Digital Commons Network^™

George C. Roberts Award Recipients

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Call For Papers

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Does Social Capital Mitigate Managerial Self-Dealing? Evidence From Insider Trading, Sung Gon Chung, Jimmy Lee, Sang Hyun Park

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In this study, we examine whether the social capital surrounding the firm’s corporate headquarters mitigates managerial self-dealing in the form of opportunistic insider trading. We find strong evidence that the level of social capital in the region surrounding the firm’s headquarters is negatively and significantly associated with insider trading profitability. We also find that the negative association between social capital and insider trading profitability is more pronounced when governance is weaker and corporate opacity is higher, instances where insiders have greater opportunities to trade on their private information. Further analyses on the potential mechanisms suggest that the negative association is …

Dei And Discrimination In The Marketing Industry: Exploring The Lived Experiences In The Workplace. Evidence From Western Australia, Ashlee Morgan, Melissa Fong-Emmerson, Steven D’Alessandro, Marie Ryan

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper explores the lived experiences of individuals in the Western Australian marketing industry, focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the workplace. Through a survey of 573 marketing professionals, the study gathered both qualitative and quantitative data on perceptions and attitudes towards DEI, and personal experiences of discrimination. The findings indicate strong support for DEI within the marketing workforce, with 76.6% agreeing that diversity and inclusion are important in the workplace, and 78.1% affirming that DEI should be a business priority. Yet, 25% reported personal experiences of workplace discrimination, underscoring the urgent need for organisations to listen to …

Mobilities, Migration, And Digital Humanities, Mayurakshi Chaudhuri, Chiranjoy Chattopadhyay, Nirmala Menon, Paul Longley Arthur, Sarah Kenderdine, Mattius Rischard, T. Shanmugapriya

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Participation In A Place-Based Engineering Learning Experience On Engineering Career Aspiration Of Nebraska’S Rural Students: A Mixed Method Study, Samereh Soleimani Babadi

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Masters Project Reports

This study investigates the influence of a place-based, hands-on engineering learning experience on rural middle school students' engineering career aspirations, using Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) as a framework. Employing a mixed-methods approach, we explored how these localized learning experiences shape students' career goals through socio-cognitive factors such as self-efficacy, outcome expectations, goals, and interest. Quantitative analysis of pre- and post-activity surveys revealed significant increases in career aspiration scores, particularly among students from farming backgrounds and female students with initially lower expectations. Path analyses indicated that self-efficacy and interest were the strongest mediators between Place-based learning and engineering career aspirations. …

Liking Gap(S) In Getting-Acquainted Interactions, Susan Sprecher

Faculty Publications – Sociology and Anthropology

In first interactions, people often think about how much they like the other and how much the other likes them in return. Recently, a liking gap has been identified, which is the tendency for people to underestimate how much a new acquaintance likes them. With data from a compiled sample of pairs of strangers interacting for the first time, this investigation contributes to knowledge on how common it is to experience this perceived liking gap (versus no gap or an overestimation of how much one is liked). Also examined is an actual liking gap, the difference between how much people …

Reproductive Refugees: The Legacy Of The One Child Policy On Chinese Refugees In The United States, Brianna Michelle Chan-George

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This paper analyzes the cases of Chinese refugees who were running from the People of Republic of China’s (PRC) one child policy to the United States from 1993-1995. I argue that the process of the one child policy’s enforcement to the asylum cases in the United States was a messy and confusing process. The legal definitions, understandings and practices of both the United States and the PRC were inconsistent and contradictory.

Unseen Journeying: Latinx Mothers’ Experiences And Navigation Of Pre-Referral Home-School Collaboration, Yoné Rodríguez

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Research has documented various home-school collaboration obstacles faced by Latinx mothers whose children receive special education services. However, minimal attention has focused on Latinx mothers of students in the pre-referral stage—the time when students facing significant academic difficulties may be struggling in the classroom but have not yet been referred to special education evaluation. Responding to this gap in the literature, this qualitative study investigated how Latinx mothers experienced and navigated pre-referral home-school collaboration, which was conceptualized as the dynamic process occurring between family members and school personnel working towards common goals related to student growth. In alignment with Chicana …

Comparing The Representations Of Order And Behavior In James Joyce’S “The Dead” And Samuel Beckett’S Endgame, Araav Thakker

The Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English

No abstract provided.

Secretive Sheriffs: Opacity And Variation In California's Jail Responses To Covid-19, Hadar Aviram, Aparna Komarla

Faculty Scholarship

Agnotology is the study of culturally induced ignorance or doubt, particularly the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data. In this Article, we draw attention to a disturbing site of agnotology: healthcare in California jails. Often obscured because of the attention to state prisons, jails were sites of opacity and misinformation, largely because of sheriffs’ refusal to collaborate with data collection efforts—both coordinated by the state and solicited through non-profits.

Building on the data collection effort of the Covid In-Custody Project and on public advocacy efforts of the #StopSanQuentinOutbreak coalition and its off-shoots, we show the chasm between data on …

Islands Of Algorithmic Integrity: Imagining A Democratic Digital Public Sphere, Aziz Z. Huq

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

This essay offers a new analytic lens for evaluating the design of digital platforms from the perspective of democratic values. It develops a model of desirable platform design, and them ask present legal interventions move is toward that aspiration. The aspirational model is not draws on an idea found in the scholarly literatures in political science and sociology about economic development . This is the notion that development policy should aim to seed “islands of integrity,” into patrimonial or nepotistic state structures as a way of building foundations for a more robust and hence public-regarding state apparatus. This literature explores …

Forced Migration And Women's Empowerment: Evidence From Rohingya Refugees, Adam Chilton, Katerina Linos, Anup Malani

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

We explore a puzzle: high levels of satisfaction among forcibly displaced Rohingya women in informal camps in Hyderabad, India. Despite experiencing extreme poverty, loss of family and community, and high levels of gender-based violence after resettlement, both men and women—particularly women—report significant increases in satisfaction. We structured a representative household survey, employed a trusted female Muslim interviewer with deep ties to the local community, interviewed comparable numbers of men and women, and embedded list experiments in our questionnaire, to allow people to answer sensitive questions indirectly. We attribute this paradoxical finding to increased freedom post-resettlement, facilitated by economic, legal, and …

City Tech Openlab Oer Checklist With Help Links, Andrew Mckinney, Bree Zuckerman, Cailean Cooney

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Courting Bias: Effects Of Gender Socialization And Judges' Genders On Litigants And The Judiciary, Ellie Barmes

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

Rhode Island Criminal Justice Professional Development Needs Assessment Plan Of Action Report October 1st – 31st, 2025, Robert J. Hehl

Faculty and Staff - Articles & Papers

In April 2025, Captain Joseph Coffey, (Ret.),Warwick Police Department, on behalf of the Rhode Island Governor’s Criminal Justice Policy Board (GCJPB), requested Professor Robert J. Hehl and Criminal Justice and Criminology (CJC) students of Salve Regina University to assist in the creation of an online survey to fulfill the need for data collection and analysis which would identify beneficial cross-agency criminal justice topics best suited for the TrainThe-Trainer (TTT) model framework as funded by the Public Safety Grants Administration Office (PSGO). Mr. Coffey also gathered data from 24 interviews and two focus groups in tandem with the online survey and …

Gen Z Voter Turnout: An Analysis Of Barriers To Participation In State And Local Elections, Avery Allen

SPARK Symposium Presentations

This study examines the factors contributing to the generational gap in civic participation, with a focus on smaller-scale elections. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, the research identifies barriers to local and state electoral participation among Generation Z and provides recommendations for civic organizations seeking to increase youth voter turnout.

Vitriol For The Masses: How The U.S. Government Uses Language Within Propaganda To Influence Citizens’ Opinions On Immigrants, G Smith-Rasmussen

CEG 450 Cultural, Environmental, and Global Studies Capstone

Politicians do not directly express vitriolic words and beliefs; instead, they test the boundaries of what is accepted and slowly push the line until the hate becomes increasingly normalized. The United States government has similar goals in mind when pushing anti-immigration propaganda. The aim is to normalize harmful stereotypes and ideas of what immigrants are, to sway people into supporting their policies. The current immigrant population that is being heavily targeted is Latin immigrants. This paper aims to analyze how harmful the 2024 presidential administrations' language surrounding Latin immigrants is through discourse analysis.

Handmade Versus Fast Fashion: An Analysis Of Human Consumption And Use Patterns, Emily E. Henderson

CEG 450 Cultural, Environmental, and Global Studies Capstone

This paper written for the Sociology and Anthropology capstone applies sociological theory to the importance of the handmade in a world where hand sewing is becoming a dying craft. Using a variety of historical examples, it establishes the importance of the handmade in the past and discovers what meaning humans find in the act of making and using handmade clothing. It uses these examples to dissect what consumers now seek from fast fashion, suggesting ways the industry has taken advantage of those desires for the sake of profit. The paper concludes that acts of hand sewing and mending are small …

“Single Girl, Married Girl:” Female Perspectives On Marriage, Maidenhood, And Motherhood In English-Language Folk Music, Avery Schanbacher

Libraries Award for Undergraduate Scholarship

In 1928, the Carter Family released “Single Girl, Married Girl.” The recording featured only Sara and Maybelle Carter, and in three short stanzas, highlighted the vastly differing lives of the single girl, who dressed fine and went where she pleased, and the married girl, with a baby on her knee, who rocked the cradle and cried. Sara and Maybelle Carter weren’t the only people who knew this song – before they recorded it for Ralph Peer at the famous Bristol sessions, it was alive as a part of musical traditions not just in their home in Scott County, Virginia, but …

Domains Of Use And Self-Reported Proficiency: A Comparative Study Of Heritage Spanish Speakers Across Two University Campuses, Sara Castro Cantú, Salvatore Callesano

International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest

This study takes a sociolinguistic approach to exploring self-rated proficiency of Latinx, heritage Spanish speakers in Illinois. Recent studies show how dominant discourses around Spanish-English bilingualism and the educational environment in higher education institutions shape Latinx speakers’ self-perceptions of proficiency. We specifically investigate and compare two groups of college students from Chicago: students who attend a large public Predominantly-white institution in central Illinois, and students who attend a large public Hispanic-Serving institution in the heart of Chicago. Students completed an online survey about their language histories and linguistic profiles. Descriptive correlation analyses are presented that examine the relationships between self-reported …

Spanish Conquistadors As God’S Chosen People: The Role Of Biblical Metaphor In Angélico Chávez's Recounting Of Southwest History, Nicholas L. Chavez

International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest

This study presents a critical discourse analysis of Fray Angélico Chávez’s My Penitente Land: Reflections on Spanish New Mexico through a cognitive linguistic lens based on Hawkins’s notion of iconographic reference. A metaphor analysis first identifies Chávez’s framing of New Mexican history as biblical narrative, mapping Old Testament stories, locations, and characters onto Spanish colonial events. The iconographic reference analysis then demonstrates how this metaphor functions discursively: a biblical iconographic frame of reference allows Chávez to create a biblically-based heirarchy which maps onto Spanish–Indigenous relations, positioning Spaniards as a chosen people and implicitly justifying colonial atrocities by aligning Indigenous groups …

Fostering Holistic Transitions: The Role Of Social Capital And Catholic Values In A College Orientation Program, Amir Aligan Austria

Journal of Catholic Education

This study examines how De La Salle University’s college orientation fosters holistic student transition by cultivating social capital, shaping habitus, and embedding Catholic values. Drawing on focus groups with eleven sophomores and juniors, we analyze peer networks, mentoring sessions, peer interactions, and communal rituals through Bourdieu’s habitus and Stanton-Salazar’s institutional agents frameworks, situated within Ex Corde Ecclesiae and Evangelii Gaudium. Findings reveal that structured mentoring and block activities strengthen relational ties; guided reflections function as “habitus exercises”; and liturgies and faith reflections operationalize solidarity, preferential option for the marginalized, and communion. Together, these practices deepen students’ spiritual purpose, moral …

Indigenous Technology Futurisms: Reclaiming Mackinac Island In Virtual Reality, Madeline A. Gupta

Library Map Prize

In Indigenous Technology Futurisms: Reclaiming Mackinac Island in Virtual Reality, Madeline A. Gupta introduces a place-based digital storytelling project that uses interactive mapping as the foundation for cultural reconnection and community wellness. Centered on Mackinac Island—ancestral land of the Anishinaabe people—the project features a custom-designed map by an Anishinaabe artist, allowing users to navigate a VR website by selecting specific locations across northern Michigan. Each map point opens into a spatial video experience paired with traditional audio content, including oral histories, poetry, and songs.

The project reframes digital cartography through an Indigenous lens, challenging Western colonial mapping practices that …

Local-Neutrosophic Logic And Local-Neutrosophic Sets: Incorporating Locality With Applications, Florentin Smarandache, Takaaki Fujita

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The study of uncertainty has been a significant area of research, with concepts such as fuzzy sets [87], fuzzy graphs [51], and neutrosophic sets [58] receiving extensive attention. In Neutrosophic Logic, indeterminacy often arises from real-world complexities. This paper explores the concept of locality as a key factor in determining indeterminacy, building upon the framework introduced by F. Smarandache in [73]. Locality refers to processes constrained within a specific region, where an object or system is directly influenced by its immediate surroundings. In contrast, nonlocality involves effects that transcend spatial or temporal boundaries, where changes in one location have direct …

Collaboration: Skill Development Framework. 2nd Edition, Claire Scoular, Daniel Duckworth, Jonathan Heard, Dara Ramalingam

Assessment and Reporting

ACER's skill development framework addresses the challenges associated with teaching and assessing collaboration. It is designed to synthesise and harmonise existing theory and research on collaboration to provide a holistic perspective. It outlines collaboration processes along prescribed strands and aspects that are informed by a sound evidence base. It is based on three strands: Building shared understanding; Collectively contributing; and Regulating the group.

Rivers To The Deep Sea – Thoughts On My Career And Profession, Steve W. Ross

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Abstract: In this essay I review my 45+ year career and some of the significant changes I have observed. This journey involved research in rivers and streams, estuaries, coastal systems (including the continental shelf), and the deep sea to a depth of about 4,000 m. After completing undergraduate (BS, Duke University) and graduate (MA, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and PhD, NC State University) degrees in zoology, I found jobs as a Fishery Biologist (NC Division of Marine Fisheries), a program Research Coordinator (NC National Estuarine Research Reserve), and a Research Professor (University of NC – Wilmington). Between …

Gender Dynamics In Collaborative Settings: Analyzing Communication Variation In Same-Gender And Mixed-Gender Task Completion, Bella Lynch

CMC Senior Theses

Previous research has highlighted the implications of pervasive gender-based stereotypes in workplace environments. Women may face barriers to entry and advancement compared to their male counterparts, and can be undermined in assessments of competency and skill. Unconscious biases, shaped by societal norms and cognitive distortions, may perpetuate inequities and influence how workers communicate and collaborate, particularly in team settings. This thesis investigates the complex dynamics of workplace communication and behavioral patterns across varying gender pair compositions, using collaborative task completion as the focal point. I analyze transcriptions of work-team conversations derived from a pilot for a large natural field experiment …

Understanding The Ideological Transformation Of Farc In Colombia, Savannah Grier

CMC Senior Theses

In 2016, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) agreed to a peace deal that led to their disarmament. The former guerrilla group, FARC, integrated into Colombian politics by forming a new party called Comunes. FARC, thus, has taken a similar route to other former rebel groups in Latin America by pursuing its agenda as a political party after demobilizing. This thesis examines the ideological transformation and political evolution of FARC, analyzing its transition from a Marxist-Leninist insurgent group to a political party within Colombia’s democratic system. By exploring FARC’s historical role in the Colombian conflict …

The Death Of The American Dream: How Inequality, Injustice, And Individualism Shatters Its Promise As A Unifying Force, Shaira Busnawi

CMC Senior Theses

The American Dream has long been celebrated as a unifying ideal, promising opportunity, upward mobility, and success to all who work diligently. However, this thesis argues that the Dream no longer fulfills its role as a cohesive organizational mechanism for American society. Instead, it perpetuates inequality, fosters competition over cooperation, and fails to address systemic barriers faced by marginalized communities. The analysis begins with the historical evolution of the American Dream and its transformation in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, exposing structural flaws that have eroded public trust in its attainability. Case studies on rural Appalachian communities and …