Digital Commons Network^™

Reconciling Relationships With The Land Through Land Acknowledgements, Deborah Mcgregor, Emma Nelson

Articles & Book Chapters

One of the limitations of conventional Canadian conceptions of reconciliation is the underlying assumption that reconciliation applies, virtually exclusively, to relationships among peoples. There are, however, other dimensions to reconciliation that are equally important from an Indigenous point of view. As Mi’kmaq Elder Augustine suggests, “other dimensions of human experience—our relationships with the earth and all living beings—are also relevant in working towards reconciliation” (TRC 2015a, 122). Indigenous conceptions of reconciliation extend beyond people to the natural world and are informed by direct relationships to the Land. In this chapter. an Anishinaabe scholar, living in her own Lands, and a …

We Will Rise No Matter What': Community Perspectives Of Disaster Resilience Following Hurricanes Irma And Maria In Puerto Rico, Elizabeth L. Petrun Sayers, Kathryn E. Anthony, Ashlyn Tom, Alice Y. Kim, Courtney Armstrong

Faculty Publications

Category 4 Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on 20 September 2017 and ploughed across the territory with sustained winds of 155 mph. Just two weeks earlier, category 5 Hurricane Irma had struck the island already damaging critical infrastructure making Hurricane Maria even more devasting. The hurricanes caused catastrophic damage, resulting in the largest and longest response to a domestic disaster in the history of the United States. This paper explores the recovery process in Puerto Rico using a community resilience lens. The study examines narratives, the media environment, trusted sources, and information preferences following the crisis. Community workshops, …

Affordable Housing On Community Land Held In Trust: An Essential Component Of Sustainable Development, Kevin S. Tellez Ramos

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project summarizes an assessment of affordable housing development in Sonoma County - centered in an analysis of sustainability. The language of sustainability requires a new vocabulary for conversation on a broad topic. The sustainable development goals can be directed for the benefit of organizations that contribute to solutions that lack insight towards greater longevity for the at-risk members of the community (i.e., greenwashing, net-zero emissions, etc.). More recent sustainable development literature from the United Nations reveals new priorities: social, economic, and environmental sustainability. (This applies to developing nations of which the researcher believes Sonoma County, California and the United …

Commencement 2022 (Full Program), Taylor University

Commencement

The full program of the 2022 Annual Commencement of Taylor University, May 21 2022.

Our Streets: Increasing Equity In Active Transportation Planning Through Community Outreach, Jordan Hoy

Master's Projects and Capstones

ABSTRACT Significant research has demonstrated that active transportation infrastructure is essential for the growth and livability of San Francisco: it increases access to economic opportunities, promotes overall improved public health, encourages mobility without contributing to roadway congestion, prevents traffic injuries and fatalities, and supports the sustainability goals of the city. Despite the fact that communities of color will benefit the most from active transportation infrastructure development, historical disenfranchisement in tandem with a lack of diverse representation within public participation contributes to an inequitable distribution of walking and biking investments throughout the city of San Francisco. While research shows that Black …

Solving For Affordability In The San Francisco Housing Crisis: Is California’S Regional Housing Needs Allocation (Rhna) The Answer?, Matthew J. Mandich

Master's Projects and Capstones

Over the last two decades San Francisco has been suffering from a worsening housing shortage and affordability crisis, as housing production has lagged far behind job growth in the city and the region. As San Francisco’s housing market is especially supply constrained due to its unique geography, long-standing zoning laws, and convoluted permitting process, it is especially difficult to add the needed housing at an acceptable rate. Overall, this housing crisis has affected middle and lower income households the most as many have been forced to relocate due to rapidly increasing rents.

In an attempt to stimulate housing production state …

Vulnerability Assessment Of The Gulf Of Maine Eastern Oyster Aquaculture Industry To The Projected Impacts Of Ocean And Coastal Acidification, Julia L. Neumann

Master's Projects and Capstones

Ocean acidification is an emerging global environmental issue with known impacts on calcifying marine and estuarine organisms, including oysters. Anthropogenic climate change increases ocean uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which decreases seawater pH and the availability of crucial calcium carbonate minerals, namely calcite and aragonite. Acidification poses a major threat to the Eastern oyster aquaculture industry in the Gulf of Maine (GOM), which is highly susceptible to acidification and highly economically dependent on the industry’s economic contributions. In this report, I evaluated overall vulnerability of the GOM Eastern oyster aquaculture industry by assessing ecological exposure, social sensitivity, and adaptive capacity …

Impact Of Climate Variability On Child Nutrition In Ethiopia, Juan S. Gomez

Master's Theses

Changes in precipitation and temperature due to climate change have caused a shortage in food productivity leading to an increase in malnutrition outcomes, especially among children in developing countries that are more susceptible to undernutrition outcomes. This study contributes to existing literature studying the impact of climate variability measured by temperature, precipitation, and vegetation index on wasting. Wasting is measured by the weight for height score during the main growing season (Meher) using Demographic and Health Surveys data for five different periods in Ethiopia. Results suggest that lower NDVI outcomes are associated with an increase in the risk of acute …

The Violence Induced By Climate Change: An Evolving Controversy, Josephine Kurdziel

Senior Theses

Climate-induced violence has become more prominent and scrutinized in research, media, and discussion in the last decade with the emergence of new patterns of violence. Conflicts have been scrutinized particularly in key regions and countries such as West Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, which are the focus of the three case studies in this paper. The research is centered on several types of violence such as civil war and terrorism, and then further expanded to how climate change may or may not influence their patterns. Correspondingly, there is also an analysis on the importance of state stability and …

Moving With The Lgbtq+ Community In Grief And Elderhood: A Literature Review, Marea Newell

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Dance/movement therapy (DMT) is a therapeutic approach that incorporates the physical, emotional, and cognitive processes as a method for healing. Within the field of DMT, there has been limited research working with the elderly LGBTQ+ bereaved community. This research inquiry aims to expose this gap in the literature and offer approaches for future research based on the current literature in DMT and psychology. Through a review of literature conducted on google scholar and Lesley University’s library, relevant articles examining the experience of grief among elderly LGBTQ+ individuals, DMT among elderly and bereaved populations, and working with individuals who have experienced …

Queering Clinical Spaces Through Gender Discussions Development Of A Method: Collage And Creative Storytelling At An Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program, Kierstyn Brady

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

A lack of queer acceptance in all areas of life has been shown in large-scale studies to exacerbate the mental health needs of LGBTQIA+ individuals. LGBTQIA+ youth are at a particular risk for suicidality, self-harm, low self-esteem, and other extreme adverse mental health outcomes if their support network does not accept their identity, according to research. Because LGBTQIA+ youth are at a greater risk of adverse mental health outcomes, it is essential for higher levels of mental health care to address the needs of the queer community. The exclusion of queer-inclusive subjects from the partial hospitalization program (PHP) group curriculum …

How Clay In Group Art Therapy Helps Female Veterans Maintain Well-Being: Development Of Methods, Sooho Park

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Using clay in art therapy has emerged as an evidence-based therapeutic approach to enable treatment for people with anxiety. While clay in art therapy has been researched and proven to be highly effective with children, there is limited research on the benefit for the population of female veterans. Therefore, this study examines the possibility of how clay in art therapy helps female veterans to reduce anxiety and maintain their well-being at Veterans Affairs Hospital (VAH). Three female veterans were engaged in weekly intervention for six weeks through both in-person and online sessions. Results indicate participants experienced beneficial changes in anxiety …

The Queer God, Rodney Simpson

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explores the impact of dance/movement therapy practices on the embodied healing experience of Black queer and LGBTQIA++ - identified people to heal from religious and spiritual trauma. Currently, there is limited research dedicated to the understanding of Blackness, queerness, and spirituality and the unique perspective dance/movement offers in combatting oppressive systems of religious trauma. Research is needed that acknowledges and amplifies the ways Black queer people have adapted, survived, and thrived. This literature review provides a discussion of historical contexts at the intersections of Blackness, queerness, and spirituality to engender a remembering, reclaiming, and reimagining of Black queer …

The Opioid Epidemic And The Need For Arts In Community Based Treatment Options: A Literature Review, Abageal Stasny

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Over the past three decades, the opioid epidemic has devastated communities and the lives of many around the US. The prevalence and complexities of substance use disorder continue to challenge clinicians to find effective treatment options for clients. The focus of this literature review is to develop support for using art therapy as a form of treatment for those with substance use disorder, to distinguish the benefits that community-based art therapy as a form of ongoing treatment could provide, and propose the need for further research that explores the use of community-based art therapy with those with substance use disorder. …

A General History And Theory Of Mind Control. Information Design, Commercial Truth And The Disinformation Crisis, Gabriel Isaiah Samandi

Senior Theses

The phrase “mind control” typically sparks the imagination to think of implausible and delusional hysteria; the paranoid schizophrenic who argues the existence of instantaneous and affirmative instructions against one’s own will that can subvert the autonomy of an individual. Since the early 1950s, associations such as the above have provided an illusion of separability between established epistemic concepts and the realm of amateur conspiracy theory “research.” With the invention of the internet, however, and especially after the concerted effort of international disinformation campaigns via social media, such lines have begun to blur. Questions about the interplay between implicit psychological associations …

What’S Lunch Got To Do With It?: A Case Study Of California Policy, Educational Equity, And The First Statewide Universal School Meals Program, Rebecca Murillo

Master's Projects and Capstones

In July 2021, California became the first state to pass a program which guarantees two meals a day to all K-12 students at no cost. This project examines California’s journey to pass this Universal School Meals Program (USMP) and explores how such a program can provide equity for students. I produce a legislative history which traces how school meals are funded and regulated at the federal level, California’s public education funding system, their state meal program, the policies which created changes that allowed the USMP to pass, and the legislation of the program itself. Framework presented by Tyack and Cuban …

Borders, Bodies And Abuse: Exposing The Collusion Of Australia And The United States In Transnational Refugee Deterrence, Kaytlin Hancock

Master's Theses

This research explores a comparison of the use and abuse of deterrence policies, namely the externalisation of borders, and spatial control aimed to disallow entry for refugees and asylum seekers arriving by boat to both the United States and Australia. Paying particular attention to the immigration occurrences in the US from the early 1980s and present day responses in Australia, this research explores the rise in offshore detention centres and the ways in which these countries shirk their international obligations in a bid to strengthen sovereignty, by creating zones of exemption that expel refugees and asylum seekers to liminal spaces. …

The African Diaspora In Contemporary Italy: The Challenges Of The Migration Crisis In Lampedusa, Daniel Varela

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

This senior integrative research will unpack the trials of displaced African people migrating into Italy. The migration crisis is a byproduct of our complicated international system riddled with wars, poverty, and persecution of marginalized groups. This study will focus on intersectional identities to facilitate a demand advocating for a group of people with limited agency, autonomy, and visibility. Some key questions to be answered in this study are: What challenges facing migrants in Italy within narratives in film and literature? How do positionality and locality play a role in migrant narratives?

Bird Nesting Trends In Massachusetts, Dieter Rodriguez

Biology Student Scholarship

Bird nesting data has long been documented for various species across the United States. While trends between temperature changes or precipitation on bird nesting have been studied for particular species, studies done on the effects of temperature due to climate change on bird nesting on the broader state level are lacking. Using bird nesting data and average annual temperature data for Massachusetts collected over a ten year period, I assessed the effects of temperature changes over time on bird nesting attempts and total eggs laid for all documented species within the state. BIO 340 final project

Assessing The Influence Of Food Insecurity And Retail Environments As A Proxy For Structural Racism On The Covid-19 Pandemic In An Urban Setting, Rachael D. Dombrowski, Alex B. Hill, Bree Bode, Kathrybn A. G Knoff, Hadis Dastgerdizad, Noel Kulik, James Mallare, Kibibi Blount-Dorn, Winona Bynum

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Research Publications

A collaborative partnership launched the Great Grocer Project (GGP) in March 2021 in Detroit, Michigan where health inequities, including deaths due to COVID-19, have historically been politically determined and informed by socially entrenched norms. Institutional and structural racism has contributed to a lack of diversity in store ownership among Detroit grocers and limited access to high-quality, affordable healthy foods as well as disparate food insecurity among Detroit residents. The GGP seeks to promote Detroit’s healthy grocers to improve community health and economic vitality through research, programs, and policies that have the potential to advance health equity. A cross-sectional design was …

Microplastics Captured By Snowfall: A Study In Northern Iran, Sajjad Abbasi, Mustafa Alirezazadeh, Nastaran Razeghi, Mahrooz Rezaei, Hanie Pourmahmood, Reza Dehbandi, Meisam Rastegari Mehr, Shirin Yavar Ashayeri, Patryk Oleszczuk, Andrew Turner

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Samples of fresh snow (n = 34) have been collected from 29 locations in various urban and remote regions of northern Iran following a period of sustained snowfall and the thawed contents examined for microplastics (MPs) according to established techniques. MP concentrations ranged from undetected to 86 MP L−1 (mean and median concentrations ~20 MP and 12 MP L−1, respectively) and there was no significant difference in MP concentration between sample location type or between different depths of snow (or time of deposition) sampled at selected sites. Fibres were the dominant shape of MP and μ-Raman spectroscopy of selected samples …

From “Trust” To “Trustworthiness”: Retheorizing Dynamics Of Trust, Distrust, And Water Security In North America, Nicole J. Wilson, Teresa Montoya, Yanna Lambrinidou, Leila M. Harris, Benjamin J. Pauli, Deborah Mcgregor, Robert J. Patrick, Silvia Gonzalez, Gregory Pierce, Amber Wutich

Articles & Book Chapters

Assumptions of trust in water systems are widespread in higher-income countries, often linked to expectations of “modern water.” The current literature on water and trust also tends to reinforce a technoscientific approach, emphasizing the importance of aligning water user perceptions with expert assessments. Although such approaches can be useful to document instances of distrust, they often fail to explain why patterns differ over time, and across contexts and populations. Addressing these shortcomings, we offer a relational approach focused on the trustworthiness of hydro-social systems to contextualize water-trust dynamics in relation to broader practices and contexts. In doing so, we investigate …

Individual-Level And Neighborhood-Level Factors Associated With Longitudinal Changes In Cardiometabolic Measures In Participants Of A Clinic-Based Care Coordination Program: A Secondary Data Analysis, Sonal J Patil, Mojgan Golzy, Angela Johnson, Yan Wang, Jerry C Parker, Robert B Saper, Debra Haire-Joshu, David R Mehr, Randi E Foraker, Robin L Kruse

Open Access Publications

BACKGROUND: Identifying individual and neighborhood-level factors associated with worsening cardiometabolic risks despite clinic-based care coordination may help identify candidates for supplementary team-based care.

METHODS: Secondary data analysis of data from a two-year nurse-led care coordination program cohort of Medicare, Medicaid, dual-eligible adults,

RESULTS: 6378 participants had pre-and post-intervention levels reported for at least one outcome measure. In adjusted models, higher pre-intervention cardiometabolic measures were associated with worsening of all cardiometabolic measures. Women had worsening LDL-cholesterol compared with men. Women with pre-intervention HbA1c > 6.8% and systolic blood pressure > 131 mm of Hg had worse post-intervention HbA1c and systolic blood pressure compared …

Orientation And Role Of National Scientific Research Institutions In National Strategic Scientific And Technological Strength, Chunliang Fan, Zhe Li

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

An important task of enhancing strategic scientific and technological strength is to strengthen national scientific research institutions. From the history of science and the international development, this study discusses the development of the national research institutions and their characteristics as a national strategic strength of science and technology, and discusses the role of Chinese national research institutions in national development, summarizes the achievements and successful experience of the national research institutions for facing the needs of the country, facing the frontier of science and technology, facing the main economic battlefield, and facing the life and health of the people during …

Revisiting The Revolving Door Of Rural Superintendent Turnover, Barry Kamrath

The Rural Educator

This qualitative multiple case study is a follow-up to a study completed in 2007 that examined characteristics of rural school districts experiencing a high rate of superintendent turnover. The original study design incorporated extensive interviews with participants across four rural school districts; triangulating interview results with information found in school board minutes and published media articles. The four case districts had employed a total of 19 superintendents in the ten-year period leading up to the original study. However, since then, three of the districts have experienced a drastic change in their turnover trend. This study revisits the four rural districts …

The Impacts Of School Closure On Rural Communities In Canada: A Review, Michael Haynes

The Rural Educator

In rural Canada the issue of school closures and consolidations due to low enrollment and heightened fiscal constraints has become a contentious and highly-charged issue for citizens and communities. This literature review synthesizes the major effects of school closure on rural communities, identifying economic impacts, social impacts, and implications for students. The historical context of Canadian rural schools, notions of rurality, urbanormativity and local complexity, along with considerations of urban-centred educational policy, are overarching themes identified in the rural school literature. These concepts were found to subsequently perpetuate the economic, social, and student-centred impacts reported. A relative dearth of research …

In-The-Moment Experiences Of Rural School Principals In The Covid-19 Pandemic, Simone White, Hobart Harmon, Jerry Johnson, Brian O'Neill

The Rural Educator

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the many existing inequalities in education systems across the world. Not all children have easy access to educational online resources or digital technologies, a situation more amplified in rural contexts where access, connectivity and affordability play a significant factor. This qualitative account reveals examples of how rural school leaders were able to find innovative ways early in the COVID-19 pandemic to address the remote learning needs of their students and families. This paper shares in-the-moment experiences of rural principals, and those who supported them, in quickly transitioning to address student needs when school buildings closed. …

Future Location For Odu's Institute For Coastal Adaptation And Resilience Will Foster Research And Experiential Learning, Jonah Grinkewitz

News Items

No abstract provided.

Home Suite Home: An Analysis Of Comfort In Americana And Motel Culture, Jodi Kolpakov

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

This essay provides a critical look at the motel, investigating it as a souvenir, exploring its nostalgic phenomenon, and questioning its complexity of comfort. We begin by looking at the evolution of the motel and how its strange stereo- type came to be. I dissect the terms “shady” and “sketchy” as both a psychological and illustrated representation of the motel while closely reading how these terms appear in other forms of media, such as Bates Motel and Bad Times at the El Royale. Through exploring nostalgic Americana, I investigate how motels connect us from the past to the pres- …

A Social-Ecological-Technological Systems Framework For Urban Ecosystem Services, Timon Mcphearson, Elizabeth M. Cook, Marta Berbés-Blázquez, Chingwen Cheng, Nancy B. Grimm, Erik Andersson, Olga Barbosa, David G. Chandler, Heejun Chang, Multiple Additional Authors

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

As rates of urbanization and climatic change soar, decision-makers are increasingly challenged to provide innovative solutions that simultaneously address climate change impacts and risks and inclusively ensure quality of life for urban residents. Cities have turned to nature-based solutions to help address these challenges. Nature-based solutions, through the provision of ecosystem services, can yield numerous benefits for people and address multiple challenges simultaneously. Yet, efforts to mainstream nature-based solutions are impaired by the complexity of the interacting social, ecological, and technological dimensions of urban systems. This complexity must be understood and managed to ensure ecosystem-service provisioning is effective, equitable, and …