Digital Commons Network^™

Empowered Creation: Investigating Business Acumen And Technological Engagement Among Female Artists As Creative Entrepreneurs, Heggins-Jackson Tracey

Theses and Dissertations

The most powerful vehicle for communication and change is art. Creative endeavors have served humanity as a source of motivation and inspiration, as agents for shaping meaning and, most importantly, evoking empathy. Unfortunately, women in the arts face significant challenges due to deeply entrenched stereotypes, social expectations, societal norms, and gender-related misinformation, which result in destructive narratives. Paradoxically, this marginalized population possesses the skills and insights needed to address disparities through authentic narrative dissemination. Research indicates a limited focus on the contributions and pathways of women in the creative arts industry as entrepreneurs, explicitly highlighting their genuine needs conveyed through …

Characterization Of The Solid-State Bonding For Simulated Charge And Seam Welds In The Porthole Die Extrusion Process, Randall L. Bowers

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

The isothermal (ISO-T) compression configuration is ideal for utilizing as a material input of flow stress at temperature and strain rate in models of the porthole die extrusion process due to the isothermal nature of the test. Micro-tensile testing was conducted to validate the solid-state welding integrity of the ISO-T samples at various temperatures and strain rates. Results of the mechanical testing were correlated with fractography and microstructural evaluations of the welds to confirm bonding behavior. Both clean interface conditions and oxidation and lubrication layers were evaluated to simulate the difference of seam and charge welds in the process. Results …

Artificial Intellectual Property, Daniel J. Gervais

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The year is 2031. You just got up. Your smartwatch has registered the movement, and the coffee maker is on. After your shower, you pick up your phone or read the latest news on the New York Times app on your VR goggles or palm. Except for a few remaining columnists, the news is all written by AI machines. At work, you are responsible for a report on a new product for your company, and you use Al to design the product and prepare the pitch, including the visuals and text of your presentation to the C-suite. The Al system …

Integrating Research And Writing: When Librarians Work With Faculty To Reimagine First-Year Writing, Dominic Ashby, Dana Kendrick

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Writing instructors and librarians redesigned a research and writing course, ENG 102. Interweaving information literacy and composition practices, they use a flipped model to transform classroom instruction and library lessons into authentic learning experiences that help students synthesize research into multigenre projects, meeting WPA and ACRL learning outcomes for research.

Frandship Ended With Anti-Suit Injunctions? U.S. And European Responses To Chinese Anti-Suit Injunctions In Standard-Essential Patent Litigation, Richard Li

Emory International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Josef Bohatec: The First Historian Of The Calvinist Reformation Of Rights, John Witte Jr., Thomas Jared Farmer

Emory International Law Review

This Article analyzes the pioneering work of the first great historian of Calvinist rights talk, Josef Bohatec (1876–1954), a Moravian-born and Vienna-based church historian. Bohatec built on the earlier efforts of several German scholars who were excavating pre-Enlightenment sources of human rights going back to antiquity. But Bohatec placed strong new emphasis on the original rights contributions of sixteenth-century Protestant reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) and his followers. Bohatec showed how Calvin’s legal training shaped the many new statutes and rights ordinances that he crafted for Geneva. He also showed how Calvin’s theological training shaped his highly innovative Protestant legal and …

Accessible Mental Health Chicago, Guadalupe Cuevas

Selected Social Change Portfolios in Prevention, Intervention, and Consultation

Goal Statement: My prevention-focused goal statement for Accessible Mental Health Chicago is to create a program that focuses on providing mental health resources for all in all areas of Chicago. This is by having community based low-cost or no-cost mental health services throughout the city, in the local languages that are of that community.

Significant Findings: While there are some limited resources in the areas with the highest calls for mental health crisis, they are not accessible for most of the city. While there are mental health centers throughout the city there aren’t many low or no cost resources. This …

Toward A Decolonial Archive: A Reflection On The Operationalization Process Of Critical Transborder Documentary Production Practice, Ramón Resendiz, Rosalva Resendiz

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Understanding Social Biases In Large Language Models, Ojasvi Gupta, Stefano Marrone, Francesco Gargiulo, Rajesh Jaiswal, Lidia Marassi

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Background/Objectives: Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, LLAMA, and Mistral are widely used for automating tasks such as content creation and data analysis. However, due to their training on publicly available internet data, they may inherit social biases. We aimed to investigate the social biases (i.e., ethnic, gender, and disability biases) in these models and evaluate how different model versions handle them. Methods: We instruction-tuned popular models (like Mistral, LLAMA, and Gemma), and for this we curated a dataset constructed by collecting and modifying diverse data from various public datasets. Prompts were run through a controlled pipeline, and responses were …

Understanding Trends In Zostera Research, Stressors, And Response Variables, Hannah R. Lyford, Emma Guerrini Romano, Shayna A. Sura, Sarah Joy Bittick

Biology Faculty Works

Background. Seagrass meadows are ecologically significant habitats that are globally threatened. Thus, there is increased interest in conservation of seagrasses as they face widespread decline. Biotic and abiotic factors that influence seagrass can be classified as stressors, such as rising temperature and eutrophication. Our study met an imminent need to consolidate data from previous studies to discern knowledge gaps and identify trends in studies, stressors, species, and geographic origination of research for the genus Zostera. For our systematic review, the objectives were to (A) qualitatively assess and summarize the current state of literature focused on seagrass species within the Zostera …

Magnetization Transfer Ratio In The Typically Developing Pediatric Spinal Cord: Normative Data And Age Correlation, Sara Naghizadeh Kashani, Iswarya Vel, Zahra Sadeghi Adl, Shiva Shahrampour, Devon Middleton, Mahdi Alizadeh, Laura Krisa, Scott Faro, Slimane Tounekti, Julien Cohen-Adad, Feroze Mohamed

Department of Radiology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study presents automated atlas-based magnetization transfer (MT) measurements of the typically developing pediatric cervical spinal cord (SC). We report normative MT ratio (MTR) values from the whole cervical cord white matter (WM) and WM tracts, examining variations with age, sex, height, and weight.

METHODS: MT scans of 33 healthy females (mean age = 12.8) and 22 males (mean age = 13.09) were acquired from the cervical SC (C2-C7) using a 3.0 T MRI. Data were processed using the SC Toolbox, segmented, and registered to the PAM50 template. Affine and non-rigid transformations co-registered the PAM50 WM atlas …

Common Data Set, Georgia Southern University

Georgia Southern Common Datasets

No abstract provided.

“The New Illiteracy”: “Why Johnny Can’T Write” At 50, Carl Schlachte

Publications and Research

This article is a retrospective history on Newsweek magazine's December 8, 1975 cover story "Why Johnny Can't Write" by Merrill Sheils. Based on interviews with Sheils and her researcher Frederick V. Boyd, I detail the context from which this article emerged, and the role that the two employment and gender discrimination lawsuits at Newsweek in the early 1970s played in shaping this article's publication. I also examine the legacy of "Why Johnny Can't Write" within the field of writing studies.

The Ras, Briana Kaisen

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

Eve’s goal is simple: to discover a college major that will earn her the most money without completely draining her soul. When her housing plans implode and tuition bills pile up, Eve reluctantly takes on the role of RA—a glorified babysitter for drunken freshmen—in exchange for a roof over her head. Quitting isn’t an option, but surviving this circus of unhinged students and incompetent coworkers might just cost her what’s left of her sanity.

Alongside her eclectic team of fellow RAs, Eve battles to keep students alive while chasing down banned pets, unraveling the mystery of the dorm elevator couch, …

Review Of Digital Degrowth: Technology In The Age Of Survival, Michael Kirby

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Bib Record In The Age Of Digital Reproduction, Michael Kirby

Publications and Research

Taking both structural and thematic inspiration from Walter Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” this article posits that the movement from physical card catalogs to ALSs [Automated library systems] and ILSs [Integrated library systems] was not solely the result of technological progress. Rather, this transition had its genesis in a process Marx called primitive accumulation—in this case a form specific to the library profession. In other words, this article seeks to recast the history of digitized catalogs within libraries, seeing them, first and foremost, as harbingers of disenfranchisement and dispossession, specifically of catalogers. The article …

The Limits Of Technocratic Degrowth: A Review Of The End Of Capitalism: Why Growth And Climate Protection Are Incompatible—And How We Will Live In The Future, Michael Kirby

Publications and Research

This book review discusses Ulrike Herrmann’s The End of Capitalism: Why Growth and Climate Protection Are Incompatible—and How We Will Live in the Future, situating it within contemporary climate debates. Herrmann’s central claim—that capitalism’s dependence on perpetual growth renders meaningful climate protection impossible—is presented as a clear, accessible synthesis of degrowth arguments. The book is particularly notable for its rejection of techno-utopian solutions such as carbon capture and its skepticism vis-à-vis large-scale renewable transitions under market conditions. However, the review ultimately questions the feasibility of Herrmann's proposed alternative (the “survival economy”), demonstrating that it overlooks political power, class interests, and …

Exploring The Dynamics And Outcomes Of Family Engagement In Child Welfare Services: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach, Jianchao Lai, Michelle Graef, Todd Franke

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

Background: Engaging families effectively in child welfare services remains a persistent challenge, shaped by complex interactions between agency practices and family circumstances. While existing research has explored this issue, it has predominantly relied on data from agency and caseworker perspectives, often overlooking the crucial viewpoint of the families. Objectives: This study investigates families’ subjective experiences and perceptions within the child welfare system, focusing on their satisfaction with child welfare workers and overall engagement. Methods: The study draws on data collected through an evaluation of the implementation of Alternative Response in a Midwestern state. Agency administrative data is integrated with additional …

Full Issue

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

The Chosen: Insights For Latter-Day Saints, John Hilton Iii, Julie Hollenbaugh

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

This article explores the impact of the television series The Chosen through the lens of Latter-day Saint theology, education, and interfaith connection. Highlighting its unprecedented global reach, the article examines how the series can deepen viewers’ understanding of Jesus Christ. It recounts the miraculous circumstances through which The Chosen gained access to the Church’s Jerusalem set in Goshen, Utah, and underscores the production’s ecumenical spirit, involving Evangelical, Catholic, and Latter-day Saint collaborators. The article further outline show The Chosen can strengthen interfaith dialogue and be used in gospel classrooms and homes as a tool for spiritual growth.

What Are We To Make Of The Gold Plates?, Richard Lyman Bushman

BYU Studies

During the winter of 2020–2021, I worked on the manuscript that was eventually published as Joseph Smith’s Gold Plates: A Cultural History (Oxford University Press, 2023). The book was an attempt to describe the many ways the plates had been imagined from the time they were first described as a “Golden Bible” in the June 1829 Wayne Sentinel1 down to the Sunday School and missionary lessons today. I marveled at the enduring interest in the plates over time, not only among Latter-day Saints but also among other American writers. In my lifetime, the plates had appeared in the Book of …

“Not Only Men But Women Also” An Argument For Alma’S Intentional Inclusion Of Women, Cassidy Nichole Pyper

BYU Studies

In an interestingly specific inclusion of women, Alma taught the Zoramites that “[God] imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also” (Alma 32:23). This phrase suggests that Alma had an awareness of women and their ability to receive revelation despite how little the Book of Mormon explicitly includes women in its narrative.1 The Book of Mormon mentions women at drastically lower rates than even the Bible.2 Some students of the Book of Mormon are concerned not only that women are rarely spoken of in the text but also that women may have been ignored …

Full Issue

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Consumer Preferences And Valuation For Sustainably Produced Rice In Ghana, Adabrah-Danquah Vera, Durand-Morat Alvaro, Lawton L. Nalley, Mandiaye Diagne, Benedicta Nsiah Frimpong, Wei Yang

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Faculty Publications and Presentations

Improving the sustainability of rice, a global food staple with a significant environmental footprint, is of utmost importance, given the growing population and increased depletion of natural resources. The Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) standard is the first globally recognized certification standard for sustainable rice production. SRP comprises 41 requirements structured under 12 indicators and 8 themes, through which farmers can receive SRP certification and use the SRP label. This study assesses consumers' preferences for SRP-certified sustainable rice in Ghana. We surveyed 1168 consumers in Accra, Kumasi, and Tamale, the three largest cities in Ghana, to ascertain their preferences for each …

Learning Dissemination Strategies: Lessons From The Covid-19 Pandemic In Training Healthcare Professionals In Disease Management, Kishan Vishanagra

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic presented many challenges for global healthcare systems, requiring rapid training and dissemination of disease management strategies among healthcare professionals. This study conducts a systematic review of 37 studies to examine the learning dissemination methods created and utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on just-in-time training for disease management. This study identifies four core training topics: airway management, infection control, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and patient triage. This study also categorizes delivery methods into in-situ simulation-based training, online e-learning platforms, online simulation-based training, and hybrid training models. Findings highlight that simulation-based training methods proved effective for invasive high-risk procedures, while …

Reconciling Theory And Praxis. Defending Subjective Agency Against Althusser's Structuralism - Daniel Guerrero, Daniel Guerrero

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Louis Althusser labels Marx’s early works as humanist, pseudo-materialist, and self-contained within the ideology of German idealism. Therefore, all attempts to develop a Marxist theory based on these works are futile and ideological. Instead, Althusser proposes a ‘scientific’ reading of Marx developing a structuralist theory based on dialectical materialism. I argue that his interpretations deny individual agency and reduce social relations to mechanistic processes, which directly conflicts with fundamental Marxist ideas like alienation, production, and species-being. By discussing authors within the Marxist Humanist tradition, I argue that a theoretical framework based on Marx’s early works is not only possible, but …

Community Music, Counter-Stories, And Social Inequality In Central Florida's Music Spaces, Katia Destine

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Black working-class musicians have shaped American popular culture for centuries. Despite their contributions, they have faced decades of marginalization and exploitation by record companies, executives, and consumers. While systems of exploitation affect musicians of all backgrounds, Black working-class musicians are in a double bind, susceptible to both economic and social exploitation. Musicians who live within the subdominant groups of race, gender, and class frequently face obstacles that place them at a disadvantage. Through semi-structured interviews, the research draws on the lived experiences of Black working-class musicians in Central Florida. I argue that community music serves as a vital resource, offering …

Understanding Women's Access To And Utilization Of Syringe Service Programs, Annelisa E. Swiersz

Honors Undergraduate Theses

As of 2020, 138 million Americans ages 12 and over reported illicit drug use in their lifetime, with over 3 million of those people injecting drugs. There are risks for all people who use drugs, but people who inject drugs (PWID) pose specific risks such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), with women who inject drugs (WWID) facing even more risks. WWID involved in sex work have a higher risk of HIV transmission and lack access to sterile injection devices and sexual and reproductive health services. To address these risks, syringe service programs (SSPs) were developed …

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Cultural Stigma, And Identity Distress Among College Students, Jessica T. Frank

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), cultural stigma, and identity in a sample of college-age students. Previous studies have primarily focused on children, yet few have examined ADHD as it persists into adulthood. Likewise, studies examining cultural stigma and identity were limited and primarily examined stigma toward mental health as a general concept rather than ADHD-specific attitudes. To address these disparities, a sample of undergraduate college students enrolled in psychology courses at a large metropolitan university (N = 339) were recruited and took an anonymous online survey in exchange for course …

What Factors Improve Police Legitimacy?, Nyomi Powers

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Legitimacy in law enforcement can be defined as the perception of the police as an appropriate and respected source of power and authority. United States law enforcement is facing a legitimacy crisis stemming from a growing distrust in the police and decreased police community relationships. In order to address this problem, solutions are being sought in both police agencies and by researchers in the field. This systematic review aims to compile all relevant experiments and analyze the findings to create a comprehensive list of policy implications that most effectively improve police legitimacy. For experiments to be included in this review, …