Digital Commons Network^™

Class Of 2023 Commencement Program, State University Of New York College At Cortland

Commencement Programs

May Commencement, Graduate Ceremony

Narrative Insight Into How Rural, First-Generation College Students And Their Families Establish Non-Deficit, Multi-Sited Identities, Sarah Jusseaume

Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores the ways in which rural, first-generation college (RFGC) students position themselves in relation to dominant cultural master narratives and potentially competing alternative narratives related to community and family processes, norms, life pathways, and choices after college. Evidence is drawn from in-depth narrative interviews with 15 RFGC students conducted both at school and in students’ home communities. The study contributes to an anti-deficit understanding of rural first-generation college students’ college experiences and identity by focusing not on challenges and barriers but on the ways individuals both align and agentically reject dominant cultural narratives as well as the ways …

Lapd Suffers Hiring Shortage Following A Shift In How Angelinos View Police, Nicole Norman

Honors Thesis

This is a news article written about how the nationwide police shortage following the murder of George Floyd has affected the City of Los Angeles. According to a poll done by Suffolk University and the LA Times, about one third of Angelinos believe that the police are performing poorly. However, those who are younger than 35 are more than twice likely to believe that police are performing poorly. Through this article, I will explore the changes that the LAPD is making in order to keep up with a changing social climate and an upcoming workforce that is not interested in …

College Of Natural Sciences Newsletter, March - May 2023, College Of Natural Sciences

College of Natural Sciences Newsletters and Reports

Volume 4, Issue 2

Page 1 Dean's Message
Page 2-7 Awards and Recognition
Page 8 March 3rd Corothers Seminar
Page 9 54th Geography Convention
Page 10 Spring 2023 Day of Scholars
Page 11 2023 URSCAD Snaps
Page 12-14 Media Coverage of CNS
Page 15 Open PRAIRIE Data

Friends, Brothers, And Citizens: American Revolutionary War Patriots Of Color And Their Fight For Rights Across The Northeast, Benjamin D. Remillard

Doctoral Dissertations

“Friends, Brothers, and Citizens” examines the lives of the American Revolutionary War’s Northeastern Patriots of color. While historians have focused on these men’s decisions and actions during the war itself, this work draws attention to another vital part of their stories: the rest of their lives. To best demonstrate their impact, “Friends, Brothers, and Citizens” frames these men as a multiracial and generational cohort whose commitment to those around them clearly shaped movements to win relief and rights for people of color throughout the early republic. Chapter 1 examines these men’s wartime strategies to support their families and wider communities. …

Arts-Integrated Teaching Of English Literature: Using Dance Making Methods To Enhance High School Student Comprehension Of Short Stories And Self-Confidence In Reading Skills, Ashley Carney

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the benefit of utilizing creative dance making methods in the study of literature at the high school level. The researcher developed the following essential questions to investigate how dance making impacts student performance on comprehension questions as well as what impact this has on student confidence and self-efficacy:

Q1 What effect does the use of dance making methods have on student comprehension of short stories?

Q2 What effect does increasing the amount of dance creation time have on student comprehension of short stories?

Q3 What effect does the choreographic process have on …

Analyzing Grassland Bird Song And Success: The Impact Of Landscape Characteristics On Western Meadowlarks (Sturnella Neglecta), Leah Crenshaw

Master's Theses

Grassland birds across both North America and globally are in rapid decline, and these population losses are primarily due to agricultural practices driving land-conversion and habitat degradation. While the effects of landscape characteristics like land cover, fragmentation, anthropogenic features, and land use on bird abundance and diversity are well-studied, the mechanisms behind those effects are poorly understood for many species. In our studies, we considered how individual condition and behavior may be underpinning some population losses in Western Meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta). First, we investigated what natural, anthropogenic, and climatic landscape characteristics best predicted Western Meadowlark song structure. We used 421 …

Boudica At The Intersection: Gender, Alterity, And Narrative In Imperial Roman Historiography, Adam Cummings

Honors Theses

Tacitus (fl. ~100 ᴄᴇ) and Cassius Dio (fl. ~200 ᴄᴇ) wrote, respectively, the Annales and the Historia Romana, both now fragmentary, both detailing imperial Roman expansion, and both displaying anxieties about the barbarian ‘Other.’ Their accounts of Boudica, who led the Iceni against Roman encroachment in Britannia in 62 CE, provide a view into these authors’ visions of colonization, ethnicity, and gender. Characterizing this woman as a barbarian leader of war, the authors reveal not only their foundational ideologies but also the political projects underpinning their histories. This thesis will proceed in the following manner: I will provide 1) a …

Strengthening The Understanding Of South Partnerships And Rigor In Addressing Social Determinants Of Child And Adolescent Mental Health, Manasi Kumar

Brain and Mind Institute

The Journal of Adolescent Health's current supplement presents the work of a highly active team of researchers who are focusing on developing a strong body of evidence around child and adolescent mental health in Sub-Saharan Africa. The supplement lays out scholarship generated through years of partnership between researchers based in the United States—some of whom are from Sub-Saharan context, specifically Uganda—in connecting applied social work, community mental health for children and adolescents, and family development. The work comprises a series of articles embedded within several National Institutes of Health–funded grants by authors based in the United States in partnership with …

Seeking Second Skins, Alisa Scott

University Honors Program Senior Projects

Seeking Second Skins, a mini magazine serving as a slight counter to mainstream fashion reporting. This creative project unpacks clothing’s role in impression management, the modern fashion industry’s role in hypercommercialism and more.

The project will open with images and this conversational note, titled A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR, explaining my process and main ideas:

Hello,

I’m an NEIU senior and University Honors Program member pursuing a bachelor’s in interdisciplinary studies. On November 24, 2020, I donated nine large bags of clothes, shoes and bags. This experience made me wonder how and why people collect material things— clothing specifically. …

Expanding Volunteer Program Effectiveness In Refugee Resettlement, Julianna Kantner

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Department of Health and Human Services found that refugee resettlement results in a net positive fiscal impact of approximately $63.0 billion over a ten-year period. Meanwhile, refugees are one of the most highly vetted groups of people immigrating to the United States, enduring a screening process that lasts approximately 2 years. Despite this, anti-refugee sentiments and fluctuating federal support hinders the long-term success of refugee resettlement agencies (RRAs) and support organizations. Successful volunteer programs are critical in maintaining the long-term aid of refugees and advocacy for reliable federal support. The need for successful volunteer programs is especially prevalent in …

Grasping At Oblivion, Tanisha Shende

The Synapse: Intercollegiate science magazine

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of Regional Food Systems And Food Security In Rural Mississippi And Italy, Reinhard Matthew Knerr

Honors Theses

Food insecurity has strong links to worsened overall health outcomes, specifically, increased prevalence of chronic conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and obesity. Food insecurity in developed nations is primarily characterized by reduced access to nutritionally dense foods. This problem is especially prevalent in the Mississippi (MS) Delta region, where greater than two in five people are food insecure and community health outcomes are among the worst in the nation. Recent literature has placed emphasis on solutions to urban food insecurity, but urban resolutions cannot be fully extrapolated to rural food systems, where insecurity is characterized by a multifactorial lack …

Climate Change And Coastal Megacities: Adapting Through Mobility, Susan S. Ekoh, Lemir Teron, Idowu Ajibade

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate change poses threats to individuals, communities, and cities globally. Global conversations and scholarly debates have explored ways people adapt to the impacts of climate change including through migration and relocation. This study uses Lagos, Nigeria as a case study to examine the relationship between flooding events, migration intentions as a preferred adaptation, and the destination choices for affected residents. The study draws on a mixed-methods approach which involved a survey of 352 residents and semi-structured interviews with 21 residents. We use a capability approach to analyze mobility decisions following major or repetitive flood events. We found that the majority …

Expanding On The Solutions To Reduce Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Morbidity And Mortality For Extremely Premature Infants—Looking Out The Hospital Window And Into The Neighborhoods, Christina Jäderholm, Lynne C. Messer

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

The study from Sullivan et al1 is a valuable contribution to the literature that aims to improve health equity among very preterm infants (and their families). It is to be lauded for its attention to nonclinical factors such as area-level deprivation and racial disparities. By examining communitylevel factors such as area deprivation, this study engages both the medical and public health communities and places infant outcomes directly within the context of housing policy and lack of neighborhood investment. However, it is important that we articulate the connections between area deprivation and adverse outcomes for very preterm infants to even conceive …

Understanding Romania's Poverty: A Historical Overview Of Economics And Politics And Their Implications On Poverty Today, Benjamin Bucur

Senior Honors Theses

Romania is a country with a high-income economy that is experiencing considerable growth following its economic reforms of earlier decades. With growth, tendencies for an unequal society are prevalent. Therefore, appropriate economic policies that are specifically targeted toward bottlenecks are essential. This thesis seeks to outline the major types of poverty in Romania while also offering actionable entrepreneurial and educational insights that practically combat poverty at its roots.

A Healthier Community For Generations To Come: Creating Resilient And Equitable Development On Lower 9th Ward Corridors, Sarah Bechdel, Dov Block, Bailey Bullock, Ellis Combes, Laura Harris, Samuel Mercier, Maya Struhar

Planning and Urban Studies Reports and Presentations

The Healthier Community for Generations to Come report provides Sankofa Community Development Corporation with programmatic recommendations to assist in the revitalization of the Lower Ninth Ward (LNW). This report draws on extensive research in urban planning best practices to propose strategies that promote economic revitalization, housing sustainability, community health, and environmental resilience. The research was guided by an Urban Land Institute (ULI) Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) which engaged the LNW community to inform recommendations. Sustainability analysis, equity planning, resilience planning, market analysis, and GIS analysis methodologies were employed to create the report. The final report recommendations included a site SWOT, …

Pandemic Review: South Los Angeles, Madeline Carmella Acosta

Whittier Scholars Program

IMPORTANCE The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened the discussion on social inequality and vulnerabilities of the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) community. The understanding is that inequality is a multifaceted issue that stems from the historical mistreatment of BIPOC individuals—their sociodemographic and economic backgrounds are at the most risk in population studies. Many predictors of contracting COVID-19 included employment status (ability to work from home), education level, income (wealth), and housing conditions (environment) (Rozenfeld et al., 2020). Contracting COVID-19 in South Los Angeles was more likely to happen among those from racial and ethnic minorities and those living in …

An Exploration Of Influences On Consumers' Behaviors/Decisions In Relation To Animal Agriculture, Abigail Durheim

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Animal agriculture provides many daily resources for consumers around the globe. While the average American is at least three generations removed from agriculture, they still hold power to influence the industry with the dollar and their vote. The purpose of this study was to identify influences on consumer behaviors/decisions in relation to animal agriculture. Seven hundred four complete and usable responses were collected via a researcher-developed online survey. Using branding concepts as a framework, the first study evaluated how visual stimuli influenced consumers' intention to purchase Nebraska beef products. Researchers found that visual stimuli did influence respondents to choose Nebraska …

War In Iraq, 2003-2011: An Exhibit From The Hagel Archives, Lori Schwartz

Criss Library Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

I’m the Chuck Hagel and Technical Services Archivist at UNO. I manage the Hagel Archives. Hagel was a U.S. senator in 1997-2009 and SecDef in 2013-2015. Lesser known is that he was deputy administrator at the VA in 1981-82.

Topics for which the Hagel Collection has dozens of cubic feet include the War on Terror broadly, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, economic downtown of 2007-2009, and climate change. The abundance of records in these areas is because Hagel was on Foreign Relations, Banking, and Intelligence.

The Discipline Of Information Literacy: Revitalizing The Conversation On Your Campus, Clarence Maybee, Karen Kaufman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This presentation is an overview to viewing information literacy as a discipline. The presentation is comprised of a background of information literacy as a discipline, elements of a discipline, and the disciplinary elements of information literacy. It concludes with a brief overview of teaching IL using the disciplinary lens.

Pandemic Produce: Impacts Of Covid-19 On Florida's Fruit And Vegetable Industries, Christa D. Court, David Outerbridge, Lauri Baker, Laura Birou, Catherine Campbell, Gigi Digiacomo, Sebastian Galindo, John Lai, Alexandre Magnier, Michelle Miller, Gustavo De L.T. Oliveira, Eyrika Orlando, Hikaru Hanawa Peterson, Xiaohui Qiao, Fritz Roka, Andrew Ropicki, Bijeta Bijen Saha, Andrew W. Stevens, Li Zhang

Geography

Florida has one of the most diverse agricultural economies in the United States, producing several dozen types of fruits and vegetables that are consumed within the state, across the country, and around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting policy responses occurred during the peak of spring harvest season for many crops in Florida, abruptly removing market demand from the food service industry and shifting consumer purchasing habits, which enabled insights into several aspects of the fruit and vegetable supply chain. This article examines how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted fruit and vegetable industries in Florida, how these industries responded to …

Effects Of Wildfire Smoke Exposure On Peripheral Body Systems And Implications For Laboratory Animal Research, Adam J. Schuller

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Wildfire smoke (WFS) exposure is becoming a frequent global problem as more intense fire seasons occur each year with warmer and drier climates. Still, little is known about the specific effects elicited when WFS exposure occurs, especially in body systems outside of the lung and heart. Here, I will discuss the classic associations that have been made between WFS exposure and cardiopulmonary health effects before sharing novel work which suggests changes in male reproductive and central nervous systems. Then, I will emphasize the importance of monitoring the air quality within laboratory animal facilities by presenting data characterizing the ability of …

Ars, Virtus, Impetus: Gladiatorial Training And Roman Legionaries, Daniel Porter

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In 105 BCE, the Roman consul Publius Rutilius Rufus employed gladiatorial training for his legionaries. This thesis examines the physiological and psychological consequences of this style of training on the human body in an effort to understand why these particular soldiers were so effective. I used experiential testing alongside primary and secondary source research to examine how this process better prepared Roman troops for engaging in actual combat.

Emancipation: Centering Black Parent Voices In The New Orleans Charter School Experiment, Nicole Moliere

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study explored Louisiana legislative charter school policies and the extent to which those policies empowered Black public-school parents in the New Orleans charter school experiment (NOCSE). Parent empowerment, the sharing of power with parents, has been a missing component both in scholarly literature and in charter school policy and implementation (Ferlazzo, 2011; Hsiao et al., 2018, Murray et al., 2013). Using semi structured interviews, the results of this study yielded three themes related to Black parent empowerment (BPE) and the public-school struggles Black parents face in an all-charter district. Based on the research findings, this study revealed that …

Spac Mergers, Ipos, And The Pslra's Safe Harbor: Unpacking Claims Of Regulatory Arbitrage, Amanda M. Rose

William & Mary Law Review

Communications in connection with an initial public offering (IPO) are excluded from the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA). Unsurprisingly, IPO issuers do not share projections publicly—the liability risk is too great. By contrast, communications in connection with a merger are not excluded from the safe harbor, and special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) routinely share their merger targets’ projections publicly. Does the divergent application of the PSLRA’s safe harbor in traditional IPOs and SPAC mergers create an opportunity for “regulatory arbitrage” and, if so, what should be done about it? …

Gentrification And Crime In The Twin Cities: Insights And Challenges Through A Statistical Lens, Erin G. Franke

Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science Honors Projects

Gentrification is a complex process of urban redevelopment that typically involves an in-migration of educated people to neighborhoods experiencing a period of disinvestment. While gentrification is widely regarded for its potential to displace long-time businesses and residents of the neighborhood, its impact on crime is highly controversial. There is not a consensus on the relationship between gentrification and crime across criminological theory and past statistical studies have also shown contradictory results. Measuring gentrification on the tract level with census data, we seek to understand gentrification’s relationship with violent crime and theft in the Twin Cities. Using a Poisson model with …

Sweet Potato In The Lower Rio Grande Valley: Evaluating Performance Across Several Cultivars, Jon Dale

Theses and Dissertations

In Texas’ subtropical, semiarid Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV), citrus and sugarcane cultures have dominated specialty crop production for more than a half-century. However, the future of these high-dollar crops is becoming uncertain with increases in exotic pathogens, intensifying urbanization and the overarching complexities of both climate change and binational governance of Rio Grande Basin waters. For these reasons, the region’s specialty crop sector needs to be ready for alternatives that could benefit both market outlets and reduced input dependencies. Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), commercially grown in various similar climates worldwide with limited water resources, could be one …

Long-Term Spatial And Temporal Assessment Of Criteria Air Pollutants Concentration Trends In The Lower Rio Grande Valley Region Of Texas, Usa, Md Salahuddin Majumder

Theses and Dissertations

Air pollution is a substantial environmental challenge all over the world. This study investigated the long-term air pollution levels in the Lower Rio Grande Valley region, by utilizing data collected from five continuous ambient monitoring stations in two counties over 23 years, from January 2000 to December 2022, to analyze daily, monthly, and seasonal variations of different pollutants, including ground-level ozone, particulate matter, and carbon monoxide. This study also identified distinct daily and seasonal patterns for O3, PM2.5, PM10, and CO at each monitoring site, influenced by factors such as traffic emissions, temperature, solar radiation, indoor heating, and weather conditions. …

Geospatial Analysis Based On Hurricane Storm Surge Scenarios On Coastal South Texas And North Mexico, Layda Belia Spor Leal

Theses and Dissertations

The coastal area of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas, and Northern Tamaulipas, Mexico, has historically faced a variety of natural disasters involving flooding hazards, such as hurricanes and tropical storms. These scenarios not only represent imminent danger for the population in the area but can lead to long term effects on the infrastructure located in the impact zone. As such, it is imperative to conduct analysis on not only the specific areas that will be affected, but the severity of flooding that can result after a catastrophic event. Modelling work that simulates the storm surge in case of various …