Digital Commons Network^™

The Off-Season Of Dental Cementum Investigations. A Critical Appraisal Of Season-Of-Death Prediction In Medico-Legal Investigations, Benoit Bertrand, Ahmad Kaddoura, Eugénia Cunha, Anne Bécart, Didier Gosset, Valery Hédouin, Carina Marques

Anthropology Faculty Publications

It has been suggested that death seasonality could be estimated based on the dark/bright appearance of the outermost dental cementum deposit. The few existing studies show variable accuracy rates. The question whether estimating season-of-death based on dental cementum represents a realistic and achievable goal can arise. This work, based on a software-assisted procedure and direct human observation, aims to critically evaluate the applicability of dental cementum to estimate the season-of-death in forensic anthropology. The sample consists of 20 canines from individuals belonging to the 21st century Identified Skeletal Collection, University of Coimbra, Portugal, and with documented biodemographic data. Fifty percent …

The Dw2 Shipwreck: The Tobacco Pipe Finds / ספינה טרופה: ממצא המקטרות, Ofra Barkai, Anna De Vincenz, Idit Yovel Even-Zur, Jacob Sharvit

Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel

The excavation of the DW2 shipwreck uncovered 13 ceramic tobacco pipes. Most of the pipes are of the cup type, with a few examples of the bowl or disk-base types. All the pipes are decorated with geometric patterns; two are also adorned with floral motifs, and one bears a maker’s stamp. The pipes date from the seventeenth century to the early twentieth century CE, with most attributed to the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. Parallels were identified at several sites, including the ‘Akko 1 and Kitten shipwrecks. Petrographic analysis of eight pipes indicates they were manufactured in the geographic …

The Dw2 Shipwreck: The Carpenters’ Work / ספינה טרופה: עבודת הנגרים, Avner Hillman, Idit Yovel Even-Zur, Ofra Barkai

Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel

The excavation of the DW2 shipwreck revealed that the vessel was primarily constructed from Cypriot pine (Pinus brutia), with wooden nails made from Kermes oak (Quercus coccifera) and Turkey oak (Quercus cerris). Analysis of the heartwood, knots and annual rings in the ship’s wooden components indicates that the pines were old and of low quality. The ship’s construction demonstrates efficient utilization of the trees, including small wood pieces and branches. The carpenters sawed the wood in a pre-planned manner, prioritizing function over aesthetics. Tool marks on the wood suggest the use of a saw, …

The Dw2 Shipwreck: Evidence Of Trade With Small Vessels (Coasters) In Southern Syria And The Land Of Israel During The Late Ottoman Period /ספינה טרופה: עדות לסחר בכלי שיט קטנים בדרום סוריה ובארץ ישראל בשלהי התקופה העות'מאנית, Idit Yovel Even-Zur, Jacob Sharvit, Ofra Barkai

Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel

Three excavation seasons conducted in the southern lagoon of Dor uncovered the remains of the Dor Wreck 2 (DW2) shipwreck—a 15.5 m-long trading coaster built from poor-quality but well-preserved wood. The ship was constructed using techniques characteristic of the Mediterranean shipbuilding tradition. The hull of the ship was well-preserved, indicating it could carry up to 20 tons of cargo. However, due to the scarcity of finds, it is not possible to determine the ship’s cargo. The identified wood species suggest that the ship was constructed in western Turkey or southwestern Syria. Carbon-14 dating, combined with electrochemical analysis of the corrosion …

February 27, 2025 Nagpra And Tribal Relations Committee Meeting Minutes, Bryan Morey

University NAGPRA and Tribal Relations Committee

Minutes from the February 27, 2025 meeting of Western Kentucky University's NAGPRA and Tribal Relations Committee. The meeting was conducted via Zoom.

Casar Public Lecture: From Coolidge To Trump: A Century Of Racial Politics In America, The Prince Alwaleed Center For American Studies And Research Casar

Performances, Events, and Presentations

Dr. Gallagher's talk examined how various immigration policies in the United States have been shaped by the general public's attitudes regarding the race and ethnicity of those immigrating to the U.S. His talk explores the past and present social pressures that have led to both expansive and restrictive immigration policies.

Speaker: CASAR Guest speaker: Dr.Charles Gallagher ,Professor of Sociology from La Salle University, Philadelphia, USA.

Lecture 1: Date: Wednesday, Feb. 26th, 2025 Time: 7-9 pm Venue: Room 602 - Hill House building - AUC Downtown Tahrir Campus

Lecture 2: Date: Thursday, Feb. 27th, 2025 Time: 1-2 pm Venue: GAPP Executive …

A Kuba Raffia Cut-Pile Textile From The May Weber Ethnographic Study Collection, Stella Riehl

Department of Anthropology

The May Weber Ethnographic Study Collection at Loyola University Chicago contains thousands of objects, including numerous textiles. This report discusses one specific textile housed in the collection. The object is a raffia cut-pile cloth from the Kuba Kingdom of modern-day Democratic Republic of Congo. This report details the specific description, materials, and creation techniques of the object, as well as attribution of its cultural group, function, and date of creation. The object is further contextualized through the discussion of cultural production and usage of textiles among the Kuba. This includes their ritual and economic uses, as well as their changes …

Navigating Trauma: A Linguistic Exploration Of Bilingual Trauma Expressions, Amira Mahmoud Othman

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the relationship between language, trauma, and emotional expression among bilingual Arabic-English speakers, focusing on code-switching patterns and euphemisms, and more broadly the emotional roles of native and non-native languages in trauma narratives. Through qualitative interviews with 20 Egyptian participants, the research reveals that code-switching serves as both a linguistic and emotional tool, allowing speakers to navigate trauma by creating distance or engaging more intimately. Such codeswitching patterns include the integration of English content words within Arabic structures, morphosyntactic innovations, and gender agreement applications, reflecting the creative adaptability of bilingual speakers in emotionally charged contexts, in line with …

“I Remember It...I Feel It” Place’S Intangible Identity: Explorations Through The Lens Of Micro-Phenomenology- Case Study Of Al-Sultan Hassan Complex, Sarah Mohamed El Zoheiry

Theses and Dissertations

In today’s contemporary architecture, the growing of anonymous and interchangeable spaces has diminished the distinctive character of the place, its individuality and experiential signification, fostering placelessness. This research argues that the framework of reconsidering place’s atmosphere offers a pathway to reconnect people with places through emotional, sensory, and embodied encounters. This research investigates the phenomenology of place, focusing on the atmosphere as an intangible identity that transcends physical attributes and engages people's senses and feelings. By exploring the Al-Sultan Hassan complex, the study deepens the understanding of the transcendental quality of the atmosphere, it’s unfolding over time, and it’s associated …

Common Threads In Monsters Across Time And Space, Jade Gladue

CAFE Symposium 2025

Fear is an undeniable human emotion, and monsters have always been a way for human societies to grapple with and explain our fears. In this project, common aspects and groupings of monsters across different indigenous cultures and folklores are discussed and dissected to determine inherent human reactions to fear. The project identifies and analyzes types of monsters and what the hidden meaning behind the existence and endurance of these creatures might be.

The Melanesian Triad Of Unity, Ibrahim Peyon

Antropologi Indonesia

In the Melanesian worldview, humans, land, waters, plants, animals and the entire universe were created by the Creator God, and this is the essence of the original religions in Melanesia. This paper investigates this basic Melanesian philosophy, which is called the Melanesian Triad of Unity here. Oneness denotes God the Creator as the core entity, the parts of his body constituting all beings and the universe. The three principles are 1) one nation, 2) one soul and one spirit, and 3) one land and nature. All the elements are composed naturally in these three principles. As argued in this paper, …

Analyzing The Impact Of Societal Perceptions Of Honor On Women's Involvement In The 1919 Revolution And The 2011 Revolution: A Comparative Study, Haya Shalaby

The Undergraduate Research Journal

Women have always been a part of the political sphere, visibly so or not. It was when they started getting more seen in the streets and protests that issues began to rise. The main factor behind that is honor, a complicated and multilayered subject, especially in the Middle East. The way it has been defined, at every point in time, relies on political and religious motives, with the ultimate goal of restricting and controlling the lives of women and their involvement in powerful, fundamental changes. Society perceives honor through its relation to biased religious perceptions, therefore, we find that public …

Beyond Pink And Plastic: A Critical Analysis Of Barbie (2023) Through The Lens Of Gender Performativity, Intersectionality, And Diverse Cultural Perspectives, Nelly K. Abdelwahed

The Undergraduate Research Journal

This paper critically examines Barbie (2023), directed by Greta Gerwig, through the frameworks of Judith Butler’s gender performativity and Kimberlé Crenshaw’s intersectionality. By analyzing qualitative data from interviews with Egyptian university students, the study explores how the film challenges traditional gender norms while addressing its polarizing reception globally. While Barbie (2023) succeeds in sparking conversations about gender, identity, and societal expectations, its Western-centric narrative limits its resonance with non-Western audiences, particularly in the Middle East. The findings reveal a dichotomy: the film effectively critiques systemic inequalities and empowers women but simultaneously overlooks intersectional and diverse lived experiences. This analysis highlights …

Usa Archaeology Museum Newsletter - February 2025, Archaeology Museum

Archaeology Museum Newsletters

In this edition of the museum's newsletter;

• USA Archaeology Museum Spring Semester Exhibition: INTO LIGHT Project Alabama
• Alabama Archaeological Society, Southwest Chapter: The Archaeology of France on the Gulf Coast Lecture Series
• Upcoming Free and Mostly Online Talks
• Legacies of Slavery & the Shared History of the South
• Laissez Les Bons Temp Rouler
• Museum Spring Break Closure
• Giving to the Archaeology Museum

Cross-State Travel For Cancer Care And Implications For Telehealth Reciprocity, Erika L. Moen, Qianfei Wang, Lingbo Liu, Fahui Wang, Anna N.A. Tosteson, Rebecca E. Smith, Lauren Cowan, Tracy Onega

Faculty Publications

Importance: Patients often travel for cancer care, yet the extent to which patients cross state lines for cancer care is not well understood. This knowledge can have implications for policies that regulate telehealth access to out-of-state clinicians. Objective: To quantify the extent of cross-state delivery of cancer services to patients with cancer. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study analyzed fee-for-service Medicare claims data for beneficiaries (aged ≥66 years) with a diagnosis of breast, colon, lung, or pancreatic cancer between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2020. Analyses were performed between January 1 and July 30, 2024. Exposure: Patient rurality. …

The Efficacy Of India's Electric Vehicle Market: Can Fame Deliver Results?, Douglas N. Hales, Gawon Yun, Devendra Kale

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This commentary discusses the merits and demerits of India's FAME I II and III policy frameworks to promote the use of electric vehicles (EVs). FAME III is under consideration, and some suggestions are offered to improve its effectiveness.

Streaming Media Platforms And Film/Video Arts Distribution, Aras Ozgun, Andreas Treske

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

Streaming media platforms have emerged as new and natively digital forms of content delivery for mainstream news and entertainment media over the past decades. Underlying technologies also unfold new possibilities for the circulation artistic/creative digital video works. Yet, such potential remains relatively underexplored, due to the complexities involved in the public distribution of such works. In this study, we analyze these complexities and critically evaluate emerging models, such as open access streaming media platforms, subscription-based platforms, and cryptocurrency and NFT-based platforms that feature new administrative forms and governance strategies. We finally discuss the possible roles of traditional public cultural institutions …

The Kindle Ecosystem Of Overconsumption: The Digital Flâneuse Roaming Booktok E-Spaces, Valeria Baltodano

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

The development of a community and culture around reading on the social media platform has afforded women new avenues for empowerment through their earning and spending power. A tool wielded often in this mobile space, Amazon’s Kindle device has reached a new height of popularity thanks to the women in the bookish community of TikTok. This paper employs Anne Friedberg’s concept of the flâneuse in relation to the limitation of women’s empowerment through the commodification and aestheticization of reading on TikTok. It demonstrates how the Kindle has become the locus for a culture of overconsumption through which these women exercise …

Traversing Spaces: Virtual, Mediated, Entertaining, Commercial, And Geographic, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Deniz Atik, Delphine Godefroit-Winkel

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

A Litany For Blessed Diversity, Emma De Ramón Acevedo, Marco Enríquez, Jordi Padilla-Delgado, Ammel Sharon

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Beyond Water Surface Profiles: A New Iterative Methodology For 2d Model Calibration In Rivers Using Velocity Data From Multiple Cross-Sections, Fabian Rivera-Trejo, Gabriel Soto-Cortes, Kory M. Konsoer, Eddy J. Langendoen, Gaston Priego-Hernandez

Faculty Publications

Observed longitudinal water-surface profiles are commonly used to calibrate river hydrodynamic models, relying on assumptions of lateral uniformity in water surface elevation and velocity distribution. While suitable for 1D models, this approach has limitations in regard to 2D model calibration. When 2D flow measurements are available, a more robust quantitative evaluation is necessary to assess model accuracy. This study introduces a novel methodology to improve 2D model calibration and evaluate performance. High-resolution bathymetric and hydrodynamic data collected with a multibeam echosounder (MBES) and acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) were aligned to compare observed and simulated flow velocities at matching spatial …

Earliest Ancient Maya Salt Production In Southern Belize: Excavations At Jay-Yi Nah, Heather Mckillop, E. Cory Sills

Faculty Publications

Salt works along the Yucatan coasts of Mexico and Belize provide a record of salt production for inland trade during the height of Late Classic Maya civilisation (AD 550-800). At the Paynes Creek Salt Works in Belize, production focused on the creation of salt cakes by boiling brine in pots supported over fires in dedicated salt kitchens. Underwater excavations at the Early Classic (AD 250-550) site of Jay-yi Nah now indicate there was a longer and evolving tradition of salt making in the area, one that initially employed large, incurved bowls to meet local or down-the-line trade needs before inland …

Source To Sink In Precolonial Jamaica: Tracing Geochemistry And Mineralogy From The Rocks To The Pots In Understanding White Marl Pottery Production And Exchange, Peter E. Siegel, Simon F. Mitchell, Jeffrey R. Ferguson, Vanessa Glaser, Alan R. Hastie, Ulrich Schwarz Schampera, Zachary J.M. Beier, Simon Goldmann, Stephan Kaufhold, Dennis Kraemer, Selvenious A. Walters, Ann Marie T.S. Howard-Brown, Matthew L. Gorring, Sherene A. James-Williamson, Gregory A. Pope, Kristian Ufer

Department of Anthropology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

White Marl is the largest, most intensively inhabited late-precolonial site documented to date for Jamaica. Its size and structural organization suggests that it functioned as a major sociopolitical/economic hub among the increasingly complex chiefdoms in the Greater Antilles. The White Marl artifact assemblage is dominated by massive quantities of ceramics. To address the origin(s) of materials from which White Marl pottery was produced, geochemical and petrographic analyses were conducted on samples of ceramics and nearby sediments. Geochemical and petrographic data were used to constrain the provenance of the pottery using a source-to-sink model. We show that the sediments in the …

A Benjaminian Rumination Of Grasses And Tomatoes In Contemporary Anatolian Film, Ceren Izci

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis interprets the intersection of history, ecology, and politics through two contemporary Anatolian films: Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grasses and Murat Fıratoğlu’s One of These Days When Hemme Dies. We focus on the films’ portrayal of social relations and relationships to other living beings through interpreting the temporal layers and historical tensions present in the plots of the films. We introduce the paper by pondering over the question of whether these films are political. Drawing on Walter Benjamin’s concepts of “first nature” and “second nature”, the first chapter introduces the philosophical framework for understanding the connection between …

Characterizing The Nutrition-Gut Microbiome-Host Physiology Axis To Examine Flexibility In A Fruit-Specialist Primate, Nina Beeby

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Nutrition and, increasingly, microbiota are recognized in shaping all aspects of animal behavioral ecology and physiology. Since diet and nutrition shape not only animal physiology but also gut microbiota, and these microbiota serve as suppliers of and competitors to host nutrition, this raises questions of how these complex nutritional and microbial environments synergistically affect animal physiology. Examining this nutrition-gut microbiome-host physiology axis has immense potential to unveil how these intricate relationships contribute to animals’ responses to environmental change at multiple scales. Most of what we know about primate responses to environmental change is based upon studies examining one or few …

Pass It Along: Learning About Health Inequities Through Project-Based Learning And A Student-Developed Workshop, Marcy S. Ekanayake-Weber, Deanna Cunha, Kristi L. Fung, Sydney Macgregor, Nicole Ribeiro, Nicholas Smith

International Journal of Transformative Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

People in marginalized communities experience reduced quality of healthcare due to complex interactions between implicit bias, stereotypes, and structural inequities, but future healthcare providers remain unprepared to confront these problems. To address the issue of health inequities in health sciences education, a project-based learning seminar for undergraduates called “Biology of Inequity” was developed and offered by the Department of Anthropology at [redacted] University in Spring semester 2022. Following the project-based learning (PBL) framework, the course was extremely interactive, culminating in a project where students were asked to “materially improve health inequalities out in the real world.” The students responded by …

Public Baths & Gender Reconstruction In The Mangkunegaran Region Of Solo, Fiera Saffana, Irmawati Marwoto

International Review of Humanities Studies

The division of gender roles in space is already evident from the layout of traditional Javanese buildings, which reflects a patriarchal culture where men are at a higher level than women. These gender boundaries and norms are also reflected in the spatial form of public bath in Solo. This research uses the archaeological method by Deetz which consists of data collection, data processing, and data interpretation. Explaining by presenting facts based on data obtained in the field, then data processing is carried out by involving analysis of the field data that has been collected. The last stage is the interpretation …

January 30, 2025 Nagpra And Tribal Relations Committee Meeting Minutes, Bryan Morey

University NAGPRA and Tribal Relations Committee

Minutes from the January 30, 2025 meeting of Western Kentucky University's NAGPRA and Tribal Relations Committee. The meeting was conducted via Zoom.

Cultural Discount: Breakthrough Point Of China's Tv Drama Exports To Southeast Asia, Lingxing Li

International Review of Humanities Studies

Driven by China's "Going Global" strategy, the international influence of Chinese TV series continues to grow. As a key vehicle of China's cultural soft power, these TV series have significantly bolstered China's global cultural presence, particularly in Southeast Asia, by showcasing China's rich history and contemporary societal changes. Despite certain geographical and cultural similarities between China and Southeast Asia, cultural differences still present challenges to the dissemination of Chinese TV dramas, particularly in areas such as language, values, and religious beliefs. This paper not only analyzes effective strategies for mitigating "cultural discounts" but also challenges the traditional one-dimensional view of …

Understanding The Transmission Of Deepavali Culture In Malaysia From The Perspective Of The "Circuit Of Culture ", Su Zihua, Mochamad Aviandy

International Review of Humanities Studies

As an important traditional festival in India, Deepavali carries profound cultural and religious connotations and has spread widely across Southeast Asia. Malaysia has become a typical example for articleing the transmisi of Deepavali due to its large Indian population and diverse cultural circulation. This article adopts a qualitative research method, gathering data and literature from various platforms and deeply analyzing three aspects of Deepavali in Malaysia: representation and identity, production and consumption, and regulation.The article finds that its cultural symbols construct Indian identity, and the multicultural integration of elements promotes the identification of shared values. Various activities and advertisements during …