Digital Commons Network^™

2022g_Ebs38_Approved_Nc_Eesl_6663-Teaching-People-From-Other-Cultures, Graduate Council

All Approved Curriculum

No abstract provided.

2022g_Ebs37_Approved_Nc_Eesl_6653-Second-Language-Acquisition, Graduate Council

All Approved Curriculum

No abstract provided.

2022g_Ebs35_Approved_Nc_Eesl_6633-Teaching-Second-Languages, Graduate Council

All Approved Curriculum

No abstract provided.

Betrayal Of Trust, Restoration Of Hope: How To Enforce The Law And Transform The Lives Of Immigrants Ripped Off And Damaged By Bad Lawyers And Scammer Notarios, Vanessa Merton

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

Immigrants seeking lawful status, or otherwise facing denial of entry or deportation, have no right to counsel at government expense. Not even the most sophisticated immigrant can effectively navigate the morass of U.S. immigration law, frequently described by federal judges as “labyrinthine,” “baffling,” “arcane,” and “almost as impenetrable as the Internal Revenue Code.” Competent, ethical representation is essential and, in theory, available from lawyers or accredited representatives. Yet, for most, such representation is shockingly hard to locate and prohibitively expensive. While over 200 nonprofit organizations provide low-cost or free representation to noncitizens, they can assist only a small fraction …

Spirituality Activism And Identity As A Site Of Transformation Based On Gloria Anzaldùa’S Vision Of Resistance, Maria Torres Rey

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

This paper examines Gloria Anzaldùa’s conceptualization of identity as a dynamic site of resistance and healing within Chicana feminist thought. Through frameworks such as mestiza consciousness, Nepantla and spiritual activism, Anzaldùa challenges Western dualisms and reimagines identity as a fluid and political space shaped by personal and collective experience. Her theories provide a powerful lens for understanding the intersections of race, gender, sexuality and spirituality. This paper also argues that her emphasis on inner transformation risks under-engaging material structures such as capitalism, state violence and environmental degradation. By situating Anzaldùa alongside key Chicana feminist scholars, the paper highlights both the …

The New Language: Contractual Interpretation In The Age Of Emojis, Kosi Moneke

Bates College Undergraduate Law Review

Since their creation in 1999, emojis have evolved from just playful visual expressions to communicative tools that are increasingly appearing in legal disputes. This paper explores emojis as mediums of legal meaning. It examines how U.S. contract law approaches emojis as evidence of assent, threat, conspiracy, and intent, and how established contractual doctrines have adapted to emojis as tools of expressive communication. Though ambiguous, this paper aims to demonstrate that emojis can be interpreted within existing contractual frameworks.

This paper is structured as follows: it situates emojis as a continuation of contract law's historical engagement with nonverbal assent. It will …

Rethinking Coercion: Moving Beyond Moralized Accounts Of Coercion, Lorenz N. Soukup

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

Coercion is often portrayed as a vile act, which is inherently immoral. Typical examples include blackmail or receiving an offer at gunpoint. Most contemporary theories centre around this characteristic immorality of coercion. In the following paper I will argue that coercion need not involve an immoral act. I will look at two distinctly different theories of coercion. On the one hand, a moralised account proposed by Jennifer Lackey and on the other hand, an account refraining from moralising coercion brought forward by Scott Anderson. The aim of this paper is not to define coercion but to motivate a shift in …

The Arc Of Discharging Student Loans: The Evolution Of The Brunner Standard, Nicholas G. Glover Esq

Bates College Undergraduate Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Social-Emotional Curricula On Criminal Justice Outcomes, Erica L. Chmielewski

Master of Arts in Human Services

Social and emotional learning (SEL) has become a central focus in early childhood education as researchers and practitioners seek effective, developmentally informed strategies to support children's emotional regulation, resilience, and long-term well-being. This capstone project synthesizes empirical and theoretical research published between 2018 and 2023 to examine the effectiveness of SEL interventions, their role in trauma-informed education, and their potential to mitigate long-term risks associated with early adversity. Findings across multiple studies demonstrate that high-quality SEL programs improve emotional functioning, prosocial behavior, and early academic outcomes, with powerful benefits for children in universally delivered, curriculum-based models. The review also highlights …

Rewriting The Monster: Carmilla As Laura's Gothic Double And Subversive Prince Charming In Le Fanu's Queer Gothic Fairy Tale, Annalee Tanner

English Theses

Rewriting the Monster: Carmilla as Laura's Gothic Double and Subversive Prince Charming in Le Fanu's Queer Gothic Fairy Tale

Dapper Dreams: Gucci And The American Hip Hop Scene, 1980s-1990s, Jacquelyn R. Trotman

The Crown: Syracuse Honors Research Journal

This paper examines the relationship between Italian fashion and American hip hop culture during the late 1980s and early 1990s, with special attention to the Florentine brand Gucci. This project of-fers an overview that explores the respective histories of both the brand and genre to identify the con-gruencies that made Gucci a staple among hip hop artists and their audiences. Analysis draws from a variety of sources including articles, press materials, music videos, advertisements, and red carpet ap-pearances to tell the story of how Gucci became so visible in hip hop. A particular focus will be placed on Harlem designer …

Relational Pedagogy, Student Led Seminars, And Rethinking The World ‘Otherwise’: Evidence From Focus Groups With Ecce Students In An English University, Lisa Moran, Elizabeth Richards Ms

Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies

This paper critically examines findings from a qualitative study of collaborative, student-led seminars framed within relational pedagogy, with undergraduate students on an Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) degree programme in England. Drawing upon focus groups and observational data, this paper argues for the importance of student-led seminars in ECCE programmes, for improved student’s motivation to learn, teamwork, collaboration skills and peer learning. Significantly, our data reveals that depth engagement in these seminars facilitated students rethinking their worlds ‘otherwise’ where they questioned their own biases and prejudices towards so-called hard to reach and marginalised groups. Utilising a relational pedagogical approach …

Play-Based Assessment Of The Cardinal Principle, Allyssa Sonnefeld Leavitt

Theses and Dissertations

Gelman and Gallistel (1986) determined five counting principles that are essential for successful counting, including the cardinal principle where children understand that the last number counted represents the quantity of a set of objects. The traditional How many? task and the Give-n task are the most common tasks that have been used to assess whether children understand the cardinal principle. However, many researchers claim that these tasks either overestimate or underestimate children's understanding of the cardinal principle. Some researchers (Baroody & Pellegrino, 2023) suggest that embedding the traditional How many? task in a game may improve its validity. In this …

Review Of Jaakkojuhani Peltonen. 2024. Masculine Ideals And Alexander The Great: An Exemplary Man In The Roman And Medieval World. London And New York: Routledge. Pp. 284. Hardback. (Isbn 9781032523767) $190., Carolyn Willekes

New England Classical Journal

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Inclusion In Disability Communication With Plithogenic Fuzzy Soft Sets, Sonia Guerra Iglesias, Andrea Eugenia Pacheco Lemus, Vallardo Villegas-Ricauter, Lorena Del Carmen Bodero Arizaga, Luis Enrique Silva Adriano

Neutrosophic Sets and Systems

This article explores how scientific communication with disability can foster social inclusion through an awareness of the challenge of conveying ambiguous perceptions across fields. This is a timely topic because inclusive communication facilitates equity and subsequent participation in academic and socio-cultural settings by persons with disabilities; however, the existing body of literature does not take an approach that represents an intrinsic indeterminacy of human perceptions. Absent this intrinsic human quality, research results oversimplify abilities and failures to include persons with disabilities. My approach fulfills this gap by using plitogenic fuzzy soft sets, which is a more generalized mathematical construct to …

There Is No Obstruction To A Euclidean Proof For The Fourth Postulate, José Gil-Férez, Piotr Błaszczyk, M. Andrew Moshier, Alberto Naibo, Jean-Michel Salanskis

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

In Gil-Férez et al. (2025), we presented a proof of Postulate 4 using purely Euclidean techniques, against which Blåsjö (2025) raised several objections. In this note, we offer linguistic, textual, historical, and mathematical evidence that demonstrate that all these objections are baseless.

Artificial Intelligence For Smes In The Dominican Republic: A Strategic Neutrosophic Pest-Swot Analysis To Navigate Uncertainty, Karina Pérez Teruel

Neutrosophic Sets and Systems

This study examines the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Dominican Republic SMEs through a PESTLE-neutrosophic analysis. PESTLE stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors. Neutrosophic is the Philosophy of Indeterminacy. Therefore, we focus on the factors relative to AI adoption in the Dominican Republic—specifiers to the benefits and drawbacks, as well as, the unknowns of operating with AI—with the intention of illuminating attention. The findings support a phased approach for SMEs to view indeterminacy as an opportunity for competitive advantage through improved operational efficiencies, enhanced customer experience, and more informed decision-making. Ultimately, the results position AI …

Beyond Additive Risk: Longitudinal Associations Between Discrimination And Positive Affect Development Among Adolescents With Single And Multiple Marginalized Identities, Vanni Jefferson V. Arcaina

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Adolescents with marginalized identities often face chronic exposure to discrimination, a social stressor linked to a range of negative mental health outcomes. While much of the existing literature focuses on internalizing symptoms, fewer studies have explored how discrimination may disrupt the development of positive affect (POA), which is a core dimension of emotional well-being linked to resilience, identity formation, and long-term health. The present study examined how overall, race/ethnicity-based, and sexual minority (SM)-based discrimination affects longitudinal patterns of POA among adolescents with single or multiple marginalized identities. Drawing on four waves of data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, …

Creando Conexiones Verdaderas?: Examining Latinx Families’ Lived Experiences With Family-School Partnerships, Jacqueline M. Eddy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Family-school partnerships are essential for a child’s academic and social-emotional well-being in schools. These partnerships thrive when families and school personnel cultivate trusting, communicative, and cooperative relationships. However, families from minoritized communities, such as those from Latinx backgrounds, may encounter challenges that prevent them from forming strong, meaningful relationships with teachers and administrators. This qualitative dissertation study was grounded in a social constructivist paradigm and a phenomenological tradition. The purpose of this study was to understand the lived experiences of Latinx families as they navigate relational aspects of family-school partnerships in their children’s schools. Using semi-structured interviews, four participants were …

Examining The Complementary Nature Of Working Memory And Dual Coding Theory, Elizabeth Hofschulte Collins

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The working memory system is responsible for maintaining, manipulating, and transferring information into long-term memory, yet it operates under strict capacity limitations. Dual coding theory proposes that information can be encoded both verbally and visually, allowing learners to distribute cognitive load across complementary representational systems. Leveraging dual coding may therefore enhance recall, particularly for noun-based stimuli, though there is little to no research exploring this possibility. In the present study, 529 adults completed a forward digit span task and pre-test and post-test free recall tasks involving concrete, abstract, and mixed nouns. Participants were assigned to one of four instruction groups …

Navigating Leadership In Bilingual Education: Exploring The Preparation, Experiences, And Adaptability Of Bilingual Education Leaders In The Southwest, Cynthia Romero

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study explored the experiences of school-level bilingual program leaders in the Southwestern United States, focusing on how their preparation, lived experiences, and local contexts shaped their leadership practices and decision-making. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of practice, the research examined how habitus and various forms of capital (cultural, social, and symbolic) influenced leaders’ approaches to developing and sustaining bilingual programs. Yosso’s theory of community cultural wealth (CCW) further expanded this lens by highlighting the aspirational, linguistic, familial, social, navigational, and resistant forms of capital.

Using a qualitative multi-case study design, the research analyzed policy documents, leadership preparation coursework, and semi-structured …

Integrating Classical Singing Techniques To Aid Natives In Performing Traditional Tongan Folk Songs Of The Late Queen Sālote Tupou Iii, Pauline 'Ofa Vaitāfā Tamale

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This document introduces a structured, classical vocal approach to equip native singers with healthier performance techniques and enable anyone in the music world to perform the art songs derived from the poetry and compositions of Queen Sālote Tupou III. The objective of this project is to provide performers, particularly those with a native proficiency, with classical techniques to perform this music with vigor while circumventing vocal fatigue caused by the linguistic, dialectal, and cultural demands inherent in the repertoire. Queen Sālote Tupou III (1900–1965) reigned for nearly 50 years – the longest of any Tongan monarch – and left an …

Deaf College Students’ Lived Experiences In Pk-16 Education: A Deaf Crit-Informed Qualitative Study, Bridget Catherine Taylor

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This qualitative study focused on Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, and orally Deaf college students, examining Deaf education from the perspective of linguistic and cultural minority students. The study offers theoretical perspectives for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers by examining the lived experiences of students who took part in Deaf education in the United States from PK–16. Deaf Critical Theory (DeafCrit) was the theoretical framework used to analyze the qualitative data.

Neutrosophic Assessment Of Ventilatory Dynamics: A Model For Performance Optimization, Darvin Manuel Ramírez Guerra, Yusleidy Marlie Gordo Gómez, Noel Batista-Hernández

Neutrosophic Sets and Systems

This study expands upon neutrosophics by establishing a novel neutrosophic model for the evaluation of ventilatory capabilities of Peruvian league 1 soccer professionals in response to an urgent need for such scientific studies to accommodate uncertainty associated with generally physiological measurements. The union of neutrosophic statistics principles with spirometric results and cardiopulmonary exercise testing produces a neuto model that effectively operates at 93.2% accuracy measured by 3 factors—(1) identification of asymptomatic ventilatory deficiencies, (2) assessment of respiratory compensatory thresholds reached during play, (3) participant identification for ranking by neutrosophic determination of results and application of aggregation operators. Application of this …

Urban Shadows In Latin America: Detection Of Crime Hotspots Using Multivariate, Geospatial, And Neutrosophic Analytic Hierarchy Process (Nahp) Analytical Techniques, Johnny Pambabay-Calero, Sergio Bauz-Olvera, Oscar Scott-Macías, Pedro Luzuriaga Cedeño, Purificación Galindo-Villardón

Neutrosophic Sets and Systems

In recent years, Guayaquil fell prey to higher levels of organized extortion compared to territorialized criminal organizations over territory, institutional weaknesses, and socio-spatial inequalities. Thus, while extortion emerged as an increasingly specialized crime, there are limited empirical studies to evaluate the crime's spatiotemporal nature or its determinants. Therefore, this study aims to identify and characterize extortion "criminal severity zones" of Guayaquil from 2021-2024, via a novel geostatistical approach, in addition to the Neutrosophic Analytic Hierarchy Process (NAHP). By implementing Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA), Kernel Density Estimation (KDE), dimensionality reduction techniques (PCA, MDS, and t-SNE), hierarchical clustering, and Bayesian hierarchical …

Prioritization Of Risks Detected In Comprehensive Audits Using Neutrosophic Topsis And Hausdorff Distance, Sol David Lopezdominguez Rivas, Dixie Marisol Lopezdominguez Rivas, Leili Genoveva Lopezdominguez Rivas

Neutrosophic Sets and Systems

This study addresses the phenomenon of prioritization of risks during large-scale audits as risks evident in the complicated environment and uncertain information are challenging to mitigate. The importance of the topic is that for complicated entities with high uncertainty, high impact, and low/high probability of audit detection, proper allocation in this resource sensitive 21st century is needed for effective audit. The literature demonstrates means to assess and rank risk for subsequent corrective actions that traditional statistical methods cannot capture. The developed hybrid model combines Random Forest, fuzzy logic, and neutrosophic logic are used to process homicide data, demographic variables, and …

Evolutionary Optimization Of Interdisciplinary Methodological Strategies Using Neutrosophic Genetic Algorithms To Develop Artistic Drawing Based On Text Comprehension, Yadyra De La Caridad Pinera Concepción, Nelly Hodelín Amable, Elizabeth Esther Vergel De Salazar, Braulio David Murillo Sánchez, Karla Yerina Toalombo Mancilla

Neutrosophic Sets and Systems

This research constructs aims to address a current pedagogical issue in art teaching—what are the most effective and efficient interdisciplinary interdisciplinary methodological combinations for development of art drawing from a text based on understanding the text. This is a current problem of pedagogical practice as it applies to today's classrooms because the simultaneous combination of linguistic and artistic, expressive capabilities will help cultivate the diversification of creative and critical thinking processes. This problem is not extensively explored within the literature—but noted gaps and inadequacies suggest that such an interdisciplinary approach has not been assessed, especially since few researchers seek to …

Ankimedbench: Evaluating Hierarchical Medical Knowledge In Language Model Embeddings, Neel Patel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Despite achieving over 90% accuracy on medical benchmarks, recent studies show physicians cannot effectively leverage language models to improve clinical reasoning. Current benchmarks test isolated factual recall, but clinical practice requires hierarchical navigation through diagnostic categories—starting broad and narrowing systematically from chest pain to cardiovascular pathology to myocardial infarction to specific STEMI types. Existing evaluations cannot measure whether models preserve this taxonomic structure essential for clinical reasoning.

We introduce AnkiMedBench, built from 16,512 medical flashcards used by students preparing for licensing exams. Cards are organized across six hierarchy levels spanning 16 broad medical specialties to 672 specific diseases and conditions. …

Understanding The Musical Theatre Female Mixed Belt Through The Lens Of The Operatic Tenor: A Comparative Study, Courtney Schwalbe

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since its emergence in the early 20th century, the female belt voice has become central to musical theatre, yet it still receives less systematic attention than classical singing in both scholarship and collegiate pedagogy. This document frames the contemporary female belt, especially the high or mixed belt, in dialogue with the Western operatic tenor to demystify belt production for teachers trained in classical vocal pedagogy. Drawing on historical context, voice science, and applied pedagogy, the study compares defining characteristics, vocal challenges, registration, and resonance strategies across the two traditions. Both voices extend chest-dominant qualities above the primary register transition and …

Laozi’S "Daodejing": A New Translation With Environmentalist Commentary, Steve Hallett

Purdue University Press Books

Laozi’s “Daodejing”: A New Translation With Environmentalist Commentary offers a new translation and fresh interpretation of the eighty-one-verse Daodejing, one of the central texts of Eastern philosophy. Likely written during the late Zhou Dynasty between 600–400 BCE, this foundational work is generally attributed to an individual named Laozi, although it is unlikely that any such person actually existed. Here, author Steve Hallett employs contemporary poetic form when translating the document’s approximately 5,000 Chinese characters and provides short analytical essays that illuminate the verses with a specific focus on the teachings they offer about social and environmental sustainability. His examination of …