Digital Commons Network^™

Felix Mormann, Felix Mormann

Faculty CVs

No abstract provided.

Occupation Ladders Over The Business Cycle, Ismail Baydur, Toshihiko Mukoyama

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper studies occupational mobility over the business cycle. We divide occupations into two broad groups, “attractive” and “nonattractive”, where we label an occupation attractive if the total net inflow into this occupation through job-to-job transition is positive. We measure total net inflows into both occupation groups. We measure these inflows separately for job-to-job transitions and transitions from unemployment to employment. We find that the net inflow from nonattractive to attractive occupations through job-to-job transitions slows during recessions. The net inflow through transitions from unemployment has a similar cyclicality. This finding suggests a novel cost of recession: during recessions, workers …

Examining Data Richness In Undergraduate Students’ Reflections: A Linguistic Analysis Of Three Data Collection Methods, Kirsten A. Davis, Anne Wrobetz

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Researchers select data collection methods for a variety of reasons. In our research on experiential education programs, we perceived that when we collected students’ reflections using different methods, the data we received was different. However, we found few existing studies to help us characterize what was different across our data sets to inform our decisions about which methods to use. Thus, the purpose of our study was to compare data richness across three data sets from previous studies of engineering students studying abroad, each collected using a different method (written diaries, interviews, video diaries). We used linguistic inquiry as a …

Program Development And Implementation Of Adaptive Fishing Program At Western Michigan University Center For Disability Services, Will Harahan

Capstone Projects

Participation in meaningful leisure occupations is an essential component of health, well-being, and quality of life. Unfortunately, individuals with disabilities continue to experience numerous physical, environmental, and social barriers that limit participation in community-based recreational activities. Recreational fishing has emerged as an inclusive outdoor leisure occupation that promotes physical activity, social participation, confidence, and emotional well-being when appropriate adaptations and supports are available. The purpose of this capstone project was to develop, implement, and evaluate an adaptive fishing program for participants enrolled in the Western Michigan University Center for Disability Services (CDS) Skill Building Program. Guided by occupational therapy principles, …

July 2026 Staff Matters® — Is It Time For Our Dental Practice To Consider Outsourcing Hr?, Jodi Schafer Sphr, Shrm-Scp

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This column examines the practicalities of outsourcing human resources (HR) functions for growing dental practices. Jodi Schafer explains that as administrative burdens like hiring and compliance become overwhelming for small teams, bringing in outside HR support offers a flexible and expertise-driven solution. Benefits include peace of mind regarding evolving employment laws, formalized internal operations, and streamlined technology integration for payroll and benefits. The article outlines key indicators for when a practice should consider this move and emphasizes that an effective HR partner should function as an extension of the practice’s unique culture and values.

July 2026 Mda Insurance — Voluntary Benefits Help With Employee Recruitment, Satisfaction, Retention, Craig Start

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Craig Start, president of MDA Insurance, addresses the ongoing dental staffing shortage by advocating for comprehensive employee benefit packages. He explains how offering a mix of employer-paid and voluntary benefits, such as disability, life, and vision insurance, can make a practice a more desirable employer. The article specifically highlights the MDA Health Plan and employee-paid options like critical illness insurance, which help offset financial exposure from high-deductible plans. Start notes that these voluntary benefits are cost-effective for employers and can be administered through pre-tax cafeteria plans to improve employee economic security and retention.

July 2026 Feature Article 2 — Burning Mouth Syndrome In Dental Settings: Clinical Clues, Diagnostic Approaches, And Management With Topical Doxepin And Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Elizabeth R. Hatfield, Dds, Elizabeth A. Van Tubergen, Dds, Phd, Felipe Nör Dds, Ms, Phd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This clinical case report explores Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS), a chronic pain condition predominantly affecting post-menopausal women. Describing BMS as a diagnosis of exclusion with often idiopathic origins, the authors present a case study of a 54-year-old female patient. They review the challenges of traditional management and detail a novel, effective treatment using a combination of topical doxepin oral rinse and oral alpha-lipoic acid. The article provides dentists with practical strategies for recognition and diagnostic procedures, emphasizing their role as the first line of care for improving the quality of life for BMS sufferers.

July 2026 Feature Article 3 — Introducing: The Great Lakes Dental Summit!, Emily Varsanik, Annie Mcintosh

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This article announces the reimagining of the Michigan Dental Association's flagship annual meeting, evolving from the MDA Annual Session into the Great Lakes Dental Summit, set to debut in 2027. The transition reflects the changing needs of dental professionals who desire more integrated, collaborative experiences beyond traditional lectures. The summit will feature segmented programming, expanded networking opportunities, and a more inclusive approach for the entire dental team. By focusing on well-being and innovation while maintaining high-quality CE, the MDA aims to provide a renewed and exceptional in-person connection for its members.

Discordance Between Self-Report And Performance-Based Measures Among At-Risk Older Adults: A Secondary Data Analysis, Chiung-Ju Liu, Wen-Pin Chang, Inga Wang

Occupational Therapy Faculty Publications

Importance: Subtle, age-related declines in occupational performance among at-risk older adults may go undetected when assessed solely with self-report measures, potentially leading to missed intervention opportunities. Understanding discrepancies between self-reported and performance-based occupational performance outcomes can inform assessment selection and interpretation.

Objective: To examine the discrepancies between the two types of measure among community-dwelling older adults at risk for losing independence.

Design: Cross-sectional study using secondary data analysis.

Participants: Seventy-one community-dwelling older adults (M age = 74 yr, SD = 9) who showed muscle weakness and reported difficulty with activities of daily living.

Outcomes and measures: Canadian Occupational Performance Measure …

In The Shadow Of The Steeple: A Theory Of Religious Hypocrisy, Justin Arthur Rice

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I explore how Christian doctrine and practice respond to the pressures placed upon them by the troubling reality of religious hypocrisy (RH). Assuming a teleological notion of social institutions, I argue that RH is best understood in relation to the Church as an institution, and that RH occurs when religious agents undermine or subvert their appointed role within the Church. RH consists in the conscious or unconscious charade of spiritual or moral virtue undertaken in one’s capacity as a member of a religious institution, grounded in a fundamental disparity between one’s thoughts, words, desires, motivations, or deeds, …

Leveraging Data Science And Analytics For Next-Generation Transportation And Logistics: Literature Review And Regional Analysis, Kazi Humayra Shams

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The increasing integration of data science and analytics into next-generation transportation and logistics planning and operations offers improved system performance but requires managing and interpreting vast and complex datasets. The Arkansas Smart Transportation Research, Infrastructure and Data-Driven Engineering Systems (AR-STRIDES) program (NSF Award No. 2445877) is working to develop data science solutions and data-driven supply chain technologies for next-generation transportation and logistics systems. This thesis supports AR-STRIDES by providing a comprehensive literature review of recent literature studying data science and analytics in transportation and logistics systems and conducting a regional analysis of Arkansas to create a database of companies, higher …

Evaluation Of Loading, Release, And Bioavailability Of Resveratrol Encapsulated In Porous Starch, Yu-Yun Wang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Resveratrol (Res) is a polyphenolic compound found in grapes, red wine, and berries, with health benefits such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cardioprotective properties. The poor stability and bioaccessibility of Res after consumption by humans require the development of delivery systems. Among many delivery systems, porous starch (PS) is a safe, cost-effective, and high in adsorption capacity encapsulation material for drugs and bioactive compounds sensitive to environmental factors like light and heat. Porous rice, corn, and potato starch have different granule sizes, pore volumes, and surface areas. However, the impact of these encapsulation capabilities remains unclear among the three porous starches. …

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy For Toddlers In Japan: Comparing Outcomes For Children With And Without Autism And/Or Developmental Delays, Emily-Anne Sevilla Del Rosario

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Toddlers (PCIT-T) is a toddler adaptation of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy designed to improve social-emotional development and parenting practices among children under two years of age. This study evaluated the effectiveness of PCIT-T among Japanese families and explored whether treatment outcomes differed between neurotypical toddlers and autistic children and/or children with developmental delays. Data was analyzed from 83 parent-child dyads who received PCIT-T in community-based agencies across Japan between 2018 and 2023. Results indicated significant improvements in children’s protective developmental factors, caregiver use of PRIDE skills, and reductions in Avoid skills following treatment. CARES skills did not …

The Role Of Speculators In The Agricultural Futures Market And Their Impact On Prices, Clement Asamoah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study evaluates the impact of speculative activity on agricultural commodity returns, specifically in the corn, soybeans, rice, and oats markets. The study also analyzed the influence commodity returns have on speculative positions. Weekly data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission were used as a proxy for speculative activity, and futures data were also retrieved from Barchart. Vector Autoregressive models and the Granger Causality tests were estimated to identify the relationships between returns and speculation. The paper found that speculative positions do not Granger-cause returns over the course of a week except for rice Tuesday results, which recorded a statistically …

“We Have The Right To Education”: Exploring Student Experiences, Disability Policy, And The Need For Culturally Refined Awareness Raising On Inclusive Higher Education Within The English-Speaking Caribbean, Kadesha Treco

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Within the English-speaking Caribbean, research at the intersection of inclusive education policy and higher education (HIED) remains limited. Despite the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) by countries across the region, the establishment of the CARICOM Special Rapporteur on Disabilities, and the creation of several pieces of national disability legislation, there is little evidence regarding the effectiveness of these initiatives at improving access to HIED. Therefore, this dissertation contributes to regional scholarship on inclusive education by examining how access to, and experiences within HIED institutions are shaped for students with disabilities. This …

Beyond Access: Native American Students' Sense Of Belonging At Land-Grant Pwis, Skyler Ames-Patton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Native American students remain one of the most underrepresented populations within higher education and continue to experience unique challenges related to belonging, visibility, and persistence, particularly within predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Although sense of belonging has been widely recognized as a significant factor influencing student success and retention, traditional approaches to belonging often fail to account for distinct cultural, historical, and relational experiences that shape Native students’ educational journeys. This study explores how Native American students describe their interpersonal experiences and sense of belonging at a public, land-grant, PWI in the mid-South region of the United States. Guided by Tribal …

Advancing Social Media Analytics And Personalized Generation Via Transfer Learning, Discourse-Aware Modeling, And Collaborative Modeling, Gibson Nkhata

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social media platforms have become central to information exchange, shaping public opinion across social, political, and economic domains. However, the massive volume of user-generated content, combined with its informal, nuanced, and often noisy nature, presents significant challenges for automated analysis and generation. Tasks such as stance detection, rumor verification, and personalized content generation are further complicated by sarcasm, evolving discourse structures, and diverse user preferences. Addressing these challenges requires models that can effectively leverage linguistic nuance, conversational dynamics, and collaborative user signals. Transfer learning has emerged as a powerful paradigm for improving performance in low-resource and complex language understanding tasks. …

Permanent Winter Hay-Feeding Stations Concentrate Soil Nutrients In Kentucky Pastures, Alan J. Franzluebbers, Jeffrey W. Lehmkuhler, Matt H. Poore, Arjun Kafle, Rodolfo Zentella, Tommy Yankey, S. Ray Smith, Gregory Halich

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Distribution of soil nutrients as a function of centralized winter hay-feeding stations can lead to inefficient nutrient utilization and environmental quality concerns, but distributions have not been adequately characterized across a diversity of soils. We investigated spatial distribution of soil nutrients and organic matter fractions on three farms with concrete feeding pads for winter hay feeding. Soils were silt loam at the Princeton and Oran Little Research Stations and silty clay loam and silty clay at the Eden Shale Farm in ≥20-year-old tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum) pastures in Kentucky. An anticipated impact zone of 0.7–1.0 ha around the winter hay-feeding …

The Pāḷi Text Of The Nīvaraṇasutta From The Aṅguttara Nikāya, Maksim Astashinskiy

Faculty Papers and Publications

The Pāḷi text of the Nīvaraṇasutta from the Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN 9.64) is anthologized in The Buddhist Era 2500 Great International Council Nīvaraṇasutta Pāḷi Tipiṭaka: 40 Volume Edition in Roman Script B.E. 2548 (M.L. Maniratana Bunnag Dhamma Society Fund, 2005), https://suttacentral.net/ms. English translations by Thānissaro Bhikkhu from 1998 (or 2002) together with Bhikkhu Sujato from 2016–2018 are housed in SuttaCentral. The historically significant English translation of AN 9.64 is part of the multivolume, The Book of Gradual Sayings (Anguttara-Nikaya), or More Numbered Suttas, Vol. IV (The Book of the Sevens, Eights and Nines), Pali …

From Evolution To Revolution: Narrowing The Technological Skills Gap Of Accounting Graduates, Geraldo Vasquez, Frank Manzi, Mark Martinelli, Cynthia Scarinci

Journal of Global Education and Research

A growing number of firms have cited the lack of technological skills that college graduates entering the accounting profession exhibit, raising concerns about their ability to serve clients effectively. Yet accounting graduates are not exposed to new technologies in the classroom or on the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam. The CPA Evolution initiative aims to restructure the CPA Exam to ensure that graduates have the technological skills to enter the profession and assist educators with transitioning to the new exam through the development of the CPA Evolution Model Curriculum. We argue that although the redesigned CPA exam and the Model …

Religious Higher Education In Prison In The United States: The Importance Of Well-Being, Robin L. Labarbera

Journal of Global Education and Research

A growing body of scholarship suggests that incarcerated individuals who participate in education programs, particularly those grounded in faith, are better positioned for lasting community reintegration and positive long-term outcomes. Using a mixed-methods evaluation design, the author examines two interrelated questions: whether faith-based higher education is associated with enhanced well-being among current participants and whether program graduates carry those well-being gains into post-release life. Drawing on group interviews with 109 incarcerated men and women across six U.S. facilities and surveys from 157 participants in four states, the study found that participation in a prison-based theological education program was associated with …

Barriers And Enablers Of Integrated E-Learning In Southern Africa: Student Experiences, Vicente A. Halle, Luzaan Schlebusch

Journal of Global Education and Research

Integrated e-learning is increasingly essential for enhancing higher education globally, yet its implementation in resource-constrained regions such as Southern Africa remains uneven. This study explores the technological, organizational, and environmental factors influencing the integration of e-learning in higher education institutions, using the Technological, Organizational, and Environmental framework. A qualitative phenomenological approach was employed, involving semi-structured interviews with 24 students (12 males and 12 females) from universities in South Africa and Mozambique. Thematic analysis revealed key barriers, including poor connectivity, limited digital literacy, inadequate institutional support, and socio-economic constraints such as power cuts and data costs. Despite these challenges, several enablers …

Bridging The Gap: Addressing Challenges And Enhancing Support For Learners Transitioning From Primary To Secondary School, Redson Nkosi, Precious Nyoni, Philogene Manirahari

Journal of Global Education and Research

This study explored the challenges students face during the transition from primary to secondary school, particularly in their final year of primary and first year of secondary school. Common concerns include bullying, making new friends, increased workload, unfriendly teachers, teasing, new subjects, and adjusting to the secondary school environment. Conducted in Malawi, Mzimba North education district at two secondary schools and one primary school, the research used a qualitative methodology, employing documentary review, interviews, focus group discussions, and observations for data collection. Findings revealed that many of the students’ fears were either confirmed, such as bullying and teacher strictness, proving …

Broadband Diffusion And Digital Preparedness In Tanzania: Harnessing The Role Of Technology In Formal Education, George Matto, John J. Iwata

Journal of Global Education and Research

Broadband, as a high-speed Internet connectivity, is an essential enabler for digital preparedness. However, little is known, in the case of Tanzania, about the nexus between broadband diffusion and digital preparedness, particularly in the facilitation of the teaching and learning process. This study, therefore, aimed at investigating the nexus between broadband diffusion and digital preparedness in Tanzania by focusing on the country’s readiness to leverage the same for formal education. The study employed a systematic review, guided by the PRISMA framework, to obtain the empirical evidence from existing literature. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes, analyze, and interpret qualitative …

Necessary Digital Competencies Of Preschool Teachers In Austria, Walter Fikisz

Journal of Global Education and Research

The aim of this paper is to identify specific digital competencies that preschool teachers require, compared with schoolteachers, to extend the Austrian digital competence model for teachers, digi.kompP. Methodologically, the study is based on interviews with Austrian experts in early childhood education, media pedagogy, computer science, and preschool teacher education. The expert interviews addressed the digital competencies required by preschool teachers, differences compared with schoolteachers, the timing and nature of competence development, and the institutions involved. As a result of this study, sixteen new can-do statements were developed for the expansion of the existing digi.kompP model, which maps the specific …

The Razorback Educator, Carole Shook Dr., Lynn Meade, Sheri Deaton, Faith Lessner, Karl Schubert, Gretchen Scroggins, Rachel Glade, Treisha Peterson, Flint Harris, Tamara Snyder, Kim Mccomas, Austin Jones, Eric Button

TFSC Publications and Presentations

The Razorback Educator is a joint publication of the University of Arkansas Teaching Academy and the Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center.  It is designed to share teaching innovations related to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.  Faculty from multiple disciplines author the publication.

Institutions, Innovation, And Structural Transformation: Advancing Business And Economics Research In Emerging Economies, Marites Tiongco

DLSU Business & Economics Review

No abstract provided.

Bodies In The Beds: How Reits, Private Equity Firms, And County Hospitals Monetize Nursing Home Residents As Real Estate Acquisitions, Daniel L. Hatcher

All Faculty Scholarship

Nursing home residents have become monetized targets of real estate acquisitions. Established in 1960, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) were envisioned as allowing individuals to invest in commercial real estate without owning properties. That seemingly innocuous investment idea has led to the growth of a behind-the-scenes empire of little-understood conglomerates of REITs buying up nursing homes and other healthcare facilities across the country. Capitalizing on tax-exempt income incentives, exploiting “triple-net” leasebacks, funneling profits through subsidiaries, and shielding ownership and assets from the liability of operations, the corporatized owners extract cash from facilities and leave harm in their wake. And to …

Montana’S Outfitting Industry - 2024 Economic Contribution And Industry-Client Analysis, Carter Bermingham, Kara Grau, Emma Keinath-Lopez

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

Montana's outfitting and guiding industry remains a vital economic sector driven primarily by nonresident visitors, generating an estimated $314 million in direct expenditures in 2024 and supporting more than $1.27 billion in total economic output when indirect and induced effects are included. This report, an update to ITRR's 2017 industry analysis, draws on a survey of outfitting businesses alongside ITRR's annual nonresident visitor survey to examine roughly 980,000 clients served by an estimated 1,500 outfitting and guiding entities statewide. While wildlife viewing and sightseeing attracted the largest share of clients, fishing generated the most revenue despite serving a smaller portion …

Sjsu Erfa News, Summer 2026, San Jose State University, Emeritus And Retired Faculty Association

Emeritus and Retired Faculty Association (ERFA) Newsletter

Volume 39, No 39