Digital Commons Network^™

Assessing The Gender Differences In Mental Health Access And The Intersectionality Of Depression, Anxiety, Stress Between Black Men And Black Women During Covid-19, Turquoise Ef'e Pipes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The COVID-19 pandemic, which emerged in the past five years, has had a particularly severe impact on well-being, mental health, and access to care for Black communities. Therefore, the purpose of this quantitative study, grounded in intersectionality theory was to assess gender differences between Black women and Black men confronted with depression, anxiety, stress symptoms and mental health access during the crisis of COVID-19, which has been under researched within this demographic. The study sample included participants from various cities across the United States who lived through the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 to March 2023 (n= 104). A MANOVA …

3d Point Cloud Analysis With Classification, Segmentation And Few-Shot Learning, Jiajing Chen

Dissertations - ALL

Deep learning for 3D point cloud analysis has made significant progress, yet several critical challenges, including the following, remain underexplored: (1) traditional max-pooling operations discard a substantial portion of learned features, resulting in information loss and inefficient use of computational resources; (2) existing few-shot point cloud classification models lack robustness when faced with occlusion, missing points, and limited training data; (3) semantic segmentation methods often fail to fully exploit background–foreground interactions, leading to reduced accuracy. Moreover, in domains such as gait recognition and visual program synthesis, research has been largely dominated by 2D-based approaches, leaving the potential of point cloud …

Mobile Markets And Farmers’ Markets: Evaluating Food Accessibility For Underserved Communities In The Bay Area, Rajeshwari Rajesh

Master's Theses

Studies indicate including farmers’ markets, mobile markets, and other local food systems improve fresh food access for low-income communities, especially when paired with food assistance programs that offer financial incentives. This study aims to evaluate mobile markets and farmers’ markets in the Bay Area using the five dimensions of food access: accessibility, availability, acceptability, affordability, and accommodation. The study is based on primary data collected from 173 in-person surveys at six mobile and eight farmers’ markets in the Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties. Key survey participants were market shoppers participating in food assistance programs. A mixed research methodology included …

Dysconscious Ableism In The Public Library Advancing Disabled Patron And Staff Experiences Toward More Inclusive Programs And Services, William N. Myhill

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation investigates the operation of dysconscious ableism in public librarianship and its impact on disabled patrons and staff. Drawing on critical disability studies, critical theory, and ethnographic methods, the study explores how public library policies, practices, and professional beliefs perpetuate ableist norms and marginalize disabled individuals. The research is grounded in three central questions: (1) How does dysconscious ableism operate in public librarianship? (2) What are the lived experiences of disabled patrons and staff in public library spaces? (3) What strategies can disrupt dysconscious ableism and promote a more inclusive, anti-ableist praxis? Data were collected through interviews with librarians …

A Comparative Study Of Conceptual Metaphors In Indonesian And Chinese Economic Headlines, Hendy Yuniarto

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

This study examines how economic concepts are metaphorically constructed in Indonesian and Chinese news headlines. Employing the Lakoff and Johnson's framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, the study analyzes and compares conceptual metaphors in economic news headlines from CNBC Indonesia and China Business Network published between January and April 2025. Employing a qualitative methodology guided by MIPVU, the study mapped conceptual economic metaphors in a corpus of 500 economic news headlines. The investigation demonstrates a significant overlap in the conceptualization of economic events in both languages: economic actions are physical movements, business is a natural force, economy is a competition, money …

Effects Of Replacing Antibiotics With Bacillus-Based Probiotics In The Diet Of Lactating Sows On Reproductive Performance, Feed Intake, Serum Immunoglobulin Levels, Milk Production, Oxidative Stress Markers, Fecal Short-Chain Fatty Acids, And Piglet Growth Performance, Chutikan Srisang, Tip-Apa Akkhaphan, Preechaphon Taechamaeteekul, Junpen Suwimonteerabutr, Rafa Boonprakob, Suparlark Nuntawan Na Ayudhya Dr, Lea Hübertz Birch Hansen Dr, Padet Tummaruk

The Thai Journal of Veterinary Medicine

This clinical trial investigated the effects of adding a Bacillus-based probiotic to the lactation diet of sows (without in-feed antibiotics) on maternal and piglet outcomes. A total of 109 Landrace × Yorkshire sows (parity 1–7) were assigned to either a control group (n = 61) or a treatment group (n = 48) receiving Bacillus subtilis – 541 and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens – 516. Piglets in the treatment group also received the probiotics via creep feed from day 3 until weaning. Blood samples were collected within 12 h after farrowing to assess serum immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, and IgM) and malondialdehyde (MDA) …

Julian Marshall Interview, Julian Marshall, Morris (Mo) Cohen

Turning Toward Being: The Journal of Ontological Inquiry in Education

This conversational inquiry explores the ontology of creativity through an extended dialogue between two educators at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance. Moving beyond conventional pedagogical frameworks, the conversation grapples with fundamental questions: What is the relationship between technique and creative emergence? How does the teacher create conditions for creativity without systematizing or conceptualizing the creative process itself? What role do trust, validation, and vulnerability play in opening students to their own creative potential? Drawing on diverse philosophical and spiritual traditions--from Heidegger’s ontological inquiry to Buddhist concepts of not-knowing, from Grotowski’s via negativa to the Kabbalistic notion of tzimtzum--Julian Marshall …

From Essays To Embodiment: Reimagining Student-Centered Assessment Through Creative Practice, Rory Bester, Carla Lever, Bongani Kona, Mona Hakimi

Turning Toward Being: The Journal of Ontological Inquiry in Education

This essay explores the experience of implementing podcast-based assessment in ‘Feeling History, Making History,’ a semester-long course at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in South Africa. The course is designed to cultivate broad-based critical and interdisciplinary skill sets in first-year Humanities students. Through pedagogical reflection across three consecutive iterations of this course, we investigate how creative assessment practices such as podcasting both enabled our students to bring their whole “selves” into the academy and productively challenged our own preconceived notions about effective, decolonial pedagogy.

The Being Of The Performer, Alice Marshall

Turning Toward Being: The Journal of Ontological Inquiry in Education

This work presents an autoethnographic, practice-as-research inquiry into Tender Steps (Adaire to Dance, 2024), a dance-for-film grounded in the author’s lived experience of baby loss. Through embodied reflection, the article explores how personal experience becomes a site of inquiry, examining the relationship between the performer’s being and the act of performance. Drawing on phenomenological and performance-based perspectives, it considers how posture, weight, breath, and voice function as embodied knowledge and how meaning is co-constructed through the intersubjective relationship between performer and audience. It reflects on the ethical and emotional implications of making lived experience public within a digitally mediated form …

The Influence Of Early Detection And Intervention Providers' Actions And Communication On Parental Emotions And Early Intervention Engagement After A Child Is Diagnosed With Hearing Loss: A Scoping Review, Charlene M. Watson, D. Ellen Rick, Jillian Ingratta, Patti-Jo Sullivan, Xurong Zhao, Sheila Moodie

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

Despite well-intentioned early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) programs, parents receiving a newborn hearing loss diagnosis often experience distress, uncertainty, and fear, which can impact their readiness to engage in early intervention. The communication and support provided by clinicians in early hearing detection and intervention play a critical role in helping families navigate emotions, overcome barriers, and actively participate in EHDI programs. The purpose of this scoping review is to advance our knowledge of the following: For parents who have a newborn newly diagnosed with hearing loss, how do the actions/behaviors and communication (or lack thereof) of EHDI providers influence …

Readability Of Spanish Language Early Intervention Materials For Children Who Are D/Deaf And Hard Of Hearing, Torri Ann Woodruff-Gautherin

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

This paper discusses how accessibility to information may be limited for families and considers why this is of a critical concern for families using Spanish. To look at accessibility of materials online, six search terms were used in the Google search engine. Ninety-one unique websites were included for readability analysis (43 written in English and 48 written in Spanish). Readability was assessed for English materials using Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL; mean=12.83, sd=2.737) and Flesh-Kincaid Ease of Reading Score (FKERS; mean=35.602, sd=15.651). FKGL scores were consistent with prior work (Woodruff & Cienkowski, 2021). For materials written in Spanish readability was assessed …

From Policy To Practice In Deaf Education: American Sign Language And Spoken English Outcomes Of Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Children In Kansas, Jena Mcdaniel, Shreyas Teegala, Rebecca Maloney, Angie Walker, Mary S. Dietrich, Matthew L. Hall, Leah C. Geer, Julie Bustos

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

Purpose: In the context of the recent expectation for state Early Hearing Detection and Intervention programs to track language milestones of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children, we examine how to leverage statewide assessment programs for improving language outcomes of DHH children. We present the degree to which DHH children in Kansas are meeting their language milestones for American Sign Language (ASL) and English and the influence of two measurement features.

Method: Performance on the ASL/English Language Milestones for 198 children who were DHH (aged 1 to 8) was analyzed for attainment of age-expected language skills and …

Influence Of Postpartum Depression Among Mothers On Cognitive Development In Children: A Scoping Review, Navyashree Gc, Aabha Jain, Malika Mudit, Manavi Manoj Kumar, Rachna Shetty, Riya Prabhu, Salma Zameer

Manipal Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences

The interplay of maternal care, communication, and emotional expression of parent-child interactions dramatically influences the cognitive and emotional growth of the child during their formative years. Postpartum depression poses a significant public health concern, impacting mothers' caregiving abilities and infants' sensitive early development. The present scoping review aims to explore the literature that delves into the influence of postpartum depression among mothers on the child’s cognitive development. For this scoping review, a systematic search was conducted for studies in the PubMed and Scopus databases. Studies published in the English language from 1990 to 2023 focusing on mothers with postpartum depression …

Lived Oral Health Experiences Of Syrian Refugees In The United States, Taniya Michael Henry-Sangar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The oral health status of Syrian refugees has been impacted by war and displacement since the 2011 civil war. To date, limited in-depth knowledge is available on oral health experiences of resettled Syrian refugees in the United States. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore lived oral health experiences of resettled Syrian refugees before, during, and after the 2011 Syrian civil war. The health belief model (HBM) and theory of planned behavior (TPB) were theoretical frameworks for this phenomenological inquiry. The study was guided by semi-structured phone interviews with a purposeful sample of 11 Syrian refugees over the …

The Nonlinguistic Factors That Predict Spanish Oral Proficiency, Merrie Kay Ames

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the predictive power of self-assessment and nonlinguistic factors in determining Spanish oral proficiency among university learners. Drawing on data from 2,475 undergraduate students enrolled in a third-year Spanish course at Brigham Young University, the research examines how self-assessed speaking ability and experiential background variables--including age of acquisition, mission service, dual immersion, and study abroad--influence Oral Proficiency Interview - Computer (OPIc) scores. A one-way ANOVA revealed a statistically significant but modest relationship between students' calibration (self-assessment minus actual ability) and their OPIc ratings, suggesting that learners can generally approximate their speaking proficiency within two sublevels. A multiple regression …

Integration Of Afghan Refugee Professionals Into American Society, Khatera Bahrami

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study explored the social and psychological challenges Afghan refugee professionals experienced when they entered the U.S. workforce after being forcibly displaced. Trauma, job loss, and cultural adjustment significantly impacted their mental health and reintegration. The study examined how social and psychological obstacles impacted their cultural adjustment, well-being, and capacity to deal with credentialing and professional demands. This research employed a qualitative phenomenological design, grounded in Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory and the Stress Appraisal Model, using 60-minute audio-only, semi-structured interviews with 10 Afghan refugee professionals. Using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA), according to the findings, participants faced challenges relating to …

“Fleeing The Climate: The Need For Protection Of Climate Refugees In The Light Of International Law”, Carina Dietmayer

Pace International Law Review

Climate change, which is already making itself felt, poses challenges for international law and the international community. Climate change and its consequences will lead to (involuntary) human mobility and affect many people. This forced migration is not yet specifically addressed by international law. This article addresses climate-induced migration and the protection of climate refugees through international refugee and migration law, international human rights law, international environmental law, climate change law and international disaster law. It analyzes how and, above all, why climate refugees are protected. The core thesis of the article is the justification of a need for protection of …

Culturally Sustaining Literacy Practices: Insights From Pre-Service Educators, Patricia E. Lane

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

The research question for this paper is: How does the tenet culturally sustaining pedagogy of the Integrated Teacher Education Program bridge and/or buffer pre-service teachers’ literacy experiences? Through the use of a case study, the researcher examines Integrated Teacher Education Program (ITEP) pre-service educators’ experiences incorporating culturally sustaining pedagogy into the literacy classroom, while also investigating whether these practices serve to bridge and/or buffer pre-service teachers’ experiences (Honig & Hatch, 2004).

An Accountability Myth: A Critical Analysis On High-Stakes Testing In U.S. Schools, Noelle E. Haskell

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

High-stakes testing has become synonymous with the United States (U.S.) education system. This began in the early 1900’s through the form of intelligence testing which was developed by several U.S. psychologists. Since then, high-stakes testing has taken on many forms. Popular policies such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Race to the Top, and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) have all taken aim at increasing academic achievement and holding schools accountable through high-stakes, standardized tests. Even through its varying forms, high-stakes tests have continued to perpetuate inequalities. Considering this, the current study examines how the rhetoric used in describing …

Developing Digital Feedback Literacies In Language Teacher Education: Peer And Partnership Approaches In The Postdigital Age, Jennifer Schluer

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Critical media literacy needs to be seen as a central component of language teacher education, especially in the postdigital age. One underexplored dimension, however, is digital assessment literacy and in particular digital feedback literacy (Schluer, 2022a). Even though recent years witnessed a proliferation of digital technologies for feedback exchanges, pedagogical guidance for the use of digital feedback remains almost non-existent (but see Schluer, 2022a; 2023; 2024a). Theoretically, this paper connects the concept of Digital Feedback Literacies (DFL) to the frameworks of Critical Media Literacies (CML) and Postdigital Literacies (PDL). Empirically, it presents insights from research on digital peer feedback as …

Digital Text And Communication Literacy Of English Language Teachers: Implications From A Reconstructive Study On Teachers’ Professional Development, Annika Janßen, Jan-Erik Leonhardt, Alexandra Kemmerer, Britta Viebrock

Journal of Media Literacy Education

In this contribution, we will introduce the concept of Digital Text and Communication Literacy (DITECOL), which was developed as part of the DigiNICs project. It contains subject-related, functional, critical, and methodological competences to deal with and teach digital texts and communication forms in foreign language education. We will present first results from a qualitative interview study with six English language teachers who participate in the DigiNICs project. The study examines how they perceive their usage of digital texts and communication forms a) in their lessons and b) in the context of in-service teacher training. The interview data was analysed using …

Media Literacy Meets Language Education: Fictional Science (Fisci) Promotes Skills To Identify And Refute Fake News, Stephan Schicker, Jürgen Ehrenmüller, Melanie Hendler, Victoria Reinsperger, Natalia Kubai, Lucia Miškulin Saletović, Bettina Steinbauer, Sabine Schmölzer-Eibinger

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This article presents the theoretical and conceptual foundations of the interdisciplinary didactic concept of Fictional Science (FiSci), which is positioned at the interface between media and language didactics. Based on reference concepts such as epistemic vigilance, inoculation, lateral reading, and media literacy in education, FiSci aims to promote secondary school students’ skills in dealing with fake news. While course 1 of FiSci (Activating the Fake News Radar) sensitises students to false information, course 2 (Verification of Information) teaches strategies for identifying false information that are also used by professional fact-checkers, and course 3 (Refutation) focuses on refuting false information.

Implicitly Developing Young Learners’ Digital And Media Literacy Through Technology-Enhanced Tasks In Primary Efl Classrooms, Andreas Kullick

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This article presents a research project that explored the perspectives of preservice and in-service primary English language teachers on the use of technology-enhanced tasks to support young learners’ development of oral communicative competence in the diverse primary English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. The classroom-based research involved the implementation of technology-enhanced tasks in three different projects in three different primary schools. The projects aimed to support young learners in developing their speaking competence in the target language. Data were collected through classroom observation, teacher training, videography of lessons, and participant interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the …

Digital Texts And Diversity-Sensitive Foreign Language Teaching, Anne-Marie Lachmund, Manuela Franke

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Digital reading differs significantly from reading on paper, posing several challenges, especially for students learning a second or third foreign language. The complexity of engaging with authentic digital sources is further intensified by the diversity within learner groups. First, the objectives for developing digital reading proficiency in a foreign language are explored, identifying the skills necessary for competent digital readers. Building on these objectives, the paper then addresses the diverse needs of learners, taking into account neurodiverse students in diversity-sensitive teaching environments. The focus lies on the field-specific dynamics of digital reading, particularly those impacting learners with ADHD, dyslexia, and …

Beyond The Episode: A Case For Serial Literacy In Efl Education Classrooms, Julie Intveen, Tim Illigens

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Serial storytelling, characterized by its interplay of vertical (episodic) and horizontal (long-form) narrative structures, offers a unique opportunity for media literacy in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education. This paper argues for the development of a serial literacy framework, a concept that expands traditional film literacy models to accommodate the distinct demands of serialized narratives. By using Inventing Anna (Rhimes, 2022) as a case study, the study explores how serial storytelling fosters engagement with themes of identity construction, ethical ambiguity, and transmedial storytelling. This paper elaborates on serial literacy, considering its implications within foreign language learning contexts. The study …

A Children’S Rights Approach To Critical Media Literacy In Language Education: Developing Children’S Agency In A Digital Networked World, Frauke Matz, Jeff Share

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Children are growing up in a culture of digitality, one infused in digital communication in and out of school (Faverio & Sidotti, 2024; Stalder, 2018). They are immersed in a digital networked world, which plays a significant role in how they develop their literacies and identities (Cannon et al., 2022) across languages. To help them participate as “active thinkers and citizens in their own right” (Wall, 2016, p. 86), educators could consider the potential of critical media literacy in language education as a pedagogical response to the commercial exploitation of information, and the liberatory potential of critical thinking and creative …

Navigating Resistance To Change In A Vuca World: Evidence From Turkey On The Role Of Paternalistic Leadership And Psychological Resources, Hürcan Tarhan

Arab Economic and Business Journal

Resistance to organizational change is a significant obstacle to achieving the advantages of transformation, especially in today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous business environment (VUCA). While paternalistic leadership is relevant in cultures like Turkey, there is still limited research on how it affects resistance to change. This study examines whether paternalistic leadership, characterized by authority, benevolence, and moral integrity, reduces employee resistance to change, and how organization-based self-esteem (OBSE), workplace spirituality (WS), and leaders’ psychological capital (PSYCAP) moderate this relationship. Survey data from 468 employees in the financial sector were analyzed using structural equation modelling (SEM). Findings indicate that paternalistic …

Experience, Nature, And History: An Experiment In "More Intricate Triangulations", Vincent M. Colapietro

Dewey Studies

No abstract provided.

Staff Education For Effective Patient Handoff, Kaylonn Amundson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This staff education project was initiated to address the lack of standardized handoff procedures which was found to have contributed to an adverse outcome for a hospitalized patient. The purpose of this project was to address the question: Will an interactive education program on a standardized handoff tool increase nursing staffs’ knowledge and self-confidence regarding its use? The project involved educating 20 inpatient nurses and care staff about the structure of the SIGNOUT? handoff tool using a PowerPoint presentation with a follow-up practice simulation. Handoff sheets and visuals were distributed to aid in the learning process. Pre- and post-education surveys …

Culture As The Space Of Conceptual Meanings: Re-Introducing Experience And Nature, Brandon Beasley

Dewey Studies

No abstract provided.