Digital Commons Network^™

Marriage Trafficking Of Minority Ethnic Women And Girls In North And South Vietnam: Traditional Dowries And Bride Price As A Subterfuge For Human Trafficking, Nikita Tran

Master's Theses

This is a qualitative capstone project that examines marriage trafficking affecting minority ethnic communities in North and South Vietnam. Through a qualitative descriptive research, the significant findings include: (a) girls and women from ethnic minority groups are the most vulnerable to marriage trafficking, (b) marriage trafficking was most prevalent in the mountainous, rural regions of north Vietnam, (c) dowries are used and significantly impact the marriage proposals, (d) most girls and women are marriage trafficked to China, (e) the challenges of staying and leaving a marriage trafficking situation are complex, including leaving their children and facing social stigma, (f) the …

Linking Fishery Productivity To Child Health In The Coastal Tropics, Francisco Flores-Mejia

Master's Theses

Fish are a primary source of calories, macronutrients, and income for coastal communities around the world, but overfishing and environmental changes have dramatically reduced productivity in the majority of small-scale fisheries. The social costs of these losses are believed to be large, particularly in poorer communities, but most estimates of fishery productivity effects on households are contextual and difficult to generalize. We combine a remote sensing measure of pelagic fishery productivity with geolocated child health and growth data from 34 countries in the coastal tropics. We estimate that the difference between sustainedly good versus bad fishing conditions corresponds up to …

Urban Green Space As Climate Infrastructure, Wyatt W. Del Valle

Master's Theses

This thesis estimates the causal effect of urban parks on land surface temperature in the

American Southeast using a geographic regression discontinuity at park boundaries. The

result is null. Within a CCT-optimal 257-meter bandwidth across five cities, park interiors

are not detectably cooler than the land immediately outside them:−0.023 °C, p = 0.926.

A two-way fixed effects panel across 20 cities and 39 years confirms the well-documented

NDVI–LST relationship—a 0.1-unit increase in NDVI is associated with 3.4 °C lower surface

temperature—while a park size heterogeneity model runs directly into the siting endogeneity

problem, showing why naive distance gradients cannot be …

Spatial Analysis Of Maize Yields And Household Dietary Diversity In Sub-Saharan Africa: Causal Evidence From A Machine Learning Instrument, Addi Joof

Master's Theses

MAIZE YIELDS AND HOUSEHOLD DIETARY DIVERSITY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: EVIDENCE ON THE CAUSAL EFFECT FROM A MACHINE LEARNING INSTRUMENT

Addi Joof, University of San Francisco, May 2026

This paper provides estimates of the effect of maize yield on household dietary diversity across seven Sub-Saharan African countries, using data from 36,474 maize-growing households in the Living Standards Measurement Study Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) panels for the period 2008--2021. OLS estimates which include district and country-by-wave fixed effects yield a positive and significant coefficient of 0.070 (SE = 0.006, p < 0.001), implying that a 10 percent increase in maize yield raises the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) by approximately 0.007 food groups. Because self-reported yields are subject to classical measurement error and unobserved household characteristics confound the OLS estimate, we construct an instrumental variable using a Random Forest model trained on satellite-derived agro-environmental features including the Enhanced Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Growing Degree Days, precipitation, and soil moisture obtained from Google Earth Engine at the GPS-coordinate-by-year level. Our preferred 2SLS specification, which adds region fixed effects to absorb persistent sub-national geographic variation, returns a positive point estimate of 0.217 (SE = 0.206; 95% CI: -0.19 to +0.63, p = 0.294) larger than OLS and consistent with downward attenuation bias, but imprecisely estimated and statistically indistinguishable from zero at conventional levels. We interpret the OLS estimate of 0.070 as a credible lower bound on the true effect, with the IV evidence pointing to a moderately larger but uncertain magnitude. Heterogeneity analysis reveals a declining gradient across consumption quintiles the effect is strongest among the poorest households (Q1: 0.055, p < 0.01) and diminishes with wealth (Q5: 0.015, not significant) while showing no gradient across market-integration levels. These patterns are consistent with own-consumption, rather than market income from surplus sales, as the primary pathway from yield to dietary diversity. OLS estimates are positive and significant in five of six estimable countries. The findings suggest that maize yield improvements can serve as a nutrition co-investment, particularly for subsistence-oriented smallholders, though the available data do not permit a sharp causal quantification of the effect size.

Keywords: dietary diversity, maize yields, instrumental variables, Sub-Saharan Africa, LSMS-ISA, satellite …

Trust, Civic Institutions, And Crisis: A Study Of Civic Culture In Italy, Nolan Joseph Sherwood

Master's Theses

This paper examines whether cultural familism — the orientation of trust toward family at the expense of strangers and civic institutions — shapes civic institutional engagement in Italy across three levels of analysis. The first analysis links four familism indices constructed from the European Values Study (2017) to pre-COVID municipal 5 per mille tax allocation rates across approximately 7,700 Italian municipalities, finding that higher Trust Gap and Institutional Distrust robustly predict lower baseline civic giving, both nationally and within each region. The second analysis uses a Regression Discontinuity in Time design exploiting the sharp onset of COVID-19 in 2020, finding …

The Feather Of The Quill: How Folklore Shapes Human Relationships With Wildlife, Taylor Breeanne Nelson

Master's Theses

This thesis examines how folklore and cultural phenomena shape human relationships with wildlife, arguing that the stories a society tells about animals are not merely reflective of its values but are constitutive of them. Drawing on narrative research methods sourced from literature and academic journals and interviews with academics, conservationists, and community members, this project examines the role of animal folklore.

I discuss how narratives around wildlife evolved alongside the development of the United States, arguing that the beginnings of mainstream American conservation not only displaced existing communities but also erased the sophisticated human-animal relationships their traditions had long sustained. …

Herd Conditions And Food Security: Evidence From Kenya, Kira J. Enriquez

Master's Theses

Food insecurity is worsening across Kenya's Arid and Semi-Arid Lands, where over three million people currently face acute hunger. Among pastoral communities in these regions, livestock are the central productive asset and primary food source. When herds deteriorate, households face falling milk production and the erosion of assets that would otherwise buffer consumption during difficult periods. This paper tests whether livestock body condition and rangeland forage quality predict household food coping behavior, and whether those relationships differ above and below a Micawber-style herd size threshold. Using a panel of 232 pastoralist households surveyed across five ASAL counties between 2021 and …

Reviving Revive. Is The Notion Of An Independent Artist An Outdated Concept?, Richard C. Moore Mr

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

This article published in Spectator Magazine - online - is a reflection on whether or not a cultural policy is a means of controlling the artistic community and whether there is still such a being as an independent Australian artist. It was published as the 2026 submissions for an update to Australia's cultural policy REVIVE -  were closing.

Lowland Tropical Forests Remain A Methane Sink Under Warming And Long-Term Hurricane Disturbance Recovery, Gabriele Larocca Conte, Lucia Zuvela, Rachel Cruz-Pérez, Tatiana Barreto-Vélez, Nibia Becerra-Santillan, Sophia F. Campbell, Hieu P. Chu, Trung Dam, Iana F. Grullón-Penkova, Miriam Kleit, Deyaneira A. Ortiz-Iglesias, Laura C. Rubio-Lebrón, Molly A. Cavaleri, Sasha C. Reed, Debjani Sihi, Tana E. Wood, Christine S. O'Connell

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Methane (CH₄) is a potent greenhouse gas, and tropical forests account for roughly one–third of global atmospheric CH₄ uptake by soils. Projected warming and more frequent hurricanes in these ecosystems may alter soil CH₄ sink strength, as warmer and wetter soils enhance methanogenesis activity. We measured soil CH₄ and CO₂ efflux during the calendar summer months of 2023 and 2024 alongside continuous records of soil moisture, soil and air temperature, and precipitation in an in–situ warming experiment (TRACE) located in a lowland tropical forest in Puerto Rico, six to seven years after Hurricanes Irma …

Soil Dna-Phosphorus: Method Optimisation And Application Across Uk Soils, Margaret Massam, Daniel Menezes-Blackburn, Mohammed Al Kasbi, Catherine Wearing, Marc Stutter, Courtney D. Giles, Tegan Darch, Timothy S. George, Charles Shand, David Lumsdon, Martin Blackwell, Hao Zhang, Patricia Cooper, Renate Wendler, Lawrie Brown, Philip M. Haygarth

Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences

Despite growing recognition of rapid diester P turnover, quantitative data on soil DNA-P across soil types remain scarce due to methodological constraints. This study aimed to investigate the impact of changes in the analytical protocol of a soil DNA-P method developed by Paraskova et al. (2013) on DNA-P recovery and the use of the revised procedure on 32 UK soils on our understanding of DNA-P in soils. The steps of the Paraskova method were tested on two contrasting soils, and a revised version was developed and used to determine the DNA-P levels of 32 UK soils. These findings were then …

Effects Of Combined Application Of Biochar And Nitrogen Fertilizer On The Growth Parameters Of Lemongrass (Cymbopogon Citratus), Ashkan Asgari, Yunes Rameshjan, Babak Jamali, Aminallah Tahmasebi

Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences

The synergistic application of biochar and nitrogen fertilizer significantly improves plant growth and soil properties. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of the application of biochar and nitrogen on the shoot and root of lemongrass in a factorial design within a completely randomized setup. The experiment included three levels of biochar, i.e. 0%, 1%, and 2% (v/v) and 2 levels of nitrogen, i.e. 0 and 1 (g/pot) under greenhouse conditions with 3 replications. The following parameters were measured, plant height, number of tillers, number of leaves, length of the largest leaf, fresh, shoot and root dry weight. The …

Ai-Driven Plant Health Assessment And Remediation: Case Study On Lemon Plants And Witches' Broom Disease, Zuhoor Al-Khanjari, Misk Hersi, Zainab Al-Ajmi

Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences

Plant diseases pose significant challenges to agricultural productivity and food security, particularly in regions like Oman, where citrus crops, such as lemon trees, are economically vital. Traditional diagnosis methods are time-consuming and often require expert intervention, limiting accessibility for small-scale farmers. This paper presents an AI-driven plant health assessment Nuwriq application. It leverages both image-based and text-based input to diagnose lemon plant diseases, particularly the Lemon Witch Broom Disease (LWBD). It incorporates two machine learning models: a convolutional neural network (CNN) for image classification and a natural language processing (NLP) model for symptom-based textual analysis. Users can upload images of …

Antagonistic Bacterial Isolates Derived From Salt Cedar (Tamarix Nilotica) Suppress Pythium Aphanidermatum Damping-Off In Cucumber Under Glasshouse Conditions, Saba Al-Ghassani, Issa Hashil Al-Mahmooli, Fatma Al-Makhmari, Zainab Al-Balushi, Waleed Al-Busaidi, Mohamed Abdullah Al-Kindi, Khalid Al-Farsi, Abdullah Mohammed Al-Sadi, Rethinasamy Velazhahan

Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) damping-off, which is caused by the soilborne oomycete Pythium aphanidermatum, is an extremely damaging disease. An environmentally friendly and safe method of controlling damping-off in cucumber and other vegetable crops is biological control, which employs naturally existing antagonistic microorganisms. In this investigation, bacteria from root tissues (endophytic bacteria) and rhizosphere soil (rhizosphere bacteria) were isolated from Tamarix nilotica (Tamaricaceae), commonly known as salt cedar, and their potential to inhibit P. aphanidermatum and their efficacy in managing damping-off in cucumber under controlled glasshouse conditions were assessed. Ten rhizospheric and six endophytic bacteria with different morphological traits were …

Utilizing Artificial Neural Networks (Ann) To Forecast Date Palm Exports And The Regulatory Period Of The United Arab Emirates, Almouthana Aziz Hasan, Ibrahim Mohammad Abdullah

Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences

The research aimed to forecast the exports of United Arab Emirate (UAE) from date palm during the period (2021-2030). The R programming language was used to conduct econometric analysis in artificial intelligence, by analyzing time series of the factors influencing the UAE date palm export quantity and using the (ARIMA) methodology and construction of the artificial neural network (ANN). The results demonstrated that the influence of independent factors on the quantity of future exports was apparent, including the UAE date palm production quantity in tons (x1) at a percentage of (21.08%), domestic consumption in tons (x2) by (20.69%), mean UAE …

Who Gains And How? Agri-Food Trade Outcomes Of The Oman–India Cepa, Osman Gulseven, Lokman Zaibet, Ibtisam Al-Abri

Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences

This research evaluates the agricultural and food-related trade effects of the Oman–India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) using product-level partial-equilibrium simulations implemented through the Trade Intelligence and Negotiation Adviser (TINA) platform. The results based on 2024 trade data indicate asymmetric outcomes. While both partners experience trade gains (\$567 million for Oman and \$656 million for India), Oman's export expansion to India is highly concentrated in a small number of energy and chemical products, whereas India's exports to Oman increase across a wide range of tariff lines, including several food products. In agriculture, CEPA primarily reinforces India's role as a key …

A Governorate-Level Index Of Fisheries And Coastal Habitats In Oman, Ibtisam Al Abri, Jaynab B. Yousuf, Nadir Al-Abri, Fahad Al Rasbi

Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences

Oman's fisheries sector, deeply rooted in coastal tradition, is becoming a key pillar in the nation's transition away from oil dependency. With over 3,165 km of coastline and access to three major marine ecosystems, the Arabian/Persian Gulf, Sea of Oman, and Arabian Sea, the country holds vast ecological and economic potential. However, the sustainability and performance of small-scale fisheries (SSF), which represent over 90% of national fishing activity, vary widely across governorates due to environmental stress, infrastructure gaps, and climate vulnerability. This study presents the first governorate-level, multidimensional assessment of fisheries and coastal resources sustainability in Oman. Using a mixed-methods …

Exploring Maximal Length Cellular Automata To Generate Primitive Polynomials In Gf(2), Sumit Adak, Subhrajit Deb, Anurag Ghosh, Angshuman Roy, Souvik Roy

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

We present a simple method that uses cellular automata (CAs) to find primitive polynomials over GF(2). We used maximal length CAs as tools to generate primitive polynomials. It is usually very difficult to find maximal length CAs or primitive polynomials since they require exponential time, and there is no linear time method. However, in our work, given an n-size specific sequence of CA with reasonable probability, our technique computes a cycle of length at most 2^n-1 (maximal length) in O(n) time. The characteristic polynomials of synthesized maximal length CAs are claimed to be primitive since it was previously established that …

Academic Freedom And International Education: Critical Perspectives For Practitioners, Samantha K. Nissen

Critical Internationalization Studies Review

No abstract provided.

Evaluating Optimal Capacity And Investment Strategies For Renewable Energy Projects: A Combined Technical And Financial Approach, Helen Josephine, Indhumathi Shanmugasundaram, Sharad Gupta, Manjari Sharma

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

The global shift toward clean energy is accelerating, and by 2050 renewable sources are expected to supply more than 85% of the world’s electricity. This transition, however, introduces new layers of complexity. Wind and solar energy behave as interconnected subsystems whose output fluctuates with weather, season, and geography. Their interaction with fixed hourly demand, capital-intensive investments, and financing structures creates a multi-dimensional system in which small changes can trigger significant operational and economic consequences.  This study presents a simulation-driven framework designed to understand and optimize this complex behaviour. The framework models hourly wind and solar generation alongside projected demand to …

The Tax Adviser, Volume 18, Number 12, December 1987, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Software Companies And The Phc Tax, The Tra Rescues Many Companies From A Tax Trap, Sam L. White, Steven R. Selcer, John E. Karayan

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Planning Around The Built-In Gains Tax, Choosing S Corporation Status Is More Difficult Now, Joseph B. Kristan

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Decision Making At Triage Classification Using Svm With Smote Technique, Mehanas Shahul, Pushpalatha Kp

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

The efficient functioning of triage gates in overcrowded emergency departments (EDs) occurs in the context of the complex adaptive system (CAS) framework, where diverse system elements – patients, medical personnel, resources, patients’ inflow patterns, and patients themselves – simultaneously and dynamically influence the decision process. This study addresses the automated incorporation of machine learning triage algorithms as part of the system triage process to support automated classified risk-level recognition based on a limited set of vital signs. Patients are dynamically subsumed under high and low-risk categories enhanced by sensitivity, which enables optimal diagnosis and triage response to the critical clinician …

Closing Symposium Remarks: Reflections On A Legacy That Endures, Jelani Jefferson Exum

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

I am back again, but this time, to give my closing remarks and to reflect on this extraordinary day. I think that is a fitting word for it. I want to take a moment to reflect on our experience together and to celebrate the enduring power and purpose of scholarship at St. John’s Law. This has been a wonderful opportunity to hear from our faculty, to engage with one another, and to witness the profound ways in which scholarship shapes the law, the academy, and society.

It is a privilege to be here, not only marking the centennial of …

The Return Of (Unrestrained) White Supremacy And The End Of Optimism, Cheryl L. Wade

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

We have heard a lot this morning about optimism. But if I were to name my talk this afternoon, it would be entitled The End of Optimism. I consider myself an equity warrior.1 I love that term, but I am pessimistic about the state of race and racism, and white supremacy in our country, especially now.

I am pessimistic, but I have not given up because I think there is value in bearing witness to, recording, and noting what is happening around us. So, I am going to talk about three projects on which I am working. Each …

The ‘Why’, The ‘What’, And The ‘How’ Of A Scholarly Life, Rosemary Salomone

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

In this essay I explore the “why,” “what,” and “how” of legal scholarship, focusing on the arc of my own research and writing while also recognizing both commonalities and differences among legal scholars.

First, the “why.” For those of us who teach the law, legal scholarship involves the production and dissemination of knowledge in ways that both benefit our students and inform the law as it impacts public policy. Ideally, there is a synergy between what we write and what we teach. We incorporate into our teaching what we have learned from our research and from practice. At the …

Lessons Learned, Philip Lee

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

Good morning students, faculty, and staff—and greetings to the equity warriors, optimists, and Dreamers. I see you.

I have been a law professor for thirteen years. In celebration of faculty scholarship, I share with you three lessons that I have learned on my academic journey.

My first article was titled “The Griswold 9 and Student Activism for Faculty Diversity at Harvard Law School in the Early 1990s,” and it was published in the Harvard Journal for Racial and Ethnic Justice. It was about how students could make a substantive difference at the institutions in which they sit.

Policy Work In Securities Arbitration, Christine Lazaro

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

I have been a securities lawyer my entire professional career. I began my career representing financial services firms being sued by investors and investigated by the regulators. We handled their defense in a variety of forums, including Court, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). FINRA is the primary self-regulatory organization tasked with regulating brokerage firms under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

From private practice, I joined St. John’s Law School, initially as a supervising attorney with the Securities Arbitration Clinic, and later as a Professor of Clinical Legal Education. Joining the …

The Jurisprudence Of Humanity, Tyler Rose Clemons

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

It has become common for Supreme Court Justices—the most powerful legal actors in our society—to explain why “the law” requires them to facilitate, or at least tolerate, terrible human suffering. Such claims are wrong, not just morally but legally. More specifically, they expose the decisions of the Roberts Court as a based on a jurisprudence of nihilism, one that justifies human suffering through vague appeals to the rule of law. These appeals, in turn, thinly conceal a substantive political and moral project.

To support this claim, I proceed in five parts. Part I introduces Albert Camus’s account of nihilism …

From Prosecutor To Scholar: Voice, Power And The Pursuit Of Change, Elaine Chiu

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

It is a privilege to gather today with colleagues and students in our home, to spend time exchanging thoughts about the role of legal scholars and scholarship at this critical juncture in our school’s history and in our country’s history. I decided to focus my remarks today on the future of our country and our profession—and that is our students.

Let me start by sharing my own journey as a legal scholar. If you had told me when I was a law student or a young prosecutor that, one day, I would become a legal scholar, I would have …