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Cougar Insider Vol. 1 Iss. 4, University Of Minnesota Morris. Chancellor's Office

Cougar Insider

A Message from Jessica Porwoll, Director of Student Success Center -- Recent Faculty Award Recipients -- Medicine Ball Student Involvement -- National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) -- Increased Traffic to UMN Morris Website -- Upcoming Events

Is A Gender-Neutral Income Tax Feasible—Or Desirable?, James Alm, Yvette Lind

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

It is increasingly recognized that the individual income tax leads to disparate treatment by race, ethnicity, and gender, even when the statutory tax code is written in a race-, ethnicity-, and gender-blind way. Partly in response to these disparate treatments, there have been many suggestions for moving the income tax to more neutral treatments of taxpayers. In this paper, we focus on a specific aspect of these reform efforts: making the individual income tax gender-neutral. We first examine the many sources of gender non-neutrality in the income tax. We argue that gender non-neutrality arises largely because of deviations of “income” …

The Combined Effects Of Art Therapy And Yoga On Stress In Graduate Students, Wen-Fang (Tiffany) Tsai

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

Graduate students experience disproportionately high levels of stress, and when this stress becomes chronic, it is associated with adverse psychological and physical health outcomes. While yoga and art therapy have independently demonstrated potential in reducing stress, their combined effects remain underexplored. This quantitative study employed a two-group experimental design to investigate the synergistic effects of an integrated art therapy and yoga intervention on stress reduction and flow enhancement. Graduate students (N = 23) were randomly assigned to either the integrated intervention or an active control group receiving yoga only. Participants received three weekly 50-min sessions, with pre- and post-intervention …

Inexorably Entangled Environmental And Knowledge Commons, Todd Aagaard, Brett M. Frischmann

Faculty Publications

For people to effectively share an environment, they usually also must effectively share knowledge about that environment. While seemingly obvious and intuitive, this insight is often overlooked in literature about governing resources as commons. Focusing on the knowledge commons associated with an environmental commons helps to illuminate a host of complex governance dilemmas. This chapter examines the interrelationship between environmental and knowledge commons, weaving together different strands of commons research and practice. Examples discussed include shared pastures, forests, road systems, computer servers, social media platforms, living rooms, and antimicrobial effectiveness/resistance.

March 19, 2026, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

The Buffering Effect Of Psychological Capital On Technology Anxiety And Adoption: An Examination Through The Lens Of Artificial Intelligence, Hannah Wagner

Industrial-Organizational Psychology Dissertations

This study examines how psychological resources moderate the relationship between technology anxiety and technology adoption, using artificial intelligence (AI) as a contemporary exemplar of emerging workplace technologies. Despite significant investments in technological infrastructure, organizations continue to struggle with limited employee adoption—a challenge that extends beyond technical barriers to psychological dimensions. Drawing on Psychological Capital (PsyCap) theory, this research investigates how self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience collectively moderate the established negative relationship between technology anxiety and adoption. Through a quantitative approach analyzing survey data from 1,200 employees at a large technology consulting firm, this study provides insights into psychological mechanisms that …

De Aquí Y De Allá: Exchanging Language And Visual Culture In The Lower Rio Grande Valley, Chloë M. Robinson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines graphic design in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) as a site of cultural hybridity, shaped by transnational histories and bilingual practice. It explores how Mexican and Anglo design markers intersect and are negotiated in daily life through analysis of 2,180 visual artifacts, interviews with ten local creatives, and a survey of fifty residents. Historical research traces influences like nineteenth-century wood type and rótulo signage to contemporary advertising. Interviews reveal that local creatives navigate hybrid identities through code-switching, bilingual fluency, and borderlands experiences. Survey results show that participants’ language preferences predict how they categorize and rank typographic …

Kenyon Collegian - March 19, 2026

The Kenyon Collegian

No abstract provided.

Public Policy Issues Faced By Educators Teaching Incarcerated Youth, Tariq Shabazz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Educational policies at the federal, state, and juvenile levels shape the academic transfer and reintegration processes for youth returning from confinement to public schools in the United States. Despite the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, the literature indicates that policies at the federal, state, and programmatic levels were not fully aligned. Each required education to be provided to juveniles while incarcerated, but each did not show how this education was transferred afterward or if this was a requirement at each level. The purpose of this general qualitative study was to conduct a comparative policy analysis of …

Legal Permanent Residents’ Five-Year Residency Benefits Restriction, Enoch Olayinka Badamosi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The contemporary U.S. welfare system, shaped by the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and reinforced by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, established structural exclusions that bar lawful permanent residents (LPRs) from accessing core social welfare programs during their first five years of residency. Existing research provides support that exclusionary provisions caused economic instability, bureaucratic discrimination, and racialized stigma for immigrant participants, limiting access to basic needs, reinforcing poverty, and ultimately eroding trust in U.S. institutions. The purpose of this study was to bridge the gap in knowledge by examining the cumulative socio-economic and moral …

Describing The Creation Of Physician Burnout Prevention Efforts: A Phenomenological Investigation, Amy Cowan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite physician burnout being a recognized problem, no single, successful, clear strategy has been developed to lessen this issue. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the motivations underlying the development of responses to physician burnout by their creators and the factors that influenced their decision-making in creating these responses. A purposeful sample of 17 creators of physician burnout and suicide prevention strategies in the United States was selected based on Moustakas’s conventions for conducting a qualitative descriptive phenomenological study. Notwithstanding this sample, data collection continued until saturation was achieved. The qualitative data were collected using semi-structured …

Single Custodial Fathers And The Challenges To Receiving Services, Oriesha Anyah Peña

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Single fathers are an increasing population in the United States and worldwide. However, the literature and programs that guide human services professionals supporting single fathers’ parenting experience are limited in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. There is a need to further study the varied challenges these fathers experience so that professionals in social support organizations and agencies can implement appropriate services, support, programs, and resources into practice and ensure access to support their families and parenting. This qualitative study includes a force field analysis as part of a formative program needs assessment to explore human services professionals' perceptions of service needs, …

Call For Papers For The Journal Of Social Encounters’ Special Issue On Global And Regional Governance: The Past Present And Future

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Chosen Peoples: Christianity And Political Imagination In South Sudan, John Ashworth

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Dating Among University Undergraduates Living With Disability In South-Western Nigeria, Usman A. Ojedokun, Bukunmi I. Oluborode, Lateef J. Adeyemo

The Journal of Social Encounters

In many university campuses in Nigeria, undergraduates living with disability are visible and functionally involved in academic, political, social, and religious activities. However, the social life of these students is hardly the focus of scholarly research. Therefore, this study explored dating behaviours among undergraduates of selected public universities in south-western Nigeria living with disability. The social disability model was employed as the conceptual framework. Data were elicited through in-depth interview and focus group discussion methods.  Findings showed that the choice of partners among undergraduates living with disability was guided by trust, communication, emotional safety, shared values, and acceptance of disability …

Frontline Medicine During War In Sudan: Confronting Health System Collapse, Mogahed Halaly

The Journal of Social Encounters

Since the outbreak of war in Sudan in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, the country’s fragile health system has deteriorated rapidly. As hospitals closed, medical supplies vanished, and millions were displaced, frontline health workers were forced to make impossible choices. This essay recounts my experience as a young physician during the collapse of Sinnar Teaching Hospital, my displacement to White Nile State, and the creation of a community-led humanitarian initiative that provided clinical care, shelter, food, and livelihood support to thousands. It reflects on the intersection of war, displacement, public health collapse, and …

Emergency Response Rooms In Sudan: From Revolutionary Grassroots Organization To The Management Of Life In A Context Of Political Collapse, Salih Mustafa

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Islamic Relief As A Transnational Advocacy Network In Building Global Solidarity For Gaza, Nura Alanda Nabila, Zhafirah Fatin Azzah, Nuraeni -, R. Dudy Heryadi

The Journal of Social Encounters

This article examines the role of Islamic Relief in supporting Palestine from the perspective of the Transnational Advocacy Network. The conflict in Palestine, particularly in Gaza, raises the central question of how non-governmental actors contribute to global advocacy efforts amid the large-scale civilian suffering. The article is based on qualitative research, utilizing a literature review as a data collection technique, with constructivism as the theoretical framework. This study positions Islamic Relief as a transnational humanitarian organization whose work is shaped and rooted in Islamic values. The findings showed that the efforts to address the crisis in Gaza are carried out …

Countering Social Encounters: Darwish’S “Speech Of The Red Indian”, J. Kristen Urban

The Journal of Social Encounters

In June 2025 the Washington D.C. Arab Center held a conference at the National Press Club titled, “A Historic Juncture: Israel’s Destruction of Gaza and the Palestinian Future.”  The discussion sparked an incisive question: Would such a future follow a Palestinian-owned trajectory?  Incisive, because Palestinians have not owned their trajectory since the 1915 Sykes-Picot Agreement, have consistently been defined in negative terms, and have lived with the ambiguity of existing while remaining unrecognized.  Growing up within Israel, Palestine’s national poet, Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008), experienced this paradox firsthand, and explored it directly in “Speech of the Red Indian,” a poem written …

Gender Justice Lessons From North-East Syria Amidst Patriarchal Perpetuation In The New Syrian Arab Republic?, Theresa Wagner

The Journal of Social Encounters

The overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, whose family had ruled Syria for over sixty years, and his government by Hai’at Tahrir asch-Scham (HTS) signified for many the beginning of a new era of democracy and freedom after thirteen years of civil war. People in the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), a self-governing region that had not been ruled by the Syrian state since 2012, joined in with the celebrating crowds. However, they remained skeptical of HTS, which originated as a branch of al-Qaeda, known back then as Jabhat al-Nusra. Since taking on government responsibilities in the new …

Girls' Preferences For Coaches' Supportive Behaviors, Efrat Abadi

Journal of Athlete Development and Experience

Participation of girls in sports is associated with positive outcomes; however, girls continue to face barriers to participation due to gender, age, and cultural factors. Coaches play a pivotal role in girls' persistence in sports, with influential mechanisms including providing social support and cultivating high-quality coach-athlete relationships. Nevertheless, limited research has explored girls' specific preferences regarding coaches' supportive behaviors, particularly within diverse cultural contexts. Much of the existing literature is based on data from Western countries, with findings often generalized across cultural settings - without considering girls from Mediterranean populations, who remain underrepresented in research. This study employed a qualitative …

International College Athletes’ Perceptions Of Nil And Its Impact On Their Experiences: A Theory Of Capital Approach., Jessica K. Brougham, Rebecca M. Achen

Journal of Athlete Development and Experience

The name, image, and likeness (NIL) policy altered the landscape of college sports and provided college athletes with new opportunities to monetize their talents and personal brands. However, while the NCAA stated that all athletes would be able to participate in NIL deals and be compensated for the use of their NIL, international college athletes (ICAs) soon discovered they were restricted from participation while located in the U.S., due to their student visa status. Through nine semi-structured interviews of current and former ICAs we identified themes related to Bourdieu’s theory of social capital and Bauder’s theory of citizenship capital that …

A Pilot Study Of A Comprehensive Mental Health Intervention For Collegiate Athletes., Joshua Celebre, Philip Sullivan, Mishka E.V. Blacker

Journal of Athlete Development and Experience

Research on mental health interventions for athletes have recognized systematic limitations in the field (i.e., a dearth of randomized control trials, and lack of long-term follow up measurement). The current study summarized the pilot study of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Talk Today mental health intervention within collegiate sport. Four teams (two male (n = 64), two female (n = 74)) were randomly assigned to an intervention or a wait-list control condition. Mental health literacy, stigma, psychological distress, and help-seeking were measured at four different timepoints, including a 6-month follow up. There were no significant effects between the …

Behind The Jersey: Exploring Athletic Identity And Depression In College Athletes, Matt A. Moore, Lana Loken, Anne Kelly, Mastano Nambiro Woleson Dzimbiri, Payton Bennett, Lawrence W. Judge

Journal of Athlete Development and Experience

A significant increase in mental health concerns among college athletes has fueled interest in the impact of athletic identity on psychological outcomes. Research has produced mixed results regarding the association between athletic identity and mental health. This study sought to clarify this relationship and to improve our understanding of depression among NAIA college athletes, especially those who attach a great degree of importance and strength to the athlete’s role in relation to other activities. Voluntary college athletes aged 18-years-old or older and attending an NAIA member institution participated in the study (n = 361). They completed a web-based instrument that …

The Correlation Between Decision-Making Skills And The Cognitive Flexibility Of The Grade 10 Students Of Theresian School Of Cavite, Marry Jasmine Christine Velante Ayson, Van Shadric Nalden Ambrocio Bacsal, Elton John E. Palero

DLSU Senior High School Research Congress Conference Proceedings

Adolescents often face the critical task of making informed decisions, particularly when choosing a senior high school strand and college course—decisions that significantly impact their future careers. Despite the importance of these choices, there is a noticeable gap in existing literature on adolescents' cognitive flexibility and decision-making abilities, as most studies have focused on adult populations in Western contexts. This study employed a sequential explanatory mixed-method design to determine the relationship between cognitive flexibility and decision-making skills among Grade 10 students at Theresian School of Cavite. The quantitative phase revealed a moderately positive correlation between cognitive flexibility and decision-making, suggesting …

The Impact Of Chatgpt On Reducing Anxiety And Enhancing Mathematical Performance, Reese Gabrielle P. Dimaunahan, Jenny Kinesthesia M. Tiu, Maryvic Irene B. Sumalbag, Emmielyn Q. Bardiano

DLSU Senior High School Research Congress Conference Proceedings

Recent advancements in technology have paved the way for the integration of artificial intelligence in education, with tools such as ChatGPT supporting learners across grade levels and disciplines, including mathematics. While numerous existing studies have investigated the potential of ChatGPT in enhancing students’ performance in mathematics, there is still much to explore regarding its possible impact on reducing one of the key factors hindering student success in math: math anxiety. This study examined the impact of using ChatGPT in addressing math anxiety and improving the performance of Grade 11 non-STEM students enrolled at De La Salle University Senior High School. …

What’S Critical In Critical Media Literacy? Barriers And Good Practices In Adult Education, Stefanie Mayer, Stefanie Fridrik, Josef Mühlbauer, Brigitte Temel, Viktoria Eberhardt

Journal of Media Literacy Education Pre-Prints

While there is broad consensus regarding the social and educational need for CML, its actual didactic content and especially the meaning of ‘critical’ are far from clear. The article argues for a turn to educational practices. Findings are based on empirical research on adult education in Vienna (Austria) consisting mainly of interviews with expert-practitioners in the field of adult education and media and/or digital literacy. We confront academic definitions of the critical impetus of CML with an analysis of innovative projects, which were designed for accessibility and addressed learners facing high educational barriers. Our findings encourage a turn towards the …

Comparing Students’ Engagement And Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction In Blended And Traditional Learning Environments, Ryan Josh C. Suarez, Joeven A. Fabul Jr., Andrei Daniel Ken H. Go, Benedict Eric M. Adriano, Arvie S. Andal

DLSU Senior High School Research Congress Conference Proceedings

Student engagement has changed as a result of blended learning, a learning modality that combines in-person instruction with online course delivery. Beyond the models that are frequently studied, engagement in other blended learning environments must be examined using a clearly defined framework; hence, this study aims to address this gap. This study compared and measured the basic psychological needs and engagement levels of two student populations, enriched virtual blended learning and traditional face-to-face learning, using a causal-comparative analysis as a research design and Self-Determination Theory as a framework. 115 senior high school students participated in the data collection process; 39 …

Depression And Psychotic Disorders Worsen Perioperative Outcomes And Increase Resource Utilization After Multilevel Lumbar Fusion: Implications For Screening And Perioperative Care, Leonidas E. Mastrokostas, Paul G. Mastrokostas, Luke B. Schwartz, Abigail Razi, Sean Inzerillo, John K. Houten, Arya Varthi, Alex R. Vaccaro, Jad Bou Monsef, Afshin E. Razi, Mitchell K. Ng

Rothman Institute Papers

CONTEXT: Multilevel lumbar fusion use has increased with an aging U.S. population. Depression and psychotic disorders are linked to poorer surgical outcomes, but their effects in this setting are unclear.

AIMS: The aims of this study were to quantify the prevalence of these disorders and evaluate associations with perioperative outcomes and resource use.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This was a retrospective cohort study using the National Inpatient Sample from 2016 to 2022.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Depression and psychotic disorders were defined using Elixhauser-derived indicators. Outcomes included medical and mechanical complications, discharge disposition, length of stay (LOS), and costs.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: …

Faith-Based School Leaders’ Strategies For Addressing Achievement Gaps Since The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jolene Culver

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem that was addressed through this study is that faith-based school leaders are challenged to support teachers to address student achievement gaps following the COVID-19 pandemic. Grounded in Bass’s transformational leadership theory, the purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate strategies veteran faith-based school leaders use to support teachers in addressing student achievement gaps in six Ohio districts that had a minimum of 50 students. For this basic qualitative design, semistructured interviews were conducted with one faith-based school leader from each of the six Ohio districts. Thematic coding yielded four themes encompassing the strategies that veteran faith-based school …