Digital Commons Network^™

What’S In A Map?: Evaluating Mapping Techniques And Measures Of Culture To Inform Equitable Cultural Planning In Dallas, Texas, Kena Nicol

Planning Masters Professional Reports

The City of Dallas developed a neighborhood typology map to assess cultural resource distribution as part of its 2018 Cultural Plan, representing a relatively new approach that remains underexplored in academic literature. In the same plan, stakeholders identified equity as a central value, highlighting the need for tools that better support equitable cultural planning. This study evaluates the outcomes of two mapping techniques–cultural asset mapping and opportunity mapping – to examine how each represents cultural resource distribution across Dallas and supports equity-oriented analysis. Cultural asset mapping, the standard approach in cultural planning, identifies the spatial distribution of physical cultural infrastructure. …

The Ramifications Of German Ostpolitik: How Germany’S Foreign Policy Influenced The Russia-Ukraine Conflict, John Aton

Senior Theses

German Ostpolitik, established during the Cold War, was the main foreign policy of Germany emphasizing international cooperation and diplomatic engagement with Russia. As the Russia-Ukraine conflict remains active, the challenges of this particular foreign policy’s adoption are evident within certain actions and decisions Germany made in the pursuit of mutual cooperation with Russia. By conducting a thorough analysis of the historical events in German Ostpolitik’s formation and its security policy, while assessing Germany’s leap for economic interdependence alongside Russia, this paper reveals a troubling dynamic where certain actions taken under the doctrine of German Ostpolitik influenced Germany to misjudge and …

Living Archaeology: A Comparative Perspective On How Archaeologists Can Study And Document The Present, Alia S. Moran

Honors Capstones

Archaeology has long remained a social science that has tended to exclude sustained consideration of contemporary societies in the analysis of material culture. In recent decades, approaches such as ethnoarchaeology and the archaeology of the contemporary have expanded the field to include the study of present-day societies through material culture. Inspired by my involvement in the Thais in Illinois Project, which focused on documenting the Thai American immigrant experience in the greater Chicago area to produce an oral history collection, alongside other goals, this thesis intends to further explore how archaeological practice can be used to understand everyday issues in …

The Effects Of Misinformation And Source Credibility On False Recall In College Students, Ashlee Smolenski

Honors Capstones

Eyewitness testimony if often treated as strong evidence in legal systems, yet psychological research consistently shows that memory is not a perfect recording of events. Instead, memory is reconstructive and vulnerable to distortion. The present study examined whether exposure to misleading post-event information and differences in perceived source credibility would influence false recall in college students. Using a 2 x 2 factorial design, participants watched a brief video of a car accident and later received either misleading or neutral questions presented by a high credibility (police officer) or low credibility (elderly man) source. It was predicted that misinformation would decrease …

In The Era Of The Smartphone: The Case For The Continued Role Of Mnemonics As Cognitive Scaffolds That Support Encoding, Working Memory Efficiency, And Rapid Cue-Dependent Retrieval, James Espinosa, Alan Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: The ubiquity of smartphones and point-of-care digital references has prompted questions regarding the continued relevance of mnemonic devices in medical education. If information can be instantly retrieved, is memorization—and by extension mnemonic structure—still necessary? Objective: To reframe mnemonics not as relics of pre-digital pedagogy, but as cognitive scaffolds that support encoding, working memory efficiency, and rapid cue-dependent retrieval in time-pressured clinical environments. Discussion: Cognitive science demonstrates that working memory remains inherently limited regardless of technological access. Mnemonics function as structured chunks that reduce cognitive load, support pattern recognition, and facilitate transition from novice encoding to expert automaticity. In emergency …

Helping Waldo (The Poster) Be Found: Teaching Search Literacy, Discoverability And Search Engine Optimization As Core Scholarly Skills In Graduate Medical Education, James Espinosa, Alan Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: In modern academic medicine, trainees are taught how to search the biomedical literature but rarely taught how to structure their own scholarly work so that it can be discovered. This creates a diffusion gap in which high‑quality educational innovations, case reports, and operational insights remain difficult to locate despite being presented or archived.

Objective: To propose a concise educational module that teaches residents the principles of search literacy and scholarly discoverability.

Methods: A conceptual curriculum framework was developed drawing on literature from information science, medical education, and diffusion theory. The module introduces the paired competencies of 'Finding Waldo' (literature …

Sharing Research Posters With The World: Clinical Education Posters Can Demonstrate Global Diffusion And Conceptual Portability--Evidence From Readership Maps, James Espinosa, Alan Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background

Traditional academic metrics emphasize citation counts and journal impact factors as measures of scholarly influence. These metrics often overlook the early and informal diffusion of ideas across global clinical communities. Educational posters and case-based teaching materials frequently circulate through digital repositories, yet little attention has been paid to how readership analytics may illuminate patterns of knowledge diffusion across healthcare systems.

Objective

To explore the concept of conceptual portability and to introduce readership mapping as a framework for understanding how clinical ideas travel across diverse global contexts.

Methods

We examined readership analytics from an institutional digital repository hosting clinical posters …

Do International Alumni Give Differently? A Study On The Alumni Philanthropic Perspective Of Trust And Key Relational Factors Affecting Attitude Towards Giving, John Held

Dissertations

Philanthropy plays a key role in the funding of institutions of higher education. Previous research has focused on domestic populations, exploring the antecedents and elements of philanthropy in higher education. The literature has yet to examine differences in these elements between domestic and international, or distance extremes, amongst alumni populations. This study investigates the perceptions and motivating factors influencing alumni who experience significant geographic separation from their Higher Education Institution (HEI) and their philanthropic support for their alma mater. The conceptual model includes factors at the organization-to-organization, person-to-organization, and person-to-person levels and their moderating effects on the relationship between trust …

Music And Movement For Individuals With Parkinson's Disease, Jordan Butler

The Corinthian

Parkinson’s disease, affecting approximately 10 million people worldwide, causes deficits in fine motor function, speech, and movement, as well as many other secondary symptoms, such as depression (Parkinson’s Foundation, 2020, para. 1). Past researchers have outlined many different studies and interventions regarding Parkinson’s and the effects of various types of music therapy (Andrejeva et al., 2019; Bukowska et al., 2016; Tamplin et al., 2019; Thaut, Rice, Braun Janzen, Hurt-Thaut, & McIntosh, 2019; Zhang, Liu, Ye, Li, & Chen, 2017). This review includes numerous ways that music therapy has benefited, and assisted people diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Vocal practices, auditory stimulation, and …

Growing Up, Going Abroad: A Thematic Analysis Of Cultural Upbringing, Tolerance For Uncertainty, And In-Group/Out-Group Communication, Kristiana Krasteva

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines Study Abroad as a process shaped by students’ responses to uncertainty, rather than as an inherently transformative experience. Drawing on Identity Negotiation Theory, Social Identity Theory, and Uncertainty Reduction Theory, it explores how cultural socialization influences students’ tolerance for uncertainty and, in turn, their patterns of communication and social engagement abroad. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 students who had recently completed a semester abroad, and data were analyzed through a thematic analysis. Findings indicate that students tend to reproduce or extend pre-existing patterns of socialization, rather than fundamentally change them. In-group reliance emerged as a strategic …

Trauma, Memory, And Decision-Making: How Covid-19 Shaped Autobiographical Memories And Risky Decision-Making In Young Adults, Rachel Seo

Student Theses

Autobiographical memory is a critical component of the memory process that guides future behaviors by relying on past personal experiences connected to major public events. This decision-making process is heavily influenced by trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, as they may guide individuals to riskier behaviors. The COVID-19 pandemic represents a global traumatic stressor that contributed to shifts in behavioral outcomes post-pandemic. Despite research showing associations between memory accessibility, traumatic symptoms, and decision-making, there is limited research on health-related behaviors and post-pandemic behavioral outcomes in individuals with high trauma exposure specifically from the pandemic. The present study investigates …

Propasafe-Hybrid: A Text-Based Hybrid Propaganda Detection Tool, Thomas Kimmeth, Avijit Roy, Vivek Sharma

Publications and Research

Propagandistic content increasingly circulates through online news and social media, where readers often encounter it with limited scrutiny, highlighting the need for reliable and fine-grained detection. This paper introduces Propasafe-Hybrid, a sentence-level system that integrates a fine-tuned transformer classifier with LLM-based technique classification to identify, label, and explain specific propaganda strategies. The pipeline generates actionable outputs, including highlighted sentences, technique assignments, and concise rationales, so users can immediately understand why a sentence was flagged and how each label was determined. To control inference cost, Propasafe-Hybrid employs a cost-aware pre-filtering stage that forwards only high-likelihood sentences to LLMs, reducing token usage …

Transforming Experience Into Practice: A Portfolio Of Growth, Identity, And Leadership, Ana I. Loli

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This professional portfolio documents the integration of my academic learning, practicum experience, and personal transformation throughout the Master of Social Work program at the University of Montana. Drawing from trauma‑informed, anti-oppressive, and culturally responsive frameworks, I demonstrate competency across micro, mezzo, and macro levels of practice, with particular emphasis on ethical decision-making, ADEI engagement, community assessment, policy analysis, research-informed practice, and collaborative leadership. Through narrative reflections and applied artifacts—including case analyses, simulated clinical sessions, community-based research, organizational evaluation, and leadership implementation—I illustrate how meaning, context, power, history, and possibility shape my approach to social work. This portfolio highlights my development …

The Moderating Effects Of Body-Mind-Spirit Well-Being On The Relationship Between Diabetes Self-Efficacy And Type 2 Diabetes Self-Management, Carly Snodgrass

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Exploring Child Trafficking Survivors' Experiences: Support, Revictimization, And Justice Institutions, Max Lubin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Institutionalization Of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, And Accessibility In California Community Colleges, Kristin Lui-Martinez

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office accomplished system change using regulatory power to institutionalize diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) into Education Code. This qualitative research study investigated the origins and intention of the regulations that added DEIA competency criteria into employee evaluations and faculty tenure review through document analysis. The study also used interviews to examine the faculty perceptions of the regulations and understand how faculty supported or resisted the regulations. Applying critical policy analysis and Felix’s (2021) multicontextual implementation framework, this study examined three main questions: (a) how did the California Community College Chancellor’s Office collaborate and engage …

Lineup Construction Strategies In The Presence Of Within-Person Variability, Abbey M. Greenfield

Student Theses

Photographic lineups are used more frequently than live lineups, but photographs are not always reliable representations of a person’s appearance. Oftentimes, images used in lineups are drawn from mug books, passports, and driver’s license photographs—which may be outdated. As a result, even when a culprit is correctly identified for inclusion in a lineup, the photograph used may differ significantly from their appearance during the event due to natural changes in appearance (Jenkins et al., 2011). Further, the degree of suspect-filler similarity sufficient to achieve optimal discriminability remains a topic of debate (Fitzgerald et al., 2013). We examined the impact differing …

Racial Differences In Voter Turnout: Evidence From The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, Harrison G. Kundahl, Elena M. Warner

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

How does race impact voter turnout in the 2020 U.S. presidential election? Existing research shows that political participation depends on access to resources and civic skills, while institutional barriers such as voter identification laws can disproportionately affect racial minorities. However, less attention has been given to whether these disparities persist at the individual level when accounting for other relevant factors. We argue that racial minority groups, particularly Hispanic and non-Hispanic “other” respondents, are less likely to vote than White (non-Hispanic) respondents in the 2020 presidential election. To test this argument, we use individual-level data from the ANES 2020–2022 Social Media …

Interpreting American Sign Language: A Literature Review Of Assistive Technologies, Natalie Louise Paradiso, Emma Grace Kochenderfer

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

American Sign Language (ASL) is a visually elaborate, spatially oriented linguistic methodology that relies on combinations of hand movements, body positioning, facial expressions, and motion/spatial perception, aspects of which make interpretation difficult for automated machine recognition. Current assistive technology approaches to ASL interpretation are generally within the categories of computer vision models (including deep learning, multi-focus image fusion, and keypoint tracking) and wearable, multimodal/sensor-based approaches (such as smart glasses and inertial-sensor gloves). Within controlled environments, computer vision models perform well. However, when applied to conditions such as non-manual signs/features, signer variability, and rapid assimilation, they falter in processing all aspects …

Trust In Mainstream Elites And Right-Wing Voting Among Young Voters: A Comparative Study Of Germany And The United States Since 2016, Samantha Parrish

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This study examines how trust in mainstream elites influences the likelihood that young voters (ages 18-25) support right-wing parties in Germany and the United States. While existing research links declining trust in political elites to the rise of populist and right-wing support, less attention has been given to the relationship among young voters. This project addresses that gap by analyzing whether discrust in elite independently drives right-wing voting or whether it interacts with other potential attitudes. I argue that lower trust in mainstream elites increases the likelihood that younger voters will support right-wing parties, but this relationship is also shaped …

Ai Is Taking Over!: A New Generation Of Unemployment Fears, Amaya V. Hepburn

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The growing panic surrounding AI taking over the workforce is strong in a distinct group of demographics, in contrast to the fear of computers taking over the workforce that was seen in previous generations. This suggests that AI developments have sparked a wave of fear that is unlike the fear of tech developments in the past. I have discovered that this fear is prevalent across several demographics: age, employment, and income. By cross-analyzing through the 2017 and 2025 fear surveys, I discovered that fear of AI is more prevalent in younger generations and is more threatening to students entering the …

The Marginal Sexual Equality Game: Defining The Incentives For Sexual Equality Using Economic Game Theory And Butler’S Gender Trouble, Blaise Bowers

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This project takes an interdisciplinary economic and gender studies approach to explain subversion, sexual equality, and the marginal nature of sexual rights. The project uses advanced economic game theory to derive the Marginal Sexual Equality Game Formula. The formula explains the various political-economic incentives for a minority gender/sexual identity’s subversion of dominance, a dominant sex's incentive to suppress, the impact of cooperation versus division among minority genders/sexual identities, incentives and impacts of cooperation between sects of minority genders/sexual identities and the dominant gender/sexual identity, and the various consequences of various social mobility and elasticity. Additionally, the formula proves and showcases …

Raised To Hold Firm: Authoritarian Child-Rearing Values And Opposition To Political Compromise, Morgan Romine

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This research project examines how at-home values might explain an individual's view on political compromise. Using the 2024 American National Election Studies (ANES) survey data, I study the relationship between authoritarian child-rearing preferences and support for political compromise. While existing research has linked authoritarian values to attitudes such as prejudice and support for strong leaders, less attention has been paid to how those same values shape attitudes toward political negotiation. My hypothesis is that people who prioritize obedience, respect, and good manners over independence and curiosity in children reflect broader goals toward order and stability, and that those preferences translate …

Alone And Radicalized: The Hidden Link Between Isolationism And Political Violence, Zaina Siddiqui

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

As some socially isolated individuals come to view political violence as legitimate, what exactly draws the line towards political extremism? My findings examine the relationship between loneliness, social marginalization, and support for political violence through psychological theories on radicalization. Using Chapman University’s American Fear Survey Wave 11, I examined the correlation between isolationism and a sense of belonging, with the latter leading to support for political violence and extremism. The project contributes to research on political extremism by focusing on loneliness as a loss of belonging and personal significance rather than on ideology or pathology alone. In my research, I …

“Sink Or Swim” : Autonomy And Hustle Culture As Products Of Negotiations Between Restaurant Servers And Restaurant Structure, Coco Ridge

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Industrial and white-collar work has been thoroughly examined as exploitative and alienating in the sociological study of work. As the nature of work rapidly evolves, service work has emerged as the dominant sector of the economy. The literature identifies significant structural differences in service work, which complicate the historical understanding of workers’ experiences. Existing food service ethnographies have found that workers ultimately experienced autonomy in their work across varying conditions. I seek to examine how restaurant servers experience their work within the restaurant structure. This ethnography examines a large brewery in Orange County, CA, drawing on four months of detailed …

Information Exposure And Vote Choice: The Role Of Social Media In The 2020 U.S. Election, Brooke Beardsley

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

How does social media use affect vote choice during the 2020 election in the United States? Research shows that social media can shape political attitudes and behaviors by increasing exposure to political information and like-minded communities. However, much of the recent literature focuses on specific platforms or broader political participation, leaving open the question of how much social media use influences party vote choice. I argue that individuals who use social media platforms such as Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram are more likely to support Democratic candidates than individuals who do not use these platforms. To test this argument, I used …

Beyond Clicktivism: Analyzing The Most Effective Forms Of Civic Engagement, Charlotte Grace Iribarren

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Civic engagement is not only characterized by voting, it can take the form of protesting for a political cause or donating to campaigns. Today, a highly common form of political involvement is posting online or signing online petitions, also referred to as “clicktivism.” In this paper, I intend to examine the extent to which voting in general presidential elections correlates with individual engagement in protests, donations to campaigns, or engages in “clicktivism”. Using the American National Election Survey which measures voting behaviors, political participation and public opinion, I find that the most consistent voters are clicktivists and campaign donors. Conversely, …

Behind The Self-Report: Cognitive Symptoms And Moderating Variables During Covid-19 Quarantine, Ashley H. Jo

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

A lesser-known impact of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic is the impairment of cognitive functioning among seemingly unsusceptible, healthy, and young populations. Research suggests that the circumstances of extreme social isolation, incited by the pandemic, have had significantly negative effects across various social, cognitive, and psychological dimensions, with a specific focus on adolescents who are at a unique and more extreme risk than adults and children. By applying the cognitive load theory (CLT) to the COVID-19 quarantine landscape, this study measured the effects of the COVID-19 quarantine on cognitive functioning among those who were adolescents and young adults at the time …

Breaking Down A.B.C.D. (American Born Confused Desi): Dual Identity Struggles & Mental Health Outcomes In South Asian American Youth, Sanchi Kohli, Desiree Crevecoeur-Macphail

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

South Asian American youth are an understudied population in mental health-related research. When looking at data, we saw that in Asian American youth, suicide is the leading cause of death. The current study examined South Asian youth mental health and the confounding factors that lead to suicidality. Including parental pressures, dual identity struggles, and internalized racism. This was done specifically under the guidance of Benet-Martínez & Haritatos’ (2005) theory of Bicultural identity integration. The study described how individuals with compatible or opposing cultural identities perceived their dual identities. In the case of this study, we identified whether South Asian American …

Does Feeling Threatened By Cultural And Demographic Changes Make People More Likely To Support Authoritarian Leaders In The United States?, Jack Brett Krikorian

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Does the perception of threat from cultural and demographic transformations increase a tendency to support authoritarian and nationalist views in politics in the United States? While current research indicates that demographic anxiety, rather than economic distress, has fueled support for authoritarian political figures in recent elections, there has been insufficient focus on whether such threat perceptions directly forecast support for authoritarian governance more generally. I argue that individuals who recognize heightened cultural and demographic threats are more inclined to support robust, authoritarian leadership, as perceived threats amplify the psychological necessity for security and order over democratic limitations. I utilize the …