Digital Commons Network^™

Transparency And Accessibility In State Transportation Performance Reporting: A Systematic Examination Of State Department Of Transportation Websites Under Map-21, Jack Alan Klee

Dissertations

In the United States, all 50 State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) rely on federal funding as a key revenue source for roadway preservation programs. The 2012 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) Act introduced a performance-based framework for transportation policy, establishing seven national goal areas that require state DOTs to report performance outcomes. As MAP-21 reaches its ten-year milestone, this dissertation investigates the extent to which state DOTs demonstrate transparency and accessibility in reporting federally mandated performance management results. Despite the centrality of performance reporting to accountability and public trust, systematic evaluations of these dimensions remain limited …

“The Thorns Of The Most Severe Virtue”: Education, Religion, And Cultural Power In Michigan, 1798–1855, Kyle Christopher Vanderwall

Dissertations

This project seeks to demonstrate the centrality of education and religion as cultural power levers used by Americans, Odawa, and Catholic missionaries. Though the power of each culture was uneven, efforts to create educational institutions imbued with different denominations of Christianity, as well as continued contestation over land, remade the cultures of all involved. Americans privileged state-building practices, the Odawa acculturated to remain in Michigan when removal policies were enacted throughout the United States, and the Catholic church attempted to proselytize Indigenous communities.

Although the ethnohistorical method needed to be understood in order to write this project, it is not …

Backing The Trustees: How Erisa Supports Enforcing Arbitration Awards And Ensures Equitable Relief, Chloe R. Graham

Arbitration Law Review (2009 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Bridging Theory And Practice: A Review Of Sovereign Immunity From Execution And International Arbitration By Ylli Dautaj, Taimoor R. Sultan

Arbitration Law Review (2009 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Things Montaigne Got Right About Medicine, Stewart Justman

Global Humanities and Religions Faculty Publications

In an article in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine a few years ago, I documented a number of Montaigne’s insights into medicine that have held up over time.  Not everyone was convinced.  Therefore I here augmented my case, adducing several other Montaignean insights and adding some particulars to one or two that were mentioned in the original article.

Investigating The "Party Consciousness": Gender Normativity & Affect In Woolf’S Party Scenes In “To The Lighthouse” & “Mrs. Dalloway”, Chelsea Goodman

English

In 1925, Virginia Woolf wrote in her diary, “…I should like to investigate the party consciousness…where people secrete an envelope which connects them and protects them from others, like myself, who am outside the envelope” (DIII 13). Woolf’s metaphor of the “envelope” reflects how parties have the potential to be places of community and, conversely, of alienation. In literary criticism, Woolf’s parties are often simplified and read as sites of communion. I argue that instead of a suspension of normativity across all characters, which one might expect in a party scene, Woolf’s domestic party scenes solidify, reflect, and enforce …

The Affordable Care Act At 15: The Struggle For The Soul Of Healthcare Through America’S Modern Super-Statute, Abbe Gluck

Seton Hall Journal of Legislation and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Arbitrating Energy: The Impact Of Arbitration On The Energy Transition, Somtochukwu Attamah, Lara B. Fowler

Arbitration Law Review (2009 - Present)

Even prior to recent events in the Middle East, the global energy sector has been undergoing a significant transformation as states pursue regulatory reforms aimed at addressing climate change, environmental protection, and energy system restructuring. These developments have contributed to an increase in disputes arising from energy-related investments, particularly where regulatory measures affect existing investment expectations. This paper examines the role of arbitration in the context of global energy transitions by tracking publicly available arbitration cases through 2022 and analyzing selected energy disputes linked to regulatory change. It explores how arbitration operates not only as a mechanism for resolving …

Bridging Care Gaps For Sickle Cell Disease: Examining Case Management And Healthcare Utilization., Lindsey Page

Doctor of Social Work Capstone Projects

Individuals living with sickle cell disease (SCD) experience complex medical and social needs, including high emergency department (ED) utilization, fragmented care, and systemic inequities. Disease-specific case management has emerged as a promising strategy to improve care coordination, patient outcomes, and healthcare efficiency. This mixed-methods case study examined the impact of disease-specific case management on healthcare utilization, patient-reported outcomes, and healthcare providers’ perspectives. Quantitative analysis evaluated the impact of disease-specific case management on ED and inpatient admissions, healthcare-related costs, and the length of stay for inpatient admissions. Qualitative data were collected using interviews with patients and healthcare providers, exploring utilization, bias, …

The Unitary Executive And The Federal Reserve, Lev Menand

Fordham Law Review

The U.S. Supreme Court may soon embrace an interpretation of the U.S. Constitution that would significantly expand the power of the president over federal administrators and invalidate key provisions in dozens of federal statutes. A critical question is whether this interpretation—known as the unitary executive theory (UET)—would also render unconstitutional central bank independence (CBI), an arrangement where a country’s monetary policy is formulated by a semiautonomous body of experts insulated from partisan political pressure. Several justices have suggested that it would not, and a growing scholarly literature has proposed ways for the Court to distinguish the country’s central banking apparatus …

Campus Consultative Committee End Of Year Report, 2025-2026, Consultative Committee

Consultative Committee

No abstract provided.

Teaching Machines To Deter: Exploring Strategic Deterrence In Ai Models, Will Taylor

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This capstone project investigates whether deterrence can emerge as a meaningful strategy within a zero-sum stochastic game using multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL). After outlining core concepts in game theory and deterrence, the study models a simplified deterrence environment in which two minimax-Q agents repeatedly interact under uncertainty and adversarial incentives. The agents learn from rewards shaped by escalation costs, unilateral vulnerability, and the stabilizing benefits of restraint. Results show that both agents consistently converge toward a conservative, status-quo strategy, overwhelmingly selecting the Maintain action while avoiding both escalation and restraint in most scenarios. This behavior reflects the risk-averse logic of …

What We Can Glean From The Book Of Ruth: A Novel Approach To Keeping The Schoolhouse Doors Open To All Children, Summer Basham Todd

Vanderbilt Social Justice Reporter

No abstract provided.

One Step At A Time: Duquesne University's Thirteenth Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory, Marie Ferrick, Sydney Stahl

Duquesne University Greenhouse Gas Inventories

The thirteenth greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory was conducted for fiscal year 2025 (FY25), which began on July 1, 2024, and ended on June 30, 2025. Assembled by graduate assistants Marie Ferrick and Sydney Stahl at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Science, these findings were compared with those derived from the previous inventories to assess trends in Duquesne University’s GHG emissions. Furthermore, this inventory discusses options for reducing Duquesne’s carbon footprint in future years. Duquesne University’s total market-based GHG emissions were 83,848.97 MT eCO2 for FY25. After calculating the full-time student equivalent and the full-time faculty/staff equivalents, …

The Effectiveness Of Local Historic Place-Based Educational Programs: A Scoping Review, Danielle Bellantoni

Master's Theses

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of local place-based history education programs on adolescents aged students in 6th to 12th grade in the United States public school system. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) to summarize key research findings and identify gaps in the literature. Through thorough evaluation, three studies were included based on the eligibility criteria and each study showed that local place-placed history education programs are effective in the cognitive and affective domains. Although there is a gap in research, it is believed that …

The Course Of Empire Causes Us Much Grief: Imperialism, Slavery, And Genocide In The Theological Education Of Berkeley Divinity School, The Episcopal Seminary At Yale, Alden Fossett

Yale Divinity School Theses

The history of Berkeley Divinity School, the Episcopal seminary at Yale, traverses centuries and thousands of miles between Ireland, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Abundant institutional narratives concerning Berkeley Divinity School’s origin and development over time rehearse a mythology connecting the Anglo-Irish philosopher and bishop George Berkeley (1685–1753) and the establishment of Berkeley Divinity School in 1854 by Massachusetts-born professor and bishop John Williams (1817–1899). This thesis intervenes in the historiography of Berkeley Divinity School by situating John Williams’s allusion to George Berkeley’s unfulfilled dream to establish a college training Anglican missionaries on the island of Bermuda within a British imperial …

Enhancing Methods For Load Rating Bridge Timber Piles, Aashish Ghimire

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Timber piles are widely used in bridge foundations across the United States due to their low cost and ease of installation. The strength of a timber pile is dependent on many factors including wood species, unbraced length, support conditions, age and cross-sectional properties. Cross-sectional properties are highly impacted by the progression of biological deterioration which often is undetected when using standard DOT inspections methods. Current inspection practices rely primarily on subjective methods that provide limited quantitative information about a pile’s existing load-carrying capacity. Consequently, timber piles are inaccurately assessed and prematurely replaced. In response, this thesis investigates the relationship between …

Examining Educational Legislation In Indiana, Jason Cary

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the world of educational legislation and how it is crafted, molded, and signed into law in the state of Indiana. The study examined the key legislative players, the machinations of the Statehouse, the educational organizations and their lobbyists, the national landscape, and other factors at play. To find the answers to the research questions in this study, the researcher interviewed multiple Indiana legislators. An effort was made to sit down with elected officials from both chambers who serve on the educational committees. According to the research, state and federal legislatures are …

Educator Perception Of Principal Leadership For Developing Teacher Self-Efficacy In Inclusive Education, Jessica L. Jones

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study explored general education teacher perceptions of the most impactful principal leadership actions for developing teacher self-efficacy for the education of students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms and schools. An Inclusive Leadership Practices survey was developed by the researcher using qualitative research from Whybrew (2018), the Essential Best Practices in Inclusive Schools Tool (Jorgensen et al., 2012), and leadership research by Hitt and Tucker (2016). General education teachers with experience teaching students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms who chose to participate in this study completed the survey as a measure of their perceptions on inclusive leadership practices. They …

We Are Still Here: A Narrative Inquiry Examining The Experiences Of Black Women Chief Diversity Officers At Historically White Institutions, Jasmin M. Robinson

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study explores the lived experiences of Black women serving as CDOs in higher education institutions to understand their unique challenges, opportunities, and contributions as diversity leaders. The study uses a narrative inquiry approach, comprising of in-depth, semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis to understand how six Black women CDOs lead DEI efforts at historically White institutions, what their identities mean to them, and the lessons learned along the way. Eight core themes emerged from the findings addressing institutional commitment to DEI, institutional perceptions of CDOs, chief diversity officer responsibilities, how Black women understand their race and gender, how …

Application Of The Mattering Model By Generation In The Context Of Teacher Retention In Indiana K-12 Schools, Byron C. Sanders Ii

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

When teachers see their actions as significant and recognize they would be missed if they were gone, they realize the significance of their individual impact (Wilfong & Donlan, 2024). Understanding what matters to teachers is an important factor in the process of teacher retention. This study examined the difference in four generations of Indiana K-12 teachers against the eight elements of mattering identified by Dr. Shelly Wilfong (2021). A survey instrument utilized the Foundational Elements of Mattering Survey for K-12 Teachers (Wilfong & Donlan, 2024) and the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale survey (1966a), and it was taken by …

Cracking The Hive Code: A Quantitative Examination Of Queen Bee Syndrome Behaviors In K–12 Education, Katie Renee Gordon

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Queen Bee Syndrome (QBS) has historically been used to describe women who distance themselves from other women and hinder the advancement of female peers (Staines et al., 1974). While early explanations framed QBS as rooted in individual competitiveness, more recent scholarship suggests it may reflect responses to gender discrimination and organizational context (Derks, 2017). In K–12 education, women comprise the majority of the workforce, yet remain underrepresented in upper leadership roles, particularly the superintendency. The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of Queen Bee Syndrome behaviors among female leaders in K–12 educational settings and to explore how internal …

Qualitative Insights In Superintendent Habits And School Culture, Katy Eastes

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Superintendents are responsible for shaping the vision of a district, yet they are often removed from the daily interactions that define building-level school culture. This study examined the relationship between superintendents’ professional habits and their ability to identify and demonstrate ownership of school culture. Guided by Leader–Member Exchange Theory and Organizational Culture Theory, the research explored whether relational and organizational dynamics influence how accurately superintendents perceive culture within their schools. Using a dataset from the Indiana Principal Leadership Institute, public school superintendents who had nominated a principal between 2021 and 2025 were identified as potential participants. Ninetythree superintendents were invited …

Commodore Kid To Campus It Leader: The Experiences Of Black Men On The Path To Becoming Chief Information Officers In Higher Education, William Adu-Mensah

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since its inception, the chief information officer (CIO) role has become increasingly crucial. Today, the role of the CIO has never been more important. Having CIOs on the leadership table is essential, and that table should include Black IT professionals whose perspectives have long been missing. Yet, Black male chief information officers remain profoundly underrepresented in higher education information technology leadership. Across higher education in the United States, only about three percent of CIOs identify as Black. This underrepresentation raises urgent questions about barriers to entry and how these men navigate institutions with minimal racial representation. The study examined the …

The Experience Of South Asian International Students In Online Classes, Ashima Sitaula

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a widespread shift to online education, compelling higher education institutions to reassess their delivery methods. South Asian international students, a significant global demographic, were particularly affected. This qualitative study examines how South Asian international graduate students experience online learning at U.S. universities and the strategies they use to succeed. Guided by the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, the research addresses two questions: (1) What are the experiences faced by South Asian international students in online classes? and (2) What tools and strategies do they use to enhance their online learning experience? Participants were ten graduate students …

Dinah Whipple: The Black Community’S Fight For Access To Fair And Equal Education, Isabelle C. Fortier

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis illuminates the story of Dinah Whipple, a former enslaved and literate woman of color living in Portsmouth, New Hampshire during the early 1800s. Dinah opened the Ladies Charitable African School, the first school for Black children in New Hampshire, and as an educator she was a community leader and championed social issues facing her community. This thesis will use the Ladies Charitable African School and Dinah Whipple’s work in New England to show the lengths local communities went to, to establish accessible schools. The major academic discussions surrounding education in the 18th-century to 19th-century revolve around earlier Black …

Improving Online Political Discussion With Automated Bot Intervention, Bethanie E. Hackett

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The quality of political discussions occurring on online platforms or social media sites has been deemed quite poor. To address this issue, I investigated whether a Large Language Model (LLM) can be used to promote civil and productive political discussions by identifying and responding to unproductive dialogue. I fine-tuned an existing LLM to detect elements of problematic dialogue, namely misinformation, misrepresentation of sources, logical fallacies, bias, and toxic language, and then respond in a corrective yet non-confrontational manner. The resulting model is referred to as FroBot and was evaluated through an experiment in which a human participant was placed in …

An Interdisciplinary Review Of The Gaslighting Literature And Future Research Agenda, Paula A. Kincaid, Samantha C.O. Stalion

Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Gaslighting is increasingly discussed in organizational contexts, yet its meaning, boundaries, and process remain unclear within management and organizational scholarship. Although research on gaslighting has expanded across multiple disciplines, existing work is conceptually fragmented and difficult to integrate, limiting cumulative theory development and empirical progress. In this review, we synthesize 56 years of gaslighting research (1969-2025; 266 articles) to clarify how gaslighting has been defined, studied, and applied, with particular attention paid to its relevance for work and organizational settings. We identify four recurring ways gaslighting has been conceptualized and show how variation across these approaches has contributed to inconsistent …

Protest, Power, And Democratic Accountability, Prajeeta Vaidya

Political Science

Around the world, organized forms of protest have become the central mechanism through which citizens attempt to hold political elites accountable and keep urgent public issues alive. Protest is not a new concept; it started from mass street mobilizations to digitally networked movements. Collective action increasingly serves as an alternative arena for exercising democratic voice when institutions appear unresponsive. Ancient Greece was the first to coin the word "democracy," meaning "rule by the people" (National Geographic, Democracy, n.d.). Elections, parties, and public institutions are designed to channel citizens' voices into policy outcomes, but in practice, these mechanisms often fall short. …

Sacred Spaces In The African Diaspora: Archaeology Of Praise Houses And The Cultural Preservation Of The Gullah/Geechee, Libby C. Holden

Anthropology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Historical archaeology is traditionally defined as the study of remains from past cultures and societies that have supplemental historical evidence, usually in the form of written records, with the rough timeline covering 1500-present.[1] African American archaeology is a relatively new subfield in historical archaeology. The first archaeological investigations focused in African American life occurred in the 1960s by Charles H. Fairbanks, a historical archaeologist of the U.S. Southeast based at the University of Florida.[2] The sudden uptick in interest of plantation archaeology and African American archaeology during this time is likely attributed to the passage of historic preservation …