Digital Commons Network^™

Those Thrice Marked By Time: The Significance Of The Last Known Survivor, Their Death, And Our Remembrance, Michael Tofte

Theses

Following Adam Zarakov, the last known survivor is a significant figure and a representative of a larger type that is under-considered. Last known survivors are ubiquitous in fictional media and how history is told. Some survivors like Frank Buckles are given lavish state funerals with participation of strangers. Yet, this under-analysis is concerning as the 21^st century will likely feature the recognition of last known survivors of many significant 20^th century events. I offer one attempt of addressing this lacuna.

The first aim is to motivate philosophical interest in the phenomenon of the last known survivor. I present …

Lost In Transit, Drishti Bhandari

Theses

“I recognize, decontextualize, reconstruct.”

"Lost in transit" is the sense of loss that we experience when our heritage and stories are passed down to us. Like a game of Telephone, every generation loses a little of its past- which gets left behind. We do not have, in all originality, what the previous generation had. As we move through time, lived experiences change. We will never know what it felt like to live in a medieval kingdom, or to live through the renaissance. We will only ever have their echoes in pictures, stories and ruins. The only common thread is that …

Representational Enactivism, Zhexi Zhang

Theses

In the literature on enactive approaches to cognition, representationalism is often seen as a rival theory. In this paper, I argue that enactivism can be fruitfully combined with representationalism by adopting Frances Egan’s content pragmatism. This representational enactivism avoids some of the problems faced by antirepresentational versions of enactivism. Most significantly, representational enactivism accommodates empirical evidence that neural systems manipulate representations. In addition, representational enactivism provides a valuable insight into how to identify representational content, especially in brainless organisms: we can identify representational content by investigating autopoietic processes.

Baby, Hexuan Cai

Theses

In this thesis, I discuss human nature by exploring the psychological state of human beings in the first period of life. A baby symbolizes the beginning of a life cycle. Most people have forgotten their state at the beginning of life, the period when human beings have the purest humanity. The baby is like a magnifying glass, completely expressing human nature, and demonstrates many different aspects of the human inner world. Through the baby, the diversity of human personality can be clearly seen, making the baby a suitable object to study human characteristics.

For me, a baby is both a …

Levels Of Testosterone Esters In Camel Hair, Aysha Khalid Alraeesi

Theses

Doping and steroid use represent a serious threat to animal health and can even lead to their untimely and painful death. However, doping is an acute problem in today's animal racing world, particularly in camel racing. Testosterone and its ten esters (benzoate, valerate, isocaproate, hexahydrobenzoate, decanoate, undecanoate, laurate, enanthate, cypionate, and caproate) are of utmost importance because when they are administered to animals it is difficult to measure them efficiently. The levels of testosterone and its esters in camels and other animals are typically determined using urine and blood tests. The aim of this study was to develop and validate …

Pedagogical Evaluation Of Cognitive Accessibility Learning Lab In The Classroom, Saad Khan

Theses

In a study conducted by Webaim, 98.1% of sites had a detectable accessibility issue. This poses a profound challenge to the 1 billion users across the world who have a disability. This indicates that developers either are not aware of how to make the sites accessible or aware of how critical it is to make the sites usable by all users. This problem is further compounded by the lack of available resources that can educate students and future developers in making their software accessible. To address current limitations/challenges, we have developed an all-in-one immersive learning experience known as the Accessibility …

The Relationship Among Social Competence, Social Skills, And Academic Achievement For Students With Specific Learning Disability In The Uae, Amna Salem Al Yahyaee

Theses

The objective of this study is fourfold. To examine the relationship between a) parental involvement in their children’s education and social competence, b) parental involvement in their children’s education and their children’s academic achievement, c) parental involvement in their children's social competence and their children’s academic achievement, and d) parental involvement in their children's social competence and their children’s social skills. Thirty parents of children with specific learning disabilities participated in this study. Quantitative analysis was used in this study to answer the research questions. The results of this study revealed that there was no statistically significant relationship between parents’ …

Designing A Chemotherapy Infusion Center In Buffalo, New York Using Daylighting To Aid In The Healing Process, Claire Witt

Theses

Healthcare makes up a large amount of infrastructure and while today’s designs have vastly improved over the years, incorporating more natural light can improve not only staff’s performance but also enhance a patient healing experience. Daylighting is one of the most powerful, natural product designers can use in projects. Healthcare facilities have a goal in mind when designing a hospital such as the patients healing, overall experience, and their comfort. To continue to achieve improvements in patient care, it is important to constantly evaluate current means and methods, with one element that influences the delivery of care is the design …

Forensics Writer Identification Using Text Mining And Machine Learning, Saif Ali Alawar

Theses

Constant technological growth has resulted in the danger and seriousness of cyber-attacks, which has recently unmistakably developed in various institutions that have complex Information Technology (IT) infrastructure. For instance, for the last three (3) years, the most horrendous instances of cybercrimes were perceived globally with enormous information breaks, fake news spreading, cyberbullying, crypto-jacking, and cloud computing services. To this end, various agencies improvised techniques to curb this vice and bring perpetrators, both real and perceived, to book in relation to such serious cybersecurity issues. Consequently, Forensic Writer Identification was introduced as one of the most effective remedies to the concerned …

Understanding The Themes Of Disability Discourse Through Reddit Comments, Brandon Palonis

Theses

With the advent of internet forums, sharing opinions in a public sphere has never been easier, especially for those facing marginalization in their communities. Forums offer a neutral, semi-anonymous space wherein people may feel more compelled to share intimate details about the characteristics of their lives. This paper focuses on internet forums related to disabilities, specifically those found on Reddit, and uses Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to extract topics from the corpus of 3 subreddits: r/Blind, r/ADHD, and r/Disability. The features are then put into key term groups that are defined by a key phrase. This created category taxonomy is …

Using Ar And Vr Characters For Enhancing User Experience In A Museum, Kunal Shailesh Shitut

Theses

Museums and cultural heritage institutions have used technology to create interactive exhibits and pedagogical tools that help spark visitors’ interests. The rise of Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality Systems has further enabled the creation of a new generation of immersive experiences that can engage and educate visitors. These technologies can be used to develop digital characters that can serve as virtual tour guides and improve user engagement by answering questions and forming social bonds with the users. While such tour guides have been deployed as exhibits at many museums, the implementation is usually limited to a single exhibit or a …

How Diversity And Inclusion Affect Shopper Attitudes, Melissa Michelle Oliver

Theses

This paper analyzes the effects of consumer behavior in relation to diversity and inclusion in retail advertisements. The primary objective of diversity and inclusion initiatives is to have a workforce that closely resembles an organization’s target audience and the growing group of loyal customers the company wants to retain. Differences in age, race, gender, national origin and sexual orientation should be encouraged in advertisements to ensure optimal organizational performance. People who are different from one another in race, gender and other dimensions bring unique information and experiences to bear on the task at hand. By analyzing consumer behavior based off …

The Last, Tony D. Riel

Theses

This thesis shares a collection of paintings that demonstrates my understanding of how to paint still lifes using oil paint. The tools, preparation, steps, and techniques other still life painters have used to create paintings were examined in-depth and were applied by me to create my still life paintings. Food is the subject of my paintings. My family’s eating habits and wastefulness of food were my sources of inspiration. My observations took place at the end of mealtimes because that is when I noticed that my family tends to not eat every piece of food. This often means there are …

Beginning Band: Cognitive Development Based Instruction, Kayla Price

Theses

This project focuses on how to facilitate a more efficient beginning band experience for students based on the average state of cognitive development for their age group. The primary focus is presenting an alternative to immediately starting students in a traditional band method book when they first begin band classes. The aim of the project is to study the cognitive development of the average sixth grader to best determine what instructional approach would best suit their processing abilities before introducing the band method book. Furthermore, the study exposes the fallacies of the traditional band method book system and suggests and …

Expo 2020 Positive & Negative Sentiment, Tariq Albehandy

Theses

Sentiment analysis is the progression of detecting positive or negative sentiment in text. It’s often used by businesses to detect sentiment in social data, gauge brand reputation, and understand customers. Since customers express their thoughts and feelings more openly than ever before, sentiment analysis is becoming an important tool to monitor and understand that sentiment. Inevitably analyzing customer feedback, such as opinions in survey responses and social media conversations, allows brands to learn what makes customers happy or frustrated, so that they can tailor products and services to meet their customers’ needs. For example, using sentiment analysis to automatically analyze …

Smart Ageing And Renewal Through Entrepreneurial Skills Training, Sarah Davis

Theses

Globally, while the population is ageing, only 3% of older (≥65 years) adults are engaged in entrepreneurship. The Healthy Ageing agenda is responding to the population trends by increasing its focus on elements of active or productive ageing (incorporating older working) with quality of life as a primary outcome. Alignment and exploitation of the synergies between healthy ageing and older entrepreneurial engagement are lacking. Entrepreneurship education is broadening its focus and targeting inclusivity, albeit with as yet little focus on the older population. Older entrepreneurship, while tentatively linked with increased quality of life, has yet to receive direct attention in …

Producing Panic : An Analysis Of Conspiracy Theory Rhetoric During The Coronavirus Pandemic Of 2020, Aaron Andrews

Theses

In 1938, Orson Welles and his theatre group broadcasted an adaptation of War of the Worlds in the style of a breaking newsflash. The result produced a panic across America as millions believed they were under attack by an alien army. In 2020 during a global pandemic, millions of Americans turned to social media for news and updates, only to be the victims of conspiratorial posts that suggest the virus is part of a nefarious plot for world domination or to steal the Presidential election. In this thesis I will argue that the COVID-19 conspiracy theories share aspects of imagination, …

Implementation Of Patient Involvement In The Development Of A Health-Related Quality Of Life Patient-Reported Outcome Measure For Ovarian Cancer, Sharolin Boban

Theses

Ovarian cancer is the second most common gynaecological cancer and the eighth-most common cause of death in Australian women with a five-year relative survival of 46%. Using a ‘ground-up approach’ and patient involvement, this research project implemented a sequential mixed methods approach to develop a health-related quality of life outcome measure across the disease trajectory.

The six key themes identified from initial qualitative data highlighted treatment-related and psychosocial challenges alongside financial issues, relationships with health professionals, and patient coping strategies. This informed the generation of items necessary to develop a draft health-related quality of life tool. A cognitive interviewing technique …

How The Catholic Church’S Trinitarian-Christocentric Theology Of Communion Might Inform The Way In Which Spouses Are Formed For The Apostolate Of Family Life, Joshua Bitting

Theses

This project explores the nature and mission of the Christian family viewed theologically as a domestic Church. Drawing upon the Catholic Church’s robust Trinitarian and Christocentric communio theology, it is the aim of this endeavour to demonstrate how a robust Trinitarian anthropology, complemented by a culture-first approach, may pave the way for an ongoing marriage catechumenate that will equip spouses to embrace and put into effect the universal call to holiness and mission expressly called for by the Second Vatican Council and contemporary popes.

The first part of the project will articulate the biblical, historical, and theological foundations upon which …

Procedural Fairness Requirements In Decision-Making: Legal Issues And Challenges For Government Secondary School Principals In New South Wales, Tryon Francis

Theses

The application of the rules of procedural fairness, which is an element of administrative law, is an area of law that has not been previously examined in the context of government (public) secondary school principals in New South Wales (‘NSW’). Using a basic qualitative case study design, this study sought to discover the processes that these principals undertook in applying the rules of procedural fairness when managing student discipline, special education and industrial relations. The study examined to what extent New South Wales government (public) secondary school principals were equipped to make decisions that are consistent with the administrative law …

Australian Literary Fascists, 1905-1945 : A Comparative Case Study Into The Development Of Fascist Ideology In Australia, Adrian Keri

Theses

Historians of fascism and the far-right in Australia have generally focused on the role of material factors to the neglect of the role of ideas. Certainly, the history of ideas can never be divorced from the ‘concrete’ factors of politics and economics. But in the case of William Baylebridge (1883-1942), William Hardy Wilson (1881-1955), and Randolph William Hughes (1889-1955), ideas played a definite and decisive role in their embrace of fascism as the solution to society’s ills. They were artists and intellectuals in the so-called ‘vitalist’ tradition, drawing on the ideas of such thinkers as Hegel, Bergson, and Nietzsche, among …

Proactive Management Of Acute Oedema Following Hand And Minor Burn Injury, Dale O. Edwick

Theses

Burn injury is a unique trauma. The inflammatory process initiated with burn injury adversely influences all of the Starling equation variables, resulting in increased transvascular fluid filtration, so that oedema as a product of burn injury is more readily formed than in other forms of trauma. Localised wound oedema forms due to minor burn injury, with increasing systemic oedema associated with increased size of burn. It is now recognised that a marked inflammatory and immune response is created with non-severe burn injury, indicating a systemic component with all burns. The effect of oedema formation on the course of the burn …

Journeying Through Uncharted Territory: The Role Of Humour In Adaption Of Undergraduate Nursing Students In Their First Year Of Study, Marie-Josée Boulianne

Theses

Newly graduated nurses adapting to their professional role have been studied, mainly in their first year of practice. The development of coping strategies, acculturation and other adaptations to the nursing world begin at the onset of the educational journey. Understanding how these manifest early in the formative years can enable educators to tailor nursing programs to assist the future nurse to develop positive coping mechanisms and help pave the way to a successful transition into practice. This research aimed to identify elements conducive to positive adaptation and wellbeing of nursing students during their first year of nursing studies, including the …

Evaluation Of A ‘Well-Elderly’ Physical Activity Programme, Robert Purcell

Theses

Both in Ireland and internationally people are living longer and there is an increasing proportion of older adults in the population (Clark 2020). As such, the maintenance of health and physical function for older adults is of critical importance. Physical activity is widely acknowledged as being crucial for the maintenance of positive health, particularly for older adults (Spartano et al., 2019). Research has suggested that physical activity programmes are an effective means of engaging older adults in physical activity for the promotion of positive health (Sherrington et al., 2017). The central aim of this research project was to explore the …

Investigating The Antioxidant, Immunomodulatory And Anti-Obesogenic Propertiesof Novel Bsg-Derived Extracts And Their Potential As Ingredients In Functional Foods For Older Adults, Suzanne O Brien

Theses

Brewer’s Spent Grain (BSG) represents a substantial waste product of the brewing industry, with 39 million tonnes generated globally every year. To date the primary use of BSG is as animal feed but there is significant interest in identifying alternative uses for this agro-industry by-product. BSG is rich in protein and fibre and is known to contain health-promoting bioactive compounds, thus one application would be in the area of functional foods. People are living longer and as the older adult population continues to increase globally so too is the prevalence of age-related chronic conditions. Diet plays an essential role in …

Gender, Role Models, Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy And Career Intentions: Implications For Entrepreneurial Education, Ciara Marie Lavelle - O Brien

Theses

This thesis explores gender, role models, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and career intentions of secondary school students in Ireland. Most prior research includes entrepreneurial education as an important factor in the decision to start a business. Few studies include the importance of entrepreneurial perceptions, role models, self-efficacy, and career intentions combined and what implications this may have for entrepreneurial education. Previous studies cite the importance of role models for potential entrepreneurs but ignore how the role model is perceived or who the role models of this generation (Gen Z) are. This study used a semistructured questionnaire and the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT) …

Lighting Up The Black Box –Digital Transformation In German Lobbying, Kathrin Barabara Stürmer

Theses

Digital transformation, alongside social media channels, influences policymaking. The aim of this research is to build knowledge of the consequences of digital transformation on lobbying at German federal level. This analysis uncovers how digital lobbying works in Germany and how it changes classic communication within the political sphere. Taking a grounded theory approach, the study addresses both communicating sides: lobbyists, on the one hand, and members of the German Bundestag and their employees, on the other. A profound understanding of, and differentiation between, lobbying and digital lobbying is gained through a first data-gathering step of 15 interviews with representatives of …

An Exploration Of The Experiences Of Modern Marketers: Skills Gaps, Mindset, And The Role Of Career Stage, Tim Crowley

Theses

The digitalisation of marketing is the greatest change that the marketing profession has experienced (Kähler & Magnusson, 2018) and digital technologies now sit at the forefront of modern marketing (Thomas & Thomas, 2018). Digital marketing has numerous benefits (Kumar, 2015; Malar, 2016), however, digitalisation is disruptive (Mgiba, 2019) and has resulted in mismatched skills and an increased need for reskilling and upskilling (Bajpai & Biberman, 2019). Accordingly, skills gaps are evident (Crush, 2011; Day, 2011; Hege, 2020; Quinn et al., 2016; Royle & Laing, 2014; Wood, 2011). Notwithstanding, there is a scarcity of research in this area (Raghuraman, 2017; Royle …

Does Acupuncture Have A Role As An Analgesic In The Emergency Setting?, Andrew Jan

Theses

Background: Pain is a feature of most emergency department (ED) presentations. Exacerbation of chronic pain comprises 40% of pain presentations, with the remainder being a mix of recurrent or one-off painful conditions. Opioids are the mainstay treatment for moderate to severe pain but have both short- and long-term adverse effects, including recurrent use, abuse and death. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are also a concern, especially in older patients with comorbidities. Thus, emergency physicians are highly motivated to seek alternatives for pain management. Acupuncture is frequently used in outpatient settings that offer nonpharmacological treatments and has gained acceptance in postoperative analgesia; …

A Cross-Sectional Comparison Study Of The Frequency Of Terminal Care Medication Prescriptions During The Final 48 Hours Of Life In Inpatients Of A Tertiary Acute Hospital With An End Of Life Care Pathway Compared To A Tertiary Acute Hospital Without An End Of Life Care Pathway And A Hospice, Shawna Koh

Theses

The care towards the end of life is an important aspect of patient management. There is a recognised need to support healthcare providers in caring for dying patients in the acute hospital.(1-5) The Liverpool Care Pathway was originally designed to provide guidance in the delivery of comprehensive palliative care in the last days of life. However, there are no robust clinical data supporting the use of the Liverpool Care Pathway despite its widespread implementation worldwide.(6, 7)

This study investigated whether implementation of an end of life care pathway, adapted from the Liverpool Care Pathway, increases the frequency of prescriptions of …