Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Illusion Of Causality In Llms: A Developmentally Grounded Analysis Of Semantic Scaffolding And Benchmark–Capability Mismatches, Daisuke Akiba

Publications and Research

Recent benchmarks increasingly report that large language models (LLMs) exhibit human-like causal reasoning abilities, including counterfactual inference and intervention planning. However, many such evaluations rely on domains that are heavily represented in training data and embed strong semantic cues, raising the possibility that apparent causal competence may reflect semantic pattern recombination rather than structure-sensitive causal reasoning. Drawing on human developmental theories of causal induction, this perspective argues that genuine causal understanding requires robustness to novelty and reliance on conditional structure rather than semantic familiarity. To illustrate the testability of this claim, the paper includes a pilot demonstration using synthetic causal …

High-Frequency Functional Trajectories Predict Depressive Worsening In Singapore's Community-Dwelling Older Adults, Kaung Htet Tun Salai, Yi Wen Tan, Grace Cheong, Paulin T. Straughan

ROSA Journal Articles and Publications

Background/Objectives: Functional difficulty and depression often coexist in older adults, yet local Singapore-based research often lacks detailed temporal resolution due to heterogeneity in ageing. This study employs non-parametric, data-driven longitudinal clustering to analyse functional trajectories and their association with depression, using high-frequency data to pinpoint key intervention periods. Methods: Data were drawn from 4273 community-dwelling older adults from Singapore Life Panel^® (2020–2024). Participants completed quarterly self-reported assessments of ADL, IADL and depressive symptoms (8-item CES-D). We employed k-means longitudinal clustering (kml) to identify functional trajectory groups and Cox regression to evaluate the hazard of increased depression (≥5-point increase in …

Strengthening School Social Work: Improving Student Outcomes Through Stronger Support Systems, Kaitlyn Dailey, Faridah Kassim, Rhaleecia Rahming, Angela Soto

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

School social workers are essential to student well-being and academic success, yet current caseloads and unclear role expectations prevent them from providing effective, evidence-based support. School social workers improve graduation rates, reduce behavioral challenges, and strengthen school engagement, but only when staffing levels and role clarity allow them to work within their professional scope. Without policy action, Minnesota schools will continue to rely on crisis-driven models that leave students without early intervention and place social workers at high risk for burnout. Rural districts will face even greater inequities, as many students already depend on schools as their only access point …

No Community Left Behind: Investing In Mental Health Service Access In Rural Minnesota, Keaton Anderson, Madison Demars, Trisha Graves-Petron, Cheyenne Munoz

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Much of Minnesota has a shortage of mental health providers due to specific problems around graduating workers, recruiting them and keeping them once they are hired. Lower salaries, older population bases, and inconsistent healthcare coverage all contribute to the shortage of providers in rural areas. Long distances between mental health facilities and stigma in mental health care exacerbate the shortage. More than 1.2 million Minnesotans live in rural communities and of those at least 25% do not have access to reliable broadband internet. Rural areas face significant behavioral health workforce shortages, as seen in Figure 1. Minnesota needs to invest …

Accountability For Unlawful Actions By Ice In Minnesota, Luisalfredo Garcia, Ore-Ofe Oluwajobi, Gabriela Passmore, Mariah Wabasha

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Immigration enforcement actions have escalated since December 2025 under “Operation Metro Surge”, with deployment of 4,000 ICE agents to the Twin Cities and rural Minnesota. ICE occupation within Minnesota has included an unprecedented number of people, both documented and undocumented, who have been detained by ICE agents and unlawful actions by ICE. With federal agents disregarding constitutional laws and human rights, there has not been legal accountability or consequences for the traumatic incidents inflicted on Minnesota by Department of Homeland Security. Policy oversight must be implemented to ensure proper accountability for illegal or unjust actions.

County Funding Matters To Ensure Families Stay Together: Minnesota African American Family Preservation And Child Welfare Disproportionality Act (Maafpcwda), Jessica Dewar, Taryn Dolan, Destiny Fairbanks, Christina Albers

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

African American children remain disproportionately represented at every stage of Minnesota’s child welfare system, including reports, investigations, and out-of-home placements. Although the Minnesota African American Family Preservation and Child Welfare Disproportionality Act was designed to address these inequities through active efforts and family preservation, many county agencies lack the staffing, training, and resources necessary to fully implement the policy. Without additional investment in counties, the goals of the Act cannot be fully realized.

Mapping Child Care And Early Education Capacity To Needs In Massachusetts, Alan Clayton-Matthews, Christa M. Kelleher, Randy Albelda, Anne Douglass, Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Massachusetts has made notable strides in expanding access to affordable, quality, licensed child care and early education in recent years. Ongoing robust state investment in the Commonwealth Cares for Children Grant Program, activities of the Healey-Driscoll Inter Agency Early Education and Child Care Task Force, and increased income eligibility for child care financial assistance to families with moderate incomes, among other initiatives, all help address persistent barriers to quality education and care at a price families can afford.

Yet the supply of licensed child care for infants, toddlers, and preschool children remains a formidable challenge to meeting the child care …

Notes For The Stalled, V18n06, March 2026, University Of Northern Iowa. Rod Library.

Rod Library newsletter: Notes for the Stalled

Contents:

--- March Book Madness
--- RodCon 2026
--- Research Award
--- Upcoming Events

Stop Ice: A Call For Accountability, Em Hodge, Kathryn Petzel, Elizabeth Spiegelhoff, Zoe Wetzel

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Since the beginning of the second Trump Administration in 2025, Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) has increased their activity in conducting operations to deport immigrants and citizens. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recorded nearly 220,000 arrests from October 15th, 2025, through January 20th, 2026. The types of people being detained have almost exclusively been people with no criminal conviction (96.9%) compared to those with a criminal conviction (3.1%). With the increased deportations and killings of citizens such as Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by the hands of ICE officers in Minnesota, action, protections, and accountability is needed more than …

Application Of Artificial Intelligence In Academic Libraries In Low- And Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review, Sarah Nakaziba, Abong Kenneth, Mary Namuguzi, Lydia Namugera, Drake Tamale, Shamim Namukasa, Doreen Nayebare, Arnold Mwanzu, Carolyne Namukwaya, Ahmed Sarki

Libraries

Purpose Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology provides academic libraries with an opportunity to improve users’ experience. However, the application of AI in academic libraries in low- and middle-income countries is yet to be established. Thus, this scoping review aims to assess the extent of AI utilisation in academic libraries in low- and middle-income countries.

Design We performed searches in five databases, which included SCOPUS, Web of Science, Library and Information Science Technology Abstracts (LISTA), Academic Search Premier, and Google Scholar. The scoping review adopted the following search strategy: (Artificial intelligence OR AI OR Fourth Industrial Revolution OR 4th Industrial Revolution OR …

A Word From The Writing Team (March 2026), Pam Walter, Mfa, Laura Deloretta, Phd

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

No abstract provided.

March 2026 Library & Learning Newsletter, Minnesota State University, Mankato. Library & Learning Dean’S Office Communications Team

Library & Learning Newsletters

PDF version of the March 2026 (Volume 4, Issue 8) Library & Learning Newsletter.

Warrior Bot, Relational Bot, Blameworthy Bot: How A Student Design Team Anthropomorphize Their Combat Robot Creations, Daniel Burton Shank, Frederick F. Sunkpal, Nova Lee Young, Karli Hoerstkamp, David Wright, Merilee A. Krueger, Carleigh J. Davis

Psychological Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

How do robot designers anthropomorphize their own creations? Because robot designers have the ability to alter the robot, identify as its creator, and understand their robot's internal makeup, their process of anthropomorphism and its outcomes may be different from that of the typical robot user. We investigate this research question in the domain of combat robots, where anthropomorphism is critical to decision-making, communication, and trust in high-stakes, high-emotion combat situations faced by robot-soldier teams. We conducted an in-depth case study of a university's student-led Combat Robotics Design Team over the design, construction, testing, and competition phases for their competitive combat …

Understanding Human Arm Stiffness Modulation In Overground Phri: The Roles Of Kinematics, Perturbation, And Trunk Sway, Mohsen Mohammadi Beirami, Sambad Regmi, Devin Michael Burns, Yun Seong Song

Psychological Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study examines human arm kinematics during overground physical human-robot interaction (pHRI). Previous work showed humans adjust arm stiffness with changing trajectory uncertainty, but the roles of arm kinematics and muscle activation remained unclear. Building on a preliminary study, we analyzed arm movements with more participants (10 individuals) to achieve more reliable findings and examined two potential influences that arose in the preliminary study: the robot's perturbation effect (a brief hand push) and left-to-right trunk sway. Using a linear mixed-effects model, we evaluated the effects of participant, block, and trajectory condition on arm angles. Results showed minimal kinematic contribution to …

Frontmatter (Volume 46, Issue 3), Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Positive Youth Development And Connection With Nature Through Urban Agriculture, Casey Ortbahn, Marijke Hecht, Kristi Lekies

Journal of Youth Development

Youth urban agriculture programs connect youth with nature and support positive youth development. In this qualitative study, we use photovoice to amplify youth voices and explore 16 high school youths’ perceptions of how participation in a youth gardening program supported their confidence, connection, and sense of belonging. Using qualitative thematic analysis of photos, posters, and interviews, we identify several program processes that supported confidence and belonging, including meaningful relationships with peers and adults, connections with nature, and relationships with more-than-human beings. Our analysis reveals that nature is an important context for youth development and that nature is also more than …

Launch Skills: Virtual Career Camp Connects Rural Youth To Diverse Career Pathways, Caroline Homan, Meagan Hoffman

Journal of Youth Development

Rural youth often encounter persistent barriers in career and workforce readiness, including limited access to career exploration resources, mentorship, and post-secondary exposure, challenges that are compounded by geographic isolation and higher rates of rural poverty. To address these gaps, this manuscript describes the development and implementation of Launch Skills, a virtual career camp designed to broaden rural youths’ awareness of career pathways within food, agriculture, natural resources management, and human sciences (FANH). Grounded in Positive Youth Development principles, Launch Skills was collaboratively developed by North Dakota State University Extension and South Dakota State University Extension to provide flexible, accessible, and …

Development And Evaluation Of The Interdisciplinary Graduate-Level Experiential Global Aging Education Program In The United States: A Case Of The Gerontology In Japan Course, Takashi Yamashita, Flavius R W Lilly, Diane B. Martin, Mio Kamijo

Journal of Global Education and Research

The cultural competence of the workforce is increasingly important due to global population aging and the growing diversity of the older population. Experiential learning, particularly through study abroad programs, is a known strategy to enhance these competencies; yet such training remains uncommon in higher education, especially at the graduate level. While the United States is currently a relatively young country with 17% of its population aged 65 years and older, the percentage is projected to increase to more than 21% by the end of this decade. Recognizing the value of learning from a super-aged society, a two-week study abroad course …

A Framework For Food Reliability In Zambia, Junren Wang, Megan Konar, Sitian Xiong

Student Publications [Scholarly]

Ensuring the reliability of domestic food supplies is increasingly critical given the compounding shocks of production variability, transportation constraints, and demand surges. This study develops a spatially explicit framework for Zambia, introducing the food reliability index to quantify the probability that food requirements exceed supply under stochastic conditions. By integrating probabilistic production estimates with a gravity model of domestic trade, we evaluate reliability dynamics across rural and urban landscapes. We apply this framework to establish a 2020 baseline and project future vulnerabilities to 2050. To address projected deficits, we simulate intervention scenarios, comparing the efficacy of cropland expansion, yield intensification, …

Dyadic Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Outcomes For Mothers And Their Children: Long-Term Follow-Up Of A Randomized Controlled Trial Of Brief Parenting Interventions, Abigail Sullivan, Sophia Eisenberg Garcia, Maria Kinsey, Komal Brown, Rong Bai, Melissa Mcternan, Seth J. Scholer, Ron Prinz, Julia Fleckman, Stacy Drury, Catherine A. Taylor

Student Publications [Scholarly]

This study was part of a longitudinal follow-up of a 3-armed randomized controlled trial designed to test the effects of two brief parenting interventions, Play Nicely (PN) and Triple P-Level 2 (TP2), to a usual care control on parenting outcomes. Female caregivers with an identified index child (Mage = 3.7 years, standard deviation [SD] = 1.7) were recruited through women, infants, and children (WIC) clinics in the greater New Orleans region. At a long-term (Myears = 5 years, SD = 0.9) follow-up assessment, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was assessed for a subset of these mother–child dyads during three dyadic interaction …

The Trial-Spacing Effect In Contingency Learning Depends On Both Duration And Frequency Of D Trials Intervening Between A, B, And C Trials, Dave Jiang, Jovin Huang, Kevin Artus, Rafi Arnob, James E. E. Witnauer, Robin A. Murphy, Santiago Castiello, Ralph Miller

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

The main file is the ReadMe file, with the attached additional files being data and analyses.

Building Connections With Graduate Students Through Credit-Bearing Instruction, Michelle Desilets, Kimberly Pendell

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

Graduate students often need support with research skills and other professional development that is under-recognized by their programs. Librarians play a key role in helping students fill in these gaps. This case study reviews student feedback on a librarian-developed and -delivered credit-bearing course. The course, Library Research and Scholarly Communication Fundamentals, is offered to graduate students across all disciplines. The curriculum is flexible and applicable to each student’s research, covering topics such as researching literature, citation and data management, and publishing in scholarly journals. The course has generated positive and constructive feedback from students, encompassing themes of self-efficacy, improved research …

Ari Still: Developing Packaging Design And Branding To Overcome Saturated Market, Andrea De La Vega

Graphic Communication

The alcoholic beverage market in the United States is facing a period of transformation, affecting the success and longevity of new launches and existing brands. Shifting consumer values and behaviors, generational changes, and an increasingly oversaturated landscape emerged after the immediate effects of the pandemic. Understanding these changes, especially as more members of Generation Z enter the legal drinking age, is imperative so retailers and spirit providers learn what the new generation expects and adapt in response. In a highly competitive market, my project aims to address how a brand can establish itself and be competitively unique, on-trend, and long-standing. …

Endline Evaluation Of Community-Based Interventions Addressing Social Attitudes And Behavioural Intentions Related To Female Genital Mutilation In Isiolo And Narok Counties, Kenya, Dennis Matanda, Francis Obare, Robert Omondi, Stephen Kizito, Stella Muthuri, Chi-Chi Undie

Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Choices

The Girl Generation: Support to the Africa-Led Movement (TGG-ALM) programme works to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) by shifting social attitudes/beliefs and behavioral intentions related to FGM and the gender ideologies that sustain its continued practice through interventions implemented at the community level. This study aimed to assess such shifts in the context of TGG-ALM intervention sites in Kenya, while also tracking the diffusion of the intervention beyond intervention sites. Key intervention activities implemented by TGG-ALM included conducting community intergenerational dialogues in both Isiolo and Narok counties, women-only reflect circles in Isiolo and couples-only/homestead dialogues in Narok.

Unveiling The Experiences And Unmet Needs: A Qualitative Exploration Of Undocumented Immigrants Residing In Kansas, Carol Meza, Pedro Hernandez, Alicia Hawley-Bernardez, Christopher Bakke, Staci P. Wolfe

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

Undocumented immigrants in the United States (US) face numerous barriers to accessing services such as healthcare, employment, and social services due to their status. While media and immigration policy focus on the U.S. border states, significant populations of undocumented immigrants exist throughout the U.S. Using qualitative analysis of 20 personal accounts, this study examines their experiences in a Midwestern state through utilizing a strengths-perspective, which emphasizes individual and community assets. Recurrent experiential themes included problems with persistent racism, discrimination, housing, employment, health care, and mental health challenges, while undocumented immigrants demonstrate remarkable resilience. These findings suggest that they can benefit …

Using Large Language Models To Analyze Political Texts Through Natural Language Understanding, Kenneth Benoit, Scott De Marchi, Conor Laver, Michael Laver, Jinshuai Ma

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Large language models (LLMs) offer scalable alternatives to human experts when analyzing political texts for meaning, using natural language understanding (NLU). Qualitative NLU methods relying on human experts are severely limited by cost and scalability. Statistical text-as-data methods are scalable but rely on strong and often unrealistic assumptions. We propose a systematic, scalable, and replicable method that can extend existing qualitative and quantitative approaches by using LLMs to interpret texts meaningfully rather than as mere data. Our ensemble means of LLM-generated estimates of party positions on six key issue dimensions correlate highly with equivalent mean ratings by country specialists. When …

In What Style Shall I Confront Them? The Role Of Social Relationships In Social Correction Of Misinformation Among The Uk And Arab Social Media Users, Muaadh Noman, Mohamed B. Almourad, Ala Yankouskaya, Firoj Alam, Raian Ali

All Works

This study investigates how social factors influence the likelihood of employing direct or indirect communication styles when correcting misinformation on social media in two different cultural contexts, the United Kingdom (UK) and the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. We conducted an online survey, supported by vignettes, that involved 686 participants, 367 from the UK and 319 from the Arab GCC countries. Participants were presented with a misinformation scenario and asked about their likelihood of using direct or indirect communication styles to correct their acquaintances. The survey captured variations in gender similarity (same vs. different gender), social status (lower vs. …

Himmelfarb Library Liaison Letter - March 2026, The George Washington University, Himmelfarb Health Science Library

Himmelfarb Library Liaison Letters

No abstract provided.

Building Youth Resilience Through Adventure-Based Learning, Lisa M. Schainker, Abby Julian, Caitlyn Rogers

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

To build resilience skills among Salt Lake County youth, Utah State University (USU) Extension - Salt Lake County partnered with the Utah National Guard to host a daylong camp at Camp Williams called Resilience Education Adventures for Life (REAL) Day. REAL Day included both experiential classroom learning and outdoor activities, such as positive risk-taking activities like rappelling and obstacle courses. Survey results from 84 youth participants (n = 84) showed increases in self-reported skills and attitudes related to resilience, including confidence, a growth mindset, and stress management.

Farmers Markets As Community Infrastructure: Evidence From A Three-Year Statewide Data Project In Utah, Jaclyn Pace, Roslynn Mccann, Blue Cook, Steven Price, Lorali Smith, Dianna Parkynn, Joshua Cafferty

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

Utah farmers markets play a critical role in food access, small business viability, and community connection, yet limited statewide data document their impact. The Utah Farmers Market Network (UFMN) and Utah State University (USU) Extension conducted a mixed-methods evaluation (2023–2025) and found that farmers markets make valuable contributions to the community.