Digital Commons Network^™

Whaling Logbooks: Colonial Knowledge Acquisition In The Pacific World, Aj Laird

Kaplan Senior Essay Prize for Use of Library Special Collections

Sometime in 1846, the cooper onboard the whaling bark Acushnet used the final pages of his sea journal to write up a list of the workers onboard the ship. The cooper, who was called Resolvid W. Bowles, appears ninth on his list, which he titled “Crew and Officers on Board Ship Acushnet Sailing from N.B. July 17th, 1845 - for the Pacific Ocean.” Bowles appears to have modeled this crew list off the official crew lists that were signed at the start of whaling voyages – a contract that both ensured the crew members’ share in profits from the whale …

2023 U.S. Globe Partner Yearbook, Globe U.S. Coordination Office

Partner Yearbooks

No abstract provided.

Undergraduate Catalogue 2024-2025, Seton Hall University

Undergraduate Catalogues

No abstract provided.

Wmu Board Of Trustees Formal Session January 25, 2024, Wmu Board Of Trustees

WMU Board of Trustees Meetings

• Acceptance of the Agenda
• Approval of the Minutes
  • November 30, 2023 – BOT Meeting
  • December 14, 2024 – BOT Special Meeting
• Remarks by the Chair
• Remarks by the President
• Updates by the Faculty Senate President
• Updates by the Western Student Association President
• Western Michigan University Employee Graduates
• Haenicke Institute for Global Education Presentation: Journey from Graduate Student to Assistant Professor
• Public Comments Regarding Action Items

Action Items

2024 Western Michigan University Board of Trustee Officer Election

Delegated Authority to Confer Degrees

Consent Items

Curriculum Proposals

Personnel Report

• General Public Comments

Supplemental

Building Resilience, Navigating Crises Since 2019: A Phenomenological Study Of Leadership Factors Influencing Retail Business Owners In Lebanon, Mira Fadel

Theses and Dissertations

The Lebanese population and culture are recognized for their resilience when facing adversity withstanding events such as the Lebanese Civil War, and multiple country invasions. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of retail business owners from different geographical regions and retail types in Lebanon and to identify the leadership factors that kept them resilient while navigating the compounding crises since 2019. The leadership factors included leadership styles, strategies, and agility. The conceptual framework encompassed all leadership factors, the retail industry, cultural context, and resilience. Data for this hermeneutic phenomenology was collected through semi-structured interviews followed …

The Benefits Of Voluntary Disorienting Dilemmas For A Transformational Life: A Grounded Theory Study In Transformational Learning, Rebecca Bamberger

Theses and Dissertations

Being uncomfortable by choice as a means of personal growth has been touted for hundreds of years among scholars, philosophers, religious leaders, modern pop culture icons, and more. Yet, research pertaining to the benefits of being uncomfortable by choice is sparse. This qualitative, grounded theory study addressed the first step of transformational learning: the disorienting dilemma. Seventy participants located in America participated in extensive interviews to answer this study’s research question, “what if any, are the benefits of voluntary disorienting dilemmas?” Additional research questions, “what is the meaning(s) of voluntary disorienting dilemmas?” and “would subjects repeat their voluntary disorienting dilemmas …

A Systematic Review Of The Benefits Of Integrating Therapeutic Animals Into Trauma-Focused Treatments For Child And Adolescent Survivors Of Sexual Abuse, Zoe Thorne

Theses and Dissertations

An integrative systematic review with a narrative synthesis was conducted to explore and identify the benefits of integrating a therapy animal into trauma-informed treatment for children and adolescent survivors of sexual abuse. This review detailed various ways therapy animals were incorporated into treatment and when the integration of therapy animals is most and least beneficial. Methods. Eight electronic databases were searched for relevant articles. The search was limited to peer-reviewed articles published in the English-language. Articles published in and out of the United States were included, without a limit on date published, in order to capture any cultural differences and …

Immigrant Mothers: A Testimonio, Brenda Garcia Castro

Theses and Dissertations

International immigration creates economic, demographic, and cultural shifts worldwide. The process of migration entails steps beginning from the decision to migrate, the migration journey and experiences upon arrival to the host country. Factors such as age at time of migration, traditions, and beliefs of those who migrate inform various aspects of their lives, such as parenting practices. Once in the new country, immigrants face various challenges and stressors such as discrimination, acculturation, language barriers and lack of opportunities due to legal status. These stressors are often compounded with existing pre-migration trauma that result in higher risk of mental health concerns …

Using Geographic Information Systems To Examine Unmet Healthcare Needs Among Transgender And Non-Binary Young Adults In Florida, Nino Franklin

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This study explored healthcare utilization among the Transgender and Gender Non-Binary (TGNB) population of Florida using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to visualize and analyze the spatial distribution of unmet healthcare needs. The aim was to provide a clear comparison of unmet healthcare needs across various regions, highlight areas with the highest and lowest levels of unmet needs, and understand the demographic factors influencing these disparities. Utilizing survey data from the NIH-funded U=CARE study, which involved TGNB participants aged 18-26 from diverse racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, the data were cleaned, geocoded, and analyzed within ArcGIS. Geocoded survey responses were linked to …

A Narrative Discourse On Large Global Corporations And Modern Slavery In Complex Supply Chains, Bonnie Nixon

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation asks to what extent, if at all, large global corporations are addressing modern slavery in their complex supply chains. Many companies publicly report that they are addressing human rights topics such as modern slavery in their complex supply chains using traceability, transparency and accountability frameworks and tools, public communications, stakeholder dialogue, auditing, etc. The researcher explored narratives in academic, governmental, corporate, and non-governmental organization reports, media publications, websites, and videos to determine whether the corporations are addressing modern slavery in complex supply chains. Using systematic review methods and tools, the researcher also analyzed medical and engineering profession ethical …

Carbon Capture Device For Reducing Tailpipe Emissions, Elizabeth Dentzer , '24

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

This project explores the design and development of a small-scale CO₂ capture device, aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions from vehicle exhaust. The project harnesses a chemical reaction between calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH) ₂) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) to form solid calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), a process known to naturally capture CO₂. The efficiency of this reaction is enhanced by maintaining high humidity within the system from the exhaust gas, which accelerates carbonation and the formation of larger, more crystalline calcium carbonate particles. The design of the CO₂ capture device revolves around a …

The Right To A Healthy Environment: Underlying Policy Formation Challenges In The United States During The Trump Era, Michael J. Kelly

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The right to live in a healthy environment is the right to live in an environment where Donald Trump is not president. As this Article demonstrates, Trump’s negative impact across a wide spectrum of policy areas implicated by the right’s goal of creating and maintaining a healthy environment in the United States ran directly opposite to achieving that goal. (Abstract excerpted from article's introduction.)

Banning Plastic, Rachael E. Salcido

Utah Law Review

The disgusting nature of plastic pollution has finally captured the attention of policymakers and driven legal change. Local, state, and national bans on various plastic consumer items coupled with voluntary industry switching creates momentum toward a full-scale end to unnecessary plastic products. Bans have the capacity to create an important tipping point. This Article extolls the effectiveness of consumer bans and explores the challenges to achieving this highest level of environmental control. Plastic is essentially pure petroleum.1 Its persistence and destructiveness in the environment presents unique reasons to eliminate its use altogether. Plastics should only be used for essential products …

Integrating Arcgis And Redux Using Middleware, Vishnu Vardhan Reddy Rapuru

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The integration of ArcGIS with Redux through middleware presents a novel approach to managing state in geospatial applications. This report outlines the process and benefits of combining ArcGIS’s robust mapping and analytics capabilities with Redux’s predictable state container for JavaScript apps. It begins with an introduction to both technologies, followed by a detailed discussion on the architecture design, focusing on the role of middleware as the linchpin in this integration[1]. The paper highlights the benefits, such as improved state management and application performance, and addresses the challenges encountered during the integration process. Implementation details are provided, including the setup of …

Epi- And Genomic Assessments Of Stamp Sand Toxicity And Population Structure Of Lake Superior Lake Trout (Salvelinus Namaycush) And Whitefish (Coregonus Clupeaformis), John C. Mccall

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Native Lake Superior salmonid conservation is a notable success, as the only Great Lake with stable lake trout (LT) and whitefish fisheries (LWF). To quantify toxicity to LT and LWF from legacy pollution by mine tailings at Buffalo Reef in the Keweenaw Peninsula and assess their genetic structure across U.S. waters, I used reduced representation bisulfite sequencing and genotyped ~750 fishes from Buffalo Reef and Lake Superior. ~200-300 epigenetic marks in Buffalo Reef LT and LWF indicated dysregulation of pathways related to DNA damage, immune response, stress, and metabolism, relative to Lake Huron and Michigan outgroups. Population genomic analyses showed …

Stories, People, And Industrial Heritage Landscapes: Integrating Spatial Narratives And Deep Mapping For Use In Public Heritage, James A. Juip

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Understanding the complexity of the industrial heritage landscape and working towards its holistic representation are long standing challenges for heritage practitioners and scholars alike. This dissertation focuses on addressing a gap in industrial heritage scholarship by addressing the question; can the integration of spatial narratives and deep mapping theory and practice improve upon the practice of public discourse in industrial heritage? Community heritage narratives are an important intangible aspect of the industrial heritage landscape that forms a discursive relationship with authorized heritage sources. Influencing this discourse can alter contemporary power relations that intertwine modern issues with perceptions of the past. …

Analytical And Machine Learning Modeling Of Direct Carbonation Of Natural Silicate Minerals, William Hanson

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The climate-altering effects of atmospheric CO₂ make it necessary to develop innovative technologies that can remove it from the atmosphere. Mineral carbonation is a scalable technology to sequestrate and store CO2 in a stable carbonate mineral form. The efficiency of the mineral carbonation process depends on both feed mineralogy and process parameters. Comprehensive modeling and prediction of mineral carbonation efficiency for different CO₂ – reactive rocks has not been achieved in the past. In this thesis work, analytical and machine learning models are developed to predict the carbonation efficiency of dunite reactions. It is found that random forest …

Governing Dynamic Watersheds Under Static Institutions – Examining How Local Governments Respond To Floods And Droughts In The United States, Jonathon R. Loos

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

The U.S. has seen a shift towards decentralized watershed governance in recent decades that has increased the delegation of management responsibilities to local governments and community organizations. This shift has precipitated the emergence of multilevel watershed governance systems (e.g. national, state, regional, local management levels) that are hypothesized to be more adaptive and responsive to local needs. However, multilevel governance systems risk complicating and overburdening the role of local governments within watershed management, and little is known about how local governments address socio-ecological change within multilevel institutions. Working within several U.S. watershed geographies, this dissertation seeks to interrogate theories of …

A City Of Global Ambition: Duke Cosimo I De’ Medici’S Florence And The Americas, Jillian Hauer

Capstone Showcase

The Age of Conquest marked a turning point in global history, facilitating cross-cultural exchanges between the Eastern and Western hemispheres and paving the way for colonial expansion. Despite Italy's lack of direct involvement in the exploration of the Americas, various city-states eagerly sought to acquire objects and knowledge from the recently exploited lands. This essay focuses on Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici and his efforts to portray Florence as a global center through the collecting, commissioning, and cultivating of objects from and related to the Americas. I investigate mirabilia (objects that evoked wonder or astonishment) associated with the Medici collection, …

Reaching Past Rucho: A Constitutional Tort For Money Damages Against Individuals Who Draw Gerrymandered Districts, Turner, Sam

Santa Clara Law Review

The Supreme Court in Rucho v. Common Cause held that the issue of partisan gerrymandering—that is, the drawing of political districts in a way that favors the party in power— presented a political question that was outside the competency of the courts to solve, at least through constitutional law. This article argues that Rucho does not close the door to judicial action in the face of partisan gerrymandering but instead closes the door only to the remedy proposed in the case. As with practically all major constitutional cases in recent memory, the Rucho plaintiffs were seeking relief that was equitable …

Costuming The Californian Apocalypse: Sartorial Speculations Of Los Angeles's Future, Isabel Kramer

Scripps Senior Theses

With this project, I use fashion design as a medium to visually speculate a range of futures that exist in relation to different temporal apocalypses and dystopian world endings under the current capitalist structure. Three questions guided my thinking and creation of this project: What will people be wearing in 100 years in Los Angeles if we continue down our current path of late capitalism-induced climate change? How will this look differently for people who exist alongside different axes of oppression and who are affected by environmental racisms that manifest in the built environment of Los Angeles? How do dystopian …

Redefined Influence: An Exploration Of Social Media And User Agency, Sydney Ghobadian

Scripps Senior Theses

In recent decades we have seen the expansion of media to realms unimagined- where human interaction comes with the touch of your finger. With this accessibility comes uncharted territory and persisting questions: How do we engage with the media? How does it dictate our actions? What is true and who do I trust? In this exploration, I weave the relationship between social media and emotions with the long-standing marriage between media and capitalist agenda to understand the power of media and how we as a society can use it to evoke change and reclaim control over our actions.

A Growing Dome In The Clouds Of Everest: An Applied Anthropology Project In The High Himalaya, Gary Mark Lesley

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Presented is a novel approach to addressing food insecurity within a remote indigenous community situated in the high Himalaya of Nepal. The village faces challenges in accessing fresh, affordable produce, particularly during harsh winter seasons. This threatens the community's food sovereignty and adversely affects the stability of the Sir Edmund Hillary School, a site of historical and cultural importance. Through the integration of indigenous knowledge and technological advancements, this APP details a strategy to augment local agriculture, drawing on applied anthropological methodologies. The genesis of this project stems from the creative leadership of the school principal and his vision for …

Dance As A Collective Action: Creating Relationships, Communities, And Change, Parisha Rajbhandari

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Dance is a place of belonging—to ourselves, to our homes, lands, peoples, cultures, music and so much more. Dance is in relation—embodying stories of communities and dreaming of shared future. Dance is an action—having the ability to enact change. In this thesis paper, I explore how our dancing bodies can create unique relationalities to each other and build sites of transformation. To situate dance as rooted in community, I propose four sites: the personal body, dance learning space, dance-making, and performance. Through these sites, I examine how dance creates belonging in our personal bodies, it adapts and shifts in response, …

Somethings Old, Somethings New And A Lot That’S Blue: Political Economic Reflections On Worker Subordination And The Law In Contemporary Capitalism, Eric Tucker

All Papers

Debates over worker subordination are central to discussions of the efficacy of protective labour and employment law whose central mission in a capitalist political economy, after all, is to reduce but not eliminate subordination. When protective labour and employment law seems to be fulfilling its mission discussions of worker subordination seem to ebb, but the topic becomes more urgent as the efficacy of the law declines. Not surprisingly, as labour law’s efficacy has been declining over the past several decades, we are in the midst of a revival of debates over worker subordination, the premise of this special issue. While …

Bibliography, Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Bibliography of publications by Charles H. Smith.

In-House Counsel(Or): The Case For Providing Integrated Mental Health Support Services To Law Students, Eric W. Shannon

Faculty Publications

While some American law schools currently provide onsite mental health support services to their student populations, many still do not. This essay is the first to argue that all law schools should provide onsite mental health support services to their students—ideally, by way of a mental health professional integrated within the law school’s staff (an “integrated mental health professional,” or “IMHP”) who is familiar not only with the unique pressures of law school generally, but also with the school-specific environment. It explores current data on law student well-being as well as external considerations including ABA recommendations and standards for law …

Enhancing Inclusive Entrepreneurial Activity Through Community Engagement Led By Higher Education Institutions, Emma O'Brien, Thomas M. Cooney

Articles

While supporting entrepreneurship through government intervention has become a global phenomenon, the OECD (2021) has identified that several communities (including women, youth, seniors, unemployed and immigrants) remain under-represented in terms of entrepreneurial activity. Inclusive entrepreneurship policies seek to enhance economic and social inclusion and emphasise the significant contribution that people from within these communities could make to local and regional development if appropriate support was offered. The purpose of this study is to examine how higher education institutions (HEIs) can co-create inclusive entrepreneurial training initiatives with local communities that support economic and social inclusion.

Mediating Authenticity: An Ethnographic Portrait Of Experience At U.S. Popular Music Festivals, Elizabeth Navarra Varnado

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This ethnographic study of U.S. popular music festivals subverts the impression of festivals as strictly ‘presentational’ live music events by utilizing a nuanced approach that is grounded in ethnographic fieldwork, historical analysis, and participant interviews.

Interlocutors, drawn from the author’s personal network of festival attendees, musicians, and promoters, reflect on “particularly positive festival moments,” the social and emotional benefits of festivals, and the corporeality of festival aesthetics. Discourse and published media play a vital role in festival participants’ perception of the festival field and their place within it; therefore, this study draws inspiration from the tripartite focus of iconic festival …

Greenwood Library Report 2022-2024, Greenwood Library

Library Annual Reports and Strategic Plans

No abstract provided.