Digital Commons Network^™

Menstrual Monster Or Criminal Lady?: Ella Castle, Biopower, And The Plight Of The Female Kleptomaniac In Late 19th Century America., Grace S. Teske

Madison Historical Review

On October 5, 1896, Ella Castle, a San Franciscan socialite, was arrested in London for shoplifting. In the proceeding months, Castle's trial became a transatlantic sensation, as her initial veneer as a respectable upper-class woman was replaced by the image of an ill and unstable woman suffering from kleptomania. The case of Ella Castle is representative of the larger social and economic processes that developed in the late 19th century that converged together in the diagnosis of kleptomania. One of the main transformations was the development of consumer capitalism which manifested into the new urban institution of the department store. …

The Eight Types Of Love, According To Ancient Greece: A Musical Album, Alex Aether

Honors College Theses

This thesis examines the eight styles of love as defined by the ancient Greeks, presented as a musical album with each song dedicated to a specific category.

By exploring new ideas and approaches to the typical “love song” while incorporating my personal experiences, I hope to break through a long-standing cliche in the music industry in a way that’s personal to me and inspire others to fill this topical rift. At a broader scale, I hope to create nuance in people’s minds about what love means to them in the moments they feel it, so they can deeply understand and …

Meet The Consultants

Prologue: A First-Year Writing Journal

No abstract provided.

Meet The Writers

Prologue: A First-Year Writing Journal

No abstract provided.

Worldbuilding A Place For The Deaf: An Encyclopedic Approach To Writing Inclusive Narratives, Frederick Scott

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

This honors capstone project centered on existing deaf literature sets the stage for further storytelling projects using creative worldbuilding details written in an encyclopedic informational text. Across a fledgling life spent reading hearing fiction, a shortage of deaf literature has not gone unnoticed. To start addressing this shortage, this project collects necessary information to support further writings/publications of deaf literature. A review of American Signed Language and deaf/disabled representation in literary format shows that various strategies are employed to represent the language and people within their culture. The review identified examples of unique or distinct approaches used for various characters' …

Investigating Creative Possibility Using Automated Composition, Kian Drees

Undergraduate Honors Theses

As a constructive method, Johann Joseph Fux’s theory of counterpoint defines a space of musical possibility for contrapuntal composition. I developed a computational method for generating melodies to systematically investigate selected properties of this space. My program recursively generates a tree of all possible cantus firmus melodies of a specified length or all possible first species counterpoints on a given cantus firmus, starting with an empty root node and adding child nodes representing possible musical notes at each step until the specified length is reached. I then investigated several properties of the generated melodies, such as the approximate relationship between …

Interdisciplinary Practices In The Band Room: Repertoire As A Tool To Enrich Student Learning, Ainsley L. Brouse

Theses - ALL

Interdisciplinary learning is an educational theory approach that emphasizes the importance of incorporating content from different subject areas into the teaching of one’s own topic of study. Research has presented that the use of interdisciplinary teaching practices can have several benefits on students' learning outcomes and overall academic success. Music has deep and rich historical roots that can provide students a more hands-on experience with the concepts and events they are learning in their history classes. The use of interdisciplinary practices through specific repertoire selections will not only provide students with a deeper, more meaningful experience with the music they …

Avicenna On Non-Rational Voluntary Motion, Hamed Shirmohammadi

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation investigates Avicenna’s theory of non-rational voluntary motion. Avicenna’s most significant innovation in this domain is his theory of the internal senses, and in particular, his account of the estimative faculty (wahm) and its proper objects, the intentions (ma'nā). Intentions are non-sensible features of perceived particulars—such as the hostility of a wolf—that carry evaluative significance for the perceiving animal. This dissertation argues that understanding the nature of intentions is the key to explaining how a non-rational animal can pursue goals through relatively complex courses of action. Avicenna recognizes two ways in which intentions are acquired: through instinct and through …

Developmental Ecological Psychology Meets Organicist Biology: The Example Of The Ecological Self, Catherine Read

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

In this paper we outline an ecological-organicist theoretical framework to understand human development. The ecological approach to development (Developmental Ecological Psychology, DEP) places the organism at the center and has a mutualist theoretical framework with an epistemic foundation in direct perception. While research in this tradition has paid much attention to specific developmental questions at a young age (such as perceptual learning, affordances, and action coordination), less effort has gone into the discussion of theoretical issues of overall development at the level of organism-environment mutuality. Meanwhile in biology, a new emphasis on the organism as an explanatory concept and level …

The Numeral System Of The Bena Language: Structure And Socio-Cultural Functions, Faraja Mwendamseke

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Numeral systems in Bantu languages reflect both linguistic structure and socio cultural functions. This paper explores the structure and socio-cultural functions of the Bena numeral system. The research employed a qualitative approach whereby the data were gathered through elicitation, and non-participant observation. The study was guided by the cognitive linguistics theory, which reveals how language shapes numerical cognition; testing linguistic relativity by showing how structural features like bases and classifiers influence thinking, memory, and arithmetic acquisition across cultures. The results show that numerals in Bena depict agreements with the noun class system, and follow additive structures in compound forms. The …

Say It In Kiswahili: The Impact Of English As The Medium Of Instruction On Students' Comprehension And Expression In Tertiary Education, Tamasha Kitalima

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The challenge of using and understanding English Language by Kiswahili L1 speaking learners is dominant in Tanzania. Having English as a foreign language (i.e. not largely spoken at social contexts) make it not accessible to many. Moreover, in Tanzania research shows that English being the medium of instructions to all subjects (except Kiswahili, Chinese, French, Arabic, and Historia ya Tanzania) from secondary schools to universities limit these learners from understanding academic content, expressing themselves in written and spoken forms, and succeeding in exams. The present study aimed to explore how the use of English as the language of instruction affects …

Differentiation In The Arts: Choice-Based Learning To Increase Engagement, Katie Caskey

Art 895 Research Papers

There are many ways in which an art educator teaches. However, some struggle to get students to be engaged with the subject matter or materials. Choice-based project learning can facilitate engagement by allowing students to choose the subject matter or medium in order to become more involved with the learning process. This Arts-Based Research study, using narrative inquiry and visual arts, explores the effects choice-based learning has on the outcome of a project and overall engagement within the learning experience. Students will be given choices throughout the project, essentially making it their own while also meeting the requirements of the …

Integrating Music And Visual Art: The Impact Of Using A Cross-Disciplinary Approach On Creativity And Engagement, Zoe E. August

Art 895 Research Papers

This study explores the integration of music into the visual art classroom and its impact on student creativity and engagement by encouraging emotional expression and multisensory exploration. The purpose of this research is to examine how access to music during instructional time can have a positive impact on student engagement and creativity. This study may also provide evidence to support the revision of school policies that prohibit student headphone use in the classroom during the academic day. Using a Mixed-Methods Case Study with an Arts-Based Qualitative Inquiry, this research examines how students respond emotionally and creatively when music is intentionally …

Artistic Thinking In Stem Contexts: A Comparative Arts-Based Case Study Of Studio Habits Of Mind And Stem Thinking Frameworks, Annmarie Andersen

Art 895 Research Papers

STEM-aligned schools often include arts through STEAM initiatives, but it is unclear how artistic thinking actually complements or differs from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) thinking. Studio Thinking research identifies Studio Habits of Mind (SHoM) as ways students think and learn through artmaking many of which parallel STEM competencies (thinking practices) such as problem-solving, modeling, and iterative design (Hetland, et al., 2013; Laquea, 2024).

Using student artwork, sketches, and student reflections as primary evidence, this comparative arts-based case study compares how Studio Habits of Mind align with and diverge from STEM thinking frameworks. By comparing these forms of evidence, the …

A Study Of The Relationship Between Atlas Assessment Levels And Asboa Instrumental Ensemble Concert Assessment Ratings, Daniel Cooper

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

This study investigated the relationship between two key forms of school accountability that relate to secondary instrumental music programs. A thorough review of relevant literature was conducted to establish a framework for analyzing how ATLAS achievement levels may predict ASBOA concert assessment ratings of bands and orchestras in Arkansas. A quantitative approach was used via a binary logistic regression to interpret the impact of ATLAS achievement levels and SES, as defined by free and reduced lunch percentages, on an ensemble's likelihood of earning a superior or non-superior rating at region concert assessment. Results found statistically significant relationships for the predictive …

Teacher Shortages In Arkansas Rural School Districts: Employed Teacher’S Perceptions Of The Impact On Their Effectiveness, Carloss Guess

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

ABSTRACT

TEACHER SHORTAGES IN ARKANSAS RURAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS: EMPLOYED TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE IMPACT

ON THEIR EFFECTIVENESS

Carloss Guess

Teacher shortages in rural school districts remain a persistent challenge that affects instructional quality, teacher workload, and professional sustainability. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore how teachers in rural Arkansas perceive the impact of staffing shortages on their instructional roles, workload, and professional well-being. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 K–12 teachers representing elementary, middle, and high schools and across varying career stages. Interview transcripts were analyzed using an inductive qualitative approach and the constant …

Badlands And Bison, Andrew Ressler

The Cicadian

“Badlands and Bison” is a fragmentary travel-fiction hybrid set in the mythic badlands of North Dakota. It merges reportage with invention, parody with elegy: a narrator half pilgrim, half comedian drifts from piano keys to prairie herds, searching for sincerity in a landscape that resists it. The form bends between essay and story, using humor, lyric observation, and shifting registers to question how we mythologize place.

What History Shows: A Structural Account Of Fixed-Point Theory Formation, Griselda Poe

Publications and Research

Theory generation has long been subsumed under categories such as creativity, genius, and innovation. These categories do not distinguish assembly-based conceptual synthesis from fixed-point theory generation.

This paper makes that distinction explicit. The termination condition of assembly is external: data, citation, endorsement, usability. The termination condition of fixed-point theory generation is internal: consistency with internally held constraints, resolution of structural contradiction. The two operate under different processing conditions.

The historical record confirms this distinction. What Darwin, Einstein, Spinoza, and Kant produced was not assembly. Their processes involved unresolved branch retention and decomposition necessity, arriving at internally constrained fixed-point termination. Freud …

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, January 1910.

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal for Florence Normal College, October 1909.

*Press of The Florence Times*

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, January 1911.

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, October 1910.

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, May 1910.

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, March 1910.

*Press of The Florence Times*

Propasafe-Hybrid: A Text-Based Hybrid Propaganda Detection Tool (Ila 2026 Presentation), Thomas Kimmeth, Avijit Roy, Vivek Sharma

Publications and Research

This presentation introduces Propasafe-Hybrid, a hybrid system for sentence-level propaganda detection that combines offline transformer-based classification with selective large language model (LLM) explainability. The system employs a two-stage pipeline in which a local BERT-based classifier evaluates all input text and filters non-propagandistic content, while only high-confidence candidates are forwarded to an LLM for rhetorical technique labeling and explanation. This design enables cost-aware, privacy-conscious, and scalable analysis by reducing unnecessary reliance on external models.

Propasafe-Hybrid identifies propagandistic techniques such as loaded language, obfuscation, and appeal to fear, and generates concise natural language rationales that make these techniques interpretable to users. By …

Sign Of The Times: School Desegregation In Richland County Schools District One, 1944-1974., Otiana Thompson

All Theses

This paper explores how school desegregation in Richland County Schools District One  between 1940 to 1974 reshaped racial and political dynamics in Columbia, South Carolina. Although twenty-two students successfully desegregated the district's public schools in 1964, the process proceeded slowly, facing local and state resistance. By 1969, fewer than 1,300 Black students attended formerly White schools, while White flight to private institutions and neighboring county school districts accelerated. National challenges to this gradualist approach resulted in the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Green v. New Kent County case (1968), that determined “freedom of choice” plans to be insufficient to establish …

The Moral Influences On Non-Denominational Christian Students’ College Major Decision And Future Career Outlook, Makayla Frame

Honors Projects

This is an undergraduate research project for the Honors College. A qualitative research project in the form of case studies was conducted on the influence of Non-Denominational Christian morals and values on how college students decide college major and future career. Non-Denomination students in particular were chosen for this study because of the recent rise in popularity of the Non-Denominational belief in the US, especially among young adults.

The study outlines previous research on the Christian religion, the history of Non-Denominationality, and how typical college students decide their major. The conclusions of the study are that Non-Denominational Christian college students …

Evaluating The Use Of Extended Reality Technology To Improve Marching Band Conducting Patterns, Nathan R. Fuhrman

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Conducting pattern consistency is an essential skill for marching band drum

majors, yet developing this consistency through individual practice remains diffi-

cult without real-time feedback. This thesis investigates if the use of extended

reality technologies can be used to enhance the conducting skills of novice drum

majors. Using the Meta Quest 3’s passthrough capability, the system overlays vi-

sual feedback elements — including a 3D pattern guide, path visualization, tempo

cues, and a real-time score — onto the user’s physical environment. A within-

subjects study with seven participants evaluated eight combinations of three binary

feedback variables: pattern guide visibility, tempo …

An Introduction To East Asian Art: Tour Guide #3, The Year 1591, Victoria Weston

OER Textbooks

Please Note: This tour guide is the third in Victoria Weston's An Introduction to East Asian Art in Three Journeys. To access the full book, visit https://scholarworks.umb.edu/oer_textbooks/3/

For the remaining sections, visit:

Guide Part 1: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/oer_textbooks/4/

Guide Part 2: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/oer_textbooks/5/ This book is an introduction to important art forms practiced in China, the Korean peninsula, and Japan. It is in no way an encyclopedic treatment of the art histories of East Asia. Rather, it is a textbook for a single semester course. Each section is devoted to one year in time and framed by historical factors that naturally encourage comparative …

An Introduction To East Asian Art: Tour Guide #2, The Year 1230, Victoria Weston

OER Textbooks

Please Note: This is the second of three tour guides connected to Victoria Weston's Introduction to East Asian Art. For the full guidebook, visit https://scholarworks.umb.edu/oer_textbooks/3/

The remaining sections can be found at these links:

Guide Part 1: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/oer_textbooks/4/

Guide Part 3: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/oer_textbooks/6/

This book is an introduction to important art forms practiced in China, the Korean peninsula, and Japan. It is in no way an encyclopedic treatment of the art histories of East Asia. Rather, it is a textbook for a single semester course. Each section is devoted to one year in time and framed by historical factors that naturally …