Digital Commons Network^™

The Effect Of The Guided Reciprocal Questioning Strategy On The Expressive Performance Of Second-Grade Intermediate Female Students., Enas Faseeh Ali Daoud

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

This paper aimed to identify the effect of the directed exchange questions strategy on the expressive performance of second-year middle school female students. The researcher followed the experimental research approach and adopted the experimental design with the experimental group, the control group, and sequential expressive tests. The experimental group consisted of (26) female students and the control group (26) female middle and high school students. Adhamiya District, Rusafa First. She rewarded the two research groups with variables (chronological age, previous year’s grades, and intelligence test scores). She prepared the research requirements, including defining the study material and preparing behavioral goals …

Examining Pathways For A Climate Neutral Europe By 2050; A Model Comparison Analysis Including Integrated Assessment Models And Energy System Models, Efstratios Mikropoulos, Mark Roelfsema, Hsing Hsuan Chen, Iain Staffell, Gabriel Oreggioni, Dan Hdidouan, Jakob Zinck Thellufsen, Miguel Antonio Chang, Panagiotis Fragkos, Anastasis Giannousakis, Souran Chatterjee, Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, Stefan Pfenninger, Bryn Pickering, Marta Victoria, Tom Brown, Detlef P. Van Vuuren

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The European Union's goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050, outlined in the European Green Deal, is supported by numerous studies providing insights into pathways and emission reduction strategies in the energy sectors. However, model comparisons of such pathways are less common due to the complex nature of climate and energy modelling. Our study brings together integrated assessment models and energy system models under a common framework to develop EU policy scenarios: a Current Trends scenario reflecting existing policies and trends and a Climate Neutrality scenario aligned with the EU's emission reduction target. Both scenarios project reduced final energy consumption …

Small Industries And Their Economic Importance In Iraq For The Period (2000-2020), Amina Abdel-Karim Hadi Jalal

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

Small industries began to attract great attention from economists in various parts of the world after it became clear that the important role they have played in economic activity, whether in developed or developing countries. As for Iraq, interest has emerged in expanding investments in all sectors of the economy, including the industrial sector, especially small industries, as Many economists believe that developing these industries and encouraging their establishment are among the most important tributaries of the economic and social development process, as the number of their establishments represents a high percentage of the total industrial establishments in Iraq, and …

The Role Of Industrial Clusters Among The Chemical And Agricultural Industries In Iraq, Wafa Hussein Sayed

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

Basra Governorate is one of the important governorates in Iraq, which includes a large number of large industrial facilities. These establishments vary in terms of specialization. The most important of these industries are agro-industries, specifically food industries. These factories produce more than ten types of food, as well as the petrochemical industries complex is localised in the governorate, which produces many oil derivatives that enter many industries. Accordingly, the industrial reality of agricultural industries in Iraq and chemical industries was studied and the study of the industrial cluster strategy was applied to the two industries with, representation of the role …

Designing Field Courses To Teach Few Concepts Effectively, Eunice L. Blavascunas

National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW)

How do students learn complex systems FEW concepts in field courses? An overview of field-course practices in the Yakima Valley of Washington State.

An Integrated Framework For Food-Energy-Water-Nexus Education And Educational Research, Hannah Scherer, Doug Lombardi

National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW)

Our study centers the perspective of practitioners to define and describe FEW-Nexus-based education, identify and describe challenges with FEW-Nexus-based education, and ideate how education research can generate new knowledge to address these challenges. Using artifacts from FEW-Nexus education workshops and existing literature, we developed an integrated framework that can inform both educational practice and educational research. The framework includes ontological (thoughts about the socio-ecological systems aspects of the FEW-Nexus) and epistemological (thoughts about education and educational research of the FEW-Nexus) dimensions. We will next use this framework to probe more deeply into participants’ responses using thematic content analysis.

System Change, Not Climate Change: Collaborative Development Of A Few Nexus Experiential Learning Course For A Justice-Centered Comparative Study Abroad Program, Sonya Ahamed

National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW)

The International Honors Program (IHP) on Climate Change: The Politics of Land, Water and Energy Justice has been offered by the School for International Training (SIT) since 2013. This thematic multidisciplinary program currently travels to Morocco, Nepal, and Ecuador for one month each, introducing students to local food, water, and energy challenges in the context of a changing climate. In updating the program following its relaunch in 2023, renewed attention was given to the food, energy, and water nexus from a comparative perspective across and within these countries. This presentation will focus on the development of experiential learning cycles for …

Integrating The Few-Nexus Into An Agricultural Issues Course, Christopher M. Estepp, Hannah Scherer

National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW)

To address the global challenges facing the agricultural industry, graduates of agricultural degree programs must learn to utilize systems thinking skills, which can help them view the interconnectedness among issues and design holistic solutions. The Food-Energy-Water (FEW)-Nexus is an interdisciplinary framework that can support undergraduate student achievement of sustainability education competencies, including systems thinking. This project utilized the FEW-Nexus framework in an agricultural issues course to help students improve their systems thinking. Students were given lectures on various agricultural issues by experts in those areas. Two assignments, agricultural issue concept maps and critical reflections over each speaker’s session were completed …

Examining Intersectional Queer Biases In Large Language Models: A Combined Statistical And Visual-Qualitative Approach For Quantification And Explanation, Huu Duong (Chip) Nguyen

Computer Science Senior Theses

Despite significant advancements in research on (intersectional) social biases in Large Language Models (LLMs), intersectional biases affecting subgroups within the LGBTQ+ community remain critically understudied. Existing bias detection methodologies often prioritize quantification but lack depth in explaining the specific stereotypes/biases that shape evaluation metrics. To address these gaps, this study proposes a combined statistical and visual-qualitative approach to quantify and identify persistent intersectional queer biases in five recent, state-of-the-art LLMs through a downstream story generation task. Findings from analysis uncover substantial evidence of stereotypes that perpetuate harmful, reductive narratives against intersectionally marginalized groups within the LGBTQ+ community. To promote public …

In Case I Make It: An Autoethnographic Argument For Care, Space, And Utopia, Faelyn T. Cowan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Taking an autoethnographic and autotheoretical approach I examine within this project TomboloBooks’ Queer Comic Book Club. Drawing from José Esteban Mun֮oz’s ideas of queer utopia and Jen Jack Gieseking’s framework of constellations, and analyzing my own experiences, I present the Queer Comic Book Club (QCBC) as a moment of utopic queer worldmaking and argue for it’s potential as a site of alternative mental health care. Though I cannot provide here a generalizable model of book clubs as care, what I offer here is a series of possibilities, arguing for the potential of these spaces as community resources and sites of …

Harriet Beecher Stowe: Saints And Sinners Analysis Of The Moral Suasion And Motivations Behind The Creation Of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Makendric James Bowman

Student Summer Scholars Manuscripts

This project examines the motivations behind Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (UTC), focusing on how her desire for both financial gain and moral reform shaped her writing. Stowe’s use of religious themes to expose the moral and human costs of slavery positioned her novel at the center of national debate, forcing both defenders and opponents of slavery to confront uncomfortable truths. Her book ultimately made her the best-selling author of the 19th century, selling 300,000 copies mostly by door-to-door subscriptions. This is equivalent to about 4.4 million Americans today who do not have access to Amazon or bookstores. Even …

Hoping For A Better World: Utopian Performatives In Jez Butterworth's "The Hills Of California", Lily Jensen

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Jez Butterworth’s 2024 play, The Hills of California, tells the story of the Webb sisters—Joan, Gloria, Ruby, Jillian—and their mother, Veronica, in 1950s and 1970s Blackpool, England. In 1976, it is the hottest summer on record in Blackpool, and Veronica is dying of cancer. Jillian, Gloria, and Ruby have gathered together to wait for her to die, with the hope that Joan (who has supposedly been living a fabulous life in America for 20 years) will come back to say a last goodbye to their mother. The play flips back and forth between the 70s and the 50s. We …

Exploring Health Equity With Culturally Specific Providers Of Permanent Supportive Housing, Judith Solomon

University Honors Theses

Chronic homelessness is an important public health issue. Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) is a promising opportunity for transitioning people experiencing homelessness into housing, however there remain unaddressed racial inequities in service provision and outcomes. The aim of this study is to better understand the role of culturally specific (CS) providers of PSH in improving health equity. I analyzed interviews with CS PSH providers for themes related to health and healthcare. Providers spoke about the importance of connecting clients to healthcare. Providers stressed the importance of honesty and lived experience, highlighting the strong sense of responsibility to the community. Providers also …

‘Malaysia’ Resurveyed: From Representation And Separation To Alternative Tropical Futurities, Wai Liang Tham

Research Publications (2021 to 2025)

This essay, in the form of a literary survey,revisits the idea of “Malaysia” by examining how the interlinked practices of representation and separation have been fundamental to the reification of tropicalityin the region once known as the Malay Archipelago: contemporary maritime Southeast Asia. It suggests how the two contradictory facets of colonial-era tropicality as envisioned in British Malaya (i.e., a fecund wasteland and inescapable degradation) have become embedded in the logic of governance in postcolonial Malaysia and Singapore. The persistent effects of this discourse in the present are discussed in terms of the challenges facing mobilization over issues of climate …

The Ins And Outs Of Procurement Contracting: Opportunities And Challenges For Military-Affiliated Entrepreneurs, Adam Pritchard, Rosalinda V. Maury

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This research brief explores the ins and outs of procurement contracting from the perspective of military-affiliated small businesses, examining the differences between the government and corporate procurement landscapes. Using data from the 2024 National Survey of Military-Affiliated Entrepreneurs, this brief investigates the return-on-investment (ROI) from procurement contracting, summarizes effective strategies that military-affiliated entrepreneurs have used to maximize their ROI, and leverages these experiences to guide entrepreneurs and business ecosystems towards effective approaches to improve the procurement capabilities of military-connected small businesses.

A Coastal Risk Analysis For The Outermost Small Islands Of Indonesia: A Multiple Natural Hazards Approach, Rima Gusriana Harahap, Gerd Masselink, Sarah Boulton

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Coastal risk analysis is important for the sustainable development and resilience of small islands. Even though there is an increasing effort to develop risk analysis at the global scale, the integration of multi-hazard, exposure, and vulnerability for outermost small islands is still rare. This study is the first to address the coastal risk on the outermost small islands of Indonesia, located at the country's territorial edge. The methodology quantifies hazard, exposure, and vulnerability variables, and collating the indices into a risk matrix. The results identify the full range of risk levels on outermost small islands represented in the island dataset, …

Venue By Zoom: Embracing An Immigrant Choice Model Of Litigation, Jayanth K. Krishnan

Articles by Maurer Faculty

On day one of his second term, President Trump issued several sweeping immigration-related executive orders.  Among his priorities, the President promised to exponentially increase deportations – immediately.

For immigrants wishing to judicially avoid deportation, they must first seek relief from an immigration court located within the Department of Justice, and if that fails, then from the DOJ’s Board of Immigration Appeals.  If still unsuccessful, the immigrant can appeal to an Article III federal circuit court and then to the Supreme Court.

Given how relatively few cert petitions are accepted overall, the question this study examines is which federal circuit court …

Regional Government Preparedness In Response To The Covid-19 Pandemic In Indonesia, Eme Stepani Sitepu, Dumilah Ayuningtyas, Purnawan Junadi, Satibi Satibi

Journal of Health Research

Background: The high number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, with 6,811,201 people affected and 161,844 deaths up to June 2023, was influenced by regional governments' varying approaches to disease control. This study aimed to analyze regional government preparedness in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the factors that influenced their preparedness.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative research study using purposive sampling. We collected data from September 2023 to April 2024 via semi-structured interviews with staff at health and disaster agencies in Bali and West Java. The interview guide was developed using the Six Building Blocks of World Health Organization (WHO)’s …

Factors Associated With Access To Water, Sanitation, And Hygiene (Wash) Services In Communities Along Siem Reap River, Cambodia, Cindy Is Lee, Yee Chu Kwa, Aminiril Aa Hamid, Norlilawati Suboh, Massimo Maio, Michaela L Goodson, Claire L Walsh

Journal of Health Research

Background: Access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are essential rights that impact individual and community health. The Siem Reap River is a vital water source in Cambodia for domestic, agricultural, and industrial use. However, limited local data and resources in the region exacerbate the challenge of providing adequate WASH services. This study aimed to evaluate WASH provision for communities living near the Siem Reap River and identify associated factors.

Method: A cross-sectional study in April 2023 across four Siem Reap River villages used purposive sampling to select 120 respondents from diverse backgrounds. Data were gathered through face-to-face …

Special Delivery: Special District Use Of Collaboration To Solve Challenges, Kelly Irene Fahl Sherbo

Dissertations and Theses

As the special district sector continues to increase in number across the U.S., understanding their role in public governance increases in value both to practitioners and academia alike. The state of the academic literature on special districts does not yet reflect the large size and importance of the sector and has been severely limited by available data, mainly coming from the U.S. Census Bureau. Existing research has focused on broad descriptions of the field of special districts, some studies focus on policy and political effects; but scant research analyzes behavior within and among special districts, particularly with their public entity …

Characterizing Rainfall Variability Within A Series Of Storms Over Northern California In February 2017, Parker Jan Malek

Dissertations and Theses

In February 2017, a series of storms with associated atmospheric rivers (ARs) made landfall in the US state of California, dropping large amounts of precipitation over the Sierra Nevada Mountains and their western foothills. The rainfall from these ARs, long, narrow bands of water vapor that transport large amounts of water vapor from the tropics to the mid-latitudes, instigated the near-failure of the Oroville Dam located at the southeastern edge of the Feather watershed outside the city of Oroville in the state's Central Valley. This case study provides a synoptic and mesoscale diagnosis of the drivers of rainfall pulses that …

Using Edna To Supplement Population Genetic Analyses For Cryptic Marine Species: Identifying Population Boundaries For Alaska Harbour Porpoises, Kim M. Parsons, Samuel A. May, Zachary Gold, Marilyn Dahlheim, Christine Gabriele, Janice Straley, John R. Moran, Kimberly Goetz, Alexandre N. Zerbini, Linda Park, Phillip A. Morin

Faculty, Staff, and Students

Isolation by distance and biogeographical boundaries define patterns of population genetic structure for harbour porpoise along the Pacific coast from California to British Columbia. Until recently, inadequate sample sizes in many regions constrained efforts to characterise population genetic structure throughout the coastal waters of Alaska. Here, tissue samples from beachcast strandings and fisheries bycatch were supplemented with targeted environmental DNA (eDNA) samples in key regions of Alaska coastal and inland waters. Using a geographically explicit, hierarchical approach, we examined the genetic structure of Alaska harbour porpoises, using both mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data and multilocus SNP genotypes. Despite a lack …

Environmental Justice: Healing Environmental And Societal Wounds In The Overstory And Torto Arado, Marcia Tagg

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines the approaches of two contemporary novels, The Overstory and Torto Arado, in providing pathways to environmental justice. The Overstory by Richard Powers is an American novel that provides a post-secular perspective on trees and their ability to provide answers on how to heal a wounded world. This wisdom works in the lives of individuals, and it alludes to how society at large could be impacted by the adoption of a more tree-like perspective, especially in how they view time. Torto Arado by Itamar Vieira Junior is a Brazilian novel that shows the importance of Afrodiasporic religious …

Alcohol Use Disorder Medication Coverage And Utilization Management In Medicaid Managed Care Plans, Maureen T. Stewart, Sage R. Feltus, Christina Andrews Ph.D., Andrea Acevedo, Cindy Parks Thomas, Jeffrey Bratberg, Constance M. Horgan, Dominic Hodgkin, Rachel Sayko Adams

Faculty Publications

IMPORTANCE Evidence-based, patient-centered treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD) can include pharmacotherapy with naltrexone, acamprosate, or disulfiram; however, these medications are rarely used. Medicaid managed care plans (MCPs) manage health services for nearly 80% of Medicaid enrollees and are the largest payer for addiction treatment services. Little is known about Medicaid MCP policies for AUD medications.

OBJECTIVES To describe Medicaid MCPs’ coverage and management of acamprosate, naltrexone, and disulfiram for AUD and examine associations of plan characteristics and state policies with medication coverage.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In this cross-sectional study, a content analysis was performed of 2021 insurance benefit …

Cultural Competency When Providing Intimate Partner Violence Assistance, Deanna Lashawn Stewart

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health crisis that disproportionately affects African American and Latina women due to systemic barriers, cultural stigmas, and inadequate culturally competent support services. This qualitative study explored the experiences of English-speaking African American and Latina women aged 23 to 60 in seeking culturally competent assistance for IPV in the United States. Using a generic qualitative research design and relational-cultural theory as a theoretical framework, this study examined how cultural beliefs and values influence help-seeking behaviors and the perceived adequacy of IPV support services. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 participants who had previously …

Volume 29-2 Complete Issue, C. Nicholas Raphael

The Geographical Bulletin

Volume 29-2 Complete Issue

Cover And Forewords, C. Nicholas Raphael

The Geographical Bulletin

Cover and Forewords

News From The Chapters 1986-1987, C. Nicholas Raphael

The Geographical Bulletin

During the fall the Gamma Delta Chapter held a series of seminars on topics of controversial nature, such as the causes of glaciation and the extinction of the dinosaurs. The fall picnic was a well-attended success as was the Christmas banquet. During the spring term, the chapter is running a seminar on the Great Plains and is co-sponsoring, with Biology's Tri Beta and Geology's SGE, the visit of Carnegie Museum's Leonard Krishtalka, a paleontologist. The annual spring picnic is held in early May.

Geographic Variations In Resale Housing Values Within A Metropolitan Area: An Example From Suburban Phoenix, Arizona, Diane Whalley, William J. Lowell-Britt

The Geographical Bulletin

The average cost of single family resale housing displays geographic variation at many scales. Regional variations in the cost of housing are used in the compilation of cost-of-living indices, (Follain and Malpezzi, 1980) and have been well documented (inter alia Butler, 1980; Ozanne and Thibodeau, 1983; Blackley et aI, 1986). Geographic patterns of housing values within a metropolitan area are not as sensitive to the conditions affecting the national market, but are the result of a series of local influences (Bednarz and Wilson, 1982). It is the purpose of this paper to identify the nature of local variations in the …

Variation In Grassland Biomass: A Spatial And Temporal Perspective, Stephen J. Walsh

The Geographical Bulletin

During a sampling period extending from May 07 through August 13, 1985, plant biomass, soil temperature, soil moisture, and other selected biophysical variables were collected on a weekly basis at 12 sample sites distributed along a 200 km east-west trending transect in west-central Oklahoma. Correlation coefficients showed temporal and spatial relationships between dry mean biomass and the relative location of sample sites along the transect, Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate location of each sample site, sample site elevation, and sample week (-0.43, +0.43, -0.54, and +0.42, respectively). A multiple regression analysis showed that 84.5 percent of the variation in plant biomass …