Digital Commons Network^™

Higher Turnout, Greater Inequality? A Precinct-Level Analysis Of Income Inequality In U.S. Presidential Voting, 2016 To 2020, A. Rastogi, Daniel Laurison

Sociology & Anthropology Faculty Works

The relationship between income and voter turnout is crucial to understanding U.S. democracy. Previous research has revealed that richer people tend to vote at higher rates than lower income people. But this research relied on survey data and was subject to response and social desirability bias, producing widely varying estimates of the size of the income-based turnout gap. Using data with official, geocoded precinct election results for the entire nation, the authors examine how precinct-level income is associated with changes in voter turnout between the 2016 and 2020 elections. The authors find a dramatic income gradient in precinct voter turnout …

Examining The Relationship Between Biblical Characters And Mental Health: Identifying A Christian's Well-Being, Shanetia Sharie Chapman

Masters Theses

This thesis aims to examine the intersection between biblical texts and mental health within the framework of Christian belief systems. Through a critical analysis of key biblical narratives involving figures who exhibit experiences analogous to contemporary psychological struggles, this study investigates the influence of scriptural interpretation on believers’ perceptions of mental health and their coping mechanisms. By employing textual analysis, the research seeks to evaluate the potential of biblical teachings as therapeutic resources. Ultimately, this thesis aims to contribute to developing culturally and theologically informed approaches to mental health awareness and support within Christian communities.

Territorial Scars: The Legacy Of The Eugenics Movement In Puerto Rico, Audra Desiree Edwards

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The United States-Puerto Rico relationship was strongly impacted by the eugenics movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The groundwork for the paternalistic relationship that the United States imposed on the island was set by the Spanish colonization. Once the United States gained the territory in 1898, many assumed that it would progress to statehood through the same process as former U.S. territories. However, the impact of the eugenics concerns over race, population density, and undesirable genetics had affected U.S. imperialism. The lack of white migration to the island, in combination with the perceived undesirable and overly dense …

Common Ground: A Phenomenological Ethnographic Inquiry In Intercultural Communication, Telling Stories With The Oglala Lakota People On The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Sd, Laura C. Fong

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

An interdisciplinary and collaborative movement in cross-cultural research is emerging and challenging Western academic practices in the United States. As a non-indigenous Communications scholar working on the Pine Ridge Reservation, I was unable to find a model, or scholarship that included the practical application of theory and methods for scholarship with Indigenous Americans. Over a ten-year period, I documented stories and worked with Lakota elder Unci Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance and her son Nathan Blindman to develop a mutually beneficial working relationship.

Successful cross-cultural scholarship using Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodologies, Intercultural Communication Theory …

Exploring Higher Education Shared Governance Constitutional Documents As Potential Culture Building Contributors To Friction Between Faculty And Administration Through A Qualitative Analysis Of Foundational Institution Documents, Lanna Monday Emmett

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative research project investigates the role shared governance documents in higher education institutions play in communicating the guiding principles and expectations used to create, sustain, and challenge culture through a content analysis of foundational institutional documents. Colleges and universities face challenges driven by technology, globalization, the capitalization of education, and shifting expectations regarding diversity, equity, and sustainability. These changes require institutions to adapt their organizational models for more competitive decision-making while navigating evolving governance issues. In some instances, these changes have been cited as one cause for friction between institutional stakeholders, particularly faculty and administration. Previous studies have more …

A Showman And A Scholar: Bascom Lamar Lunsford And The Preservation Of Traditional Appalachian Music, Benjamin Grist

Masters Theses

Appalachian musical culture is well-known in the modern day. Between old time, bluegrass, country, and clogging, people around the world know and enjoy the musical traditions of the mountains. However, in the 1920s, Appalachian culture was in serious danger of going extinct. A mix of industrialization destroying local economies, an influx of rich outsiders moving to the region, and the people of Appalachia trying to distance themselves from their impoverished lifestyles, traditional Appalachian music and culture was being crushed on one hand and abandoned on the other. Realizing that the region's musical traditions were disappearing, several scholars tried to record …

Many Meanings: A History Of Memory At The Meeker Home Museum, Kathleen Henry

History Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

While public historians strive to provide accurate, contextual, and nuanced interpretations of the past, public and community memory of the past is powerful, and more concerned with identity and validation than it is with historical accuracy and complexity. These intersections of history and memory in America are complex, and have been explored for several decades by historians such as Ari Kelman, Seth Bruggeman, and David Wrobel. As a case study of the intersections of history and memory in a historic house museum, the Meeker Home Museum in Greeley, Colorado, reflects powerful narratives of past community memory, resulting in a static, …

A Journey Towards Human Rights: The Indigenous Repatriation Movement 1967-1995, Sara Lynne Shaffer-Henry

History Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

In June 1967, a group of Indigenous Peoples met at Mato Paha (Bear Butte, SD). The meetings were called due to disturbing reports and visions related to Indigenous Ancestral remains burial goods, or other sacred items on display in museums and repositories. They also discussed the continued desecration of sacred sites, and how these actions denied Indigenous Peoples of their human rights. The meeting a Mato Paha became the catalyst for what is now known as the Repatriation Movement. Based on grassroots organizing, the Repatriation Movement direct action, gatherings, legal action, and public relations to develop national repatriation law and …

Exploration Of The Congruence Between Environmental Concerns And Eco-Spirituality Programming At Retreat Centers As Experienced By Participants, Jean Golicz

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this multiple-embedded case study was to explore the role of environmental awareness and concerns in influencing engagement in retreat practices that were organized around the theme of eco-spirituality and the impact on organizational leadership and program development at two retreat centers in the northeastern region of the United States. Roman Catholic retreat centers were the focus of the study as they endeavored to fulfill leadership directives reflected in the papal encyclical Laudato si’. The centers examined offered immersion in nature, reflection on the interdependence of organic systems, and the development of action plans to address environmental issues. …

Exploring The Gender Pay Gap And Impacts On Retention Of C-Suite Women Executives, Organizational Performance And Profitability, Shelbie Webster

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Gender pay inequity and the lack of representation of women in senior C-suite level roles remain pervasive issues. This behavior results in workers receiving unequal wages and being underrepresented in senior-level C-suite positions, ultimately affecting the organization's bottom line. The purpose of this qualitative, flexible design, single case study was to explore the failure of some organizations to pay senior-level C-suite women comparable to males holding the same title and experience. The location is from the southeast region of the U.S., where employees work for organizations with 1,000 plus employees, resulting in a potential decrease in organizational performance and profitability. …

Societal Gender Norms' Influence On Music Education, Lindsey N. Folsom

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative study uses a phenomenological design to answer the question: How do students and educators perceive the influence of gender on instrument choice, ensemble participation, and student socialization opportunities inherent to ensemble participation? The theoretical framework for this study is Lev Vygotsky’s social development theory. Data was collected using interviews and surveys from K-12 teachers and college instructors. The data is analyzed using qualitative methods such as coding and triangulation. The results of this study and its potential to significantly inform and shape music education practices will provide research on teacher and student perspectives on the influence of societal …

Evaluating The Impact Of Anti-Vaccine Online Search Trends During The Covid-19 Pandemic On Adolescent Pertussis-Containing Vaccine Completion, Deborah L. Fisher

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Adolescent completion of pertussis-containing vaccines is a public health concern, especially with rising online anti-vaccine misinformation. Incomplete vaccination increases risk for preventable diseases and impacts community health. A gap in the literature on the relationship between online anti-vaccine search trends during the COVID-19 pandemic and adolescent pertussis vaccine completion was addressed in this quantitative, repeated cross-sectional study. Andersen’s behavioral model of health services use guided the study. Secondary data from the 2019 and 2022 National Immunization Survey-Teen (NIS-Teen) compared adolescents aged 13–17 in the five U.S. states with the highest (n=5,464) versus the five with the lowest (n=3.031) population-adjusted anti-vaccine …

The Benefits Of Trail Running: A Quantitative Inquiry Into The Cognitive Domain, Jack Edward Lemaire

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This crossover study aimed to investigate the impact on human cognition of an acute bout of trail running at 5 kilometers in distance as measured by a unique cognitive testing battery. It is well documented that aerobic exercise such as trail running provides enormous neuroprotective benefits through various physiological processes, including vascular adaptations and neurotrophin production. To date, no investigation into how a shorter duration trail run specifically impacts cognition has been conducted. For this crossover study, 22 participants were recruited using convenience sampling methods from adults fitting the necessary inclusion criteria from within the greater Nashville area. Participants were …

An Ethnodoxological Approach To Developing A Worship Leader Training Program In Infanta, Quezon, Philippines, Lindsay Kay Oakley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Although there has been an increase in pastor training programs in the Philippines to fulfill the need created by the steady growth of evangelical church plants, there are few initiatives to create worship leader training programs. Worship is central to the evangelical church, and music plays an important role in the spiritual formation of believers in churches throughout the world. However, because of worship theology constructs and the implications of Filipino culture for worship contextualization, more attention must be given to equipping worship leaders for ministry in the Philippines. This study sought to identify the training and resources needed to …

The Interplay Between Hospitality And Patronage In The Greco-Roman World And Its Implications For Reading Third John, Julie L. Denham

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation will seek to explore the social concepts found within the Book of Third John, examining the intricate and nuanced relationship between hospitality and patronage in early first-century Christian communities. By employing a comprehensive approach that integrates historical, cultural, and theological methodologies, this study aims to delve deeply into the multifaceted roles these practices played in shaping the social, spiritual, and theological framework of the early Church. Specifically, this dissertation seeks to address the following questions: How did first-century Christian communities navigate the interplay between hospitality and patronage as reflected in Third John? How did these practices influence communal …

A Comparison Of Evangelical And Pentecostal Soteriology To The Bible, Kamia G. Brillon

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Soteriology is the study and development of God’s plan to bring mankind back in right standing with Him. Soteriology presents God as the One who delivers humanity from the power of sin through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ, who became the ultimate sacrifice for sin. Human sin is what brought about a need for salvation. Salvation can be seen as a process that involves specific elements. The gospel message reveals how the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ leads to salvation. The New Testament presents faith, repentance, water baptism and reception of the Holy Spirit …

Collateral Damage From A Legacy Of Silence: Redefining Sexual Violence In The American Civil War, 1861-1865, Chandra K. Waller

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation examines the often-overlooked issue of sexual violence during the American Civil War, challenging the myth of Victorian restraint and the romanticized notion of the "gentleman soldier." While traditional Civil War historiography has focused on military strategy, politics, and elite actors, this study foregrounds the experiences of civilian women, particularly enslaved and marginalized women, who were subjected to sexual violence at the hands of soldiers. Drawing on court-martial records, personal letters and diaries, newspaper accounts, and military documents, the paper argues that sexual violence was not an aberration but a systemic and strategic aspect of wartime conduct.

It also …

Impoverished People: A Phenomenological Study Of The Effects Of Organizational Culture And Corruption On Class Poverty, Jean Rony Duclosel

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Researchers have established that corruption adversely affects economic growth and development and deters resources from the most vulnerable. When viewed through the lens of public administration, corruption can create financial burdens and hinder the delivery of essential services, such as criminal justice, healthcare, education, and social programs. However, the dynamic effects of organizational culture and corruption on class poverty are still unknown. This phenomenological study fills this gap. The researcher employed a case study methodology to achieve this goal, using a semi-structured interview format, a focus group, and a document analysis of an administrative court. The population for the interview …

Family Mealtime Experience Of Traditional Fathers Post-Covid-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study, Eric C. Tibbs

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In 2020, COVID-19 impacted the world and transformed the way individuals and families operated and functioned daily. Lockdowns and restrictions forced families to stay home and find alternative ways of providing and living concerning employment, education, and family functioning. One particular area impacted by this phenomenon was how families operated and conducted family meals. During COVID-19, increases in family mealtime were seen to take place but little evidence was found regarding the quality of these mealtimes, the father’s experience, and what family functioning looked like after COVID-19. While family functioning and mealtimes during COVID-19 have been examined and analyzed over …

Review Of Stories On Skin: A Librarian’S Guide To Tattoos As Personal Archives, Steven Bingo

Journal of Western Archives

A book review of Terry Baxter and Libby Coyner-Tsosie’s book Stories on Skin: A Librarian’s Guide to Tattoos as Personal Archives.

Potential Economic Impact Of Grapevine Phylloxera (Hemiptera: Phylloxeridae) On Western Australian Winegrapes, David C. Cook, Andrew S. Taylor, Peter S. Gardiner, Rodrigo Pires, Hamish L R Mckirdy, Karen W. Holmes, Helen Spafford

Viticulture Research Articles

Grapevine phylloxera Daktulosphaira vitifoliae Fitch (Hemiptera: Phylloxeridae) has been present in Australia for almost 150 years but has not spread to south-west Western Australia, in part due to the relative isolation of the region. Recent improvements in tourist access, with interstate flights now arriving at Busselton Margaret River Airport, raise concerns about potential phylloxera introductions via wine tourism. In this paper, we simulate the potential economic impact on the Western Australian winegrape industry following a hypothetical arrival event in the Margaret River wine region. We use soil texture maps to assess the suitability of winegrape-growing areas to phylloxera establishment and …

Cost-Effective Solutions For High-Throughput Enzymatic Dna Methylation Sequencing, Amy Longtin, Marina M. Watowich, Baptiste Sadoughi, Rachel M. Petersen, Sarah F. Brosnan, Kenneth Buetow, Qiuyin Cai, Cayo Biobank Research Unit, Vanderbilt University, Michael D. Gurven, James P. Higham, Heather M. Highland, Yi-Ting Huang, Hillard Kaplan, Thomas S. Kraft, Yvonne A. L. Lim, Jirong Long, Amanda D. Melin, Michael J. Montagne, Jamie Roberson, Kee Seong Ng, Michael L. Platt, India A. Schneider-Crease, Jonathan Stieglitz, Benjamin C. Trumble, Vivek Venkataraman, Ian J. Wallace, Jie Wu, Noah Snyder-Mackler, Angela Jones, Alexander G. Bick, Amanda J. Lea

ESI Publications

Characterizing DNA methylation patterns is important for addressing key questions in evolutionary biology, development, geroscience, and medical genomics. While costs are decreasing, whole-genome DNA methylation profiling remains prohibitively expensive for most population-scale studies, creating a need for cost-effective, reduced representation approaches (i.e., assays that rely on microarrays, enzyme digests, or sequence capture to target a subset of the genome). Most common whole genome and reduced representation techniques rely on bisulfite conversion, which can damage DNA resulting in DNA loss and sequencing biases. Enzymatic methyl sequencing (EM-seq) was recently proposed to overcome these issues, but thorough benchmarking of EM-seq combined with …

Cmlit 101w Syllabus, Alexander Moudrov

Open Educational Resources

The syllabus for CMLIT 101W (Global Literatures 1) based on open-source materials.

School Principals’ Perceptions Of Hiring School Counselors, Wendy Carol Vaughn

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

School principals are the primary hiring authorities in U.S. K-12 public schools when employing school counselors. Despite the expansion and diversification of schools’ qualifications, characteristics, and roles, there is a gap in knowledge about principals’ hiring perspectives, priorities, and specific criteria. These elements provide vital information for school counseling educational programs and organizational advocacy for hiring school counselors based on current standards and qualifications. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand the perceptions of school principals regarding the hiring of school counselors. Targeting the research question “What are the perceptions of principals interviewing and hiring school counselors …

Umn Morris Announces 2025 Student Award Winners, Communications And Marketing

Campus News Archive

No abstract provided.

Assessing The Influence Of Core Transformational Leadership Style On Job Satisfaction And Organizational Citizenship Behavior In A Rural Healthcare Facility, Bruce Daryl Mitchell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The successful application of core transformational leadership (CTL) in healthcare may enhance the quality of patient care and foster a positive and optimistic workforce. As such, CTL may be linked with job satisfaction (JS) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). There was a knowledge gap in understanding CTL’s relation to JS and OCB. In this quantitative study, the influence of the predictor variable CTL on the dependent variables JS and OCB was examined. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs provided a theoretical lens for the investigation. The secondary data set included data from 221 participants: 37 physicians, 111 nurses, and 73 other workforce …

Critical Praxis For Transnational Movement-Lawyering, Kelsey Jost-Creegan

Pepperdine Law Review

This Article seeks to identify new ways to respond to critiques of international human rights practice as hierarchy-reproducing, extractive, and imperialist. It proposes one model for how human rights lawyers can better work in solidarity with oppressed communities organizing around common grievances: transnational movement-lawyering. While the framing of community-led lawyering has become rapidly popularized in the human rights field, work remains to ensure that this theoretical and discursive shift translates into a transformation of the day-to-day mechanics of human rights practice. This Article seeks to identify concrete ways to apply critical theory and participatory methodologies to human rights practice. Part …

Sociology And Anthropology, University Of Mississippi. Department Of Sociology And Anthropology

University Website Migration from WordPress

No abstract provided.

Spirituality And The Quest For Transcendence On The Portuguese Way Of St. James, José Luís Braga, Miguel Pazos Otón, Isabel Borges

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela is a kind of proto tourism in a world where the number of pilgrimages has increased considerably. In the past the only motivation for such pilgrimages was religious, today we are witnessing the emergence of new motivations, such as cultural and even sporting ones. The research questions that guide this study are the following: Are faith and religion still strong enough motivations to justify pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela? Are there points of convergence between religious and secular pilgrims? Can the Camino be a means of awakening religious vocations? In short, what is the …

Exploring Models Of Reflective Practice To Aid The Understanding Of Pilgrimage Experience, Chris Hall

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This paper explores the use of models of reflective practice to aid reflection and sense making for a walking pilgrimage experience and analyses the challenges of using such a model in this context. The paper then examines whether Greenia’s definition of pilgrimage experience can be used as a model to aid reflection. This is subsequently applied to a 5-day walking pilgrimage experience and its effectiveness assessed.