Digital Commons Network^™

Plant-Powered: A Digital Plant-Based Nutrition Intervention For Low-Income Patients With Type Ii Diabetes, Ellen Pelos

Master's Projects and Capstones

Purpose: This project aimed to measure the acceptability and feasibility of plant-based diets among low-income individuals with type II diabetes at the Samaritan House Food Pharmacy and to create a user-centered pilot program to encourage the adoption of a plant-based diet.

Background: Plant-based diets are effective for preventing, treating, and reversing type II diabetes, but there is not much evidence about the acceptability and feasibility of these diets.

Methods: Focus groups were used to gather qualitative data about the acceptability and feasibility of plant-based diets in the target population. The researcher conducted interviews with Food Pharmacy program leaders to learn …

Promising Practices For Boating Safety Initiatives That Target Indigenous Peoples In New Zealand, Australia, The United States Of America, And Canada, Mitchell Crozier, Audrey R. Giles

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

Boating-related incidents are responsible for a significant number of the drowning fatalities that occur within Indigenous communities in New Zealand, Australia, the USA, and Canada. The aim of this paper was to identify promising practices for boating safety initiatives that target Indigenous peoples within these countries and evaluate past and ongoing boating safety initiatives delivered to/with Indigenous peoples within these countries to suggest the ways in which they – or programs that follow them - may be more effective. Based upon evidence from previous research, boating safety initiatives that target Indigenous peoples in New Zealand, Australia, the USA, and Canada …

What Does A "Just" Local Food System Look Like? Views From Worcester In A Changing Climate, Marguerite Cawley

Capstone Collection

Food and climate are closely intertwined, with the high-emissions U.S. industrial food system contributing to climate change, while a changing climate produces new food system vulnerabilities, which will particularly impact those of the least means. This research is premised on the need to transform our food system, and to define what this vision looks like at the local level, while centering questions of power, justice and rights. It explores how groups, organizations and individuals engaged in local food system change envision transformation and understand corresponding social justice concerns, in a changing climate. It looks at opportunities for food and climate …

Defending Boyle Heights: Visions Of An Emancipated Barrio, Mikayla Torres

Theses - ALL

This thesis explores the nuanced relationships between culture, embodied resistance and gentrification in the East Los Angeles neighborhood Boyle Heights. The barrio this project centers upon, is predominantly Latinx identified, low income, and is currently embroiled in a war against gentrification, not unlike the onslaught of displacement dozens of neighborhoods across the United States are currently facing. Specifically, I explore the agitative strategies and actions of the contemporary, grassroots, direct-action group resisting the displacement imposed by gentrification, Defend Boyle Heights. The project centers on two artifacts— a constitution video titled La Noticia: Boyle Heights se Defiende! and a video that …

The Island Earth Field Studio: A High School Summer Program On Polynesian Voyaging In Hawaii, Andrea M. Bachmann

Capstone Collection

The Island Earth Field Studio is a ten-day program for high school students to learn about Polynesian voyaging in Hawaii as a framework to understand non-Western knowledge systems. The program design is grounded in research on the historical significance of voyaging and informed by current literature on adolescent development and place-based pedagogy.

To further refine the program, a needs assessment was conducted using a combination of surveys and interviews with parents and educators in the continental United States (mainland) as well as interviews with local partners in Hawaii. The assessment revealed that cultural learning and community building were viewed by …

Redesigning Our Conception Of Local Food Utilizing A Value-Based Approach, Heather Riesenberg

Sustainability and Social Justice

The goal of this study was to design a new method of evaluating and building local food systems which is based on a new conception of how we view local food. Beginning with a review of the current literature on how local food is defined and its apparent goals, I begin to pick apart the dated idea that local needs not be more complex than the 400-mile limit offered by the USDA. Utilizing the literature review, I bring together a host of values that local food seems to (want to) embody and use these to form a pathway toward the …

Potential Of Existing And Proposed Bicycle Facilities To Link Multiple Origin And Destination Needs For Non-Motorized Travel In San Luis Obispo, Sheridan Nansen

City and Regional Planning

The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of linking multiple origins and destinations for efficient non-motorized travel in San Luis Obispo, California. The city currently has seventy-five miles of bicycle infrastructure with the intention to add thirty-five more miles to create a more functional bicycle network and foster an increase in bicycle trips taken.

Many cities in the United States are following their European counterparts in the push towards more sustainable forms of transportation by promoting bicycling, walking, and the use of public transit. Recently, we have seen an increase in both local and national legislative efforts …

The Development Of A Culturally-Informed Cervical Cancer Screening And Prevention Mhealth Intervention For African American Women., Ariel Washington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Significant strides have been made in reducing the burden of cervical cancer and HPV. Between pap smear screenings and HPV vaccinations, there has been a reduction in cervical cancer incidence in the United States. Unfortunately, those reductions have not been experienced by all ethnic groups. Cervical cancer disparities are a threat to the health of African American women, and innovation in education and the healthcare experience is needed to eliminate this threat. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a culturally tailored intervention using mHealth services to improve cervical cancer and HPV knowledge. Methods: The development and evaluation of …

Pottermore, A Case Study: What Publishers Can Learn About Developing Interactive Transmedia In The Post-Web Age, Megan Crayne

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

15 years after the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling’s magical world would be transformed into an interactive, playable website called simply Pottermore. It included all the elements that dominate successful interactive transmedia: exclusive narrative content that brought readers into the storyworld, spaces for members to create and build virtual communities, interactive gameplay, and additional forms of transmedia available for purchase. Then in 2015, Pottermore Publishing launched a major redesign of Pottermore in the face of declining eBook and audiobook sales.

By comparing and contrasting the three versions of Pottermore (Old, New, and now Wizarding …

Participate For Peace: The Impacts Of Participatory Deliberative Democracy On Post-Conflict Peacebuilding In Central America, Marcia D. Mundt

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Liberal peacebuilding is at the center of a critical debate amongst scholars and practitioners due to the horrific consequence of conflict relapse or escalation in the wake of failed international interventions. Despite international efforts to promote durable peace, empirical research suggests that up to one half of all civil wars relapse into conflict within five years of negotiated settlement (Collier & Hoeffler, 2002; Suhrke & Samset, 2007). As an alternative to top-down liberal peace, locally-led post-conflict peacebuilding has been proposed as an innovative solution (Mac Ginty & Richmond, 2013). Participatory deliberative democracy, when applied in post-conflict contexts, aligns with this …

Citizen Engagement In Aquatics Equity: The Case Of Winston Waterworks, Steven N. Waller Phd, James H. Bemiller Jd, Emliy J. Johnson, Chermaine D. Cole, Jason Scott Phd, Angela Wozencroft, Phd

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

Historically, swimming pools have been a source of inequity when it comes to the distribution of recreation services in the United States. Many of the problems that correlate with the inequitable allocation of recreation resources including public swimming pools began with ideas about race, geography, poor planning practices and faulty policymaking (Rothstein, 2017). Moreover, one of the primary outcomes of engaged, inclusive planning is equity in the provision of recreation programs and facilities. In this essay, we offer a summary of key legal cases that help address questions related resource allocation related to public swimming pools. Finally, we present a …

Outcome Mapping: Documenting Process In The Métis Settlements Life Skills Journey Project, Brent Hammer, Fay Fletcher, Rebecca Shortt, Mandy Macrae, Alicia Hibbert

The Qualitative Report

Mapping serves as a metaphor for where we are now, where we have been, and where we are going. In this paper the authors illustrate the use of outcome mapping as a methodological framework for documenting the planning, monitoring, and evaluation process for the Métis Settlements Life Skills Journey (MSLSJ) project. The MSLSJ is a multi-year, multi-site, multi-method research project. It is centered on building relationships and facilitating knowledge exchange between the University of Alberta team, Métis Settlement Councils and administrators, and Settlement members. We highlight how the outcome mapping framework enables us to document project processes through the identification …

The Economic Impacts Of School Closure In Rural Maine, Heather Perry

Muskie School Dissertations

The purpose of this case study research was to examine the economic impact of school closures on three rural communities in Maine. I created a conceptual framework around six healthy community economic markers. Each of the six markers are studied in 2010 when schools were closed and then again in 2016. This data, in addition to perceptions data from stakeholders in each of the three communities was studied to determine if the closure of the school had any impact on these healthy economic markers. Findings suggest that there were no negative impact to the economic markers studied within the three …

Environmental Justice In Little Village: A Case For Reforming Chicago’S Zoning Law, Charles Isaacs

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Chicago’s Little Village community bears the heavy burden of environmental injustice and racism. The residents are mostly immigrants and people of color who live with low levels of income, limited access to healthcare, and disproportionate levels of dangerous air pollution. Before its retirement, Little Village’s Crawford coal-burning power plant was the lead source of air pollution, contributing to 41 deaths, 550 emergency room visits, and 2,800 asthma attacks per year. After the plant’s retirement, community members wanted a say on the future use of the lot, only to be closed out when a corporation, Hilco Redevelopment Partners, bought the lot …

Measuring The Size Of Bryant’S Ecological Footprint, Benjamin Martin, Gianny Pires

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

Since the beginning of the industrial age, people have been leaving a significant footprint on the Earth's environment. Currently, the environment has become a notable issue all over the world. Many countries, institutions, and people, in general, have taken steps toward slowing down the effect we are leaving on Earth. In this research paper, we are researching national trends of sustainability and a specific institution, Bryant University, overtime Bryant University has developed many integrated methods of sustainability. Various methods of sustainability are explored throughout the text. Bryant's sustainability efforts can be reviewed and monitored, with methods such as Life-Cycle Assessments, …

Investing In A Green Future: Universities And Renewable Energy, Tommy Kimmell, Philip Kimmell, Matthew Sorensen, Cameron Ruggiero, Ben Coit

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

This paper explains how the implementation of renewable energy is a favorable energy choice and explores the growing trend of investing in a green economy. The report begins by providing some context as to what renewable energy is and explains why it is a favorable energy choice. The first section outlines the energy industry and deciphers between the two forms of energy currently making up the sector. Breaking up the industry into two separate sectors, being renewable energy and nonrenewable energy, provides an understanding on which form is currently dominating the market. Moreover, the outline describes the concept of investing …

Preventing Bankruptcy And Transforming City Finances After Hurricane Katrina, Andy Kopplin

New England Journal of Public Policy

In 2010, when the Landrieu administration took office in New Orleans, we inherited a financial situation that the mayor compared to the massive oil spill occurring at that very time in the Gulf, the worst in US history. The city was nearly bankrupt. Much of what we faced was the result of factors—Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the subsequent failure of the federal levees, the great recession—that were far from the prior administration of Mayor Ray Nagin’s control. Much was the result of a culture of ineffectiveness and inefficiency that predated his administration. But much was the result of gross mismanagement …

Rockets: Reaching Our Community Through Kindness, Education, Togetherness And Stem – A Sustainable Communities Project In Sumter County, Georgia, Crystal Perry

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This poster session highlights the ROCKETS program implemented in Sumter County Schools through UGA Extension. Through the ROCKETS Project in-school sessions, youth with disabilities are provided additional opportunities to belong to a larger group of youth through the Georgia 4-H Program. The ROCKETS Project focuses on Agricultural literacy and STEM education as content areas to cultivate, recruit and graduate the next generation of a highly-skilled diverse workforce.

Peace Connector Projects: Bishop Korir's Strategy For Grassroots Peacebuilding, William Kiptoo

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay is a narration of my personal experiences in peacebuilding in the North Rift region of Kenya as a resident of the region, and peace worker from 1995 to date. I draw from my work experiences with the National Council of Churches of Kenya (1995-2005), Catholic Relief Services and the Mennonite Central Committee (2007-2019). Specifically, how connector projects were used as a strategy for grassroots peacebuilding for the conflict-affected communities in the North Rift Valley region. The processes of mobilizing the communities, challenges, and outcomes of reconciliation efforts are discussed. The four connector projects discussed show the rewards attained …

Exploring The Dynamics In The Environmental Discourse: The Longitudinal Interaction Among Public Opinion, Presidential Opinion, Media Coverage, Policymaking In 3 Decades And An Integrated Model Of Media Effects, Qingjiang Yao, Zhaoxi Liu, L. F. Stephens

Communication Faculty Research

Using data on environmental issues drawn from 41 series of poll questions and federal outlay in 43 years (1965-2007) and a content analysis of newspaper articles, television news summaries, and presidential documents in 28 years (1980-2007), with the multivariate Granger Causality test based on Vector Autoregression (VAR) models and bivariate Granger Causality (F and Chi-squire) tests, the study finds that public opinion has little influences on federal environmental expenditure in the past several decades. It also finds that for the presidents, the media, and the public, their agendas (volume of information) cause a change in the agenda and frame building …

Does Environment Really Matter? The Impact Of Corporate Social Responsibility Perspective On Istanbul Chain Hotels, Aysin Pasamehmetoglu, Mustafa Mehmet Gokoglu

Journal of Global Business Insights

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) perspective has been embraced by various countries. This perspective directly affects the behavior of organizations in different countries. Environmental, cultural and employee related issues create a suitable platform for those countries which lack certain aspects of dealing with the related problems. This also creates a general perspective where managerial practices of organizations are redesigned in light of universal standards of CSR. From this standpoint, organizational response to CSR problems is driven by the universal standards. Nevertheless, specific dimensions of CSR may dominate managerial practices paving the way for different kinds of practices to be forefront in …

Toward A Competency Framework For Canadian Archivists, Anne Daniel, Amanda Oliver, Amanda Jamieson

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

The goal of this research project is to establish a foundational competency framework for Canadian archivists. This was achieved by performing a qualitative analysis of established frameworks and generating a foundational competency framework from that analysis. The framework reflects current skills and knowledge requirements. The competency framework is meant to capture all facets of managing an archives, including activities such as governance and human resources. It is intended to strike a balance among all aspects of archival practice. Future iterations should include emergent issues such as emotional labor and regional practices. This competency framework is intended to define and communicate …

Wireless Underground Communications In Sewer And Stormwater Overflow Monitoring: Radio Waves Through Soil And Asphalt Medium, Usman Raza, Abdul Salam

Computer Information Technology Faculty Publications

Storm drains and sanitary sewers are prone to backups and overflows due to extra amount wastewater entering the pipes. To prevent that, it is imperative to efficiently monitor the urban underground infrastructure. The combination of sensors system and wireless underground communication system can be used to realize urban underground IoT applications, e.g., storm water and wastewater overflow monitoring systems. The aim of this article is to establish a feasibility of the use of wireless underground communications techniques, and wave propagation through the subsurface soil and asphalt layers, in an underground pavement system for storm water and sewer overflow monitoring application. …

The Manifestation Of Neighborhood Effects: A Pattern For Community Growth?, Michael R. Cope, Jorden E. Jackson, Scott R. Sanders, Lance D. Erickson, Tippe Morlan, Ralph B. Brown

Faculty Publications

Neighborhood effects, or the development of community by neighborhoods, are often studied in an urban context. Previous research has neglected to examine the influence of neighborhoods in nonurban settings. Our case study, however, contributes to the existing literature as it takes place in a small, rural-to-urban town at an important point in time where the town was urbanizing. We find that neighborhood effects also influence community satisfaction and attachment in Creekdale, an urbanizing town. Using survey data (N = 1006) drawn from the Creekdale Community Citizens Viewpoint Survey (CCVS), we find that, contrary to conventional wisdom, population size and density …

Camden Waterfront South Green Infrastructure Plan, Mahbubur Meenar, Susan Harris, Meghan Wren, Devon Moulton

School of Earth & Environment Departmental Research

A green infrastructure and placemaking plan for Camden's Waterfront South neighborhood. The plan was based on extensive community engagement and outreach activities for more than a year. Community partners: Heart of Camden and Camden Fireworks. Sponsor: Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority. Created and produced by Rowan University's Community Planning + Visualization Lab.

Harmonizing Climate Change Mitigation And Adaptation In Transportation And Land-Use Planning In California Cities, Serena E. Alexander, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Ashley M. Hooper, Michael R. Boswell

Mineta Transportation Institute

Abstract: Recent extreme weather events in California—wildfires, drought, and flooding—make abundantly clear the need to plan effective responses to both the causes and the consequences of climate change. A central challenge for climate planning efforts has been identifying transportation and land-use (TLU) strategies that simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions (“mitigation”) and adapt communities so that they will be less affected by the adverse impacts of climate change (“adaptation”). Sets of policies that collectively address both mitigation and adaptation are known as “integrated actions.” This study explores municipal climate planning in California to determine whether cities incorporate integrated actions into their …

An Empirical Study Of Librarians And Libraries As Drivers Of Access To Knowledge In Ebonyi State, Nigeria, Emmanuel Chidiadi Onwubiko

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The library from inception plays a very crucial role in the extension and modification of knowledge. The growing need for knowledge management has influenced every component and operation of a library. This is built on the fact that it is only by transmission of knowledge by each succeeding generation can civilization maintain itself and make advance upon the knowledge of the past. The individual and social meaning of education can only take place on the backdrop of beliefs and values of a particular social setting. In both, the library has a crucial role to play. The library we know is …

Equity Mapping Tools Combine The Power Of Data And Narrative Change, Kallie Bauer, Rachel Borashko

Research, Reports, and Publications

No abstract provided.

Andrews University To Screen "Backs Against The Wall: The Howard Thurman Story", Steve Yeagley

Andrews Agenda: Campus News

No abstract provided.

Leveraging The Power Of Mutual Aid, Coalitions, Leadership, And Advocacy During Covid-19, Daniela Domínguez, Dellanira García, David A. Martínez, Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga

Psychology

The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the norms, patterns, and power structures in the United States that privilege certain groups of people over others. This manuscript describes COVID-19 as an unprecedented catalyst for social transformation that underscores the need for multi-level and cross-sectoral solutions to address systemic changes to improve health equity for all. The authors propose that the American Psychological Association and its membership can initiate systemic change, in part, by: (a) supporting mutual aid organizations that prioritize the needs of vulnerable communities; (b) leveraging the efforts and strides APA psychologists have already made within the association, in …