Digital Commons Network^™

Community-Based Disaster Risk Management And Covid-19: How Local Ngos In Latin America Adapted To The Pandemic, Emily Pugh

CMC Senior Theses

The global COVID-19 pandemic posed new challenges for communities across Latin America: lack of access to potable water and food, loss of jobs and lack of access to technology now needed for children to attend school. By interviewing different leaders of NGOs throughout the continent, I was able to find out how local NGOs were adapting their typical activities to help their communities face these new and worsening challenges. While the NGOs in this study do not primarily focus on disaster relief, each adapted their initiatives to deal with the current needs of the community they serve. Some were able …

Using Authentic Online Resources In Russian For Stem Coursework For Novice Through Superior Level Learners, Molly T. Blasing

Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures Faculty Publications

This article makes a case for incorporating STEM content into Russian language courses at the Novice through Superior levels of proficiency. The author presents models of asynchronous learning activities based on authentic online resources developed for a Russian for STEM pilot course taught during the COVID-19 pandemic. These lessons can be employed in online or face-to-face courses to prepare students to speak, read, write, and understand the language of STEM fields in Russian.

Disrupting Settler Stories: Learning To Live With Respect, Intimacy, And Reciprocity On Colonized Land, Anna S. Favour

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

These essays and illustrations are informed by the question of how to form meaningful connection to place and care for a place when that land is colonized; when the creation of this place is rooted in harm. The purpose is to explore questions that have arisen during four years of Environmental Studies education. I want to learn what it means to be an environmentalist – to have a deep respect for the land and its inhabitants in a manner that extends beyond conservation – a relationship centered around respect, intimacy, and reciprocity. I want to understand if it’s possible to …

Black Mothers’ Birthing Center Experiences And Exclusive Breastfeeding Practices, Natashia King-Conner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The persistence of racial disparities in breastfeeding is associated with a range of interconnected factors, such as historical, cultural, social, social, and psychological. The current gap in the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among Black mothers and White mothers has led to rising concerns in the United States. A basic qualitative approach was used to conceptualize the multidimensional constructs of the social–ecological model to investigate the individual, interpersonal, institutional, and community-level structures and existing policies in birthing centers that inadvertently harbor biases that impede care for Black mothers. Data were gathered through purposeful sampling and semistructured interviews with 10 Black mothers …

The Trust-Based Classroom: An Analysis Of Current Trends In Social And Emotional Learning And The Development Of A New Trust-Based Approach To Art Education, Ellen Prasse

Theses and Dissertations--Art and Visual Studies

Many current social and emotional learning (SEL) programs cite building trust as a key factor to an effective SEL program. Despite these references, however, they often lack an emphasis on teaching methods of building trust between students and their peers, the teacher, and the environment. Instead they focus on a specific aspect of teaching like the procedural practices of Responsive Classroom or communication and open-mindedness as in Open Circle. Explicitly building trust, however, could create an art classroom atmosphere conducive to high quality learning. This paper analyzes current trends in social and emotional learning and outlines the characteristics of the …

Assessing Self-Perceived Nutrition-Related Lifestyle Behaviors And Knowledge Of University Music Students Following A Targeted Presentation, Gretchen Trumbo

Theses and Dissertations--Nutrition and Food Systems

Although proven that nutrition can impact physical health, limited research examines the relationship between nutrition-related lifestyle behaviors, nutrition knowledge, and the prevalence of injury in university music students. The objective of this study is to evaluate nutrition-related lifestyle behaviors and self-perceived nutrition knowledge of university music students before and after a targeted nutrition education session. A baseline Qualtrics survey was administered to undergraduate and graduate music students (18+ years) via the University of Kentucky School of Music Listserv to gather data related to demographics, anthropometrics, history of playing-related injury, nutrition knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. A nutrition education presentation, focused …

Empowerment Pathways: A Mitigation Approach To Adolescent And Youth Racial Stress In Marginalized Populations, Lauren B. Robins, Megan Cannedy, Rachel Kerrigan, Brittany G. Suggs

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

Racial unrest recently has been incessant. In response, this conceptual contribution explores a prevention-based program for African American adolescents and youth to aid in their navigation through ubiquitous racial unrest and persistent mental health adversities. This article provides a comprehensive literature review on racial injustice and presents information regarding race-based traumatic stressors and adverse mental health outcomes. The prevention-based program that was created in response to the apparent racial unrest among African American youth and adolescents is presented and explored. The goal of this conceptual article is to raise awareness of this issue, provide practical steps to combat racial injustice, …

Los Indetectables: An Examination Of Oral Histories Of Hiv+, Undetectable Gay Latino Men During Covid-19 And U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable) Era, Angel Ornelas

CMC Senior Theses

Since the early 1990s, antiretroviral medications have made it possible to reduce viral loads of HIV/AIDS to the point of undetectability to standard blood tests. Individuals living with such low quantities of the virus have reframed our social understanding of the HIV-AIDS epidemic by redefining HIV infection as a chronic, manageable disease and challenging current public health definitions of safe-sex activity for homosexual men. HIV infection is no longer a death sentence, but it remains a life sentence requiring constant medication adherence and treatment, major changes to lifestyle habits, and a modification in sexual performances. This thesis sheds new light …

Care Ethics, Disability, And Public Policy, Piper Gibson

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

“The Plain, Old Faith”: Theological Foundations For A Scientifically Informed Constructive Doctrine Of Original Sin In The Wesleyan Tradition, Logan Patriquin

The Asbury Journal

How should Wesleyans integrate modern understandings of science with theological commitments to the idea of original sin? After offering some historical context for Wesley’s engagement with the doctrine of original sin, this article aims to put contemporary socio- scientific discussions. The authority of scripture is engaged in light of Wesley’s “analogy of faith” and James K. A. Smith’s “Narrative-Arc” theological method. Insights of evolutionary psychology and sociobiology are then combined with Wesley’s understanding of universal human sinfulness and regenerating grace. The article explores Wesley’s holistic theological anthropology and contemporary emergence theory in their respective attempts to understand sin’s nefarious substance …

The Right To Healthcare – Does The Social Doctrine Of The Catholic Church Assist Or Inhibit The Implementation Of Universal Healthcare In The United States?, Leonardo D. Mendoza

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

In recent years, American society has placed an emphasis on the right to healthcare. In the American political arena, the debate over healthcare has caused division between the political left and right. It has created factions within political parties and social movements. The healthcare debate was one of many prominent issues in what is perhaps the most consequential election in modern American history. This paper will focus on the right to healthcare from the perspective of the Catholic Social Tradition. It will evaluate the ways in which the Catholic tradition can influence the public discourse on the right to healthcare …

Effects Of States’ Laws On Youth Physical Activity Participation And Obesity Prevalence, Chae Young Chang

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

The alarming prevalence of obesity and lack of physical activity among adolescents led to immediate policy action to address these concerns. Accordingly, many states introduced and enacted their own legislation to encourage physical activity in schools. Few studies have explored the effectiveness of the new legislation, however, especially at the state level. To answer the fundamental question of whether policy is effective and to describe the varying effects of state obesity policies, this study analyzed the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System from 2007 to 2017. Using the difference-in-differences method, this study found that legislative efforts to encourage physical activity had …

Come Closer: Geographies Of Care, Anam Mehta

Pomona Senior Theses

Geographies of Care during the Covid-19 Pandemic and beyond.

Race Youth In Twentieth-Century American Literature And Culture, Claire E. Lenviel

Theses and Dissertations--English

Race Youth in Twentieth-Century American Literature and Culture argues for the centrality of black youth, both real and literary, to the trajectories of African American literature and its repudiation of white supremacy. Drawing on research into the rise of the adolescent and teenager as distinct social categories, I argue that age-based subjectivity should inform how we read race-based subjectivity. My first chapter explores how early twentieth-century black periodicals push back against white supremacist theories of human development in an explicit appeal to what I call “race youth,” the children and adolescents who would take up the mantle of racial uplift. …

Wisdom From The Collard Field: Exploring Agrarian Community In Twenty And Twenty-First Century American Literature, Robert M. Gorum

Theses and Dissertations--English

This dissertation surveys agrarian literature written by American writers since World War II. It compares the Southern Agrarians of Vanderbilt University and New Agrarians such as Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, and Gene Logsdon to examine their understanding of place and home. I begin my inquiry with a personal frame story of time I have spent in and around the sustainable agriculture movement. Drawing on various forms of literature, including memoirs, cookbooks, novels, reportage, and other scholarship, I explore American ideals since World War II relating to the production and consumption of food.

I begin my opening chapter with a reassessment …

Korean Fusion: Consuming A Globalized Korea Through Food And Music, Ashley Hong

Honors Theses

In Koreatown, Los Angeles, one of the largest centers of Korean immigrants in the Western hemisphere, restaurant owners are constantly creating new forms of Korean cuisine that both challenge and preserve traditional methods of Korean culinary methods. Based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews conducted in Koreatown, Los Angeles in December 2020, I examine how Korean restaurant owners are navigating the current food scene while also maintaining their ethnic identity in a globalized landscape such as Los Angeles. I conceptualize the idea of a “twist” which can be understood as components of fusion food that allow Korean restaurant owners to …

Hungry America And The African Solution: How Hippopotami Nearly Fed America, Tyler Dennis

Vulcan Historical Review

pp. 39-46

Ghanaian Immigrant Women In The United States Beliefs About Maternal Nutrition And Fetal Development, Yassi Azhdari

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ghanaian women, in their native country, experience a high rate of anemia, malaria, and malnutrition while pregnant. Poor health outcomes for mother and child are caused by a lack of protein in their diet, food taboos, consumption of nutrient-poor foods, and infections. These conditions may cause pregnancy complications such as premature birth, or maternal or fetal death. There is little known about, the differences between the Ghanaian and U.S. birth experience, and foods used by Ghanaian immigrant women while pregnant. The biopsychosocial model was used in this descriptive qualitative study to examine how Ghanaian immigrant women are impacted by pregnancy …

Pre-Pregnancy Drinking Among A Sample Of High-Risk Women And The Association Of Social Networks, Sandra Lee King

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACTPRE-PREGNANCY DRINKING AMONG A SAMPLE OF HIGH-RISK WOMEN AND THE ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL NETWORKS

Background: Characteristics of drinking alcohol can include drinking contemporaneously; at the same time as others, and concordantly; when individuals exhibit identical traits or characteristics. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the association of pre-pregnancy drinking among a unique sample of high-risk women and to investigate the association of their social network members as predictors of alcohol consumption during the 3-month preconceptional period. Analysis was conducted on the patterns of alcohol consumption among study participants who were recruited from the Healthy Families Indiana (HFI) …

The Black Petromodernism Of Zora Neale Hurston: Energy, Race, And Mobility, Stuart Mullet

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis situates Zora Neale Hurston and the folk communities in her oeuvre within the context of modernity’s dependencies on fossil fuels. Such a disciplinary context provides an energy footing for our understandings of African American migrations in the twentieth century—which radically transformed the nation on multiple levels—and it illuminates the communal values that undergird Black approaches to petromodern forms of mobility. Furthermore, by engaging the Black spaces of the South, my argument begins filling a gap in the energy humanities. Few scholars in this field engage deeply those populations and regions that disproportionately experience the underbelly of petromodernity and …

Emotional Availability: A Practice-As-Research Exploration On Acting In Film And Theatre, Janice Munk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Actors are frequently required to be emotionally available on the spot, in situations ranging from an early morning acting class, to filming a scene well past midnight after a full day on set. In theatre, there is the expectation to deliver the right emotion every performance, and in film, when the camera and crew are ready, the actor is expected to produce the emotion at that moment. This demand to give emotionally compelling performances can cause an actor to stress under the pressure to deliver. Acting for stage and film have similarities and differences, and an actor needs to learn …

The Role Of Information Literacy On Family Life Education Curriculum Among Youths Of Ikwo Local Government Area, Ebonyi State, Chimeziem Chimdiadi Gabriela Udeze Phd, Joseph Oluchukwu Wogu Prof, Oluebube Amarauche Chukwu Phd

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study determine the essentiality of information literacy in family life education among youths of the Ikwo local government area of Ebonyi State. The major purpose of the study was to ascertain the vital role of information literacy in upholding/transmitting family life curriculum from one generation to another among the inhabitants of the study area. Though the scholarly review, the study reviewed that family-life education is innate and therefore could be strengthened if adequate information is given and that youths of the area and beyond can also only uphold their family-life education if information literacy is properly inculcated. The study …

For People And Planet: Teachers’ Evaluation Of An Educational Mobile Game And Resource Pack, Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo, Johanna Marion R. Torres, Janina Carla M. Castro, Abigail Marie T. Favis, Ingrid Yvonne Herras, Francesco U. Amante, Hakeem Jimenez, Juan Carlo F. Mallari, Kevin Arnel C. Mora, Walfrido David A. Diy, Jaclyn Ting Ting M. Lim, Ma. Assunta C. Cuyegkeng

Department of Information Systems & Computer Science Faculty Publications

For People and Planet: An SDG Adventure refers to a freely available Android-based narrative adventure game and teacher resource pack that helps learners see the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their day-to-day lives. In this paper, we describe the results of an evaluation of both the game and the resource pack by eight (8) middle school teachers. After playing the game and reading the resource pack, teachers gave their feedback about what they liked best and least about the materials, how they could use these resources for their classes, and how these resources could be improved further. Overall, …

Listening To Other Voices: Moving Beyond Traditional Mission Histories- A Case Study From El Salvador, Robert A. Danielson, Kelly J. Godoy De Danielson

The Asbury Journal

For the most part, mission history has focused on the work and effort of missionaries and not as much on the missionized, those people and communities they assisted. this is a flaw in the field which needs to be corrected, but how do we accomplish this? This article proposes a two-step process. First, by closely reading the traditional histories and the primary documents, we can emphasize and highlight the roles and voices of the missionized. Second, by using oral history interviews we can capture essential thoughts and attitudes of missionized people and communities about their mission experience. This dual approach …

The Way Of Longevity: Blue Zones As Unselfconscious Models Of Daoist Living, Devin K. Joshi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Demographic researchers have identified five geographic regions around the world with unusually high proportions of nonagenarians and centenarians. Studies of these longevity hotspots or “blue zones” are now trying to distill lessons for how people everywhere can live long and active lives with minimal impediments. In this study, I compare lifestyle observations and longevity prescriptions derived from studies of blue zone centenarians with long-standing recommendations for the practice of nourishing life (yangsheng) to achieve a long and healthy life in the Daoist tradition. Observing a high degree of similarity across the four lifestyle domains of diet, exercise, mindset, …

Cultural Intelligence Development And Study Abroad: The Effect Of Destination, Luke Zirkle

Senior Honors Theses

Cultural intelligence (CQ) is an emerging field in a globalized world. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, study abroad opportunities at higher educational institutions have become widely-accepted means for developing students’ CQ. While a number of variables seem to impact CQ development through study abroad programs, one variable seems as yet to have been largely unexplored. This research examines anonymous archival data from juniors in Liberty University’s Global Studies program during the spring semesters of 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 to observe a potential pattern that suggests the role of a study abroad host-culture on the student’s CQ development. Though …

Sampling The Hors D’Oeuvres: Exploratory Poetics In Archives And Special Collections, Patrick Williams

Librarian Publications

This lesson plan engages students with primary materials as ingredients for creative work, with attention to the ways researchers read and notice in archives and special collections. This hands-on creative activity helps students to identify and analyze many facets of materials in a special collections setting, and it allows students to explore those materials together. Students create found poems based on a prompt distributed by the librarian-instructor and then engage in reflective sharing of the poems. The prompt draws students toward the textual, paratextual, and metadata elements of materials, and the sharing of poems among students highlights the variety of …

Socioeconomic Status In Adolescence And Dna Methylation In Young Adulthood, Malcolm Barker-Kamps

All ETDs from UAB

Children from low socioeconomic status (SES) families are at a greater risk of negative health outcomes in adulthood, in part from chronic stress. The chronic stress of these experiences may become biologically embedded through DNA methylation in stress-related genes. However, the effects of specific SES dimensions during childhood or adolescence on later epigenetic profiles in adulthood are not well understood. The present study examined the roles of two objective SES dimensions and two subjective SES dimensions experienced in early adolescence in DNA methylation in young adulthood. The analyses focused on two genes, NR3C1 and SLC6A4, because their methylation has been …

Importance Of The Zebrafish Model For Understanding Nutrition, Michael Britt Williams

All ETDs from UAB

The common zebrafish Danio rerio is a useful model for human health. Effective utilization of this model required development of husbandry and reproductive protocols as well as genomic sequencing and creation of relevant molecular techniques. However, the dietary needs of the species remain woefully under investigated. At this time no chemically-defined open source diets are available to the zebrafish research community. Consequently, those labs utilizing the zebrafish model rely on commercial diets that may not provide adequate nutrition and lack consistency needed for rigorous and reproducible research. The first focus of these studies was to examine the current state of …

Predictors Of Subjective And Objective Everyday Functioning In Middle-Aged And Older Adults With Hiv, Alexandra Elaine Jacob

All ETDs from UAB

People with HIV (PWH) are at an increased risk for everyday functionalimpairment, especially as they age. The purpose of this study was: (1) to identify factors associated with subjective and objective instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) difficulty in PWH and (2) to identify factors associated with awareness of functional capacity. This cross-sectional study included 261 PWH. Participants completed a comprehensive neurobehavioral assessment, including self-report and performance-based measures of everyday functioning. Hierarchical multiple regressions were performed to identify health, psychological, and cognitive factors that contribute to subjective and objective evaluation of everyday functioning. We also examined factors that predicted a …