Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

How Adults With Fasd Describe Spiritual Experiences And Faith Formation, Emily Hargrove

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) has been extensively studied in childhood and, more recently, in adulthood. However, little is known about how adults with FASD experience faith formation and spirituality. Spirituality has been recognized as a coping resource that promotes resilience and psychological well-being, yet these experiences remain largely unexplored among adults with FASD. The purpose of this study was to explore how adults with FASD describe their faith formation and spiritual experiences. Two research questions guided the study: How do adults with FASD describe their faith formation? and How do adults with FASD describe their spiritual experiences? James Fowler's …

Southeastern Michigan Firefighters’ Experiences With Their Organization’S Employee Assistance Program, Angela Patricia Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mental health challenges among first responders require coordinated stakeholder efforts. Although employee assistance programs (EAPs) are commonly offered as workplace benefits, little is known about firefighters’ experiences with these programs and how they can be tailored to meet their unique needs. Existing literature suggested that EAP utilization among firefighters is influenced by program awareness, confidentiality concerns, organizational support, stigma, and the extent to which services are tailored to first responders’ needs. Using a generic qualitative design and policy feedback theory, this study explored southeastern Michigan firefighters’ experiences with EAPs. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 11 firefighters for semi structured …

Antiterrorism Policies And Curbing Youth Involvement In Violent Extremism In Nigeria, Timothy Melaye

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nigeria continues to face significant challenges from extremist groups such as Boko Haram, unidentified militia groups, and bandits. The radicalization of youths has played a central role in the country's ongoing violent extremism and general insecurity. Efforts to curb youth radicalization remain largely unsuccessful and pose a major challenge in the country. The existing literature on curbing youth violent extremism focuses on the use of force, while other scholars argue for a complex interplay among economic, social, political, and environmental factors. They also considered that high illiteracy, lack of religious understanding, poverty, unemployment, psychological factors, and unstable family environments contribute …

Raising History From The Grave: Reparative Archival Pedagogy, International Virtual Exchange, And Community Engagement, Antonia Macdonald, Leah Rosenberg

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article brings together three threads in digital pedagogy: international virtual exchange, archival recovery work, and reparative pedagogy to argue that their convergence generates a transformative framework for reimaging critical archival practice and transnational collaborations. Our argument is supported by two related pedagogical projects that we undertook. The first is a collaboration with Pan Caribbean Sankofa (PCS) and the Panama Canal Museum Collection (PCMC) at the University of Florida (UF). The second is a collaborative online international learning (COIL) exchange that took place between two undergraduate classes at a university in the Eastern Caribbean and UF. Both initiatives were grounded …

Unaccountable Archives: A Review Of Underwriting Souls, Samantha Stephens

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

No abstract provided.

Measure By Measure: Reflections On Building A Quiz Map For Critical Caribbean Digital Pedagogy, Ra Bacchus, Medardo G. Rosario, Alexander S. Butler

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article reflects on the web development of a digital quiz map designed to help students critically engage with the representation of the Caribbean in digital space. Emerging from workshops organized by Visiones del Caribe—a digital humanities initiative using digitized maps and archives to teach Caribbean history, culture, and cartography—this tool responds to students’ inquiries about the region’s spatial boundaries. The quiz invites students to select on a map those countries and territories they consider part of the Caribbean, prompting reflection on the diversity of perspectives shaping Caribbean identity. Drawing from the discourse of critical cartography and digital pedagogy, we …

Tun Up: Building Digital Dancehall Fashion Archives From An Artist’S Perspective, Grayson Chong

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article investigates the opportunities and challenges of building a dancehall fashion archive with particular emphasis on the transition from the material to the digital. As an artist-scholar, I use my own dancehall fashion collection as a case study to explore the process of digitizing material artifacts (in this case, fashion and textiles). I focus on dancehall fashion in particular because it speaks to themes of resistance, self-fashioning, and creativity in the global fashion market. Throughout the article, I highlight what the transition between material and digital affords scholars and public audiences. In particular, I ask: "How do we retain …

Acervos Documentales De Puerto Rico Y El Caribe @ Upr-Río Piedras: On Designing Digital Strategies For Preservation And Access Of Unique Puerto Rican And Caribbean Studies Collections, Mirerza González-Vélez, Mila Aponte-González

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This paper documents Acervos Digitales de Puerto Rico y el Caribe @ UPR-Río Piedras, its origins, goals, activities and participants. It reflects on the team engagement with fundamental discussions regarding the use of Omeka in a Caribbean context, that resulted in the articulation and enactment of ethical principles for digital curation, as well as in its commitment for fundamental digital preservation efforts based on minimal technology requirements. The paper also provides an assessment of its continuity as a DH initiative committed to preserving, improving open access, and building capacity for the effective use of unique digitized humanities collections, and poses …

Digital Research Tools, Newspaper Texts, And Enslaved Fugitives In The Atlantic World, Gunvor Simonsen, Natacha Klein Käfer, Heather Freund, Felicia J. Fricke

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article demonstrates the benefits and pitfalls of utilizing Natural Language Processing to structure a large corpus of newspaper adverts on fugitive enslaved people from the Atlantic World between 1766 and 1821. We evaluate a model for multilingual event extraction trained specifically for fugitive ads and jail lists in its capacity to extract correctly the attributes relevant for historical analysis. Finally, we discuss how the current model may be used to expand and qualify databases concerning enslaved fugitives in the eastern Caribbean.

La Elaboración De Abc_Pr: Un Archivo Digital De La Literatura Infantil Puertorriqueña De Andrés Díaz Marrero, Adriana Morales-Díaz

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

Andrés Díaz Marrero (1940-2025) was a retired teacher in the Puerto Rican Public Education System. After his retirement as a teacher, he dedicated his life to writing poems, stories, plays, songs, and educational resources that highlight the values of Puerto Rican culture and the importance of education, publicly disseminating them through his website during the period of 1994-2025. This project showcases the development of a digital archive to safeguard the literary creations of this Puerto Rican author. ABC_PR presents itself as a living post-custodial repository, dialogically co-created from a familial, affective grandfather-granddaughter relationship, exploring instances of collaboration between writer-illustrator and …

Tracing Caribbean Narratives At The Intersection Of Language, Identity, And Social Media, Juan-Carlos M.E. Goilo

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article delves into how the creole language of Papiamentu navigates the complexities of cultural identity and decolonial praxis within the social media landscape. Drawing from literature reviews, digital ethnography, content analysis, and an interview with social media influencer Gerald Lijde, I explore Papiamentu’s deep-rooted colonial ambivalence—a legacy that shapes its contemporary online use. While digital platforms offer new avenues for celebrating and formalizing Papiamentu, they also risk commodifying its radical, anti-colonial roots into tourist-friendly narratives. By linking online content production to theories of agency and digital culture, the article illuminates Papiamentu’s enduring role as a vessel of resistance and …

“Un Compromiso Con La Tierra”: Digital Placemaking In The Art Of Rosaura Rodríguez’'S Instagram Stories, Jeannine Murray-Román

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

From a recording of a hot pink flower on a foggy hillside, its leaves trembling slightly in the wind, to the ink made from its petals pooling onto white cardstock, Puerto Rican artist Rosaura Rodríguez shares her experimental processes on Instagram stories, fifteen seconds at a time. Instagram is a fraught platform that encourages aesthetic homogeneity, and yet, continues to function as a site for developing micro-poetic techniques. This article focuses on Rodríguez’s in-process Instagram Stories, and particularly the “Highlights” feature which allows her to archive her working processes for two of her projects: 1. Temporada, a self-published comic that …

Infrastructure Of Lack: Defining Caribbean Vernacular Networks, Luis Rivera Jiménez

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article offers a theoretical reflection on the forms and meanings of networks in the Caribbean, moving beyond traditional definitions rooted in computation and formal infrastructure. By turning to vernacular, improvised, and culturally embedded modes of exchange—such as in "Club Nintendo" culture and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) in the Dominican Republic, the DIY internet practices of Cuban users, and the ubiquity of memes and WhatsApp threads across diasporic communities—this piece reframes the concept of the “network” through a Caribbean lens. Rather than seeing the Caribbean as disconnected or technologically incipient, this approach understands the region as a space of creative, strategic, …

“Turn The Faucet”: Right-Wing Hydrosocial Imaginaries Of Irrigation Water In The Western United States, Alexander Reid Ross, Thien-Kim Bui, Alida Cantor

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

The second administration of United States President Donald Trump has taken an authoritarian, centralized approach to governance in the United States. Water management is one area in which the president has attempted to show dominance. This research theorizes President Trump’s concept of water in the United States West as a “hydrosocial imaginary” in which the release of water from rivers and reservoirs indicates virility, action, and power, instead of liberal cautiousness and prudence. By ordering the release of two billion gallons of water from California’s Central Valley into the dry Tulare Basin one hundred miles north of Los Angeles for …

Projecting The Broad Money Supply From Base Money Dynamics, Baba N. Yaaba

Bullion

The study demonstrates that in periods when Other Depository Corporations' balance sheet data are unavailable, broad money (M3) can be reasonably projected by combining the monetary base from the CBN balance sheet with the immediately preceding money multiplier. This time-varying approach using the lagged multiplier provides an appropriate and empirically justified basis for projecting broad money. However, the application of this methodology should be confined to internal policy analysis and decision-making purposes and not extended to public dissemination.

Accounting Response To Inflation And Its Implication On Economic Development In Nigeria, Jimoh Ojo Ihiovi

Bullion

This study examines the relationship among inflation, accounting responses, investment, regulatory compliance and economic development in Nigeria. It uses secondary data from official macroeconomic sources and selected corporate reports and applies descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and Ordinary Least Squares regression. The reported results show a negative association between inflation and GDP per capita, while accounting response, investment and regulatory compliance have positive associations with economic development. The study recommends stronger inflation-sensitive disclosures, improved enforcement and professional capacity, while recognising that IAS 29 applies only where its hyperinflation criteria are met.

Non-Oil Exports And International Reserves In Nigeria: A Descriptive Assessment (1981-2023), Oluwabunmi Dada

Bullion

This study examines non-oil exports and international reserve accumulation in Nigeria using annual data from 1981 to 2023. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and trend analysis are employed. Services and agricultural exports show modest positive associations with reserves, while manufacturing exports record a strong negative association and mining exports show a negligible relationship. Real GDP, the exchange rate and external debt are positively correlated with reserves. The findings support policies that strengthen export competitiveness, value addition and macroeconomic stability. The reported relationships are descriptive and should not be interpreted as causal effects.

Corporate Governance In The Last Decade (2012-2021): A Systematic Review Of Literature, Aliyu Abdulaziz

Bullion

This article reviews 100 peer-reviewed corporate governance studies published from 2012 to 2021 across 34 country settings. It applies a systematic quantitative assessment technique to examine publication year, publisher, geography, article type, data-collection method and research theme. The corpus consists mainly of empirical studies and is concentrated in Asian settings. Observation and survey methods dominate, while mixed methods are uncommon. Board composition, board independence and ownership structure are the leading themes. The review identifies geographical, methodological and thematic gaps and recommends broader coverage and greater methodological diversity in future research.

Cash Reserve Ratio As A Monetary Policy Tool In Nigeria: Implications For Banking System Liquidity And Stability, Baba N. Yaaba Phd, Usenobong Akpan Phd

Bullion

In pursuit of price stability, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) deploys a range of monetary policy instruments to regulate liquidity conditions and influence macroeconomic outcomes. Among these, the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) has played an increasingly prominent role in recent tightening cycles. While these measures aimed to curb excess liquidity and inflationary pressures, concerns have emerged regarding their implications for bank intermediation and financial stability. This study evaluates the impact of CRR on banking system liquidity and stability in Nigeria using an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and monthly data from June 2010 to March 2025. The results confirm …

Digital Financial Services And The Formalisation Of Informal Enterprises In Nigeria: A Policy Review, Mayowa Olawale Ogunsola, Helen Olubunmi Aderemi

Bullion

Nigeria's informal sector accounts for approximately 93% of employment (ILO, 2025; NBS, 2023) and, following the 2025 GDP rebasing, contributed 42.5% of GDP in 2019 (NBS, 2025). Digital Financial Services (DFS) are promoted as a formalisation pathway, yet recent evidence (2022–2026) shows that while DFS adoption enhances productivity and financial inclusion, it does not automatically trigger business registration or tax compliance. Drawing on institutional logics and gradualism, this policy review of 28 studies finds that Nigeria's current framework conflates digital inclusion with formalisation, suffers fragmented coordination among the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and Nigerian Revenue …

Mapping Measurement To Theory In Policy Evolution: A Case Of Net Metering Policies Of The United States, Graham Ambrose, Myriam Gregoire-Zawilski

Center for Policy Design and Governance

This brief summarizes "Mapping measurement to theory in policy evolution: A case of net metering policies of the United States," co-authored by Graham Ambrose and Myriam Gregoire-Zawilski in Policy Studies Journal.

Retaining Residents Is Important To New Hampshire’S Future: Why Do People Leave?, Kristine Bundschuh, Kenneth M. Johnson

Carsey Publications

Migration is critical to New Hampshire’s future. Between 2020 and 2025, the state’s entire population gain was due to migration, since more people died than were born in the state. In part, this migration gain is because fewer New Hampshire residents leave the state than residents of nearby states. While much attention focuses on attracting migrants to New Hampshire, another important piece of the state’s migration puzzle is understanding why people consider leaving.

In this brief, authors Kristine Bundschuh and Kenneth Johnson examine New Hampshire residents’ likelihood of leaving the state and explore why residents consider leaving the state. Their …

The Self-Aware Room: A Framework For Operational Self-Awareness In Evolvable Blended Environments, David B. Smith

Publications and Research

The Self-Aware Room (SAR) is a room-scale research environment developed within the larger Balanced Blended Space and Blended Reality Performance System research trajectory. Rather than treating the room as a conventional “smart” environment composed of fixed automation technologies, SAR approaches it as an evolvable blended environment made from physical, virtual, conceptual, sensory, computational, and performative relationships. Its defining feature is not any particular sensor, model, or output device, but the set of transformations through which physical activity becomes structured observation, bounded representation, interpreted state, governed decision, and mediated response.

This paper develops the conceptual and methodological foundations of SAR as …

Exploring Elite Athletes’ Perceptions Of The Practice Of Mindfulness For Mental Health And Optimal Performance, Omar A. Sesay

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Elite athletes experience physical, cognitive, and emotional demands that affect athletic performance and personal well-being, increasing the risk for anxiety, depression, burnout, attentional difficulties, and maladaptive coping strategies. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has been examined for its effect on attentional control, emotional regulation, cognitive flexibility, and stress resilience, but limited qualitative research has examined how elite athletes experience the practice of mindfulness. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore elite athletes’ perceptions of the practice of mindfulness for mental health and optimal performance. The theoretical framework draws from mindfulness theory and MBSR principles. Semistructured interviews were conducted …

We Don't See Race, We See Blue: A Case Study Of Police Unions As Racialized Organizations, Sarahfina Aubrey Peterson

Dissertations and Theses

In the late 1960s, police began to unionize. Today, they are the most well-organized labor force in the United States, with 70% to 80% of sworn officers now represented by a union. Though it has been decades, little scholarship has developed about how police unions affect policing. Much of the research that does exist uses race-neutral frames to address an organization steeped in racial history. This study aims to address this gap in scholarship, in part, by introducing race as a motivation for and explanation of organizational output.

This research applies Victor Ray's racialized organizations theory to police unions. I …

Trapped In Transition: Structural Change And Political Dynamics In Middle-Income Countries, Gabriel Duvidovich

Dissertations and Theses

The middle-income trap literature has examined why relatively few middle-income countries transition to high-income status. A range of explanations has been proposed, but the political dimension has often been overlooked. Studies that take a political perspective often focus on institutional form rather than the state’s ability to effectively implement policy. This study addresses this gap by bringing political capacity to the center of the analysis. It argues that political capacity appears important for the productive upgrading required for sustained growth in middle-income economies and shapes economic growth trajectories across countries at different income levels.

The empirical analysis uses country-period panel …

Mindful Parenting And Toddlers' Food Responsiveness: The Role Of Controlling Feeding Practices, Qingyu Jiang, Holly Wilhite, Natalie A. Williams, Dipti A. Dev, Caron A. C. Clark, Pearl Avari, Sarah B. Ladd

Journal of Extension

Controlling feeding practices may negatively impact children's eating behaviors. Mindful parenting may offer a promising way to reduce the use of these practices. This study examined the mediating role of pressuring children to eat and using food as a reward in the association between mindful parenting and toddlers' food responsiveness. Results indicated that higher levels of mindful parenting were associated with lower pressuring to eat, which was related to lower food responsiveness in toddlers. The results may inform Extension professionals providing mindfulness strategies for mothers of young children to improve feeding practices, ultimately reducing children's unhealthful eating behaviors.

Using Posters To Increase Vegan Entrées Chosen At Classics In Wmu’S Student Dining Center, Sarah Schneider

Honors Theses

The following experiment tested the use of specifically designed posters to see the effect on eating habits of those who ate entrées from WMU’s food counter called Classics in the Student Dining Center. The independent variable was a poster with humorous and factual elements displayed at the point of choice in the dining center. The primary dependent variable was the percentage of vegan entrees chosen out of the total number of vegan and meat entrees served. The secondary dependent variables were the number of vegan entrees prepped and served, and the percentage of each entree that was served out of …

The Lottery You Do Not Want To Win: The Role Of Local Institutional Quality In Brazil's Fight Against The Persistent Transmission Of Poverty, Adaye Sosthene Yvan N'Guettia

Economics Honors Projects

When does improving local institutions increase the poverty-reducing effectiveness of transfers? This paper examines whether federal oversight strengthens municipal administration of anti-poverty programs in Brazil. I develop a governance model in which incumbents allocate resources across diversion, effort, and institutional investment under audits and incentives. Using exogenous variation from Brazil's random CGU audit lottery across 5,500 municipalities, I find audits reduce irregularities, strengthen capacity, improve nutritional monitoring and school infrastructure, and reduce extreme poverty — with effects largest in municipalities with weakest institutions. A marginal-value-of-public-funds analysis confirms the program is self-financing. Results show the poverty-reducing power of transfers depends critically …

Book Review: Redemption: Macarthur And The Campaign For The Philippines, Brian Mcallister Linn

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Peter R. Mansoor

Reviewed by: Brian McAllister Linn, professor emeritus, Texas A&M University

In Redemption: MacArthur and the Campaign for the Philippines, Peter R. Mansoor delivers a gripping account of one of World War II’s most pivotal operations, blending strategic insight with vivid battlefield detail. The book explores General Douglas MacArthur’s dramatic return to the Philippines, revealing the complexities of leadership, logistics, and liberation. A masterful narrative of redemption and resilience, it captures the high stakes and human costs of reclaiming a nation under siege.

©2026 Brian McAllister Linn