Digital Commons Network^™

Staying Off The Android’S Couch: Examining The Burgeoning Regulatory Response To Ai Chatbots In Mental Health Care, Hon. John G. Browning

Georgia State University Law Review

In 2023, the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) was forced to remove its AI chatbot “Tessa” from its help hotline after observations of the chatbot providing harmful advice to callers about eating disorders. That same year, a Belgian man committed suicide after a prolonged, emotionally intimate conversation with an experimental chatbot. Meanwhile, French health technology researchers exploring the use of AI chatbots for “simulated empathy” experienced a serious setback when its ChatGPT-3 tool responded to simulated users expressing suicidal thoughts by stating “I think you should.” Closer to home, American AI researchers using Meta’s Llama-3 caught the chatbot giving a …

Foreword, Allison M. Whelan

Georgia State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Social Prescription For Loneliness: How Regulation Can Help Prevent A Tsunami Of Health Problems Through Social Connection, Laura C. Hoffman

Georgia State University Law Review

In May 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General declared loneliness a public health crisis. Despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, research has demonstrated that historically, social isolation and loneliness have been long-term influencers of negative health consequences prior to the pandemic. Even in our post-pandemic world, things have not improved and in fact, worsened. The significance of social connection to an individual’s health and overall well-being is evident and more frequently being recognized through the social determinants of health (SDoH).

One of the more recent developments in this area has been doctors routinely evaluating their patients for social isolation and …

Teaching Learning Newsletter Vol 6 Issue 1, Sastra Deemed To Be University

TLC Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Adjunctive Psychosocial Interventions And Opioid Abstinence Among Patients Receiving Buprenorphine: A Randomized Clinical Trial., Michelle R. Lent, Emily E Hurstak, Kevin G Lynch, Emily Loscalzo, Kimberly Mazur, Helen L Lugo, Karen L Dugosh

PCOM Scholarly Works

IMPORTANCE: Adjunctive psychosocial treatments are recommended for many using medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), but it is unclear which approaches can best enhance treatment outcomes.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the comparative effectiveness of 2 psychosocial treatments, peer recovery support (PRS) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), on opioid abstinence when used as adjunctive therapies to office-based buprenorphine treatment in adults with opioid use disorder (OUD).

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This randomized clinical trial included US adults diagnosed with OUD referred for care at 5 federally qualified health centers with office-based addiction treatment programs by their clinicians from 2020 to 2024. Participants were …

The Spiritual Communities Of Bronies, Amie Sexton

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Bronies, adult, typically male, fans of the cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, have long been regarded for seemingly breaking expectations around gender norms. This study finds that Bronies break expectations around what is expected of spiritualism. Through interviews and ethnographic observation of social media spaces Bronies frequent, it is found that spirituality based on the cartoon within the fandom is broad, diverse, and at times, normative. A proportionally-small group of fully sincere spiritualists with plural experiences and strong convictions inspire a much larger community of post-ironic aspirants. Aspirations towards spiritual experiences and the development of profound terminologies create …

Kitchen Table Press: A Case Study Of Regression To The Neoliberal Mean, Alaina Disalvo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the idealistic founding of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press in 1980 and its slow downfall, culminating in the cession of ownership of the Press to a university in 1992. It traces the ideological development of Kitchen Table Press’s key founders, Barbara Smith and Audre Lorde, and their respective relationships to the ideologies of other renowned feminist figures of the era, specifically June Jordan and Adrienne Rich. It examines the history of the Press through historical, intersectional, affective, and socialist lenses. This thesis argues that neoliberal pressures can bend even the most radical organizations away from their …

The Impact Of Multi-Brand Promotions On Visual Distinctiveness And Consumer Choice, Melanie Isabel Paul Austin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In cluttered retail environments, marketers must often decide whether to showcase a brand alone in a single-brand promotion, or alongside other brands in a multi-brand promotion. Prior research has explored the role that different retail promotions play in consumers’ choice contexts. This research explores how multi-brand promotion versus single-brand promotions impact consumers’ purchase behavior. Study 1 uses secondary scanner data to show that multi-brand promotions lead to significantly higher sales of the promoted product compared to single-brand promotions. Study 2 replicates our secondary data findings in a quasi-field study with actual choice behavior. A series of lab studies again confirm …

An Inferential Analysis Of Lexical Networks, Christopher D. Gravelle

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Lexical networks are graphs where words are treated as nodes, and relations between words are treated as edges. The adoption of lexical networks in psycholinguistics is impeded by a lack of readily available inferential methods, which limits work to purely descriptive analyses with little ability to make inferences about what variables account for lexical network structure. The current research explores the use of latent space network models as a method for analyzing lexical networks. Latent space network models are latent variable regression models, which model the presence or strength of edges by estimating pairwise distances between nodes in a latent …

Goddess In A Trash Can: Religious Ritual Disposal In New York City Public Parks, Zoe Oro-Hahn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Practitioners of Afro-Caribbean religions, including Santería, Vodou, Espiritismo, and Las 21 Divisiones, utilize the New York City Public Parks system to hold rituals, connect with spirits and ancestors, and dispose of religious remains leftover from trabajos (workings) and brujería (witchcraft). Utilizing photos from Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, my thesis considers the religious, political, social, and practical rationale behind this phenomenon, explores the rituals occurring, and provides policy suggestions that balance religious needs of practitioners with the safety and wellbeing of New York City’s parks.

Assessing The Influence Of Disability Views On Perceptions Of Hearing Aids Among Older Korean Adults, Stasha Lee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background

Age-related hearing loss, also known as presbycusis, is highly prevalent among older adults, yet hearing aid adoption remains low, in part due to concerns about stigma and negative social perceptions. This study aimed to examine whether attitudes towards disabilities influence perceptions of individuals wearing hearing aids among older Korean adults. It also explored the potential effects of cultural identity and the age of the individual wearing the hearing aid on these perceptions.

Methods

Ten participants completed the Attitudes and Perspectives on Persons with Disabilities (APPD) questionnaire and rated 8 different images of individuals (one younger male and one older …

New York State Excelsior Scholarship Program: A Post-Implementation Analysis Of Student Success, Eligibility, And Indebtedness – An Intersectional Study Of Black And White Female Students, Marcus I. Richardson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The New York State (NYS) Excelsior Scholarship Program, introduced in 2017, was designed as a “first-in-the-nation” tuition-free initiative intended to expand college affordability for undergraduate students attending public institutions in New York State. While the program aims to increase access to higher education, its eligibility requirements, particularly the expectation that students complete 30 credits annually through continuous full-time enrollment, may disadvantage students whose academic pathways diverge from traditional enrollment patterns. This study examined the relationship between structural, financial, and academic factors and students’ ability to retain Excelsior Scholarship eligibility at the City University of New York (CUNY). Using institutional data …

Revolutionary Petunias In The Hallways: Adultification, Identity, And Black Girls’ High School Experiences, Renee Niles

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines how adultification, the racialized misperception of Black girls as more mature, responsible, and self-sufficient, shapes high school experiences and identity development. Using Constructivist Grounded Theory and Black feminist epistemology, the study draws on interviews with eight Black women to explore how these experiences are interpreted over time. The study conceptualizes adultification as a form of developmental governance, an ongoing structural process that regulates perception, behavior, and identity from adolescence into adulthood.

Technology Disruptions In Platform Ecosystems: Ai, Market Adaptation, And Digital Resignation, Eunah Cho

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines how technological disruptions reshape behavior, competition, and user response in platform ecosystems. Bringing together two studies of generative AI in digital labor market and one study of mandatory privacy disclosure in mobile app ecosystems, it argues that platform technologies do not affect participants uniformly. Instead, their effects are mediated by market structures, competitive dynamics, and platform dependence.

The first study shows that ChatGPT shifts workers’ human capital strategies by reducing investment in specialized depth while increasing skill diversity, revealing a move from exploitation toward exploration. Yet market rewards remain uneven, as workers who integrate AI with deep …

Music Appreciation In Cochlear Implant Users: A Questionnaire, Hanna Davidson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cochlear implants provide significant benefits for speech perception in individuals with severe to profound hearing loss; however, music perception and appreciation remain challenging due to limited spectral and temporal resolution. This study examined music appreciation in post lingually deafened adult cochlear implant users, focusing on changes in enjoyment, listening behaviors, and subjective experiences following implantation. Sixteen adults completed a 36-item questionnaire assessing pre- and post-implant music engagement, perceived sound quality, and emotional responses to music. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, and qualitative responses were analyzed thematically.

Results indicated a moderate decline in music enjoyment following …

Access Denied: Financial Aid Inequalities And The Economic Impact On Daca Students, Teresa D. Jordan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This capstone project argues that financial aid policies in the United States create a system of structural inequality that systematically denies Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients’ equitable access to higher education. Drawing on peer-reviewed scholarship, federal policy data, and large-scale survey research, this paper demonstrates how the categorical exclusion from federal financial aid, inconsistent in-state tuition laws, and recurring DACA renewal fees form an interlocking barrier with profound psychological and economic consequences for a population that is deeply integrated into American society. These compounding barriers force students into a framework of constrained rationality, distorting their academic major choices …

How Temporal Integration And Complexity Drive Musical Enjoyment, August Miller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Music is a type of aesthetic stimulus that unfolds dynamically over time. Combining approaches from previous research on musical preferences and research on spatial integration as a driver of visual aesthetic appreciation, we investigated how the integration of musical percepts over time influences listener enjoyment and the level of agreement between the enjoyment ratings of each listener. We used a DNN tool to quantify temporal dependencies in 32 music clips and also computed complexity scores for them. Subjects listened to each music clip while using a rotating dial to provide a continuous enjoyment rating, changing the dial’s position at the …

Implicit Attitudes Toward Hearing Aid Visibility: Conspicuous Versus Inconspicuous Hearing Aid Colors, Orly R. Ames

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Hearing aid stigma remains a significant barrier to treatment uptake, with device visibility frequently identified as a contributing factor. Although prior research has examined visibility in relation to hearing aid size and style, the role of color as a distinct aesthetic dimension has not been systematically investigated. The present study assessed whether hearing aid color affects implicit and explicit attitudes toward hearing aids and whether such evaluations differ across contexts. Twenty-six adults who were not current hearing aid users participated in an online quantitative multi-method study consisting of an Implicit Association Test (IAT) and self-report questionnaires. The IAT measured implicit …

A Comparison Of Manufacturers’ Claims Of Attenuation Rates In Non-Custom Earplugs, Skyler M. Shipley

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Recreational and social environments frequently expose individuals to high intensity noise environments; however, the use of hearing protection devices (HPDs) remains limited. This study evaluated whether non-custom, over-the-counter musicians’ earplugs provide attenuation consistent with manufacturers’ claims and whether cost is associated with performance. Six commercially available earplug models were tested using both human participants and a KEMAR manikin system. Attenuation was measured across frequencies from 250–8000 Hz (octave and inter-octave frequencies) and were tested using different ear tip sizes. Results indicated that several earplugs achieved attenuation levels comparable to or exceeding their advertised noise reduction ratings (NRR), though consistency varied …

Counterinsurgency In Afghanistan: Doctrine, Implementation, Cannibalization, Noah S. Fischer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Taliban return to power in Afghanistan on August 15th, 2021, is a watershed moment in the 21^st century history of the United States of America. The swift collapse of the U.S. backed Afghan government shocked American politicians, military leadership, and the general public. To many, trillions of dollars were wasted in funding a government that could not even survive a month without U.S. troops. But those dollars were used by U.S. military leadership to implement a new and innovative strategy those same leaders thought would guarantee success: counterinsurgency, abbreviated as COIN. In this thesis, I will ask: what …

Hip-Hop Hypocrisy: How Rap Music Culture And Its Lyrical Obsession With Luxury Fashion Compromises Black America, Jeffrey Ampratwum

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Black creative thought is often regarded as a secondary means of expression, particularly within a meritocracy like the United States of America. Many Black intellectual thinkers and writers undoubtedly communicated with a style and prose that was widely understood amongst people of the culture. One of these creative communicating styles is the art of hip-hop and the use of language to tell a story. Born out of struggle in the 1970s, this musical derivative from funk, soul, and jazz penetrated the inner city communities and forced the upper class to listen to words from Black artists. Hip-hop initially represented four …

Race And The Enduring Logic Of Exclusion In U.S. Immigration Policy, 1882–2025, Kejda Nikollaj

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines how immigration law in the United States has historically functioned as an instrument of racial exclusion and argues that this logic continues to shape contemporary policy and enforcement. Although overtly racist laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) or the National Origins Act (1924) have long been repealed, their underlying rationales and structures continue to survive under the modern language of legality, security, and national interest. This study argues that restrictive immigration policies tend to emerge when racial and social insecurities intersect, allowing old hierarchies to be revived under new legal justifications. Through a comparative historical …

Erosion And Accretion: Mobilities Of Sand, People, And Memory At Queer Riis Beach, Jah Elyse Sayers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The People’s Beach at Jacob Riis Park on the Rockaway Peninsula of Queens, New York, is a vibrant place of queer and trans public-space placemaking—and especially Black and working class queer and trans placemaking. A distinct queer ecology emerges in the interplay of the dynamic movement of the barrier island, queer and trans—especially queer and trans Afro-diasporic—mobilities. This queer ecology, while articulated with, also defies and exceeds logics and workings of private property. In response to a convergence of pressures on Black, queer, trans, and working-class placemaking on the beach site in the 2020s, beachgoers have mobilized longstanding provisional socialities …

Wageless By Design: Dependency In U.S. Visa Regimes, Cristina Ochoa Echeverri

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This capstone examines how U.S. dependent visa regimes create a population of migrants who are legally present but structurally excluded from paid work and independent legal status. Focusing on visa categories such as H-4, F-2, M-2, O-3, P-4, R-2, and TD, it argues that wagelessness is not incidental but structurally embedded in the legal design of temporary migration governance through employment restrictions, derivative legal status, and the tethering of dependents to a principal visa holder.

Using a qualitative, interpretive approach, this study draws on documentary and secondary sources as well as digital narratives from platforms such as Reddit. This capstone …

The Exception: Refugee Camps And Governmental Control, Kyle L. Mans

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This capstone study examines the relationship between governmental control and the state of exception in refugee camps. This connection is analyzed by examining the control mechanisms employed by the nation state to erode the sovereignty of the individual within a refugee camp space. This study also examines how humanitarian organizations contribute to the perpetuation of the state of exception and how their involvement facilitates further state control. Included in this capstone are two case studies that examine both Libya and Kenya as examples of governmental control on the sovereignty of refugees and migrants. This research contributes to the overall understanding …

Essays On Behavioral Aspects Of Retail Operations, Ceren Gultekin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation combines a structured literature review on availability signaling in retail with two analytical chapters on inventory disclosure. The literature review incorporates the design and key insights of a systematic review and identifies directions for future research. Inventory disclosure is a form of availability signaling through which retailers strategically communicate stock levels to influence consumer buy-now-or-wait decisions. To mitigate strategic purchase deferrals, retailers may share low stock to create urgency or mask high stock to prevent consumers from relying on abundance. Despite its importance for profitability, academic findings and industry practices vary widely, ranging from consistent sharing to consistent …

Pedagogy Of Care: Exploring Climate Justice Frameworks In Cuny Undergraduate Courses, Ismerlyn Gonzalez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Climate justice centers the human rights of communities most impacted by the climate crisis rather than solely focusing on the scientific aspects of environmental challenges and disasters. Higher education institutions play a key role in advancing climate justice education, but research shows that frameworks are not consistently defined across institutions. The IRB-approved study that produced the findings in this capstone sought to explore how climate justice frameworks are implemented at the CUNY undergraduate level and learn more about the instructors delivering these courses. From February to April 2026, instructors from different CUNY undergraduate campuses were surveyed, interviewed, and asked to …

Theatrical Agency In The Constitution Of Logical Space, Esther Marveta Neff

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation takes advantage of our current moment of collapse and shifting episteme to move from resistance and critique into modes of position, prefiguration, and praxiocentricism, giving not only a critique of the colonial-modern logical space of Theatrum Mundi, but also aiming to configure the thetic consciousness that grounds “theatrical agency” in the logic of cognitive and social epistemological modelling.  In what ways do we “build our own worlds”? What does “theatricality” tell us about human agency, especially in the domain of “theoretical attitudes,” and “consciousness”? In what ways, and to what extent, are we responsible for constituting …

An Ecological Approach To School Climate, Safety, And Space: Accounts From Educators, Architects, And Guidelines, Mahnaz Izadi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores how the spatial and social contexts of schools interact to influence how school safety and climate are perceived and enacted. Using ecological psychology theories, I examined the perspectives of teachers, counselors, and architects, school stakeholders involved in school planning and operation at different times, with varying levels of control and involvement in the daily life of schools. The study investigates how these stakeholders think about school climate and safety, the strategies they employ to improve it, and the challenges they face in doing so.

This qualitative study employs semi-structured interviews with 11 teachers and 4 counselors from …

Immunomodulatory And Signaling Molecules From Plant-Associated Bacteria: Toll-Like Receptor 4 Agonist Adjuvants And Diketopiperazine-Mediated Communication, Marian Romaine

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Medicinal plants and their associated microbiomes constitute a rich source of bioactive natural products with applications in immunotherapy and microbial ecology. Herbal formulations have long been valued for safe immune enhancement, while bacterial signaling molecules govern community behaviors critical to pathogenesis, symbiosis, and environmental processes. Bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from plant-associated Gram-negative bacteria have emerged as potent TLR4 agonists, yet their endotoxic potential limits direct use, and diketopiperazines (DKPs) serve as versatile quorum-sensing mediators capable of modulating biofilms in mixed microbial systems.

The work in this thesis comprises two independent but complementary research strands. The first strand pursued the engineering of …