Digital Commons Network^™

Morals Without Movement: Veganism, Contentious Politics, And The Lifestyle Politics Constraint, Luke M. Carfaro

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines whether veganism constitutes a social movement through Social Movement Theory frameworks, emphasizing Sidney Tarrow's Power in Movement. Through analysis of veganism's empirical properties (collective challenge, common purpose, collective identity, and sustained interaction) and key procedural mechanisms (framing, mobilizing structures, and repertoires of contention), this thesis determines that veganism fails to meet the empirical criteria of a social movement and is more accurately classified as a lifestyle movement—a movement in which political participation is expressed through private consumption rather than sustained collective contention. Using the Make America Healthy Again movement as a counterexample, this thesis comparatively illustrates …

On Saying Goodbye: Interactional Role Liminality & Post-Death Symbolic Interaction, Deborah Cobb

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Grief is often understood as a process that culminates in detachment, with "saying goodbye" positioned as both an emotional and social necessity. Yet many bereaved individuals describe a different experience, one in which supernatural post-death contact allows them to receive messages from their deceased loved one. Drawing on 22 in-depth interviews and 47 anonymous open-ended surveys, this study explores how individuals who experience unsolicited post-death communication interpret these encounters and integrate them into everyday life. Analysis revealed three interconnected themes: resistance to saying goodbye, interpretation of encounters as specific messages from the deceased, and emotional stabilization following continued contact. These …

Watching Over Cold Waves: The Influence Of Social And Technology Surveillance On Independent Older Adults’ Safety, S M Ashfaqur Rahman

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Cold waves pose a recurring and serious hazard for independently living older adults, yet the monitoring arrangements that shape their protective responses remain understudied. This study examined how social surveillance, defined as check-ins and support from family, neighbors, and community contacts, and technological surveillance, defined as weather applications, smart devices, and emergency alert platforms, jointly and independently predicted cold-wave safety behavior. A cross-sectional, exploratory mixed-methods design was employed. One hundred independently living adults aged 65 and older, residing in cold-prone U.S. states, completed a survey measuring monitoring frequency, source trust, perceived autonomy, concern across six cold-wave hazard types, and a …

The Future Of U.S. Higher Education: Equity Implications Of Shifting Immigration Policies, Research Institute For Social Equity Rise

Research Institute for Social Equity

This report examines the impact of U.S. immigration policies on higher education and international students from 2000 to 2025. It traces five major policy eras, from the post- 9/11 security overhaul and Obama-era expansion to the restrictive turns of 2017–2020 and 2025, and analyzes how shifting regulations have influenced enrollment patterns, economic contributions, and student well-being. Despite hosting more than 1.1 million international students in 2023–2024, the U.S. share of the global student market has fallen from 20% to 16%, underscoring how policy volatility and restrictive measures weaken national competitiveness. Drawing on federal data, scholarly research, and institutional reports, this …

Designing Narrative-Based Ai Assistance For Sensemaking In Collaborative Environments: Case Studies In Education And Dementia Care, Dylan Edward Moore

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

This thesis addresses a gap in the human-computer interaction literature regarding the design, development, and evaluation of narrative-based AI assistance for collaborative, complex problem solving. I explore this design space through three case studies across the domains of education and dementia care. This work encompasses multi-year industry partnerships and longitudinal fieldwork, user-centered design, dataset curation, model training, and system evaluation.

Specifically, the first case study considers a story-based web platform for teaching AI literacy through peer-generated, personalized narrative scaffolding. Learners on the platform showed significant knowledge gains and other learning-related outcomes. To describe the novel design of this system, I …

Handbook On Gender Mainstreaming In The Maritime Sector, Momoko Kitada

Reports

This handbook aims to serve as an introductory practical guide for maritime organizations that intend to apply gender mainstreaming. It guides them in critically reviewing their policies and practices from a gender and diversity lens. Some organizations may view their maritime operations as having nothing to do with gender and, therefore, not requiring any gender considerations. Such mindsets are good signs that an organization would benefit from gender mainstreaming. Others may view the fact that their organizations have women working in every unit as evidence of gender equality and see no need for further action. Gender mainstreaming can help identify …

Women’S Exposure To Incel Content, Perceived Safety, And Gender-Based Violence Risk In The United States, Deja Bledsoe

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses

The rapid proliferation of incel-related content across digital platforms has raised concerns about online misogyny and its potential impact on women’s perceived safety. However, less is known about how exposure to such content shapes women’s perceptions of risk and emotional responses in everyday digital environments. This study examines the relationship between exposure to incel-related content and women’s perceived risk of gender-based violence and safety-related anxiety. Guided by strain theory, social control theory, hegemonic masculinity, and intersectionality, the study employs an anonymous cross-sectional online survey of women aged 18 and older. Quantitative analyses were conducted to assess whether exposure to incel-related …

Survey Measures On Perinatal Cannabis Use, Aaditya Balasubramaniyan, Jacquelyn Reiss, Amy Donley

Institute for Social and Behavioral Science (ISBS)

No abstract provided.

Comparing Chatgpt, Scispace, Copilot, And Human Brainstorming, Sara Martucci

Open Educational Resources

This assignment introduces students to collaborative inquiry, AI-assisted research, and critical source evaluation within the context of contemporary social issues. Working in groups, students brainstorm a course-related social problem, develop an exploratory research question, and generate preliminary explanations grounded in personal experience, common sense, and course concepts. They then use SciSpace Copilot to gather scholarly sources and apply the CRAAP test to evaluate credibility and relevance. Students subsequently compare these findings with responses generated by ChatGPT, analyzing similarities and differences in scope, reasoning, and evidence. Through structured reflection, students critically assess how AI shapes the research and information-gathering process. As …

Examining Marginalized Sexual Identity Development Through Perry’S Scheme Of Cognitive Development, Miranda Bejda

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Existing models of LGBTQ+ sexual identity development are critiqued for their linearity and lack of inclusion for diverse experiences and sexual identities. There is a call for a more robust understanding of the cognitive aspect of sexual identity development. The purpose of this dissertation is to further the understanding of how people think about their sexual identity through the developmental process using Perry’s scheme of cognitive development as a framework. Through semi-structured interviews, I analyze the LGBTQ+ sexual identity development process (Stage 1), how Perry’s scheme applies to LGBTQ+ sexual identity development (Stage 2), and propose a Perry-informed model of …

Table Of Contents

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

No abstract provided.

“The World Is Yours”: Blackplanet.Com And The Black Birth Of The Social Media Age, Malachi D. Crawford, W. Denae Muhammad Murphy, Bequita Pegram

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

This article examines the rise of BlackPlanet.com as a foundational force in the birth of the Social Media Age. Launched in 1999 by Omar Wasow, BlackPlanet quickly became the largest and most influential online social networking platform for African Americans, challenging assumptions about the so-called “digital divide.” Despite limited household internet access among Black communities, the site experienced extraordinary growth, reaching nearly 13 million users by 2004 (see user growth data in Table 1)

Crawford et al . Through customizable personal pages, forums, messaging, and community-building tools, BlackPlanet pioneered participatory digital culture before the rise of MySpace and Facebook. The …

Book Reviews, Mea Boykins, Kimberly F. Monroe, Denzel Oliver, Latif A. Tarik

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

No abstract provided.

Gender As The Moral Framework Of War: Religious Discourse In Wartime Russia, Olga Vlasova Dr., Ulviyya Khalilova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article explores how wartime religious discourse constructs the moral framework of war through gender rhetoric. Based on the critical discourse analysis of wartime public statements by Russian Orthodox and Muslim religious leaders (2022-2026), the study shows how gender can be used as a framework through which violence becomes meaningful and tolerable. It highlights that the discourse of masculinity provides precisely those moral categories (duty, sacrifice, and protection) which depict participation in war as a moral obligation. At the same time, femininity is primarily associated with the reproduction of social order through care, support, and motherhood, while remaining outside the …

Acts Of Becoming: A Phenomenological Investigation Into The Lived Experiences Of West Virginia Teacher-Activists, 1990 To The Present, Phillip Elias Howard

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This critical phenomenological dissertation explores the lived realities of becoming a West Virginia teacher-activist. Presenting the experiential accounts of three participants, its semi-structured questions Show the lifeworld forces, inherited (factical) self-identities, and occupational, "on-the-ground" classroom experiences that inspired its research collaborators to assert themselves as unionists and natural teacher-organizers. This dissertation utilizes a collection of Marxian, phenomenological, and post-structural interpretation devices to develop robust, sensemaking themes which reveal the meaning of participants’ lived reflections. It also provides thick descriptions of co-researchers' historic and current political, economic, and socio-cultural backdrops amid West Virginia’s right-wing political realignment of the 2010s, the eternal …

Examining The Results Of Revolutions In The Third World: A Case Study Of The Iranian, Libyan, And Nicaraguan Revolutions, Noah A. Mohammedelamien

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis examines the post-revolutionary trajectories of Libya, Iran, and Nicaragua to explain why some Third World revolutionary projects preserve and use elements of their founding ideology while others fragment, personalize, or diffuse over time. Rather than focusing on the causes of revolution alone, it analyzes the durability of religious-socialist ideological continuity after revolutionary upheaval. Using a (MDSD) comparative historical and institutional approach grounded in primary and secondary sources, the study evaluates five key dimensions across the cases: religious-socialist ideological fusion, religious elite loyalty, popular religious mobilization, institutional embedding of ideology, and external pressure. The findings suggest ideological continuity is …

Male Disposability, Law, And Feminism, Edward Cantu

Faculty Works

This article explores scientific evidence that societies care more about the welfare and safety of females than that of males, and that this dynamic of "male disposability" is deeply entrenched in culture, and thus in law. The recognition and integration of male disposability theory would mean an evolutionary leap in modern theorizing about gender and the law, but it is ignored. Why? Feminist theory dominates current academic gender discourse. Far from appreciating the explanatory power of male disposability theory, feminist theorists are often invested in theorizing gendered problems in ways that mischannel compassion away from men and toward women. The …

Have Gun, Will Travel: The Domestic Intelligence Implications Of Travel-To-Target Distances In Domestic Violent Extremist Attacks, Kyle W. Mcdonnell

Theses and Dissertations

Domestic violent extremist (DVE) attacks in the U.S. present a fluid and dynamic threat to national security. While past research has extensively examined the ideological drivers of DVE violence, relatively little focus has been placed on their geographic mobility, particularly how far DVE actors travel from their hometowns to attack sites and what insights this provides for intelligence and law enforcement. This dissertation explores how geographic proximity, ideological motivation, and logistical constraints shape DVE travel patterns. Using a comprehensive dataset covering U.S.-based DVE incidents from 2001 to 2025, this study employs a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative geospatial analysis with qualitative …

Exploratory Research Into U.S.-Based College/University Population Perceptions And Security Responses To On-Campus Active Shooter Incidents, Donald E. Stanton

Theses and Dissertations

On-campus active shooter incidents challenge U.S.-based Institutions of Higher Learning (IHLs) as they are usually only identifiable after the first shot. My mixed-methods, exploratory study was conducted to fill gaps in the limited research regarding on-campus active shooter incidents. Using purposive sampling, I identified two IHL security directors for the initial qualitative phase of my research. I conducted separate virtual interviews to discuss active shooter-specific responses, policies, procedures, security measures, potential active shooter-specific security systems, and their views on the importance of open-campus learning and social environments. We also discussed their active shooter response postures and whether they believed their …

Public Image Vs. Patient Experience: A Comparative Study Of Children's Hospitals, Abigail M. Giles

Program in Community Action (PICA)

This study examines the divergence between the curated digital brand identities of children’s hospitals and the lived experiences of their patients. Focusing on how institutions carry out their marketing objectives whilst navigating a “manipulated public sphere” on social media to maintain institutional viability and gain philanthropic support, a qualitative content analysis of 1,618 social media posts from Instagram and Facebook and 239 Google Reviews from 2023-2025 was performed. The analysis compares the difference in content curation of urban children’s hospitals and rural children’s hospitals, collecting posts from Boston Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth. Key findings include the use …

Indigenous Land Seizure & Environmental Injustice: Impacts Of Settler Colonialism, Lydia Moorman

Journal of Earth and Life Science

The fields of conservation and environmentalism prioritize ecosystem health, yet both emerged from western frameworks that displaced and criminalized Indigenous land stewardship. The idealization of “pristine wilderness” narratives served to justify the removal of Indigenous peoples from their homelands and erased millennia of sustainable land stewardship that had maintained ecological balance long before western conservation existed. These narratives not only misrepresented Indigenous relationship with land but also constructed a false dichotomy between humans and nature that positioned Indigenous presence as a threat rather than a source of ecological knowledge. Simultaneously, anthropogenic expansion; such as pipelines, mining, railroads, and other extractive …

Gender-Diverse State Legislative Candidates In The United States: Identity Used Strategically On Campaign Websites, Nicholas Mossman

Honors Theses

In this honors thesis, I evaluate how transgender, nonbinary, and other gender-diverse state legislative candidates in the United States use their campaign websites to communicate messages related to gender identity to voters, and the potential effects of communication on electoral success. I used a dataset of eighty-nine candidates between 2014 and 2024, and coded fifty-four candidate websites to measure how candidates describe their personal identity and communicate about issues related to gender identity, like LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination and gender-affirming care. While existing research evaluates how voters respond to LGBTQ+ candidates, this thesis examines how candidates potentially attract voters through their campaign …

The Great Divide: The Relationship Between Perceived Immorality And The Work Of Artists, Caelyn R. Anderson

Psychology | Senior Theses

The psychological response one has when viewing art depends heavily on contextual understanding. More specifically, when a viewer learns negative biographical information about perceived immorality of an artist, it can negatively affect their relationship with that artist's work (Kaube et al., 2023). The sample was made up of 134 participants randomly assigned to one of two groups exposed to either positive or negative information about the artist Paul Gauguin. After viewing information, participants were shown three different paintings, before being asked to respond to an intentionality scale, and two art reception scales. An independent samples t-test showed that there is …

Conspiracy And Social Movements, Steffen Seitz

Michigan Law Review

Conspiracy prosecutions of social movements are on the rise. From anti-“Cop City” protesters in Atlanta to pro-Palestinian protesters in California, prosecutors are increasingly wielding conspiracy law to suppress social movements. This development is troubling. Social movements have long served as vital engines of democratic self-governance; they crystallize issues, foster public discourse, and mobilize citizens. Yet conspiracy law endangers these movements— and thus democracy—by targeting what makes them work: public expression and social ties between activists.

This Article makes three significant contributions to our understanding of this threat. First, it demonstrates that a charge of conspiracy requires remarkably little—just the appearance …

Visual Aids And Numeracy In Healthcare: Leveraging The Drawing Effect, Zephyr J. Markley

Capstone Showcase

Healthcare decisions often require patients to interpret numerical risk information under stress, yet many struggle with low numeracy, which can distort comprehension and undermine informed consent. Well-designed visual aids can improve diagnostic inference, calibrate confidence, and support better choices, especially for patients with limited numeracy, but their impact depends on whether users can actually interpret the format accurately. Drawing may further enhance these tools by adding a tactile, generative layer that engages visual, semantic, and motoric processing while helping patients organize information into concrete models.

Passive visual aids appear useful but limited because they often position patients as observers rather …

Locked And Loaded: The Truth Behind Gun Violence, Alana N. Shroyer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Gun control remains one of the most controversial policy issues in the United States. While gun reform advocates argue for stricter firearm regulations to reduce gun violence, pro-gun advocates contend that crime is driven more by individual behavior, socioeconomic conditions, and mental health than by gun availability alone. This research project examines gun control laws in the United States, analyzes gun violence data, explores illegal firearm trade markets, compares international approaches, and evaluates whether gun control laws effectively reduce violence while preserving constitutional rights.

Fact Vs. Fiction: Understanding The Influence Of Crime Procedural Television On College Student Choice Of Major, Mia J. Moore

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

As it continues to gain popularity, crime-based media (i.e., crime procedural television shows, true crime podcasts) contributes to the public’s perception of the criminal justice field. Little research exists on the “CSI Effect,” the phenomenon in which criminal justice majors are drawn to the field based on the glorified depictions of the profession portrayed in the media. Previous research on influences behind choice of major suggest a variety of other influential factors, such as personal interest in the subject, friends or family members, or personality characteristics (Beggs et al., 2008; Hoag et al., 2017; Porter & Umbach, 2006). The current …

Gen Z Perspectives On Mental Health Service Interaction: A Qualitative Content Analysis Of Reddit Discourse, Victor A. Aguiar

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Compared to prior generations, Generation Z engages with mental health and mental health service interaction in distinct ways, frequently using social media platforms to share experiences, concerns, and opinions. Previous research has examined mental health discourse on Reddit; however, much of this work relies on inductive thematic approaches and offers limited focus on mental health service interaction and the factors influencing utilization. Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study examines how Generation Z discusses mental health service use through online discourse. Public Reddit posts authored by users identifiable as Generation Z, based on self-reported age, school enrollment, …

“I Don’T Always See A Future For Me Here”: Oppressive Political Pressures On Lgbtq+ College Students’ Well-Being, Jodi Linley, Olivia M. Copeland, Kathleen J. Buell, Cindy Ann Kilgo, Megan Pendleton, Alex C. Lange, N F. Tennessen

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

In recent decades, colleges have broadly supported LGBTQ+ students. Now, institutions have shuttered LGBTQ+ initiatives in response to political pressures, with little consideration for the effects on students. This study answers the question, what current policy factors do LGBTQ+ college students describe as affecting their well-being, and in what ways? We analyzed 426 responses from a multi-institution study of LGBTQ+ students. By and large, students feel anxious and fearful as they navigate the current climate. Our analysis illustrated numerous factors, from the President and his administration to states and general emboldened violence, and the real and potential consequences of those …

The Law Of Quitting, Andrew K. Jennings

Faculty Articles

Throughout life, people enter countless positions of authority and trust in relation to one another and the public. These positions include, among many others, being a public official, being a corporate director, and being an employee. Law announces prerequisites for starting such positions, as well as incumbents’ rights and obligations once in them. But no office holds forever. Indeed, incumbents often choose to exit positions before they would otherwise end by expiration, removal, or death. Yet law governs such voluntary relinquishment—often called “resignation” or, more generically, “quitting”—largely as afterthought. That is, law expansively attends how positions of authority and trust …