Digital Commons Network^™

Dadaab’S Hidden Ties: How Colonial Legacies And Informal Economies Contribute To Protracted Refugee Situations, Katherine Landberg

Master's Theses

Protracted Refugee Situations (PRS) persist despite the founding intentions of the international refugee regime. Explanations behind PRS typically focus on international law, human rights, and security concerns, while the conventional media narrative presents an oversimplification that erases complex contextual nuances. Using the case of the Dadaab refugee camp, I explore (1) historical colonial legacies of social control and domination in Kenya, and (2) Dadaab as an informal economic power center, as two ‘hidden ties’ that contribute to Dadaab’s persistence. By identifying and exploring hidden ties that contribute to PRS, policy-makers and power brokers gain a deeper understanding of the realities …

Undocumented Students’ Access To Higher Education In San Francisco, Bay Area, Sandra Miklosic

Master's Theses

This paper will explore the question: “in what ways does DACA status influence undocumented students’ ability to access higher education in San Francisco and Bay Area, California?” Even though DACA does not encompass any direct policies regarding access to education, there is a very strong correlation between having DACA status and accessing higher education for the undocumented students. In this research, I highlight the voices of undocumented students through the method of testimonio. Each participant reflects on their personal experiences with DACA while accessing postsecondary education. In this research, I explore how testimonio, as a methodology and a theoretical framework, …

Articulated Indigeneity And Tourism In HawaiʻI, Erika Nielsen

Master's Theses

The guiding research question for this thesis asks how Hawaiian indigeneity and self-determination are articulated within tourism spaces in Hawaiʻi. This thesis research works to uncover the nuanced ways that Hawaiian indigeneity is employed to manage and regulate tourism activities in Hawaiʻi. I seek to question the narrative that Hawaiians consent to, and prosper from, the largely unregulated mass tourism complex that has become a focal point of the post-colonial state. Native Hawaiians have actively resisted the erosion of their culture, lands, and nation through strategies that employ multiple understandings of indigeneity. We should not assume that the tourism industry …

Higher Education As A Development Tool: An Impact Assessment In Dzaleka Malawi, Emily Golike

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of accredited online diploma programs within refugee camps. When individuals are confined to camps and unable to work and travel in search of economic opportunity, does completing an accredited diploma program improve their quality of life and contribute to their human capital? Can higher education in refugee camps produce sustainable social service projects that benefit residents? There is a demonstrated value in a liberal arts education, but which aspects of this learning schema are most beneficial in the refugee camp context have yet to be explored.

The study conducted in …

The Chinese Cultural Influence On Filipino Cuisine, Brandon Chase Lantrip

Master's Theses

This paper illustrates the impact of the Chinese cultural influence upon the Philippines with the primary focus being on Filipino cuisine. It examines how the Chinese cultural influence not only contributed to the development of Filipino cuisine, but how Chinese culture has also influenced the everyday life and culture of the Philippines through language and customary practices for over a millennium. The first section of the paper analyzes the cultural connection between China and the Philippines. The second section illustrates the Chinese language influence and it’s effect upon Filipino cuisine and culture. The third section explores the contested origins of …

Migrant Ridesharing Drivers In San Francisco: A Case Of Blocked Mobility?, Shireen Tofig

Master's Theses

Migrants have long turned to self-employment in host country labor markets due to not only racial and ethnic prejudices, but also issues of local language proficiency and lack of recognition of the academic degree from the sending country. The taxi industry, one particular occupational niche dominated by migrants, has long been studied by scholars. However, the industry has evolved into a newer and understudied form of transportation: ridesharing. This study argues that in the case of the ridesharing industry, drivers did indeed turn to the occupation because of factors such as insufficient English language level and foreign academic degrees, but …

Planning Cities, Economically Or Communally: A Comparative Study Of Amsterdam And San Francisco, Raina Dawn Whittekiend

Master's Theses

Globalization has spun “community” off its axis. What once defined community is no longer the current state of the community. Increased economic transactions have led to the instability of communities that once depended on one another at the local level. These communities are now dependent on systems that do not know nor understand their actors. This lack of relationship between development and subject is witnessed and highly scrutinized in developing countries all over the world and has been intensely researched in academic literature. This thesis intends to better understand why in modernized global cities these same processes of development and …

Japan's Employment 'Catch-22': The Impact Of Working Conditions For Women In Japan On Japan's Demographic Population Crisis, Mary Perkins

Master's Theses

This thesis examines Japan’s aging population crisis and gender inequalities in the workplace. This topic presents an interesting and challenging phenomenon for Japan, as Japan’s economy and technology have developed more rapidly than almost any other country, establishing Japan as one of the Group of Seven industrialized nations. Yet Japan still significantly lags behind other industrialized nations when it comes to women’s rights and opportunities for advancement in the workplace. This is in turn hampering efforts for Japan to address a population crisis, with an older population growth rate far outpacing the growth of demographic groups that would support the …

Life Being An International Student In The United States: Acculturation, Culture Shock, And Identity Transformation, Lai Yan Vivyan Lam

Master's Theses

The population of international students at community colleges in the United States has increased significantly over the past decade. International students play a big role in building the cultural diversity on campus by bringing over different cultures and sharing their global perspective to the local community. However, they often face challenges adapting into American culture due to cultural differences in education system, language, lifestyle, etc. By looking into the acculturation process of international students to analyze the culture shock and cultural identity changes they experienced, this paper intends to seek ways to help this group of students to ease their …

Afro-Latinx Transnational Identities: Adults In The San Francisco Bay And Los Angeles Area, Koby Heramil

Master's Theses

This paper examines the identity construction of Afro-Latinas/os/x in the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles Area. Marginalized communities predominately Black and Latina/ o/x concentrated are at the epicenter of disenfranchisement caused by the globalization of neoliberalism. Neoliberal reforms to education restrain the various nuances of pluralistic teaching, focusing only on the performance of standardized tests thus pressuring schools to center their interest in securing funding. This has greater implications for low-income communities of color where multicultural pedagogy is limited. More importantly, this association of neoliberalism reforms to education affects Afro-Latinx individuals, because they are maligned in the conversation about …

The Resisters: Contemporary Ethiopia Through A Feminist Lens, Eldana Mathias Temesgen

Master's Theses

Based on the recent mass protests in Ethiopia, there is a strong indication that the Oromo people of Ethiopia, who are at the forefront of these protests, have been placed in a position of marginal importance, influence and power in their society. Due to the power and agency wielded by the government, some ethnic groups in Ethiopia, including the Oromo ethnic group, claim to be underrepresented on a political, economic, and social scale, which has led to conflict.

The nuances of ethnic based conflict, such as the situation in Ethiopia, have been tackled through several disciplines and examined through different …

Three Essays On Tax Abuse And The Fulfillment Of Economic And Social Rights, Ute Reisinger

Master's Theses

Global tax abuse is one of the key obstacles to sustainable development. Each year more than USD one trillion are lost to cross border tax abuse and stored away in tax havens. We establish that tax abuse accumulates capital, makes tax systems more regressive and diminishes government revenues. Tax abuse consequently indirectly increases economic inequality and relative poverty and reduces social expenditure affecting both dimensions of economic and social rights fulfillment: the ability of people to claim their rights in the market place or through the provision of entitlements. We test our theory in a cross-sectional study and find empirical …

The Timecourse Of Phonological Competition In Spoken Word Recognition: A Comparison Of Adults And Very Young Children, Elizabeth Schoen Simmons

Master's Theses

Spoken word recognition (SWR) is the mapping of speech sounds to words from many potential candidates in one’s lexicon. In adults, words that are phonetically similar, of high frequency, or semantically related compete for recognition. An ongoing debate in the literature is whether or not very young children encode spoken words with fine-grained temporal and phonetic detail. Specifically, whether they represent words wholistically or as smaller phonetic units similar to that of adults. The adult literature demonstrates that words that are phonetically similar at onset (cohorts) and offset (rhymes) compete for recognition. As it happens, rhymes have the potential to …

Let's Talk Story: Waikiki And Its Social Displacements In Oral Histories And Print, 1901–1935, Alika Bourgette

Master's Theses

The everyday experiences of Waikiki’s residents of color often escaped official and semi-official records of historical events. When concerning Native Hawaiians and other nonwhite peoples, haole elite journalists and policymakers viewed their land, possessions, and bodies as opportunities for the cultural commodification, sexualization, and reimagination. As part of the redevelopment efforts of the Waikiki shoreline in the early twentieth century, state and commercial actors worked to affect the systematic erasure of Native Hawaiian and resident Asian spaces. This study utilizes extensive collections of oral histories from marginalized Waikiki residents of color to provide counterpoint to notions of indigenous passivity and …

The Value Of Choice: An Exploratory Case Study On The Intrinsic Motivation Of Dance Students Within The Creative Process, Jenna M. Gonsalves

Master's Theses

This exploratory case study was designed to analyze the impact choice making has on the intrinsic motivation of middle school dance students including self determination theory’s basic needs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy. Data were collected using multiple sources including observation rubrics and semi-structured pre- and post- group interviews. Two groups of students ages 11-14 created dances for performance. One group participated in a collaborative approach to the creative process and had the opportunity to make choices. The other group participated in a teacher-led creative process and did not have the opportunity to make choices. A thematic content analysis of …

Building The More Confident Student Choreographer Through Writing: The Use Of Prompts To Guide The Choreographic Process, Yvette Bennett

Master's Theses

The purpose of this research was to implement specific writing prompts into a high-school curriculum that aids in the choreographic process in an effort to bring about confident student choreographers. This research evaluated the choreographic process using a series of writing prompts to support participants with the goal of producing successful student choreographed dance works throughout a semester long high school dance course. The researcher posed the following three essential questions: How does the writing prompt aid in the choreographic process? What did the participants learn about the choreographic process by using writing prompts? Do the participants feel a sense …

Let's Dance! Designing And Assessing Dance-Integrated Lessons In The Fifth Grade Language Arts Class, Emily Lorraine Hoch

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to design movement and dance-integrated lessons that would complement a poetry unit in a fifth grade language arts class at a public charter school. This quantitative and qualitative study sought to discover how the use of creative movement and dance could improve students’ ability to communicate through writing, and revise their work, as well as assess how this approach to teaching would effect their ability to think critically. These integrated lessons aligned with Colorado State Core Standards and 21st Century skills, as dance integration promotes the use of creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration …

Dance For Special Needs Students: Building Confidence And Motor Skills, Jennifer Monique Dabalsa

Master's Theses

Participating in a dance class is influential in the development of young people’s creative, imaginative, individual, and communicative skills. The use of dance within a classroom increases physical fitness, enriches motor skills, coordination, and enhances social skills. Dance also increases muscular endurance, builds balance, as well as encourages teamwork and group skills. Most, if not all individuals crave to be socially accepted on some level. Many individuals with special needs are limited in verbal communication, or they are completely non-verbal. Connecting to individuals with these types of limitations proves to be challenging in comparison with a typical abled bodied individual. …

Determining The Effectiveness Of The Cancer Phase Training Model In A Group Setting, Scott F. Eberhardt

Master's Theses

The role of exercise as a primary therapy has been well documented and has the capacity to act across multiple body systems to attenuate cancer-related toxicities. To date, the Cancer Phase Training Model is the only cancer rehabilitation intervention that includes recommended modes, intensity, frequency, and duration of exercise for cancer survivors. The one-on-one model has been shown to be the most effective method of cancer rehabilitation; however the largest perceived limitation of this model is the expense of the program and its lack of scalability. By creating a structured cancer specific group model that can produce similar results to …

Manufacturing And Instrumentation Of An Open End Compressed Air Shock Tube, Josue O. Ruiz

Master's Theses

Shock tubes have been used extensively to study shock wave structures and high speed flow features. The purpose of constructing this open end shock tube was to have the ability to produce shock waves in a laboratory setting but also understand the exit flow coming out which can be applied to future studies that are beyond the scope of this work. This undertaking would require that an open end shock tube be built and instrumented with PCB Integrated Circuit Piezoelectric (ICP) Pressure Sensor Model 113B24 that would then be connected to a PCB Model 482C05 Signal Conditioner with the purpose …

Creation, Negotiation, Equality: Empowering Young Women Through Dance Improvisation, Marlene Catherine Strang

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore whether a dance improvisation curriculum could help young women strengthen their negotiating skills. Research identifies skills such as confidence, problem solving, creativity, listening, and collaboration as necessary to successful negotiation. This project examined whether students could learn these critical negotiation skills through dance improvisation. More broadly, it assessed the benefits of a dance improvisation practice and how those benefits can apply to everyday life outside of the dance classroom. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to analyze data in this study. The following instrumentation resulted in data that were analyzed qualitatively: …

A Microdebitage Analysis Of The Winterville Mounds Site (22ws500), Stephanie Leigh-Ann Guest

Master's Theses

The Winterville Mounds site (22WS500) was a civic ceremonial center of 23 mounds and is located near Greenville in northwest Mississippi. Winterville excavations as field schools are ongoing since 2005 under the direction of Dr. H. Edwin Jackson of The University of Southern Mississippi. Examination of the >1/4" (6.35 mm) mesh screened lithic material provided mixed results of reduction stages and lacked variety of non-local materials (Guest 2006, Winter 2009, McClendon 2012). Authors of these analyses called for the examination of the 1/16” (1.58 mm) water-screened lithic material to identify reduction stages and traces of non-local materials to provide evidence …

The Impact Of Fe-Ti Oxide Concentration On The Structural Ridgity Of The Lower Oceanic Crust, Atlantis Bank, Southwest Indian Ridge, Daniel Winkler

Master's Theses

Fe-Ti oxides are important components of oceanic core complexes (OCC) formed at slow-spreading mid-ocean ridges since Fe-Ti oxides are more susceptible to crystal-plastic deformation than silicate minerals. This study investigated the predicted relationship between the presence and concentration of Fe-Ti oxides and the presence and intensity of crystal-plastic deformation in gabbroic samples from Atlantis Bank, Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR). Atlantis Bank is an oceanic core complex that formed through the exhumation of lower oceanic crust along a detachment fault. OCCs form along slow-spreading ridges and are characterized by the complex interactions between magmatism and lithospheric extension, thus making these complexes …

The Legacy Of British Rule On Lgbt Rights In Jamaica And The Cayman Islands, Zachary Stewart

Master's Theses

This thesis explores the relationship between British colonial influence and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) rights in the Caribbean. Comparing the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory, and Jamaica, an independent former colony of the United Kingdom, the situation for LGBT people is evaluated. While Jamaica has serious abuses and a concerning situation for the human rights of LGBT people, the Cayman Islands’ LGBT community’s position is far less concerning. Owing to its continued connection to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Cayman Islands’ LGBT rights situation is much less dire. Through British influence via …

The Prevalence Of Overweight And Obesity Among Adolescents With Chronic Health Conditions, Catherine Levy

Master's Theses

Overweight and obesity during adolescence is a primary public health concern as these conditions are associated with several chronic health conditions (cardiovascular disease, Type II Diabetes, etc.) that can affect individuals into adulthood. The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) to examine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents with chronic health conditions; and 2) To examine the odds of physical activity and sedentary behaviors in adolescents with chronic health conditions, viewing whether the presence of chronic health conditions impact PA and sedentary behaviors.

Analyses included 28,778 adolescents aged 10-17 from the 2011-12 National Survey of Children’s Heath. …

Rethinking Civil Wars: An Overview Of Literature And The Syrian Conflict Towards A Structural Definition Of Civil War, Mphatso Kaufulu

Master's Theses

Civil War is a term often used to classify a type of conflict which arises within states. This being so, the exact criteria upon which such a classification of conflict is arrived remains unclear. Additionally, political, dispensational and ideological currents have influenced the classification of conflicts within states by different scholars, so that the determination of conflicts as being civil wars rather than some other kind of intra-state conflict can seem arbitrary. Beyond just the academic implications of this arbitrariness are policy impacts as well. This is because the term civil war carries with it certain implications about the nature …

Sony Pictures And The U.S. Federal Government: A Case Study Analysis Of The Sony Pictures Entertainment Hack Crisis Using Normal Accidents Theory, Mohamed Ismail

Master's Theses

In this case study, I analyze the 2014 North Korean computer database hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), a serious national security crisis of cyberterrorism. I utilize Normal Accidents theory as a lens, to help explain how the accident within one system (SPE) and later crisis lead to the interaction with a second system (U.S. Federal Government), the development of a new crisis, and the need for a crisis response from system two. The evolution of a single organization’s accident into a national security crisis does not occur without specific complex interactions that take place to connect the two systems …

Reassessment Of The Red Drum Stock In Mississippi Coastal Waters: The Role Of Ages 3-5 Year-Class Fish, Emily Satterfield

Master's Theses

Red Drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, are highly sought after by sport fishermen in Mississippi coastal waters. In 2016, Mississippi anglers made over 180,000 fishing trips targeting Red Drum, making it the second most targeted marine species. The current Fishery Management Plan of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, prohibits harvest of Red Drum in federal waters. Monitoring of the stock in Mississippi state waters occurs at sites that are almost exclusively estuarine, using gear types selective for juvenile fish. Additional samples come from the for-hire-industry that typically targets larger Red Drum. This project’s goal was to target age three …

Tongs: Tldr; Opinion Network Guide System, Andrew Jen Wang

Master's Theses

In the modern world, huge amounts of text are being generated every minute. For example, Twitter users post their current emotions in tweets, while Facebook users vent about their experience in posts. In just one minute, Twitter users upload 350,000 tweets, and Facebook users post anywhere from 2.5 million to 3 million posts. To keep up with this growth in data, almost all of this information goes through automated text processing. To extract features such as the opinion and subjectivity in text, sentiment analysis is applied to the corpus. In this thesis, we present the TONGS library for conducting sentiment …

Lois Lenski, A Friend To Children: An Interdisciplinary Analysis Of A Children's Book Author, Stephanie Evans Thomas

Master's Theses

In her lifetime, Lois Lenski wrote, illustrated, and otherwise contributed to more than one hundred books for children and preteens. This study focuses on Lenski’s regional books for preteens, novels that Lenski claimed were written from real life. Using interpretive narrative analysis, this study evaluates two of Lenski’s regional novels: Strawberry Girl (1945), the 1946 Newbery award-winner and second installment in the American Regional series, and High-Rise Secret (1966), the eleventh installment in the Roundabout America series, focusing specifically on Lenski’s creative process. The analysis of Lenski’s works was contextualized using literature focusing on the concepts of character representation, authority, …