Digital Commons Network^™

Threats To Cleared Industry, Think Tanks, And Academia From Malign Nations Focusing On Federally Funded Research And Development Centers, James E. Equels

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The world of academia, think tanks, and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) in the United States face increasing vulnerabilities to foreign intelligence exploitation, particularly by China and Russia. Espionage, cyber intrusions, insider threats, and intellectual property theft enable adversarial nations to leverage academic collaboration to access sensitive research. These threats are executed through foreign-sponsored partnerships, talent recruitment programs like China’s Thousand Talents Program, and infiltration via Confucius Institutes and other state-affiliated initiatives. Academic openness is routinely exploited to gain strategic military and technological innovation advantages. Operations by malign nations compromise federally funded research, while insider threats - both …

Federal Employment: The Experiences And Perceptions Of Active-Duty United States Air Force Spouses With Advanced Degrees, Meagan A. Seibert

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Underemployment and unemployment are commonly experienced by military spouses due to their migratory lifestyle, leading to a decline in retention rates for military personnel. Employment hardships only increase for advanced degree holders, although examination into the federal employment of military spouses has remained absent. The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to understand the impact that federal employment regulations and restrictions have on military spouses who have advanced degrees. Guiding this study was Bright and Pryor’s Chaos Theory of Careers, which explains the influence of change and chance in life on career development. Additional theoretical frameworks include Spillover Theory, …

Graduate And Undergraduate Student-Teacher Alliance During Problem Solving: A Comparative Phenomenological Study, Quidi-Ann Reynolds

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This transcendental phenomenological (TPh) study aimed to help current and future teachers reach their full teaching potential by making them aware of the need to stay up-to-date in their field and meet the needs of different students in their classrooms. Furthermore, the investigation enabled educators to acquire strategies for mitigating mathematics anxiety and to identify a theoretical framework that aligned with their teaching pedagogy and learners. It also facilitated maintaining instructional control or compliance, fostering a conducive environment that encouraged teaching and learning. The phenomenological investigation explored the experiences of undergraduate and graduate professors regarding student-teacher alliances and their impact …

A Qualitative Exploration Of How Advocates Construct And Communicate The Journey Of Male Trafficking Survivors - From Recruitment To Freedom, Donnielle Wilson Kirkland

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative study examined how advocates communicate the experiences of male survivors of human trafficking. Grounded in narrative paradigm, this investigation explored how advocates frame and share survivor stories across the stages of recruitment, retention, and liberation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 advocates who work in the advocacy space, such as nonprofit organizations, survivor support services, advocacy groups, or general trafficking advocates. The results of the study provided insight into recruitment, retention, and liberation. Revealing trafficking with boys and men often begins with unmet needs and searching for a place of belonging. While retention is sustained due to shame, …

From Belongingness Deficits To Self-Harm: Examining Internalized Shame, Self-Esteem, And The Moderating Roles Of Resilience, Social Support, And Religious Coping, Yulissa Bochey

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Belongingness is a fundamental human need, and its absence can contribute to profound emotional and behavioral consequences. When individuals experience prolonged social exclusion, they often internalize rejection, resulting in shame, diminished self-worth, and, in some cases, self-harming behaviors. Despite a growing body of research on social exclusion and emotional distress, there is little known regarding how internalized shame, self-harm, and religious coping relate with belongingness deficits. This study investigated the relationship between belongingness deficits and internalized shame, with particular attention to the moderating roles of resilience, perceived social support, and religious coping, as well as the mediating role of self-esteem. …

Artificial Intelligence, Synthetic Media, And The Criminal Justice System, Jeffrey J. Jacobs

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies continue to evolve at an exponential pace, and their utilization of synthetic media in criminal activity presents both unprecedented opportunities and significant challenges for criminal justice systems. This dissertation explores the intersection of AI-driven synthetic media crime and the U.S. criminal justice system, identifying how such technologies are being utilized in criminal activity and evaluating the system’s capacity to adapt. This study uses a longitudinal, mixed-methods research design; it also collects and analyzes data from law enforcement agencies, AI developers, and cybersecurity experts to forecast future crime trends and assess the efficacy of current justice system …

Comparing General Perceptions Of Law Enforcement Suicides To Other Line-Of-Duty Deaths: Pilot Study, Shannon E. Allen

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Officer suicide remains an underrecognized occupational hazard despite increasing awareness of mental health risks within law enforcement. This quantitative, cross-sectional pilot study examined public perceptions of officer suicide compared to line-of-duty deaths caused by violence or accidents and assessed whether mental health literacy and suicide stigma influenced these perceptions. Grounded in framing theory, stigma theory, the health belief model, and the interpersonal theory of suicide, the study explored how knowledge and attitudes shape legitimacy judgments. A sample of 169 non–law enforcement adults in the United States completed the Mental Health Literacy Scale, the Stigma of Suicide Scale–Short Form, and the …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Eritrean Refugee Mothers Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence, Kebreab Hailegiorgis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study is to explore how the lived experiences of surviving intimate partner violence (IPV) in the context of forced migration influences among Eritrean refugee mothers. Guided by trauma theory and attachment theory, the research seeks to understand the impact of IPV and displacement-related trauma on parenting behaviors and parent–child relationships among Eritrean women. This study recruited 12 Eritrean refugee mothers with IPV experiences and used semi-structured interviews conducted virtually (via Zoom) to gather rich, first-person narratives of their parenting challenges and resilience. Data analysis followed Moustakas’ phenomenological approach, involving horizonalization, thematic coding, and synthesis …

Power Of Connection: How Communication Between Leaders And Employees Impacts Job Satisfaction, Keaira G. Turner

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Direct communication in the workplace plays a critical role in shaping employees’ perceptions of leadership and the organization. This study examines the impact of Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX) on understanding the relationship between leaders and employees, with particular attention to how effective communication practices influence that relationship. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 27 participants, who were invited to share their workplace experiences with their supervisors. Using a hybrid coding approach, the data were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify recurring patterns and themes across participants' responses. Five key themes emerged, including (1) trust through communication, (2) transparency and …

Parents Of Students With Severe Autism Studying In Virtual Learning Environments And Their Perceptions And Experiences Working With School Administrators: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study, Shelli L. Allen

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study is to understand parents’ lived experiences and perceptions of their interactions with school administrators in virtual learning environments. The study centers on the following research question: What are the experiences of parents of children with severe autism as they work with school administrators in virtual learning environments? The hermeneutical framework guiding this study is Vygotsky’s Constructivist Learning Theory, which helps us understand learning through interaction, collaboration, and cognitive apprenticeship, with a focus on instructional practices that prioritize students’ cognitive development. The phenomenological design is to help the researcher to examine parents’ lived experiences …

Man In The Medium: A Historical Examination Of The Life And Work Of Roger Ailes In The American Political Arena, Korey A. Bowles

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Roger Ailes is one of the most prolific figures in American politics and media of the last 60 or so years. Despite his many contributions and achievements, he remains relatively unknown among the public and underrepresented in the field of communication research. This study uses a critical historical approach to examine the life and influence of Ailes on the American political and media landscapes through his work with Presidents Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and numerous other key political figures, as well as the founding of Fox News Channel. In doing so, this study provides insight into Ailes’ perspective on the ecology …

Developing Biblically Based Media As A Tool To Influence Societal Values Towards Godliness, Jasmine Deanne Andrews

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The media can influence cultural values using narrative storytelling. Common tropes in narrative storytelling may reinforce cultural norms that vilify women and reinforce racial stereotypes. Frequent exposure to these negative tropes in the media condition audiences to accept gender and racial biases rather than society taking responsibility for gender and racially motivated violence and social mistreatment. These gender and racial biases can be further reinforced by church doctrines that support cultural norms that vilify women and reinforce racial stereotypes. This study exposed audiences to biblically-based media using the faith-based film, Then Sings My Soul, to determine the types of images …

The Homeschooled Student Athlete And Their Transition To College: A Transcendental Phenomenology Study, Michele Marie Sandon

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to discover homeschooled student-athletes’ lived experiences as they transitioned to the rigors of academics, social settings, and athletic life at NCAA and NAIA institutions in the United States. This study was guided by Tinto’s integration theory, which offers insight into how college students experience academic and social integration. The central research question asked: What was the homeschooled student-athlete’s experience in transitioning to college? This qualitative study used a transcendental phenomenological design to examine those lived experiences. The data was collected from a purposeful sample of eleven homeschooled student-athletes through semi-structured interviews conducted …

Church Disaffiliation's Impact On Black Christian Millennials' Faith Development, Kevin M. Simmons

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The researcher explored the faith, ways of living, and ideologies of Black Christian millennials that unite them with others and with God, leading to what James Fowler called the “ultimate environment” (Attfield, 1994). The study employed a qualitative phenomenological research design to examine whether the faith development path of Black Christian millennials had been impacted by church disaffiliation. From their perspective, identifying factors that fuel their beliefs, religious expressions, and views on their religious identity (Thomas, 2017). Faith, in its simplest form, is defined not by creeds or their institutional practices, Fowler acknowledges. However, its foundational truth lies in the …

The Lived Experiences Of Olympic Medalists As They Describe Their Sense Of Self: A Qualitative Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study, Ana Barend

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Olympic medalists are characterized by their commitment to performance excellence. While research has extensively examined factors that influence athletic outcomes, comparatively less attention has been paid to how elite athletes experience and make meaning of their own identities beyond sport. Despite possessing extraordinary personal resources, many struggle with identity foreclosure during transitions and mental health challenges at rates comparable to the general population. This hermeneutic phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of Olympic medalists as they perceive and describe their sense of self. Guided by van Manen's approach to human science research and informed by Self-Determination Theory, this inquiry examined …

The Role Of Social Media In Shaping Romantic Relationships, Chelsea A. Fiszbajn

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative study’s purpose was to examine the role social media has in adult romantic relationships. This study focused on the impact social media has on trust, communication, and the quality of the relationship. Social media platforms have become a very integral part of today’s relationships, which in turn has added room in the relationship for more jealousy, temptation, and validation from others. This study used a survey-based methodology to collect data on individuals' personal experiences and perceptions of how social media impacts their current romantic relationships. Using quantitative measures, the research evaluated how often a partner uses social media, …

The Emotional Aspects Of Disbelief: A Study Of Negative Emotions And Their Influence On Atheists When Reasoning About God’S Existence And Christianity, Esteban Canales

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The lack of sufficient evidence has been signaled by atheists as the main reason for their disbelief, identifying arguments such as God’s silence and the problem of evil as intellectual reasons against the existing of God and the plausibility of Christianity. While Christians found in arguments from Natural Theology, Scripture, morality, and the like, reliable sources in order to recognize God’s wonders and purpose for humanity, for atheists it seems that no argument seem sufficient neither rational. But what about if these so-called intellectual reasons are the product of an underlying emotional condition, affecting negatively the way atheists reason the …

Sacred Silence: The Unspoken Realities Of Satisfaction In Marital Intimacy Among Black Christian Women, Shonda Reneé Brooks

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Sexual intimacy is a vital component of marital satisfaction, yet many married Black Christian women, taught to abstain from sex until marriage, enter matrimony without adequate marital guidance. This qualitative phenomenological study describes the lived experiences of married Black Christian women, ages 30–60, who were taught to abstain from sex until marriage but received little to no instruction on sexual intimacy after marriage. The central research question is: How do married Black Christian women, who were taught to abstain from sex until marriage, describe their experiences with marital intimacy? Framed by feminist theory, attachment theory, and intersectionality, the study examines …

Study On The Prevalence Of Police Whistleblower Retaliation In The United States Of America, Brian Andrew Morrison

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Research indicates that two substantial problems arise as a result of retaliation against law enforcement whistleblowers. The first is that up to 10% of whistleblowers attempt suicide, with more contemplating the action (Shepard, 2021). The second problem is that, in law enforcement, the corruption of the investigative authorities involved in such cases represents a significant issue. In the last 5 years, the need for change in law enforcement has grown; one cause of this has been the rising voices of those who have witnessed corruption. Consequently, the aim of this applied quantitative study is to help unravel the problem of …

Two Centuries Of Sexism In British Parliament: A Computational Analysis Of Women’S Representation In The Hansard Corpus, Mandira Sawkar

Theses

Detecting sexism and gender bias in text is a central problem in NLP, yet most existing work focuses on short, informal content such as social media posts. In contrast, much less is known about how sexism operates in long-form, formal discourse, where it is often expressed indirectly through rhetorical framing, appeals to tradition, or references to gender roles. Parliamentary debates offer a particularly rich setting for studying such language, but their scale, linguistic complexity, use of archaic English, and the presence of distributional shift across centuries make systematic analysis challenging and historically infeasible without automation. In this work, we analyse …

3d Infographic Animation Series Unleashing The Mechanism Of Disease (Mod) Of Ventricular Tachycardias In Cellular And Molecular Levels: Afterdepolarization Subtypes And Triggered Activity, Yan Ning ‘Harmony’ Wong

Theses

Ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) account for 75-80% of sudden cardiac deaths, causing 184,000 to 450,000 deaths annually in the U.S. VAs commonly occur in individuals with structural heart diseases, but idiopathic ventricular tachycardias (VTs) caused by delayed afterdepolarizations (DADs), early afterdepolarizations (EADs) and triggered activity, can also arise due to calcium ion discrepancies without apparent structural abnormalities. Despite advances in understanding abnormal impulse conduction, there is a paucity of visual aids that explain impulse formation anomalies of VTs. There are no 3D animations that link ECG interpretation to molecular dynamics in the cardiac EC coupling process. Moreover, ECG interpretation skills are …

What If You Were My Fucked Up Dad And I Was Your Fucked Up Boy And We Cried Together, Ferris Ramirez

Theses

When I was six, maybe seven, my father said I would be disowned if I ended up a faggot. Twenty years have passed since I learned to perform as someone else around my father. As I come to terms with our irreparable estrangement, I present a question to the father I fail to connect with and to an imagined man: What if you were my fucked up dad and I was your fucked up boy and we cried together? This line of inquiry is the very title of my multimedia series, framing concepts of projection, queer desire, fatherhood, role-playing, and …

Cardiac Arrest Following High Cervical Spine Injury, Katherine Shannon, Grace Filpi, Blaise Hulin, Michael Cirone

Advocate GME

No abstract provided.

Culturally Tailored Materials For Smoking Cessation And Hiv Care Adherence Among Hispanic Adults: Protocol For Content Development And Formative Evaluation, Lorra Garey, Jacqueline J Charles, Ashley L Ruiz, Rodrigo Castillo-Avilés, Virmarie Correa-Fernández, Marshall K Cheney, Thomas P Giordano, Michael J Zvolensky

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Hispanic people with HIV who smoke cigarettes experience unique stressors (eg, stigma), which contribute to health disparities. Anxiety sensitivity (AS) may worsen mood management problems, which are a leading barrier to smoking cessation. Interventions targeting AS can improve HIV-specific outcomes and smoking cessation. However, no prior research has culturally tailored an AS reduction program to improve quality of life among Hispanic people with HIV who smoke. The research team previously developed a mobile health (mHealth) intervention addressing AS reduction, smoking cessation, and HIV care management for Black people with HIV who smoke. Building on this work, this study represents …

Prinsip-Prinsip Hukum Governance Publik Yang Balk, Rukiah Handoko

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Abstract

Partisipasi Buruh Dalam Hubungan Kemitraan, A. Uwiyono

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Abstract

Perlindungan Konsumen Tinjauan Singkat Uu No. 8/1999 Ln. 1999 No. 42, Az. Nasution

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Abstract

Enhancing Students’ Self-Disclosure Through Assertive Training: Evidence From A Group Counseling Intervention, Abu Yazid Abu Bakar, Khairul Bariyyah, Santy Andrianie, Setyorini Setyorini, Restu Dwi Ariyanto, Laily Tiarani Soejanto, Dzata Inasah Bil Humaydah

Buletin Konseling Inovatif

Self disclosure is a critical component of students’ social and emotional development; however, many students experience difficulties in expressing their thoughts and feelings openly, which may hinder interpersonal relationships and psychological well-being. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of group counseling using assertive training techniques in enhancing students’ self-disclosure. A quantitative approach with a pre-experimental one-group pre-test–post-test design was employed. The participants consisted of five junior high school students identified as having low self-disclosure levels through purposive sampling. Data were collected using a self-disclosure scale and analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired samples t-test, effect size (Cohen’s d), Wilcoxon signed-rank …

The Monster On The Hill: "Anti-Hero" And Its Connection To Frankenstein, Alexa B. Rogers

The Manuscript: Journal of Taylor Swift Studies

Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” is known as the leading single from her deeply personal album, Midnights. It is the third track on the album, known for typically being a pop hit yet unexpectedly devastating as it captures her anxieties and sheds light on her relationship with femininity in a way that many women throughout history can relate to and have been expressing in their writing. In exploring these anxieties, Swift sings about feeling like a monster. She is hardly the first woman to compare her femininity to a monster. These lyrics immediately spring Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, since some of …

Reading The Frame: "Fortnight" And The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, Ira Sen

The Manuscript: Journal of Taylor Swift Studies

Taylor Swift's 2024 music video for her song "Fortnight" makes several visual references to German Expressionist cinema. This paper parses through the way in which The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, one of the films the music video alludes to, can be used to read Swift's self-fashioning as musician, celebrity, brand, lover, madwoman, and heartbroken poet in The Tortured Poets Department. Through an analysis of cinematography, set design, character, and themes in both Caligari and "Fortnight", this paper presents the complex portrayal of Swift as both creator and character in her own work.