Digital Commons Network^™

Volunteering And Spiritual Practices: A Cross-Country Analysis In The Seventh-Day Adventist Context, Elbert Kuhn

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Although the number of Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) volunteers worldwide has increased dramatically, the Church continues to face challenges in engaging people, particularly young adults, in volunteer and mission projects on a global scale. While interest in volunteering is growing, especially in countries within the southern hemisphere, the percentage of participation remains disproportionately small in comparison to the global church membership. Given this disparity, there is a pressing need to research the impact of the volunteer experience on spiritual practices and discipline. Understanding how volunteering influences young adults’ spiritual growth is critical to developing strategies that can effectively engage more …

A Strategy To Address The Challenges Of Intergenerational Conflict In The Haitian Churches At The Southeastern Conference In Florida, Nicolas Louis

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Haitian churches in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) of Florida, are severely affected by intergenerational conflict, persisting between young people and adults who cannot get along. Churches affected by this misunderstanding are facing a loss of young people, particularly college-educated members and people with vocational skills. This conflict has touched entire congregations, decreasing growth numerically and financially. Between 2013 and 2018, there was a 60 percent decline in members with college degrees and vocational skills. This study analyzes this intergenerational conflict, which manifests in disagreements over leadership preferences and worship styles.

Method

To address this problem, I established a series …

Exosomes: Historical Evolution And Emerging Roles In Dermatology, Nina Schur, Luna Samman, Milaan Shah, Victoria Dukharan, Carol Stegura, Luke Broughton, Todd Schlesinger

GME Publications

Background: Exosomes are a nanoscale extracellular vesicles derived from different cell types that have been investigated for various clinical applications, including functioning as biomarkers and use as direct therapeutics. Given the role of exosomes in multiple pathophysiologic pathways and potential practical applications, they have garnered significant interest in the scientific community but much is still unknown about their development and use.

Aims: This literature review covers the background, mechanisms of action, use as biomarkers, methods of application, and direct therapeutic applications of exosomes.

Methods: A literature review on the background and uses of exosomes was conducted. Key articles describing the …

Early Tissue Changes Linked To Diabetes: Insights From A Preclinical Model, Bryan Liu, Ramiro Cisneros, Estephania Garcia, Jimena Mora, Sumedha Guha, Evelin Rios, Krishna Prajapati, Danieli Rodrigues, Bhuvana Lakkasetter Chandrashekar, Claudia Biguetti

School of Podiatric Medicine - Student Research

Introduction and Hypothesis: The aim of this study is to compare soft tissue morphology and fibrosis pathology of different organs between diabetic and non-diabetic rats. Type 2 diabetes causes soft tissue remodeling in organ systems including heart, kidney, spleen, and pancreas. Fibrotic remodeling is a common pathological mechanism seen in diabetes-related organ dysfunction. By understanding fibrotic pathology in rats, it serves as a foundation to develop lower limb models applicable to podiatry. These systemic changes caused by diabetes may also play a role in lower limb changes such as diabetic ulcers and delayed wound healing.

Methodology: Male Lewis rats (6 …

Leading The Church Out Of White Supremacy And Toward Biblical Justice And Reconciliation: A Leadership Approach Using The Arc Model, Keenan Tyler

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Seventh-day Adventist church members need to be equipped to respond faithfully to injustice in their communities, beginning with an understanding as to how to respond to systemic racism rooted in White Supremacy.

Method

This Doctor of Ministry project implemented an adapted form of Jamar Tisby’s ARC model—Awareness, Relationships, Commitment—contextualized for a Seventh-day Adventist theological and ecclesial setting. The immediate goal was to move beyond raising awareness of racial injustice to equipping congregations to actively resist systemic racism and dismantle the lingering influence of white supremacy in church life and mission. Over six interactive sessions, 18 participants engaged in historical, …

Transforming Pathfinder Acculturation Gaps: Confronting Intergenerational Cultural Conflict Between First- And Second- Generation Immigrants With Family Strengthening Workshops Among Scottish Mission Pathfinders And Their Parents, Njabulo King Ndlovu

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The immigrant population in the UK is rapidly increasing along with correlated increases in the membership of both the British Union Conference (BUC) and the Scottish Mission (SM) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Scottish Mission Pathfinder clubs (SMPCs) have many immigrant children. However, as immigrants’ home culture comes into continuous contact with the British culture, acculturation gaps between first- and second-generation immigrants tend to form naturally as a result of the differing pace with which these two generations acculturate. Adolescents are generally thought to adapt quicker. Parent-child miscommunication and disagreement on critical matters such as values, beliefs, and …

A Cross-Cultural And Inter-Ethnic Awareness Strategy For Members Of Ipswich, Colchester And Clacton Adventist Churches, Robin Johannes Lewis

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The three multicultural, multi-ethnic (MCME) churches in my district were facing tension among members from diverse cultures, ethnicities, countries of origin, and languages. Factions formed cliques and vied for leadership roles, while some groups appeared to dominate the worship services. Certain members became upset when people with difficult accents from specific language groups led out in services and could not be understood. Others shared their distinctive foods only within their own groups. Some members felt isolated and believed they lacked a voice.

Method

Nine seminars and workshops were organised to raise awareness among the MCME congregants about the causes …

A Strategy To Address Youth Homelessness In The Minneapolis Metro Area For The Southview Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Sean Lee

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s teaching on serving a vulnerable neighbor is a crucial foundation of the identity of church members as the disciples of Jesus. Therefore, each congregation needs to be aware of the needs of the community it serves. Furthermore, it is crucial to identify vulnerable neighbors and develop targeted strategies to address their specific needs and issues. According to government reports and media coverage on the issue of youth homelessness in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro area, youth homelessness is an existing issue, even though resources are invested to address it. Moreover, research shows that the …

Clarifying Concreteness: Statutory Grants Of Standing After Spokeo And Transunion, Naomi Eid

FIU Law Review

Article III limits the federal judicial power to deciding “cases” and “controversies,” demanding that a plaintiff suffer real, concrete, de facto harm to sue in federal court. In Spokeo and TransUnion, the Supreme Court clarified the outer limits of concreteness by making clear to plaintiffs that an injury in law is not an injury in fact. The Court largely grounded the decisions in the separation of powers, setting a tone that appears less deferential to Congress in its creation of statutory rights of action. A plaintiff does not automatically satisfy the injury-in-fact requirement whenever Congress grants a right and purports …

The Interchangeable-Part Structure Of Food And Drug Law, Adam I. Muchmore

FIU Law Review

This Article demonstrates that nested tiers of interchangeable parts serve as the foundation for the regulatory programs administered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Core interchangeable parts used in FDA-administered programs include product categories, prohibitions on adulteration and misbranding, agency-registration requirements, current good manufacturing practices, product standards, marketing authorization requirements, postmarket requirements, and user fees. In each of these areas, Congress or the FDA has engaged in interchangeable-part lawmaking (IPL). IPL occurs when a government takes a portion of its law in one subject area and uses it as a model for its own law in another subject area. …

Between Pixels And Predators: The Landscape Of Sexual Assault And Rape In The Metaverse, Natalia Rydzewski

FIU Law Review

This article explores the potential expansion of criminal prosecution in virtual reality spaces as it relates to sexual assault.

White Christian Nationalism & Antisemitism: A True Threat, Doron Kalir

FIU Law Review

The ideology of Jewish hatred, also known as antisemitism, has deep roots. In the United States, antisemitism has known a long and complicated history; in the early 1940s, it reached peak levels. Now, more than 80 years later, antisemitism again rears its ugly head, aiming to end the Golden Age of American Jewry. The exclusionary ideology aiming to obliterate the wall separating Church and state, and to institutionalize Christian identity and values into the public square, also known as White Christian Nationalism, has deep roots. In the United States, it had a long and complicated history; by the mid 1920s, …

Exploring The Intersectionality Of Antisemitism And The Law: A Case Study Of The Crown Heights Riots And Aftermath, Stephen Sussman, Carole Huberman

FIU Law Review

Antisemitism does not exist in isolation; it often intersects with other forms of discrimination and prejudice. Examining these intersections is crucial to understanding the broader dynamics of discrimination and developing effective strategies. Antisemitism and racism often intersect in complex ways. Historical examples include the portrayal of Jews as racially inferior or “other” during periods of heightened racial tension. This intersection has implications for policies related to hate crimes, racial profiling, and equal protection under the law. This research examines the complex interplay between antisemitism and the legal system, using the Crown Heights Riots of 1991 as a focal point. The …

Adding Complexity To The International Climate Finance Framework: The Loss And Damage Fund, Henrique Schneider

FIU Law Review

This paper addresses the following questions: What does this new institution finance? How can the outputs or outcomes of its financing be assessed? How do they relate to the other institutions engaged in climate finance? Responding to these questions helps understanding why setting up this fund was controversial among climate negotiators and remains a source of potential problems legally and from the point of view of climate economics. This text is organized as follows: Section 1 briefly describes the different types of global institutions dedicated to climate finance. Section 2 discusses the genesis of the Loss and Damage Fund. Section …

Prurient Interests: The Law Of Sexual Desire, Lawrence M. Friedman

FIU Law Review

A recent book by George Fisher tries to explain the history of drug and alcohol laws in terms of social and legal norms against whatever can rob people of rational thinking; this article extends the analysis to laws about sexual behavior in the last two centuries, their rise and fall.

Unvaccinated By Doubt: How Covid-19 Governance Sparked A Measles Revival, Ellen Black

FIU Law Review

A measles outbreak occurred in the United States this year, with measle cases reaching the highest levels in over two decades, even though the disease had been declared eliminated in 2000. In large part, this measles resurgence can be traced to unvaccinated individuals who have chosen to disregard public health officials' vaccination guidance. Clearly, the public has lost trust in their governmental public health officials. As the next disease outbreak looms, the need for restoration of trust becomes imperative.

This article demonstrates how the government's actions during COVID-19 further led to this lack of trust, by providing conflicting guidance as …

The Hunger Games: Food As A Right, Not A Privilege, Camesha F. Little

FIU Law Review

Despite the United Nations' explicit declaration that all humans have a right to food, food insecurity and hunger remain persistent problems in the United States and around the globe. The dystopian landscapes depicted in novels such as The Hunger Games and Parable of the Sower—societies crippled by poverty, oppression, and pervasive starvation—resonate with sobering contemporary realities. This Article examines existing food laws, food rights, and the current protections safeguarding the United States food supply from a humanitarian perspective. Ultimately, this Article argues that the human right to food must expand to encompass a right to healthy or natural food, and …

Multifaceted Life Skills Training And Job-Orientation Supports For Individuals In Vocational Rehabilitation Programming, Laura R. Mccray

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

There is growing support for those with an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD) in the transition process and within the workplace, however, there are areas that need to be addressed to facilitate further inclusion and success in this domain. There are structured institutions within the community that extend support for those transitioning out of high school, focusing on aligning with life training and professional skills while promoting societal integration by delivering services directly and avoiding isolation within traditional service environments (Accardo & Whitman, 2011). Growing research highlights the necessity of providing resources that support individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities …

Deep Learning-Driven Biometric Security: Advancing Liveness Detection And Anti-Spoofing Techniques, Banafsheh Adami

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Biometric authentication has become a key part of our everyday lives—from unlocking smartphones with a fingerprint or face to verifying identities in banks and airports. These systems rely on our unique physical or behavioral traits, making them both convenient and secure. Unlike passwords, biometrics cannot be forgotten or stolen in the traditional sense. However, they are not without risk. One of the biggest concerns is spoofing: attempts by attackers to fool systems using fake biometric traits, such as silicone fingerprints or AI-generated videos.

As generative AI tools become more powerful and accessible, the ability to create convincing fake biometric data …

The Quick Dash Reformed: Increasing The Holisticity And Occupational Nature Of Upper Extremity Therapeutic Evaluation, Lauren E. Garcia

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Background: The QuickDASH is one of the most common upper extremity (UE) focused patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) utilized within current practice. Despite its high utilization rate, there are still many concerns surrounding the QuickDASH, including its applicability to certain populations, difficulty with cross-cultural adaptation, and limited psychosocial evaluation. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and implement a reformed version of the QuickDASH, the OT-DASH, that included modernized and occupation-focused language to achieve increased client applicability and yield more accurate comparisons between client perceptions of dysfunction and their true clinical presentations. Theoretical framework: The Person-Environment-Occupation-Performance model was utilized …

A Post Apocalyptic Romp: Designing Costumes For Phoebe In Winter, Emmalee Berger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis will document the process of costume designing for Phoebe in Winter by Jen Silverman. It will examine the process from first read of the script through initial and final design meetings and to execution and production of the design. This will report on challenges specific to this production, such as nudity and violence on an academic stage, and the subsequent solutions. Phoebe in Winter was produced by West Virginia University School of Theatre and Dance in October of 2024. The design process began in February of the same year.

The Economics Of Healthcare Fraud, Jetson Leder- Luis, Anup Malani

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

Healthcare fraud imposes a sizable cost on U.S. public healthcare budgets and distorts health care provision. We examine the economics of health care fraud and enforcement using theory and data and connect to a growing literature on the topic. We first offer a new economic definition of health care fraud that captures and connects the wide range of activities prosecuted as fraud. We define fraud as any divergence between the care an insurer says a patient qualifies for, the care a provider provides, and the care a provider bills for. Our definition clarifies the economic consequences of different categories of …

Stubhub For Courts? Technology, Markets, And New Solutions To Court Congestion, Ronen Avraham, William H. J. Hubbard

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

Rescheduling of court hearings is ubiquitous but virtually ignored by academic scholarship. This is so, despite its contributions to court congestion, a perennial problem for courts that has been the subject of repeated, and repeatedly unsuccessful, efforts at reform. In this Article, we aim to show that rescheduling merits scholarly attention, and by diagnosing why and how it contributes to court congestion and delay, we both explain why most efforts at reducing delay fail and identify new possibilities for speeding up dockets. We draw inspiration from online platforms such as StubHub and SpareFare, technologies that have facilitated rescheduling through easy-to-use …

From Wtp To Wtf: Valuation And Distributive Discourse, Lee Anne Fennell

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Sensory Organization Tasks On Prefrontal Cortex Activity In Older Women: A Comparative Fnirs Study Of Osteoarthritis And Healthy Aging, Alka Bishnoi, Yang Hu, Manuel E. Hernandez

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA), a prevalent musculoskeletal condition, is associated with an increased risk of falls. Maintaining posture relies on visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive inputs, but these systems can be compromised due to aging or disease, heightening fall risk. Such impairments may result from neuromuscular decline and reduced cognitive or visuospatial processing abilities. This study aimed to investigate prefrontal cortical (PFC) activation patterns during clinical sensory organization tasks (SOT) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in older women with OA and healthy controls (HOA). We hypothesized that PFC activation would increase as SOT conditions became more challenging, but that increases would be …

Constitutional Drafting Processes And Constitutional Success, Adam Chilton, Murat C. Mungan, Mila Versteeg

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

Several recent constitution-making processes have been celebrated for being participatory, inclusive, and representative. However, many of these processes also failed. We theorize that aspects of these kinds of constitutional drafting processes could reduce the probability of constitutional success. To show why, we construct a “Constitution Drafting game” (CD game) in which representatives from different interest groups must draft a constitution. We consider the case where the probability of constitutional success is single peaked, but the value from successful adoption is increasing in the degree of issue protection chosen. The drafting process then leads to protection choices that are above those …

The Limits And Promise Of Global Antitrust Law, Anu Bradford, Adam Chilton, Katerina Linos

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

A large body of evidence suggests that open, competitive markets are a key driver of economic development. In recognition of this fact, many of the world’s leading economies not only adopted their own antitrust laws to promote fair competition, but they also urged developing countries around the world to do the same. This resulted in a remarkable proliferation of global antitrust law over the last several decades. Many studies have empirically examined the effect of this development, and, consistent with the hopes of policymakers, they have largely found that adopting antitrust laws produces positive economic outcomes.

In this Article, we …

The Tom Sawyer Effect: Invisible Work And Labor Market Power, Eric A. Posner

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

Certain types of work-like behavior are not treated as paid labor in the law and are therefore not taxed or given workplace protections and are often not understood to be work by ordinary people. This kind of “invisible work” is exceedingly common. It encompasses not only the frequently discussed example of household labor, but also the work, or some of the work, of athletes, soldiers, students, artists, volunteers, religious and political figures, and consumers who implicitly trade work—and money—for products and services. Invisible work is the product of cultural understandings left over from the past or manufactured by businesses, which …

Those Elusive Algorithmic Harms: A Comment On Bar-Gill And Sunstein, Algorithmic Harm, Omri Ben-Shahar

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

Can we talk about harms of algorithms—of anything—without comparing them to the benefits? In Algorithmic Harm, Bar-Gill and Sunstein develop a theoretical framework to assess the impact of algorithms in consumer markets, focusing on harmful manipulation of unsophisticated buyers. But the same framework yields additional insights, not explored in the book—how algorithmic targeting and personalized prices benefit this same group of consumers. In this contribution to the book symposium, I examine this missing part, suggesting that algorithms’ ability to recognize different consumers often yields treatments favorable to weaker groups of consumers—an effect richly documented in the empirical economic literature. Absent …

Antitrust Analysis Of Vertical Restraints In Labor Markets, Eric A. Posner

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

Vertical restraints in labor markets are a neglected topic, but have taken on importance as the harms caused by labor market restraints have gained greater recognition. These restraints are typically a form of input foreclosure, which refers to action of a downstream buyer of inputs to hinder its competitors from accessing those inputs. But while labor markets are important input markets, there has been little discussion of how input foreclosure can be used to evaluate anticompetitive labor market transactions. This article fills that gap by providing a framework for analyzing input foreclosure in labor markets.