Digital Commons Network^™

The Informal Impact Of The Headscarf Ban On Veiled Students’ Everyday University Experiences In Paris, Farah K. Lotfy

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the informal impact of the 2004 headscarf ban on the everyday university experiences of veiled students in Paris. Although the ban applies formally to public schools rather than universities, the wider social climate surrounding laïcité and the veil continues to influence how veiled students experience visibility, belonging, and participation in higher education.

Using a qualitative approach based primarily on semi-structured interviews, supported by informal observations conducted within university spaces in Paris, the study explores how exclusion is experienced through stereotypes, scrutiny, social discomfort, self-monitoring, and anticipation of discrimination rather than through formal university policy. The research focuses …

Parental Gender Bias In Youth Employment Standards: Evidence From Upper Egypt, Mahmoud Saeed

Theses and Dissertations

Youth unemployment remains a critical challenge in Egypt, with female labor force participation among the lowest globally. While structural factors such as limited job creation and public sector contraction are well-documented, the role of family-level decision-making in constraining women's labor market entry has received limited quantitative attention. This thesis examines parental gender bias in employment standards in Upper Egypt, investigating whether and how parents impose systematically different job requirements for daughters compared to sons. Using primary survey data from 17,284 unemployed youth aged 18-35 across six governorates, paired with responses from their parents, this study analyzes parental preferences across six …

(Re)Claiming Homeplace: Dance As Embodied Resistance & Healing For Health & Spatial Justice, Preeya G. Kannan

University Honors Theses

This thesis argues that dance functions as both an upstream public health intervention and a form of radical spatial resistance; creating healing, agency, and belonging among historically marginalized communities. Drawing on bell hooks' concept of homeplace, Jasbir Puar's assemblage theory, Nancy Krieger's eco-social theory, and Katherine McKittrick's Black geographies, I position the body as both an ecological and political landscape shaped by histories of colonialism, racial capitalism, displacement, and resilience.

Through this community-based participatory research study, Homeplace, I explore dance as a form of social prescription that centers liberation rather than pathology. Movement is often reduced in public health discourse …

La Conceptualisation Du Temps À Travers Les Métaphores Dans Le Parler De Zayan : Approche Cognitive, Amenzou El Mostafa, Brahim Oumeraouch

Journal of Amazigh Studies

L'analyse des expressions métaphoriques du temps dans le parler des Zayan révèle une utilisation récurrente de métaphores conceptuelles qui reflètent la perception du temps dans cette culture. Les expressions métaphoriques telles que « le temps coule » sont largement utilisées pour décrire la continuité et l'irréversibilité du temps, tandis que celles comme « ne gaspille pas l’argent » soulignent sa valeur et sa gestion. En examinant ces expressions à travers les postulats de la théorie de Lakoff (1980), nous observons que les schémas conceptuels associés au temps reflètent deux visions distinctes : une conception dynamique, où le temps est vu …

Les Pseudonymes Des Femmes Rifaines En Diaspora : Stratégies De Résistance Et D'Affirmation Identitaire Sur Les Réseaux Sociaux, Abdelouahab Bazine

Journal of Amazigh Studies

Cet article explore les stratégies onomastiques développées par les Rifaines en contexte diasporique à travers l’analyse de leurs pseudonymes sur les réseaux sociaux, en particulier dans les groupes Facebook communautaires en France et en Belgique. Il examine comment ces désignations fonctionnent comme des marqueurs identitaires, traduisant des dynamiques de résistance, d’affirmation et d’adaptation en contexte migratoire. En mobilisant une approche sociolinguistique et anthropologique, cette étude met en lumière la manière dont les pseudonymes articulent attachement aux origines, inscription dans un espace transnational et négociation des rapports de domination linguistique et culturelle. L’analyse du corpus révèle plusieurs stratégies onomastiques, notamment l’usage …

Representations Of Women Safeguarding Living Cultural Heritage For The Future In 21st Century Kabyle Cinema, Sheila Petty

Journal of Amazigh Studies

This article examines cinematic representations of how some Kabyle women relate to and shape claims to Amazigh (Kabyle) land, language, tangible and intangible cultural heritage; how they navigate and safeguard cultural memory; and how this is depicted in three Kabyle films: La Langue de Zahra/ Zahra’s Mother Tongue (Fatima Sissani, France/Algeria, 2011); Nnuba (Sonia At Qasi-Kessi, Algeria, 2019; and Azar/Racine/Root (Malik Bourkache Daoud, Algeria, 2023). The article also probes how the filmmakers use tangible cultural heritage (documentary film) to document, transpose, and transmit intangible cultural heritage (memories, poetry, song, stories). Through an analysis of the narrative form and cinematic style …

Trade Liberalization & Local Labor Markets: Evidence From The U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, Josephine Jungha Lee

Economics Undergraduate Senior Theses

This paper examines the local labor market effects of tariff reductions under the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS). While free trade agreements are often evaluated through aggregate gains, their adjustment costs may be concentrated in specific industries and local labor markets. This paper constructs a shift-share measure of KORUS exposure by combining national industry-level tariff reductions with pre-KORUS commuting zone (CZ) industrial composition, then estimates how more exposed CZs changed after implementation. The results show that greater KORUS exposure is associated with statistically significant declines in employment, employment-to-population ratios, labor force participation, and working-age population, alongside increases in unemployment. These …

Automatic Glossing In Under-Resourced Languages: Case Studies In Bribri And Cook Islands Māori, Carter D. Anderson

Linguistics Undergraduate Senior Theses

Interlinear glossing is a major task in Indigenous language documentation. In this paper, I explore how effectively two Large Language Models, ByT5 and Gemini 2.5 Flash, can produce interlinear glossed text. I also examine how prompting an LLM with different types of information (dictionary entries, other training samples, and translations) can augment model performance. I apply these models to two under-resourced Indigenous languages: Bribri, which is morphologically complex from Costa Rica, and Cook Islands Māori, which has a simpler morphology and is from the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean. ByT5 exhibits much better performance when glossing Cook Islands Māori …

Computational Contrast Of Argument-Adjusting Operations In Cook Islands Māori: An Initial Exploration, Daisy Li

Linguistics Undergraduate Senior Theses

This paper presents the first corpus study of the semantic and syntactic features of active, actor emphatic, and passive constructions in Cook Islands Māori, a Polynesian language of the Cook Islands. Using computational techniques, including Universal Dependencies parsing, this project identifies and evaluates these constructions in corpus data. The actor emphatic construction is of particular interest because it is only found in Eastern Polynesian languages. However, it has historically been difficult to study due to its cross-linguistic variability and relative infrequency. This study compiles, to my knowledge, the largest corpus of Cook Islands Māori actor emphatic sentences to date, analyzing …

Destination “Burning River”: Restoration And Placemaking In A Rust Belt City, Mia Compton-Engle

Geography Undergraduate Senior Theses

In 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio caught fire from industrial pollution. Media narratives reframed the river fire as a symbol of environmental degradation, discursively transforming the Cuyahoga River from a place of industrial sacrifice to a place deserving ecological stewardship. Consequently, the river fire catalyzed the modern American environmental movement and local urban river restoration, materially transforming the Cuyahoga River from a place of industrial waste to a place of natural beauty and socioeconomic opportunity. Thus, urban river restoration presents an opportunity for novel placemaking: a local microcosm of the global turn towards urban sustainability. However, there is …

The Role Of Urban Forests In Mitigating Flooding Effects: A Case Study In Savannah, Georgia, Gillian Bush

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Flooding in coastal communities is shaped by the interaction between natural systems and urban development. Chatham County, a low-elevation region in the Savannah, Georgia metropolitan area along the eastern coast of the United States, is prone to coastal storms and frequently affected by flooding. It serves as a useful case study to better understand the factors behind flooding and the areas that are most at risk. This study uses GIS-based analysis to examine the overlap between flood risk, urban forest cover, and impervious surfaces. The results indicate elevated vulnerability along major transportation corridors and barrier islands, where high-risk flood zones …

The Disproportionate Impact Of Legal Deserts: A Policy Proposal To Address The Legal Needs Of Rural Nevadans, Madelyn Wold

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Despite the large number of attorneys in the United States, the disproportionate concentration of attorneys in urban areas leaves rural residents to navigate the complex legal system on their own. This uneven distribution creates ‘legal deserts’, or areas where residents lack access to attorneys. The Southwestern United States has especially dire legal deserts, and Nevada is no exception. While defendants in criminal matters are guaranteed legal representation, parties in civil legal issues are not granted the same right to representation. Civil legal issues largely impact vulnerable populations and can have profound impacts on individuals’ family, economic circumstances, and physical wellbeing. …

The Palm Farm Next-Door: Land Concessions, Livelihoods, And Nutrition In Plantation-Adjacent Communities, Julia Entwistle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Large-scale land concessions have reshaped agrarian landscapes globally, yet their implications for community land tenure, livelihoods, and nutrition remain unevenly understood. This dissertation examines how plantation agriculture and foreign investment have transformed land access, labor relations, and food systems in Liberia, a country with one of the highest proportions of land under concession globally. Guided by a political ecology framework, the study employs a mixed-methods design integrating policy analysis, in-depth interviews, and household surveys across two palm oil concession sites. The findings show that ambiguous land policies historically facilitated dispossession, while recent legal reforms have enabled communities to strategically mobilize …

Congestion Pricing: A Comprehensive Look At International Congestion Pricing Models And Applying Them To The United States, Ian Ertel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Urban traffic congestion imposes large costs through wasted time, excess fuel consumption, air pollution, and lost productivity. Although congestion pricing has been recognized as the economically efficient remedy since Pigou and Vickrey, implementation has been rare. This thesis examines the conditions under which congestion pricing succeeds by analyzing three pioneering cases: London, Singapore, and New York City. Across all three, charges reduced traffic volumes and improved speeds within the priced zones. Benefits extended beyond cordon boundaries, with measurable improvements on untolled suburban roads. The distributional effects depended on how revenues were recycled rather than on the charge itself. Political viability, …

Quantifying Terrain Controls On Satellite-Based Snow Water Equivalent Estimation: A Spatially Explicit Machine Learning Approach, Brant Giovannetti

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Terrain variables are widely incorporated into machine learning Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) models but are rarely evaluated for their independent contribution relative to spectral predictors. Using a four-tier stepwise Random Forest framework with Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 imagery and Airborne Snow Observatory LiDAR ground truth, this study isolates the contribution of elevation, slope, northness, and eastness across Peak and Ablation snowpack regimes in the East Taylor River Watershed, Colorado. During peak snowpack, adding terrain improved R² by 0.214, with elevation alone accounting for 42.8% of model importance. During ablation, full-dataset terrain gains were modest, increasing R² by only 0.036. However, when …

Geospatial Governance Failures In The Department Of Defense: Contractor Noncompliance, Ai Adoption, And The Parallel Treatment Of Gis And Cybersecurity, Lyndsey Olmstead

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

The Department of Defense's treatment of geographic information systems and cybersecurity as parallel rather than integrated policy domains produces geographically predictable vulnerability patterns across its global military installation footprint. This capstone investigates that conclusion through original spatial analysis, constructing a five-variable composite geospatial vulnerability index across the six U.S. Combatant Command regions using publicly available unclassified data. EUCOM ranked highest overall, driven by GPS/PNT spoofing density, commercial satellite coverage, and cyber incident frequency; CENTCOM ranked second, driven by OSINT exposure incidents and governance risk. The null hypothesis of random geographic distribution is rejected. Findings confirm the structural governance gap documented …

Tracing The Flow Of Value In Ecotourism: A Case Study Of Lekki Conservation Center, Lagos, Nigeria, Queen Oluwatobi Olafadehan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the flow of value in ecotourism at Lekki Conservation Center (LCC) in Lagos, Nigeria, using a political ecology framework to analyze how economic benefits, participation opportunities, and environmental impacts are distributed among different community groups. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 16 community members, participant observation, and photographic documentation, the study investigates how surrounding communities perceive and experience ecotourism, how revenue is understood to be distributed, and in what ways communities are included in or excluded from conservation decision-making. The findings reveal that ecotourism at LCC generates benefits that are unevenly distributed, that community participation in governance remains …

The Organizational Experience Of Next Gen Learning Through Portrait Of A Graduate, Kathleen J. Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative single-case study investigates the organizational journey of navigating the complexities of systemic transformation. In 2021, Silver Peak School District (SPSD; a pseudonym), a rural educational organization in the western United States, implemented a graduate competency framework known as Portrait of a Graduate. This study analyzed the experiences of teachers, instructional coaches, and principals with the explicit Portrait policies, practices, and resource flows of five learning structures—graduate competencies (in SPSD, this is analogous to Portrait), deeper learning, agency, performance assessment, and teaching culture—in a district in the messy middle of Portrait adoption. By focusing on a district situated in …

A Theoretical And Empirical Framework To Estimate The Impact Of Conflict On The Economic Resilience Of Clustered Firms In Ukraine, Alexander D. Ginn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I develop a theoretical and empirical framework to estimate whether participation in industrial clusters contributes to firm-level economic resilience to conflict-based shocks. Focusing on Ukraine following the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, the study situates industrial organization and firms’ resilience to conflict within a dynamic environment characterized by spatially heterogeneous exposure to conflict events and persistent institutional constraints. I document how Ukraine’s contemporary economic geography reflects the interaction of Soviet-era industrial path dependence, uneven post-transition institutional development, and conflict-induced reconfiguration, evaluating how these dynamics generate systematic variation in both firms’ baseline vulnerability and their exposure to …

The Republican Party And The Creation Of The Bipartisan Foreign Policy, 1945-1953, Alexander Gellos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a historical and structural reexamination of the Republican Party’s role in shaping American foreign policy from 1945 to 1953. Defying the historiography of a frictionless postwar consensus and an executive branch-centered narrative, this historical chronological study demonstrates that the Republican Party’s role in formulating the bipartisan foreign policy was a contingent and debated legislative construction. Far from representing passive submission or a surrender of partisan identity, the GOP’s role was an indispensable exercise in creating it, and due to politics being what it is, straining it. Through historical chronology spanning from 1945 to 1953, the party's center …

Picturing Africa: Critical Reflections On The Importance Of Imagery In Textbooks, Amber R. Reed, Bailey A. Brown

Essays in Education

While many social studies teachers in the Atlanta metro area are working to combat stereotypical and racist images of Africa, our analysis of three commonly used textbooks demonstrate these are exactly the types of images that tend to get reproduced. This essay draws on an analysis of three commonly used textbooks in Georgia as well as interviews with teachers in the area. We show how stereotypes of Africa as filled with wild animals, primitive, and poverty-stricken are often upheld in publications despite teachers’ fervent desire to dismantle them. Because these images are often decontextualized, it is difficult for teachers and …

Creating Public Value Through Public-Private Partnerships In Technical And Vocational Education And Training In Egypt, Aseel Amr Tajuddin

Theses and Dissertations

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has emerged in the last decade as a foundational pillar for Egypt’s workforce and economic development vision. More recently, the Egyptian Ministry of Education and Technical Education (MoETE) has scaled industry driven and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) TVET models, industry affiliated dual education programs and Applied Technology Schools (ATS), seeking to strengthen alignment with the labor market and improving TVET graduates employability. Yet, TVET in Egypt continues to suffer from persistent social stigma, limited social legitimacy and low social ranking, despite the state led reform efforts. Existing TVET literature remains limited to examining …

School Safety Officials’ Perceptions Of Social Media And School Violence In Rural School Districts, Dwayne Wheeler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Disability Inclusion Gap In Certified Professions, Daina Devereaux

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Project Managers And Pmp Principles In Improving Operational Efficiency In Healthcare Organizations, Karan Thakkar

Harrisburg University Dissertations and Theses

Healthcare organizations operate in increasingly complex, regulated, and resource-constrained environments while managing a growing volume of projects tied to digital transformation, process improvement, regulatory compliance, and infrastructure development. Despite the project-intensive nature of healthcare operations, many organizations do not formally employ trained project managers or consistently apply Project Management Professional (PMP) principles; project responsibilities are frequently absorbed by clinical or administrative leaders whose primary expertise lies outside formal project management. This qualitative study examined how the project manager role and PMP principles contribute to operational efficiency in healthcare organizations. The study was conducted as a qualitative document analysis and thematic …

Acute And Inpatient Occupational Therapy Practice For People With Chronic Conditions Who Are Experiencing Homelessness, Emily K. Simpson, Anne K. Mokate, Elizabeth A. Gibbs, Nina K. Duric

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Purpose: Despite having high rates of chronic illness, people experiencing homelessness (PEH) in the United States face barriers to healthcare access that result in unmet health needs and poor health outcomes.  The objective of the study was to identify the barriers to service experienced by occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs) in acute and inpatient settings in providing services to PEH and to describe education strategies to reduce those barriers. Methods: Researchers employed a cross-sectional design with OTPs (n=292) with experience treating PEH. Results: Barriers to treatment for OTP included lack of education, need to prioritize acute concerns, and inadequate institutional resources. …

The Unexpected Gift: Using Hip-Hop And Autoethnographic Methods To Challenge The “Symbolic Death” Discourse Of A Child’S Autism Diagnosis, Adam Ellis

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This article explores the social construction of autism through an autoethnographic account of parenting an autistic child in Canada. Drawing on Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s grief model, neurodiversity scholarship, and post-traumatic growth theory, the paper examines how parents may experience grief, uncertainty, and the collapse of imagined futures following an autism diagnosis, while also arguing that much of this distress is produced by ableist and deficit-oriented social systems rather than autism itself. Using arts-based research, including a rap song and music video, the article explores: (1) what it is like to receive an autism diagnosis as a parent; (2) the grieving process …

Egypt Under Construction: Spectacle, Surprise, And The Politics Of Megaprojects, Grace E. Payne

Geography Undergraduate Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

The Economic Benefits And Costs Of State And Local Incentives For Clean Energy Projects, Timothy J. Bartik, Gerrit Anderson, Brian J. Asquith, Kathleen Bolter, Kyle Huisman, Iryna V. Lendel, Jeremy Morris, Sevrin Williams

Upjohn Institute Technical Reports

This report evaluates the benefits and costs of investment incentives for 50 large clean energy supply chain manufacturing and infrastructure projects. The findings suggest that these incentives generate modest but typically positive economic returns, with a median benefit-cost ratio of 1.47, meaning benefits exceed costs by 47 percent for the typical project. Returns vary significantly across projects—approximately 70 percent of projects produced net positive benefits over a 20-year period, while 30 percent failed to recover incentive costs. Project performance depends heavily on incentive design and local conditions. Excessively large cash incentives reduce returns, while customized services, strong job multipliers, investment …

Situating Stormwater Infrastructure Through Collaborative Design: Insights From A University-Community Partnership, Serena A. Echols

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stormwater ponds help address flooding and partially mitigate nutrient pollution while sometimes serving as a central landscape element in community parks. In underserved urban communities, however, stormwater ponds are sometimes neglected and underutilized, leading to public health and environmental justice challenges. Our research in Tampa, Florida, seeks to develop pathways for residents and other stakeholders to collaboratively co-design infrastructure interventions and pondscape redevelopment for neglected stormwater ponds. Drawing on ethnographic and participatory methods as well as environmental assessment and modeling, we are working with residents of one pond community on cleanup and redevelopment strategies. Results reveal that balancing local and …