Digital Commons Network^™

A Den Of Thieves? Jesus's Action In The Temple And The Question Of Economic Exploitation, Tyler C. Hallstrom

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Decolonizing Disability In Social Work: A Conversation On Colonialism, Autumn Asher Blackdeer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The present work seeks to prompt a paradigm shift in the conceptualization of disability within social work through three main goals: a) Problematize the dominant disability discourse in social work, b) Illuminate present day manifestations of settler colonialism and their intersection with disability in social work, and c) Introduce decolonization and its compatibility with disability justice to reckon with disability and colonialism in social work. First, the present work will illuminate social work’s dedication to the medical model, evidence-based practice, and hollow notions of empowerment and inclusion. Next, in viewing intersections of ableism with other forms of oppression, this work …

A Professionally Responsible Supreme Court?, Rakesh K. Anand

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ba English, English

Program Revisions/Additions

No abstract provided.

Teaching English As A Second Or Foreign Language, English

Program Revisions/Additions

No abstract provided.

Exploring Nurses' Perspectives Of The Use Of Hospital Interpretation Technologies Versus Other Methods For Communicating With Non-English Language Preference (Nelp) Patients: A Literature Review, Natalie Moreira-Rivera

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Nurses' perspectives on the use of interpretation technologies compared to other methods for communicating with NELP patients when providing treatment in a hospital setting was explored utilizing a literature review. The literature search was conducted using CINHAL, APA PsychInfo, Medline, and Applied Science & Technology Source databases. The search resulted in 84 articles, of which 6 were eligible to be included in the narrative review. Three themes emerged that helped explain nurses’ perspectives: preferred technology, facilitators/benefits, and barriers/concerns. Interpretation technologies were preferred over in-person translators in most cases. Nurses and other healthcare providers perceived technologies as convenient, flexible, versatile, and …

Blackened Faces: Unearthing The Political Shift Behind Illinois' Response To Racialized Labor Violence During The Virden Affair And Coal Wars Of 1898-1899, Jonathan C. Yegge

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis investigates the relationship between politics, law, race, mobility, and violence in 1890s Illinois to highlight the socio-political causes of a temporary pro-labor shift in Republican policy. It centers on Illinois Governor John R. Tanner’s atypical response to racialized labor violence during the Virden Affair and the broader Coal Wars of 1898-1899. This research builds on socio-economic and cultural studies of the labor movement and Black strikebreaking. It introduces state politics and law, two essential lenses of analysis which the historiography has largely neglected in favor of economics and bottom-up history. In lieu of the typical pro-labor accounts of …

Variables Impacting First Time Pass Rates Of Msot Students, Amy L. Brzuz, Julia M. Hawkins-Pokabla, David Prier

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

To enter practice as an occupational therapist, one must complete an occupational therapy program at an accredited institution and then pass a national certification exam. This exam is called the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) Exam. Individuals can take the exam more than once to achieve a passing score but must pay a fee each time. Not passing the first time can lead to stress, increased costs, and delayed entrance into the profession. Thus, being a first-time passer is ideal. The purpose of this retrospective quantitative study was to identify variables impacting first time pass rates of …

The Effects Of Melatonin And Calcitriol On Endometrial Cells In Culture, Holland Larsen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Endometriosis is an inflammatory metastatic disease that affects the endometrium of one in ten women. Endometrial tissue grows outside the uterus causing severe discomfort and pain. This disease is estrogen dependent, driving the invasion and migration of endometrial lesions to form the ectopic uterus. Due to the hormonal imbalance of increased estrogen, there is progesterone resistance leading to a decrease in progesterone receptors. This study determined if the combination of Melatonin, a naturally occurring hormone, and Calcitriol, the active form of vitamin D, had a synergistic or additive effect on the growth and migration of endometrial cells. The experiments utilized …

Cultural Integration Through Design Expression: Exploring The Intersection Of Languages In Design And Cultural Exchanges, Hamed Tabrizi Edalati

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

This thesis, drawn from my experience as a visual designer who recently moved to the United States, focuses on design expression as a means to bridge cultures. My aim is to clarify the complex connection between design expression and cultural integration, emphasizing the essential part that design plays in promoting significant cross-cultural interactions. To reveal the complex relationships that exist in design and cultural identity, I go beyond aesthetics and investigate how design may be used to comprehend and communicate cultural identity. Language serves as a means of expressing cultural identity, values, and traditions. Using poetry, quotes, and idioms in …

The Use Of Virtual Reality For Student Training On Bias And Microaggressions, Razan Hamed, Elizabeth Gdanski, Jooeun Kim, Julianne Le, Amy Lopez, Azmina Panjwani, Allyson Tong, Gloriana Wilson

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

Virtual reality (VR) is an immersive innovative technology that can be used with occupational therapy students for bias training in preparation for fieldwork and clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to explore the use of VR as a complementary educational tool in bias and microaggressions (MA) training for entry-level occupational therapy students. We conducted a secondary analysis of data collected in an 8-week course on diversity, equity, inclusion, and professional skills with a total of 48 first-year entry-level occupational therapy students. We used eight simulated VR cases for all students. Data was collected using a mixed-method survey to …

Assessing The Impact Of Olive Oil And Flaxseed Oil Supplementation On Hypertension And Inflammation In Healthy And At-Risk Adults, Tara Bess Mcnabb

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Background: Supplementation of olive oil and flaxseed oil and their impacts on hypertension and inflammation have been reported for healthy and hypertensive adults. However, a comprehensive systematic literature review and meta-analysis on the preventive benefit of plant oil supplementation in healthy adults and adults at risk of inflammation inducing hypertension is lacking.

Objective: to evaluate human clinical trials assessing the impact of olive oil and flaxseed oil capsules on systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and select inflammatory markers in non-hypertensive and at-risk adults of hypertension.

Data sources: Four databases were searched in October 2023 …

Grid Culture, Eliot Bates, Arseni Troitski

Publications and Research

In this essay, we provide our initial ethnographic research about lines, which at a superficial level can be considered a platform, but which is also synonymous with a community of 8800 users, and with 606k unique posts authored by these users that in aggregate constitute a discourse network (Aufschreibesysteme, see Kittler 1990). lines—as platform, community, and discourse network—is primarily designed to support the development, documentation and user-generated code efforts specific to a set of hardware synthesis-related objects (the two we will focus on are called Norns and Grid; we’ll discuss what they are and what they do through the subsequent …

59th International Congress On Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

International Congress on Medieval Studies Archive

The printed program of the 59th International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 9–11, 2024), together with the Corrigenda.

Inclusive Publishing Strategies For Journal Staff And Prospective Authors In The Digital Humanities, Rachel Schrauben Yeates

Master's Projects

In this project, I will share the inclusive strategies and solutions to common pitfalls I observed in my exploratory review of a selection of DH online journals and share Inclusivity Guides tailored to journal staff and prospective authors to perform a quick audit of journal site design and content. I paid special attention to the information available to researchers considering submitting their work for publication. Which journals leave a good impression and provide potential authors with enough information to confidently submit their work? How can prospective authors assess a journal’s commitment to furthering and practicing inclusivity in their field, and …

Anticipating The Fall Line: A Plan For Equitable Trail-Oriented Development On Commerce Road, Eric King

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Once completed, the Fall Line trail will provide a 43-mile active transportation route through Central Virginia from Ashland to Petersburg. Three miles of the trail’s alignment follow Commerce Road in Richmond’s Southside. As Manchester continues to undergo rapid change, trail-oriented development (TrOD) offers an opportunity to accommodate growth and transform the industrial corridor into a mixed-use destination as envisioned by the city’s master plan. While TrOD within the study area represents both economic and community development, relatively low residential property values and median incomes within surrounding neighborhoods warrant proactive measures to mitigate potential displacement pressures. Drawing from precedents set by …

Examining Systemic And Dispositional Factors Impacting Historically Disenfranchised Schools Across North Carolina, Raketa Ouedraogo-Thomas

Dissertations

This mixed method sequential explanatory study provided analysis of North Carolina (NC) school leaders’ dispositions in eliminating opportunity gaps, outlined in NC’s strategic plan. The study’s quantitative phase used descriptive and correlation analysis of eight Likert subscales around four tenets of transformative leadership (Shields, 2011) and aspects of critical race theory (Bell, 1992; Ladson-Billings, 1998; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 2006) to understand systemic inequities and leadership attitudes.

The qualitative phase comprised three analyses of education leadership dispositions and systemic factors in NC schools. The first analysis of State Board of Education meeting minutes from 2018–2023 quantified and analyzed utterances of racism …

Barriers And Bridges To Well-Being For Latinx Immigrant Youth In A New Latinx Destination: A Digital Narrative Inquiry, Jenn M. Lilly

Social Service Faculty Publications

An increasing number of Latinx young people in the United States are facing unique challenges to attaining and maintaining well-being as residents of new Latinx destinations. This study analyzes the testimonios of 12 Latinx immigrant youth (aged 18–21) who participated in a digital narrative research project in New Orleans – a new Latinx destination in the US South. Findings are interpreted and discussed through the lens of the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST), revealing Latinx young people’s perspectives on the barriers to experiencing well-being, the “bridges” that helped them to experience well-being despite those barriers, and the ways …

A (Review) Bomb Representation Of A Post-Apocalyptic Queer Romance, Lydia Pita

Dean James E. McLeod Freshman Writing Prize

The zombie apocalypse genre has historically reinforced white, hypermasculine survivalist narratives, often marginalizing or erasing queer identities. However, HBO’s The Last of Us (2023) disrupts these conventions through its critically acclaimed third episode, Long, Long Time. This paper examines how the episode subverts traditional apocalyptic tropes by portraying a queer romance that challenges stereotypical masculinity. Through Bill’s transformation from a self-sufficient survivalist to an emotionally vulnerable partner, the narrative deconstructs the “transcendent white hypermasculine body” trope and offers a narrative in which queer love thrives despite the dystopian setting. This analysis explores the episode’s unique casting choices, portrayal of queer …

Ethics In Literature: A Case Study Of Hades And Persephone, Mckenzie A. Howard

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The increased ethical scrutiny on art in the modern era places an emphasis on how those art forms are being taught in the classroom. This thesis seeks to answer the question: how do we teach ethics, if we should at all, when we teach literature to a modern audience? This thesis explores this question by looking at how modern adaptations of an ancient text, the “Hymn to Demeter,” change the ethical issues in the original text, to show the relevance of these issues in the source text and the modern adaptations. Through an argument that the ethical concerns are often …

"Shut Down And Closed Off": A Routine Activity Approach To Investigating The Relationship Between Covid-19 School Closures And Child Sexual Abuse Report Characteristics In Georgia, Spencer E. Riner

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 created a public health crisis that led to an unprecedented number of school closures. A major concern raised by child advocates, law enforcement, and social service providers was the possible increase in undetected child abuse and maltreatment. Undergirding this concern was the belief that this mitigation effort might place child abuse victims and offenders within proximity for extended periods of time. While this was a significant concern, it has rarely been analyzed empirically. To address this gap in the literature, this thesis investigates how school closures impacted the characteristics of child sexual abuse (CSA) reports …

Religious Iconography, Expressionist Lighting, And The Antihero's Spiritual Journey In Marvel's Daredevil, Savannah L. Pruett

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In Marvel’s Daredevil (2015), Matthew Murdock undergoes different phases of an antiheroic spiritual journey as his faith in the judicial system and his Maker is tested by evil in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City. This thesis will dig deeper to reveal how the Daredevil series uses purposefully designed religious iconography and expressionist lighting to tell the story of Matthew Murdock’s antiheroic spiritual journey across three seasons. This thesis aims to prove that Daredevil is a complex and thought-provoking franchise that analyzes what it means to be an antihero, including the moral and ethical lines one is willing to cross to …

Letters To Myself ~ Reflections Of A New Teacher ~ A Curriculum Of Self, Sarah Brittany S. Greneker

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This is a nontraditional, very creative approach to dissertation writing. Using reflective poetic inquiry, I reflect on my experiences transitioning from pre-service to in-service teacher in the early childhood classroom. I taught for 7 years and encountered many situations that would have been beneficial to know prior to becoming a certified teacher. I explore overarching themes of coworker relationships, undergraduate program preparation, the various responsibilities, classroom environment, teacher evaluation, teacher perspective, and teacher mental health and well-being and how they each impact a teacher’s experience in the classroom. This is accomplished through the epistolary genre and letters to myself as …

Observed Parent And Child Differences In Black Mothers Of Children With And Without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Sydney E. Padgett

Theses and Dissertations

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is childhood's most common neuro- developmental disorder, mainly distinguished by a pattern of inattention, hyperactivity and/or impulsivity. Compared to the plethora of research on White children with ADHD, the research on Black children with ADHD is limited. Looking more closely at the functions related to parenting children with ADHD, there is even less information known on the interactions between Black children and their parents compared to White children and their parents. The primary aim of the thesis study was to compare observed parenting and child behaviors between Black mother/child dyads of children with and without ADHD. This …

Do We Have Agency? Early Childhood Educators' Experience Of Pedagogical Agency In Providing Child Agency, Clare Maree Omodei

Theses

The National Quality Standards (NQS) are the key means of assessing quality in early childhood education in Australia. In Western Australia, teachers in schools are expected to implement a modified NQS from kindergarten to Year 2 (K–2) that has been specifically developed for school settings, hereafter referred to as NQSWA. Like other early years educators, K–2 teachers in Western Australia are required to demonstrate adherence to approved learning frameworks and to value young children’s ideas, interests and opinions. These educators need to demonstrate that each child is afforded agency and that they are given the opportunity to make choices and …

Impossibility Of Artificial Inventors, Mateusz Blaszczyk

Scholarly Works

Recently, the United Kingdom Supreme Court decided that only natural persons can be considered inventors. A year before, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a similar decision. In fact, so have many of the courts all over the world. This Article analyzes these decisions, argues that the courts got it right, and finds that artificial inventorship is at odds with patent law doctrine, theory, and philosophy. This Article challenges the intellectual property (IP) post-humanists, exposing the analytical and normative perils of their argumentation, and recommends against getting rid of the nominally central place of humans …

Travel Literature. Mircea Eliade’S Occidental View In The Himalayan Journal And The Portugal Journal, Irina Armianu

Literatures and Cultural Studies Faculty Publications

This article retraces Mircea Eliade’s mystical travel through the Himalayas as shown in his Himalayan Journal and his struggle to survive as a writer under the weight of brutal historical events in his Portugal Journal. The two travel journals reveal the influence of geographical and historical elements on Eliade's mystical writing. A deeper analysis of these journals is necessary to link travel genre to mystical thought. The next pages will show (1) how these journals fit into the category of existential travel, as theorized by Erik Cohen in "The Phenomenology of Tourist Experiences" (179-201), (2) Eliade’s own transcendence of his …

The Shadow Of Grief: Understanding Grief Among Ethnoracially Diverse Young Adults, Rona R. Tarazi

Dissertations and Theses

Background: Complicated grief, characterized by prolonged and intense mourning, presents unique challenges for individuals grappling with loss, as it is shaped by a multitude of factors influencing the grieving and mourning processes. While the literature has identified several factors that significantly impact complicated grief, such as post-loss symptom severity, stigmatization, the quality of the relationship to the deceased, and grief-related avoidance, this two-part study aimed to expand on existing findings by shedding light on the landscape of grief among a sample of ethnoracially diverse young adults. Part 1 of the study examined whether previously identified factors remain significant in this …

Isolation, Identification And Characterization Of Phyllosticta Citricarpa Causing Citrus Black Spot Disease In Benin., Goudjo Habib Toessi, Rachidatou Sikirou, Elisée Georges Dadé Ler-N’Ogn Amari, Oumarou Zoéyandé Dianda, Issa Wonni, Mustapha El Bouhssini

All Rsif Scholars' Publications

Citrus black spot is a major constraint to citrus production in Benin. Identification of the pathogen causing citrus black spot disease was carried out in the laboratory on symptomatic fruits. Fruit samples were collected from orchards in 4 citrus-growing agro-ecological zones. A total of 66 representative isolates of Phyllosticta sp. were obtained from isolation. Molecular analysis using PCR of the nucleotide sequences of the ITS regions with universal primers ITS1/ITS4 and specific primers GcF1/GcR and the phylogenetic tree showed that the sequences of all isolates obtained in the different agroecological zones were identical to those of Phyllosticta citricarpa. The …

Trying To Be Funny: A Conversation Analysis Of Humor In Efl University Students’ Role-Plays, Siriprapa Srithep, Patharaorn Patharakorn

PASAA

Through the lens of conversational analysis (CA), humor or funniness is not an inherent property of a message, nor an internal state of any social action, but as something interactionally achieved (Glenn, 2003). Teachers are often encouraged to utilize humor to reduce anxiety, lower affective filters, and make language more “memorable” (Bell, 2005; Tarone, 2000; Ziyaeemehr et al., 2011). In the current research endeavor, we focused on an activity called “Drama and Creativity,” an extracurricular activity which is offered to firstyear undergraduate students at a public university in Thailand. During the activity, students worked in groups of three to four …