Digital Commons Network^™

Political Elites And Attitudes Toward International Organizations In The Trump Era, Ping Xu, Nina Küssau, Ashlea Rundlett, Brendan Skip Mark, Caroline Fowler, Brian Krueger

Political Science Faculty Publications

Objective: This study examines how political elites influence public opinion on international organizations (IOs), focusing on the impact of President Donald Trump's rhetoric on attitudes toward the World Health Organization (WHO), UN, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Methods: Using data from the 2020 American National Election Studies (ANES), we analyze the relationship between Trump support, political knowledge, and public evaluations of these IOs.

Results: We find a significant “Trump effect” on attitudes toward all three IOs. Trump supporters exhibited significantly lower evaluations of the WHO, UN, and NATO. Moreover, highly knowledgeable Trump supporters were even more …

A Critical Review Of The Theory And Practice Of Local And Community Development As It Relates To South Dublin County, Paula Donovan

Masters

This research was undertaken in the context of the Local Government Reform Act 2014, which established new governance and management structures for local and community development in Ireland. The reforms included the establishment of Public Participation Networks (PPNs) and Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs), that were designed to work with Local Volunteer Centres, Local Development Companies, and the Local Authority, to bring about a more coherent and integrated approach to community development at local level. This research interrogates the evolution of the new framework, using South Dublin County as a case study. Linking theory, policy, and practice, it critically evaluates …

The Inevitability Of Adaptability - Comparative Contributions To Understanding Originalism, Anna C. Conley

Faculty Law Review Articles

What can comparative law teach us about originalism as a constitutional interpretation method? After synthesizing existing comparative analyses, this article seeks to redefine comparative law’s role in understanding originalism. When defining originalism strictly to require adherence to fixed original meaning, originalism is not used by courts anywhere in the world. Instead, courts use history purposively to understand the intent behind constitutional text as one of many methods of interpretation. Comparative works suggest historical constitutional interpretation has a complex relationship with rights, politics and culture.

Comparative law can provide not only descriptive understandings of originalism but also interrogate its mandate that …

Scientific Educations Among U.S. Judges, Christa J. Laser

American University Law Review

Should more judges have technical and scientific educations than are currently prevalent in the federal judiciary? This empirical study of the educational background of federal judges reports the undergraduate and graduate majors of active U.S. federal Article III judges. Information on the subject area of study is largely not publicly available, especially for judges appointed decades ago. This is the first and only publicly available research study of the subject areas of study of U.S. judges, collected via phone and email surveys to U.S. judges. The results of this study show that only 7.35% of federal judges have majors in …

Innovation Through Conceptual Research: Tips For Stoking Curiosity, Jun Wen

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Conceptual research represents a critical step in the theory-building process and contributes innovative ideas that inspire empirical studies. This feature article highlights the importance of such research in academia with examples drawn from the tourism literature. It also critically discusses issues related to publishing conceptual research in premier journals. By using a five-dimension framework of curiosity (i.e., deprivation sensitivity, joyous exploration, social curiosity, stress tolerance, and thrill seeking), scholars can assess researchers’ conceptual topics and readers’ responses when contemplating “what's new” to gauge a paper's publication potential. Several tips are offered to guide like-minded scholars in conducting sound conceptual research: …

Ability In Physical Education – No, I Can’T Discuss It! Insights From Lower Secondary Physical Education Teachers In Western Australia, Jeffrey Giles, Dawn Penney, Justen O’Connor

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Ability has been positioned as a crucial concept in the construction of a subject that is inclusive of and meaningful for all students. Almost two decades since Evans (2004) called on the field to re-engage in discourse concerning ability, how ability is conceptualised by physical education (PE) teachers remains relatively unexplored. Furthermore, relatively little is known about how understandings of ability are enacted through curriculum, pedagogy and assessment in PE. This research explored these issues with lower secondary PE teachers in Western Australia through self-recorded audio responses to two research questions. Data from 38 participants revealed the struggles that PE …

Doing The Nutbush: How Australia Got Its Very Own Line Dance, Panizza Allmark, Jon Stratton

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The Nutbush dance is unique to Australia. It is danced to the Ike and Tina Turner track Nutbush City Limits released in 1973. It is a line dance. Anybody can join the line. This article explores the history and reception of the Nutbush. The Nutbush seems have been developed around 1975 in Sydney as a part of modernizing the physical education and creative arts curricula for state primary and secondary schools. The Nutbush is relatively simple and is danced on the beat, a characteristic of dancing to rock music. Nutbush City Limits has a driving beat. This is no doubt …

Offenders’ Perspectives On Acquisitive Crime Targets And Stolen Goods Disposal Methods, Joseph Clare, Liam Quinn, Natalie Gately, Suzanne Rock

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper examines offenders’ perspectives about acquisitive crime targets and stolen goods markets in Australia that have not been comprehensively reviewed since 2005. Over the last 18 years there have been significant changes in the rates of property crime, reductions in cash usage, and rapid movements to online markets as a disposal outlet, that motivate this updated analysis. In late 2022, n = 107 detainees in a Western Australian police watchhouse were interviewed about their property offending frequency, offence preferences, target selection, disposal methods, and estimated financial return for targeted goods. Results demonstrated (a) meaningful shifts towards shoplifting and away …

Mothers, Social Capital And Children’S Physical Literacy Journeys In Rural Australia, Kate Mccreery, Dawn Penney, Ruth Jeanes

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In rural communities in Australia, the provision of sport and physical activities for children almost exclusively relies upon parents and their ability to access and contribute to facilities, funding, volunteers, and administration. This paper brings Putnam’s social capital framework to Whitehead’s conceptualisation of physical literacy as a journey to offer original insight into children’s sport participation and the opportunities arising for physical literacy development in rural communities in Australia. Changes in sport participation in Australia and directions in sport policy set an important context for the project, which is located in a small rural community in Western Australia. It was …

The Clock Is Ticking: (Dis)Orientations To Ageing And End-Of-Life Care In Advanced Capitalism And Care Directives, Tanya Zivkovic, Simone Marino

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This article engages Italian migrant experiences and enactments of futurity to problematize neoliberal anticipatory approaches to ageing and care. Stepping beyond the focus on atomized and agentic individuals and a singular imagined future defined by notions of advancement and progress, sistemazione (home, future, and security) offers ways of building alternative and relational futures within times and spaces of shared precarity. We draw on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with Italian migrant families living in Adelaide, and a critical analysis of objects as “orienting devices,” to consider how a family heirloom, a 26-face handmade Italian clock made from the physical remnants of …

The Impacts Of Covid-19 Restrictions On Care-Givers Of People With Cognitive Impairment And Their Support Needs: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review, Loretta Baldassar, Thi N. M. Nguyen, Bronte Jones, Catriona Stevens, Lukasz Krzyzowski, Silvia Lozeva, Simone Marino, Maria G. C. Du Plooy, Johanne Eldridge, Osvaldo P. Almeida, Manonita Ghosh

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing restrictions/lockdowns have caused significant physical and psychological consequences for people with cognitive impairment who are heavily dependent on their care-givers. However, little is known about the impact on care-givers, the factors that exacerbate their situation and what supports they need. The aims of this paper are threefold: (a) to examine the impact of COVID-19 physical restrictions on both formal and informal care-givers of people with cognitive impairment; (b) to identify attributing factors influencing this impact; and (c) to recognise their support needs. Further, this paper informs future research, policy and practice. Guided by the Joanna …

Talking About Relational Youth Work: Why Language Matters, Trudi Cooper, Tim Corney, Hilary Tierney, Jamie Gorman, John Sutcliffe

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The literature on youth work emphasises the importance of ‘relationship’ to good practice, moreover, the characteristics of the youth-work relationship have been posited as a defining feature of youth work in the British-influenced tradition. Despite this, little attention is paid to the choice of language used to describe how professional youth workers relate to young people, or how language choices reflect political framing of youth work and of power relationships within their practice. Language choice has implications for how youth workers perceive their professional identity, for how accountability is construed, and for inter-professional working. In this article we undertake a …

Submission To The Nsw Standing Committee On Social Issues Inquiry “Impacts Of Harmful Pornography On Mental, Emotional, And Physical Health”, Giselle Woodley, Lelia Green

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Our submission is formed from a combined experience of decades of working with teens and more recently, the Australian Research Council funded project (DP190102435), Perceptions of harm from adolescents accessing online sexual content, which explored Australian teens and young people’s (aged 11-17) perspectives of Sexually Explicit Material (SEM) including pornography. Qualitative data was collected between 2021 to 2023, and involved 30 teen interviews, with another 19 interviews with teens occurring a year later (49 interviews in total), and four focus groups (n-18) to explore these issues further. 26 parents of these teens from 24 families were also interviewed, followed by …

Perceived Credibility Of Allegations Of Sexual Assault Across Victim Race And Mental Health History, Liyah C. Morgan

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Previous research examined the effect of victim gender and rape myth acceptance (RMA) on perceptions of victim credibility; however, little attention has been given to the impact of victim race and mental health history, and even fewer studies have explored the intersection of these two identities. The primary purpose of the current study was to identify factors affecting understanding of perceived credibility of victims of sexual assault, specifically in terms of victim race and mental health history. The study also examined the role of RMA on perceptions of credibility and explored participant attitudes related to color-blind racial attitudes and mental …

Does Friend Groups’ Co-Rumination Explain Depression Homophily Among Undergraduate Women's Friendship Groups?, Alyssa D. C. Klas

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The transition to college is a period known for changes in social support and increases in depression risk. Undergraduate women are particularly vulnerable to developing internalizing symptoms like depression in response to relational stressors and social norm pressures associated with college life. Co-rumination, defined as excessive and ongoing discussion about problems and emotionally distressing topics, both fosters connection and intimacy between friends and increases risk of depressive symptoms. Thus, relationships that are typically seen as buffers from depression may, paradoxically, contribute to risk when support-seeking becomes maladaptive. Most research on co-rumination’s effects is limited to friendship dyads. However, within larger …

Student Centers: The Intersection Of Campus Ecology And Sense Of Community, Caitlyn A. Wine

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Student centers are more than physical structures as they function as dynamic environments that serve as the hearthstone of campus, providing spaces for students to gather, connect, and engage. However, their role in fostering students’ sense of community remains underexplored. Grounded in campus ecology theory, this study explored whether time spent in the student center and specific forms of interaction predicted students’ sense of community. A quantitative survey design was employed, the Student Center and Sense of Community Intersection Survey (SCSCIS), to assess student center usage and perceived sense of community. Results indicated that time spent in the student center …

People Of The Ogeechee: Subsistence And Landscape Use In The Late Archaic Ogeechee River Valley, Caleb R. Jeck

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Precontact life in the Ogeechee River valley of Georgia’s Coastal Plain is significantly understudied in contrast to the adjacent Savannah River valley and the coast of Georgia. Research in these regions has provided a substantial amount of archaeological data that has helped us to understand Late Archaic period dynamics and the settlement patterns of precontact people, primarily those associated with Stallings culture. The Ogeechee River valley figured prominently during the Late Archaic period, especially during Classic Stallings times, yet the region’s archaeological record is largely unexamined. Settlement patterns for coastal Georgia and the middle Savannah River valley have been proposed …

The Affordable Care Act And The For-Profit Congregate Care Industry: How Good Policy Intent Turned A Fringe Industry Into A Taxpayer-Funded Multi Billion Dollar Industry, Erin Viehmann

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The Affordable Care Act significantly transformed the for-profit congregate care (FPCC) industry, which provides residential treatment for adolescents with behavioral and mental health issues. This study analyzes financial records from Universal Health Services (UHS), the largest provider in the industry, to examine how healthcare policy changes and economic conditions affected the industry's growth and funding structure. Through analysis of SEC Form 10-K filings from 2006-2016, the research documents how the ACA's mental health coverage mandates created new revenue streams that enabled dramatic industry expansion. Findings show that following ACA passage in 2010, UHS more than doubled its behavioral health capacity …

Advocacy Across Divides: Attorney Aaron L. Buchsbaum In Savannah, Georgia, 1963-1969, Sydney Jolene Kelly

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the early life and career of Aaron Levy Buchsbaum, a Jewish lawyer from Savannah, Georgia. Buchsbaum's Jewish family upbringing, Southern childhood, and legal education all combined to mold him into an individual who used the profession to support those facing unjust treatment by the Savannah-Chatham County court system. By focusing on three of Buchsbaum's legal cases involving the Civil Rights Movement and his partnership with humanitarian organizations, this thesis contextualizes local conflicts in Savannah in the 1960s. Rather than safeguard the civil rights of all citizens, these cases demonstrate that the authorities, including judges, district attorneys, and …

A Phenomenological Study Exploring The Lived Experiences Of First-Generation African American Students To Improve Retention Rates, Jaleesa Porter

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Colleges and universities play an important role in maintaining high retention rates and getting students from matriculation to graduation. There are several studies related to the reasons and barriers that result in low retention rates. This qualitative study examined how one university in southeast Georgia can improve retention rates among first-generation African American students by enhancing its practices. The findings from this study the revealed lived experiences of college students that resulted in a range of emotions, resources and barriers, and communication. Discussion and implications of the findings provide recommendations for practice and future research.

Geophysics, And Capturing Ethnographic Interviews Of A Tidal Plantation Burial Ground, Kristin M. Meeuwen (Dew)

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Plantation development in Chatham County has a rich but incomplete history. Silk Hope, an Ogeechee District tidal plantation, is located seven miles from the city of Savannah on the Northern banks of the Little Ogeechee River. This project focuses on identifying the site boundaries of portions of Silk Hope Plantation and its historical background. Specifically, the project focused on delineating the boundaries of the associated cemetery and/or burial grounds, while estimating the number of individuals interred there using ground-penetrating radar (GPR). Finally, collaborative work with community members, including stakeholder and descendant interviews, will provide ethnographic insights into the site's history …

A Climate Justice Analysis Of Western Australian Government Funding For Collie’S Transition From Coal, 2019-2024, Emma O’Donovan, Naomi Joy Godden

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The WA Government will close its State owned coal-fired power stations in Collie by 2030, and has committed AU$692 million for Collie’s energy transition. At the request of Wilman and Kaneang Elders and community members, Edith Cowan University’s Centre for People, Place and Planet conducted desktop research about how Collie’s transition funding was allocated between January 2019 and July 2024. This report is a climate justice analysis of publicly-available funding announcements for Collie’s transition during this period to assess whether the distribution of transition resources is equitable and just.

Philosophers On Prison Abolitionism: Theory Versus Practice, Piero Moraro

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Philosophers have long been debating the moral justifiability of punishment. However, they have seemingly ignored the adjacent question concerning the moral justifiability of incarceration, as demonstrated by the dearth of philosophical work on prison abolitionism. This silence is puzzling, given that, on closer examination, many philosophers implicitly (or even explicitly) endorse the core assumptions of prison abolitionism. By discussing some examples in the recent literature in philosophy of punishment, I argue that philosophers support prison abolitionism in practice, but not in theory. They endorse the practical strategies in the abolitionist agenda, yet refuse to engage with the normative assumptions that …

Work Hard, Play Hard, Drink Hard: Frontier Masculinities And Female Teachers’ Experiences In A Regional Australian Mining Town, Kirsten Lambert, Christina Gray, Mary Anne Macdonald, Takei Beard, Kelly Jackson, Sarah Booth

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Teacher attrition is a significant issue that has been the subject of much recent critical research and public debate. What is less often explored in the literature is the gendered nature of teaching and the unique struggles female teachers face in the workforce, particularly in remote, regional and rural (RRR) schools. As a historically female-dominated profession, women, particularly teacher-mothers face a distinctive set of barriers to career progression in these schools. We apply a critical feminist lens to qualitative data generated from interviews with 21 teachers from 6 different schools in RRR locations in Western Australia. Data reveals a toxic …

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 …

Desiring Education, Exhibiting Agency, Experiencing Systemic Obstacles: Re-Examining The Perceptions And Experiences Of Education Among Indigenous And Non-Indigenous Students In Australia, Mary Anne Macdonald, Eyal Gringart, Terry Kessaris, Renae Isaacs-Guthridge

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

We present new findings from a Western Australian mixed-methods study exploring a sample of Indigenous and non-Indigenous secondary school students’ (N = 536) experiences and perceptions of school. Respondents hailed largely from remote or regional Western Australia, although approximately half attended boarding school. This article presents findings of multivariate analysis of responses to the Multi-Dimensional Student Perceptions of School Questionnaire (MSPSQ) and identifies that Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in this study were found to be equally likely to report a positive perception of the benefit of education and the importance of attending and completing year 12, and equally likely to …

The Impact Of Due Diligence Legislation On International Trade And Business: Analysis Of Potential Trade-Offs, Peter Draper, Andreas Freytag, Naoise Mcdonagh, Matthias Menter

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

As countries increasingly adopt due diligence legislation to promote human rights, labor standards, and environmental sustainability in global value chains, a complex dilemma arises. While these laws commendably aim to address moral and political issues in international trade, they may also impose significant costs on companies, potentially disincentivizing investment and trade. This study examines the impact of due diligence laws on international trade and business, analyzing some 60 cases. We explore their unintended consequences, including the potential withdrawal of investors from partner countries, reduced trade, including strategic commodities, and increased costs of compliance leading to competitiveness concerns. Our research categorizes …

Enhancing Summative Assessment And Pedagogy Of Senior Secondary Dance Education Through Digital Technologies, Maria Gamble, Nicola F. Johnson

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Despite advances in digital technology, summative assessment in the Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR) Dance syllabus remain shaped by historical structures and practices. This study explores how digital technologies might better support fair, valid, and reliable assessment in senior secondary dance education. Through semi-structured interviews with six Australian experts in ATAR Dance curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, the research highlights a shared interest in using technology to enhance learning and address assessment challenges. Participants acknowledged constraints imposed by traditional models but expressed openness to explore new possibilities and adapt to the current climate. The findings suggest that digital tools could foster …

Perfect Is Boring: The Character Problem Of Electric Vehicles, Andrew Hutcheon

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

By many critical measures, electric cars are better than their internal combustion engine (ICE) counterparts–they are capable of being faster, cheaper to run and have no tailpipe emissions. Yet, a common complaint in automotive enthusiast circles is that most electric vehicles are lacking in what might be called character. In the words of one car reviewer, referring to faster electric cars while driving a V8 muscle car, ‘perfect is boring’. Character here is defined as both the embodied feel of a car and the ways in which that feel is technologically structured. Importantly, this apparent lack of character is not …

Performance Health For Saxophonists: Saxophonists Perspectives And Experiences With Playing-Related Health, Wellbeing, Injuries And Education (Cohort Study), Nicola Demandolx, Joanna Nicholas, Luke Hopper, Matt Styles

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Saxophonists experience a high rate of performance-related injuries and wellbeing concerns, with limited research on player perspectives and lived experience to inform preventive or interventional methods. To address this gap, a cohort study was conducted with 14 saxophonists from around Australia, to gather perspectives and experiences on playing-related pain, injury, health, and wellbeing. A baseline survey and semi-structured interviews were used to gather a range of qualitative and quantitative data to provide a holistic overview of the cohort and their lived experience. Results indicated that the lifetime prevalence of a performance-related musculoskeletal disorder (PRMD) for saxophonists in this cohort was …