Digital Commons Network^™

A New Family Member Or Just Another Digital Interface? Smart Speakers In The Lives Of Families With Young Children, Giovanna Mascheroni

Human-Machine Communication

Based on longitudinal qualitative research involving twenty families with at least one child aged eight or younger, the article provides an account of how families, as distinctive communicative figurations, adopt, use and make sense of smart speakers through diverse socially situated practices. Findings show that parents and children enter in a communicative relationship with smart speakers based on their attribution of human-like or machine-like traits to the device, and the device response to their expectations. Moreover, engaging in communicative practices through and with smart speakers, family members subvert or reinforce existing power relations. However, smart speakers acquire new agency by …

Healing A Generation; Implementation Of Higher Education Curricula For Venezuelan Journalism Students Living Under Structural Violence To Promote A Transition Into Democracy, José Luis Jiménez-Figarotti Prof.

The SUNY Journal of the Scholarship of Engagement: JoSE

Venezuela's sociopolitical landscape has deteriorated significantly over the past decade, culminating in a profound humanitarian crisis. This ethnography, conducted from 2015 to the present, explores the experiences of a study group comprising 2000 Venezuelan communication college students, aged 17 to 25, who navigate structural violence while striving for quality higher education. The research employed a multifaceted approach, encompassing interviews, focus groups, and observations. Additionally, this qualitative study examines the outcomes of implementing an interdisciplinary journalism curriculum grounded in human rights and media activism, complemented by online sessions and an environmental education component. This educational project aims to foster critical thinking …

Non-Profit Grant Writing: Supporting A Local Breed Specific Dog Rescue, Kamy Godoy

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

For this action project, I chose to pursue a project that would help support the needs, specifically medical, of a local non-profit, no kill dog rescue called Boise Bully Breed Rescue (BBBR). I chose this rescue because it is breed specific and because it is bully specific, this rescue must work a little harder to acquire sources of funding to aid them. After receiving guidance from the rescue’s founder, I decided that the most optimal way to help this rescue was through finding and applying for grants that could offer funding to support their growing medical costs. Funding through grants …

The Impact Of Neurological Diseases In Kisumu, Kenya: Case Studies At Jootrh And Kcrh, Jack F. Dunham

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Introduction: The burden that neurological diseases put on health systems is high, and growing across the globe, especially in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) like Kenya. For this reason, our study sought out to study the burden and impact of neurological diseases at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) and Kisumu County Referral Hospital (KCRH), which are in Western Kenya.

Methods: Utilizing data from handwritten patient records spanning 23 months, our study collected said data and analyzed the prevalence, incidence, distribution, and outcomes of different neurological diseases as they impact the Kisumu community.

Results/Discussion: Comparing …

Socioecological Assessment Of Birds In Ngezi-Vumawimbi Nature Forest Reserve, Eli Taub

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Effective management of natural resources requires consideration of the environment through both a physical and a sociological lens. In this study, the birds in Ngezi-Vumawimbi Nature Forest Reserve were examined through both a biological mist-net survey and a socioecological series of interviews with people living in the surrounding villages. The mist-net survey compared the understory species in undisturbed and disturbed area of the forest, as well as analyzing birds caught for biologically meaningful information on subspecies and sexual dimorphism. While the mist-net survey was largely unsuccessful, highlighting the need for alternative bird capture methods in Ngezi, it found a decrease …

Story Time To Encourage Early Literacy, Emily Denae Penaluna

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

In light of falling literacy rates among children, I hosted a story time at the local public library in hopes of encouraging reading and literacy in early childhood aged children. I believe these rates are falling because of the lack of exposure to books and digital distractions. The children and their parents were able to benefit from the story time by providing them with an entertaining event while revealing to them what the library has to offer. Although the event itself was small, the lasting impact it can have is great. Keywords to represent this project are encouraging, educational, and …

Take A Closer Look: Combating Ageism Through The Use Of Children's Literature, Janice Buehrer

Honors Projects

This project was completed as my final honors project for Bowling Green State University in the spring of 2024. I wrote and illustrated the children's book, "Take a Closer Look," designed for kindergarten through second-grade children. The goal of the book is to be used as a value-socialization device to instill positive perspectives on aging within younger generations. The book itself is meant to be an intergenerational tool as adults read the book about older adults to children, reaching the entire lifespan.

What Can We Learn About Teaching Excellence From Our Students? Lessons From Six Years Of Teaching Award Data, Christopher Shortell, Kris Henning, Carl Christiansen

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

Teaching excellence in higher education can be defined and studied in different ways, but research efforts to date have often focused on institutional or instructor perspectives. This article uses a data set of over 500 open-ended comments submitted by Political Science undergraduates as part of a teaching award process to identify themes that matter most to students. We find that being supportive, bringing humor, enthusiasm, and passion to the classroom, and engaging students with relevant, challenging, and exciting activities are what defines teaching excellence from a student’s perspective. Building on these themes and using quotes to illustrate key concepts, we …

Kate 2024: Manifestos, Gracie Barton, Ava Borromeo, Isabel Elliot, A First, Grace Francis, Paula Garcia, Jessie Gourley, Isaac Jones, Taylor Miller, Breanna Mccluskey, Madison Newman, Wes Phillips, Sage Reliford, Jules Richter, Lukas Rhynard, Charlie Ryan, Abi Sinclair, Karina Streeter, Julia Tenbusch, Elizabeth White, Audra Wilson, Harper Wood, Marlo Young

Kate

Each year, Kate seeks to:

• explore ideas about normative gender, sex, and sexuality
• work against oppression and hierarchies of power in any and all forms
• serve as a voice for race and gender equity as well as queer positivity
• encourage the silent to speak and feel less afraid
• build a zine and community that we care about and trust

Loose Purse Strings, Loose Cultures: How Resource Increase Affects Cultural Tightness-Looseness And Creativity In Large And Small Organizations, Caleb Chun Kwan Chu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

For over a decade, cultural tightness-looseness (TL) has established itself as a culture construct that is useful in diverse contexts at multiple levels. While most TL research has focused on TL consequences, less attention has been paid to TL antecedents. This dissertation proposes resource increase as a TL predictor and uses a resource-based perspective to review and extend extant TL literature. I empirically examine the effect of resource increase on incremental and radical creativity as mediated by TL at the team level. I also explore the moderating effect of organizational size on these team-level relationships. The data were drawn from …

What Soil Is Worth: A Cost-Benefit Framework Analysis Of Syntropic Farming, Aubrey Kettley

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Syntropic farming, a type of regenerative agriculture, models its farming system after a forest. This type of farming prioritizes soil health while also providing a varied yield of crops. Because it is a fairly new system globally, little research has been done on the economic impacts of syntropic farming, and therefore the feasibility of scaling up regenerative systems like this. This study aims to analyze the economic feasibility of this system through a literature review and a cost-benefit analysis framework. The results highlight the applicability, environmental advantage and economic feasibility of the system. Based on the presented framework, the short …

Anuran Diversity And Abundance Across Two Sites With Varying Levels Of Light Pollution In El Valle De Antón, Coclé, Panamá, Jackson Dray

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The impact of artificial light at night (ALAN) on anuran populations has been a subject of growing concern in ecological research. Anurans are particularly susceptible to the impacts of artificial light due to their nocturnal nature and an extensive exposure throughout various stages of life histories. Exposure to artificial light has been shown to impact the larval development and reproductive behavior of anurans. The impacts on anurans juvenile populations suggest a relationship between light pollution and anuran abundance. This study aimed to investigate the hypothesis that ALAN negatively affects the abundance and diversity of anurans. Field surveys were conducted in …

Avian Diversity And Abundance Among Agricultural Land, Forested Land, And Their Ecotone In Guadalupe, Cerro Punta, Chiriquí Province, Republic Of Panamá., Stella Rae Kinard

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As the human population increases, finding the balance between modifying land use for resources and protecting areas to preserve species that are threatened by anthropogenic disturbance is an ever growing problem. Guadalupe is a town in the Western Highlands of Panamá that struggles in this balance as its primary income source is agriculture, but it is located on the border of two protected areas, Parque Nacional La Amistad and Parque Nacional Volcán Barú. By understanding the unique ways in which avifauna utilize distinct vegetative landscapes, recommendations can be made for management styles of farms in Guadalupe to implement practices that …

Community Opinions On Environmental Action On Isla Porvenir And Whichub Walla In The Guna Yala Comarca, Sofia Houts

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Guna Yala Comarca is the autonomous, self-governed territory of the Guna people, one of seven Indigenous groups in Panama. The Comarca is located on Panama’s eastern Caribbean coast and includes 365 coral islands. Forty nine Guna communities and roughly 32,000 individuals live in the territory. The Guna General Congress is the highest authority, and each community has a local congress. As a low-lying coastal region, Guna Yala is especially vulnerable to climate change and is already impacted by sea level rise, biodiversity loss, and changing precipitation patterns. Sub-national, national, and international forms of governance and environmental action are crucial …

Community Knowledge Of Shark Ecology, Abundance, And Species Composition In Wichubwala, Nalunega, And Porvenir Communities In The Guna Yala Comarca, Panamá, Kayley Jane Porter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sharks play a critical role in marine ecosystems as apex predators that exert top-down control of lower trophic levels. In recent decades, global shark populations have declined to unprecedented levels, triggering a cascade effect that threatens ecosystem functioning and, therefore, coastal community livelihoods that rely on marine resources for food and income. It is known that shark populations are vulnerable and on the decline due to anthropogenic stressors such as fishing and coastal development, but shark species composition and abundance are difficult to monitor due to the evasive nature of sharks, the often remote and inaccessible location of certain shark …

Vascular Epiphyte Population Dynamics Within Human-Modified Landscapes Of Guadalupe, Cerro Punta, Chiriquí, Panamá, Lucine Tashjian

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Epiphytes are plants that grow on other plants non-parasitically, and globally, epiphytes compose a very large and diverse group. They are especially abundant and species-rich in the tropics- particularly, in tropical montane forest ecosystems. Human population growth in the tropics, however, has resulted in significant declines in forest cover with land being converted largely for agricultural purposes. Studies on epiphytes have traditionally been undertaken in pristine, undisturbed forest ecosystems, yet terrestrial land conversion has increased the need to understand the value of human-modified ecosystems for epiphytic populations and biodiversity conservation. This study sought to understand the relationship between human modification …

Guna Community Perspectives On Attributes, Changes, And Revitalization Of Nainu Agroecological Practices In Isla Tigre, Guna Yala Comarca, Panama, Neshima Vitale-Penniman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Indigenous agroecological systems are gaining international recognition for their capacity to conserve biodiversity while promoting food security and sovereignty. Nainu is the ancestral agriculture of the Guna people of eastern Panama, and it is characterized by a successional growing system that imitates the regeneration of the tropical forest in which it is practiced. This research aimed to (a) characterize how nainu is practiced by farmers in Isla Tigre, a community in Guna Yala, (b) characterize how nainu practices have changed over time, and (c) describe how farmers and community members in Isla Tigre are envisioning and actualizing the revitalization of …

On Fire And Water: The Intersection Of Wetlands And Burning Strategies In Managing The Anthropogenic Plant Communities Of Yosemite National Park, Douglas Deur, Rochelle Bloom

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The existing literature confirms that Native American tribes historically enhanced culturally preferred plant communities through periodic burning in what is today Yosemite National Park; in turn, beginning with nineteenth-century park development, fire suppression contributed to conifer and shrub encroachment on anthropogenic meadows and other culturally significant habitats. However, we contend that traditional burning practices cannot be understood without considering the pronounced cultural role of wetland habitats and species, and the intersection between burning practices and wetland plant communities among tribes of the Sierra Nevada Range. Our ethnographic investigations revealed that a majority of culturally important plants identified by tribal members …

Winners And Losers: Emotional Shifts Across Elections Are Conveyed By A Politician’S Smile, Carl Senior, Patrick A. Stewart, Erik Bucy, Nick Lee

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The human smile can convey both rewarding and affiliative social intent and thus has significant utility in politics, where the ability to bond with and reassure voters is vital to electoral success. We examine experimental evidence from the 2019 UK general election to investigate the influence of a politician’s reward or affiliative smile on voter emotions. It was hypothesised that the winner’s affiliative smile would engender positive affect across all partisan groups compared to the winner’s reward smile display. Participants from a nationally representative sample were shown campaign footage containing both types of smiles from the leaders of the main …

Between Pages And Politics: An Interdisciplinary Exploration Of Book Bans, Hannah Morrison

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Across the United States, school boards are being inundated with requests to ban books. While these conversations are often localized, what the rise in censorship across the country suggests is that there is a fierce movement behind censoring young adult literature. What is frequently erased in these campaigns are stories of people of color and queer communities, alongside topics such as sexuality, drugs, or violence. The presiding conclusion within childhood studies on how we have reached a point where censorship is abundantly common in American schools is that public discourse views children as less than or not fully formed, thus …

Informal Family Archives & Oral History, Nichole M. Shippen

Open Educational Resources

Informal Family Archives & Oral History was modeled on and meant to complement the Oral History in Interdisciplinary Community College Pedagogy Funded by NEH for 2023-2025. Therefore, the description is taken from the NEH description except I modified my class to be focused on informal family archives. Students picked a family member they wished to interview for this project. They started with a cultural object exercise and built from that starting point. The class was inspired by Nairy Abdelshafy’s Informal Archives: Capturing Family Memories.

“Oral history is an interactive method and inquiry process on a topic, as well as …

Adolescent Girls Initiative–Kenya: Testing For Scale—Recommendations Report, Karen Austrian, Eva Ireri Muluve, Ruth Nanjekho, John A. Maluccio, Erica Soler-Hampejsek

Adolescents and Young People

The Adolescent Girls Initiative-Kenya, a randomized trial implemented between 2015 and 2021, was designed to test the short- and longer-term effects of two-year multisectoral and multilevel “cash plus” programs for adolescent girls aged 11–14 years. It was implemented in two marginalized areas of Kenya: Kibera, an urban informal settlement in Nairobi, and Wajir, a pastoralist rural county. Results showed that a multisectoral approach was an effective way to create positive change across a range of well-being factors for young adolescent girls, including education, health, and economic outcomes. The program had long-term sustainable effects. Throughout the testing for scale phase, PC-Kenya …

Students’ Experiences When Using Real-Time Automated Captions And Subtitles In Live Online Presentations: A Phenomenological Study, Anymir Orellana Ed.D., Elda Kanzki-Veloso Ph.D., Georgina Arguello Ed.D., Katarzyna Wojnas

The Qualitative Report

According to the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, as a text-based alternative to auditory information in videos or presentations, captions can make the content equally accessible, and multilingual subtitles can promote a cross-linguistic understanding of the content. We conducted a phenomenological study to understand the common meaning of the participants’ experiences when using real-time automated captions/subtitles during live online class presentations. Twenty-four remote student participants were placed in three study groups. All participants were fluent in spoken and written English, eight could read in one or more additional languages, and none had a hearing disability. We used Microsoft PowerPoint …

Reflejos De La Injusticia: Narrativas De Estudiantes Mexicano-Estadounidense En El Sistema Educativo, Kiana Montserrat González Montañez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este trabajo examina los relatos personales de integración, discriminación y racismo institucionalizado entre dos estudiantes mexicano-estadounidense del sur de California. A pesar de tener diversas historiales de migración, sus experiencias se encuentran teniendo mucho en común por causa del racismo internalizado y estructuras discriminatorias en el sistema educativo. Mediante el método de investigación cualitativa, que incluye entrevistas semiestructuradas y análisis temático, el estudio pretende ampliar el discurso sobre los polifacéticos factores que influyen las desigualdades y estratificación racial de los estudiantes mexicano-estadounidense. Al centrarse en las voces de los estudiantes, la investigación desvela las complejidades de abordar la identidad cultural, …

Género Y Resiliencia En La Amazonía Peruana: Las Experiencias Y Respuestas De Agricultoras Indígenas Ante El Cambio Climático, Zoe Klausner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

El cambio climático antropogénico está redefiniendo rápidamente las relaciones humano-ambientales, especialmente en la Amazonía peruana, donde más de 66 comunidades indígenas enfrentan mayores sequías y temperaturas, afectando profundamente sus medios de vida. Crucialmente, desde la visión ecofeminista central a esta investigación se subraya que las mujeres indígenas experimentan los impactos del cambio climático más severamente y son a menudo los líderes en el fomento de la resiliencia ambiental. Esta investigación explora cómo las agricultoras indígenas de la Amazonía peruana viven el cambio climático y sus estrategias de adaptación y resiliencia. El trabajo de campo se realizó en la comunidad Ese'Eja …

Or To Be Eaten Alive, Christopher Williams

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

“or to be eaten alive'' is a multimedia exhibition in which I merge my own coming of age story with a mythological ecology. In this work I reclaim my queer identity by communing with my past selves in a fantasy world created through the lens of Queer Ecology and Queer Eco-Futurism. The visuals in this exhibition obscure reality. They are abstractions of the landscapes I occupy—particularly the Tallgrass prairie and Ozark ecoregions. Through a speculative, fantasy world the exhibition introduces moments of adoration, death, fracturing, growth, joy, and failure. I form, draw, color and arrange the work embracing mistakes and …

Identity-Driven Targeted Violence: Attending To Identity, Emotion, And Personality-Related Predictors Of Attitudinal And Behavioral Prejudice, Patrick Timothy Mcgonigal

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

Identity-driven targeted violence driven by gender identity, sexuality, race, and religion overwhelmingly impacts marginalized groups of individuals. Existing evidence suggests that acts of bias on college campuses are often unreported by students, leaving those who engage in these behaviors to continue without proper redress. A great wealth of data illustrates the deleterious impacts of identity-driven behavior on student victims, including heightened psychological distress, poorer academic performance, and lower retention. In contrast, limited research has examined relevant underpinnings of perpetrating identity-driven harassment. The current dissertation developed and disseminated a large survey to undergraduate students spanning three years of data collection. The …

An Integrative Review Of Management Research On Caste: Broadening Our Horizons, Hari Bapuji, Snehanjali Chrispal, Pardeep Singh Attri, Gokhan Ertug, Vivek Soundararajan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Even though management research on caste is growing, it is not yet on a clear trajectory to realize its vast potential due to varying terminology and framing of caste, the limited incorporation of directly relevant work from proximate disciplines, and the narrow and selective usage of the attributes of caste. To remove these obstacles, we review 259 scholarly works on caste (216 articles and 43 books and research reports) and develop an integrative framework to i) clarify the contemporary manifestations of caste as being a graded hierarchy, an inherited membership, and a set of socially enforced practices, and ii) summarize …

Say Her Name: A Phenomenological Study On Black Women’S Experiences With Fearful Encounters With The Police, Marilyn Shantey Buford

Dissertations

Police violence is a historical, systemic issue that continues to plague the Black community to this day. Research discussing the systemic oppression of police violence on Black people has seen an increase over the past decade. However, little has been discussed on the effects of police violence on Black people’s health and wellness, particularly their mental health. The research that exists surrounding police violence and mental health is largely concentrated on the experiences of Black men. Little is known about how Black women personally experience police violence or how these experiences impact their mental, emotional, and physical health. Not exploring …

Why Citizens Engage In Co-Production: A Theoretical Framework And Experimental Evidence, Seulki Lee, Chongmin Na

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Co-production has been embraced as a robust strategy to improve service quality and create public value. Despite growing interest in citizens’ motivations to engage in co-production, there remain some major gaps in the literature. This study proposes a theoretical framework of factors that influence co-production and offers experimental evidence as to the effects of those factors from an online survey experiment with a sample of 1,297 Koreans. The findings show that public service motivation, driven by normative motivations, is associated with greater willingness to co-produce. We find little effect of monetary or non-monetary rewards, input legitimacy, or individual characteristics such …