Digital Commons Network^™

Veterans Banished: The Fight To Bring Them Home, Alejandra Martinez

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Maligned “Milish:” Mississippi Militiamen In The Civil War, Tracy L. Barnett

Master's Theses

Thousands of southern men avoided regular military service in the American Civil War and enlisted or were drafted into state organized militias. In Mississippi, these units were termed Mississippi State Troops or Minute Men. This thesis argues that Mississippi militiamen’s pre-war positions and localized conception of military service directly influenced their wartime experiences. Militiamen, often in their thirties and forties, were older than the average Confederate soldier, established community members, and heads of families who sought service near home. The Mississippi state government, however, visualized militia service as anything but local and developed a centralized militia system that removed men …

"A Shot In The Dark": Post-9/11 One-Off Speculative Fiction, Michael Lynn Brittain

English Dissertations - Archive

The cultural, political, and historical impact of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, as an event, continues to be questioned. For this project, I will examine six “one-off” or “one-time” works of speculative fiction from highly-acclaimed and award-winning writers— Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America (2004), Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (2006), Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (2007), Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go (2005), Chang-Rae Lee’s On Such a Full Sea (2014), and Ben Marcus’s The Flame Alphabet (2012) —who, prior to the terrorist attacks on 9/11, all worked predominantly in creating works in the genre of realist …

Effectiveness Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy As A Treatment For Posttraumatic Stress Disorder And Moral Injury, Ellen J. Bluett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common condition among military personal and veterans. Despite strong empirical support for first line treatments for PTSD, many veterans do not complete or respond to treatment. Research suggests that experiential avoidance is a contributing factor to both treatment dropout and minimal treatment gains. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an empirically supported cognitive behavioral intervention that aims to decrease experiential avoidance while increasing psychological flexibility. Research has shown ACT to be a promising intervention for the treatment of PTSD; however, its effectiveness in veterans with PTSD is limited.

In conjunction with Utah State University …

Of First Principles & Organic Laws, Pietro Poggi

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

The First Principles and Organic Laws of the United States ought to be part of a daily discussion at every water cooler and every dinner table in the country. Instead, it is entirely possible there have been days, weeks, months—or even years—when neither term has been spoken anywhere in America. Yet, during the first several decades of the country’s existence, the concepts of First Principles and Organic Laws were commonly discussed; in fact these notions were crucial to the founding of the country and its political organization. Works concerning the foundation of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, the …

The Architecture Of Safety: Bunker Mentalities And The Construction Of Safe Space In America, Gregory Clinton

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

How does “safety†get constructed in American culture after World War II? This dissertation focuses on the ways that architectural spaces—particularly domestic and laboratory space—are configured as “safe†spaces. Through case studies of high-rises, suburban houses, underground bunkers, and industrial cleanrooms, it seeks to uncover how the built environment produces and is produced by the concept of “safety.†This case study model incorporates critical and sociological theory, historical documents, popular literature, and film to investigate “safety†as the basis for projects that sustain racialized and gendered forms of power, as well as participating in a peculiarly American “bunker mentality,†or …

The Social Progression Of Post -Traumatic Stress Disorder: Post Vietnam And September 11th Attacks, Ellie Mcdonald

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Social Progression of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Post-Vietnam and September 11^th Attacks is an examination on the infrastructure of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’and of the Department of Defense’s lack of clarity and misinformation of the challenges and effects of mental illness within military ranks. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) made the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) after Vietnam. Since then, PTSD has been reevaluate numerous times, to properly define it. This research is a comparative analysis of the misconceptions of PTSD as experienced by Vietnam veterans and the first responders of the September 11^th tragedy. My research charts …

Management Of Predators, Prey, And Aviation Safety At Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland: Can Coyotes Help Reduce Deer Strike Hazards?, Robert Lewis

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In the past 100 years, coyotes (Canis latrans) have expanded their range eastward. During their expansion, coyotes hybridized with gray wolves (Canis lupus) in the north and red wolves (Canis rufus) in the south. Coyotes were historically occupants of the plains, but now may be found in environments as varied as the sagebrush steppe, deserts, swamps, and inner cities. St. Mary’s County, MD, home to Naval Air Station Patuxent River (Pax River), was one of the last counties in the country to be colonized by coyotes. Pax River is a research and development/flight test and evaluation center, and houses numerous …

History And Context: Late Meiji (1905-1912) Narratives Of The Imjin War (1592-8), Brian Heise

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

From a foreign policy perspective, Japan's Meiji period (1868-1912) invites comparison with the regime of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-98), the warlord who united Japan at the end of a 150 year period of civil war: in both times, the state leadership of the archipelago sought to expand its authority onto mainland Asia through both war and negotiation. These two period stand out in Japanese history as examples of only a very few instances when Japanese states had taken such an interest in continental affairs. Writers who recounted the story of Hideyoshi and his continental ambitions at the close the the Meiji …

Adam Smith, Settler Colonialism, And Cosmopolitan Overstretch, Onur Ulas Ince

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Adam Smith has recently been celebrated as a precocious theorist of commercialcosmopolitanism who decried the injustice of imperial conquest and extraction. This paperfocuses on Smith’s endorsement of settler colonialism in North America and argues thatSmith’s newfound cosmopolitanism is overstretched. Smith welcomed settler colonies as theembodiment of the “natural progress of opulence” and spared them from his invective againstother imperial practices like chattel slavery and trade monopolies. Smith’s embrace of settlercolonies, however, involved him in an ideological conundrum insofar as the prosperity ofoverseas settlements rested on imperial expansion and seizure of land from Native Americans.I contend that Smith muffled this disturbing …

A Tapestry Of Eyes In The Literacy/Literature Class, Gregory Shafer

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

It is essential that language arts classes make room for different voices, different cultures, and new settings for writing. This paper examines ideas and methods for expanding the discourse and refers to Morrison's Bluest Eye as a way to appreciate the dilemma our students face.

The Uses And Abuses Of Hellenism By The Diadochi And Their Successors, Andrew Kennedy

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper examines the means by which the Successors to Alexander the Great, known as the Diadochi, fostered and encouraged the growth of Hellenism within their empires. Using this foundation, it goes on to argue that the Diadochi consciously encouraged this growth to help consolidate their unstable regimes and expand their power. The basis for this analysis is largely in academic texts regarding the Hellenistic world and Ancient sources such as Herodotus, Josephus, and Polybius. The investigation itself looks at four elements of the Hellenistic world that best exemplify the Successors’ relationship with Hellenism: Religion, Politics, War, and Cities. Each …

Unconventional Lawfare: Operational Law In The War On Terror, L. P. Miller

Political Science Student Scholarship

This thesis examines the legal work required to establish a sufficient lawfare defense by focusing on the Department of Defense Judge Advocate Generals’ Corps (JAG Corps). The work will describe the JAG Corps as a well-trenched bureaucracy with a moral mission to uphold the military’s honor through laws, and how this was interpreted by the Bush and Obama administrations.

Experiences Of Soviet Women Combatants During World War Ii, Michelle De Jesus Reyes

History Theses

World War II was arguably the most heroic event in the history of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), so much that it was known as the “Great Patriotic War.” Tens of millions of Russians were killed during the large scale conflict against their “fascist foes.” Still, the large population of the USSR were moved to action primarily by mass propaganda distributed by the Communist Party leaders. Women played a large role during the war, not just in the factories on the home front or as partisans, but as combat nurses and snipers as well. Since the losses …

Public Ritual Sacrifice As A Controlling Mechanism For The Aztec, Madeline Nicholson

Honors Scholar Theses

For decades, archaeologists have researched the fascinating finds of Aztec sacrifice. Evidence of their sacrifices are seen on temple walls, stone carvings, bones, and in Spanish chronicler drawings. Although public ritual sacrifice was practiced before the Aztecs, with evidence from the Olmec civilization (1200-1300 BCE) and Maya (200-900 BCE), Aztec sacrifices are among the most extensively documented. How does such a practice survive in different civilizations through different rulers? This thesis will analyze the phases of Aztec public ritual sacrifice (specifically the location, length, and number of sacrifices) and the close relationship to their origin myths, or founding stories. It …

What Does Human Rights Look Like? The Visual Culture Of Aid, Advocacy, And Activism, Joel R. Pruce

Political Science Faculty Publications

We live in a highly complex and evolving world that requires a fuller and deeper understanding of how modern technological tools, ideas, practices, and institutions interact, and how different societies adjust themselves to emerging realities of the digital age. This book conveys such issues with a fresh perspective and in a systematic and coherent way. While many studies have explained in depth the change in the aftermath of the unrests and uprisings throughout the world, they rarely mentioned the need for constructing new human rights norms and standards. This edited collection provides a balanced conceptual framework to demonstrate not only …

A Radical Idea: Applying Psychological Strategy To Combat Foreign Fighters Defending The Islamic State, David Michael Smaney

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the necessity of psychological strategies to combat the Islamic State’s recruitment of foreign fighters. This thesis argues that psychological strategies are a primary weapon due to the psychological nature of the war against the Islamic State, which is a part of the overall war of ideas. This thesis does not consider psychological strategies for other aspects of U.S. counterterrorism strategy, nor does it reflect the difficulties involved with developing U.S. strategies in the U.S. federal government. Furthermore, this thesis only focuses on foreign fighter defending and supporting the Islamic State, which is the successor of Al …

Constrained Cognition: Information Management And The Practical Limits Of Nuclear Escalation Control, Luke James O'Brien

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Nuclear escalation control theory rests on the idea that decision makers, in a limited nuclear war scenario, will choose their actions based on a rational assessment of the available information. That information essentially consists of intelligence reports about one's adversary and information reporting the status of one's own forces' ability to execute offensive actions and the damage level of vital national targets. Yet the practical limits of managing the flow and quality of this information, coupled with the fog and friction inherent in human analyses, significantly affect the decision-making process vis-à-vis nuclear escalation. Hence, these limitations cast a pall over …

Humanization Of The Enemy: The Pacifist Soldier And France In World War One, Daniel E. Stockman

Senior Theses

Not all French citizens were enthused by the prospect of war in 1914, nor were they all so willing to embrace a dehumanized view of the enemy. Some French citizens believed the “Great War” to be a patriotic endeavor. Propaganda encouraged this nationalism and the dehumanization of the enemy. “Political” pacifism existed within the French Third Republic psyche following France’s defeat in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. However, these pacifistic undertones were systematically undermined as France began to militarize itself. Drawing from a series of notebooks, and established academic sources, this paper shows that some French soldiers endured a world at …

Ipulse: May 2017, Lynn University

Student Newspapers

Issues:

• May 1, 2017
• May 3, 2017
• May 5, 2017
• May 10, 2017: Special Edition
• May 24, 2017: Special Summer Edition

“Patriotism Is Not Enough”: Edith Cavell’S Life And Death In Anglo-American Context, Erin B. Blackledge

Honors Theses

In October 1915, British nurse Edith Cavell was killed by the Germans for aiding in the illegal liberation of Allied soldiers. In the wake of her death, the British government created a propaganda firestorm to garner both domestic and foreign support for the war. In particular, the propaganda featuring Cavell was highly gendered and over the course of multiple generations has generated a diverse, and often polarized series of social and political responses in both Britain and the United States. Through the examination of government documents, newspapers, and popular culture, such as film and children’s novels, this thesis examines the …

The Eurosystem Collateral Framework Explained, Ulrich Bindseil, Marco Corsi, Benjamin Sahel, Ad Visser

Documents

No abstract provided.

American Emergency : Catastrophe And Culture In The U.S.A., From The Civil War To Hurricane Katrina., Lynda Kristian Mercer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines socio-cultural experiences of national disasters in the United States as they intersect with political rhetorics of democracy, to understand the forms and functions of state power as it is mediated through famous historical figures. Tracing the manifold possibilities from within and around the disruptive spacetimes of disaster, which sociologist Harvey Molotch describes in their ultimate function as societal “rationalizers” (371), I analyze catastrophes as contested spaces and histories that often get situated as variations on the “man vs. nature/god/man” binaries in public discourse. By analyzing the deployment of, and response to, such explanatory frameworks in the United …

The Plight Of Undocumented Female Migrants: Identifying Structural Factors That Contribute To The Proliferation Of Sex Trafficking And The Failings Of International Law, Hannah K. Valles

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the conditions at two specific border zones, the United States-Mexico border and the Mexico-Guatemalan border, that render undocumented female migrants vulnerable to abduction or recruitment into sexual exploitation. In addition to exploring the factors that expose women to trafficking networks, the study scrutinizes the legal failings of the international law-making community with regards to the safeguarding of women whose socio-economic conditions and environment of perpetual violence prompt their extralegal international movement. The paper provides an overview of the social, economic, and historical factors that underpin the flourishing of sex trafficking operations in …

Conflict And Crisis: U.S. Interventionism And Aid In The Middle East, Timothy Effrem

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis proposes that United States’ intervention in the Middle East since World War II has led to counterproductive military policy decisions and proposes a greater focus on private humanitarian aid which engages the Middle Eastern culture more effectively than public funding entities.

Conflict within the Middle East has escalated. To understand the nature of Middle Eastern political affairs, one must understand power politics, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Shi’a-Sunni split, U.S. relations, and Just War Theory. The U.S. has played a prominent role in the region, and this thesis concludes that the amount of aid currently allocated between military and …

"Plausible Cause": Explanatory Standards In The Age Of Powerful Machines, Kiel Brennan-Marquez

Vanderbilt Law Review

Much scholarship in law and political science has long understood the U.S. Supreme Court to be the "apex" court in the federal judicial system, and so to relate hierarchically to "lower" federal courts. On that top-down view, exemplified by the work of Alexander Bickel and many subsequent scholars, the Court is the principal, and lower federal courts are its faithful agents. Other scholarship takes a bottom-up approach, viewing lower federal courts as faithless agents or analyzing the "percolation" of issues in those courts before the Court decides. This Article identifies circumstances in which the relationship between the Court and other …

Social Media Transformation Of Human Resource Management, Lavita A. Williams

Honors Theses

Social media is rapidly transforming the way individuals interact in the real world day by day in the workforce. This research focuses on how social media effects human resource management (HRM) in areas of recruitment, selection, retention, and termination. Through a SurveyMonkey information was gathered from human resource professionals primarily in the southeastern region and throughout the United States. Human resource managers where asked about the advantages and disadvantages of using social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter in areas of recruitment, selection, and termination. The results, illustrated that there were many advantages when using social media sites in …

Through Northern Eyes: Robert E. Lee And The Northern Press, Steven D. Sheller

Theses and Dissertations

Most historians would agree that it is an anomaly in history how Robert E. Lee became an American icon. General Lee was the commander of a rebel army that was trying to split the country he had once loyally served into two. Even after being defeated at the Battle of Appomattox, instead of Lee suffering the normal fate of all failed revolutionaries, he was pardoned and allowed to continue to live in his native Virginia. Over a short amount of time after General Lee’s death he was elevated from rebel to hero. The origins of this can be traced back …

Barbour’S Black Douglas, David Parkinson

Studies in Scottish Literature

A detailed discussion of the representation and characterization of Sir James Douglas ("Black Douglas") in John Barbour's poem The Bruce, examining the ways in which Barbour's Douglas is shown not only as the flower of chivalry, but also as a Robin Hood-like denizen of the woods, and arguing that "in the most highly colored Douglas episodes, Barbour feints toward the outrageous and transgressive," while also experimenting with his poem's literary structure to incorporate disruption or incursions from a disorderly non-courtly world.

Contributors To Ssl 43:1

Studies in Scottish Literature

No abstract provided.