Digital Commons Network^™

Integrative 3d Recording Methods Of Historic Architecture: Burg Hohenecken From Southwest Germany, Aaron C. Pattee

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

This research explores the methodology and application of photogrammetric and laser-scanning recording methods to a castle ruin, with the primary purpose of digitally preserving the castle. Both methods generated interactive 3D models via the combination of still images (photogrammetry) and precise laser measurements (laser-scanning), which were then combined into a single model. The case study is the medieval castle ruin Burg Hohenecken located in the city of Kaiserslautern in southwest Germany. The castle was active from 1212-1689, as one of over fifty castles within the region of the Pfalz. The inhabitants included the noble von Hoheneck family and various …

Geopolitics Of The 2016 Australian Defense White Paper And Its Predecessors, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Australia released the newest edition of its Defense White Paper, describing Canberra’s current and emerging national security priorities, on February 25, 2016. This continues a tradition of issuing defense white papers since 1976. This work will examine and analyze the contents of this document as well as previous Australian defense white papers, scholarly literature, and political statements assessing their geopolitical significance. It will also examine public input into Australian defense white papers and the emerging role of social media in this public involvement. It concludes by evaluating whether Australia has the political will and economic resources necessary to fulfill its …

Toxic Treasure Island: Finding Radium Instead Of Gold, Nicole Rejer

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

This presentation explores the Navy’s controversial use of radioactive materials in former decades on Treasure Island. It highlights the incomplete cleanup of contaminated soil and radioactive materials, and how current radiation measures are damaging to present-day residents’ health. Finally, it explains the city’s current plans for redeveloping the island, and how many public officials are ignoring the entire radiation problem, as long as other environmental issues Treasure Island residents face on a daily basis.

Totality And Infinity—Nationalism And The Face: An Ethnographic Exploration In The Republic Of Turkey And State Of Israel, Charles Phifer Nicholson Jr.

Student Scholarship

This paper argues that the historical roots and current manifestations of secular and religious nationalism in the Republic of Turkey and the State of Israel are well understood in light of Emmanuel Levinas’ concept of totality. Furthermore, as discovered through ethnographic research collected concerning the lived experiences of ethnic and religious minorities in these nations, it posits that the best response to these all-encompassing, exclusive worldviews is found in the reality of the human face, as conceptualized by Levinas in connection with his notion of infinity.

The foundation and primary source of this project is ethnographic research collected in the …

Program And Proceedings: Nebraska Academy Of Sciences 1880–2016, 136th Anniversary Year, One Hundred-Twenty-Sixth Annual Meeting

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

Program

Aeronautics and Space Science

Chemistry and Physics

Collegiate Academy: Biology

Earth Science

Biological and Medical Sciences

Anthropology

Collegiate Academy: Chemistry and Physics

Environmental Sciences

Aeronautics and Space Science, Poster Session

Maiben Memorial Lecture: Juliane Soukup, “Riboswitches Turn Students onto Research” Teaching of Science and Mathematics

Applied Science and Technology

History and Philosophy of Science

Identifying Terrorist Affiliations Through Social Network Analysis Using Data Mining Techniques, Govand A. Ali

Information Technology Master Theses

In a technologically enabled world, local ideologically inspired warfare becomes global all too quickly, specifically terrorist groups like Al Quaeda and ISIS (Daesh) have successfully used modern computing technology and social networking environments to broadcast their message, recruit new members, and plot attacks. This is especially true for such platforms as Twitter and encrypted mobile apps like Telegram or the clandestine Alrawi. As early detection of such activity is crucial to attack prevention data mining techniques have become increasingly important in the fight against the spread of global terrorist activity. This study employs data mining tools to mine Twitter for …

Untying The Knot: Child Marriage In Situations Of Armed Conflict, Jolena Zabel

Political Science Honors Projects

Child marriage is one of the largest global human rights concerns today; one in three girls worldwide under age eighteen are married, negatively impacting their health, economic wellbeing, and education. While studies have been done on child marriage outside of conflict and, separately, on gender-based violence in armed conflict, little is known about what happens to child marriage in situations of armed conflict. This paper argues that child marriage in situations of armed conflict has both cultural and economic drivers, as is the case outside of conflict. Using the case of Syria, it shows that the effects of conflict, including …

Belarus After Communism: Where To Now?, Preslav Mantchev

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper examines the political development of Belarus since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Attention is devoted to the country’s internal politics, along with its foreign relations. Especially scrutinized is the de-facto dictatorial rule of president Alexander Lukashenko, along with the deteriorated relations between Belarus and powerful European states including Russia. A thorough historical context is provided, which identifies political violence and demographic change as causal factors for the country’s current political environment.

United States Asia Strategy: Policy, Power, Pivot, Michael S. Montemalo

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

This paper is an assessment of contemporary United States strategy in the Asia-Pacific. It gives a background of United States grand strategy throughout history culminating with the 2012 Pivot to Asia designed and implemented by the Obama Administration, the Department of State, and the National Security Council. The Pivot to Asia will be viewed by assessing the hard and soft powers the United States has at its disposal as a means to further its national interests in the Asia-Pacific. Current cases focusing on Southeast Asia and East Asia will be used to assess the efficacy of the new strategy and …

Uncertainty And War Duration, Zachary C. Shirkey

Publications and Research

The article argues private information plays an important role in explaining long wars. Existing rationalist explanations of long, intensely fought wars focus on commitment problems rather than private information as the cause of such wars. Commitment problem explanations of long wars claim that while private information can explain short wars, battles and exchanges of offers for settlement should quickly reveal private information thereby leading to an early peace. Commitment problems, on the other hand, may take years to resolve and therefore can explain long, intense wars for unitary actors. However, while commitment problems are an important explanation for long wars, …

Strategic Insights: 2016 Campaign: National Security Debate, Army Implications, And Oversights, William G. Braun Iii

Articles & Editorials

No abstract provided.

Bystanders Or Pedagogues? Voter Preferences And Senator Voting Behavior, Steven M. Richardson

Theses and Dissertations

The recent political atmosphere in America has reflected a perceived lack of constituent representation in the political process leading to a volatile 2016 Presidential race. This paper examines voter preferences and their effect on senator voting behavior and finds that depending on the party, voter preferences have different levels of effect on Senators. Republicans struggle between meeting the demands of their more numerous moderate statewide constituency and their smaller yet more extreme core supporters which reflect contemporary attitudes expressed by conservative constituents and Republican candidates. Democrats do not suffer this problem, being mindful of their statewide constituency while being able …

Courage, Psychological Well-Being, And Somatic Symptoms, Christopher J. Keller

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between courage, psychological well-being (PWB), and somatic symptoms in an adult population. Courage is the ability to pursue goals or a purpose despite risk or fear. While courage has been shown to be associated with decreased mental health symptoms, little is known about health outcomes associated with courage. The hypotheses of this study were that higher reported levels of courage would predict lower reported somatic symptoms, and that PWB would account for significant variance in the relationship between courage and somatic symptoms. Participants, mean age 38, were given online surveys …

Combatting Biases: Illusory Imagery In Us News Coverage On Central American Immigration, Katharine Poor

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper comprises of original research and analysis of contemporary news media discourse surrounding Central American immigration in the United States. Subjects of study included more than 50 news articles, images, and videos from a variety of major politically-unaffiliated news outlets for English-speaking audiences. Rhetoric was analyzed in representations of the Central American immigration “crisis” that sparked a trend of media coverage in 2014, as well as several articles that covered events leading up to the “crisis.” Common rhetorical analogies ascertained through media analyses include the representation of immigrants as aliens, diseases, parasites, floods, criminals, natural disasters, terrorists, and drug …

Disrupt, Deny, Dismantle: A Special Operations Forces (Sof) Model For Combatting New Terrorism, Will Gunzelman

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Terrorism in the new millennium has morphed drastically since the 1970s. The terrorist organizations of today are a hybrid between the insurgent group models of the 1960s and modern terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda. This hybrid model has created what has become a transnational insurgency recruited, trained, and led by major terrorist networks such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Even smaller regional groups such as Boko Haram have surpassed merely conducting terrorist attacks. These smaller groups are also focused on controlling territory. Tan (2008) refers to this change as “New Terrorism”. To combat New …

A Conceptual Model Of Transfer Of Training Via Virtual Environments, Nathan A. Sonnenfeld, Matthew Meyers

Human Factors and Applied Psychology Student Conference

A Conceptual Model of Transfer of Training via Virtual Environments Sonnenfeld, N.A., & Meyers, M. Presentation

A review of Transfer of Training (ToT) literature over the last several decades reveals both significant advancements and gaps in our conceptualization of the transfer process and its contributing factors - especially in the domain of training via the use of virtual environments. Updating our current model of the transfer of training process is necessary to ensure adequate preparation for personnel operating in extreme environments - particularly for those training for small unit operations in dynamic environments for extended periods of time - such …

The Archaeology Of Appetites, Molly S. Schonert

SEWSA 2016 Intersectionality in the New Millennium: An Assessment of Culture, Power, and Society

Through use of examining how food is produced, stored, distributed and consumed, one can take a glimpse into the past, present and even future of this planet–to better understand the complexity of human identity and the social practices or roles that define an individual, community or society. So this begins an exploration of the archaeology of food as a gendered commodity throughout our evolutionary past, emphasizing the infinite ways in which foodway practices exceeds the nutritional value of what our ancestors, family, friends and ourselves consume(d) on a daily basis. Foodways practices is an invaluable tool in any archaeologists’ tool …

“Why So Serious?” Threat, Authoritarianism, And Depictions Of Crime, Law, And Order In Batman Films, Brandon Bosch

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Drawing on research on authoritarianism, this study analyzes the relationship between levels of threat in society and representations of crime, law, and order in mass media, with a particular emphasis on the superhero genre. Although the superhero genre is viewed as an important site of mediated images of crime and law enforcement, cultural criminologists have been relatively quiet about this film genre. In addressing this omission, I analyze authoritarian themes (with an emphasis on crime, law, and order) in the Batman film franchise across different periods of threat. My qualitative content analysis finds that authoritarianism themes of fear and need …

Acharya, Arabinda. Ten Years After 9/11: Rethinking The Jihadist Threat. London: Routledge, 2013., Abdul-Karim Khan Ph.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

Book review.

Ringmar, Erik. Liberal Barbarism: The European Destruction Of The Palace Of The Emperor Of China By Erik Ringmar, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013., Irmy Schweiger Ph.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

Book review.

The Tragedy Of The Search For Security, Charmaine Misalucha-Willoughby

Journal of International and Global Studies

Book review on:

• Francois Debrix and Alexander D. Barder. Beyond Biopolitics: Theory, Violence, and Horror in World Politics. London and New York: Routledge, 2012.
• Vivienne Jabri. The Postcolonial Subject: Claiming Politics/Governing Others in Late Modernity. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
• Daniel Rothbart, Karina V. Korostelina, and Mohammed D. Cherkaoui, eds. Civilians and Modern War: Armed Conflict and the Ideology of Violence. London and New York: Routledge, 2012.

The Effects Of Wealth On Male Reproduction Among Monogamous Hunter-Fisher-Trappers In Northern Siberia, John P. Ziker, David A. Nolin, Joellie Rasmussen

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Variability in men’s reproductive success (RS) is partly attributable to the ability of successful men to influence resource flows relevant to the mate choice and reproduction of women. This study explores the effects of variability in resource flows on men’s RS in an indigenous foraging/mixed-economy community in northern Siberia where monogamous marriage norms predominate. A series of material, embodied, and relational wealth indicators are tested as predictors of men’s age-adjusted RS and age at first birth. Material wealth related to hunting, embodied wealth as represented by hunting skill, and relational wealth as represented by numbers of kin are the most …

Reconciliation As A Form Of Cultural Catharsis: The Role Of Theater In Revitalizing Kosovo-Serbian Relations, Sarah Edwards

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The current state of Kosovo-Serbian relations is one of frozen conflict; Serbia does not recognize Kosovo independence and relations between the two communities are relatively stagnant in spite of the ongoing EU mediated political dialogue in Brussels. Thus, this paper aims to re-imagine traditional processes of reconciliation and conflict transformation between the two entities by situating it within the cultural realm of society and viewing theater as a transformative practice. In doing this, I ask in what ways theater can effectively engage with and foster processes of reconciliation between Kosovo and Serbia, while specifically analyzing two joint productions between Prishtina …

Instead Of Silence: Chinese Nicaraguans And The Formation Of Identity Across Two Cultures, Lisa Lee

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project studies the ways in which Chinese Nicaraguans have developed their identity while living in a country that is not their motherland. It investigates the divided history and experiences between the Chinese Nicaraguans that lived in the Atlantic coast and those that lived in the Pacific side. Also, it researches how the experiences of Taiwanese immigrants differed from those of the Chinese Nicaraguans who came from mainland China. By examining interviews done with Chinese Nicaraguans today, the essay will compile the long and unknown history of the Chinese Nicaraguans, as well as their many experiences of belonging and displacement …

Hanoians’ Experience: Suspending Moral Bias To Recognize Human Dimensions Of War, Maggie Norsworthy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Talking about, and learning lessons from The American War in Vietnam can be a process whose genuine engagement requires a suspension—even if temporary—of moral and cultural biases that are embedded in the Western mindset. This research project is one that composes military strategy, government rhetoric, and very human accounts of war in Vietnam in order to understand how people in Hanoi experience and talk about war, with an ultimate aim of making some of these stories and lessons digestible to a Western audience.

My findings discuss some key components of the North Vietnamese mindset towards the American War in Vietnam: …

Isis & Eschatology: Apocalyptic Motivations Behind The Formation And Development Of The Islamic State, Matthew Henry Musselwhite

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The goal of this thesis was to analysis the Islamic State’s apocalyptic nature by studying both classic Islamic eschatology and the Islamic State’s online magazine Dabiq. In order to conduct this research, I separated my thesis into two separate angles of approach. The first angle (chapters one & two) exclusively looked at Islamic eschatology, classic apocalyptic texts, shifts in how literature was written over time, and on examples of modern messianic revolutions occurring. In this way, I attempted to emphasize how extra-Qur’anic texts have played a large part in providing details for what Islamic eschatology entails. I also looked at …

Entrapment As A Threat To Community Peace In The Global War On Terror: An Analysis Of Discourse In Local Press, Priya Kapoor, Adam Testerman, Alex Brehm

International & Global Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Our study tries to understand the phenomenon of Entrapment, which is an outcome of (a) security discourses that prioritize pre-emptive community strategies; (b) the ongoing military initiative of the Global War of Terror (GWOT); and (c) and the increased budgetary convergence of state agencies of the National Security Agency (NSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the military, impacting the legal and court processes that indict “homegrown” terrorists. We offer a critical discourse analysis of the events that led to the arrest and trial of Mohamed Osman Mohamud, covered in local newspapers The Oregonian and The Willamette Week, after …

Trauma And Recovery In Post-Conflict Northern Uganda: An Analysis Of Trauma And Its Effects On The Family, Shelby Logan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Trauma in Northern Uganda stems from the atrocities that occurred during the Lord’s Resistance Army conflict. Because of this, thousands of victims were left traumatized by their experiences with disparities in aid to help them with their trauma. Utilizing the rural and urban areas in Kitgum and Gulu Municipality, this research seeks to understand how trauma presents itself in the Northern Uganda region and how it is defined by the population who treat it. This includes a list of disorders resulting from trauma and their symptoms. In addition, the efforts towards trauma healing and recovery are analyzed, including the different …

Wright State University Magazine, Spring 2016, Office Of Marketing, Wright State University

Wright State University Magazine

Thirty-six page issue of the Wright State University Magazine. This magazine is published twice a year and focuses on news related to Wright State alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of the university.

Global Economic Expansion And The Prevalence Of Militarized Interstate Disputes, Lucas Hahn

Honors Projects in Economics

Over the past several decades the entire world has experienced both the positive and negative effects of globalization. The question that this report will address is whether or not global economic expansion has led to a decline in the prevalence of militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) and what factors influence the prevalence of MIDs. This report will take an in-depth look at Thomas Friedman’s “Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention”. It also includes a quantitative analysis in which regression techniques were used to see how different economic factors influence the prevalence of MIDs, while also introducing a previously unused independent variable …