Digital Commons Network^™

Agro-Environmental Approaches To The Moderation Of Outmigration From Northeast Thailand, Megan Perron

CMC Senior Theses

Thailand’s increasing migration rates out of the country’s poorest region over the past few decades have resulted in a range of issues for both migrants and relatives of the migrants who choose to remain at home. A combination of rapid urban growth in Bangkok and a declining agricultural sector in the Northeast, driven by climate change and unsustainable farming practices, is driving rural-to-urban migration that subjects them to harsh working conditions and social marginalization. To attract migration back to Isaan, the implementation of Climate-Smart Agriculture in the near term and eventually, Regenerative Agriculture, will likely build climate resilience in the …

The Perceptions, Practices, And Policies That Govern Food, Energy, And Water Consumption In The U.S. Suburban Home: “More Than My Fair Share”, William Lytle

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This dissertation addresses household consumption by advancing understandings of complex material, social, and regulatory structures that have a bearing on the future of sustainable and resilient practices at the residential scale in the United States. Interviews with 44 households in the U.S. were conducted to learn about perceptions of food, energy, and water consumption. Chapters two, three, and four utilize grounded theory and theories of practice. This inquiry yielded insights into social dynamics of household consumption, how human and more-than-human actors influence each other’s consumption, and how infrastructure and social class are interrelated. Chapter five is a policy maker’s guidebook, …

Stories Of Learning And Instructional Practices In Traditional Hawaiian Hula Education, Lynn Kaleihaunani Melena

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teachers of traditional hula have preserved Native Hawaiian cultural knowledge despite societal changes that led to cultural suppression in Hawaii. However, little is known about how these teachers accomplished this feat. The purpose of this study was to understand how hula instruction has evolved to transmit cultural knowledge and how past methods influenced current instructor practices in sustaining a vibrant culture. Research questions explored the instructional approaches and innovations of hula teachers past and present in one traditional hula school. The conceptual framework integrated the Native Hawaiian worldview and a Western theory of participatory creativity. A qualitative study using Indigenous …

Korean Fusion: Consuming A Globalized Korea Through Food And Music, Ashley Hong

Honors Theses

In Koreatown, Los Angeles, one of the largest centers of Korean immigrants in the Western hemisphere, restaurant owners are constantly creating new forms of Korean cuisine that both challenge and preserve traditional methods of Korean culinary methods. Based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews conducted in Koreatown, Los Angeles in December 2020, I examine how Korean restaurant owners are navigating the current food scene while also maintaining their ethnic identity in a globalized landscape such as Los Angeles. I conceptualize the idea of a “twist” which can be understood as components of fusion food that allow Korean restaurant owners to …

Jack Weatherford. Genghis Khan And The Making Of The Modern World, Ashok Kumar Malhotra

Comparative Civilizations Review

Jack Weatherford’s book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World is divided into three segments. Part one tells the story of Genghis Khan’s birth in 1162, his rise to power on the steppe, and the influence of the steppe in shaping his mindset. Growing up in this wilderness helped fashion the personality which led him to consolidate many warring tribes into a single Mongolian country by 1206. Furthermore, unifying these diverse ethnic groups into a Mongolian nation provided Genghis Khan an excellent model which he replicated in the rest of the world. Part two is devoted to the …

Sustainable Civilization: Informatization Strategy, Andrew Targowski

Comparative Civilizations Review

The article proposes strategic aspirations for the development of sustainable civilization, which are based on organizing the Geoinformatics Steering System, which will monitor civilizations based on established indexes measuring the state of civilization. This monitoring must have a uniform system on many levels of human organization, from the enterprise (company) to regions, countries, continents and the world. The condition for this organization is the creation of the World Civilization Organization because the current efforts of people and countries are chaotic.

The Human Search For A Sense Of Wholeness, Ross R. Maxwell

Comparative Civilizations Review

How can we characterize a civilization? From an economic point of view, a civilization consists of a system of interacting fulltime interdependent specialized occupations. From a cultural point of view, on the other hand, a civilization consists of what Ben Nelson, the late president of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations (1971-1977), called a civilizational complex, a structure that developed from the blending of multiple cultures.

Editor's Note, Joseph Drew, Editor-In-Chief

Comparative Civilizations Review

It has always seemed somewhat ironic that the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations has never agreed on the exact definition of the single word arguably most central to its mission: “civilization”.

Service Speaks 2021, Service Speaks Committee, Depaul University

Service Speaks

Service Speaks is an annual conference that demonstrates the multitude of ways DePaul students work with community partners to advance social justice causes in Chicago communities. Each academic year, over 200 courses and programs send students into the community to lift up the assets of our community partners through community-based service learning (CbSL) and project-based classes, community internships and community-based research. These connections result in mutually beneficial outcomes for the community organization and provide transformational experiences for our students.

2021 Service Speaks Annual Conference Chapbook, 2021 Service Speaks Committee

Other Research and Reports

Service Speaks is an annual conference that demonstrates the multitude of ways DePaul students work with community partners to advance social justice causes in Chicago communities. Each academic year, over 200 courses and programs send students into the community to lift up the assets of our community partners through community-based service learning (CbSL) and project-based classes, community internships and community-based research. These connections result in mutually beneficial outcomes for the community organization and provide transformational experiences for our students.

Social Support Of Caregiver Sons Of Parents With Dementia, Ralph Callanta Pascual

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the growing number of male caregivers, few researchers have examined social supports for caregiver sons of parents with dementia. The purpose of this qualitative interpretative phenomenological study was to contribute to the empirical literature on the social support of caregiver sons of aging parents with dementia. The research question centered on the lived experience of social support of caregiver sons of parents with dementia. The theoretical framework was the social role theory. The sample consisted of eight caregiver sons of parents with dementia. Participants were interviewed using semi-structured, researcher-developed questions. The results were generated from coding and thematizing processes, …

Girls Can’T Like Star Wars: An Analysis Of Feminism Within Fandoms, Julia Neff

Capstone Showcase

Finding the intersection between feminist theory and fandom theory, this paper analysis how women are regarded within a fandom community by their peers and how they are dismissed in a societal context. This paper specifically compares what is "accepted" by society about young women being a fan of a boy band versus an adult man as a fan of a sports team.

#Aminext: The Link Between European Colonization And Gender-Based Violence In Contemporary South Africa, Jenna Meredith Pagel

Capstone Showcase

Alarmingly, the female murder rate in South Africa is five times the global average (BBC News 2019). According to data from 2017 and 2018, a woman is murdered every four hours in South Africa (Wilkinson 2019). More than 30 women were killed by their spouses in August 2019, and at least 137 sexual offenses are committed per day in South Africa (Francke 2019).

For this thesis, and in order to understand why South Africa has some of the highest rates of violence against women in the world, I consult a number of scholars who conclude that the overall issue of …

Losing Yourself: Cults, Greeks, And Sociological Theories Of Self And Identity, Emma Morgan

Honors Program Theses

This thesis is theoretical in nature. It is an exploration of sociological theory using cults and greek life as case studies for examining the construction of the self in the context of powerful social groups.

Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 15. Wallace's Many "Hats": What Should We Call Him?, Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823−1913) has been referred to by name through the aid of a variety of labels – some thirty or more, in fact – that link him to his emphases of attention. How many of these labels are/were justifiable? The assessment here is that he is probably best remembered as a ‘naturalist,’ ‘geographer,’ ‘evolutionist,’ and ‘social critic.’

"Its Own Little City": Service Work In Truck Stops, Michelle Elizabeth Williams

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Montana truck stops act as a meeting place for long-haul truckers, vacationers, local commuters, and the workers simply trying to earn a living. The employees at such truck stops must navigate working-class customer service norms while interacting with a unique and diverse set of customers. The ethnographic and interview data that I collected during the 2020 offers a unique view of how customer service employees fared during political unrest, global health concerns, and financial struggle. Additionally, this study highlights the power dynamics that exist in the service industry by examining how such dynamics manifest in the interactions surrounding face masks, …

Stock Shows And Rodeos: The Crossroads Of Commodification, Consumption, And Care Of Nonhuman Animals, Erin Kidder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This study explores the complex relationship between humans and nonhuman animals through the lens of stock shows and rodeos (SSR). This study employs a feminist theoretical framework and an interpretive qualitative research methodology to gain insight into the ways in which humans practice a range of speciesist behaviors relating to their commodification, consumption, and care of other animals. Data consist of semi-structured interviews with 21 individuals who participate in SSR as spectators and competitors and with two animal medical experts, along with field observations at three different SSR held in Florida and Texas. Findings suggest that nonhuman animals serve many …

Forgotten In Local Jails: A Carceral System Created To Fail Women., Hayley Jackey

Online Theses and Dissertations

The United States has seen an influx of incarcerated women since the 1980s with a 750% increase between 1980 and 2017. There is a substantial amount of literature about how women experience prison and the unique challenges they face as they reenter society such as motherhood, previous abuse, mental health, and housing. Conclusions drawn suggest that the current structure fails to prepare women for a society that denounces women who have been incarcerated. What is less known is how this research translates to the jail environment. For reasons to be discussed, it is likely that local jails are even less …

The Political Imagination: Introduction To American Government, Peter Kolozi, James E. Freeman

Open Educational Resources

The Political Imagination: Introduction to American Government provides realistic, critical analysis as well as a hopeful, engagement-oriented narrative that encourages students to understand the important role they can play in the political system and in crafting a society in which they want to live. The Political Imagination draws on social and political theory and history offering an analytical as well as normative framework to think about the substance of politics, the procedures and institutions of government, and a dynamic, socially contingent definition of political power.

Correctional Education As Therapeutic Change: Exploring The Use Of Animal-Assisted Therapy Programs With Incarcerated Women, Terrie Ciez

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Throughout history and in every culture and country, animals and humans have formed special bonds often as pets. Well trained pets have often been used in Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) programs in hospitals and nursing homes to help patients cope with illnesses and recovery while away from home. Pet visits to these facilities have documented reductions in medications, stress, and loneliness when a simple wet nose reaches on to a patient’s bed for attention. A variety of animals have been incorporated into various facilities ranging from birds, fish tanks, and puppies and kittens to relieve the stress of residents. A …

Clinical Applications And Feasibility Of Proton Ct And Proton Radiography, Christina Marie Sarosiek

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Proton therapy is a form of radiation treatment for cancer that utilizes the Bragg peak to create conformal high dose regions around the tumor volume. However, the use of x-ray computed tomography (CT) and x-ray radiography for treatment planning and pre-treatment quality assurance procedures improves the achievable effectiveness of proton treatment plans (using proton CT) and the pretreatment verification (using proton radiography). Errors in the conversion from x-ray Hounsfield units (HU) to proton relative stopping powers (RSP) leads to errors in the predicted proton range. To account for the errors, 3.5% margins are included in the treatment plan. This means …

Predicting Mental Health Counseling Professionals’ Willingness To Discuss Sexuality Issues With Clients, Becca L. Thompson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Sexuality is fundamental to the human experience and sexuality issues will affect every individual across the lifespan. Mental health counseling professionals (MHCPs) will likely encounter a client in their practice that presents with some facet of sexuality concern. MHCPs may be challenged by these disclosures or neglect to inquire about these needs due to underlying factors that contribute to decreased willingness to discuss sexuality with clients. This study explored the relationships of some of these factors, including sexual intervention self-efficacy, state anxiety, and trait anxiety, and further examined the extent to which these factors predict willingness to discuss sexuality with …

"It Kind Of Polishes All Your Flaws Away": Long-Term Experiences With Psilocybin Mushrooms And The Influence Of Set And Setting, Danielle Nicole Daniel

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This study explores the experiences and motivations of people who take psilocybin mushrooms long-term. Little scholarly attention has been given to the psilocybin experience outside of a clinical setting. Likewise, there is a dearth of research examining the factors that lead to first-time and ongoing experiences with mushrooms. I conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 18 informants who have taken psilocybin mushrooms at least 10 times and for over three years. I encouraged open dialog and storytelling to gain a deeper understanding of their mushroom experiences and motivations to take long-term. Using a grounded theory approach, I identified the following patterns …

Integrating Tf-Cbt And Play Therapy: Promoting Resilience In Child Sexual Assault Survivors, Shayla Polk

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Licensed social workers and counselors provide services to children who experience child sexual assault (CSA), which disrupt their normal childhood developmental processes. Trauma outcomes include symptoms related to somatization, inability to cope, feelings of helplessness, decreased self-esteem, difficulty expressing proper emotions, anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) combined with play therapy can be helpful for CSA survivors. Still, it is not yet fully understood how therapists perceive the combined approach or how it fosters resiliency in children who experience sexual assault. The purpose of this action research study was (a) to explore the experiences and perspectives …

Religion, Conscience, And The Law: Reasons, Bases, And Limits For Exemptions, Kent Greenawalt

Faculty Scholarship

Kent Greenawalt discusses the permissibility, scope, and rationale for law to provide exemptions to protect religious and nonreligious conscience in the United States. It may be difficult for the law to determine which sentiments amount to conscience given differences in individuals’ perception and the strength of their convictions. Even the notion of a religious conscience is complex. Religious citizens’ conclusions about matters of interest to religion may proceed from both religion and reason, or only from reason. It is not clear what should count as religious, given differences between denominations and their ideas over time. There are a host of …

The Development Of A Procedure For The Pxrf Analysis Of Soil Cation Exchange Capacity In Collaboration With Colorado Farmers, Claire E. Wineman

Senior Independent Study Theses

Discrepancies between farmers’ and scientists’ knowledge systems and experiences have long prevented the success and mutual beneficiality of collaborative research efforts between these two groups. The development of agricultural technologies, such as portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) for the analysis of soil cation exchange capacity in the field, creates a promising overlap point for farmers and scientists to cooperatively study issues within their sociocultural context and with access to institutional resources. In this study, the generation of an in-field PXRF method in collaboration with Colorado farmers helps to provide a prospective model for scientists and farmers looking to use collaborative research …

The Karen Diaspora : Transnational Sense Of Belonging And Practices After The 2021 Myanmar Coup, Thinh Mai Phuc

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This research examines the Karen diaspora’s transnational sense of belonging, ideological transition and tactics embodied in transnational activities after the 2021 Myanmar military coup. Looking at young Karen people in 5 host countries including the United States, Australia, Canada, Norway and Thailand, it is evident that those people in the diaspora still perceive the notion of homeland and maintain an emotional sense of belonging to their homeland after a long period of resettlement in host countries. In the context of the 2021 coup, those young people have engaged actively in transnational activities with various tactics used both on-site and online. …

สายลับกับการสืบสวนปราบปรามอาชญากรรมยาเสพติดในประเทศไทย, กิตติภพ บัวคลี่

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

วิทยานิพนธ์เรื่องสายลับกับการสืบสวนปราบปรามอาชญากรรมยาเสพติดในประเทศไทย มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาถึงความเป็นมาและบทบาทของสายลับในการสืบสวนปราบปรามอาชญากรรมยาเสพติดในประเทศไทย พร้อมทั้งศึกษาความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างเจ้าหน้าที่สืบสวนกับบุคคลที่เป็นสายลับในการทำงานปราบปรามยาเสพติด เพื่อวิเคราะห์ผลกระทบที่เกิดขึ้นจากการนำสายลับมาใช้ในการสืบสวนปราบปรามอาชญากรรมยาเสพติด โดยเป็นการศึกษาเชิงคุณภาพด้วยการวิจัยเชิงเอกสารและการสัมภาษณ์เชิงลึกจากผู้ให้ข้อมูลสำคัญ ประกอบด้วย เจ้าหน้าที่รัฐ สายลับ และบุคลากรในกระบวนการยุติธรรม จำนวนทั้งสิ้น 27 ท่าน ผลการศึกษาพบว่า สายลับเป็นกลวิธีในการหาข่าวที่ปรากฏหลักฐานมาตั้งแต่สมัยบรรพกาล ตราบจนกระทั่งสังคมมีพัฒนาการทางด้านกฎหมายและกระบวนการยุติธรรมทางอาญา วิธีการใช้สายลับจึงได้ถูกนำมาปรับใช้ในการทำงานสืบสวนของเจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจซึ่งมีภารกิจรักษาความสงบเรียบร้อยภายในรัฐและการควบคุมอาชญากรรม บทบาทที่คาดหวังของสายลับคือ การกระทำใด ๆ ที่ตอบสนองต่อภารกิจการสืบสวนปราบปรามยาเสพติดตามที่เจ้าหน้าที่ต้องการ ซึ่งเป็นงานที่เจ้าหน้าที่ไม่อาจกระทำได้โดยฐานะของเจ้าหน้าที่เองหรืออาจต้องใช้ระยะเวลานาน บทบาทความสำคัญของสายลับส่วนหนึ่งขึ้นอยู่กับมุมมองของเจ้าหน้าที่แต่ละบุคคลซึ่งมีลักษณะเป็นอัตวิสัย รูปแบบของความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างเจ้าหน้าที่สืบสวนกับบุคคลที่เป็นสายลับจะแตกต่างกันไปในแต่ละคู่สัมพันธ์ การใช้สายลับได้ก่อให้เกิดผลกระทบในหลายด้าน เป็นต้นว่า สายลับต้องอยู่ในวัฏจักรของการกระทำความผิดและมีโอกาสกลับไปกระทำความผิดซ้ำ และด้วยลักษณะที่เป็นความลับทำให้การตรวจสอบความโปร่งใสของการทำงานเป็นได้ยากอันส่งผลกระทบต่อสังคมและกระบวนการยุติธรรมทางอาญาหลายประการ แนวทางพัฒนาการสืบสวนโดยวิธีใช้สายลับที่เหมาะสมกับบริบทของประเทศไทยจึงควรแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมกฎหมายวิธีพิจารณาคดียาเสพติด พ.ศ. 2550 หมวด 1 ว่าด้วยการสืบสวน โดยให้ระบุถึงการสืบสวนโดยวิธีใช้สายลับ พัฒนาระบบงานยุติธรรมทางอาญาให้ทุกฝ่ายยึดหลักการค้นหาความจริงในเนื้อหา และสร้างมาตรการกำกับดูแลให้ดียิ่งขึ้น

Socio-Ecological Predictors Of Social Connection Among Older Adults, Georganna Amateau

Theses and Dissertations

Decades of research has established an unequivocal link between states of social connection and health status. Lack of social connection, whether construed as social isolation or loneliness, negatively influences health and is highly associated with cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, fall risk, and premature death. Despite extensive research on social isolation and loneliness, evidence relative to the broader construct of social connection suffers. Few studies inform practice standards for community-based organizations. This study aimed to develop a multidimensional, continuous composite variable of social connection and use the composite variable to examine predictors with a socio-ecological lens.

A secondary data analysis …

Parasite And The Ideological Barriers To Emancipatory Politics, Soravis Jayanama

Journal of Social Sciences

In this essay, my contention is two-fold. One, Bong Joon-ho’s f ilm Parasite (2019) is not simply about class inequality but more importantly addresses the question “what is (not) to be done?”.To appreciate this point, we have to investigate it alongside Bong’s previous f ilms, especially Snowpiercer (2013) and Okja (2017). Although these three f ilms possess vastly different storylines,they all wrestle with this burning political question from different angles: seizure of state power and revolution (Snowpiercer), “folk politics” (Okja), and neoliberal privatization of social problems (Parasite). They all implicitly demand for better or more concrete visions of systemic transformation. …