Digital Commons Network^™

Do People Perceive Alexa As Gendered? A Cross-Cultural Study Of People’S Perceptions, Expectations, And Desires Of Alexa, Leopoldina Fortunati, Autumn P. Edwards, Anna Maria Manganelli, Chad Edwards, Federico De Luca

Human-Machine Communication

Mainly, the scholarly debate on Alexa has focused on sexist/anti-woman gender representations in the everyday life of many families, on a cluster of themes such as privacy, insecurity, and trust, and on the world of education and health. This paper takes another stance and explores via online survey methodology how university student respondents in two countries (the United States, n = 333; and Italy, n = 322) perceive Alexa’s image and gender, what they expect from this voice-based assistant, and how they would like Alexa to be. Results of a free association exercise showed that Alexa’s image was scarcely embodied …

Gender Ambiguity In Voice-Based Assistants: Gender Perception And Influences Of Context, Sandra Mooshammer, Katrin Etzrodt

Human-Machine Communication

Recently emerging synthetic acoustically gender-ambiguous voices could contribute to dissolving the still prevailing genderism. Yet, are we indeed perceiving these voices as “unassignable”? Or are we trying to assimilate them into existing genders? To investigate the perceived ambiguity, we conducted an explorative 3 (male, female, ambiguous voice) × 3 (male, female, ambiguous topic) experiment. We found that, although participants perceived the gender-ambiguous voice as ambiguous, they used a profoundly wide range of the scale, indicating tendencies toward a gender. We uncovered a mild dissolve of gender roles. Neither the listener’s gender nor the personal gender stereotypes impacted the perception. However, …

Physical Activity Independently Predicts Perceived Stress During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Private University Students, Curtis W. Brownell, Laura S. Kabiri, Cassandra S. Diep, Heidi Y. Perkins, Amanda M. Perkins-Ball, Augusto X. Rodriguez

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 15(7): 1680-1691, 2022. Physical activity has significantly declined during the COVID-19 pandemic. Declines in physical activity have correlated with increased levels of perceived stress, though studies examining physical activity and stress have failed to account for critical confounds. The present study aims to determine whether physical activity independently predicts perceived stress in students attending private four-year universities. Physical activity, socioeconomic status, resilience, gender, and perceived stress data were collected from 85 students and used in a multiple linear regression analysis. The regression model accounted for 43.5% of the variance in perceived stress (R2 = .462, …

Muscle Architecture And Strength Changes Induced By Different Resistance Training Frequencies And Detraining, Tiago Volpi Braz, Felipe Brigatto, Danilo Rodrigues Batista, Wellington Gonçalves Dias, Luan Oenning Col, Guilherme Borsetti Businari, Jhenipher Rosolem, Julio Benvenutti Bueno De Camargo, Paulo Henrique Barbosa, Charles Ricardo Lopes

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 15(4): 1661-1679, 2022. The purpose of the present study was to investigate muscle thickness and strength outcomes of the quadriceps femoris induced by different resistance training (RT) frequencies and detraining. In addition, muscle architecture (MA) parameters were also assessed. Twenty-seven healthy resistance-trained subjects (men, n = 17; women, n = 10; 20.8 ± 1.9 years; RT experience = 3.3 ± 1.6 years) volunteered to participate in this study. One leg of each subject was randomly allocated into the 2 sessions per week condition (2x) and the contralateral leg was then placed in the 4 sessions …

Review Of The Life And Legend Of Catterina Vizzani: Sexual Identity, Science And Sensationalism In Eighteenth-Century Italy And England, By Clorinda Donato, Ula E. Lukszo Klein

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Review of The Life and Legend of Catterina Vizzani: Sexual Identity, Science and Sensationalism in Eighteenth-Century Italy and England, by Clorinda Donato, written by Ula Lukszo Klein. Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment, Liverpool University Press, 2020, 347 pp., 3 b/w images. ISBN: 978-1-789-62221-8

Ripped From The Headlines: Teaching Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's Turkish Letters In The Context Of 21st-Century Controversies, Susan Spencer

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

In the long shadow of 9/11 and the ongoing COVID pandemic, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s Turkish Embassy Letters connect with the lived experience of today’s students, especially the cluster of eight letters dated 1 April 1717. By emphasizing parallels between Montagu’s observations and the students’ own lives, The Turkish Embassy Letters can add a modern dimension to the eighteenth century in general, challenges of gender, and texts written in and about the Muslim world.

Postures After The Antique In Eighteenth-Century Portraits Of Women, Lauren K. Disalvo

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

This paper re-examines the relationship between eighteenth-century portraiture and the antique where women adopt the postures of floating female figures from Pompeiian wall paintings in eighteenth-century portraiture. I argue that eighteenth-century floating portraits afforded their female sitters an opportunity to assert classical knowledge while adhering to typical conventions of femininity.

Taking Chardin's Kitchen Maids Seriously, Danielle Ezor

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Historically, Jean-Siméon Chardin’s The Kitchen Maid and Return from the Market have been characterized as austere images of middle-class virtue. However, the engravings made after these paintings include verses that place the paintings within the satirical tradition. Thus, there is a misalignment between the canonical interpretation of Chardin’s kitchen maids as virtuous and the satirical understanding of these paintings. I reconcile these two contradictory interpretations by offering a feminist reinterpretation of Chardin’s The Kitchen Maid and Return from the Market, juxtaposing the prints and their satirical verses and considering the female viewer. In my analysis, I focus on small, …

Evaluating System Usability, Workload Suitability, And User Experience Of Game-Based Virtual Reality In Spaceflight Education And Training, Lana Laskey, Joseph Keebler

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

Game-based instruction and immersive virtual reality are enhanced pedagogical methods beneficial in training environments involving complex disciplines, ranging from medical applications to construction engineering technology. This study investigated the use of game-based virtual reality (GBVR) when applied to the complex discipline of spaceflight education and training. As modern society places increasing demand on space-based amenities, the need for proficient satellite operators will also increase, requiring more accessible and more advanced training options. Spaceflight training scenarios, immersed in the GBVR environment, were developed and deployed to university student participants. Multiple validated scales were used to measure the GBVR system regarding three …

6k1, Nia-Vpg, Nia-Pro, And Cp Ofwheat Streak Mosaic Virus Are Collective Determinants Of Wheat Streak Mosaic Disease In Wheat, Satyanarayana Tatineni, Jeffrey Alexander, Haritha Nunna

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV; genus Tritimovirus, family Potyviridae) is the causal agent of the most economically important wheat streak mosaic disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum) in the Great Plains region of theUnited States.WSMVdeterminants responsible forwheat streak mosaic disease in wheat are unknown. Triticum mosaic virus (TriMV), a wheatinfecting virus,was used as an expression vector for the transient expression of each of the WSMV-encoded cistrons in wheat. WSMV-encoded 6K1, NIa-VPg, NIa-Pro, and CP cistrons in TriMV elicited symptoms specific to different stages of wheat streak mosaic disease without significantly affecting the genomic RNA accumulation. WSMV 6K1 …

2022-12-19_Michiganoverview_Covidoutbreak, Michigan Department Of Health & Human Services

Michigan COVID-19 Outbreak Reports

The Outbreak Data page was obtained from Michigan's COVID-19 data page: https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/stats/outbreak-reporting.

This report is created by the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services from data self-reported by local health departments. Data is updated every week.

COVID-19 outbreaks are generally defined as two or more cases with a link by place and time indicating a shared exposure outside of a household. Local health departments report the number of new and ongoing outbreaks they are investigating by the setting of the outbreak. New outbreaks are those outbreaks that were first identified during the current reporting week. Ongoing outbreaks are …

2022-12-19_Michiganoverview_Covidbedppe, Michigan Department Of Health & Human Services

Michigan COVID-19 Hospital Data

Contains the tables Statewide Hospital Capacity Report for COVID-19, COVID-19 Metrics, Statewide Hospital Available PPE Tracking for COVID-19, as well as the tables PPE Days On Hand and Patient Census.

Thermal Tolerance And Physiology Of Eleutherodactylus Coqui Along An Elevational Gradient In Hawai‘I, Karen H. Beard, Susannah S. French, Jack Marchetti

Browse all Datasets

The purpose of this study was to determine if the thermal tolerance and physiology of the coqui frog changed along HawaiÔiÕs elevation gradient. A short acclimation experiment was used to test the baseline thermal tolerance and physiology, and an extended acclimation experiment to test the acclimation ability of the thermal tolerance and physiology metrics of the coqui frogs collected from low (m), medium (350-550 m) and high elevations (>750 m).

Prostitution And The Contagious Diseases Acts In Nineteenth-Century England, Victoria Knox

Honors Program Theses and Projects

During England’s Victorian period, the Contagious Diseases Acts were established, which regulated women’s bodies and represented the intersectionality of gender, class, and power. Before the CD Acts, England began to grow rapidly during the Industrial Revolution, which was in part made possible by the work of underpaid and undervalued working-class women. One option for women to earn an income was prostitution. Men who worked as sailors and soldiers were common customers in prostitution, which contributed to the rapid spread of venereal disease throughout the British Empire. In the spirit of protecting men, the first CD Acts were passed in the …

The Effects Of Multilingual Learning On Social-Emotional And Cognitive Development In Children, Jasmine Won

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Children worldwide learn multiple languages at a young age, especially if they do not live in a country with English as the dominant language. While teaching young children languages other than English has not been a common practice in the United States, research shows that the practice is still growing and there is increased awareness of cultural competence in teaching languages (Garcia-Vazquez et al., 2021; Ingle, 2021). This study aims to discover the cognitive and social-emotional effects of learning an additional language at a young age. To examine this, 90 fifth-grade English Learner students were observed for 35 hours in …

Review Of Curriculums For English Language Learners, Hayden Doherty

Honors Program Theses and Projects

ELL students have become more prevalent in public and private schools. While the number of these students has been increasing, so has the need for effective and efficient curriculums to be put into place in order to ensure students get the proper education they deserve. There are many programs that provide teachers with assistance in teaching their English learning students. While there are a variety of programs available, each one is different and complex. Four different evaluative frameworks have been chosen to determine whether or not they are effective. This thesis examines four evaluative frameworks for English Language Learners including …

The Parental Perception Of The Effects Of Therapeutic Riding On Children With Disabilities’ Academics Before And During Covid-19, Ashley Drake

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The search for effective forms of intervention is ongoing and therapeutic riding is emerging through research as a successful form. It is now more important than ever to discover effective interventions as the COVID-19 pandemic has jolted the education of many students, especially those with a disability. Most teachers were forced to implement an online teaching method to continue serving their students safely. Even when special education institutions remained open, many parents elected to keep their children home due to medical vulnerability and the risks that attending in-person education posed (Asbury et al., 2021). According to, Raghul et al. (2021) …

20221219_Hslic Creates New Read Poster, Brandon Carroll

HSLIC Blog Post

No abstract provided.

Board Games: A Perfect Match For Reading Comprehension, Christopher Allen Frazier

Masters Theses

Analog board games greatly benefit students’ development and overall well-being. Board games offer opportunities for early learning, help boost language skills, sharpen students’ ability to focus, teach the value of teamwork, and soothe anxiety. Integrating board games with literacy skills allows students to assimilate information and develop into lifelong learners. Without solid literacy skills, the future is bleak for most students. To compound the problem, a trend today is to replace traditional board games as an educational tool with digital alternatives. This trend has seen a downward correlation with students having significant reading deficiencies in their reading comprehension in grades …

“Americanized” Worship In Brazilian Churches, Leon C. Neto

Masters Theses

Motivated by the marketability of high-profile artists and bands, Christian churches worldwide may see the inclusion of profit-driven worship songs as a recruiting tool for their communities. This process of globalization or "Americanization" around the world, propagated by mass media, is yet to be thoroughly investigated. This trend is likely decreasing the use of indigenous styles in Christian worship. The primary purpose of this current study is to produce scientific data suggesting that “Americanized” worship is a trend in Brazil and is affecting the production of indigenous worship repertoire. An online questionnaire was developed and applied to Brazilian worship leaders. …

Thesis Defense: The Yellow Wallpaper, Madison Hope Greathouse

Masters Theses

The purpose of The Yellow Wallpaper screenplay is to shed light on the mental health issues many in our society face, namely schizophrenia and similar mental disorders. It will also address the reality of an unhealthy marital relationship. The overarching message of the screenplay is one of hope for those struggling with mental illness and for others who seek to care for these people.

Bibliotherapy In The Helping Professions: A Heuristic Model For Intervention Design, Natalie Marie Haney

Masters Theses

I propose a new approach to examining bibliotherapy’s usefulness in the community-based care of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI), focused on producing a heuristic that benefits helping professionals who offer non-clinical and non-psychiatric services. Meant for writers designing bibliotherapy interventions in the helping professions, I conceptualize bibliotherapy in a model against the backdrop of community-based care’s history. A model has the potential to allow each writer to conduct situation-specific inquiry, invent bibliotherapy intervention designs suited to the unique needs of the profession’s help-seekers, and reflect on knowledge generated for intervention reiteration. Referring to Dewey, Rosenblatt and Barnlund to create …

Agatha Christie: Poisons And Prose, A Critical And Creative Consideration, Laurie Kay Wolf

Masters Theses

This Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing thesis submission focuses on the literary approach and research processes of Agatha Christie. It includes an impetus and vision for the thesis project, a scientific inquiry into a sampling of the poisons Ms. Christie incorporated as murder weapons, and an analysis of texts from a variety of her published works. The creative manuscript portion incorporates the detective genre, the poison research, and this student’s interpretation of Ms. Christie’s writing style and distinction.

The Importance Of Art In Cross Discipline Education, Shaye E. Beeman

Masters Theses

For years, art has been pushed under the rug. Especially in education, art is seen as less advantageous than other courses such as math, English, and science. This thesis explores the advantages of utilizing art in cross-discipline classrooms to help students learn and develop skills that will improve their physical, mental, and spiritual health. This thesis will bring into account other sources of information and data including research, case studies, and visual analyses to show: How will art improve the physical health of students? How does art increase the mental health of students? How does art improve the spiritual health …

World-Building Warnings: Depth In Creative Art To Consider Societal Paths, Kane Samuel Wright

Masters Theses

Addressing the issue of artists often failing to visually communicate through world-building concepts, this paper seeks to inform a design piece demonstrating the potential effectiveness of a message communicated through visual world-building in a manner that minimises audience disengagement and maximises articulate artistic communication. Questions arise as to what dangers a future society may face that could be worth using as a framework to address this communication problem, whether techniques surrounding visual world-building can be successful in this task, and where artists go astray in their own attempts. Research conducted suggests that psychology, culture, and semiotics play an important role …

The Criteria Of Liturgical Worship And Analysis Of Wesley‘S Theology And How His Approach Challenges Contemporary Christians, Especially In Terms Of Worship, Eunice H. Ahn

Masters Theses

Although liturgical traditions were introduced during the Modernism Era, they continue to play an influential role in churches today. The worship and teaching practices applied in Roman Catholic Churches reflect how important traditional liturgy is in the Post-Modernism Era. While many catholic congregations are aware of the significance of liturgy, many Christian and Protestant Churches are not. There is missing knowledge regarding liturgical traditions in these churches. This study will propose liturgical worship in contemporary Christian and Protestant congregations as an alternative proposal from the perspective of John Wesley. This proposal will discuss the criteria of liturgical worship and analyze …

An Exploration Of Service Needs And Preferences Of Dementia Caregivers In Kentucky, Heehyul Moon, Sunshine Rote, Allison Kacmar, Amy Kostelic, Bari Lewis

Family Sciences Faculty Publications

As Americans live longer, the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias will increase. Caregivers are critical to the care and life quality of people with dementia. Yet, dementia caregivers are at increased risk for health issues, social isolation, and financial challenges. To help educators with the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service work with their local Alzheimer’s Association and the University of Louisville to better support dementia families, we explored caregiver needs and service utilization using an online survey. Our findings highlighted the need for counseling/support, care management skills, resource education, self-care strategies, and legal services. Extension Service Educators …

Beyond The Corporate Responsibility To Respect Human Rights In The Dawn Of A Metaverse, Kuzi Charamba

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

Technological advances in the 21st century pose new threats to human rights from business activities. In this new technological age, individuals and communities engage through an increasing myriad of digital means and platforms, all facilitated by a smaller, more powerful set of global BigTech companies, such as Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Meta (formerly known as Facebook). In so doing, however, our lives as workers, consumers, and citizens become subject to increasing corporate control through surveillance capitalism and algorithmic governance. With the dawn of metaverses—3D immersive digital environments in which you can interact with others via avatars and through virtual and …

Foreclosing Asylum: “Neo-Refoulement” And The Ripple Effects Of U.S. Interdiction At Sea, Edgar Cruz

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

This Note argues that U.S. interdiction of asylum seekers at sea and the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program undermine the object and purpose of international refugee law. The U.S. Government uses both practices to evade its international obligation of non-refoulement, or non-return. Such practices unjustly restrict access to asylum in the U.S. These policies can be characterized as tools of “neo-refoulement.” Neo-refoulement is a strategy used to foreclose the possibility of asylum. It allows States parties to the 1951 Refugee Convention to evade their international obligation to refrain from returning people to places where they may be at risk of …

Distance Education Policy

Academic Affairs

The purpose of this policy is to provide institution-level standards and definitions for distance education and to provide a consistent approach to course design and delivery to ensure quality of education delivered distantly. This policy aims to facilitate academic excellence; support student achievement of course and program learning outcomes; support student retention and persistence; and ensure regulatory compliance with the U.S. Department of Education requirements for distance (online) education.