Digital Commons Network^™

Bronze And Bulletin Boards: Indigenous Language In Formal And Informal Campus Space, Adria Capozzoli

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

What histories and lives are acknowledged in officially sanctioned institutional memorials and place-names? In recent years, academic institutions in the United States and other Anglophone nations have installed a significant amount of Indigenous-language signage on their campuses. Administrators at the University of Montana have installed a number of signs in Indigenous languages, including an intended new "centerpiece" monument at the Oval due to be installed in 2025. Also in 2025, UM is simultaneously finalizing installation of an expensive three-meter-tall sign at a new "gateway" to campus. This project seeks to inquire where, and in what contexts, acknowledgement of Indigenous languages …

Exploring The Right To Food Advocacy Landscape In The United States, Andrew Indomenico, Peppi Delliquadri, Chelsea Marshall, Alison Cohen, Josh Lohnes

CRC Research Symposium

The National Right to Food (RtF) Community of Practice (CoP) is a membership-based national coalition of advocates and organizations working to advance the RtF in our cities, towns, and states. This research project sought to understand (1) how a membership based organization like the CoP grows into a social movement defined by the visions and needs of its participants, and (2) what the added value is of weaving together existing local and state efforts into a national movement. Through surveys (n= 54) and interviews (n=20) of CoP members, this research sought to understand individual perceptions of RtF principles, and food …

Take Me Home? Understanding Refugee Resettlement Knowledge On The Wvu Campus, Kaitlin Stewart, Dylan Gay, David Olchowoj

CRC Research Symposium

Studies find that knowledge about refugee resettlement plays a significant role in the willingness of communities to accept refugees. Knowledge about refugees and refugee resettlement plays a significant role in other factors that shape refugee acceptance such as perceived ethnic threat. Perceived ethnic threat, or the belief that an ethnic group poses a threat economically, socially, or culturally to another, contributes significantly to a host community’s willingness to accept and care for refugees. This perceived threat escalates as federal governments use refugees and migrants as scapegoats for acts of violence and terror and blur the lines between refugees, asylum seekers, …

Confronting Housing Challenges In West Virginia, Dawson Bernard, Gabrielle Frazier

CRC Research Symposium

The housing crisis in the United States has become a growing concern, with a lack of affordable, quality housing, and increased rates of homelessness. While this issue affects the nation as a whole, it takes on unique dimensions in rural and economically challenged places like West Virginia. What are the key trends and challenges in housing in West Virginia, and how do they impact housing quality, affordability, and access? Many communities across the state of WV are grappling with aging housing infrastructure, lack of new development, and economic instability. Motivated by both an omission in data and pressing housing issues …

The Chemical City Of The World: Mapping Petrochemical Communities In West Virginia, Isabelle Judy, Daniel Renfrew, Grace Dever

CRC Research Symposium

This project was conducted out of the Center for Resilient Communities in partnerships with the West Virginia Environment and Society Lab. This research focuses on the impact of industrialization and water contamination on community health and well-being in South Charleston, West Virginia. West Virginia and the Ohio River valley have been at the heart of petrochemical development since the 1900s. Scholars refer to the area as a “sacrifice zone” that has fed the economic development of the nation while forcing local residents to suffer its toxic fallout. Many residents are aware of chemicals in their community however, there are gaps …

Stories Of Hope: An Environmental Justice Analysis Of The Past, Present, And Future Direction For Buckhannon And Tygart Valley River, Brooke E. Sikole, Matthew N. Olivero, Grace E. Dever

CRC Research Symposium

This project was conducted out of the WVU Center for Resilient Communities in partnership with local non-profits Save The Tygart Watershed Association and Buckhannon River Watershed Association. This research focuses on the impacts of industrialization and water contamination on the health and well-being of communities in the Tygart Valley Watershed. The Tygart Valley Watershed, like all other watersheds, is an incredibly important natural system that influences not only water quality and ecosystem health, but also the community within it. Encompassing rivers such as the Tygart Valley and Buckhannon, this watershed is no stranger to contamination and other challenges. Even so, …

Establishing The Creative Network: Wv's Arts Entrepreneur Ecosystem Project, Mckayla R. Braun, Domenica Queen

CRC Research Symposium

The Tamarack Foundation for the Arts’ (TFA) the fellowship for the arts is an art foundation committed to nurturing the next generation of artists by providing a comprehensive support system designed to promote both creative and professional development. Through its fellowship program, TFA provides artists with access to critical resources, including financial literacy education, mentorship, and structured opportunities for artistic and professional growth. Recognizing that creative talent alone is not always sufficient to sustain a long-term artistic practice, TFA’s mission is to equip fellows with the knowledge and tools necessary to thrive both within and beyond the studio. As part …

Transforming Our Communities: Studying The Impact Of The Wvhub Coaching Program, Haley Mosley, Audrey Bennett, Bradley Wilson, Olivia Mcconnell

CRC Research Symposium

Since Fall 2024, the WVU Center for Resilient Communities and WV Community Development Hub (WVHUB) have worked in partnership to advance action research on their unique community coaching program in West Virginia. Now celebrating 15 years of operation, the Hub is the only statewide community economic development organization in West Virginia. Its purpose is to help communities locate and obtain local, regional, and federal funding resources for various projects. The Hub works with isolated, marginalized communities, especially in rural areas. The Hub seeks to evaluate its community coaching programs. During the past few months, countless organizations have seen financial cuts …

From Creek To Community:Restoring Deckers Creek Watershed, Paige Tuttle, Grace E. Dever

CRC Research Symposium

This project was conducted out of the Center for Resilient Communities in partnership with local non-profit Friends of Deckers Creek. This research explored the impacts of industrialization and water contamination on the health and well-being of community members in the Deckers Creek Watershed. West Virginia’s rolling mountains, steep slopes, and low hollers are a place where many families and individuals call home. Our beautiful landscape is full of mountains and rivers that continue to be a source of joy for many of the people living within the region. When West Virginians reflect on what makes them feel connected to this …

A Case For Change: Flood Risk Management And Green Infrastructure, Heejun Chang, Arun Pallathadka

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

With climate change, changing demographics, and the historical legacy of aging infrastructure, many cities are facing challenges in urban flood risk management. We propose potential opportunities and synergies of collaborative urban flood risk management using green infrastructure to achieve social, ecological, and technological benefits.

Navigating Ethical Dimensions In The Metaverse: Challenges, Frameworks, And Solutions, Mousa Al-Kfairy, Saed Alrabaee, Omar Alfandi, Amr Taha Mohamed, Souheil Khaddaj

All Works

The Metaverse is rapidly evolving into a transformative digital ecosystem, bringing with it unprecedented opportunities and a complex array of ethical challenges. This narrative review, based on an in-depth analysis of 105 full publications, explores the key ethical themes associated with the Metaverse, including privacy and data security, identity and behavior, digital inclusivity, mental and physical health, ethical AI, content moderation, intellectual property, governance, environmental sustainability, harassment, cultural representation, and economic implications. Proposed solutions for these challenges encompass privacy-by-design frameworks, robust identity verification systems, equitable access initiatives, explainable AI, and blockchain-based intellectual property protections. Additionally, the review examines governance and …

Economic Development In Ten Massachusetts Communities: A Study Of Public Policy Implementation Methods And Outcomes, Derek Michael Bennett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Economic renewal and development are an essential elements of urban economic development within numerous cities in the United States. Little has been reported concerning methods used to implement policy to create the conditions desirable for economic growth and development. The purpose of this study was to investigate the corelative relationship between implementation methods used and the outcomes of economic growth and development policy, applying Pierson's (1993) Policy Feedback Theory as the theoretical framework. Using a mixed methods-based study of quantitative and quantitative methods, to examine the correlation between policy implementation practices and resulting barriers in local economic growth and development, …

Charles Darwin, Michaela J. Santo, Jonathan B. Santo

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Charles Robert Darwin was born February 12th, 1809 in Shropshire England, the fifth child of six to Robert and Susannah Darwin. Although Darwin is best known for his work as a naturalist, he had an early interest in medicine working with his father treating the poor in the village of his birth. Though he enrolled in medical school, he found the study of taxidermy more engaging than his medical studies. His interest soon shifted towards natural history, to the cataloging of beetles and eventually geology. He subsequently dropped the pursuit of medicine to finishing his coursework to become an Anglican …

Occupational Choice, Gregory John Vitale

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Occupational choice is a multi-determined decision with influences from psychological traits, socioeconomic status, and cultural background. In addition, what a person ultimately does for a living is influenced by what they are capable of, what they like doing, what society requires, and what they can make a living doing. In other words, it is the combination of skill, enjoyment, societal need, and monetary return. This combination, if attained in harmony, is what the Japanese call “ikigai,” or “a reason for being.” Most people grow up thinking this harmony exists for them in some capacity; however, most people must make sacrifices …

Star Power: The Impact Of Social Media And Celebrity Endorsements On The 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, Maeve Cahill

Academic Festival

This thesis investigates the role that social media and celebrity endorsements played in the 2024 presidential election. As social media becomes increasingly incorporated into the everyday lives of American citizens and celebrity endorsements become more common on the campaign trail, understanding their changing impact in the context of a modern landscape has become important. I utilized a mixed methods approach to analyze the social media strategies of both the Harris and Trump campaigns, as well as how each candidate leveraged celebrity endorsements. The findings suggest that both campaigns prioritized similar content on their respective X pages and that the engagement …

The Shorthorn: May 5, 1953

The Shorthorn Newspaper Collection: 1950s

No abstract provided.

The Shorthorn: November 7, 1950

The Shorthorn Newspaper Collection: 1950s

No abstract provided.

Integrated Baseball In Ohio, 1883–1900: Sol White And Richard Male, Revised, Mark E. Eberle

Monographs

Two essays amend and expand what has been published about two Ohio natives who played baseball in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as the sport became increasingly segregated. The first essay clarifies the early years of Sol White, a Black ballplayer from Bellaire, Ohio, who played on integrated amateur teams in his hometown beginning in 1883, as well as the integrated first nine in Wheeling, West Virginia in 1886–1887 and the segregated Pittsburgh Keystones in 1887–1888. About this same time, Richard Male, who was born in Columbus but was a longtime resident of Cleveland, played under the pseudonym …

College Of Liberal Arts Annual Awards Ceremony, 2025, Lee Cohen, University Of Mississippi. College Of Liberal Arts

Liberal Arts Awards

The College of Liberal Arts presented awards to its faculty, staff, students, and alumni in the Gertrude C. Ford Center Student Union Ballroom.

Soil Metric Analysis Around Engquist Nature Preserve, Jack E. Colwell, Kora Morgan Stephey, Nicole L. Smar, Jon-Paul Mccool

Symposium on Research and Creative Expression (SORCE)

This project analyzed soil parameters from multiple locations owned by the Shirley Heinze Land Trust in Porter County, Indiana, some of which are being ecologically restored or have been restored in the past. The samples were collected from prairie, forested wetland, riverine wetland/floodplain ecological areas, and current agricultural areas that are to be restored to each of those same environmental types. To measure the effectiveness of the rehabilitation mentioned above, this project compared bulk density, soil chemistry, organic matter, aggregate stability, and particle size analysis from the agricultural area to those from restored and natural settings. This allowed the estimation …

Neither Here Nor There: Passing Through Race, Culture, Transnationalism, And Generational Inheritance In Mixed-Race Japanese American Literature, Rachel Kelly

English Honors Projects

My honors project explores the concept of passing in Japanese American mixed-race literature written after World War II by examining how acts of passing are racially, transnationally, and formally represented in Ruth Ozeki’s novel, My Year of Meats; Asako Serizawa’s novel-in-stories, Inheritors; and Brian Komei Dempster’s poetry collection, Topaz. Through my analysis, I seek to expand traditional notions of racial passing by reconceptualizing the term's connection to physical and spatial mobility, generational inheritances, and literary forms in order to recognize and celebrate mixed-race Japanese American voices within larger conversations by and around Asian American and BIPOC American …

Supreme Court Case Study: The Variation In Rates Of Miscarriage Management Care And Post-Abortion Care Across The Us Before And After The Supreme Court Decision, Ted Sibrian Jr.

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

The paper examines abortion care and the management of miscarriages following the Roe v. Wade decision in restrictive states that do not allow medical intervention due to the vague legal terms. This research evaluates the need to establish protocols for providers when faced with nonviable pregnancies requiring medical intervention. Additionally, the paper highlights the impact across the US on women’s health outcomes by emphasizing the care for miscarriage management. This multi-method paper reviews the current literature on miscarriage management and spontaneous abortion MarketScan® data from commercially insured individuals with an age range of 18-50 years old by regions across the …

Stereotype, Stigma, And Discrimination And Prep Use Among Black And Latino Men And Women, Aieshia Brooks Poole

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

HIV infections continue to rise in the Southern United States, with Black and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM), bisexual men, and women experiencing disproportionate impacts. Although pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an effective biomedical intervention for reducing HIV transmission, disparities in its uptake remain due to healthcare stereotype threat, felt stigma, and everyday discrimination. This quantitative cross-sectional study analyzed secondary data from the Generations: A Study of the Life and Health of LGB People in a Changing Society (2016–2019) to examine the relationship between these psychosocial barriers and PrEP use among Black/Latino MSM, bisexual men, and women aged …

Canadian Security Intelligence Service (Csis), Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

April 24, 2025 presentation for Canada's GovInfo Day Spring 2025 hosted by Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and Internet Archive Canada. Provides information about the publicly available information resources produced by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) which is the Canadian Government's foremost national intelligence agency. Provides information about this agency's statutory organization, types of publicly available reports they produce, information about other Canadian government intelligence agencies, and parliamentary oversight of Canadian government intelligence operations. Lists additional resources for finding information about CSIS and explains the benefits of having access to these resources for users.

Unh Grad Students Power Growth At Incline Analytics, Aaron Sanborn

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

A Tale Of Two Faiths: Contemporary Protestantism In The Spanish-Speaking Catholic World, Jackson B. Mitchell

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the shifting religious landscape of the Spanish-speaking Catholic world through the lens of Protestant growth, particularly Pentecostal and Evangelical movements. Beginning with a historical account of Spain’s Catholic hegemony and its colonial export of Catholicism to Latin America, the study traces how Latin America’s religious identity has gradually diverged from its Spanish roots. Over the past half-century, Protestantism has grown rapidly across Latin America, challenging Catholic dominance and reshaping the region’s spiritual and social fabric.

The thesis then turns back to Spain, where rising immigration from Latin America and changing cultural dynamics have facilitated the reintroduction of …

Of Plural Worlds, Sophia Mason

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Of Plural Worlds employs installation, soft sculpture, and drawing to visually demonstrate white colonial narratives in Mormonism (The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints) since the mid-1800s. The work uses a museum context as a way “into” the work and to talk about whiteness embedded in institutions. The museum installation however is funny; fabric sculptures won't fool anyone as "real" museum displays. The whole show traffics in obvious theatrical role play. The research is grounded in art theory, performance theory, Institutional Critique and scientific reports to create a space where viewers (especially white viewers) might experience the colonial tendency toward …

Annual Graduate Faculty Meeting [Program], April 24, 2025, University Of Northern Iowa. Graduate College.

Annual Graduate Faculty Meeting & Awards Ceremony Programs

No abstract provided.

Differences In Hepatocellular Carcinoma Incidence Trends Across Us Census Divisions, 2001 To 2021, Itunu O Sokale, Omar Rosales, Aaron P Thrift, Hashem B El-Serag, Elyse Burgess, Abiodun O Oluyomi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background/Objectives: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer diagnoses and deaths in the United States. This study serves as an update on secular trends in national HCC incidence rates while exploring potential geographic and racial/ethnic differences across all nine US census divisions.

Methods: We analyzed HCC incidence data reported to the United States Cancer Statistics (USCS) database from 2001 to 2021 (excluding 2020 data, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's cautionary recommendations for COVID-19 pandemic data usage for trend analysis). We performed trend analyses of age-adjusted incidence rates in the US overall, by census …

Yeats, Tagore, And The Nobel Prize In Literature: Imprimaturs In Modernist Cultural Conversations, Ragini Mohite

International Yeats Studies

No abstract provided.