Digital Commons Network^™

Visualizing Equity: A Design Framework For Global Mental Health Communication For Generation Z, Jose Pena

Masters Theses

There is a lot of information about mental health available today. However, for Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, the information proves both challenging to find and difficult to understand. The World Health Organization and other global groups publish a lot of information about mental health inequality, treatment gaps, and workforce shortages. However, this information is usually presented in dense, technical formats that are not meant for young people who are not experts. Many digital mental health tools, on the other hand, don’t give young people the emotional connection, cultural relevance, and visual clarity they need to deal …

Semiotic Breakdown In Disaster Evacuation Signage For International Tourists, Mario Christopher Fimbrez

Masters Theses

Japan’s disaster evacuation signage systems are highly standardized and widely regarded as effective for the domestic population, who operate within a shared cultural framework shaped by years of earthquake drills, formal disaster education, and a common visual vocabulary for risk and evacuation. In coastal cities like Kamakura, however, the audience composition has changed significantly, with millions of international visitors now navigating these spaces each year without the disaster literacy or cultural familiarity that the existing signage was designed to assume. When those shared assumptions about urgency, symbolism, and environmental threat are absent, the communicative force of the system can be …

Music Educators’ Perceptions And Implementation Of Multiculturalism In The Classroom, Kennedy Mae Smith

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of the study is to determine teachers' perceptions of multicultural education and its potential benefits in Sumter County. The purpose of this research is to understand the perspectives and approaches to preparing for the implementation of multiculturalism among public school music programs in Sumter, South Carolina. The rationale for this research is that there is a gap in the literature on multicultural implementation in music education in South Carolina. With proper technological implementation, multiculturalism could help prepare music educators to teach a culturally diverse group of students. As a result of the study, the researcher aims to gain …

Character Driven Architecture: Authentic Characters In Imitation Worlds, Gabriayle Stapf

Masters Theses

This paper is an introduction to the manuscript of my creative writing thesis that includes my own impetus and background, my process for my writing, my vision for that creative fiction piece, what the literary context for my fiction writing is, and what I believe the meaning of being a Christian scholar amounts to. Various other authors’ works are referenced as inspiration and motivation for my creative works and desire for contributing to the field of literature.

Who Killed Lucio Blanco? Border Incursions & Sovereignty Along The Rio Grande, Jaime L. Alvarez

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The assassination of Lucio Blanco along the banks of the Rio Grande in 1922 was not an isolated episode of political violence but the culmination of nearly a century-old practice of contested sovereignty, border incursions, and lack of law enforcement. This dissertation thus examines the borderlands of Texas and Mexico from the nineteenth century through the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution. Within this time frame, this dissertation demonstrates that the international boundary functioned less as a fixed division between two sovereign states and more as a political gray zone in which authority, identity, violence, and political power were continually negotiated. …

Wayang 3d Interactive E-Book: Development And Classroom Evaluation For Javanese Traditional Drama Learning, I’In Dwi Susanti, Afendy Widayat

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

Javanese traditional drama (wayang) is a key element of Indonesia's cultural heritage, yet classroom instruction remains largely text-based and low in engagement. This study developed and evaluated Wayang 3D, a cloud-based interactive e-book integrating Canva, Heyzine, and H5P to support traditional-drama learning. Using the ADDIE model, the product was validated by content and media experts and tested through a quasi-experimental nonequivalent pretest–posttest control-group design with 62 ninth-grade students. Content validity was Feasible (79.5%) and media validity Very Feasible (83.0%); teacher and student practicality ratings were also Very Feasible (85.01%). The experimental group achieved a significantly higher normalised learning gain than …

The Influence Of Augmented Reality Virtual Try-On On Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role Of Attitude Toward The Product In Cosmetics, Raden Adi Cahyadi, Benni Ahdiyana Pamungkas, Ruthlivia Tiara Bernessa

Journal of Language, Literature, and Arts

Augmented reality (AR)-based Virtual Try-On (VTO) enables consumers to visualize cosmetic products before purchase and has become increasingly relevant in digital marketing. Drawing on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework, this study examines attitude toward the product as a mediating mechanism linking AR-based VTO experiences with purchase intention. Unlike studies that predominantly conceptualize the organism in terms of responses to technology or technology-mediated experiences, this study adopts a product-focused perspective by examining consumers’ evaluations of cosmetic products presented through VTO. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted with 199 women who had used Maybelline’s VTO feature within the preceding three months. Data was …

Eksplorasi Visual Teknik Kitchen Lithography: Reinterpretasi Ejaan Van Ophuijsen Dalam Seni Grafis Kontemporer, Putri Rahmatul Izzah Pratiwi, Agnisa Maulani Wisesa

Journal of Language, Literature, and Arts

This art creation study explores Van Ophuijsen Spelling as a visual source through kitchen lithography in planographic printmaking. The creative concept draws on the linguistic and visual characteristics of Van Ophuijsen Spelling and its historical context as represented through narratives and visual sources. The study employs a qualitative descriptive approach by adapting the Tri Cipta Karya method, comprising contemplation, exploration, and creation and presentation. The creative process involved narrative development, examination of visual and historical sources, sketch development, material experimentation, and printing using aluminum foil as the matrix. The process produced six series comprising 11 works that integrate characteristics of …

Tongues In 1 Corinthians 12–14: Their Role In Gospel Proclamation And Unity, Adam Rimmer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The gifts of the Holy Spirit have been controversial throughout the ages. Many theologians, apologists, and church fathers have tried to clarify glossolalia. This dissertation is an exposition of 1 Corinthians 12–14 that argues that glossolalia is an actual human language that supports the gift of prophecy for proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, but was being misused within the church at Corinth as ecstatic speech, which was not the valid biblical gift of glossolalia. It will demonstrate that this gift served as a divine means to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who spoke different languages before …

Exploring The Role Of Mentorship For Urban African American Underprivileged Students Who Participate In Band Programs: A Case Study, Tyreese Lamar Pleasanton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Underprivileged urban African American students who participate in band programs benefit from transformative mentorship within a culturally relevant support system. By providing access to environmental resources and equitable opportunities, mentors play a critical role in promoting academic achievement, social-emotional growth, and cultural pride. This study investigates the impact of mentorship on student outcomes in urban settings, highlights distinctive African American experiences, identifies structural barriers, and proposes relationship-based strategies to advance educational equity through culturally responsive support. Data will be collected through surveys, interviews, observations, and thematic analysis, with a specific focus on current band directors. The findings will contribute to …

Pola Kesantunan Warganet Dalam Menanggapi Isu Kenaikan Gaji Dpr Pada Akun Tiktok @Kompastv.Indonesia, Muhammad Hafidz Afrizal Anwar, Citra Ayu Kusuma Dewi, Niquita Shalsa Billa Rudyansyah, Sutrisno Gustiraja Alfarizi, Didin Widyartono

Journal of Language, Literature, and Arts

This study aims to identify and describe forms of compliance with and violations of politeness principles in netizens’ responses to the issue of salary increases for members of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) on the TikTok account @kompastv.indonesia. This study employed a descriptive qualitative approach, with data collected through digital documentation of netizens’ comments related to the issue. The data were selected purposively and analyzed using Leech’s politeness principles by considering both the linguistic forms and pragmatic contexts of the comments. The findings reveal that violations of politeness principles were more frequently identified than compliance within the analyzed corpus. …

A Framework For Teaching Maya Aspect System: Pedagogical Strategies For Maya Grammar, Quetzil E. Castañeda

Journal of Maya Heritage

Abstract. Maya, an Indigenous language spoken primarily in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, remains under-resourced in materials for second-language and heritage-language learners. Its agglutinative morphology, split ergativity, and aspect system pose particular pedagogical challenges, especially when Maya grammar is explained through Spanish or English tense categories. Based on a critical review of existing teaching resources and the author’s more than twenty years of experience teaching Maya, this article proposes a pedagogical framework for understanding its aspect grammar. Rather than organizing verbal morphology around tense, the framework distinguishes four principal conjugational forms: Ongoing Incomplete, Simple Past, Completed Present, and Subjunctive. It also introduces …

"Celts In The Valley", William Lindsey Mcdonald

Research Articles

The Tennessee Valley of North Alabama retains linguistic and cultural influences from the languages of its inhabitants. Scot Irish inhabitants of Celtic origin produced a dialect that McDonald claims as a "Celtic character" through tracing common regional expressions back to their roots in the original Gaelic.

Click, Listen, Reflect: Implementing Discord In Critical Listening Courses, Kenny Shania Lestari R, Metaria Metaria, Siti Nurhalimah

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

Critical listening requires learners not only to comprehend spoken information but also to interpret and evaluate its meaning. Digital learning environments may support these processes by providing opportunities for repeated access to spoken input, interaction, and collaborative discussion. This study explored how Discord was implemented in a Critical Listening course and how students perceived and experienced its use in supporting their critical listening learning. The study employed a qualitative descriptive design involving 20 students from the International Class Program at Maulana Malik Ibrahim State Islamic University of Malang. Data were collected through classroom observation checklists, field notes, and focus group …

Understanding The Political Profile Of Long Island’S Central American Electorate: A Case Study Of Long Island’S Majority-Latino Towns, Brett J. Patrick

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

As Salvadoran and Guatemalan migrants settled en masse across Long Island from the 1980s to the 2010s, seven Latino-majority towns emerged, each with distinct voting patterns that diverge from broader national Latino trends and from one another. This study examines how and why these Central American communities vote by integrating precinct-level election returns with the U.S. Census’ American Community Survey data. Using variables such as income, population density, education, citizenship status, and language, it identifies correlations between demographic conditions and partisan vote share. This approach reveals how socioeconomic factors shape political behavior within Salvadoran-American and Guatemalan-American enclaves in Nassau and …

Newsclipping, Racial Supremacy Fallacy

Eartha M. M. White Textual Material

News clipping: Article regarding the American Anthropological Association report on the fallacy of racial supremacy. Undated.

A Philosophy Of Travel: Lonergan's Transcendental Method Applied To The Experience Of Not Belonging, Andrew Brei

San Jose - Lonergan Chair in Catholic Philosophy

Travel can be an exhausting thing, offering little time for reflection. Often, traveling involves a dizzying assortment of steps: we book flights, pack bags, find accommodations, and move through unfamiliar streets in search of “the sights.” Less often do we stop to ask what we are actually doing when we do this—what cognitive and existential work travel involves. This essay takes up that question by borrowing the structure of Bernard Lonergan’s transcendental method, the four-level account of human cognition and action that runs from experience through understanding and judgment to decision. Lonergan’s method is not a set of external rules …

The Lived Liturgical Experience Of Non-Catholic Participants In The Roman Catholic Mass: Tactical Ecumenism In Overlapping Ritual Systems, Sarah Kathleen Johnson

Journal of Global Catholicism

In religiously diverse social contexts, liturgical practices anchored in one reli-

gious tradition often gather diverse communities. In such contexts, it is wise to

assume that people who are not Catholic may be present at any Roman Cath-

olic Mass. This article explores the lived liturgical experience of non-Catholic

Christians who participate routinely in the Roman Catholic Mass through a

mixed-methods study of a religiously diverse treble vocal ensemble that sings

weekly at Mass on a Catholic university campus. It describes how Catholic and

non-Catholic Christian singers interpret practices surrounding the eucharistic

meal in contrasting ways: non-Catholic Christians experience the …

Negotiating Plurality: Korean Catholic Funerals As Lived Religion, Jieun Han

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article examines Korean Catholic funeral rites through the lenses of ritual

guidebooks and lived religion, arguing that Catholic funerary practice in Korea

has emerged through sustained engagement with Confucian and Buddhist tradi-

tions as well as modern nationalism. Focusing on Catholic manuals such as the

Sangjang yesik [Rites for Mourning and Funerals] and related texts, it traces how

officially sanctioned liturgical forms coexist with, accommodate, and reinterpret

indigenous ritual logics surrounding mourning, burial, ancestor veneration, and

care for the dead. Rather than viewing Korean Catholic funerals as a simple

localization of Roman rites, the article conceptualizes them as a …

Editor's Introduction, Brent H. Otto S.J.

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

Tolkien's Philological Imagination - On Aelfwine's Spelling, The Ab Language And The Inner Consistency Of Philological Reality, Andrew Higgins

Journal of Tolkien Research

This is a paper that was given and refined at the 2026 Tolkien at Kalamazoo, Tolkien and Leeds and Oxonmoot conferences.

Developing A Deep Learning-Based Artificial Intelligence System For Detecting Scientific Misinformation On Digital Platforms, Shorouq Al-Awawdeh, Ayah Al- Jafari

Middle East Journal of Communication Studies

Objectives: This study develops and evaluates an Arabic scientific misinformation detection system by fine-tuning AraBERT-base-v2. It examines the effects of early stopping and input sequence length on model performance, interprets selected linguistic characteristics associated with misleading content, and discusses the limitations of using machine-translated data.

Methodology: The study adopted a mixed-methods design, employing a systematic integration of quantitative and qualitative approaches, supported by an interpretive qualitative reading. The initial database consisted of 23,546 records, including 123 Arabic articles collected from the Akeed, Sheek, and Taqeen platforms, and 23,423 foreign-language records drawn from the GossipCop and PolitiFact collections within FakeNewsNet. After …

Hajj Pilgrimage And Spatial Behaviour In Sacred Space, Zuhriddin Juraev, Young-Jin Ahn, Ji-Yeong Gu

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This study examines the behavioural and spatial dynamics of the Hajj pilgrimage through the conceptual lens of behavioural geography, focusing on how sacred space, ritual choreography, and communal experiences shape religious engagement. Centred on the Kaaba and surrounding pilgrimage sites, this study explores how ritual practices such as Tawaf, Sa’i, and standing at Arafat construct immersive and affective experiences for pilgrims. Drawing on an interpretive analysis of visual and textual sources, the study argues that sacred space operates not only as a physical setting but also as a symbolic framework that mediates spiritual transformation and social cohesion. It also highlights …

Cerminan Bahasa Populer Masa Kini Dalam Lagu “Joss Jiss” Karya Icha Chellow: Analisis Makna Denotatif Dan Konotatif, Widya Ayu Aminah, Mulia Nadila Alifia, Ivana Amelia Khisan, Sutrisno Gustiraja Alfarizi, Didin Widyartono

Journal of Language, Literature, and Arts

This study analyzes popular language in the lyrics of “Joss Jiss” by Icha Chellow, focusing on denotative and connotative meanings. It aims to describe the characteristics of popular language and interpret how these meanings construct ambiguity, humor, and local cultural references. The study employs a descriptive qualitative approach using content analysis of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences in the lyrics. Data were collected through repeated listening, transcription, comparison with the audio, note-taking, and classification. The analysis involved identifying forms of popular language, determining denotative and connotative meanings, and interpreting their relationship within the lyrical context. The analysis reveals nonstandard forms, …

Signifying Nothing? Narnia, Inanity, And A. L. Rowse, Michael Ward

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

"This essay explores the origins of the word Narnia, the name that Lewis gave to the fictional kingdom in which his seven Chronicles of Narnia are mostly set. How did he come by it? What, if anything, does the word mean?...I will be pursuing two lines of enquiry and two sets of intriguing connections that strike me as potentially illuminating. What follows is more of a theory for consideration than a hard-and-fast conclusion for acceptance. But though I write with a degree of tentativeness, I hope, nonetheless, to shed some light upon Lewis’s statements about his naming
of Narnia and …

What Did Tolkien Really Think About Narnia?, Holly Ordway

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

"We are presented with two questions: “what did Tolkien really think about Narnia?” and “how did the idea that Tolkien hated Narnia become accepted as common knowledge?” In this essay, I will address both questions and conclude by suggesting why they matter for Inklings scholarship. At the outset, I will merely observe that since Tolkien and Lewis are two of the greatest fantasy writers of the twentieth century, it is worth knowing what one of them thought of the other’s work. …I have drawn my primary evidence from Tolkien’s published Letters (in the Revised and Expanded Edition), unpublished letters, and …

Bahasa, Budaya, Dan Kecerdasan Buatan: Tantangan Pengajar Bipa Di Era Ai, I Made Darma Sucipta, I Made Rai Jaya Widanta, I Made Sujanayasa

Journal of Language, Literature, and Arts

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) has brought significant transformations to the teaching of Indonesian for Foreign Speakers (Bahasa Indonesia bagi Penutur Asing, BIPA). This empirical qualitative study aims to describe the challenges faced by BIPA teachers in integrating AI into language instruction and the strategies they employ to balance the use of technology with the preservation of local culture. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, classroom observations, and the analysis of teaching-material documents involving three BIPA teachers at Bali State Polytechnic who were selected through purposive sampling. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate …

"The Story Of The Shawnees At The Muscle Shoals", William Lindsey Mcdonald

Research Articles

A brief overview of the Shawnees in Northwest Alabama.

Ai-Supported Analysis Of Jury Deliberation Impact Factors, Jennifer Siciliani Phd

Generative AI Teaching Activities

Students conduct a controlled, two-run generative AI jury simulation to examine how a single socio-legal variable affects simulated jury deliberation. They compare and manually code the AI-generated outcomes against peer-reviewed human jury research to evaluate the model’s accuracy, limitations, and potential biases.

Impact And Utilization Of Asl Lab Spaces In University Settings, Nathan J. Dutra, Michele Vincent

Journal of Interpretation

American Sign Language (ASL) is a challenging yet rapidly growing language taught at both secondary and higher education levels. Despite its increasing popularity, there is limited literature on utilizing ASL labs as learning centers. This quantitative study examines the implementation of a new ASL lab at a large four-year university in California. It investigates the factors influencing participation, the motivations behind students' involvement, and their perceptions of the lab's effectiveness. Results indicate significant associations between course modality, instructor influence, and lab participation. The study suggests that ASL labs function as cultural and educational spaces that promote visibility of Deaf culture …