Digital Commons Network^™

Holistic Support For College Students Navigating Food Allergies & Food Insecurity At Higher Education Institutions, Chloe Milliron

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Both food allergies and food insecurity are public health concerns that are becoming increasingly prevalent. However, there has been limited discussion on how to support individuals who experience these two challenges concurrently, particularly at higher education institutions. In this study, I examined the intersection of food allergies and food insecurity among students at the University of Central Florida (UCF). There is a focus on the disparities in access to safe foods, financial responsibility, healthcare, and overall well-being. A total of 221 UCF students completed the survey distributed, which assessed food security status using the USDA’s Household Food Security Survey Module, …

The Geography Of Care: Rural Versus Urban Caregiver Perspectives On Community Resources For Parkinson’S Disease Management, Rebecca Jones

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study investigated the experiences and perceptions of caregivers for individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) in rural versus urban settings, with particular emphasis on their access to and utilization of community resources. Through semi-structured interviews with 30 caregivers, the research explored how geographical location impacts caregiving challenges, support systems, and resource accessibility. Using Andersen's Behavioral Model of Health Services Use as a theoretical framework, the study revealed both universal caregiving challenges and location-specific barriers. While all caregivers reported significant emotional burden and healthcare system navigation difficulties, rural caregivers faced distinct challenges related to resource accessibility and specialized care availability. …

Tackling Paradoxes And Double Binds For A Healthier Workplace: Insights From The Early Covid-19 Responses In Quebec And Ontario, Daniel Côté, Amelia León, Ai-Thuy Huynh, Jessica Dubé, Ellen Maceachen, Pamela Hopwood, Marie Laberge, Samantha Meyer, Meghan K. Crouch, Joyceline Amoako

Études primaires

The urgency of managing the COVID-19 health crisis in workplaces led to tensions, work overload, and confusion about preventive measures. This study presents a secondary analysis of qualitative data on paradoxes and double binds (PDBs) experienced by precarious essential workers in Canada who interacted with the public and their supervisors. Based on 13 interviews from a larger qualitative dataset, we examine how workers navigated public health recommendations and organisational demands during the pandemic. Findings reveal multiple organisational and managerial PDBs—both COVID-19-related and pre-existing—that contributed to psychological distress and compromised well-being. We argue that PDBs represent a significant occupational health hazard …

Tax Education For Financial Empowerment, Job Buenrostro-Diaz

Second-Year Seminar Posters (COE 202)

Research Question: In what ways can understanding tax concepts help with financial literacy in improving money management decisions for lower income individuals?

This proposal outlines a strategy to increase quality education in middle to low income communities.

Identifying Intangible And Biocultural Heritage Elements Toward Environmental Understanding: Engaging Stakeholders Through Art, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Grounded in a case study in Barbuda in the Caribbean, this research examines sustainability from the perspective of what arts and heritage can contribute to community engagement and local and broader understandings about the environment. This article documents a growing body of literature recognizing the role of arts and culture, including local knowledge and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), in climate change endeavors. Art and TEK present expansive world views. Contextual information situates research done on the island of Barbuda pre- and post-Hurricane Irma. Visual arts workshops engaged community members in mixed methods research. Results documented cultural elements, particularly intangible and …

In Search Of A Sea-Life Balance In An Adverse Environment : Understanding Seafarers' Life, Work And Turnover, Bikram Singh Bhatia, Raphael Baumler, Maria Carrera-Arce

Reports

The Officers’ Union of International Seamen (OUIS) commissioned the World Maritime University (WMU) to conduct the Work & Health Balance at Sea (WHEAB) project to examine some dimensions of seafarers’ working lives.

Building on exploratory interviews, a survey was designed and administered. The current report presents findings on work patterns (onboard and home periods), working hours, work-related stress, safety management system, shore leave, mental well-being, and career intention.

The survey gathered responses from 4,372 seafarers, mainly from India (n=1,098; 25.1%), the Philippines (n=690; 15.8%), the United States (U.S.) (n=501; 11.5%), and other worldwide regions (n=2,083; 47.6%). The overrepresentation of U.S. …

Neighborliness Vs. Car Culture: Traffic Violence, Pedestrian Deaths In Philadelphia, And Vision Zero's Concept Of Equity, Regina Austin

Journal of Law and Mobility

Vision Zero (VZ) is a transportation policy adopted by major cities like Philadelphia that aims to reduce or eliminate traffic violence, primarily through improvements in the transportation infrastructure. VZ prioritizes engineering (over enforcement), community engagement, and perhaps most importantly, equity. In the battle for superiority among users of land-based travel modes in America, automobile drivers have benefited from arterial highways that speed traffic flows around and through urban enclaves to reach center city business districts and from a car culture that encourages dominant behavior behind the wheel. Pedestrians have been among the losers.

In Philadelphia, as elsewhere, pedestrians who are …

Student Retention And Persistence At Jccc, Eve Blobaum

Sabbatical Projects

Community colleges enroll diverse student populations with varied academic preparation, socioeconomic backgrounds, and personal circumstances. These factors contribute to lower retention and persistence rates compared to four-year institutions. This work adds to the research on community college retention and persistence by attempting to identify factors related to student retention and persistence at Johnson County Community College, a large suburban community college in the American Midwest. Using 21 variables drawn from Community College Survey of Student Engagement data collected online in Spring 2021, a sample of 289 students was analyzed to identify variables with a statistically significant (p < 0.05) association with next-term retention, fall-to-fall retention, or persistence. The findings reveal that only credit hours completed is consistently associated with retention and persistence. While credential-seeking and financial aid are associated with next-term retention (p = .002 and p < .001, respectively), neither was associated with long-term outcomes. Age group was associated with fall-to-fall retention (p = .043) and persistence (p = .031) but not with next-term retention. Additionally, while being married and living with dependent children were associated with persistence (p = .005 and p = .002, respectively), neither was related to either of the retention measures. These results underscore the complexity of retention dynamics and highlight the need for further research to validate the utility of the CCSSE instrument at the institutional level and explore whether these results are anomalous.

Crafting Cultural Power: Artistic Interventions As Tools For Political Organizing Among Los Angeles Street Vendors, Corina M. Silverstein

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis focuses on the intersections of collaborative and artistic interventions (such as collective songwriting and poetry) within the ongoing fight to legalize and decriminalize street vending in Los Angeles. Through the close partnership with Community Power Collective (CPC), this thesis analyzes the use of narrative in artistic collaborations and oral traditions throughout the political mobilization of street vendors in Los Angeles. Through an interdisciplinary approach, this investigation explores the use of early influences of street theater, to collective songwriting workshops, as well as artistic collaborations with local artists. Ultimately, suggesting CPC’s use of artistic practices and collaborations are essential …

"You Can't Buck Against The Railroad" And The Anarchist Radicals Who Ceased To Be: The Honest, Bleak Portrayal Of Social Darwinism In Frank Norris's The Octopus, Michelle Nicole Miani

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

During the latter half of the nineteenth century, when railroads were consolidating their control, their executives soon learned their power of controlling rates, and by extension, the entire economy. Dissecting the capitalist machine of the railroad corporations in California, Frank Norris’s 1901 novel The Octopus presents a fictionalized account of the very real circumstances of one fight against the monopoly, the Mussel Slough Tragedy of 1880 in the San Joaquin Valley. This thesis explores Norris’s presentation of the forces that drive humans to lack empathy for those around them as well as the forces that drive others to fight back …

How Raciolinguistic Ideologies Shape Afro-Anglophone Caribbean Students' Negotiations Of Their Linguistic Identities, Merlyn Andrea Vanderstarre

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

During the last and current century, the United States has witnessed an increasing upward trend in immigration from the racially and linguistically diverse English-speaking or Anglophone Caribbean (Lorenzi & Batalova, 2022). However, there needs to be more research on Afro-Anglophone Caribbean (AAC) students recounting their experiences in schools in the United States. Framed by a raciolinguistic perspective and post-colonial theory, this qualitative study captures the experiences of seven (7) student participants from four (4) academy high schools in an urban school district in the U.S. Northeast, who provided insights into their linguistic identities and experiences in high schools in the …

Trees, Schools, & Stakeholders: Building Partnerships For Schoolyard Greening With Portland Urban Forestry Learning Landscapes, Claire Brase

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Portland Urban Forestry Learning Landscapes is a city program offering free tree planting and establishment services to schools, community groups, and multi-residential zones in the city of Portland, Oregon. This project report, completed on behalf of Learning Landscapes, uses qualitative evidence from interviews with school district administrators, teachers, volunteers, grounds staff, city employees, and outreach experts to gain a deeper understanding of the factors leading to successful collaboration between local school districts and their external community partners. These conversations with school and outreach personnel across the city suggest that district staff are interested in collaborative greening organizations like Learning Landscapes …

Mental Health Perceptions Among Caribbean Adults In The United States, Ambika Ramjawam

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate mental health literacy (MHL) among Caribbean American adults and to assess the extent to which mental health perceptions (MHP) and acculturative stress contribute to variations in MHL. A cross-sectional, quantitative survey design was utilized to examine MHL, MHP, and acculturative stress among a sample of 138 participants. Pearson correlation analyses were conducted to assess associations among MHL, MHP, acculturation, and age. Independent samples t-tests and one-way ANOVAs were performed to examine demographics across key variables. Findings revealed moderate levels of MHL (M = 4.7, SD = .99) and a weak, positive correlation …

The Paradox Of Survival: Gendered Food Insecurity, Labor Inequalities, And Coping Strategies During The 2023/4 Drought In Eastern Ethiopia, Meron E. Lemma

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

In drought-prone regions of Eastern Ethiopia, recurring droughts profoundly reshape everyday life in ways that deepen existing gendered inequalities. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Fedis district, including semi-structured interviews with women, project implementers, and government officials, as well as group discussions with community members, this study explores how women experience, navigate, and resist the gendered impacts of drought. By attending to the sociopolitical dynamics of drought and the development interventions that accompany it, I analyze how these forces restructure labor, land, food systems, and authority in ways that reproduce and exacerbate existing inequalities. Women’s coping strategies, ranging from begging and …

Teaching In Racially Diverse Schools: Towards A Racial Competency Framework, Tebeje Molla, Kerri Garrard, Tim Corcoran

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Safe learning environments foster the wellbeing, engagement, and educational outcomes of students. To develop resources that enable schools to create safe learning environments, we conducted focus group discussions with teachers and African heritage students in selected public schools in an Australian state. This paper reports insights from our discussions with the school staff. The findings indicate that teachers face ‘relational uncertainty’ in dealing with racial issues impacting their engagement with these students. To address these challenges, we propose a racial competency framework, featuring distinctive dimensions, drivers, and domains. The framework emphasises the need for schools to support racial value awareness, …

Evaluating The Potential For An Eco-Museum In Mon Village Through The Lens Of Sustainable Development, Yanran Huang

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This study uses the Mon Village in Sangkhlaburi, Thailand, as a case study to explore the feasibility of establishing an eco-museum through the lens of sustainable development. As a “museum without walls,” the eco-museum emphasizes community participation, cultural continuity, and ecological protection, offering distinctive value compared to conventional museums. The research first outlines the significance of eco-museums in cultural preservation, ecological conservation, community development, and policy innovation, noting that such institutions have not yet been formally established in Thailand. A qualitative methodology was adopted, combining semi-structured interviews, field observations, and document analysis to collect diverse perspectives from community residents, cultural …

Cuny ’69 – Students In Social Movements. A Global Perspective, Despina Lalaki

Open Educational Resources

This teaching material was developed as a result of the CUNY 1969 Teach-in that took place in Summer 2025. Prof. Lalaki has developed a course that situates CUNY ’69 within a broader historical and global framework of student movements, and invites students to engage with sociological theory, protest texts, oral histories, news coverage, activist media, archival materials, and film.

A Study Of Human Services In The Town Of Natick, Caitlin E. Coyle, Mary Krebs, Morgan Clark, Matt Frye

Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging Publications

The Town of Natick has committed to engaging the community to guide efforts to update and modernize municipal policies, procedures, and programs such that they appropriately reflect the needs and interests of the community.

Between 2021 and 2022, the Community Services Department underwent some organizational restructuring, which included staffing changes and the inclusion of Recreation & Parks and the Sassamon Trace Golf Course as divisions within the department, which already included the Council on Aging & Human Services, Veterans Services, and the Natick Community Organic Farm4. The Community Services Department is “charged with responding to the needs, interests and quality …

Production & Perception Of /S/ And Pitch Of Transgender Speakers, Connor J. Ryan

Honors Theses and Capstones

Linguistic research on how transgender speakers use speech traits commonly associated with gender, such as f0 and /s/, is still limited in scope. Past research has focused primarily on singular gender groups within the transgender community, particularly transmasculine speakers, leaving gaps in how speech differs among transgender speakers. Additionally, there has been little research on how transgender identity influences perception of gender in speech. Here, I use data from reading passages by fifteen university-age transgender speakers in New England to analyze variation in /s/ and f0 among transmasculine, transfeminine, nonbinary, and multigender speakers. I then performed a perception study using …

วัฏจักรแห่งอำนาจกับวิถีทางการเมืองของชาวสิงคโปร์เชื้อสายอินเดีย ภายใต้นโยบายพหุวัฒนธรรม, อภิรัฐ คำวัง

Journal of Social Sciences

บทความวิชาการนี้เป็นการศึกษาอิสระ ที่มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาวิเคราะห์ชาวสิงคโปร์เชื้อสายอินเดียในฐานะชุมชนลำดับที่ 3 ภายใต้บริบทนโยบายพหุวัฒนธรรม โดยศึกษาบูรณาการด้านประวัติศาสตร์ สังคมวัฒนธรรม และรัฐศาสตร์ มุ่งพิจารณาถึงการเลือกตั้งทั่วไปกับการเลือกตั้งประธานาธิบดี ผลการศึกษาในครั้งนี้ได้แสดงให้เห็นว่า ก) สิงคโปร์เปิดพื้นที่เชิงอำนาจทางการเมืองการปกครอง เชื้อสายอินเดียได้เข้าถึงอำนาจฝ่ายนิติบัญญัติผ่านการเลือกตั้งทั่วไป ระบบกำหนดให้มีเขตเลือกตั้งแบบรายกลุ่มที่มีเชื้อสายอินเดียเป็นสมาชิก (ตั้งแต่ ค.ศ. 1988) ในปัจจุบันสังกัดอยู่ในทั้งฝ่ายรัฐบาลและฝ่ายค้าน แต่การสร้างกลุ่มที่มีเชื้อสายตามอุดมการณ์และดำเนินตามนโยบายก็เป็นเรื่องยาก ข) ชุมชนเชื้อสายอินเดียมีประวัติศาสตร์ที่ได้เข้าถึงตำแหน่งระดับสูงในฝ่ายรัฐบาล และการได้เข้าถึงตำแหน่งที่มีอำนาจสูงสุดห้าในหกตำแหน่ง นั่นคือ ประธานาธิบดี รัฐมนตรีอาวุโส รองนายกรัฐมนตรี หัวหน้าผู้พิพากษาสูงสุด และประธานรัฐสภา อย่างไรก็ดี ชาวสิงคโปร์เชื้อสายอินเดียยังไม่ได้เข้าถึงตำแหน่งนายกรัฐมนตรี ซึ่งเชื้อสายจีนมีจารีตสืบทอดในตำแหน่งนี้มาโดยตลอด

เปรียบเทียบการสร้างรัฐสวัสดิการในกลุ่มประเทศตะวันตกและตะวันออก : แนวทางในการทำความเข้าใจการพัฒนารัฐสวัสดิการ, วรรณภา ลีระศิริ, ภาคภูมิ แสงกนกกุล

Journal of Social Sciences

บทความวิจัยฉบับนี้ศึกษาพัฒนาการของรัฐสวัสดิการในกลุ่มประเทศตะวันตกและตะวันออกเพื่อตอบคำถามว่าการนำเอาความสำเร็จของรัฐสวัสดิการตะวันตกมาเป็นต้นแบบเพียงพอและเหมาะสมต่อการสร้างรัฐสวัสดิการของไทยหรือไม่ผ่านการศึกษาพัฒนาการของรัฐสวัสดิการในยุโรปตะวันตก ได้แก่ อังกฤษ ฝรั่งเศส และกลุ่มสแกนดิเนเวีย และประเทศที่พัฒนาแล้วในเอเชียอย่างญี่ปุ่น เกาหลีใต้ และสิงคโปร์เพื่อเปรียบเทียบให้เห็นถึงความเหมือนและความต่างของทั้งสองกลุ่ม การวิจัยนี้ใช้แนวทางการวิจัยประวัติศาสตร์เชิงสถาบัน (Historical Institutional Approach) เน้นไปที่ปัจจัยทางด้านอุดมการณ์และปัจจัยโครงสร้างเชิงสถาบันเป็นสำคัญ ผลการศึกษาพบว่ารัฐสวัสดิการมีหลากหลายรูปแบบและประวัติศาสตร์เชิงสถาบันมีอิทธิพลต่อการกำหนดเส้นทางการพัฒนารัฐสวัสดิการ การก่อร่างสร้างรัฐสวัสดิการไทยจึงมิอาจลอกเลียนแบบรัฐอื่นได้ทั้งหมดแต่ต้องเข้าใจบริบทและประวัติศาสตร์ของตนเอง ประยุกต์ปรับปรุงให้เหมาะสมกับปัญหาสังคมที่ประสบอยู่ และจำเป็นต้องคำนึงถึงการเปลี่ยนแปลงเชิงสถาบันซึ่งต้องใช้เวลาหลายทศวรรษหรือศตวรรษในการเปลี่ยนแปลงทั้งทางด้านอุดมการณ์รัฐสวัสดิการ โครงสร้างเศรษฐกิจ สังคม การเมือง และวัฒนธรรม

“Single Girl, Married Girl:” Female Perspectives On Marriage, Maidenhood, And Motherhood In English-Language Folk Music, Avery Schanbacher

Libraries Award for Undergraduate Scholarship

In 1928, the Carter Family released “Single Girl, Married Girl.” The recording featured only Sara and Maybelle Carter, and in three short stanzas, highlighted the vastly differing lives of the single girl, who dressed fine and went where she pleased, and the married girl, with a baby on her knee, who rocked the cradle and cried. Sara and Maybelle Carter weren’t the only people who knew this song – before they recorded it for Ralph Peer at the famous Bristol sessions, it was alive as a part of musical traditions not just in their home in Scott County, Virginia, but …

The Predictors Of Self-Censorship On College Campuses, Henry I. Long

CMC Senior Theses

Across U.S. colleges, speech climates are poor. Self-censorship and discomfort expressing views are common. At the same time, we find wide variation in speech climates across different institutions. This study is the first to identify factors that predict variation in speech climates. Drawing on data from multiple sources, including a survey of 58,807 undergraduates across 257 colleges and universities from the Foundation from Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), this study constructs a first-of-its-kind dataset to test three core theories of self-censorship found in the literature—student-centric theories, faculty-centric theories, and administrator-centric theories. We find moderate evidence to support each theory. Overall, …

Preserving Roots: Assessing The Assyrian Community In Iraq Through The Eyes Of Aid Workers, Tara E. Dawood

CMC Senior Theses

This study aims to assess the unique challenges and experiences of Assyrians from Iraq from the perspective of humanitarian aid workers. The research questions are as follows: what factors contribute to Christians choosing to leave Iraq, especially in the last 25 years?; what actions by the Iraqi government would deter them from leaving or support them in returning? This study is significant because it focuses attention on the excessive numbers of Assyrians leaving Iraq. Although they are a minority, their translocation produced a massive resettlement of migrants—more than any other group in Iraq. By analyzing the role of the Iraqi …

Delinking Development: Material And Epistemic Justice And Caribbean Reparations, Tavis D. Jules, Nigel Brissett

Sustainability and Social Justice

In this conceptual paper, we consider novel avenues for development in the Anglophone Caribbean by addressing the historical heritage of chattel slavery, Indigenous dispossession, and extractive capitalism and their pivotal roles in shaping capitalist modernity. Our analysis encompasses the historical configurations of the development paradigm, elucidating the impact of colonial violence, extractive and racial capitalism, and the resulting material and epistemic repercussions. Positioned within the conceptual framework of reparations, we propose restructuring the aid system and asserting the right to epistemic autonomy as two strategic avenues for reshaping the current developmental trajectories of Caribbean societies.

Extramural Absolutism, Deepa Das Acevedo

Faculty Articles

As battles over academia escalate, an area of intensifying concern is the speech faculty engage in outside their professional functions—what is often called “extramural” speech. Professors have been criticized, disciplined, pressured to resign, and even terminated for extramural speech that is deemed offensive by individuals inside and outside university communities. And yet, academics generally remain committed to a principle that this Article identifies as extramural absolutism.

The Article explains extramural absolutism’s unpopularity outside academia as a reasonable consequence of the way supporters have presented and justified it. Contrary to widespread scholarly portrayal, extramural absolutism is not a moderate concession justified …

Enhancing Community Value Through Cultural Product : A Case Study Of Sud Siam Beer, Chonthicha Rungjaroensin

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This independent study investigates how Sud Siam beer functions as a cultural product that enhances community value and communicates the cultural identity of Yala Province to outsiders. The study pursues three objectives: to examine the role of local craft beer in strengthening Yala’s community value and identity, particularly in external perceptions; to analyze the cultural product development strategies applied by Sud Siam beer; and to explore how Sud Siam beer serves as a medium for Yala community promotion and cultural representation. A mixed-methods approach was employed to the research study, combining a single in-depth interview with the brand owner and …

Curating Difficult Heritage : Interpreting The Thai-Burma Railway In The Museum Context, Eriko Kawaguchi

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This study examines how the difficult heritage of the Thai–Burma Railway is curated and interpreted in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. As debates in contemporary museology evolve, museums are increasingly expected to function as inclusive platforms with social responsibility. Although the railway was constructed in Thailand, its traumatic memories are shared transnationally among Allied prisoners of war (POWs), Asian laborers, Japanese imperial military, and local Thai communities, making its representation complex.The research aims to understand how difficult heritage is curated through a case study of the Thailand–Burma Railway Centre (TBRC), focusing on its curatorial approach, challenges, and representation of transnational narratives. Qualitative methods …

Art, Culture, And Economy In Vietnam's Cultural Revival Movement: Case Studies Of Tired City And Comicola, Ha Phuong Nguyen Vu

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

In recent years, Vietnam has witnessed a strong youth-driven wave of cultural rediscovery, reflected through numerous events, creative projects, artworks, and music inspired by Vietnamese heritageÑwidely reported across national media. In response to this growing cultural interest, the Vietnamese government has increasingly recognized the value of cultural and creative industries and introduced new policies to support their development. However, within this broader cultural landscape, the position of the visual arts remains insufficiently addressed. Economic opportunities for young artists participating in the cultural revival movement have not been clearly examined, and the role and influence of creative businesses specializing in visual …

The Key Factors Of Thai Traditional Cultural Festivals That Attract International Tourists : The Case Of Songkran Festival, Jieyi Chen

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

AbstractThis study focuses on traditional cultural festivals in Thailand, particularly Songkran, to examine the key factors that attract international tourists and analyze the uniqueness and appeal of Thai culture. Findings indicate that authenticity, participatory experiences, festive atmosphere, and symbolic rituals are essential elements that attract tourists. However, challenges such as the risk of over-commercialization, uneven international promotion, and issues of cultural preservation remain. By adopting literature analysis and case study methods, this research investigates these key factors and the potential for future development, including the international influence of Thai traditional festivals and their contributions to local tourism development and the …