Digital Commons Network^™

How Conditions Within Immigration Removal Centres In The United Kingdom Affect The Mental Wellbeing Of Detainees: A Scoping Review, Niamh Gallagher, Tristan Price, Matthew Griggs

Peninsula Medical School

BackgroundImmigration Removal Centres (IRCs) are used to detain people for immigration control by the UK government. This scoping review aims to examine the experiences of detainees within UK IRCs, specifically how conditions within them, including the regime, affect their mental wellbeing.MethodsThe Joanna Briggs Institute guideline for scoping reviews was followed. Six bibliographic databases and additional grey literature sources were searched for quantitative and qualitative evidence. Descriptive analyses and quality assessments were conducted.ResultsFifteen research studies and nine pieces of grey literature were included, comprising a total of 1353 participants and 11 IRCs. The majority of data was qualitative in methodology and …

Unreliable Witness Warnings For Police Testimony, Florence Ashley

UBC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Blackout Period In Aboriginal Law: Colonial Control Via Section 141 Of The Indian Act, Amy Swiffen, Kris Millett, Keith Cherry, Hannah Wyile

UBC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Aligning Tenure With Institutional Values: Supporting And Rewarding Engaged Scholarship In College Tenure Policies, Sian Bareket, Alexander R. Barron, Abigail O’Meara, Charavee Basnet Chettri

Environmental Science and Policy: Faculty Publications

Scholars have described the current era as a polycrisis, with climate change overlapping and interacting with other social justice and environmental challenges. While the expertise and capacity housed in academia has tremendous potential to help society face these threats, scholars and others have long critiqued academia as too isolated from the practical problems of society and front-line communities. While engaged scholarship (ES) connects academia and real-world problems, tenure policies are usually designed to primarily reward “traditional” scholarship focused on journal articles and academic books. This study sought to investigate the contrast between higher education institutions’ publicly shared values aligned with …

The Freedom To Learn: Student Stories Of Challenge, Aspiration, And Accomplishment, Marjan Noori, Ata Ullah, Elizaveta Vergel, Salma Rahman, Myo Myint Maung Maung, Sisila Zafari

GHEA21 Publications

Every year, students threatened or displaced by political repression, conflict, or crisis take more than 2,000 regular, credit-bearing courses offered by GHEA21. This collection of student work is a small selection of the perspectives on the freedom to learn that have emerged from these courses. It presents a range of work—academic papers, articles written for public audiences, and creative writing—from several countries. GHEA21 compiled this collection as an initiative of its Collaborative for Threatened and Exiled Universities.

The Role Of Temperament In Criminal Trajectories: Development, Stability, And Predictive Power Across The Life Course, Joshua A. Lang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Temperament, an individual's largely innate tendency to experience and regulate responses to their environment, has long been studied but was only recently introduced as a primary predictor of criminal behavior (DeLisi & Vaughn, 2014). While prior criminological theories have incorporated temperament-related constructs, such as negative affect (Agnew, 1992; Moffitt, 1993) and self-control (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990), no other theory has explicitly positioned temperament as the central factor in offending. DeLisi and Vaughn’s temperament-based theory of antisocial behavior posits that individuals with low effortful control and high negative emotionality—features of a difficult temperament—are more likely to engage in criminal behavior. Despite …

‘A Sense Of The Sea’: Grassroots Culture, Care, And Endurance In Swansea, Cymru, Katy Clark

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis argues that under present conditions, everyday political-aesthetic life is not only about resistance or reproduction but about holding: the work of keeping people, practices, and attachment present and oriented as conditions change. Holding takes the form of care and maintenance; as practices of making, assembling, and imagining; and as the work that keeps open the possibility of renewed attachment to public things and to each other. In the field, this was named as ‘a sense of the sea’, an affective register characterized by wariness, attunement, attentiveness, orientation, and endurance. I am calling this a fragile infrastructure of …

Mengadili Kepentingan Umum: Korporatisme Pengadilan Dalam Proyek Strategis Nasional (Psn), Agung Wardana, I Kadek Sudiarsana, Yogi Paramitha Dewi

The Indonesian Journal of Socio-Legal Studies

The implementation of National Strategic Projects (NSP) often leads to conflict. Projects that are claimed to be developments in the public interest are challenged by affected communities and civil society organisations in various ways, including through litigation. However, in the legal studies literature, studies on NSP issues tend to be analysed through a normative analysis focusing on development for the public interest. The article examines court decisions concerning NSP to understand how courts provide their deliberations of the cases, a perspective that enriches knowledge about NSP. This article shows how the corporatist relationship between the executive power and the judiciary, …

Offline And Thriving: Understanding The Professional And Personal Lives Of Non-Social Media Users In A Digitally Dominant Era, Bhargava Mantena

Dissertations

Existing research has treated voluntary social media abstinence as the absence of users rather than as a condition worth study. This mixed-methods study examined its psychological and occupational correlates. Adults aged 21 to 65 reporting abstinence from all major platforms for six months or more completed three validated instruments measuring mental well-being, work engagement, and perceived social isolation; a purposive subsample of 12 took part in semi-structured interviews. The analysis set comprised 120 participants, below the 128 indicated by the a priori power analysis. Research Question 1 could not be tested as approved, because no active-user comparison group was recruited; …

The American Society Of Extracorporeal Technology Standards And Guidelines For Pediatric And Congenital Perfusion Practice: 2025 Update☆., Molly Elisabeth Oldeen, Carrie Whittaker Striker, Ronald Angona, Dafne Andrea Chianella, Chelsea Capone, Ashley B Walczak, Thomas Klein

Heart and Vascular Articles

Background: In 2019, the American Society of ExtraCorporeal Technology (AmSECT) approved the inaugural Standards and Guidelines for Pediatric and Congenital Perfusion Practice. These standards and guidelines were created with the intent of periodic revision to ensure continued alignment with evolving best practices. In 2023, an AmSECT subcommittee initiated this review in consideration of current literature and contemporary clinical practices.

Methods: The subcommittee, consisting of pediatric and congenital perfusionists, conducted a systematic literature review assessing each standard and guideline to determine if current evidence supports elevation of guidelines to standards, incorporation of new guidelines or standards, or whether existing standards and …

Pornography And Men's Violence Against Women And Children: From Production To Consumption, Gail Dines Phd., Mandy Sanchez Phd

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The average age of first viewing mainstream pornography for boys is around ten to twelve years old. The pornography they encounter is largely from “tube sites,” named after YouTube, which are popular because they require no registration, no payment, and no subscription. For the most part, an adolescent only needs access to a digital device to view hundreds of thousands of free videos. As we discuss in this article, the weight of the scientific evidence shows that viewing pornography is associated with multiple social, emotional, sexual, and cognitive harms. However, none of these studies provide a detailed analysis of …

When Protection Becomes Predation: Militarized Masculinity And Sexual Violence In Northeastern Nigeria, Tosin Osasona

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The study investigates the structural and situational drivers of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) perpetrated by state security actors in the context of Nigeria’s counterinsurgency campaigns in Borno State. Drawing on militarized masculinity and strain and deprivation theories, and using a qualitative, interpretive research design, the study argues that CRSV is not an isolated or episodic form of deviance by individual soldiers and security personnel but is embedded in routine military–civilian interactions. Advancing an interactionist explanation of CRSV in Nigeria’s Islamist counterinsurgency operations, the study demonstrates that the likelihood of sexual violence increases through the interaction of gendered institutional norms, operational …

The Revival Of Honor Killing In Iranian Kurdistan: A Sociological Analysis Of Gender, Land, And Identity, Parviz Sobhani

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Honor is a foundational yet restrictive sociocultural construct in Kurdish society of western Iran. Transgressions of its boundaries, particularly by women, are historically met with violent sanction. Despite processes of modernization, honor killings have re-emerged as a conspicuous phenomenon in Iranian Kurdistan, suggesting an active revival rather than a passive residue of tradition. This study employed a qualitative, interpretive phenomenological approach. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 21 social scientists and researchers from January 2022 to February 2024 in Iranian Kurdistan.  A grounded theory framework guided the thematic analysis. Findings reveal a dual symbolic encoding of honor: it …

Latinos In Massachusetts: Salvadorans, Phillip Granberry, Florita Coto Tristán, Daniel Gascón

Gastón Institute Publications

As part of The Gastón Institute’s 2026 Latinos in Massachusetts series, we present here a profile of Salvadorans living in Massachusetts in 2024. This report analyzes Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data from the 2024 American Community Survey (ACS), conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Our descriptive analysis uses both household- and individual-level data to estimate population size and percentages and to compare Salvadorans to Other Latinos and Non-Latinos in the state.

Supporting English Language Learners: Evaluating Bilingual Education Policies In Boston Area High Schools, Valentina A. Tolentino

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

This study examines how the evolution of bilingual education policies and instruction has affected non-English speaking and bilingual high school students. Especially in Boston/Lynn Public School, bilingual and non-English speaking students are rapidly growing in population, yet questions still remain whether the existing educational policies adequately support their academic and emotional well -being. Using a demographic survey and interviews, I connected with high school graduates  ranging from 18 year olds to 22 years olds and asked questions to assess their language support, classroom experience, emotional well-being, and academic engagement. Analysis of the data demonstrates the influence that their bilingual education …

Complex Adaptive Resilience And Asymmetrical Balancing: Russia And The 2022 Sanctions Regime, Renny Puspitarini, Sartika Soesilowati, Kacung Marijan, Ahmad Iskandar Rahmansyah

Journal of Strategic Security

The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine prompted unprecedented Western sanctions, which amounted to more than 23,000 sanctions during 2022-2024. However, these sanctions failed to fulfill their designated objective of influencing the end of the Russia-Ukraine War. Russian responses to progressively augmented sanctions have sparked debates surrounding microeconomic sovereignty, macroeconomic adaptability, and, foremost, resilience. The article’s findings reveal that while sanctions have not brought the Russian Federation to acquiesce, they have catalyzed a structural, politically induced policy shift into a Complex Adaptive Resilience (CAR) framework. Russia's ability to build resilience against sanctions has been manifested structurally in its strategy to reinforce …

Structural Dependency: Nato, Defense Industry Politics, And Europe’S Stagnation, Diane M. Zorri

Journal of Strategic Security

Europe’s defense industrial base (DIB) weaknesses are commonly attributed to underinvestment, fragmented policies, or a lack of European cohesiveness. This article advances an alternative explanation: European defense industrial dependency has emerged through institutionalized alliance structures that systematically privileged US capabilities and incentives, becoming self-reinforcing and difficult for European actors to exit, even as their strategic preferences evolved. Drawing on dependency theory, path dependence, and theories of alliance politics, this article argues that transatlantic security arrangements established during the early Cold War, most notably NATO’s integrated command structures, defense procurement norms, and interoperability requirements, have generated long-lasting asymmetries in production, technology, …

Overruling Texas V. Johnson?, Natti Perelman

MC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Disrupted Trajectories: Covid-19, Transnational Youth Mobility And Unequal Transitions To Adulthood, Simon Chambers, Anita Harris, Loretta Baldassar

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

While the impact of COVID-19 on youth development has been widely studied, less is known about its effects on transnationally mobile young adults. This longitudinal study of Australian outbound and inbound mobility examines how the pandemic disrupted this population's experiences abroad as they navigated transitions to adulthood. It draws on two waves of survey data collected using a convenience sample between July 2020 and September 2022. Our findings reveal that COVID-19 presented significant challenges to young adults living away from home, with disruptions to their future plans, social connections, and well-being. However, these impacts were not uniform. The pandemic magnified …

Is The Crisis Over? Fostering Innovative Work Behavior In Response To The Constant Pressure Of Resource-Deficiency For Street Level Bureaucrats: The Impact Of Psychosocial Safety Climate, Teamwork, And Work Engagement, Yvonne Brunetto, Matthew Xerri, Geremy Farr-Wharton

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

There is conflicting evidence about the pathways Street Level Bureaucrats’ (SLBs’) use to engage Innovative Work Behavior (IWB). This study uses Street Level Bureaucrat (SLB) and Conservation of Resources (COR) to examine the extent to which SLBs’ work engagement and/or burnout mediates the relationship between Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC) and teamwork, and IWB. The methods comprised a sample of 259 healthcare SLBs (doctors, nurses, allied health) collected at two times, and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that the variance of PSC and teamwork explained a third of engagement, and engagement-burnout mediated the impact of PSC and teamwork …

Sedentary Behaviors And Functional Disability Among Chinese Older Adults (2008–2018): Evidence Including Mahjong, Yen-Han Lee, Yen-Chang Chang, Minzhi Ye, Cai Xu

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

Purpose: This study examined how different types of sedentary behavior relate to changes in functional disability, measured by activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), among Chinese older adults.

Major findings: Using data from 17,939 participants in four waves (2008–2018) of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), sedentary behavior was categorized into four types: none, playing mahjong only, combining these with other sedentary activities, and other activities alone (e.g., reading and watching TV). Cox two-state regression models estimated the hazard of transitioning in ADL and IADL disability. Engaging in sedentary behaviors was generally …

Ai Slop, Jessica Silbey, Woodrow Hartzog

Faculty Scholarship

The term “AI slop” has become popular to describe the output of generative AI systems seen as voluminous, low quality, or the result of little effort. When AI-generated music and videos flood platforms, they are called slop. Peer-reviewed journals and legal tribunals are drowning in low-quality and low-reliability AI slop submissions.  Employees are seen to be producing mountains of slop in their reports and communications with each other. The term has inertia and heft, and the phenomenon has significant consequences. Most of them are not good.

But the boundaries of “AI slop” and its usefulness in policy discussions are not …

Research Priorities For Robust Climate Assessments In The United States, Melissa A. Kenney, Robert E. Kopp, Constantine Samaras, Marina Alberti, Sonia Y. Angell, Jennifer Burney, Colin Cunliff, Elliott T. Gall, J. T. Duffy-Anderson, Multiple Additional Authors

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Scientific assessments play a critical role in synthesizing evidence to support evidence-based decision-making in many sectors and topics. For climate change, large-scale assessments like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United States (U.S.) National Climate Assessment (NCA) reports help many different users—from national government to local governments, Indigenous Peoples and communities, the private sector, the social sector, and the scientific community itself—navigate the complex field of climate risks, impacts, and integrated solutions. While co-creation with users is essential to developing actionable assessments, this paper lays the groundwork for future processes by identifying many advancing and emerging areas …

Investigating How Personal Values Shape Tourism Experiences: A Case Study Of The Irish National Stud And Gardens, Amy Monahan, Ann T. Conway

International Journal of Tour Guiding and Visitor Attraction Research

This Paper explores the relationship between personal values and tourism experiences  that are  satisfying. A case study of the Irish National Stud and Gardens was undertaken in order to explore this concept. Interviews were conducted to investigate how qualities of the attraction appealed to the visitors’ personal values, thereby enhancing the overall visitor experience. A set of personal values were identified which were specific to the destination. The research demonstrated how an understanding of personal values can assist attractions with various aspects of their operations, with context specific recommendations provided at the end. This approach was taken was taken to …

Basic Trends In The Contemporary Development Of State-Church Relations In Ukraine: A Sociological Perspective, Oleksandr Sagan, Galyna Sagan

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Based on an analysis of research from sociological centers and institutes consistently operating in Ukraine, the authors present a comprehensive overview of the main trends occurring within the realm of state-church and inter-church relations. Specifically, the article addresses the trends in the self-identification of Orthodox believers in Ukraine, the dynamics of which sociologists have tracked since the beginning of the twenty-first century, as well as the changes unfolding in inter-Orthodox relations following the 2022 full-scale invasion. Crucial to this analysis is the highlighted inconsistency of state institutions in implementing the new law, Про захист конституційного ладу у сфері діяльності релігійних …

Religion And Economics: The Economic Views Of Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia Ii Of Georgia, Giuli Giguashvili

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The paper examines the impact of religion on a country’s economic development, analyzing how religious values and institutions influence economic behavior. The research employs a qualitative, comparative, and historical approach based on the systematic analysis of primary and secondary sources. Religion can promote economic growth by strengthening work ethics, education, and social order. Still, it may also hinder development through inefficient resource allocation and regulatory influence. In the context of the 1700th anniversary of Christianity in Georgia, the study highlights the relationship between Orthodox teaching and economic thought. Drawing on the epistles and sermons of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, …

Practical Aspects Of Religious Social Work In Modern Ukraine, Inna Vladislavivna Kovalchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This work analyzes the current state and specifics of the activity of religious organizations in the social sphere of Ukraine. Special attention is paid to the transformation of religious social work in the conditions of a full-scale war, where religious communities have become key agents of humanitarian, psychological and spiritual assistance. The article examines the mechanisms of interaction between the church, the state and non-governmental organizations in solving social problems. The findings are based on the practical experiences of those working with internally displaced persons (IDPs), veterans, large families, and individuals facing difficult life circumstances. Unique methods of denominational assistance …

The Orthodox Church Of Georgia In A Shifting Political Landscape: Long Traditions, The Holy Patriarchate And Geopolitics Between The European Union And Russia, Elina Mirjam Siekkinen

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This paper examines the geopolitical and societal effects of the 2026 patriarchal succession within the Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC), by analyzing how the recent election of Catholicos-Patriarch Shio III on May 11, 2026, impacts Georgia’s European Union integration efforts. The GOC is seen as the foundation of Georgian national identity and state legitimacy, also deeply rooted in the legacy of the late Patriarch Ilia II. The enthronement of the new Patriarch Shio III may reinforce the anti-Western narratives deployed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, which has actively delayed Georgia’s EU accession through illiberal policies such as the "Foreign Agents …

Consciousness Under Dual Pressure: Colonial Diglossia, Orthodox Missionary Activity, And Islamic Cultural Resilience In Late Imperial Kazakhstan, Aigerim Aliaskar

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the relationship between religious identity, language, and educational experience in the context of the Russian Empire’s educational and Orthodox missionary policies in the Kazakh Steppe during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The primary objective of the study is to analyze the spiritual-cognitive resilience of traditional Islamic educational institutions in response to the policy of Orthodoxization and Russification implemented by the tsarist administration through the system of Nikolai Ilminsky. The author examines the phenomenon of colonial diglossia which emerged during this period, wherein Russian-Christian texts were increasingly elevated as the administrative "High-variant," while the Kazakh-Turkic identity, …

When Everything Falls Apart: On Core Values, Religion, And What Holds Societies Together, András Máté-Tóth

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Right now my region, like much of the world, is living through upheavals that reach both nature and politics at their foundations. When I look around and take the political crises seriously — the mass protests in Serbia, the long erosion of checks and balances in Hungary, the bitter fight over the courts and the rule of law in Poland — one question keeps surfacing: are we witnessing genuinely fundamental change, or only a reshuffling on the surface of power? That question is exactly what makes the problem of core values so urgent, and so current.