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Dean's Research Newsletter, May 2026, Neil W. Schluger

SOM Dean's Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Great War Modernists: D.H. Lawrence, H.D., And Richard Aldington By Lee M. Jenkins, Buxi Duan

The Journal of Wyndham Lewis Studies

Book Review

Lee M. Jenkins, Great War Modernists: D. H. Lawrence, H. D., and Richard Aldington (Bloomsbury, 2024), 200pp. £85.00 (Hbk)

Nonprofit Youth Sports Governance Structures As Contexts For Positive Youth Development: How Usa Swimming's Local Swimming Committee Boards Provide The "Big Three" Of Positive Youth Development Settings, Emily B. Swett

All Dissertations

This study examines positive youth development (PYD) within youth sports governance, specifically USA Swimming's Local Swimming Committee (LSC) boards of directors, a context largely overlooked in PYD research, which typically focuses on on-field experiences.

Using the "Big Three" PYD framework (positive youth-adult relationships, life skill-building opportunities, and youth leadership and contribution), the study employed an explanatory mixed methods design. A quantitative survey was distributed to LSC athlete and non-athlete board members, followed by semi-structured interviews.

Survey data from 27 athletes and 157 non-athletes revealed strong levels of all "Big Three" components across both groups. Statistical analyses found no significant differences …

Versatile Exoskeleton Control Paradigms For Agile Human Locomotion: Task-Agnostic And Stability-Augmented Assistance, Miao Yu

All Dissertations

Lower-limb exoskeletons have shown great potential for assisting human locomotion, but designing controllers that provide assistance across diverse locomotor tasks and under external perturbations remains a major challenge. Many existing controllers for steady-state walking rely on pre-defined reference trajectories, which constrain voluntary human motion and limit adaptability across tasks. Moreover, they usually assume stable walking, while their performance under unstable conditions remains largely unexplored. In addition, existing gait stability augmentation controllers are often reactive rather than proactive to unstable conditions. In this dissertation, we propose control frameworks that preserve voluntary human motion while addressing two major challenges: providing task-agnostic assistance …

Religion As Political Influence: Representation, Rhetoric, And Advocacy In American Politics, Andrew G. Tate

All Dissertations

Religion has long been recognized as a central force in American political life, shaping patterns of representation, public opinion, and policy advocacy. At the same time, the contemporary religious landscape is characterized by declining denominational attachment, increasing religious diversity, and growth in non-denominational and unaffiliated populations. These changes raise questions about whether religion continues to influence politics through traditional mechanisms such as clear denominational alignment or whether its political effects now operate through more indirect or restructured pathways. This manuscript addresses this question through a multi-level analysis of religion’s political role, integrating three studies that examine descriptive representation, organizational political …

Precursor Rna Properties Driving Cryptic 3’ Splice Site Selection In Sf3b1 Mutant Malignancies, Austin A. Herbert

All Dissertations

SF3B1 is a core component of the spliceosome involved in branch point recognition and 3’ splice site selection. SF3B1 is commonly mutated in myelodysplastic syndromes and other blood cancers with the K700E mutation being the most frequent. This mutation of SF3B1 induces cryptic 3’ splice site activation in hundreds of genes. Introduction of such cryptic 3’ splice sites can shift the reading frame of protein coding transcripts, causing the transcript to be tagged for nonsense-mediated decay or resulting in the production of a truncated protein. Both these scenarios can lead to down-regulated protein expression. Sequence and structural properties of precursor …

Decoupling In A Different Way: Separating Supportive Policies From Observable Practices, Vinit Desai

American Business Review

Research on decoupling has long found that organizations facing complex external pressures may say one thing, yet do another. This extremely popular theory presumes that outsiders are unable to peer into the organization, to see what it actually does. Yet a large number of organizational practices are increasingly transparent and visible to outsiders. How do organizations respond to the external pressures surrounding these observable practices? This study suggests that they decouple in a different way, by avoiding some of the formal policies that could support those practices, in order to minimize stakeholders’ expectations and preserve the flexibility to change or …

Refinancing Of Long-Term Debt And Tendency To Overinvest, Li Liu, Amanjot Singh, Harminder Singh

American Business Review

We examine how the forthcoming refinancing of long-term debt affects firms’ overinvestment tendency. We find that firms reduce overinvestment in the year before the refinancing year. Refinancing risk reduces the propensity to overinvest by 6–8%. Firms with relatively higher levels of refinancing risk tend to reduce overinvestment. Since firms with high leverage and low cash holdings are more likely to suffer from liquidity and credit constraints, our findings report that such firms experience a greater reduction in overinvestment. Long-term debt refinancing disciplines managers in reducing the tendency to overinvest. Firms with lower managerial ability have a greater tendency to reduce …

Creative Roots, Strategic Outcomes: Ceo Childhood Imprints And The Pursuit Of Innovation, Puya Kahhali, Alexandru Roman, Haibo Liu

American Business Review

This study examines how CEOs’ early-life experiences shape strategic decision-making, focusing on the influence of parental creativity. Drawing on imprinting and upper echelons theories, we argue that CEOs with creatively employed parents develop an exploratory mindset that promotes greater investment in firm R&D. Crucially, we propose that this learning stems from behavioral modeling of exploratory mindsets through creative problem-solving—rather than the transmission of socioeconomic capital. Using a proprietary dataset of Fortune 100 CEOs and their parents’ occupations, we find robust support for this relationship. The effect is amplified under strong firm performance, while CEO age does not consistently weaken the …

Cultivating Inclusive Behavior Of Undergraduate Internship Students Using The Reasoned Action Approach, Shamika Almeida, Flevy Lasrado, Geraldine Hardie

American Business Review

This study takes place at a regional Australian university and its international campus in the United Arab Emirates, involving third-year business internship undergraduate students. As part of a formative learning activity and summative assessment process, students undertake an implicit bias test and critically reflect on their unconscious biases to explore how these biases may have influenced their behavior. Temporality is central to this reflective process, as students engage in retrospective analysis of past experiences, present awareness, and prospective consideration of future professional conduct. Using an autoethnographic approach, teaching staff interpret their experiences of facilitating these discussions and assessing student reflections. …

Volatility Spillover Among Geopolitical Risk, Oil Prices And Global Stock Returns In Advanced Economies, Chinmaya Behera, Pradiptarathi Panda, Purna Chandra Padhan

American Business Review

This study examines the volatility spillover effects among geopolitical risk, crude oil prices, and global stock returns across 39 developed economies.  Employing the model-free connectedness approach on data spanning the time period from 24 March 2014 to 15 December 2023, the analysis exhibits significant volatility transmission among the three variables. For instance, 72.9% of a shock to one asset class spills over to all other assets within advanced markets. The study identifies Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan as key transmitters of shocks, while countries such as Chile, Cyprus, Iceland, Latvia, Qatar and …

Tapestry Of Cross-Border Expansion Strategy By Navigating Ecological Risks: Joint Ventures Versus Acquisitions In India’S Textile Industry, Soumyatanu Mukherjee, Sidhartha S. Padhi, Ranit Sinha, Faisal M. Ahsan

American Business Review

We study how host-country ecological risk and carbon emissions shape Indian textile firms’ choice between cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) and cross-border joint ventures (CBJVs). We extend institutional theory by introducing ecological performance and sustainability disclosure shocks into entry-mode choice. The Environmental Outsourcing Hypothesis (EOH) posits that firms facing environmental liabilities prefer full acquisitions in jurisdictions with poorer ecological performance, effectively “outsourcing” environmental exposure to the host setting. Using 171 cross-border transactions (39 countries; 2004–2020) and Tobit/Logit/OLS models plus difference-in-differences and Heckman selection, we find: (i) higher ecological risk and higher direct (Scope 1) emissions in the host are associated with a …

Peer Effect On Payout Decisions: The Moderating Role Of Institutional Shareholdings And Agency Problems, Neeraj Jain, Smita Kashiramka, Neeru Chaudhry

American Business Review

This study examines the impact of institutional shareholders (ISH) and agency problems on firms' mimicking behavior in corporate payout policies. Using data from all companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE) between 1996 and 2020, we employ a two-stage least squares regression approach to address endogeneity bias. The study reveals non-linear, inverted U-shaped effects of ISH on firms' mimicking behavior. At low levels of institutional holdings, firms mimic to retain the ISH. However, beyond a certain level, the active role of institutional investors in firms' decision-making reduces firms' incentives to mimic their peers' payout …

Tmt Human Capital And Industry Dynamism In The Adoption Of Digital Transformation: Evidence From The S&P 500, Tushar Shah, George Benson, Sridhar Nerur, Mahmut Yasar

American Business Review

This study investigates the determinants of digital transformation (DT) in S&P 500 firms, examining how the human capital breadth and depth of top management teams (TMTs) influence strategic change. Drawing primarily on Upper Echelons Theory (UET), we theorize that a team’s collective resource portfolio serves as a critical antecedent to digital adoption. Our results demonstrate that TMT role heterogeneity (breadth) exhibits a consistent, linear positive influence on DT. In contrast, TMT tenure (depth) follows a non-monotonic, cubic life cycle. We identify three distinct phases: an “initial liability of newness” (coordination-driven trough), a mid-term “adeptness step” (absorptive capacity-driven peak), and a …

Do Political Connections Pay For Pledging Of Shares: Evidence From India, Kousik Ganguly, Ajay Kumar Mishra, Bhavik Parikh

American Business Review

This study examines the stock-pledging behavior of promoters in politically connected Indian firms, using NSE-listed companies from 2009 to 2019. We investigate how capital raised through stock pledging affects investment in high-risk projects and assess the impact of margin call pressure. Results show that higher stock pledging reduces corporate investment; however, promoters with political ties are more inclined to pursue riskier projects. Moreover, politically connected firms exhibit lower stock return volatility, suggesting that political connections help shield these firms from both investment risk and return fluctuations.

Do Interlocking Directors Contribute To Exploration? A Resource Dependence Perspective, Deepali Dhingra, Neeraj Dwivedi

American Business Review

The composition of a diverse board of directors is crucial in driving innovation within a firm. One of the diversifying factors that has received significant attention in the literature is the presence of interlocking directors on the board. However, despite existing research on the effect of their presence on boards, we know relatively little about how such directors help the firms decide on specific innovation projects to invest in. We examine the relationship between the presence of interlocking directors on the board and the firm’s tendency to undertake exploratory innovation projects using negative binomial regression, as viewed through the lens …

Calendar Anomalies And The Adaptive Market Hypothesis: New Evidence From A Historical Financial Dataset, Júlio Lobão, Ana C. Costa

American Business Review

This paper investigates the evolving behavior of calendar anomalies (monthly effects) within the Portuguese stock market over a period spanning approximately 120 years. By employing a combination of sub-sample and rolling window analyses, we demonstrate that the performance of these anomalies fluctuated adaptively over time. Additionally, we apply the "Superior Predictive Ability" test to assess whether these anomalies present exploitable profit opportunities, factoring in data-snooping effects. The results for the full sample indicate significantly higher returns in January and lower returns in June and July, while the positive September effect appears to be historically concentrated in earlier decades of the …

The Association Between Csr Disclosure-Action Portrayal Gap And Employee Work-Related Attitudes, April Moses, Amy Tung, Kevin Baird

American Business Review

This paper provides an empirical insight into organizational impression management practices by examining the CSR disclosure-action portrayal gap, specifically the discrepancy between CSR disclosures and CSR actions, from an employee’s perspective. The paper examines the association between this gap and employee work-related attitudes (job satisfaction, employee organizational commitment, and the propensity to remain) using survey data collected from 186 lower-level managers across various industries in the U.S. The hypotheses were examined using structural equation modelling (SEM) with maximum likelihood estimate using AMOS Graphics version 25 software. It was found that many employees perceived that the CSR disclosures of their organization …

Cfo Turnover: Frequency And Explanations, Emeka T. Nwaeze

American Business Review

The frequency with which Chief financial officers (CFOs) leave their jobs has puzzled observers and analysts. In 2021, about 21% of the CFOs left their jobs. Word on the street is that CEOs favor CFOs with whom they have personal attraction but show less tolerance for those with whom they have no personal attraction, regardless of the latter’s job performance. To remain in the job, CFOs must therefore gain and sustain the CEO’s personal attraction. The immediate corollary is that the nature of CEO-CFO relations rather than job performance explain CFOs’ turnover. This study explores such a view and finds …

The Nexus Between Energy Efficiency And Cost Of Debt: Evidence From The Indian High And Low Energy Efficient Firms, Pranith Kumar Roy

American Business Review

Globally, businesses are implementing energy-efficient strategies that align with market sustainability to enhance their performance. While the environmental and operational benefits of energy efficiency are well understood, its financial implications, particularly in debt financing, remain less clear. To achieve the objective, we examine the relationship between energy efficiency and the cost of debt in the context of emerging economies, with a focus on India, and explore the nature of this relationship. We utilize an unbalanced panel dataset comprising 4,856 Indian firms listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange between 2011 and 2022. We estimate firm-year fixed effects, a Tobit regression, and …

Does Greater Economic Freedom Lower The Nominal Interest Rate Yield And Help Offset The Interest Rate Impact Of The Primary Budget Deficit? An Ardl Analysis Of The 7-Year Treasury Yield, Richard J. Cebula

American Business Review

This study seeks to gain insight into the impact of economic freedom on the nominal interest rate yield on 7-year U.S. Treasury notes, an interest rate yield that has received effectively no attention in the scholarly literature during the 21st century to date. It is hypothesized that greater economic freedom acts to reduce the nominal interest rate yield on 7-year Treasury issues. Additionally, this study seeks to investigate the interest rate impact of federal government overspending. To reflect the latter, this study adopts the primary budget deficit rather than the much more commonly studied total budget deficit. The primary deficit …

The Relationship Between Social Support And Social Negativity On Social Media For Virtual Socializing And College Students’ Anxiety Levels During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Ni Zhang, Hsin Yi Tseng, Yijia Guo, Jasmine Thai, Alida Thao, Tripti Ghanghas

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Objective During the COVID-19 pandemic, people were forced to socialize virtually. As virtual socializing proliferated during the COVID-19 pandemic, both social support and social negativity for virtual socializing on social media increased. This study examines how social support and social negativity on social media for virtual socializing are related to college students’ anxiety level during the pandemic. Methods Some 772 college students from a university on the west coast of the United States responded to an online Qualtrics survey from December 2020 to May 2021, when students were required to take all classes online. Descriptive analysis and multiple regressions were …

Local Values, Global Standards: Understanding Aviation Safety Culture In The Middle East Region, Ernest N. Ogbozor, Jules Yimga, Nicholas Degarmo, Kathrine Lopez, Hana Marz, Michael Chrisman, Cedric Leon, Joao Souza Dias Garcia, Harrison Debrah, Mariateresa Sestito, Albert Obi, Chidinma Chidoka

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

This study examines the role of national cultural determinants in shaping aviation safety culture across the Middle East. Employing an exploratory research design that integrates a literature review and structured safety culture surveys, it analyzes how national, organizational, and traditional values influence safety attitudes, communication practices, and reporting behaviors. While the Middle Eastern countries, such as UAE and Qatar possesses advanced aviation infrastructure and regulatory systems, persistent Arab cultural norms, including deference to authority, collective responsibility, and avoidance of public blame, continue to shape safety management and organizational learning. The preliminary findings indicate that these values promote discipline, cooperation, and …

Individual Recognition: Do Horned Passalus, Odontotaenius Disjunctus, Display Individual Discrimination Of Familiar And Unfamiliar Conspecifics Through Changes In Their Behavior?, Sabrina Galloza

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The horned passalus, Odontotaenius disjunctus, are subsocial beetles that inhabit and defend decaying wood where they create galleries to live, mate, breed and provide brood care. The species is well known for their stridulations, making up to 14 different sounds, having one of the greatest repertoire of sounds for any known arthropod. Typically living in family units, it has been found that several families can inhabit the same log, therefore, the horned passalus can come into contact with both kin and non-kin. It is currently unknown whether the horned passalus can distinguish between nestmates and non-nestmates. Additionally, it is unknown …

The Challenge Of Responsible Sovereignty And The Dilemma Of Responsibility To Protect: A Case Study In The Middle East, Mona Shujaieh

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This thesis applies the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) framework to examine the evolving relationship between state sovereignty and humanitarian intervention in the modern international system. It develops the concept of “responsible sovereignty” to show how sovereignty has shifted from an absolute principle of non-interference toward a socially constructed and conditional norm increasingly linked to a state’s responsibility to protect its population. By tracing the transition from Westphalian sovereignty to contemporary understandings of sovereignty as responsibility, the study highlights how international norms reshape expectations of state behavior while also generating persistent tensions in practice. Focusing on the Middle East, the thesis …

Brief Virtual Reality And Mixed Reality Mindfulness Breathing Exercise For Emotional Well-Being And Cognitive Functions In University Students: Within-Subjects Experimental Design Study, Zoey Khai Yee Eun, Charmaine Jiali Koh, Hwajin Yang, Adalia Yin Hui Goh, Meilan Hu, K Tennakoon Appuhamillage Sandeeshwara Kasturiratna, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Background: Mindfulness has been shown to enhance emotional well-being and cognitive performance, yet much of this evidence stems from interventions requiring prolonged practice, making them time-consuming and less accessible. Recent studies suggest that brief mindfulness sessions may also yield positive outcomes, but the effectiveness of such interventions in virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) remains underexplored. Objective: This study investigates the effects of brief mindfulness breathing exercises delivered through VR and MR on attentional and emotional restoration and self-control capacity. Methods: Using a within-subjects experimental design, 102 undergraduate participants (n=83, 81.4% female; mean age 20.87, SD 1.89) completed a …

Antimicrobial Activity Of Sulbactam-Durlobactam Against Acinetobacter Baumannii-Calcoaceticus Complex Strains Causing Non-Respiratory And Non-Bloodstream Infections From The United States (2023–2025), Erik Munson

Clinical Lab Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Acinetobacter baumannii most often causes pneumonia in critically ill patients. However, A. baumannii is also an important cause of a broader range of infections, including skin/wound and urinary tract infections. This study aims to evaluate the in vitro activity of sulbactam-durlobactam and comparator antibiotics, including meropenem and cefiderocol against A. baumannii-calcoaceticus complex isolates from non-respiratory and non-bloodstream sources. Samples included 285 A. baumannii-calcoaceticus complex isolates enriched for carbapenem resistance collected across 17 states in the United States (January 2023–May 2025). Antimicrobial susceptibility tests were conducted by manual broth microdilution and interpreted according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) and …

Consensus Guidelines On Inferior Petrosal Sinus Sampling: A Guideline From The Society Of Vascular And Interventional Neurology Guidelines And Practice Standards Committee, Farhan Siddiq, Hunter Brooks, Esra Demirtas, Ibrahim Ahmad Bhatti, Sami Al Kasab, Adam De Havenon, Robin Novakovic, Ossama Y. Mansour, Cynthia L. Kenmuir, Ameer E. Hassan

School of Medicine Publications

Background: Bilateral inferior petrosal sinus sampling (BIPSS) is the gold-standard test to distinguish Cushing disease (CD) from ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) secretion when biochemistry confirms ACTH-dependent Cushing syndrome and pituitary magnetic resonance imaging is equivocal. However, practice varies widely between centers, leading to false negatives, misinterpretation, sampling errors, and avoidable risk. Neurointerventionalists performing BIPSS have lacked dedicated, procedure-focused guidance.

Methods: Using the Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology Guidelines and Practice Standards framework, a multidisciplinary panel (endocrinology, interventional neuroradiology, and endovascular neurosurgery) performed a systematic review through August 2025 and developed recommendations graded by class of recommendation and level of …

Guide To Scopus- A Faculty Help Guide, Laura Mehaffey

Librarian Presentations

A PDF guide to using the database SCOPUS.  Presented to faculty through the Fayetteville State University Office of Faculty Development by Digital Initiatives Librarian Laura Mehaffey, 2025-2026.

Integrating Ai Into Collection Development Workflows: Prompts, Rubrics, And Responsible Use, Ivan Portillo, David Carson, Margaret Puentes

Library Presentations, Posters, and Audiovisual Materials

AI technologies are advancing at a rapid pace and offer new opportunities for library advancement. This session highlights practical ways AI can support collection development and discusses opportunities to improve library workflows.  Attendees will also learn how AI can strengthen library resource management by optimizing decision making and use of resources.

Learning Outcomes: 

• Attendees will learn about approaches to integrating artificial intelligence into collection development
• Attendees will learn about artificial intelligence tools and their applicability to collections 
• Attendees will learn about the ethical use of artificial intelligence tools