Digital Commons Network^™

Religion And Economic Development: Past, Present, And Future, Sascha O. Becker, Amma Panin, Steven J. Pfaff, Jared Rubin

ESI Working Papers

This chapter examines the role of religion in economic development, both historically and today. Religion's influence varies globally, with high religiosity in countries like Pakistan and low rates in China. Despite declines in some Western countries, religion remains influential worldwide, with projected growth in Muslim populations due to higher fertility rates. Religion continues to shape societal norms and institutions, such as education and politics, even after its direct influence fades. The chapter explores how religious institutions and norms have impacted economic outcomes, focusing on both persistence and decline. It also examines cultural transmission, institutional entrenchment, networks, and religious competition as …

Religion, Culture, And Politics, Jared Rubin

ESI Working Papers

This chapter presents a conceptual framework for understanding the interaction of religion, ideology, and politics. The framework’s key insights are: i) culture and ideology provide a shared mental framework for interpreting the world; ii) ideology is malleable, and it can be used to justify a wide set of empirical realities in a manner that is consistent with the prevailing mental framework; iii) religion is particularly adept at shaping this mental framework because it attempts to explain the unknown; iv) because co-religionists share a mental framework that depends on a (religious) interpretation of events, religions are particularly likely to be co-opted …

Sustained Effects Of Reading Recovery®: Beyond The Intervention, Dr. Lisa A. Fisher

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to conduct a longitudinal analysis of the sustained effects of Reading Recovery® on literacy achievement beyond the initial intervention period. It examines the program’s long-term effectiveness, assessing whether early literacy gains are maintained and identifying key factors that contribute to sustained progress. This study, titled “Sustained Effects of Reading Recovery®: Beyond the Intervention,” seeks to fill a critical gap in existing research by providing insights into the extended impact of this early literacy intervention.

A longitudinal, mixed-methods approach was employed, incorporating quantitative data analysis and qualitative insights from educators and administrators. The study was …

Artivism For Access: Disrupting The Educational Status Quo, Mercedes Albarran, Rocio Zamora

Journal of College Access

This piece explores the transformative role of art as a platform for historically marginalized populations to challenge educational inequities and catalyze social change. Through the concept of "artivism," art and activism merge to humanize complex social issues, fostering understanding and solidarity. Highlighting historical moments such as the Chicano/a movement and contemporary contributions from students at Hoover High School, the text underscores how creative expression empowers individuals to disrupt the educational status quo. It examines the rich tapestry of student-led artivism that elevates voices from diverse backgrounds, notably BIPOC and first-generation students, in their pursuit of education and societal change. Through …

The Moderating Effect Of Empathy On The Relationship Between Psychological Reactance And Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration, Victoria Anne Rukus

Doctoral Dissertations

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a phenomenon found across cultures, genders, and sexualities. Those who are victimized are more likely to experience negative health and psychological outcomes than those who have not and are also at an increased risk for becoming perpetrators themselves. This has resulted in a significant need to identify the risk factors associated with perpetrators, so cycles of violence can be broken and violence can be prevented. Previous research has utilized a predominately feminist perspective to understand IPV perpetration risk factors and has focused predominately on exclusively male samples. Additional research is needed to develop a broader …

Local Chemical Ordering Of A Neutron-Irradiated Crfemnni Compositionally Complex Alloy, Nathan Curtis, Sohail Shah, Mukesh Bachhav, Kaustubh Bawane, Fei Teng, Calvin Parkin, Tiankai Yao, Haiming Wen, Adrien Couet

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

While ion-irradiation studies are a critical first step in studying compositionally complex alloys (CCAs) for nuclear applications, they do not capture all the microstructural changes occurring under the low irradiation dose rates and different particles' scattering patterns experienced in a nuclear reactor setting. To explore these phenomena in reactor-relevant conditions for the first time in CCA, the single-phase solid-solution Cr10Fe30Mn30Ni30 was neutron irradiated up to 6.61 displacements per atom at 395 and 579 °C. Irradiation-enhanced local chemical ordering (LCO) well beyond the range of short range ordering was observed, and is predicted to be the precursor to the precipitation of …

Dynamic Tensile Properties Of Thermally Treated Concrete Specimens Subjected To Varied Heating Rates: An Investigation Using The Digital Image Correlation Method, Ronghua Shu, Jiabao Cheng, Guang Xu, Yuzhang Lai, Lijinhong Huang

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In concrete engineering, high temperatures at varying heating rates significantly affect the stability of concrete structures. In this paper, the dynamic tensile characteristics were investigated on concrete specimens subjected to heating rates ranging from 2 to 40 °C/min, using the digital image correlation (DIC) method. The results reveal a critical heating rate threshold, between 5 and 10 °C/min, which marks a shift in the influence of heating rates on both physical and dynamic tensile properties. Below this threshold, changes are minimal, but beyond it, significant effects are observed. As the heating rate increases, longitudinal wave velocity, density, and mass decrease, …

Metacognition And The 5cs Of Positive Youth Development Programs: A Review Of Metacognitive Interventions, Omolola A. Odejimi, Leslie F. Clark

Journal of Youth Development

Positive youth development (PYD) programs have increased positive outcomes for adolescents, however research on the underlying change processes in these programs remains limited. The 5Cs (Competence, Confidence, Character, Caring and Connection) of PYD are a framework of desirable outcomes for youth programs. Change to metacognition is proposed as a mechanism by which PYD programming accomplishes these outcomes. This review describes findings from metacognitive interventions with PYD-relevant outcomes in adolescents aged 10-24. Fifteen electronic databases were searched using keyword phrases related to “metacognitive intervention” and “adolescents”. Seventeen studies met inclusion criteria. Included studies addressed 2 of the 5 goals of PYD …

The Accuracy Of Artificial Intelligence In The Diagnosis Of Soft Tissue Sarcoma: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Feras Al-Obeidat, Asrar Rashid, Wael Hafez, Hayssam Gibbaoui, Gilbert Ayoub, Sokiyna Al Ameer, Arun Kumar Venkatachalapathi, Munier Gador, Surra Hassan, Mahmad Anwar Ibrahim, Nouran Hamza, Ivan Cherrez-Ojeda

All Works

Introduction Soft-tissue sarcomas (STSs) constitute a rare group of malignancies. Diagnostic biopsies require experts and are invasive with long diagnostic intervals. Artificial intelligence (AI)-based STS models may serve as accurate detection and categorization tools; however, their diagnostic performance remains questionable. Method The PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched for related studies published until January 10, 2024. Studies that developed or used AI-based models to diagnose STS were included. Results Nine studies were included in this meta-analysis. The common effects model yielded an accuracy of 0.8923 [0.8831; 0.9016], and the random effects model yielded an accuracy of 0.8524 …

Exploring Ai Technology In Grammar Performance Testing For Children With Learning Disabilities, Dimitra V. Katsarou, Evangelos Mantsos, Soultana Papadopoulou, Maria Sofologi, Efthymia Efthymiou, Ilias Vasileiou, Kalliopi Megari, Maria Theodoratou, Georgios A. Kougioumtzis

All Works

The study explores the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in addressing grammar challenges among children with learning disabilities, aiming to assess the efficacy of an AI-driven tool for personalized interventions. A sample of 100 children aged 8–12, diagnosed with learning disabilities, was recruited from special education programs. Participants were divided into an experimental group (n = 50), which used an AI-based grammar assessment tool with personalized feedback, and a control group (n = 50), which completed conventional paper-based grammar tests without feedback. The AI tool administered adaptive grammar tasks, including sentence correction and verb conjugation, and performance was evaluated over …

Organizational Health Psychology: A Compilation Of Open Access Research For Future Industrial-Organizational Psychologists, Caitlin Lapine

Open Touro Created

2025

Organizational Health Psychology: A Compilation of Open Access Research for Future Industrial-Organizational Psychologists is a text designed for industrial organizational psychology graduate students and organizational practitioners working to make the workplace better for all employees. This open educational resource provides important scholarly journal articles that describe current findings in the occupational health space, including research conducted on the COVID-19 pandemic’s influence on current work.

The Relationship Between Industry Regulation And The Quality Of Micro-Dramas, Shuoyu Yao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This paper is a study on the micro-drama industry, exploring the reasons for a large number of low-quality micro-dramas. Specifically, there are two potential problems: (1) the industry value allocation model is unreasonable, so producing high-quality micro-dramas does not receive sufficient returns; (2) regulatory oversight of the industry is insufficient. To investigate this recent phenomenon and the underlying problems, we collected a dataset of 165 micro-dramas and use the newly introduced regulation on the micro-drama industry in June 2024 as a policy shock. The findings show that, before the new regulations were introduced, micro-dramas with higher quality in expression received …

Study On Sustainable Development Of Energy Innovation, Maoli Guo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Energy innovation and sustainable development play significant roles in the economic development and technological progress of a country. This paper first reviews the measurement methods of energy efficiency in existing literature, selects evaluation indicators based on the influencing factors of energy system performance, and proposes an energy efficiency evaluation method combining the Malmquist index and the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model to evaluate and test the performance of energy sustainable development in each province of China from 2005 to 2021.

The study finds that, firstly, the energy efficiency in China has generally shown an upward trend, but there are significant …

Family Succession And Corporate Investment Policy, Weiting Lin

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Family firms play a significant role in economic and social development, making substantial contributions to wealth creation, employment generation, and the enhancement of social welfare. However, the development of family firms faces numerous challenges, among which intergenerational succession stands out as one of the most critical. The intergenerational succession of family firms is crucial for their long-term sustainable development. In China, since the reform and opening up, private enterprises have experienced rapid growth, with most family firms still under the control of their first-generation founders. These firms are now entering a critical period of succession. The unique political, business, and …

A Study On Paths And Effectiveness Of Internationalization Of Chinese Apparel Enterprises, Xiaohong Gao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

As globalization advances, international expansion has become a key strategy for firms to enhance their competitive edge. Nevertheless, current literature predominantly centers on developed countries, often overlooking the distinct obstacles and prospects encountered by companies from emerging markets. This gap is particularly evident in the apparel sector, where the impact of branding strategies on internationalization outcomes remains underexplored. This paper constructs an analytical framework of “internationalization context - internationalization pathway selection - internationalization performance”, combines case studies and empirical analysis to explore this research issue in depth, and applies the results of the research to enterprise practice.

This paper analyzes …

Entrepreneurial Spirit And Firm Performance: An Empirical Study Based On Data From The Star Market​, Zhige Zhang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Entrepreneurial spirit, as a vital production factor in contemporary society, plays a leading and guiding role throughout the entire life cycle of a business. In particular, entrepreneurial innovation spirit, a key element of entrepreneurial spirit, is a pivotal engine of economic and societal progress. This paper adopts an empirical research approach to analyze the correlation between entrepreneurial innovation spirit and firm outcome, delving into the impact of entrepreneurial innovation spirit on a firm's operational efficiency, profitability, solvency, and development capabilities. The findings provide theoretical support and practical guidance for enterprise management, ultimately contributing to the creation of greater corporate value …

Digital Twin Dynamics: Employee’S Willingness To Adopt Ai Digital-Twin In A Craftsmanship Environment, Seow Hoon Tee

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Singapore’s manufacturing sector, contributing 22% to the nation’s GDP, is undergoing a strategic transformation under the Manufacturing 2030 vision, which aims to increase sector value by 50%. However, a critical challenge emerges in the widening age gap among craftsmen, particularly between 30 and 50 years old, misaligning with succession planning efforts. As senior craftsmen approach retirement, the urgency to transfer specialized expertise significantly increases. In response, initiatives such as the National AI Strategy (NAIS) 2.0 and Industry 5.0 efforts by the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) and Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC) emphasize AI-driven solutions to enhance knowledge retention and …

Deputization And Privileged White Violence, Ekow N. Yankah

Articles

A number of high-profile and racially charged killings, such as Trayvon Martin’s, Kenneth Herring’s, Ahmaud Arbery’s, and Jordan Neely’s, have been at the hands of civilians declaring themselves the law. These deaths stemmed from a phenomenon best described as “deputization.” Deputization describes a latent legal power that has empowered White people throughout American history to claim authority to enforce the law, as they see it, upon racial minorities generally and Black people in particular. This power turned the ancient common law duty to police all felons in England into a specific American common law duty to police Blacks. From the …

An Empirical Analysis Of Pricing And Payments In The Pharmaceutical Industry, Rahul Narnindi

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

High prescription drug prices in the US are a major hurdle on the road to improved public health. On a per-capita basis, US prescription drug spending is more than twice that of comparable OECD peer nations and yet the health outcomes achieved are worse. Policymakers try to implement countermeasures, such as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, to reduce the burden on the public but these countermeasures may result in unintended consequences. In this thesis, I study the effectiveness of two of these countermeasures and their unintended consequences. My first essay investigates prescription (Rx) to over the counter (OTC) drug …

Exploring Business' And Consumers' Engagement On E-Commerce Platforms, Yichen Wang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The rapid growth of e-commerce platforms has changed how consumers make decisions and how sellers advertise their products. This dissertation examines two key aspects: consumer choice modeling in dynamic online shopping environments and sellers' strategic advertising decisions in competitive markets.

The first essay introduces a Hierarchical Bayesian model to improve the understanding of Individual-Variant Choice Sets (IVCS), where consumers' choice sets change over time and include multiple selections. Traditional models struggle to account for these complexities due to restrictive assumptions. The proposed model introduces a flexible covariance structure that captures perceived similarities between alternatives, leading to better predictive accuracy. Validation …

A Study Of The Impact Of Brand Management Strategies On Brand Rejuvenation - Evidence Based On Chinese Baijiu Brands, Hao Chen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In recent years, China Baijiu industry has faced the challenges of a shrinking consumer market, aging and the rise of young consumers, prompting Baijiu brands to seek new growth points, especially to attract younger groups. As a result, brand rejuvenation has become a key strategic objective for spirits companies. Given that brand extension and brand alliance are effective strategies for traditional brands to expand into new markets, this study develops a model to explore the impact of these two brand management strategies on Baijiu brand rejuvenation and analyses the mediating roles of brand image and brand awareness as well as …

Research On The Technology And Economy Of Intelligent Transformation Of Textile Enterprises, Hongxia Zhang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The Chinese government has proposed to promote the high-end, intelligent and green development of manufacturing in the next step. The China Textile Industry Federation issued the “14th Five-Year Development Outline for the Textile Industry”, emphasizing accelerating the development of intelligent manufacturing system integrators in the textile field to achieve the transformation and upgrading of the industry. At present, the outstanding problems restricting the rapid development of intelligent manufacturing in China’s textile industry include: Imperfect evaluation indicators; The management system does not match; The reconstruction path is not clear.
This topic (1) constructs a big data policy co-word network through quantitative …

Research On The Influence Of The Quantity And Quality Of Young Talents On Regional Economic Development, Jinzhao Liu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This study focuses on the critical impact of both the quantity and quality of young talent on regional, particularly urban, economic development in terms of pace and quality. The paper examines how educated and innovative youth serve as catalysts for economic progress, driving innovation and entrepreneurship in urban areas. Through an examination of economic growth theories and innovation-driven development models, the research employs a Cobb-Douglas production function for empirical analysis, revealing the significant positive influence of high-quality young populations on regional GDP growth.

Concurrently, case studies of Zhongguancun and Suzhou's textile industry demonstrate the transformative power of young talent in …

Designing Pull-Based Energy System Rules For Public Buildings: An Application Of Modularity, Lei Wang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Building energy systems, particularly Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, play a pivotal role in global sustainability efforts. Yet, traditional centralized HVAC systems continue to face major challenges: high energy consumption, significant operational costs, and limited adaptability to dynamic energy demands. These inefficiencies are compounded by the difficulty of integrating renewable energy sources into outdated system designs. As a result, substantial energy waste persists, posing obstacles to cost-effective, environmentally sustainable building operations.

This dissertation proposes a modular, pull-based energy framework to address these critical challenges. By combining the principles of modularity theory with demand-driven energy distribution, the framework enables …

Rome Was Not Built In A Day — Impact Of Market Agility And External Awareness On Iterative Innovation In Online Gaming Industry, Li Ming Gu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Despite the prosperity of online gaming industry in China, online gaming firms cannot ignore the survival crisis brought by fierce competition. It is quite common for game developers to face issues like low game survival rates and poor performance, with some games even failing upon launch. To address these challenges and gain competitive advantages, game developers accelerate iteration speed and continuously provide users with new content or services. Since most companies found they cannot meet their development needs through traditional innovation models, understanding how to achieve high performance through iterative innovation has become crucial for game developers. Innovation starts with …

A Low-Carbon Approach For Lime Production Using Self-Propagating High Temperature Synthesis-Driven Limestone Calcination, Shubham Agrawal, Sayee Srikarah Volaity, Srinivas Kilambi, Aditya Kumar, Narayanan Neithalath

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Limestone calcination produces calcium oxide (or lime), that forms the basis for the manufacturing of many critical engineering materials such as cement and iron-and-steel. Limestone calcination—an endothermic reaction—is regarded as one of the most energy-and-CO₂ intensive industrial chemical reactions, and is facilitated by fossil fuels, since the high temperature requirement (∼900 °C) renders it less conducive to electrification through renewable energy sources. In this study, a novel, low-temperature (∼450 °C) pathway for ultrafast calcination of limestone using combustion synthesis or self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) is developed. SHS leverages exothermic heat from the combustion of lignin or biomass—as low-carbon fuels—mixed …

Irreducible Three-Loop Vacuum-Polarization Correction In Muonic Bound Systems, Gregory S. Adkins, Ulrich D. Jentschura

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Three-loop electronic vacuum-polarization corrections due to irreducible diagrams are evaluated for two-body muonic ions with nuclear charge numbers 1≤Z≤6. The corrections are of order α3(Zα)2mr, where α is the fine-structure constant and mr is the reduced mass. Numerically, the energy corrections are found to be of the same order of magnitude as the largest of the order α2(Zα)6mr corrections, and are thus phenomenologically interesting. Our method of calculation eliminates numerical uncertainty encountered in other approaches.

Phases And Phase Transitions Of The Disordered Quantum Clock Model, Pulloor Kuttanikkad Vishnu, Gaurav Khairnar, Rajesh Narayanan, Thomas Vojta

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We study the phases and phase transitions of a disordered one-dimensional quantum q-state clock Hamiltonian using large-scale Monte Carlo simulations. Making contact with earlier results, we confirm that the clean, translational invariant version of the model, for q=6, hosts an intermediate emergent quasi-long-range ordered (QLRO) phase between the symmetry-broken true long-range ordered (TLRO) phase and the disordered (paramagnetic) phase. With increasing disorder strength, the quasi-long-range ordered phase shrinks and finally vanishes at a multicritical point, beyond which there is a direct transition from the TLRO phase to the paramagnetic phase. After establishing the phase diagram, we characterize the critical behaviors …

Plural Water Narratives: An Environmental Justice Lens On A Systematic Review Of Q-Methodology Water Research, Melissa Haeffner, Alida Cantor, Janet Cowal, Andrea Bryant, Darius Mani Yaw, Kinna Je Palacios, Daniela Serna, Bryce Sprauer, Abigail Tran-Gruver

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Environmental justice research has shown that people's experiences and perceptions of water differ because systematic inequalities shape the extent to which people access clean water and are exposed to water hazards. Q‐methodology is one technique that has been used to aggregate multifaceted subjective narratives and understand different perspectives on a topic. In this paper, we systematically review 77 case study articles applying Q‐methodology to water‐related topics, to inventory how people perceive their relationships with water. We create a classification system based on environmental justice theory to examine (1) distributive justice issues around alternative water sources and agricultural and urban water …

Geographic Disparities In Unpaid Caregiving, Emma Kathryn Boswell, Monique J. Brown Ph.D., Mph, Lorie Donelle Phd, Rn, Fcan, Nicholas Yell, Taryn Farrell, Peiyin Hung Ph.D., Elizabeth Crouch Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Purpose: An updated, nationally representative examination of rural–urban differences in the experiences, health, and well-being of caregivers is needed; previous research on this topic uses older data or has limited generalizability. This study examines rural–urban differences in the characteristics, experiences, and health of caregivers. Methods: The 2021–2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (n = 44,274 unpaid caregivers) was used, with rurality defined according to the 2013 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Urban-Rural Classification Scheme. Chi-square tests compared rural–urban differences in these caregivers’ characteristics, including demographic factors, caregiving intensity (e.g., weekly hours spent caregiving, reason for caregiving, past-month ADL/IADL assistance), …