compounding risks. For Canada’s nature-based tourism sector, situated at the nexus of social and ecological systems, the polycrisis both amplifies the vulnerabilities of tourism and highlights tourism’s role in perpetuating global risks. Recognizing this duality, this dissertation examines how crises amplify systemic vulnerabilities while also acting as leverage points for transformative change in Canada’s nature-based tourism sector, drawing on geography, systems thinking, resilience theory, regenerative tourism, and futures thinking scholarship.

The three …

Implementation Of A 3-Dimensional Hydrodynamic Numerical Model On A Large Northern Lake, Kirin Lorente

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Climate change is impacting high latitude regions disproportionately more than those at a lower latitude. With polar lakes being highly sensitive to changes in the climate, shifts in lake ice dynamics and hydrodynamics are indicators of such changes in regional and global climates. These changes impact future seasons in a positive feedback loop, where changes in winter ice cover impact open water nutrients levels and lake thermal structure. This highlights the importance for long-term monitoring. Despite the abundance of lakes distributed across Northern Canada, there has been limited research conducted on these sentinels of climate change.

Specifically, Great Bear Lake …

Cultivating Diversity In Sustainable Food Systems: Black Farming And Lived Experience In Rural Southern Ontario, Kadeem Jerofy Morgan-Adamson Mr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research examines the lived experiences of Black food growers in rural Southern Ontario to understand how their perspectives challenge dominant narratives of rurality and inform broader discussions on food sovereignty in Canada. Grounded in postcolonial theory, the study highlights how historical dispossession and persistent inequities shape the access of Black communities to land and resources. Using a mixed-methods approach that includes surveys, semi-structured interviews, and reflexive journaling within a community-based research framework, the study documents the barriers Black food growers face. These include limited land access, insufficient funding, inadequate training pathways, and experiences of racial isolation in rural contexts. …

Permafrost Microtopography And Active Layer Hydrology In The Western Canadian Arctic, Tobias L. Leonhard

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The growing interest in Arctic regions will likely increase the use of nuclear energy in the Arctic. While this energy source has a high potential to improve economic opportunities in the Arctic, it also increases the release of radioactive material (radionuclides). Radionuclides are already found in the Arctic and are traced back to natural as well as anthropogenic sources. Water is one of the dominant transport vectors for solutes such as radionuclides or other contaminants. Therefore, improving our understanding of Arctic hydrology is important for assessing future environmental risks such as the release of radionuclides. Topographic and microtopographic features are …

Beyond Interests And Ideas: Institutions And The Persistence Of Trade Protectionism In Brazil, Samo Sérgio Gonçalves Tosatti

West Chester University Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Final Projects

Despite decades of economic reforms and growing international integration since the 1990s, Brazil has remained one of the most protectionist large economies in the global trading system. Tariff levels remain relatively high, the country maintains a limited network of trade agreements, and non-tariff barriers play a significant role in shaping market access. Existing explanations for this persistence have focused primarily on the influence of organized interests, particularly import-competing industries, and the enduring influence of developmentalist ideas rooted in Brazil’s import-substitution industrialization (ISI) legacy.

This dissertation argues that these explanations are incomplete without accounting for a third explanatory dimension: institutions. It …

A Call To Action: Engaging With The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel On Chemicals, Waste And Pollution, Miriam L. Diamond, Gabriel Sigmund, Marlene Ågerstrand, Michael G. Bertram, Alex T. Ford, Rainer Lohmann, Andreas Schäffer, Maria Clara V.M. Starling, Anna Soehl, Noriyuki Suzuki, Penny Vlahos, Marta Venier, Martin Scheringer

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Which Forms Of Work Flexibility Retain Working Mothers: A Moderated Mediation Model Of Flexibility Need, Flexibility Use, And Top Management Support, Jeanine K. Andreassi, Angela R. Grotto, Leanna Lawter, Tuvana Rua, Cynthia A. Thompson

WCBT Faculty Publications

This study investigates the relative impact of utilizing various forms of work flexibility on mothers’ retention in full-time jobs. Drawing from a model of work reentry for new mothers and Human Ecology Theory (HET), we theorize that mothers’ flexibility needs influence retention through flexibility use and that top management support strengthens this process. Using a cross-sectional Qualtrics online survey, we recruited a diverse sample of 213 women across the United States who stayed with or left their full-time jobs after childbirth or adoption. Using relative weights and path analysis, we compared six forms of flexibility. Schedule, career, and leave flexibility …

2025-2026 Library & Learning Annual Review, Library & Learning, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Library & Learning Annual Reviews

Digital version of the 2025-2026 Annual Review for Library & Learning at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Review Of Theology And Catholic Higher Education: Beyond Our Identity Crisis, Joseph Simmons

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

National Security And Statecraft: A Case Study Of Sweden's Political Discourse Surrounding The Civilian-Military Geostrategic Nexus And The Application For Membership In Nato, Martina Sprague

Ph.D. Dissertations (Open Access)

This dissertation examines Sweden’s political discourse on NATO membership following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. While Sweden had long cooperated with NATO, a broad political consensus historically favored neutrality/non-alignment to maintain the country’s role as an impartial peace mediator. Right-leaning parties generally supported closer NATO ties, whereas left-leaning parties opposed membership, citing over 200 years of peace. Yet even conservative leaders like former Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt cautioned that joining NATO could escalate tensions. Russia’s invasion prompted a reassessment of Sweden’s security policy and ignited intense debate. Party positions were shaped by security concerns, ideological traditions, and domestic politics. Some …

Not On My Zoning Board: Achieving Mass Transit Development Despite Nimby Pushback, Brian J. Koluch

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Within the political discussion on local, state, and federal levels, all politicians seem to agree that U.S. Interstates are a crucial lifeline for many. Conjointly, city planners and scholars understand that we have a logistics issue in cities that can’t seem to handle highway congestion. When prompted with mass transit solutions, some community members protest them for altering the neighborhood in a presumably negative way, leading to the phrase; “Not in my back yard.” Thus, local governing bodies seem paralyzed to take the actions needed to move forward with these implementation strategies. Local governments, in order to circumvent the socially …

The Landless Rural Workers Movement (Mst) And New Agrarian Questions In Brazil, Estavan Coca, Gustavo Oliveira

Geography

The Landless Rural Workers Movement of Brazil (MST) primarily organized occupations of large-scale farms, forcing the redistribution of land for creation of agrarian reform settlements. In the past 20 years, however, land occupations and the establishment of new agrarian reform settlements have consistently declined, while the MST shifted strategies to strengthening existing agrarian reform settlements, increasing marketing mechanisms through government purchasing programs and direct rural–urban connections, cultivating new financial instruments, advancing agroecological transformations to strengthen production and contesting space in governance and discourse about sustainability, rural development and socio-ecological wellbeing. We argue this shift represents not an abandonment of the …

Improved Climate Services In Hawai‘I: The Collaborative Development Of Drought-Related Decision Support Tools, Ryan J. Longman, Derek Ford, Cherryle Heu, Jennifer Geis, Abby Frazier, Christian P. Giardina, James T. Potemra, Sean B. Cleveland, John J. Marra

Geography

Rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, and increasingly variable rainfall are negatively impacting natural and cultural resources and agricultural production systems in Hawai‘i. To effectively manage resources in the face of these changes, stewards and producers now require accurate, timely, and site-specific climate data and information. However, access to such data as well as the ability to interpret available data remain limited for many sectors. In response to various needs, a team of scientists working with the Pacific Drought Knowledge Exchange (PDKE) has developed two open-source decision-support tools (DSTs) through a collaborative, user-informed process aimed at closing longstanding gaps in local climate …

Hybridization And Introgression In Marine Invertebrates: Population Genomics Of Phymactis Papillosa And Asterias Sea Stars, Christopher J. Dookie

Dissertations and Theses

Hybridization and introgression are evolutionary significant processes in marine invertebrates (Sanford & Kelly,2011) yet genome-wide investigations of gene flow in these taxa remain limited relative to vertebrate systems (Marchi et al., 2021). This thesis presents genomic analyses of hybridization and introgression in two marine invertebrates occupying contrasting oceanographic settings and characterized by contrasting genomic datasets: restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) SNP data for the eastern Pacific sea anemone Phymactis papillosa and whole genome sequencing (WGS) data for the North Atlantic sea stars Asterias rubens and Asterias forbesi. For each system, I applied coalescent-based species tree inference using CASTER (Zhang …

Mad Or Uncontrollable? Reading Female Madness In Three Gothic Texts, Amy Marie Bueno

Dissertations and Theses

My thesis employs comparative close reading framed by disability studies to analyze representations of female madness in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, and Isabel Allende’s “If You Touched My Heart.” Drawing on theories of socially constructed disability, it argues that Bertha, Antoinette, and Hortensia are framed as “mad women” not through inherent pathology, but through patriarchal violence, colonial domination, and institutional power. By integrating the social model of disability with feminist theory, this thesis examines how women are rendered disabled within societies influenced by Social Darwinism and eugenic ideologies.

This thesis further incorporates Gothic theory and …

Financing Global Health Governance: The World Health Organization, The Who Foundation, And The Shifting Landscape Of Development Financing, Johanny O. Reyes

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis analyzes the structural financing challenges facing the World Health Organization (WHO) and their implications for global health governance. It argues that WHO’s financial fragility is not merely a technical problem but the result of long-standing political and institutional choices that have shifted the Organization away from predictable public financing toward donor-driven, earmarked voluntary contributions. Drawing on WHO constitutional provisions, programme budget data, governance documents, and academic literature, the study traces the evolution of WHO’s financing model and examines how this transformation has constrained the Organization’s priority-setting authority, operational flexibility, and normative leadership.

The COVID-19 pandemic serves as a …

Disaster Risk Management During Climate Emergencies In The Dominican Republic And Puerto Rico, Rosleny Ubinas

Dissertations and Theses

This paper analyzes the DRM approach as an effective framework in addressing climate emergencies across the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. These two Caribbean regions, with high hurricane exposure and differing response structures, are deeply shaped by their governments and affiliated international organizations. Disaster Risk Management is the systematic process of using laws, plans, institutions, and community networks to reduce vulnerability to hazards and coordinate effective response when disasters occur. It covers the full cycle, from prevention to reconstruction and rebuilding more resiliently. The Dominican Republic’s law-based intervention led to greater local-level community participation during disasters with its embedded volunteer …

Examining The Spatial Variability Of Summer Heat In New York City Using Landsat Land Surface Temperature, Ryan Kabir

Dissertations and Theses

Extreme heat is the leading weather-related cause of death in the United States, and in New York City (NYC) approximately 370 heat-related deaths occur annually on average. The spatial distribution of surface heat exposure across NYC is highly uneven, low-income neighborhoods and communities of color consistently face higher temperatures, yet the intraurban spatial structure of land surface temperature (LST) during heatwave events has not been systematically characterized at high resolution. The New York City Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment (NPCC4) identifies this as an explicit research gap, noting that its own projections, based on global climate models downscaled to …

The Effect Of Flood Risk Perception On County-Level Excess Mortality Due To Flooding In The U.S., Jane Elise Fortna

Public Health Theses

Introduction: Flood events due to heavy precipitation, hurricanes, rising sea levels, and overflowing rivers are increasing under climate change, resulting in both direct and indirect health impacts. This study investigates the relationship between excess flood mortality and flood risk perception at the U.S. county level. Methods: This study utilizes nationwide, county-level flood mortality data from 2018-2020 and flood risk perception survey data from 2024. We applied a generalized linear model to examine the association between the proportion worried about flooding and the excess flood mortality, while controlling for flood hazard exposure, poverty, disability, health uninsurance rate, and unmeasured spatial confounding …

Water Resource Governance And Health Equity In Angola, Mads Harner

Public Health Theses

AbstractBackground: Angola is confronting a set of intertwined challenges including water insecurity, increasing climate variability, and deep structural inequality that together intensify the burden of waterborne and water-related diseases (Lombana Cordoba et al., 2021; World Health Organization, 2025). Roughly half of the population does not have reliable access to safe drinking water, and gaps in sanitation and hygiene infrastructure, especially in peri-urban and rural areas, facilitate the spread of illnesses such as cholera, diarrheal diseases, and malaria (UNICEF Angola, 2025; Moreira et al., 2012). These issues are further exacerbated by drought and broader climate variability, and underlying them are historical …