Digital Commons Network^™

Augustine Of Hippo: On Justification By Faith, John Mauger

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This study aims to retrieve Augustine of Hippo’s view of ‘justification by faith’ from his theological writings from the 390s to the end of his career. Significant sources are his early, unfinished commentaries on Paul’s letters to the Romans and his completed commentary on Galatians. In these, Augustine provides essential groundwork for his understanding of the Apostle Paul’s view of ‘justification by faith’ and other related doctrines such as the work of Christ, the law, and God’s grace. I also examine both continuity and development across other relevant early-, mid-, and later-career writings. By asserting both comprehensiveness and consistency of …

Building The Beast: The Evolution Of Mara Salvatrucha (Ms-13) From Street Gang To Transnational Criminal Organization, Marisa Mendoza

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the evolution of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) from a social stoner group in Los Angeles to a feared transnational criminal organization (TCO). Through a longitudinal study of literature and opensource materials spanning over 50 years, this study examines suppression and policy reforms enacted in the United States, Mexico, and Northern Triangle region of Central America that have catalyzed shifts in the criminal ecosystem, and vice versa. By exploring the genealogical makeup of TCO networks, particularly La Cosa Nostra, Mexican Mafia prison gang, and Los Zetas drug trafficking cartel, it will provide a better understanding of how an anomaly …

A Theoretical Framework For Black Women’S Leader Development, Kayla Kai Parker

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the leader development journeys of Black women, identifying key contributors and inhibitors that influence their progression into and experiences within formal leadership positions. This study employed a grounded theory methodology, integrated with an intersectional framework and Black feminist theory. Study data was gathered utilizing three methods: social media listening data points (n = 216), a leadership roadmap survey (n = 69), and structured interviews (n = 15). The open, axial, and selective coding led to the creation of a theoretical framework outlining two pathways to leadership outcomes: one shaped by inhibitors (e.g., identity management, overcompensation, hindrance, resource …

Augmented Digital Fotonovela (Smaart App) To Mitigate Health Consequences Among Adolescents Resulting From Social Media Addiction, Joseph Santhosh

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Adolescent social media (SM) usage has surged over the past decade, outpacing that of adults and exacerbating digital polarization. Due to ongoing neural development, adolescents are particularly susceptible to social media addiction (SMA) - a phenomenon that has intensified post-COVID-19 with increased digital engagement. On average, adolescents spend 8.5 hours daily on SM platforms, exposing them to heightened risks of cyberbullying, sexting, body shaming, and academic disengagement. The dopamine-driven reward mechanisms inherent in social media reinforce compulsive use, contributing to severe mental health consequences, including anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. Despite its growing prevalence, SMA remains an underrecognized behavioral disorder …

A Study Of The Parental Decision To Homeschool, Leonard Cheung

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This phenomenological qualitative study provides context and understanding of why parents choose to homeschool their children using Rational Choice Theory as the framework. As of 2024, while there is quantitative data that breaks the reasons why parents homeschool down into several categories, scholars often criticize these data for being poorly done because these studies lack context. There have also been many qualitative studies that investigate certain reasons why parents homeschool, but almost all of them do not use a decision-making framework nor were they studying the decision-making process on why parents choose homeschooling. The literature has shown that parents homeschool …

Employment Preparedness Through The Collegiate Experience, Barnaby F. Peake

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Obtaining a college degree is more than the culmination of an educational experience today; studies indicate that two-thirds of jobs require a postsecondary education or specialized training beyond high school. College graduates expect their studies to provide the necessary training to enable them to be successful in the workforce. However, employers report that college students are underprepared in many important career competencies. This study aimed to determine if college is delivering on the promise of career preparedness and to uncover what experiences help students develop career competencies by asking recent alumni to reflect on their collegiate experience and identify what …

Helping Students Help Themselves: An Intervention To Facilitate Campus Food Pantry Use At A Public University, Kianna D.G. Valoa

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Estimates of student food insecurity at California’s public universities range from 42–47%. This study conducted at a public university in California investigated the impacts of an intervention on increasing campus food pantry use by increasing students’ knowledge of the pantry and reducing cognitive barriers. A sample of enrolled students (N=11,400) were randomly assigned to be in either the partial intervention (n=3,800), full intervention (n=3,800), or control (n=3,800) group. The partial intervention group received a postcard in the mail and an email invitation to complete the post-test survey online. The full intervention group received the pretest survey, a postcard, and the …

Resisting Racial Oppression: Ethnic Identity & Critical Consciousness As Pathways To Thriving For Young Black, Indigenous, And People Of Color, Adriana Ariza

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Young Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in the United States continuously defy the odds through resilience, resistance, and the pursuit of liberation, yet they are historically understudied as agents of their own positive development within the context of racial oppression (García Coll et al., 1996). This explanatory sequential mixed-method study examined how 393 BIPOC-identifying youth (ages 18-25) thrive amid racial oppression. Survey results initially indicated that higher levels of perceived racial discrimination were related to higher levels of thriving, as measured by the 5Cs model of positive youth development (Lerner et al., 2005). In alignment with previous theoretical …

Bridging Generations: Shou-Yi Ch’En, Yanshuo Zhang, And Their Contribution To Asian Studies In American Higher Education, Zhen Zhou

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the lives and academic legacies of Dr. Shou-yi Ch’en (1899–1987) and Dr. Yanshuo Zhang (b. 1988), two Chinese scholars whose contributions have shaped Asian Studies in American higher education across nearly a century. Dr. Ch’en, educated in both China and the United States, played a foundational role in establishing Pomona College’s early Asian Studies program, fostering East–West intellectual exchange through extensive correspondence, and mentoring a generation of scholars. Dr. Zhang, also educated in China and the U.S., represents a new generation of interdisciplinary scholarship, focusing on China’s Qiang ethnic minority through oral history and a multicultural lens. …

Co-Creating A Socio-Technical Framework For The Design And Evaluation Of Crime-Reporting Mobile Apps In Urban Residential Communities, Olalekan Oluwaseun David-Banjo

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Although mobile applications (apps) for crime reporting can enhance safety and foster social cohesion in urban communities, adoption of existing crime-reporting apps remains low because they overemphasize technological features at the expense of social realities. To address this problem, the study builds on socio-technical systems theory to addresses this problem by developing a Socio-Technical Evaluation Framework (STEF) in partnership with urban residents that can be used to guide the design and evaluation of these apps. The study combines qualitative (focus groups, interviews, app review analysis, and co-creation workshops) with quantitative methods (surveys and structural equation modeling) to identify and validate …

Classical And Quantum Computational Methods For Predicting Fluid Transport In Fracture Networks, John Kath

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the challenge of modeling complex geophysical systems by developing efficient surrogate models and scalable quantum algorithms. Our approaches provide uncertainty quantification, assessing confidence in estimates while accounting for subsurface heterogeneity. These innovations are designed to replace costly solvers with parsimonious emulators. In combination with multi-fidelity and quantum techniques, they make physics-informed modeling computationally feasible. One of our studies involves the use of Gaussian process regression to generate Bayesian predictions for gas transport in 3D discrete fracture networks. This provides accurate estimates while offering substantial savings over computationally intensive high-fidelity simulations. Additionally, we study multi-fidelity modeling through the …

Bridging Science And Sustainability: Palestinians’ Perspective On Examining The Role Of Stem Education In The West Bank’S Development, Amir Rashed

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the transformative potential of integrated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education as a catalyst for sustainable development in the West Bank, Palestine, amid the constraints of Israeli occupation. It explores how structural barriers—including restricted movement, inadequate infrastructure, limited resources, gender disparities, and sociopolitical instability—undermine access to quality education and impede efforts to build a knowledge-based society. Employing a qualitative research design, the study draws on interviews with college professors and NGO professionals to investigate how integrated STEM education can foster critical thinking, innovation, and problem-solving skills that address pressing local challenges such as water scarcity, renewable …

Understanding Risk Associated With Artificial Intelligence For Generalized Assessment And Decision Making: A Design Science Approach, William Wagner

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Artificially Intelligent technology has great potential; however, contained within that potential are myriad threats and unintended consequences that range from minor inconveniences to global catastrophes. This research articulates a framework that can be used to quantitively evaluate existing, as well as emergent, artificially intelligent technologies from a perspective of risks associated with increased capability. Grounded in existing AI risk management and quantification methods and remedies, but using the Design Science Research methodology, we use quantitative measures to create a framework called Ordinal-W that provides a novel and intuitive way of “scoring” any risks associated with autonomous entities. This score can …

What We Talk About When We Talk About Race: Racial Discourses, Nationalism And Identity In Nineteenth Century Ireland, Timothy Werlinger

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The 19th century witnessed the rise of race and racism as a dominant framework of worldwide identity politics. These politics shaped the various social hierarchies and nationalist contexts across Europe and the world. Racial constructs adopted cultural, economic, and political components and did not rely exclusively on biological determinism. This had the effect of reinforcing or hardening boundaries between groups. This dissertation examines how racial identity was negotiated within an Irish context. It does this by considering social, scientific and nationalist discourses that engaged race as a device of inclusion and exclusion. By examining how racialized language permeated the Irish …

Tech-Neutrality Or Tech-Sensitivity? Emerging Principles Of Crypto-Asset Regulation In The U.S. And The E.U., Firat Cengiz

Loyola Consumer Law Review

Crypto assets are subject to financial and bespoke regulations in the United States (US) and the European Union (EU). Regulatory effectiveness requires assets to be subject to the regulatory regime that addresses their risks best, whilst regulatory fairness requires market participants to be able to identify the regulatory standards they need to comply with. Whilst comparing the interplay between financial and bespoke crypto-asset regulations in the US and the EU, this article finds that the two polities might be embarking on different paths of crypto-asset regulation. The former moves in the direction of tech-sensitivity, whereas the latter sticks with strict …

Uber's Mandatory Arbitration Agreements: How They Redefine The Meaning Of 'Assent' In Different States, Mariya Mujahid

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Algorithmic Speech Harm, Mateusz Grochowski

Loyola Consumer Law Review

This paper examines the potential application of product liability doctrine to content moderation and recommendation algorithms employed by social media platforms. Emerging scholarship and evolving case law suggest that product liability could provide a viable legal pathway to circumvent the limitations imposed by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The article critically evaluates this proposition and delves into the doctrinal foundations of product liability to assess its capacity to address harms inflicted on consumers by algorithmic systems. A central focus of the analysis is the development of a more precise definition of the harm that users understood here as …

Fraud In Feeding Our Future: An Analysis Of “The Largest Pandemic Relief Fraud Scheme Yet”, Alena Johnston

Criminal Law Practitioner

Since the 1930s, the public school system in the United States has provided a distinct place for students to develop, learn, and grow.  Public schools level the playing field for students in academics, allowing them to receive an education at no direct cost. However, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds continue to face challenges, and their inability to secure nutritious meals can affect their ability to perform academically. In 1946, President Harry Truman signed the National School Lunch Act, forming the first Child Nutrition Program in the United States to remedy the food security issue.

 The program was implemented as “a …

Juror Certainty About Firearm Evidence: Examination Effects, Dr. Amelia Shooter, Dr. Paraic Scanlon, Professor Sarah L. Cooper

Criminal Law Practitioner

Firearms examiners can evaluate associations between suspect ammunition and ammunition test-fired by a suspect firearm by microscopically comparing tool marks on both projectiles. This practice has been criticized, including by the National Academy of Sciences, yet firearms examiners routinely testify as experts in the United States. Jurors must determine the weight of expert evidence, which lawyers can aim to discredit on cross-examination or rehabilitate on redirect-examination. Using online vignettes, the authors investigated how both cross-examination and redirect-examination affected potential U.S. jurors' certainty about expert firearms evidence.

Participants (n=114) were asked to rate their certainty (on a scale of 0-100) about …

Defining “Delineation”: How The Circuit Split On The Delineation Test For The Copyrightability Of Fictional Characters Can Be Fixed, Kurt Bauer

American University Law Review

The standard for the copyrightability of fictional characters needs clarification. Courts have long relied on the delineation test to determine whether a character is sufficiently developed to merit protection separate from its underlying work, yet the circuits diverge on how this test should be applied. The Ninth Circuit’s Towle test relies on overruled precedent, treats characters as static, imposes an originality threshold beyond that required by the Copyright Act, and risks extending protection to inanimate props. In contrast, the Second Circuit has tied delineation more clearly to the Act’s core requirements of originality and fixation, offering a more principled approach. …

Bringing Section 7 Into The Next Century, Amy J. Schmitz, David M. Brodsky

American University Business Law Review

In 1925, Congress passed a historic piece of legislation, the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), that attempted to change the American judiciary's hostility towards enforcing arbitration agreements and awards. This hostility was rooted in English common law and migrated to the American civil justice system. But in 1925, Congress gave life to the broad use of executory agreements to enforce compliance with contracts through arbitration.

Remote Work's Complication Of Companies' Personal Jurisdiction Standings: Morphing The Historical Analysis To Fit Modern Remote Work Characteristics, Lindarose Piccolo

American University Business Law Review

Personal jurisdiction ensures that the proper forum adjudicates civil disputes to prevent burdening a defendant with litigating in inconvenient forums. International Shoe Co. v. Washington established that defendants must have minimum contacts with the forum state such that exercise of jurisdiction comports with fair play and substantial justice. Following International Shoe, many cases have provided examples of the minimum contacts that would establish personal jurisdiction.

However, the ability for employees to work remotely from their homes using technological devices and software has exponentially increased over the past five years. Because of the increased ability to work remotely from anywhere in …

An Investigation Of Early Identification And Programs That Support Children With Inequitable Beginnings, Rena Ramiah

Educational Leadership Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

A body of research suggests that children from disadvantaged backgrounds have a gap in cognitive development that is set by age three (Roozbeh et al., 2016). This study examines if early identification of children with inequitable beginnings and conditions, and offering the support needed better prepares them for school (Simoncic et al., 2022). The research looks at programs established to address the equality and equity of education in a large suburban school district despite not qualifying for Head Start funding (National Academies of Sciences et al., 2020).

This research used qualitative and quantitative analysis within an associational investigation format, using …

English Learners With Disabilities: A Selected Annotated Bibliography For English Learner Research, Policy, And Practice, Center For Equity For English Learners

Annotated Bibliographies

English Learners with Disabilities: A Selected Annotated Bibliography for English Learner Research, Policy, and Practice is comprised of 21 annotations from recent and seminal literature regarding English Learners (ELs) who are dually identified as students with disabilities. These annotations build on the annotations regarding ELs with disabilities in CEEL’s 2022 annotated bibliography, Ensuring Equity and Excellence for English Learners: An Annotated Bibliography for Research, Policy, and Practice (Center for Equity for English Learners, 2022) to include publications from 2022-2025. This selected annotated bibliography serves as a resource for researchers, policymakers, educators, and advocates who are working for equity and excellence …

Designated Eld: A Selected Annotated Bibliography For English Learner Research, Policy, And Practice, Center For Equity For English Learners

Annotated Bibliographies

Designated ELD: A Selected Annotated Bibliography for English Learner Research, Policy, and Practice is comprised of 19 annotations from recent and seminal literature regarding designated English Language Development (d-ELD). These annotations build on the annotations regarding designated ELD in CEEL’s 2022 annotated bibliography, Ensuring Equity and Excellence for English Learners: An Annotated Bibliography for Research, Policy, and Practice (Center for Equity for English Learners, 2022) to include publications from 2022-2025. This selected annotated bibliography serves as a resource for researchers, policymakers, educators, and advocates who are working for equity and excellence for English Learners.

The contributors provide a comprehensive selection …

College, Career, And Course Access: A Selected Annotated Bibliography For English Learner Research, Policy, And Practice, Center For Equity For English Learners

Annotated Bibliographies

College, Career, and Course Access: A Selected Annotated Bibliography for English Learner Research, Policy, and Practice is comprised of 13 annotations from recent and seminal literature regarding educational practices that impact the opportunities available to English Learners’ (ELs) in secondary schools and beyond. These annotations build on the annotations regarding college, career, and course access in CEEL’s 2022 annotated bibliography, Ensuring Equity and Excellence for English Learners: An Annotated Bibliography for Research, Policy, and Practice (Center for Equity for English Learners, 2022) to include publications from 2022-2025. This selected annotated bibliography serves as a resource for researchers, policymakers, educators, and …

Living Networks: Reimagining Social Capital Beyond Institutions, Meghna Pamula

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the decline of social capital in the United States and explores how community connection can be rebuilt outside of traditional government institutions. Motivated by the question of whether social capital can be rebuilt within bureaucratic structures, the research evaluates the role of alternative, agile models such as local volunteer organizations, mutual aid networks, third spaces, and NGOs. Using a comparative case study approach and qualitative analysis, I examine initiatives across different cultures that foster social trust and connection beyond the limitations of formal systems. The findings illustrate that adaptive models of social capital that are not based …

Untimely, Uneven, Combined: Translator's Introduction, D. Bret Leraul

Faculty Contributions to Books

No abstract provided.

Interrogating The Sacred And Special: Engaging Students In Diversifying Special Collections, Susan Falciani Maldonado, Sharon L. Albert

Faculty Contributions to Books

The answer to the question “What is the future of special collections?” is one that has evolved in scope over the past twenty-five years. Through the late twentieth century, the role of the special collections librarian seemed largely curatorial: to conserve these precious, unique resources—rare books, archival material, and other unique collections— for posterity and for “serious” researchers. While it remains true that the nature of its special collections can distinguish an academic library in ways that its database and print holdings may not, what emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s was a movement to put rare books …

Ensuring The Health And Well-Being Of Children After Adoption, The Rees-Jones Center For Foster Care Excellence

White Papers and Policy Briefs

Children in foster care have higher rates of health concerns and healthcare utilization than their peers who have not experienced foster care. For example, one study found that children in foster care had 2.5- and 2.3-times higher odds of having a mental health diagnosis and developmental disability diagnosis, respectively. Data on our patient population supports these findings, revealing that 70.4% of our patients had chronic or complex chronic health conditions.

For questions about this publication or others, please email [email protected]

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