Digital Commons Network^™

“Because I Said So”: How National Leaders Use Rhetoric To Frame The Issues Of National Security And The War On Drugs, Saul Valle

History and Political Science | Senior Theses

In the preamble of the 2024 presidential election seasons in both the United States and Mexico, there has been an increase in aggressive outspoken expression by national leaders regarding how to best handle the issue of drugs and drug use across the Western hemisphere. These types of sweeping policies are often credited to President Richard Nixon, who on June 18th, 1971, initiated his “War on Drugs,” a global policy campaign intended to address the production, distribution, and consumption of the illicit drug trade. Existing scholarship on this topic has extensively analyzed the early years of the American war on drugs …

Who Can You Count On? Banking While Female: Money, Community, And Self-Help, Leena Haider

Gaines Fellow Senior Theses

This ethnohistorical study explores how women’s creation and participation in financial systems allow them to find the economic prosperity and build community ties which they are entitled to. Because when facts or figures may not appeal to everyone, stories can. This paper is divided into four sections: In the first section, "Contextual Background," I delve into the historical and anthropological context of ROSCAs, exploring their origins, cultural significance, and economic functions across diverse societies in the Global South, before focusing on the diasporic usage of ROSCAs among immigrant communities. The second section, "Portraits of Women from Oral Histories," presents written …

Changes In Criminal Thinking Among Homeless Veterans Receiving Housing First Services, Deirdra Robinson

Theses and Dissertations--Social Work

Homelessness is a social problem that has plagued the United States for decades. as early as 1987, veterans were identified has making up a large proportion of people living unhoused. This dissertation is a retrospective exploratory, quantitative study exploring the relationship between criminal thinking and specific characteristics (mental health symptoms, social connectedness, perception of seriousness of legal issues, and housing) of veterans who received services from a Housing First program. Using Survival Mode Theory as a framework for organizing and understanding the context of the study, and the utility of the findings, this dissertation aimed at improving practice and theoretical …

The Death Of Slim Shady: Eminem’S Lyrical Life Course Trajectory, Anthony Raul Rosales, Anthony R. Rosales

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

Eminem's lyrical life course trajectory helps provide insight into hip-hop and rap music's arguably criminal social stigma. Previous studies have examined Eminem's songs, but these topics focused on singular songs and themes rather than a lyrical life course. This study fills the gap by providing a content analysis of Eminem's solo studio albums, where it identifies themes and patterns that appear in the album's lyrics. The purpose of this study was to use research questions based on theory and previous research to examine Eminem's lyrics and personas. Using Eminem's thirteen solo studio albums consisting of two-hundred-nine songs, this study focused …

Outpatient Fall Prevention In Ambulatory Adults 65 Years Old And Over, Dorothy L. Osborne-White

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects - Archive

Background: In the United States (U.S.), falls are the leading cause of injury among adults 65 and over, resulting in 36 million falls yearly (Moreland et al., 2020). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2023), one in four older adults experiences a fall each year. Falls are the world's second most prominent cause of accidental deaths (World Health Organization [WHO], 2021). Falls are the leading cause of both fatal and non-fatal injuries among older adults (Moreland et al., 2020).

Methods: A quality improvement project that included a fall bundle was implemented in a primary clinic. A …

“Criticize The Way You Fly”: Negotiations Of Femininity And Motherhood Among Young Disabled Women, Alicia Leon Luna

Sociology & Anthropology Theses - Archive

Disabled women are often excluded from the reproductive rights movement based on the wrongful assumption that women’s disability makes them unfit for motherhood. The social proscription of parenting by disabled women creates reproduction rights issues as it blocks pathways to parenthood while simultaneously ignoring the ever present influence mothering ideology (i.e., the motherhood mandate) has on the gender identity of these women. Research on disabled motherhood is sparse; thus, this study seeks to add to it by examining the intersection of disability, femininity, and motherhood through the lens of young childless disabled women. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 disabled …

Differentially Unwell: On Mimi Khúc's "Dear Elia", Seo-Young J. Chu

Publications and Research

[...] Inviting readers to reclaim the stigma of unwellness and collectively to "tend to our unwellness, together," Khúc approaches unwellness as a crucial resource for subverting the "wellness and unwellness" dichotomy entirely. After all, the opposite of "wellness" is not "unwellness"; the opposite of "wellness" does not exist. The opposition itself is an artificial framework, one that reductively harms more than it dialogically helps. We need to move away from these simplistic dualisms, Khúc suggests, and towards more generous, trauma-informed epistemologies. [...]

An Exploratory Study Of Anti-Black Racism In Social Media Behavior Intentions: Effects Of Political Orientation And Motivation To Control Prejudice, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Samantha A. Wilcox, Justine K. Brace, Melissa Anderson

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Considering the widespread prevalence of racist content and opinions on social media, there is a pressing need to understand how users react to such content in ways that might lead them to be drawn into echo chambers of racism, hate speech, and potentially even violence. We conducted an online study to investigate how two individual differences—political orientation and motivation to control prejudice (MCP)—may predispose people to accept anti-Black racism expressed in social media messages. Non-Black participants viewed racist and egalitarian mock social media posts and reported how likely they would be to respond favorably and/or engage in supportive social media …

Evaluation Of Knowledge Exchange Efficiency In Academic Virtual Community Based On The Characteristics Of Author Network Structure, Shuqing Li, Tiansheng Zheng

Journal of Scientific Information Research

[Purpose/Significance]The measurement of knowledge exchange efficiency of academic virtual community has a positive significance for understanding and improving the academic virtual community itself, and also provides a new application analysis field for the evaluation methods of knowledge exchange efficiency. [Methods/Process]This paper proposes a method to measure the efficiency of knowledge exchange in academic virtual community by using networks of blog author. The network node weights are designed by summarizing the total number of views, recommendations, comments and blog category of each blog author. The edge weights in network are designed by the blog author's domain characteristics and blog category. According …

Fp-24-13 Recently Divorced Adults With Resident Minor Children, 2022, Corrine E. Wiborg

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

After reaching a 40-year low for two consecutive years (2020 and 2021 at 14.0 divorces per 1,000 married women), divorce rates have risen slightly in 2022 to 14.6 divorces per 1,000 married women (FP-23-24). Among recently divorced individuals, many may be parents with resident children. Using the American Community Survey (ACS) data from 2022, we estimate whether minor children (either biological, stepchildren, or adopted) are present in the household among recently divorced (within the last year) parents aged 18-55. Currently, the ACS does not capture divorced individuals with nonresident children and thus these figures underestimate the percentage of recently divorced …

Fp-24-15 Women Who Gave Birth Within The Past 12 Months, 2022, Corrine E. Wiborg

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

In 2024, the CDC issued a report indicating the United States’ general fertility rate (i.e., the total number of births in the year divided by the female population ages 15-44) has decreased for a second year in a row to 54.4 births per 1,000 women aged 15-44 in 2023, which is a decline of 3% from 2022 (Hamilton et al., 2024). Although the fertility rate has declined in the United States, it remains important to explore the marital status of mothers who are giving birth as the share of births to unmarried women accounted for nearly one-third (31%) of all …

Fp-24-17 Older Adults Living With An Adult Roommate Or Sibling, 2022, Jaden Loo, Krista K. Westrick-Payne

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

Since the mid-1960s, the living arrangements of older adults (those aged 50 and above) have shifted significantly. Today, most older adults either live alone, with a spouse, or with a partner (Ausubel, 2020; Vespa, 2017). Although the proportion of older adults living with a spouse remains stable (Vespa, 2017), a declining share of older adults lives alone (Stepler, 2020) and an increasing share are in multigenerational households (Washington, Gryn, Anderson, & Kreider, 2023). However, less is known about other living arrangements, such as living with roommates (home sharing) or siblings. Previous research by the NCFMR revealed an increase in the …

Afro-Latin Americans Living In Spain And Social Death: Moving From The Empirical To The Ontological, Ethan Johnson, Joy González-Güeto, Vanessa Cadena

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper has three objectives. First, we establish that although Spain has attempted to distance itself from its role in the sub-saharan African slave trade and the significance blackness plays within its borders, there exists a significant population of people of African descent from Latin America living in Spain. Second, we show Black people are living what Sadiyah Hartmann refers to as the afterlife of slavery in Latin America. We claim it is worthwhile to take into account that Afro-Latin Americans are fleeing to the country that is largely responsible for them being in Latin America and the conditions of …

Embracing Change: From Recalibration To Radical Overhaul For The Field Of School Attendance, David Heyne, Carolyn Gentle-Genitty, Glenn A. Melvin, Gil Keppens, Catriona O’Toole, Lisa Mckay-Brown

Founder’s College - Scholarship and Professional Work

In a world characterized by dynamic demographic shifts, rapid technological transformations, and evolving pedagogical practices, the need for reimagining school attendance and a relationship with education has become paramount. This Research Topic, boldly titled “The Unlearning of School Attendance: Ideas for Change,” compels us to challenge conventional thinking and working in this domain. The collection of 12 articles offers compelling opportunities for change, ranging from subtle recalibrations to radical overhauls, depending on the extent to which our current ideas and methods have grown outdated. This opening article serves as a thematic guide, curating the diverse prospects for transformation found within …

Chinese Economic Behavior In Southeast Asia: A Historical And Cultural Overview Of The Migration Patterns, Culture, And Business Practices Of The Chinese Diaspora In Southeast Asia, Zachary Szklarz

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

For hundreds of years, ethnic Chinese have set sail in hopes of peace and economic prosperity in Southeast Asia. Over time, these immigrants became paramount to the culture, economies, and politics of their newfound homes. The immense success of these Chinese migrants and their descendants is based on two main factors: maintaining in-group preference in business and social life without explicit discrimination towards outsiders and holding individuals who have achieved wealth through ethical Confucianist means in high esteem. Unique among diaspora groups, the emigrants from China managed to become fully integrated in their adoptive homelands, while still maintaining traditional customs, …

Assessing American Attitudes: Welfare And Redistribution Preferences Over Time By Race, Gender, And Education, Liliana Silver

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Income and wealth inequality in the United States have skyrocketed since the 1970s, making the country increasingly unequal (Ashok et al. 2015; Hout 2021; Lee 2023). Researchers disagree on whether overall support for redistribution in the United States has changed in the last several decades (Ashok et al. 2015; Lee 2023; Pittau et al. 2016) but recent studies suggest the country has seen a significant political realignment based on race and education, influencing support for redistribution (Kitschelt and Rehm 2019). Much of the literature on redistributive attitudes exists in political science or economics and/or explores fewer dependent variables of race, …

A Causal Discovery Exploration Of Determinants Of Social Isolation, Barry Nuqoba, Kenneth Choo, Yi Wen Tan, William Tov

ROSA Research Briefs

In this report, we explore the potential causes of social isolation among older adults in Singapore using causal discovery. We found an inferred causal relationship between perceived helpfulness and social isolation, where older adults who perceived themselves as helpful were less likely to perceive themselves as socially isolated. Our study also found that perceived isolation and loneliness may be distinct concepts among older adults in Singapore, with loneliness being more likely to precede social isolation. Policy recommendations include promoting a sense of helpfulness through programs such as volunteering to reduce social isolation.

Implementing Social Determinants Of Health Data Collection In A Large Urban Pediatric Hospital Setting, Stormee Williams, Kristina Hill, Barry Owen, Forest Melton

Research

No abstract provided.

Reports On The Cost Of Administration Of Criminal Justice In Omaha And Lincoln, Nebraska, 1933: A Facsimile Edition & Contextual Casebook., Hattie Plum Williams, Michael R. Hill, Mary Jo Deegan

Zea E-Books Collection

The professional life of Hattie Plum Williams (1878–1963) epitomized the first generation of professional women sociologists on the Great Plains. At the University of Nebraska, she became the first woman in the world known to hold a regular appointment as chair of a coeducational, doctoral department of sociology (1923–1928). Often characterized as a social worker, her professional allegiance remained to sociology. Williams’ unsung labors in the early 1930s on behalf of the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (NCLOE) resulted in two detailed, typewritten accounts of crime and criminal justice in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska. Her data collection, along …

The Midwest Feminist Papers: A Facsimile Edition 1980–1997. Part Ii (1984–1986), Mary Jo Deegan, Michael R. Hill

Zea E-Books Collection

Mary Jo Deegan and Michael R. Hill, compilers. The Midwest Feminist Papers: A Facsimile Edition 1980–1997, with prefaces and author indices by Mary Jo Deegan and Michael R. Hill. 3 volumes: Part II (1984–1986)

The Midwest Feminist Papers was a creative, group-generated initiative that gave voice to the scholarly questions, research interests, and social concerns of a growing cohort of Midwestern feminist sociology graduate students and their feminist faculty mentors during the last quarter of the Twentieth Century. They were active members of Midwest Sociologists for Women in Society, a regional expression of the larger national Sociologists for Women …

Gender In The Making Of The Constitution: Proposals For A Feminist Inquiry Into Indian Constitutional History, Achyut Chetan

National Law School Journal

A feminist inquiry into the framing of the Indian Constitution must retrieve and see the interventions of the women members of the Constituent Assembly for what they historically represent, namely, a feminist authorial voice that was developed over a period of time by the pre-Independence women’s movement in India. For a proper understanding of this voice, we must understand the gendered character of the Constituent Assembly, its architecture, its procedures, the dynamics of the gendered relations among its members, and above all, the performative aspects of the debates. This inquiry must also investigate the language employed by the members and …

The Impact Of Waiting Times On Patient Satisfaction And Patient Care At A Tertiary Health Care Institution In Kenya: A Cross-Sectional Study, Soud Seif Soud

Master of Internal Medicine

Introduction: Patients spend significant time waiting for care. This often influences patient satisfaction, perceived quality and access to care, and utilisation of various healthcare services. Waiting time and resulting implications remain understudied in low- and middleincome countries like Kenya. This study aimed to describe the impacts of waiting times on patient satisfaction and care at a tertiary healthcare institution in Kenya.

Method: We conducted a prospective cross-sectional study between March 2023 and July 2023 at the Emergency Room (ER) at Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire, looking at demographics and patient wait …

Identifying Youth Appeals In Alcohol Alternative Social Media Content Through Framing, Melina Oneal

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Proposed regulations for alcohol advertising prevent beverage companies from targeting people under the legal drinking age. However, similar regulations for alcohol alternative beverages are less explored, which could allow alcohol alternative products to create awareness for alcoholic beverages among youth. Alcohol alternatives beverages, including no-alcohol and low-alcohol products, are increasing in popularity and can function as compliments to alcoholic products to decrease the total alcohol volume consumed or as substitutes for alcoholic products. Framing theory can be operationalized through the Content Appealing to Youth Index, an index of content elements found in research literature to be appealing to youth, to …

Autopathography Across Media: Trauma And Fluid Embodied Subjectivity, He (Kristen) Shen

Honors Theses

Illness memoirs with first-person point of view have gained more attention in recent years among medical sociologists and anthropologists. Different from traditional “case histories”written by doctors that are in danger of ignoring patients’ voices, autopathograhical works delineate narrators’ transformative experiences of persons to patients, emphasizing the importance of gaining social understanding of illness. Focusing on three works within the category of autopathography across genres and media forms in the late 1950s and contemporary periods, The Cancer Journals (1980) written by Audre Lorde, The Collected Schizophrenias (2019) written by Esmé Weijun Wang, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) directed …

Empowering Diversity: Unveiling The Impact Of Affirmative Action Policies On Intersectional Identities In Indian Village Councils, Auroshree Pani

Honors Theses

This study investigates the intersectional effects of affirmative action policies within the con- text of rural local councils in India. Utilizing the natural experiment provided by the randomized implementation of reservation policies in Uttar Pradesh’s gram panchayats, this research exam- ines how the intersectionality of marginalized identities—specifically gender and caste—affects policy outcomes. Employing data from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guar- antee Act (MGNREGA) and gram panchayat elections from 2015 and 2021, the impact on job demand and public asset creation is evaluated. The findings reveal that while female leaders gen- erally improve job demand and public asset creation, …

Sustainable Frameworks & The Circular Economy Within Digital Marketing & Advertising Agency Groups, Angelique Bautista

Honors Theses

Digital marketing significantly contributes to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of marketing and advertising agencies. Despite efforts towards corporate sustainability, discrepancies in carbon accounting and sustainability practices persist across the industry. An increasingly relevant topic for many industries is the circular economy (CE). It is concerned with creating a structured and cyclical sustainable practice and/or operation. This research paper examines the intersection of the CE and environmental sustainability initiatives in global digital marketing, analyzing sustainability efforts and ordinances up to April 2024, alongside theories from Science and Technology Studies (STS). Then, CE principles are explored more in-depth and the sociotechnological …

2023 Oregon Statewide Homelessness Estimates, Jacen Greene, Franklin H. Spurbeck, Marisa Zapata

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Executive Summary excerpt:

The Point-In-Time (PIT) count is a census of people experiencing both sheltered and unsheltered homelessness on a single night in January. The federal government requires this as a condition of funding it distributes to Continuums of Care (CoCs), networks of government agencies and service providers that manage homelessness services and funding in specific regions. Oregon has eight CoCs, five of which manage their own PIT count, which leads to variation in methodology and completeness. The PIT count’s accuracy is further reduced because it only captures homelessness on a single night, missing changes throughout the year, and uses …

ความต้องการในการจัดการหลังความตายของคนเมืองในพื้นที่กรุงเทพมหานคร, อุษา เพียรทวีกิจ

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

การศึกษาวิจัยในครั้งนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาความต้องการในการจัดการหลังความตายของคนเมืองในพื้นที่กรุงเทพมหานคร โดยใช้วิธีการศึกษาแบบผสมผสาน (Mixed Method) ด้วยการวิจัยเชิงปริมาณและการวิจัยเชิงคุณภาพ โดยวิธีการสุ่มแบบโควต้า (Quota Sampling) จำนวน 400 ราย โดยแบ่งเป็นชาวพุทธ 200 ราย ชาวอิสลาม 120 ราย ชาวคริสต์ 60 ราย และผู้ไม่นับถือศาสนา 20 ราย และจากวิธีการวิจัยเชิงคุณภาพ ด้วยการสัมภาษณ์แบบกึ่งโครงสร้าง (Semi-structured Interview) จำนวน 20 ราย โดยแบ่งเป็น ชาวพุทธ 8 ราย ชาวอิสลาม 6 ราย ชาวคริสต์ 3 ราย และผู้ไม่นับถือศาสนา 3 ราย จากประชากรในพื้นที่กรุงเทพมหานคร โดยข้อมูลเชิงปริมาณได้นำมาวิเคราะห์ด้วยสถิติไคสแควร์ (Chi-Square) และนำข้อมูลเชิงคุณภาพมาวิเคราะห์ร่วมกัน ผลการศึกษาพบว่า ความต้องการในการจัดการหลังความตายส่วนใหญ่ในด้านของการจัดการร่าง (ศพ) คือ ต้องการจัดการในรูปแบบประเพณีนิยมที่เป็นในลักษณะของการฝังหรือการเผา รองลงมาคือ การบริจาคร่างกายเพื่อเป็นประโยชน์ทางการแพทย์ ต่อมาในส่วนของการจัดการเกี่ยวกับพิธีกรรมศพ พบว่า ความต้องการของกลุ่มตัวอย่างส่วนใหญ่คือ ต้องการจัดการตามแบบศาสนาทุกขั้นตอน รองลงมาคือ ต้องการทำตามแบบทางศาสนาแต่ไม่ต้องการปฏิบัติตามทุกขั้นตอน และในส่วนของการจัดการเกี่ยวกับร่องรอยที่เกิดขึ้นบนแพลตฟอร์มดิจิทัลพบว่า ส่วนใหญ่ต้องการให้ปล่อยบัญชีของตนเองไว้ตามปกติหากจากไปแล้ว ไม่ต้องมีการจัดการใด ๆ รองลงมาคือ ต้องการจัดการด้วยการฝากฝังบุคคลอื่นให้ช่วยดำเนินการปิดบัญชีให้ ผลการทดสอบสมมติฐานพบว่า ปัจจัยที่มีความสัมพันธ์กับความต้องการในการจัดการหลังความตายของคนเมืองในพื้นที่กรุงเทพมหานครคือ ปัจจัยส่วนบุคคลในด้านของ อาชีพและ ระดับการศึกษา ต่อมาคือ ปัจจัยทางศาสนาหรือความเชื่อ และปัจจัยที่เกี่ยวข้องกับสังคมเมืองในด้านของสิ่งที่ต้องการหรือคาดหวังมากที่สุดเมื่อได้จากโลกนี้ไปแล้ว

Diasporic Identity And Integration In Transnational Marriages Between Thai And Foreign Spouses, Caspar Darling

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of transnational Thai marriages in Thailand and what implications they have on the host society. The research objectives involved analyzing the social practices, level of integration, and social, economic, and political dimensions of this phenomenon. The methodology involved using census data and in-depth qualitative data based on 10 semi-structured interviews with foreign spouses in transnational Thai marriages based in Thailand. My findings revealed four key themes related to the research objectives. They were cultural awareness, the importance of communication, strength of relationship with the in-laws, and raising children. It …

Covid-19 Pandemic And College Students’ Mental Health: Vulnerability And Resilience Factors, Jensyn Morrison

Masters Theses

The world became quickly and suddenly consumed by the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020. Topics such as stay-at-home orders, isolation from society, and social distancing became trending discussion themes in news coverage and daily conversations. The present study aimed to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of college students. Specifically, a total of 123 students from a rural Midwest university and an urban Southeast university in the United States participated in an online survey that assessed COVID-19-related vulnerability and resilience factors (e.g., employment status, living situation, religious beliefs, previous diagnosis, and vaccination status of individuals) …