Digital Commons Network^™

The Death Of Slim Shady: Eminem’S Lyrical Life Course Trajectory, Anthony Raul Rosales, Anthony R. Rosales

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

Eminem's lyrical life course trajectory helps provide insight into hip-hop and rap music's arguably criminal social stigma. Previous studies have examined Eminem's songs, but these topics focused on singular songs and themes rather than a lyrical life course. This study fills the gap by providing a content analysis of Eminem's solo studio albums, where it identifies themes and patterns that appear in the album's lyrics. The purpose of this study was to use research questions based on theory and previous research to examine Eminem's lyrics and personas. Using Eminem's thirteen solo studio albums consisting of two-hundred-nine songs, this study focused …

Claim Sensing: A Study Linking Factual Claims To Human Behaviors On Social Media, Zeyu Zhang

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The ubiquity of social media has transformed it into a rich source for reflecting people's opinions, behaviors, and interactions. Users frequently encounter factual claims in news, stories, and political statements, which can be either true or false. These claims significantly shape people's minds and behaviors, influencing not only individual perspectives but also broader public discourse. This study explores individuals' behaviors and perceptions toward factual claims by leveraging the concept of "check-worthiness" to analyze the relationship between such claims and user behaviors across datasets containing tens of millions of social media posts, particularly tweets from the platform X (formerly Twitter). It …

Outpatient Fall Prevention In Ambulatory Adults 65 Years Old And Over, Dorothy L. Osborne-White

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects - Archive

Background: In the United States (U.S.), falls are the leading cause of injury among adults 65 and over, resulting in 36 million falls yearly (Moreland et al., 2020). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2023), one in four older adults experiences a fall each year. Falls are the world's second most prominent cause of accidental deaths (World Health Organization [WHO], 2021). Falls are the leading cause of both fatal and non-fatal injuries among older adults (Moreland et al., 2020).

Methods: A quality improvement project that included a fall bundle was implemented in a primary clinic. A …

“Criticize The Way You Fly”: Negotiations Of Femininity And Motherhood Among Young Disabled Women, Alicia Leon Luna

Sociology & Anthropology Theses - Archive

Disabled women are often excluded from the reproductive rights movement based on the wrongful assumption that women’s disability makes them unfit for motherhood. The social proscription of parenting by disabled women creates reproduction rights issues as it blocks pathways to parenthood while simultaneously ignoring the ever present influence mothering ideology (i.e., the motherhood mandate) has on the gender identity of these women. Research on disabled motherhood is sparse; thus, this study seeks to add to it by examining the intersection of disability, femininity, and motherhood through the lens of young childless disabled women. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 disabled …

Differentially Unwell: On Mimi Khúc's "Dear Elia", Seo-Young J. Chu

Publications and Research

[...] Inviting readers to reclaim the stigma of unwellness and collectively to "tend to our unwellness, together," Khúc approaches unwellness as a crucial resource for subverting the "wellness and unwellness" dichotomy entirely. After all, the opposite of "wellness" is not "unwellness"; the opposite of "wellness" does not exist. The opposition itself is an artificial framework, one that reductively harms more than it dialogically helps. We need to move away from these simplistic dualisms, Khúc suggests, and towards more generous, trauma-informed epistemologies. [...]

Awakening To Activism: Exploring Disability Activism Through The Voices Of University Student Activists, Sophia Hirokawa

West Chester University Master’s Theses

In this study, I explored disability activist identity and activism through one-on-one, semi-structured qualitative interviews with four university activists who shared their personal stories of awakening to disability activism, using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to explore themes. Each interviewee had a unique form of disability activist identity and a multifaceted process of awakening to that identity. They identified strengths in the disability activist community, such as a supportiveness, persistence, and uniqueness, but they also identified challenges, such as ineffectiveness of laws and policies, discrimination, and a lack of accessibility and awareness. The results of this study illuminate the …

Actionable Advocacy Journalism: Embracing Bias And Empowering Audiences With Calls To Action, Megan T. Schiffres

Richard T. Robertson School of Communication Student Scholarship

This thesis outlines the principles of actionable advocacy journalism, a new theoretical framework designed to empower audiences to take action in their communities. This framework proposes an update of journalistic ethics including the elimination of objectivity and demonstrates the positive impact of biased journalism on improving audience trust and strengthening community ties. It explores the historical roots of advocacy in journalism, examines the factors that led to the journalistic philosophy of objectivity, and explains its fundamental flaws. This thesis also outlines strategies for transforming news into a practical resource. These strategies combine the principles of solutions journalism with evidence-based persuasion …

An Exploratory Study Of Anti-Black Racism In Social Media Behavior Intentions: Effects Of Political Orientation And Motivation To Control Prejudice, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Samantha A. Wilcox, Justine K. Brace, Melissa Anderson

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Considering the widespread prevalence of racist content and opinions on social media, there is a pressing need to understand how users react to such content in ways that might lead them to be drawn into echo chambers of racism, hate speech, and potentially even violence. We conducted an online study to investigate how two individual differences—political orientation and motivation to control prejudice (MCP)—may predispose people to accept anti-Black racism expressed in social media messages. Non-Black participants viewed racist and egalitarian mock social media posts and reported how likely they would be to respond favorably and/or engage in supportive social media …

Characterization Of Human Trust In Robot Through Multimodal Physical And Physiological Biometrics In Human-Robot Partnerships, Jesse Parron, Rui Li, Weitian Wang, Mengchu Zhou

School of Computing Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Trust is an attribute that many people use daily, whether consciously thinking of it or not. Although commonly designated as a firm belief in reliability, trust is more complex than many think. It is not just physical, but rather an emotion, feeling, or choice that has many layers, and can be influenced in a variety of ways. As robotics and artificial intelligence grow, humans have to deliberate whether they trust working with these technical counterparts or not. In this work, we build computational models to quantitatively characterize and analyze humans' trust in robots using multimodal physical and physiological biometric data …

Health Law And Bigotry Distractions, Daniel G. Aaron, Leslie Francis

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Bigotry distractions are strategic invocations of racism, transphobia, or negative stigma toward other marginalized groups to shape political discourse. Although the vast majority of Americans agree on large policy issues ranging from reducing air pollution to prosecuting corporate crime, bigotry distractions divert attention from areas of agreement toward divisive identity issues. This article explores how the nefarious targeting of identity groups through bigotry distractions may be the tallest barrier to health reform, and social change more broadly. The discussion extends the literature on dog whistles, strategic racism, and scapegoating.

Can Litigation Analytics Tell Us What Became Of The 2015 Proportionality Amendments To The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure?, Patricia W. Moore

Faculty Articles

In 2015, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure pertaining to discovery were amended for the seventh time in 40 years–part of a cyclic effort to address the so-called “cost and delay” of litigation. The centerpiece of the amendments was the reconfigured requirement that requested discovery be “proportional to the needs of the case,” in addition to being relevant and nonprivileged. The concept of “proportionality” crystallized the 2015 amendments in a single mantra. The proposed amendments inspired passionate and polarized public reactions. Plaintiffs’ attorneys opposed them as an impediment to obtaining the discovery they needed to prove their case, particularly in …

Moral Panic And The First Amendment, Michael L. Smith

Faculty Articles

Debates over free speech in the United States frequently see advocates of strong, broad protections at odds with those who argue that unfettered free speech tends to harm society's most vulnerable. Free speech advocates invoke the marketplace of ideas and argue that the antidote to false or harmful speech is more speech. In response, critics contend that speech itself causes harm and chills counter-speech effectively excluding marginalized groups, including women and LGBTQ people, from discourse altogether. These critics support limitations on robust free speech doctrine targeting speech that harms marginalized communities.

This Article identifies a significant wrinkle in this narrative: …

Enhancing Health Education: The Role Of Social Emotional Learning In Prek-12 Students' Well-Being, Elena Saldutti, Joseph Donnelly, Judy Lobianco, Mary Connolly

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose: This commentary delves into the profound impact of Social Emotional Learning (SEL), particularly through the lens of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), on Health Education, elucidating its potential to nurture the well-being of PreK-12 students. Results: Students experiencing comprehensive skills-based health/SEL education gain knowledge, skills, and competencies that are used within and beyond the classroom, fostering the development of healthier decision-making, bolstering self-esteem, and enriching the emotional and mental wellness of students. Health educators have the opportunity to utilize CASEL's SEL Competencies in conjunction with the National Health Education Standards, as both are mutually aligned …

Politics And School Libraries, Legal Challenges And Impacts, Dr. Cynthia Boyer

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

This article begins by exploring the tensions between public opinion, education, and political conflicts, focusing on how these dynamics shape current debates. It then examines the rising trend of book banning legislation across various states and the constitutional challenges these laws face. Finally, the analysis considers the broader implications of these actions on students, educators, and society, highlighting the potential consequences for the future of education and democratic engagement in the United States.

Information Impact On Home-Based Palliative Care Admissions, Donna Rugh

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Patients appropriate for Home-Based Palliative Care services are fragile with increased risk for mortality and hospital readmissions. Utilization of Home-Based Palliative Care skilled nursing services have been proven to decrease these risks and improve quality of life. Information deficits negatively impact nurse clinical decision making during the admission process, potentially misguiding the nurse resulting in a non-admission to service. This project focused on the impact of both nurse education and clinical information sharing at admission. Pre and post data was compared to examine the impact of these interventions on non-admissions rates for the reasons of “no skilled need” or “not …

Waiting On The World (Of Allied Healthcare) To Change: How Undergraduate Preparedness Curriculum Dis/Includes Ability, Brianna Donnelly

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Significant concerns for healthcare practitioners and allied health professionals continue to arise regarding treatment of persons with disabilities. Whether disability exists as apparent or non-apparent, temporary, or chronic, people with disabilities tend to be in poorer health and tend to use health care at a significantly higher rate than people who do not have disabilities. Importantly, the absence of professional training on disability competency issues for health care practitioners is one of the most significant barriers that prevent people with disabilities from receiving appropriate and effective health care. This qualitative narrative analysis explores the inclusion of disability concepts and people …

Child Welfare Social Workers: Socially Situated Bureaucrats At The Forefront Of Systemic Racism In Practice, Christina Lau

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Anti-Black racial bias in child welfare systems was explored in this qualitative study employing an anonymous online survey and virtual interviews with child welfare professionals from around the U.S. This applied research re-examined the persistent problem of racial disproportionality in child welfare intervention rates for Black children from underrepresented perspectives of social workers in the field. The research questions asked for participants’ observations of the mechanisms through which racial bias impacts families involved with child welfare systems, and what roles individual professionals take when striving to promote equity as street-level bureaucrats. Interpretive description methods were used to develop a conceptual …

January 2024 Library & Learning Newsletter, Minnesota State University, Mankato. Library & Learning Dean’S Office Communications Team

Library & Learning Newsletters

PDF version of the January 2024 (Volume 2, Issue 6) Library & Learning Newsletter.

Fertilizing The Social And Emotional Roots: Assessing Belonging, Confidence, And Connectedness In Academic Library Programming, Kathleen A. Langan

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2024

No abstract provided.

Transplanting Cultural Capital And Community Cultural Wealth From The Education Field To The Lis Field: Harvesting Its Library Instruction Potential, Emily Reed, Brendan Johnson

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2024

No abstract provided.

“We’Ll Offer Asylum Just So Long As…” The Discrimination Of Poc And Lgbtq+ Refugees In Ongoing Refugee Crises, Faith N. Schaefer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

An ongoing refugee crisis is apparent in global politics and foreign relations. Still, the way receiving countries regard certain communities in this critical period has brought to light the inhumane discrimination solely based on one’s skin color and/or sexual identity. Despite the “open arms” policy that most nations tend to project, there is an unwritten protocol along borders that some states have chosen a “pick and choose” approach when it comes to People of Color (POC) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and other gender non-conforming (LGBTQ+) individuals who are fleeing their country of origin. Any such prejudice and inequity …

Understanding The Construction Workforce Needs Of The Future: Technology, Skills, Diversity, Bassam Ramadan

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The U.S. construction industry stands at a crossroads. The looming age cliff is about to present its most serious challenges yet, coinciding with a shortage of qualified skilled professionals. As the demands of the construction industry continue to grow, it continues to lack the manpower to meet those demands. In order to meet the rising demands of construction needs in the near future, the construction industry needs to focus on improving workforce performance and productivity, and increasing the size of the construction labor force. Existing research highlights the importance of technological adoption and workforce skills, and that gender and ethnic …

Playing Changes: Music As Mediator Between Japanese And Black Americans, E Taylor Atkins

Faculty Books & Book Chapters

Since the mid-twentieth century, music has played a central role in encounters and interactions between the people of Japan and those of African descent. It proved far more effective for pro- moting interracial dialogue and understanding than efforts in the early 1900s to foster an alliance against white supremacy and imperialism. This essay unpacks the ways that encounters with Black music transformed Japanese musicking and generated knowledge and empathy for people of African descent among Japanese. Personal interactions between Black and Japanese musicians constituted a process of “grassroots globalization” that circumvented the dominance of American mass media in representing African …

Somewhere In-Between: My Evolving Understanding Of Wilderness, Sebastian J. Driver

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Wilderness has many definitions and is a concept that means something different to everyone. According to the Wilderness Act of 1964, "Wilderness is an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." In recent years, the definition of wilderness is under debate as it fails to excludes the indigenous perspective. Due to the exclusion of Native Americans some have called for the removal of the word wilderness altogether. However, I propose that instead of removing the word altogether that we can redefine it to make …

The Message Behind The Aesthetic: Intersections Of Class And Sexuality In Oscar Wilde's The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Matthew J. Milotakis

English Theses

Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) follows the life of a doomed high-class gay man named Dorian while revealing a discussion of art and the imitation of life itself. This paper reveals the parallels between characters like Dorian and Lord Henry's life to Wilde himself and how they all move through society as high-class gay men. The intersectionality of both identities provides a social commentary on societal policing, compulsory heterosexuality, and the villainization of queerness through the lives of men who lived in 19th-century England with challenges like the Criminal Amendment Act of 1885 and laws against sodomy. …

Evaluation Of Knowledge Exchange Efficiency In Academic Virtual Community Based On The Characteristics Of Author Network Structure, Shuqing Li, Tiansheng Zheng

Journal of Scientific Information Research

[Purpose/Significance]The measurement of knowledge exchange efficiency of academic virtual community has a positive significance for understanding and improving the academic virtual community itself, and also provides a new application analysis field for the evaluation methods of knowledge exchange efficiency. [Methods/Process]This paper proposes a method to measure the efficiency of knowledge exchange in academic virtual community by using networks of blog author. The network node weights are designed by summarizing the total number of views, recommendations, comments and blog category of each blog author. The edge weights in network are designed by the blog author's domain characteristics and blog category. According …

Embedded Collaborative Intelligence Service Mechanism In Emergencies, Chen Wei, Chensheng Wu, Bingfeng Zhao, Qingtao Fan

Journal of Scientific Information Research

[Purpose/significance]Faced with complex cross-domain emergencies, the barriers among intelligence resources, intelligence services and the rights and responsibilities within emergency management must be broken to generate embedded synergy, enhancing emergency management effectiveness. [Method/process]From the three perspectives of intelligence system guarantee, intelligence organization guarantee and early warning intelligence mechanism, this paper studies the basic guarantee, intelligence lack problem and realization path of cross-domain intelligence service emergencies based on the emergency management system and traditional intelligence collaborative service system. With embedded collaborative intelligence monitoring and collection systems and crisis early warning intelligence systems, an embedded collaborative intelligence service system framework is built. [Result/conclusion]Intelligence …

The Phenomenological Meaning Of Activities Outside The Home: A Qualitative Solicited Diary Study Of Undergraduate College Students Experiences During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Thomas Nagle

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Dramatic changes to everyday life during the COVID-19 pandemic created a “frame shift” (Goffman, 1974), as mundane activities took on new significance among evolving norms. Our qualitative study explores the phenomenological meaning of engaging in activities outside the home during the first two years of the pandemic, through solicited unstructured diaries kept by college students. We selected n=33 diarists who met our inclusion criteria. Across the selected entries from each diary, emic coding revealed four types of activities discussed: taking care of necessities, navigating from A-to-B, socializing, and spending time in nature. While etic coding …

Utopian Constitutionalism In Chile, David Landau, Rosalind Dixon

Scholarly Publications

In this article, we argue that the 2022 Chilean draft Constitution helps to articulate the distinction between a transformative constitutional project and a utopian one. Whereas a transformative project lays down markers for social change that will take time to achieve, a utopian project sets out goals that are unlikely to be achieved within any reasonable timeframe. Utopianism is a product of two relationships. The first is the internal relationship between the transformative goals laid out in a constitution and the institutional pathways through which changes will occur. The second is the external relationship between the goals in the text …

The Medici Effect: Multidisciplinary Insights For Entrepreneurship Research, Younggeun Lee, Andres Felipe Cortes, Anthony Di Benedetto, Pol Herrmann, Mathew Hughes, Phillip H. Kim, Haemin Dennis Park, Sai Lan

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

No abstract provided.