Digital Commons Network^™

A Web-Based Ai Assistant Application Using Python And Javascript, Viet Le, Tej Bahadur, Jainee Shah, Roushan Ara

School of Professional Studies

Our research is mainly based on a chatbot which is powered by Artificial Intelligence. Nowadays, Artificial Intelligence assistants such as Apple’s Siri, Google’s Now and Amazon’s Alexa are currently fast-growing and widely integrated with many smart devices. These assistants are built with the primary purpose of being personal assistants for every individual user in certain contexts. In this research, we would highlight the development process of the chatbots, features, problems, case studies and limitations.

This research delivers the information, helps developers to build answer bots and integrate chatbots with business accounts. The aim is to assist users and allow transactions …

The Impact Of Special Interest Groups On The Federal Dietary Guidelines: Consequences For American Health, Dory Mcmillan

School of Professional Studies

This research paper explores the impact of relationships between lobbyists and both the USDA and HSS, and the impact these relationships have on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans that the agencies work together to create. The paper focuses specifically on the information the guidelines present in regard to red meat consumption, and the impacts this may have on American health, and healthcare costs associated. It was hypothesized that a relationship would be found between special interest groups and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and/or the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Research found there was a relationship between special …

On The Plastic-Free Path: Plastic-Free Living, Hannah Natzke

Honors Projects

What is living plastic-free like? This project explores the trials and triumphs of living a plastic-free life. Although this project is only mandates that the participant lives plastic-free for a month, it still investigates the challenges faced by longer plastic-free living.

Gender Justice And Islam: For Male Two And For Female One Qurban. Why?, Zilka Spahić-Šiljak

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Excerpt: "The question we have to ask today as believing Muslims is this: how is it that, in the 21st century, Muslims would rather use a hadith that prefers boys over girls than the actual practice of the Prophet Muhammad? If the Prophet treated his children equally, and showed public affection for his daughter Fatima with the specific gesture of standing up to welcome her every time she came to visit, and if he constantly warned believers to take care of their daughters, how have Muslims ended up cultivating this naming tradition that sends a clear message to daughters that …

Dietary Regulation Of Successful Aging, Aubree L. Hawley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current growth of the older population is unprecedented in U.S. history. Chronic disease and functional limitation commonly develop prior to old age, leading to prolonged physical disability and decreased well-being. The development of chronic disease and loss of independence is associated with lean body mass (LBM) loss and fat mass gain beginning in middle age. Therefore, it is important to identify modifiable factors to mitigate deleterious shifts in body composition to promote successful aging (SA). The concept of SA is associated with longevity, the absence of disease and disability, and subjective components of well-being, however, an operational definition has …

Child-Directed Learning In Varying Contexts: An Examination Of Preschools In The Philippines, Teri J. Pardue

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

While it has long been recognized that child-directed learning is a central feature of effective early childhood education, the impact of culture on its implementation is only recently gaining attention. In Asian contexts specifically, previous studies have documented challenges in implementing child-directed learning styles. This study applies holistic analysis to a collective case study of six Filipino preschools, documenting and analyzing their pursuit and implementation of child-directed learning. The study uncovers significant discrepancies among Filipino preschool directors and teachers regarding the meaning of “child-directed” and “play-based” learning, and it identifies apparent cultural barriers to implementing child-directed learning more effectively. The …

The Future Of The German-Jewish Past: Memory And The Question Of Antisemitism, Gideon Reuveni, Diana Franklin

Purdue University Press Book Previews

Germany’s acceptance of its direct responsibility for the Holocaust has strengthened its relationship with Israel and has led to a deep commitment to combat antisemitism and rebuild Jewish life in Germany. As we draw close to a time when there will be no more firsthand experience of the horrors of the Holocaust, there is great concern about what will happen when German responsibility turns into history. Will the present taboo against open antisemitism be lifted as collective memory fades? There are alarming signs of the rise of the far right, which includes blatantly antisemitic elements, already visible in public discourse. …

Meridians Twentieth Anniversary Reader, Ginetta Candelario

Sociology: Faculty Books

This critical anthology consists of thirty of Meridians's most frequently cited, downloaded, and anthologized scholarly essays, activists reports, memoirs, and poems since its first issue was published in fall 2000. The forty authors featured are a virtual who's who of internationally renowned feminist women-of-color scholar-activists (such as Sara Ahmed, Angela Davis, Sonia Alvarez, Paula Giddings, and Sunera Thobani) and award-winning poets (such as Nikky Finney, Laurie Ann Guerrero, and Suheir Hammad). Ranging broadly across geographies (North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East), diasporas (Black, Asian, Indigenous), and disciplines, the collection beautifully exemplifies the best practices of …

Examining The Indoctrination Of Mexican American Criminal Justice Students, Noe Leal Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Mexican American Criminal Justice students (MACJS) sometimes select a career in Department of Homeland Security, which has a history of systemic racism and oppression. The purpose of this thesis is to examine MACJS conformity to U.S. ideological hegemony and examine the differences in their understanding of human rights/ethics. A questionnaire was administered to MACJS (n = 156) wishing to pursue a career in DHS. The survey instrument used is based on the concepts of Social Identification: Mexican versus U.S. American; Support for Nationalist Racist Policies, Internal Colonialism, Followership by engaging in policies/orders by the government; and Human Rights: Knowledge of …

Americanization Of Islamic Cultural Design: Erasure, Orientalism/Exoticism, And Americanization, Peter L. Stanley

Landscape Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Islam arrived in North America primarily through the importation of Muslim African slaves. Subsequent suppression of the slaves, and by extension their religion and places of worship, generated a lack of understanding and misunderstanding about Islam. Over time, this misunderstanding evolved into xenophobic and orientalist representations of the religion. This Capstone project researches Islam’s roots in colonial America through the period before the Columbian Exposition of 1893, and its evolution after the Columbian Exposition, with defining time periods expressed as Erasure, Orientalism/Exoticism, and Americanization. With the help of cultural trust organizations such as the Aga Khan Foundation, the contemporary Americanization …

Defying The Odds: The Resilience Of African American Youth In The Face Of Differential Treatment In The Classroom, Frank R. Wood Jr.

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

In the education system, African American youth are confronted by deficit-based narratives of intellectual inferiority and defiance that inform teaching pedagogies, curricula, and classroom management strategies, such as school discipline practices. In light of available research documenting the deleterious effects of low expectations and treatment by teachers on the academic outcomes of African American youth, this body of knowledge also underscores the importance of racial socialization and positive perceptions of school bonding in safeguarding the academic achievement and success of African American youth. However, the lack of criminological inquiry into the complex associations between perceptions of differential treatment by teachers, …

The Female Face Of Misogyny: A Review Of Decriminalizing Domestic Violence: A Balanced Policy Approach To Intimate Partner Violence By Leigh Goodmark And The Feminist War On Crime: The Unexpected Role Of Women's Liberation In Mass Incarceration By Aya Gruber, Dianne L. Post

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Examining Environmental Injustice In Detroit Over Spring Break, Aakrista Shakya

The International Undergraduate Journal For Service-Learning, Leadership, and Social Change

Detroit is a city with Environmental Injustice, but yet its story is unheard of. In my Journal, investigate the extent of Environmental Injustice in Detroit by sharing my experience of my service-learning trip to Detroit over Spring Break and the story of people in Detroit.

Reflections On Applied Social Enterprise Education: Using Weaver’S Social Enterprise Directory To Teach Social Entrepreneurship, Maimouna Mbacke, Kati Gallagher, Rasheda L. Weaver

The International Undergraduate Journal For Service-Learning, Leadership, and Social Change

No abstract provided.

Experiences Among Adults And Adolescents During The Covid-19 Pandemic From Four Locations Across Kenya—Study Description, Timothy Abuya, Karen Austrian, Adan Isaac, Beth Kangwana, Faith Mbushi, Eva Muluve, Daniel Mwanga, Thoai Ngo, Mercy Nzioki, Rhoune Ochako, Jessie Pinchoff, Ben Tidwell, John Wanyungu, Corinne White

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

To control the spread of coronavirus, the COVID-19 National Emergency Response Committee (NERC) in Kenya, chaired by the Ministry of Health (MOH), has implemented prevention and mitigation measures. To inform the Government of Kenya’s shorter- and longer-term response strategies, the Population Council COVID-19 study team utilizes rapid phone-based surveys to collect information on knowledge, attitudes, practices and needs among a longitudinal cohort of heads of household sampled from existing prospective cohort studies. The first was carried out across five Nairobi urban informal settlements; the baseline survey (n=2,009) was conducted March 30–31 with subsequent follow-up surveys conducted April 13–14 (n=1,764), May …

Looking At Environmental Consciousness Through The Lenses Of Morphic Fields And Systems Theory, Johara Bellali

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This paper is an exploration of a space in which questions of self-determination and planetary crises can co-exist. It swims in uncomfortable seas of accepting that environmental consciousness is as innate as our existence, and at the same time not aligned to healthy ecosystems. In this paper, I will first explore environmental consciousness from an ecosystem perspective and present some self-organizing principles of our systems; then I will look into our perceptions, awareness, and sensing of them and finally propose an understanding of how the morphic fields in ecosystems and the creative flow of the life force co-exist in our …

Centaur Mind: A Glimpse Into An Integrative Structure Of Consciousness, Azin Izadifar

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Jean Gebser’s theory of consciousness suggests that we are experiencing a new era in the history of consciousness. Human consciousness moves like a pendulum. The current Integral Structure of Consciousness is not unprecedented, yet we are experiencing it in a multi-layered, deeper, and vaster way. Centaurs are imaginal creatures that first appeared within the Mythical Structure of Consciousness, making a bridge between the unity of the Magical and the duality of Mental structures. In this paper, I view the centaurs through the lenses of mythology and archetypal depth psychology and discuss the critical role of this mythic figure in the …

An Exploration Of Linguistic Relativity Theory For Consideration Of Terence Mckenna’S “Stoned Ape Theory” On The Origins Of Consciousness And Language: Implications For Language Pedagogy, Nicole Lopez

Journal of Conscious Evolution

The “linguistic turn” from the early 20^th century created a shift in the ontological underpinnings of various disciplines within the social sciences. Several key figures asserted that much of what we think of as reality is constructed based on a system of social institution that we call language. Language shifted to becoming a fundamental aspect of the ontological realities within a given discipline in the social sciences. Most significant to my understanding of the relationship between language, its origins, and the emergence of higher forms of human consciousness is Terence McKenna’s Stoned Ape Theory. In this article, …

A Whiteheadian Innervation Of The Soma: A New Vision For The Peripheral Nervous System, David Milliern

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This essay draws attention to two problems in neuroscience’s set of assumptions. These self-defeating assumptions include: 1) the assumption that what the nervous system, especially the brain, does is synthesize experience, while also assuming philosophical realism, and 2) the problem of biological signal transduction. In the latter, neuroscientists and philosophers of biology have left unaddressed the issue that the signal differences between the inside and outside of the organismic boundary are of distinct ontological types; and yet no concern has been expressed regarding how it is possible that an organism’s inner states could reflect the experiential content flowing from outside …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 96, No. 11, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Murray, Debra. Campaigning During COVID-19
• Stryker, Shane. Third Party Candidates Present Options Outside Democrats & Republicans
• WKU Young Democrats
• WKU College Republicans
• Serrano, Francisco. A Voice of Change for the Young Generation
• Thornton, Maggie. Kentucky’s 1^st Congressional District
• Holland, Kelley. Kentucky’s 2^nd Congressional District
• Latimer, Jacob. Senate Candidates on College-Level Issues – Mitch McConnell, Amy McGrath
• Collins, Michael. District 20 Candidates on the Issues – Patti Minter, Leanette Lopez
• Who’s Running for City Commission?

Health Have, Health Have Nots In A Time Of Covid-19, Sandro Galea

Center for Policy Research

In this brief, my goal is to talk about something which has animated a lot of my thinking and writing in the past decade. It is how our health is fundamentally socially patterned and reflects the world around us. This has been true for decades in this country, and one could also argue, globally, however this brief will focus on this topic at the national level. As you will see, I will talk mostly of health haves and health have nots in general, but as we progress, show how COVID-19 has made this evermore apparent.

100 Years After Suffrage: Just How Far Have Women Come?, Laura Merrifield Wilson

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Women earned the right to vote 100 years ago with the ratification of the 19th Amendment, effectively ending the suffrage movement that had transpired over generations. Their hard-won victory doubled the American electorate and provided women with an essential right of citizenship of which they had long been deprived. Not all women were welcomed at the polling place, though, and the exclusion of women of color, particularly in the Jim Crow South, revealed yet another barrier to eventually be struck down. In the 100 years since women earned their right to vote, they have begun “outvoting” their male counterparts and …

Volume 23, Full Contents, Mssj Staff

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Recovery From Relinquishment: Forgiving My Birth Mother. My Journey From 1954 To Today, Christian L. Anderson

The Qualitative Report

Adoptees carry the burden of shame for being “given up, abandoned, unwanted, not right,” and birth mothers carry the weight of shame for succumbing to external pressure to relinquish their children. There is ample literature addressing recovery for both adoptees and birth mothers (Buterbaugh & Soll, 2003; Franklin, 2019; Lanier, 2020; Soll, 2005, 2013, 2014); however, there is little recognition of the co-shame and need for forgiveness. Utilizing autoethnographic methodology, I discuss the issues of misogyny prevalent in the 1950s, the “Baby Scoop Era [BSE],” and my ongoing process of forgiving my birth mother after five decades of rage. This …

A Near Miss: The Lived Experiences Of Telecommunication Technicians’ Injurious Accidents And Near Misses, Bridgette M. Hester, Patricia I. Fusch

The Qualitative Report

Due to a dearth in the literature, this study was conducted to explore the lived experiences of telecommunication field technicians who have experienced near miss and injurious accidents. Using protection motivation theory (PMT), we sought to explore if, after an accident, a technician would alter behaviors and insights regarding safety practices while executing their job duties. Participants for this qualitative phenomenological study included six telecommunication technicians with an average of 19 years’ experience and who had experienced an injurious or near miss accident at work. Findings suggested that after experiencing such an event, technicians demonstrated PMT characteristics including a heightened …

Marine Wild-Capture Fisheries After Nuclear War, Kim J. N. Scherrer, Cheryl S. Harrison, Ryan F. Heneghan, Eric Galbraith, Charles G. Bardeen, Joshua Coupe, Jonas Jägermeyr, Nicole S. Lovenduski, August Luna, Alan Robock, Jessica Stevens, Samantha Stevenson, Owen B. Toon, Lili Xia

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Nuclear war, beyond its devastating direct impacts, is expected to cause global climatic perturbations through injections of soot into the upper atmosphere. Reduced temperature and sunlight could drive unprecedented reductions in agricultural production, endangering global food security. However, the effects of nuclear war on marine wild-capture fisheries, which significantly contribute to the global animal protein and micronutrient supply, remain unexplored. We simulate the climatic effects of six war scenarios on fish biomass and catch globally, using a state-of-the-art Earth system model and global process-based fisheries model. We also simulate how either rapidly increased fish demand (driven by food shortages) or …

Duterte’S Disciplinary Quarantine: How A Moral Dichotomy Was Constructed And Undermined, Wataru Kusaka

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

Thisarticle explores the characteristics of what I call Duterte’s “disciplinary quarantine,” which is premised on a moral dichotomy between “good citizens,” who abide by strict regulations, and undisciplined “evil others” (pasaway), who endanger the nation. Based on my family’s participant observation in Bohol, thisarticle also describes how Boholanos have undermined the moral dichotomy by embracing minor violations to endure the government’s protracted and rigid quarantine rules. I suggest that ideas about appropriate behaviors created through people’s mutuality and everyday trials and errors are more reliable than top-down “discipline” for a continual struggle against the pandemic. KEYWORDS: DISCIPLINE • MORAL DICHOTOMY …

Covidscapes: The Pandemic In The Philippines, Filomeno V.; Aguilar Jr.

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

This introductory essay develops the notion of Covidscapes, taking a cue from Arjun Appadurai. Despite mutations, a single type of coronavirus has gone around the world causing the Covid-19 disease. Yet experiences with the pandemic have varied widely across and even within countries for reasons that go beyond the pathogen. The concept of Covidscapes captures the simultaneous sharing of a global phenomenon along with diversity and difference. Covidscapes are profoundly perspectival and disjunctive. State–societal factors suggest countries can have their own Covidscapes. The contributions in this issue shed light on the peculiar dynamics and contradictions of the Philippine Covidscape. KEYWORDS: …

Beyond The Pathogen: Cultural Influences On The Impact Of Epidemics Viewed From History, Linda A. Newson

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

The paper reflects on the historical experience of epidemics in Latin America and the Philippines. It shows how cultural factors can affect the ability of societies to develop immunity and recover. It also shows how leadership can influence the way in which an epidemic and the health crisis is managed. As such, it argues that the impact of a single epidemic is unlikely to be the same throughout the world or even within one country. KEYWORDS: HISTORY OF EPIDEMICS • CULTURE AND DEMOGRAPHY • LEADERSHIP • LATIN AMERICA • PHILIPPINES

The Philippine Covidscape: Colonial Public Health Redux?, Warwick Anderson

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

Comparing historical perceptions of three epidemics in the Philippines and the responses they elicited allows us to see how these disease outbreaks were conceived in terms of configuration, whether ecological or sociological, and contamination. Cholera in 1902, influenza in 1918–1919, and Covid-19 in 2020 each open up revealing cross sections through Philippine social life, culture, and governance. Furthermore, simplistic assumptions of contamination or pollution—in contrast to more complexly structured configurational models—are correlated with coercive or militaristic reactions to pandemics, including social distancing, lockdowns, curfews, and suppression of dissent. KEYWORDS: MEDICINE • SCIENCE • HISTORY • CHOLERA • INFLUENZA • COVID-19