Digital Commons Network^™

The Ladies' Home Journal: Dormant Seeds Of The Feminine Mystique Pre-Wwii, Isis Santos Villaça

University Honors Theses

At the turn of the 20th century, magazines were becoming increasingly available to the middle class. Throughout the 1890–1930s, the industry put forth an entire new iteration of publications that came to be popular with female readers. One of the most successful publications from this period, The Ladies' Home Journal, distinguished itself through its strong editorial presence on the page. The editors of the Ladies' Home Journal intended to create a "traditional" female identity that reflected domesticity in the journal, which countered the rising notions of the New Woman. Simultaneously, the publication aimed to create an educational product with …

The All-Payer Claims Database After The Gobeille Supreme Court Decision: Assessing The Impact On Fatal Opioid-Related Overdose Research, Jack Cordes, Cici Bauer, Dana Bernson, Marc R Larochelle, Wenjun Li, Jiahao Cao, Olaf Dammann, Thomas J Stopka

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: To determine the consequences of the Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Supreme Court decision on the representativeness of the Massachusetts all-payer claims database (APCD). The loss of individuals captured in the APCD may vary demographically, geographically, and in the capture of fatal opioid-related overdose (OOD).

Data sources and study setting: We used 2013-2021 data from the Massachusetts Public Health Data Warehouse (PHD), which links person-level APCD records to other datasets. The APCD includes commercially-insured health claims mandatorily reported pre-Gobeille. Post-Gobeille, reporting from self-insured plans, a subset of commercially-insured plans, became voluntary.

Study design: In a repeated cross-sectional design, we compared …

The Internal Motivation Of English Language Learners To Acquire The Language, Milos Slaninka

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

This case study utilized qualitative research to investigate how the adult education program at a school in a northeastern state’s English as a second language (ESL) program affected the students’ intrinsic motivation. Students’ recruitment followed the principle of homogenous sampling, which entailed choosing a small number of the population that fit the study’s parameters. As a result, the data collection for the study consisted of interviews with 11 individuals enrolled in the ESL program. All interviews were carried out in the interviewee’s private setting via the Zoom platform to ensure the collection of the most genuine data possible. The main …

Effective Support Services For Black-African International Students, Amy V. Rutledge

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

Currently, 1.5 million F-1 and M-1 students are enrolled in U.S. institutions of higher education (IHEs; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 2025). Although support services for international students are improving, substantial gaps remain in helping these students transition to the next phase of life (Weiner & Ghazarian, 2024). This transcendental phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of six recently graduated Black African international students (BAISs) to identify effective support services for graduate programs, licensure, or legal employment. Participants were recruited through snowball sampling for interviews, which were analyzed using descriptive coding (yielding 61 codes) and thematic analysis (producing six themes). …

Determinants Of Evaluation Demand In The United States Federal Government: A Sequential Mixed Methods Study With Hierarchical Linear Modeling, Ruqayyah Abu-Obaid

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the factors that influence demand for evaluation in the federal government of the United States. Although evaluation has become a central element of evidence-based policymaking, limited empirical research explains what drives variation in evaluation activity across federal agencies. The study addresses this gap through a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design that integrates qualitative document analysis with quantitative hierarchical (panel) data modeling. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was employed to analyze longitudinal data from 23 federal agencies (2008–2024), accounting for both within- and between-agency variation over time and providing more accurate estimates of factors influencing evaluation demand.

In the qualitative …

How Can Learning Management Systems Positively Impact Student Engagement In Online Courses?, Jerald P. Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The topic of this dissertation is learning management systems, specifically Canvas. Research has proven that student engagement is a strong factor in student achievement in both online and inperson courses. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a deficit in instructors’ ability to acquire and maintain student engagement in online courses. This study details why this problem exists and how instructors have successfully addressed it in higher-level online courses. The primary purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to examine how learning management systems, specifically Canvas, can increase student engagement in online courses in higher education. Qualitative research was the chosen paradigm for …

Patenting The Unexpected, Sean B. Seymore

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Unexpected discoveries have transformed human existence. They’ve revolutionized science and spawned entire new fields of research. While unexpected discoveries seem inventive and worthy of patent protection, they don’t formally align with traditional patent theory. The bedrock principle that an invention begins with the conception of an idea in the inventor’s mind and ends with implementation doesn’t apply to unexpected discoveries. This misalignment is most acute for pharmaceuticals, where the discovery of new uses for old drugs has tremendous social and economic importance. Since a drug can inherently treat multiple conditions in a patient—even those unknown to the patient, doctor, or …

Temporary Protected Status Populations In Massachusetts In 2026, Phillip Granberry, Iván Espinoza-Madrigal

Gastón Institute Publications

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is one of the best expressions of U.S. humanitarian protection and relief. It recognizes a basic truth: people should not be deported to danger.

May this report help build a stronger Commonwealth for all by advancing more thoughtful policymaking and stronger interventions that recognize the deep connections among immigration, community, and economic life.

Clostridioides Difficile Colonization And Infection In Pediatric Oncology And Stem Cell Transplant Patients, Daniel N. Willis, Erik R. Dubberke, Robert J. Hayashi, Phillip I. Tarr, David B. Haslam, Tiffany Hink, Jingqin Luo, Yu Tao, Amruta Padhye, Erin Hall, Gregory A. Storch

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Pediatric oncology and hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) patients have elevated risk for Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), which can prolong hospitalization and delay chemotherapy. Colonization is an important prelude to symptomatic CDI. We sought to characterize colonization status in these patients.

METHODS: We retrospectively studied 276 stools longitudinally collected over 34 months from 32 HSCT and 12 oncology patients treated at a single tertiary center. Specimens were cultured for C difficile and compared by whole genome sequencing. The fecal microbiome was characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing.

RESULTS: Baseline cultures were positive in 16 (50%) HSCT patients and 2 …

Ten Tips On How To Optimize Nutrition In Children With Chronic Kidney Disease Or On Dialysis., Nonnie Polderman, Vanessa Shaw, Caroline E. Anderson, An Desloovere, Louise Mcalister, Christina L. Nelms, Fabio Paglialonga, Pearl Pugh, Leila Qizalbash, Evelien Snauwaert, José Renken-Terhaerdt, Jetta Tuokkola, Larry A. Greenbaum, Rukshana Shroff

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Optimal nutrition is central to growth and development in all children, and is particularly relevant in those with chronic illnesses. This document provides 10 practical, evidence-informed tips on the assessment and management of the nutritional prescription in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and those receiving dialysis. The 10 tips synthesize work of the Paediatric Renal Nutrition Taskforce, an international team of pediatric renal dietitians and pediatric nephrologists who develop clinical practice recommendations for the nutritional management of children with kidney diseases. We describe a comprehensive, three-dimensional nutritional assessment (anthropometry, dietary intake, biochemical markers) and regular monitoring tailored to age, …

De Novo Rras2 Pathogenic Variant In A Fetus With Bilateral Radial Ray And Multisystem Anomalies., Nicole R. Legro, Lylach Haizler-Cohen, William Genthe, Victoria Greenberg

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

No abstract provided.

The Physiology Of The Work: Chronic Stress, Allostatic Load, And Faculty Wellness In Counselor Education, Ajayla S. Evins

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Counselor educators embody multifaceted professional roles across teaching, supervision, research, leadership, and service, exerting a profound influence on the formation of counselors and the ongoing development of the profession (CACREP, 2024; Calley & Hawley, 2008). While wellness is recognized as a core professional value in counseling (ACA, 2014), research has focused almost exclusively on emotional and psychological dimensions, leaving the physiological consequences of chronic stress largely underexplored (Bovee, 2024; Faheem et al., 2025; Lewis et al., 2022). In neighboring fields, such as public health and medicine, chronic stress has been linked to dysregulation in cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, immune inflammatory, and metabolic …

Quantifying Nutrient Fluxes Across The Sediment-Water Interface In The Lafayette River Estuary, Adriana E. Amrhein

OES Theses and Dissertations

The Lafayette River, a shallow, eutrophic tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, experiences seasonal harmful algal blooms (HABs). While management efforts focus on reducing external nutrient inputs, internal loading from benthic sediments remains poorly constrained. This study quantifies spatial and seasonal variability in nutrient and radium isotope fluxes across the sediment–water interface at three sites where HABs are known to initiate and represent contrasting sediment textures and hydrodynamic conditions. Sediment cores and porewater samples were collected in summer 2023 and winter 2024 to measure grain size, porosity, dissolved nutrients (NH₄⁺, NOₓ⁻, PO₄³⁻), and radionuclide activities (²²⁴Ra and ²²⁸Th). Radium isotope disequilibrium …

Fabrication Of Flexible Laser-Induced Graphene-Based Non-Enzymatic Glucose Sensor For Diabetes Management, Reagan Aviha

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This research focuses on developing a flexible non-enzymatic glucose sensor to address the issues of cost, stability, and limited sensitivity associated with enzymatic glucose sensors. Regular monitoring of glucose levels is required to manage the global health challenge of diabetes. The sensor is built on a cost-effective, durable, flexible, conductive, and high-surface-area substrate acting as a scaffold for modification with easily tunable and electroactive species to enhance glucose detection. The electroactive materials used are zinc oxide (ZnO), palladium (Pd) and platinum (Pt). Laser-induced graphene (LIG) is created by laser engraving. ZnO, Pd and Pt are electrochemically deposited and optimized based …

The War Poetry Map Project: Exploring The Physical And Emotional Geography Of Conflict, Colin D. Halloran

English Theses & Dissertations

There can be no question that war is shaped by and has shaped cultures, and yet as an object of study it is rarely looked at from a cultural studies perspective. It is the great epics of war that form the cornerstones of Western literary tradition. It is the impact of war that gave rise to fields like trauma and memory studies. It is the propaganda produced, the hijacking of cultural industries, that help perpetuate wars. The War Poetry Map Project and accompanying written dissertation seek to move beyond historical and political contexts and view war as a cultural object. …

Women's Displacement And The Reclamation Of Identity: Navigating Landscapes Of Contestation In The Postcolonial Novel, Carol P. Harvest

English Theses & Dissertations

Landscapes affected by colonial domination are contested landscapes—places not only in danger of environmental destruction through colonial and neocolonial violence but also landscapes of struggle for people who survive in these precarious spaces. Historically, separate postcolonial and ecocritical literary analysis addressed contested landscapes; postcolonial critique centered on the lasting devastation of colonial violence on people and place, while ecocriticism, in its infancy, enjoyed the privilege of ignorance, focusing on endangered species and the preservation of land, but it did not consider the impact of landscapes on the very people who were largely forced to either leave or cross “natural” spaces. …

Does Short-Termism Pay? National Short-Termism, Investment, Innovation, And Equity Returns, Andrew H. Cohen

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

We examine whether national short-termism, inferred from corporate language, predicts future real activity, equity returns, risk, and risk-adjusted performance. Using large-scale textual analysis of issuer-linked disclosures and earnings transcripts from the largest firms in twenty major equity markets, we construct country-quarter and annual Short-Termism Scores (STS) capturing the relative emphasis on short- versus long-horizon language.

Higher short-termism predicts lower subsequent gross fixed capital formation, lower research and development intensity, and lower multi-year equity index returns across horizons of up to sixteen quarters. In addition, higher short-termism is associated with greater future market volatility and lower Sharpe ratios, indicating a deterioration …

Cultural Memory And Colonial Legacies: The Pandemic Era In France, Kathryn (Kate) R. Cross

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

In the twenty-first century, how are former colonial powers addressing colonial legacies? Amidst the massive social movements of the pandemic years and greater representations of a new generation of politicians in major elections, the global zeitgeist was increasingly characterized by representation of disenfranchised and previously silenced memories and narratives. These shifts, especially in France, are a sharp contrast to the unofficial historic policy of amnesia maintained regarding traumatic legacies and build on movements that began at the turn of the century. The environment has facilitated an increased ability for cultural products to create, shape, and sustain cultural memories of colonial …

D&D And The Law Syllabus, Chris Ridder

Historical and Topical Legal Documents

No abstract provided.

El Leñador, April 2026, El Leñador Staff

El Leñador Newspaper

El Leñador is an English and Spanish newspaper produced by Humboldt State University students. Our staff cover and provide news to Latinx and other diverse communities on campus and in Humboldt County. We are committed to providing relevant news and expanding the representations and stories told about people of color and other marginalized groups. Our work helps create more social, political and cultural diversity in local media.

El Leñador es un periodico en español y inglés producido por estudiantes de la Universidad Estatal de Humboldt. Nuestro personal cubre y provee noticias a la comunidad Latinx y otras comunidades diversas en …

Mistargeted Advertising: The Impact Of Human Vs. Ai Error On Consumer Brand Perception, Abdulela Alshehri, Umair Usman

AMTP Proceedings 2026

Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized personalized advertising by enabling precise targeting based on consumer profiles, yet mistargeted ads—those falsely implying eligibility for benefits like premium credit cards—can trigger frustration, disappointment, and negative brand perceptions. This study examines how consumers respond to such errors when attributed to a human employee, an AI system, or an AI system with human oversight. Grounded in attribution theory (Folkes, 1988; Weiner, 2000), it tests perceived group homogeneity (Longoni et al., 2022) and negative self-perception (Grewal et al., 2019) as mediators, with belief in a just world (BJW; White et al., 2012) as a moderator. The …

Reexamining Consumer Memory In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Suwakitti Amornpan, Sasawan Heingraj, Manisha Mathur

AMTP Proceedings 2026

This conceptual paper reexamines consumer memory in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) by proposing a comparative framework of memory practices across three eras: pre-technological embodied memory, technologically mediated memory, and AI-mediated memory co-creation. We argue that generative AI transforms memory from a primarily archival practice into an interactive, generative, and sometimes synthetic process. Drawing on consumer research, psychology, and media studies, we develop a trichotomy of memory practices along key dimensions, including primary memory artifacts, mode of validation, emotional logic, friction in remembering, and identity implications. We theorize how AI’s participation in memory reconstruction reshapes consumer behavior in practice, …

Thirty-Five Years Of Positioning Research: A Bibliometric Review Of Master's And Doctoral Dissertations, Charles Blankson, Wendy Chen

AMTP Proceedings 2026

This paper presents a bibliometric review of 39 master's and doctoral dissertations on positioning, defended at various universities between 1989 and 2024. Using systematic searches and content analysis, the study identifies major theoretical, methodological, and content patterns and trends in positioning research. Findings indicate a sharp rise in the number of dissertations on the concept of positioning over the past 25 years, with most work concentrated in Western institutions and heavily oriented toward brand and product-based applications. Content analysis reveals that most dissertations focus on managerial or applied perspectives, while few engage with positioning theories and digital contexts. Methodologically, earlier …

Beyond The Launch: Designing Integrated Marketing Communications Across The Publishing Lifecycle, Philip J. Boutin Jr.

AMTP Proceedings 2026

This paper advances a lifecycle view of integrated marketing communications for book publishing and specifies a practical model beyond launch. We present the Lifecycle IMC in Publishing (L-IMC) framework with four layers—strategic capability, orchestration, phased execution (pre-launch, launch, post-publication), and measurement/learning—grounded in evidence on carryover, cross-media complementarity, discoverability, and the creator economy. Seven propositions predict that lifecycle consistency, coordinated post-publication activity, metadata priming, creator–title fit with clear disclosures, network-aware seeding, continuous testing, and reserved reinforcement budgets improve visibility, conversion, and returns. Design principles include codified message architecture and governance, a vetted creator bench, managed discoverability, sequencing high-trust signals before conversion …

A Multi-Country Examination Of The Consumption Of Credit Cards, Charles Blankson, Aditi Puri, Jhinuk Chowdhury

AMTP Proceedings 2026

The credit card industry is an incredibly interconnected service sector that continues to attract scholarly attention within marketing and consumer behavior research globally (Worthington, 1994; Worthington, 2005; Blankson & Kalafatis, 2007; Steffes, Murthi, and Rao, 2011; Chiang et al., 2020). To expand, as credit cards function not only as payment instruments but also as branded services, they offer context that is extremely useful for examining motivations behind brand choice and continued usage among consumers in the international marketplace. Additionally, over the past few decades, transaction volume and credit card ownership have substantially increased. For instance, Visa, commonly recognized as one …

Corporate Social Responsibility And Consumer-Brand Relationships: An Investor-Oriented Integrated Framework, Ada V. Campbell

AMTP Proceedings 2026

This study examines the evolving landscape of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within the European Union (EU) and the dynamics of the consumer–brand relationship (CBR), proposing an integrated theoretical framework for investor analysis. The EU's regulatory trajectory, marked by the transition from the Non-financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the introduction of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) alongside European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), signifies a paradigm shift towards mandatory, standardized, and audited sustainability disclosures. Concurrently, the strength of CBR, built on dimensions such as trust, self-connection, and commitment, profoundly influences consumer behavior, brand …

A Model For Professional Organization Membership Support: Trust, Commitment, Membership Value, And Relationship Quality Commitment, Shawn F. Clouse, Nader H. Shooshtari, Simona Stan, Liz Kohl

AMTP Proceedings 2026

Members of professional associations join these organizations for reasons that include benefits and services to members, advocacy and lobbying on behalf of members and their interests, networking opportunities, and a sense of community and identification with fellow association members. Members are likely to commit to the association and remain as members to the extent they are satisfied with what the association provides and if they perceive the benefits to exceed the costs (not just monetary) of membership. This survey of members of a professional association investigates the relationship between trust, relationship quality commitment, membership dues value and commitment (normative, affective, …

Ai Benefits In Education And Peer Recommendation: The Role Of Student Demographics, Haydar Cukurtepe, Musa Pinar, Faruk Guder, Aysegul Yayimli

AMTP Proceedings 2026

Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly expanded its use in higher education. This study investigates whether students are willing to recommend AI tools for academic purposes, given their growing use and recognized educational benefits. The specific objectives of the study are to: 1) Determine the extent to which students are likely to recommend the use of AI tools to other students for their coursework; 2) Examine whether this likelihood is correlated with perceived benefits and ethical concerns; 3) Identify whether perceived benefits and ethical concerns are significant predictors of students’ likelihood of recommending AI tools; and 4) Assess whether students’ likelihood …

Coping Under Constraint: How Consumer Vulnerability And Caregiver Status Shape Food Choice And Well-Being, Kerry-Ann V. Forbes, Prachi Gala

AMTP Proceedings 2026

Caregiving is a chronic and understudied form of consumer vulnerability that reshapes everyday decision-making, particularly in food contexts. This research conceptualizes caregiving as a sustained role-based vulnerability. It proposes a moderated-mediation model in which consumer vulnerability influences coping strategies that subsequently affect food choice and consumer well-being. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior, Coping Theory, and Transformative Consumer Research, the study examines how caregiver status (familial, professional, or non-caregiver) serves as a boundary condition that shapes these relationships. A three-phase mixed-methods design is employed: qualitative interviews to refine constructs, a survey–experiment to test the moderated-mediation model, and an experimental …

When Faces Do Not Help: Visual Design And Engagement For B2b Technology Brands On Instagram, Ali Jamei, Sima Sabahi

AMTP Proceedings 2026

Firms increasingly use visual content on social media to connect with customers, yet most evidence on what drives engagement comes from consumer or personal contexts. This study examines how simple visual features in Instagram photos posted by B2B technology brands relate to engagement, interpreted through processing fluency. The dataset contains 600 photos from 30 B2B technology brands. For each image, we record likes and comments, collect brand and post level metadata, and use Microsoft Azure computer vision tools to detect faces, classify their age group and gender, and identify the dominant background color. Negative binomial models show that the presence …