Digital Commons Network^™

Binary Gendered Language: A Qualitative Study Of Psu Students, Dakota Abercrombie

University Honors Theses

This study explores experiences of gendered language in use in academia among two marginalized groups: women and those identifying beyond the gender binary. Guided by the theory of linguistic relativity this study attempts to understand specific ways in which gendered language, including generic language may show up and contrasted within these groups. While this data is not generalizable, the findings indicate that both women and nonbinary students experience binary pronoun use in written formats such as syllabi. However, nonbinary students describe more negative feelings associated with this experience. We also noted participants' gender identities intersecting with other identities, leading to …

Thinking Blue / Writing Red: Marxism And The (Post)Human, Stephen C. Tumino

Publications and Research

Thinking Blue/Writing Red interrogates contemporary culture across a range of texts, from the pandemic (‘Covid’ and ‘Trump Speak’) to high theory (Melville's narratives) and popular culture (Beyoncé's ‘Formation’ and Super Bowl performance, Twin Peaks , metamodern ‘cli-fi’ films). Inspired by Derrida’s idea of the secret, Tumino examines the significance of social movements (Black Lives Matter, Occupy, alter-globalization) and naïve art (Darger, Ryden) to argue that these texts speak of the secrets that capitalism cannot speak. Contending that the cultural surfaces narrate only the ‘nonsecret,’ that to see the social logic of the culture one must dig into what Bruno Latour …

Case Study On Sasha Skochilenko: Anti-War Russian Political Prisoner, Sofia Semenova

GHEA21 Open Educational Resources

Sasha Skochilenko was incarcerated in a Russian prison for more than two years for the act of placing anti-war leaflets, disguised as price tags, on goods in a grocery store in St. Petersburg, Russia. This case study, prepared by Sofia Semenova, documents the harsh conditions of Skochilenko’s imprisonment and its effects on her physical and mental health. It also examines the questionable evidence and processes used to prosecute her case, arguing that during Skochilenko’s trial, the principles of adversarial process and equality between the prosecution and the defense were constantly violated.

Identifying And Mitigating The Challenges Of Relocating Facilities From America To Southeast Asia Region Through The Case Study Of Transferring Nail Polish Factories From Mexico To Vietnam, Thanh Dinh

Harrisburg University Dissertations and Theses

Market globalization and increased competitiveness in the manufacturing region have prompted several enterprises to contemplate shifting their operations. The decision to relocate manufacturing infrastructures to countries in the Southeast Asia regions has been a recent trend to capitalize on lower labor costs, favorable tax incentives, and cheaper material. To reflect this global trend, the paper will centralize around one detail case of relocating nail polish manufacturing from Mexico to Vietnam, considering multiple aspects such as pricing efficiency, market access, and strategic positioning. This study aims to analyze the complex web of factors that influence the kind of selection and to …

Sifter: Star Identification From Transformer-Encoded Representations, Edward Zhang

Small Satellite Conference

We present SIFTER: Star Identification From Transformer-Encoded Representations, a novel neural network-based star identification algorithm for small satellites, trained on an original dataset of synthetic star scenes. SIFTER uses an encoder neural network model to construct sophisticated representations of star patterns by relating centroids of a given star scene. By avoiding the use of manual feature extraction and pattern construction algorithms, SIFTER is more robust to image noise and environmental disturbances than previously proposed classical and neural network-based algorithms. SIFTER generalizes well on real images taken from satellites and observatories, maintaining availability above 97% and error rate below 2% in …

Peace And Justice Themes As Presented Within Select Works Of Children’S Literature, Jessica Marker

Capstone Collection

Children’s literature serves as a powerful tool for imparting moral lessons, generating dialog, and fostering critical consciousness. Given its role in promoting social values, this research study investigates how of peace and justice themes are reflected in the narrative elements and symbolic representations of the American Library Association's (ALA) Notable Children's Books for younger readers for the years 1994, 2009, and 2024. Rooted in constructivist theory, this study draws from critical theories, critical pedagogy, and peacebuilding theory, exploring how these themes and concepts are woven into children's literature. Through a comprehensive content analysis of 46 texts, this study finds a …

False Start On Nil: Public And Private Law Should Treat College Athletes Like Any Other Student, Jodi Balsam

Texas A&M Law Review

For most of its regulatory existence, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) has preached the importance of integrating intercollegiate athletics into the campus culture and educational mission, insisting that athletes be an integral part of the student body. A core element of this creed was the amateurism principle—college athletes must not be paid or professionalized. To preserve and enforce the amateurism principle, the NCAA and its divisions promulgated a vast and complex regulatory scheme that paradoxically resulted in segregating, rather than integrating, athletes into campus life. While nonathlete students enjoy increasing autonomy to pursue expressive and economic activity, athletes are …

Perspectives And Experiences Of Emergent Bilingual Parents Concerning Their Engagement With Their Child's Teachers And School, Jordan Foss Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

Emergent bilinguals (EBs) represent the fastest-growing population in U.S. public schools (Tarasawa & Waggoner, 2015). Many EB parents face linguistic or cultural barriers when engaging with teachers and are often excluded from their children's classrooms because of their English learner status. This qualitative study analyzes EB or English learner parents' perspectives of their child's teachers and school. Critical Sociocultural Theory (C-SCT) was used to view EB parent engagement practices (Moje & Lewis, 2007). The research processes were based on Creswell and Creswell's (2018) methodology using a focus group and interview design to understand these participants' educational interactions. Data was collected …

Survey Of Parental Perspectives In Dialogic Book Reading Practices In Parents Of Preschool-Aged Children, Hind Otba Taiseer Alsboul

Theses and Dissertations

This study focused on how early literacy practices at home affect children's language development by looking at the reading habits and dialogic book reading practices of parents with preschool-aged children. Parents were asked to consider and report on their literacy practices at home. They were asked to focus on their current reading habits with their children and how they observed their children paying attention during book-sharing sessions. This study was a part of a bigger project that developed and carried out dialogic reading workshops for parents. Preschool connections and friends spread a survey with parent-report questions in order to collect …

Chinese Mandarin-Speaking Teachers' Voices In Chinese Dual Language Immersion Programs Responding To American Classroom Management Relationship Issues, Wu-Ting Chen

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines Chinese Mandarin-speaking teachers' voices concerning classroom management (CM) in Chinese Dual-Language Immersion (DLI) classrooms in Utah, United States. Most Chinese-Mandarin-speaking teachers in Chinese DLI programs do not have a lot of experience in understanding American Western culture-style CM and therefore encounter new challenges in managing classroom behavior. Moreover, most American students, parents, teachers, and administrators do not understand the Chinese teachers' classroom expectations, nor do they realize that such behavioral expectations are a full part of learning the Chinese-Mandarin language and culture together. Using a sociocultural theoretical perspective and discourse analysis, this study provides descriptive evidence identifying …

Knowledge Building Through Interdisciplinary Units, Jessica A. Deboer

Masters Projects

Research demonstrates that developing a strong knowledge base is vitally important for students to demonstrate comprehension in reading. Comprehension strategies are an important skill to learn, but can only be utilized if a student has background knowledge of the subject. Schema theory supports the idea that knowledge is most effectively acquired through networks of prior knowledge built into the brain’s long term memory. The more vocabulary and concept knowledge a person has in their network of schemata the easier it is for them to connect and hold onto new information. An interdisciplinary curriculum can grow students' knowledge and their comprehension …

Ob Deserts Remain Public Health Concern For New Mexico, Dustin Roberto

HSC Newsroom

As of 2022, one in three New Mexico counties were "OB deserts," places where pregnancy and childbirth care is limited. Distance, hospital closures, and staff shortages make care especially hard to reach for rural, low-income, and Indigenous communities. To help, the University of New Mexico offers a minor and certificate in maternal and child health leadership.

Grounded In Liquidity: Writing And Identity In Third Space, Alicja Syska, Carina Buckley, L Heggie

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

This paper argues that writing for publication has the potential to support the creation, negotiation, and stabilising of the professional identities of third space (Whitchurch, 2013) practitioners in higher education. Caught in the impermanence and unpredictability of ‘liquid life’ (Bauman, 2005), third space opens up unique opportunities in writing that afford its practitioners a means of building and sustaining identity. Third space expands academic writing beyond its normative constraints, creating a tension between the apparent permanence and solidity of writing and the liquidity that allows for the negotiation of meaning andidentity. As such, writing, particularly for dissemination, provides third space …

Batavia In The19th Century: A Russian Diplomat's Criticism Of The Capital Society And The Colonial System Of The Dutch East Indies, Ahmad Fahrurodji

International Review of Humanities Studies

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the traces of diplomatic relations between the Russian Empire and the Dutch East Indies in the late 19th century. The views and criticisms of the Russian Consul in Batavia became one of the important milestones of cultural relations between the two nations in the future. This research is a cultural history research using historical research method and structural approach. The documents used are diplomatic reports that have been published in the original language (Russian). By using the theory of hermeneutics, this article aims to see how Batavia and the people in it interacted and acted from …

Developing Conflict Resolution Skills In Residential Students At Higher Education Institutions, Lindsey A. Bos

Masters Projects

For many college students, living on campus is the first experience that students have living outside their familial home. Students may take this leap with people they have developed prior relationships with, or with people they have just met. Regardless, this collision of differing norms has the potential to lead to interpersonal conflict. To support residential students at higher education institutions, this project utilizes the theoretical lenses of Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs, Sanford’s (1966) challenge and support theory, and Chickering’s (1969) seven vectors of development to create a workshop curriculum aimed at developing students’ conflict resolution skills. Highlighting the …

Enhancing Clinical Relevance Of Pretrained Language Models Through Integration Of External Knowledge: Case Study On Cardiovascular Diagnosis From Electronic Health Records, Qiuhao Lu, Andrew Wen, Thien Nguyen, Hongfang Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Despite their growing use in health care, pretrained language models (PLMs) often lack clinical relevance due to insufficient domain expertise and poor interpretability. A key strategy to overcome these challenges is integrating external knowledge into PLMs, enhancing their adaptability and clinical usefulness. Current biomedical knowledge graphs like UMLS (Unified Medical Language System), SNOMED CT (Systematized Medical Nomenclature for Medicine-Clinical Terminology), and HPO (Human Phenotype Ontology), while comprehensive, fail to effectively connect general biomedical knowledge with physician insights. There is an equally important need for a model that integrates diverse knowledge in a way that is both unified and compartmentalized. …

How To Read A Patent: A Survey Of The Textual Characteristics Of Patent Documents And Strategies For Comprehension, Graham Sherriff

Journal of the Patent and Trademark Resource Center Association

Reading patents is an important activity for inventors and anyone seeking to file or defend a patent, as well as for “exploratory” researchers such as students in a range of disciplines. However, they are notoriously difficult to read. This paper examines the characteristics of patent documents that impair their readability and seeks to identify comprehension strategies and techniques that may alleviate this difficulty. Insights were gathered from a review of the scholarly literature on reading and patent literacy, a survey of patent educators affiliated with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)’s Patent and Trademark Research Center (PTRC) Program, and …

Unbound: An Analog Tapestry Of Reading Experiences, Ipek Koprululu

Theses

This project explores the transformative potential of typography in visual communication, focusing on how typographic treatments can shape and expand the perception of text. Centered on Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, the research investigates how different typographic approaches – employing both analog and digital methods – can alter emotional impact, narrative significance, and universal accessibility. Through a systematic approach encompassing research, design decisions, and presentation, the study reveals how typography can transcend the literal meaning of words, enriching them with diverse emotional and visual interpretations. The project utilizes various formats, including posters, an accordion-style book, a stop-motion video, and interactive …

Bridging The Gap Between Theory And Practice: A Journey Through Conducting Genre-Based Research In Applied Linguistics For Identifying And Analyzing Genres, Elih Sutisna Yanto, Anita Triastuti

The Qualitative Report

This article discusses Conducting Genre-Based Research in Applied Linguistics: A Methodological Guide, edited by Matt Kessler and Charlene Polio, that addresses the theory-practice gap in genre-based pedagogy. The book emphasizes the importance of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and its integration into the teaching and learning cycle to improve students' understanding and production of different genres. Theoretical foundations of Halliday's SFL are discussed alongside practical methods such as case studies, ethnography and metadiscourse analysis. The volume offers a comprehensive framework for researchers and educators and describes tools and approaches for analyzing multimodal texts, understanding multilingual competence, and applying genre knowledge …

Reflections And Revelations In Autoethnography: A Review Of Meaningful Journeys Of Quest And Identity Transformation, Niroj Dahal

The Qualitative Report

In this review of—Meaningful Journeys: Autoethnographies of Quest and Identity Transformation, edited by Alec Grant, Ph.D., and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Lloyd-Parkes, Ph.D., I have made an effort to offer my evaluation that explores the autoethnographies of quest and identity transformation (Grant & Lloyd-Parkes, 2024). The book presents a curated anthology of personal ethnographic narratives, each grounded in the foundational concepts, philosophical insights, and linguistic roots of “journeying,” “questing,” and both ancient and contemporary interpretations of “pilgrimage.” As an autoethnographer, even during the different phases of life—personal and professional—I have been through the different roots of transformation, and now, at …

Racial Disproportionality In Exclusionary Discipline Rates In The United States, Cara Crisostomo

Masters Projects

Racial disparity in exclusionary discipline rates in K-12 schools in the United States is a problem that was first written about in the 1970s. Unfortunately, it remains a problem nearly fifty years later and one that has not been addressed by school districts and schools. Schools have implemented programs such as restorative justice to address this disparity, but research shows that these programs center Whiteness. Disparity either does not improve with these programs or even increases. School staff’s cross-cultural differences from their students and staff’s implicit bias and subjectivity in the discipline process contribute to the disparity. Therefore, it is …

Before And After: Editing A Collection Through The Pandemic, Cami Agan

Mythcon

At Mythcon in San Diego (2019, the “before time”), the Stewards approved my proposal for the collection of essays entitled Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth; Essays on the Habitations of Tolkien’s Legendarium from Mythopoeic Press. I will discuss the process of soliciting contributors, compiling, cajoling, editing, developing the introduction, proofing the volume, working with MythPress editors, as well as discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic affected/ affects the process of publication, and offer a general overview of the volume itself, which [Varda willing!] will be available for order at Mythcon53.

J.R.R. Tolkien And The Essence Of Enchantment, John Rosegrant

Mythcon

It is well-known that Tolkien saturated his works with his love of language, so it is worthwhile to reflect on the particular ways that he loved language. Tolkien especially loved languages of the past, and the past of languages, and he especially loved the esthetics of language: the sounds themselves, and the match between sound and meaning. He was thus searching for the beauty that could still be perceived in what was lost in language, a position like that of the Beowulf poet gazing from the top of his tower at the sea of fading paganism. This position can be …

From Page To Screen: Invented Language In George R.R. Martin’S And J.R.R. Tolkien’S Writings, And How They Are Used In Adaptations, Mareike Huber

Mythcon

In 2010, only a year before the adaptation of his fantasy novels would air, George R.R. Martin admitted that unlike J.R.R. Tolkien, whom he called a “linguist of rare talent” whose “astonishing feat of linguistic worldbuilding […] is never likely to be duplicated”, Martin himself only invents the words that he needs and does not “have a whole imaginary language” or languages “the way Tolkien did” (Martin 2010). In particular, when it comes to one of his ‘languages’, Dothraki, Martin said that he “did pepper the text with a few […] words” but generally relied on phrases like “[t]hey were …

Charles Williams Poetry Workshop, Eric Rauscher

Mythcon

This will be a group “close” reading of a couple of Charles Williams’s Arthurian poems. I will bring copies of the poems to pass out, and as a group (participation is encouraged but not required) we will read them in detail, parsing out meanings and sharing insights. What may seem obvious to one may be a revelation to another. We will also just enjoy the beauty of the poems by reading them out loud, the way they are meant to be heard. For those of you who have never been introduced to these poems, here is your chance. For those …

Tolkien’S Orphaned Heroes: Kullervo, Húrin And The Limits Of Fostering, Deidre Dawson

Journal of Tolkien Research

Tolkien’s legendarium features many characters who have lost one or both parents through death or abandonment, and who are consequently fostered or adopted. While there are many positive depictions of fostering in the legendarium, the cases of Kullervo and especially Túrin Turambar stand out because of their similar tragic outcomes involving sibling incest followed by suicide. The contrast between the depiction of fostering in these stories is stark: The Story of Kullervo depicts a case of poor fostering involving violence and neglect, whereas The Children of Húrin describes a loving and nurturing foster environment for its hero, Túrin. Both tales …

Scholar Guest Of Honor Address, The Mythopoeic Society

Mythcon

Speech by Scholar Guest of Honor Brian Attebery

Mythcon participants are invited (but not required!) to take part in our opening festivities Saturday morning by wearing costumes or regalia and carrying banners in our procession to the Terrace Rooms in which our Opening Ceremonies and Scholar Guest of Honor Address will be held. Those wishing to take part in the Opening Procession should meet by 8:45 am inside the main hotel lobby.

Lindholm-Leary, Kathryn J., San Jose State University

Emeritus and Retired Faculty Biographies

University of California, Los Angeles ,Psychology, Ph.D. 1981

University of California, Los Angeles, Psychology, M.A. 1977

University of California, Santa Barbara, Psychology, B.A, 1976

Eleanor Arnason’S Fantastic Mitochondrial Humor, Sandra Lindow

Mythcon

In this essay I explore Brian Attebery’s description of mitochondrial fantasy to explain how humor works in Eleanor Arnason’s short fantastic fiction. Mitochondria are the energy powerhouses in cells. They are symbiotic creatures that once were separate but became an evolutionary part of a female egg cell, providing a history that can be traced to a Mitochondrial Eve. In Fantasy: How It Works, Attebery uses mitochondria metaphorically to explain how fantastic ideas evolve. Attebery describes fantastic mitochondria as “a cellular dynamo that lives within the tissues” of a story (91). He demonstrates how stories lead to retellings and elaborations that …

Death, Soul, And Body In Tolkien’S Mythology: Perspectives On Athrabeth Finrod Ah Andreth, Chip Crane, Peter Grybauskas, Carl Hostetter

Mythcon

The conversation between the elf Finrod Felagund and the human woman Andreth in Morgoth’s Ring volume 10 of The History of Middle-warth explores in depth the differences between elves and humans in Tolkien’s mythology. Their conversation touches, among other things, on the reason humans die and the relationship of soul to body in both. Panelists will share perspectives on the significance of this conversation in Tolkien’s mythology and his own metaphysics.