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The Cowl - V. 88 N. 13 - February 6, 2025

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 88 No. 13 - February 6, 2025. 16 pages.

Aviation Maintenance Technicians’ Perceptions Of Safety Management System Implementation At Maintenance, Repair, And Overhaul Facilities, Stanley Matthew Losiewicz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A safety management system (SMS) is challenging for an aviation maintenance facility and even more significant for the aviation maintenance technicians (AMTs) entrusted to perform the work due to organizational, methodological, and consistency issues. The incorporation of an SMS is new in the United States for maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facilities that operate under the Code of Federal Regulations Part 145. AMTs constitute the bulk of the workers in an MRO. By default, a safety culture and safety consciousness existed in MROs prior to an SMS, and this study was conducted to understand the perceptions of the AMTs in …

Reflections On Using A Strength-Based Culturally Sensitive Community Psychology Approach To Promoting Sexual Health Of Egyptian Women And Girls, Salma Elhabashi, Farida Elrefaie, Zeina M. Shahine

The Undergraduate Research Journal

Navigating the intricate landscape of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) poses considerable challenges, especially within societies where the discourse is shaped by deeply rooted traditions and cultural norms. This paper examines a research project aimed at addressing the critical gap in dialogue surrounding women's SRH in Egypt. Adopting a community psychology framework, this project has two components: a mother-daughter communication guidebook and a comprehensive needs assessment survey. The guidebook was designed to facilitate discussions during the critical transitional phase of puberty, and the needs assessment survey aimed to understand the distinct needs of Egyptian women using a strengths-based approach. By …

Socioeconomic Determinants Of Health And Well-Being In A Low Resource Setting: A Case Of Older Adults Living In A Rural Setting In Northwestern Cambodia, Kakada Kuy

Brown School Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the associations between socioeconomic factors, and physical and psychological well-being among older adults in Cambodia. Focusing on subjective and objective socioeconomic status (SES) and the mediating roles of social and welfare support, this dissertation consists of three interrelated chapters that address different facets of the relationships. Paper 1 (Chapter 2) investigates the demographic characteristics, socioeconomic factors, and social support structures among older Cambodians. Findings reveal significant gender and age disparities, with women and the oldest adults more likely to experience lower socioeconomic status and weaker social support. Paper 2 (Chapter 3) explores the associations between subjective and …

Predictors Of Older Adults' Confidence In Avoiding Drug Interactions, Ginalynn Cabanas Garces

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Adverse drug interactions due to polypharmacy pose a significant global health concern, particularly for older adults. Age-related physiological changes increase vulnerability to medication-related issues, with adverse drug reactions often mistaken for normal aging. These misdiagnoses can lead to prescribing cascades and preventable harm. Despite evidence supporting comprehensive medication reviews and clinical guidelines, their application remains inconsistent across healthcare settings. This quantitative archival analysis aimed to identify critical risk factors—such as age, sex, race, education level, medication complexity, drug interaction discussions, number of prescriptions, and overall physical and mental health—that influence older adults’ confidence in avoiding drug interactions. Grounded in the …

Culture And Attachment Preference Among Young Adults In Egypt And The United States, Musheera Anis Abdellatif

School of Education Faculty Publications

We explored the relationship between cultural values, recollected early caregiving experiences and young adult attachment preference. Young adults in Egypt (N = 209) and the United States (N = 554) ranked their current attachment preference, rated their collectivist and individualist beliefs, and recalled the relative contributions of their early caregivers. Egyptian students scored higher than US students on collectivism and recalled more involvement from non-parental caregivers. Most participants reported a preference hierarchy (82% Egypt & 84% US). Surprisingly, individualism was negatively associated with maternal attachment ratings and with having a clear principal attachment relationship, whereas higher collectivism predicted …

Displaced: An Ethnography Of Language And Identity Loss, Ariel Caroline Wilsey-Gopp

Dissertations and Theses

Through ethnography and personal narrative, I explore the language and identity loss of one person, my father, in order to understand the complex issues surrounding the effects of symbolic and structural violence on language and identity development. Through personal narrative, fieldwork, and interviews, I tell the story of one person, born in wartime during Nazi occupied Serbia, and follow the guiding questions: how does language get lost and what are the effects? Drawing on methodology set forth by empirical ethnographical work as well as more recent theory around epigenetics and trauma, my research synthesizes into focus three pillars of understanding …

Lanthorn, Vol. 59, No. 11, January 20, 2025, Grand Valley State University

Volume 59, August 5, 2024 – April 14, 2025

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

"I'Ll Just Say It's Been A Racist Process": The Power Dynamics Within And Outside Diversity Requirement Classrooms At A Minority-Serving Institution, Kazusa Seko

Dissertations and Theses

U.S. higher educational institutions have increasingly implemented diversity requirements; however, institutional power dynamics during the implementation process and in a classroom after the implementation should be more highlighted. This study aims to understand the implementation of a diversity requirement during the implementation process and faculty and student experiences within required diversity courses at Portland State University (PSU) by analyzing one-on-one semi-structured interviews. PSU is a minority-serving educational institution that implemented a diversity requirement, the Race and Ethnic Studies Requirement (RESR), in Fall 2022. These data are analyzed through Critical Race Theory (CRT) lenses--introducing Okun's (2021) white supremacy culture in an …

Volume 37-1 Complete Issue, C. Nicholas Raphael

The Geographical Bulletin

Volume 37-1 Complete Issue

Place And Cultural Identity Among Guatemalan Indians: "The Fragility Of Goodness", Edward Davis

The Geographical Bulletin

Place experience may be more important to culture groups in war-torn and impoverished countries than to those in stable, developed regions. There is evidence from diverse sources that place experiences are directly relevant to the distinct Indian identities found within Guatemala's western highlands. Individual municipios often are distinct in their clothing, language and attachment to the land. A rereading of ethnographies gathered during the last few decades, along with new survey data, suggest that place and identity are strongly linked, possibly in part as a response to a history of violence and oppression in the region.

An Approach To Estimate Angling Effort, Catch, And Harvest Of Burbot Lota Lota, Collin J. Mitchell

Biology Graduate Theses

Once commonly thought of as a nuisance, Burbot Lota lota are now being frequently targeted by anglers in Minnesota. However, the amount of angling effort directed at Burbot, the distribution of effort, catch, and harvest are unknown. Historically, creel surveys have been used to estimate angling effort, catch, and harvest. Additionally, digital cameras have been used independently and supplementally to estimate angling effort, catch, and harvest. In this study, we estimate angling effort, catch, and harvest of Burbot using creel survey techniques and motion-activated digital cameras on Bad Medicine Lake, Minnesota, while also investigating and exploring the limitations of these …

Laina Farhat-Holzman: Distinguished Iscsc Author, Incisive Thinker, Fearless Commentator, Innovative Leader, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

It is a sad duty to report that a luminary who was long associated with this journal and with the leadership of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman, has died.

Himmelfarb Headlines - February/March 2025, The George Washington University, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

Himmelfarb Headlines (2009 - present)

News, information, and resources relating to Himmelfarb Library that is of interest to patrons.

The Impact Of Working With Forced Migrants In The Context Of Graduate Research Training, Alfonso Mercado, Frances R. Morales, Amanda Palomin, Andy U. Torres, Amanda Venta

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Researchers, including graduate students, who work with refugees and asylum seekers are exposed to narratives of torture, trauma, loss, and distress. This article features the testimonies of the authors as doctoral students and mental health researchers-in-training—as well as their supervisors—regarding their research with the immigrant community in an underserved area on the Texas U.S.–Mexico border, a popular migratory entry point for Central American immigrants seeking asylum in the United States. This article aimed to bear witness to the emotional impact that working with forced migrants may have on researchers by describing the experiences of doctoral students conducting research with asylum …

When College Is Not Working Out: Obstacles To Community College Completion, Elisabeth Lackner

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation investigates what contributes to low community college completion rates, what college interventions may be working to support students, what are the experiences of the students, and how did the COVID-19 pandemic impact these dynamics. I am guided by the assumption that multi-dimensional inequalities including low level of social capital constitute a cumulative disadvantage for many students to be able to persist and to graduate. The dissertation includes quantitative and qualitative data types measuring inequalities outside and inside of college with two large student record data sets from one minority-serving open-access public community college and data from a student …

Constructing A Parameterized Stimuli Space Suitable To Induce Controlled Changes In Human And Machine Perceptual Systems, Andrew Frankel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Traditional computer vision applications focus on objective tasks, such as object detection, classification, or segmentation. Much of human experience is inherently subjective, such as our personal response to artwork. Individualized experiences are challenging to replicate in a controlled laboratory environment, as those experiences depend on the unique history and internal models of the observer. This work presents a technique to construct a 2-dimensional parameterized stimuli space suitable to induce controlled changes in the perceptual systems of both human and machine observers. Our contributions are threefold:

1. Using a balanced dataset of 8,800 fine art images spanning 11 art movements and 88 …

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Characterizing The Nutrition-Gut Microbiome-Host Physiology Axis To Examine Flexibility In A Fruit-Specialist Primate, Nina Beeby

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Nutrition and, increasingly, microbiota are recognized in shaping all aspects of animal behavioral ecology and physiology. Since diet and nutrition shape not only animal physiology but also gut microbiota, and these microbiota serve as suppliers of and competitors to host nutrition, this raises questions of how these complex nutritional and microbial environments synergistically affect animal physiology. Examining this nutrition-gut microbiome-host physiology axis has immense potential to unveil how these intricate relationships contribute to animals’ responses to environmental change at multiple scales. Most of what we know about primate responses to environmental change is based upon studies examining one or few …

Quantified Lives: Data, Bias, And The Cost Of Categorization, Colin F. Geraghty

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project critically examines how statistical methods and data visualization have historically been used to categorize, rank, and control human populations. By exploring the works of key figures like Francis Galton, Karl Pearson, and R.A. Fisher, it traces the evolution of categorization frameworks from their eugenic roots to modern applications in artificial intelligence and global metrics like the World Happiness Report. Through interactive visualizations and historical analysis, the project invites users to question the legitimacy of these frameworks and reflect on their impact on society. At its core, this work emphasizes the need to move beyond rigid classification systems, challenging …

Chatgpt Didn’T Write This: Evaluating The Impact Of Llms With A Case Study In Grading Cuny Language Immersion Program Student Essays, Benjamin Inbar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study evaluates the capabilities and limitations of large language models (LLMs), specifically OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o, in grading essays from students in the City University of New York’s Language Immersion Program. The program serves English language learners with diverse linguistic and demographic backgrounds, offering intensive language instruction to prepare students for academic success in college. Using a dataset of 30 pre- and post-program essays scored by program instructors and ChatGPT-4o under three paradigms, this research explores the alignment between human and AI-generated scores across five rubric-based competency areas. Findings reveal that ChatGPT-4o aligns moderately with human grading, with the strongest agreement …

Mad At The System: The Mental Health Act Uk: Power And Control Of Racialized Women, Maithreyi Rajeshkumar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Whilst experiences of madness are multiple, fluid and multi-dimensional across spiritual and collective dimensions globally, the categorization and regulation of ‘madness’ have direct foundations in European colonial-capitalist-patriarchal frameworks, policies and systems. This work focuses on the institutions and structures of power, turning UK legislation and those who are trying to reform or change it, into objects of study. A particular piece of United Kingdom legislation is the primary case study for this work – the Mental Health Act 1983 which covers the rights, assessment and treatment of people diagnosed with a ‘mental disorder’. Women, who are detained under this Act …

Perceptual Complexity As Normalized Shannon Entropy, Norberto M. Grzywacz

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Complexity is one of the most important variables in how the brain performs decision making based on esthetic values. Multiple definitions of perceptual complexity have been proposed, with one of the most fruitful being the Normalized Shannon Entropy one. However, the Normalized Shannon Entropy definition has theoretical gaps that we address in this article. Focusing on visual perception, we first address whether normalization fully corrects for the effects of measurement resolution on entropy. The answer is negative, but the remaining effects are minor, and we propose alternate definitions of complexity, correcting this problem. Related to resolution, we discuss the ideal …

Earliest Ancient Maya Salt Production In Southern Belize: Excavations At Jay-Yi Nah, Heather Mckillop, E. Cory Sills

Faculty Publications

Salt works along the Yucatan coasts of Mexico and Belize provide a record of salt production for inland trade during the height of Late Classic Maya civilisation (AD 550-800). At the Paynes Creek Salt Works in Belize, production focused on the creation of salt cakes by boiling brine in pots supported over fires in dedicated salt kitchens. Underwater excavations at the Early Classic (AD 250-550) site of Jay-yi Nah now indicate there was a longer and evolving tradition of salt making in the area, one that initially employed large, incurved bowls to meet local or down-the-line trade needs before inland …

Racial Powers, Talhah Mustafa

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation will be divided into three papers that in some way considers the concept of racial powers. The concept of racial power is under-researched and presupposed in the Philosophy of Race literature. Many arguments in this field seem premature without a general understanding of racial powers. The first paper fills that gap by introducing and defending the view that racial powers are possessed in virtue of one’s race or perceived race.

In the second paper, I consider Chike Jeffers’ cultural constructionist account of race. The nature of race is complex, requiring nuanced consideration. Chike Jeffers’ cultural constructionist may seem …

The Rise Of China And The Concept Of Civilization: Constructing A Conceptual Apparatus For Cross-Civilizational Comparisons, Liah Greenfeld

Comparative Civilizations Review

The Rise of China and the Concept of Civilization: Constructing a Conceptual Apparatus for Cross-Civilizational Comparisons

The paper examines the deficiencies of the current understanding of “civilization” in the social science literature, among others exemplified by “civilizational analysis,” and proposes a new concept that adds to the conceptual apparatus of sociological theory — a new, fully independent of others, variant of the cultural process. This independence makes distinctions between civilizations as the root cause of socio-cultural diversity.

Combined with the idea of humanity as a culturally constituted reality sui generis, this concept allows the construction of the theoretical scaffolding …

Examining The Role Of Executive Functioning In Self-Care Of Type 1 Diabetes Among Youth, Erin Vogel

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

This study explores the relationships between youth executive functioning, symptoms of depression, the self-management (self-care) of Type 1 diabetes (T1D), and glycemic control, a proxy for diabetes-related health outcomes. Utilizing archival clinical data from a universityaffiliated pediatric diabetes clinic, the study tested a priori hypothesized associations between depressive symptoms, executive functioning, diabetes self-care, and health outcomes. Parent and youth measures included the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 to assess youth depression, the Diabetes Related Executive Functioning Scale-Short Form to assess youth executive functioning, and the Diabetes Self-Management Profile-Short Form to assess youth diabetes-related self-care behaviors. Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) assays were a secondary …

Assessing Vegetation Changes And Ecosystem Impacts Of Invasive Species In Florida's Water Conservation Area 3a (2004–2024) Using Landsat Data, Gideon Tandoh

Research, Papers & Creative Work

The spread of invasive species is a concrete problem, threatening biodiversity, ecosystem integrity, and the functional status of wetlands. As these species continue to advance, it is crucial to assess their spread as well as management success through the more sophisticated invasive monitoring methodologies. This research examines the change in vegetation communities and the spread of invasive plants in the Water Conservation Area 3A (WCA-3A) using Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers on time series Landsat images. Unlike traditional pixel-based methods, OBIA enhances classification accuracy by incorporating spatial, spectral, and contextual information, enabling precise differentiation between …

The Guardian The Month Of February 2025, Wright State Student Body

The Guardian Student Newspaper

News articles from The Guardian for the Month of February 2025. The Guardian is the official student-run newspaper for Wright State University. It has been published regularly since March of 1965.

A Benjaminian Rumination Of Grasses And Tomatoes In Contemporary Anatolian Film, Ceren Izci

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis interprets the intersection of history, ecology, and politics through two contemporary Anatolian films: Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grasses and Murat Fıratoğlu’s One of These Days When Hemme Dies. We focus on the films’ portrayal of social relations and relationships to other living beings through interpreting the temporal layers and historical tensions present in the plots of the films. We introduce the paper by pondering over the question of whether these films are political. Drawing on Walter Benjamin’s concepts of “first nature” and “second nature”, the first chapter introduces the philosophical framework for understanding the connection between …

Does Treatment Setting In Ati Matter? An Examination Of Completion Rates And The Role Of Violent Charges Among Individuals With Co-Occurring Disorders, George J. Anderson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Despite the proliferation of alternatives to incarceration (ATI) for individuals with co-occurring disorders in recent decades, little is known about comparative styles of treatment used in this context. The following study uses data from a case management service in a large urban city (n=273) where several types of treatment are utilized in the ATI landscape. Specifically, this study compares ATI completion rates and time to completion or failure for several styles of treatment: clinic-based outpatient, residential, assertive community treatment (ACT) and personalized recovery-oriented services (PROS) programs. Results of a logistic regression indicate that individuals initially referred to residential treatment had …