Digital Commons Network^™

Benefits Of Nature-Based Play For Children: An Educational Resource For Parents, Kaitlyn Peterson

Occupational Therapy Capstones

Background: In recent years, children’s use of technology has increased, decreasing the time they spend playing in natural contexts and time spent building the parent-child relationship. The lack of time spent in outdoor contexts has negative influences on the child’s overall health and well-being. The time a child spends with their parent is vitally important for a child’s development, view of the world, and sense of belonging. Parents assist children throughout development by supporting their understanding of themselves and the world, along with supporting the child’s ability to communicate with their parents. Interactions with technology, particularly overuse, can influence a …

“One Step Too Many”: Deference In Bruen, Loper Bright, And Rahimi, Haley Proctor

SMU Law Review

This Article examines the Supreme Court’s rejection of deferential twostep tests in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. Prior to these decisions, Second Amendment and administrative law doctrines limited courts’ interpretive role at Step One in order to create space for regulatory judgments to which courts would defer at Step Two. Bruen and Loper Bright rejected this approach, reclaiming courts’ authority to ascertain legal norms and (less emphatically) to apply them to concrete disputes without deferring to regulators.

Although it was decided the same term as Loper Bright, many …

Interaction Between Structural And Cultural Barriers In Relation To The Mental Health Service Usage Of Latino Young Adults, Mia Rubino

Psychology Honors Papers

The inaccessibility of mental health services among ethnic minority populations is often attributed to neatly categorized “cultural” factors or “structural” factors, as is seen in research regarding underutilization of such services among Latino populations. While these terms seek to provide clarity for complex human experiences, in natural occurrence, cultural identity and societal structure are inextricable from each other, and must be studied as such. The present study sought to examine the possible interaction effects of structural and cultural barriers on the subsequent help-seeking behaviors of Latino young adults in a qualitative investigation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight individuals of …

Axiomatic Shifting Paradigms: Wittgenstein’S Language-Games, Gödel’S Incompleteness Theorem, Language, Law, And The Limits Of Formalism, Charles Edward Andrew Lincoln Iv

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

This Article shows how Ludwig Wittgenstein’s idea of “language-games” and Kurt Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems mark the outer limits of legal formalism and other leading interpretive theories—textualism, originalism, and purposivism. It begins by tracing Wittgenstein’s progression from a “picture theory” of language to the view that social context drives meaning more than any simple correspondence between words and reality. Gödel’s work on formal systems, suggesting that mathematics—long held as the pinnacle of logical certainty—itself cannot be both consistent and complete, reinforces the notion that purely “logical” approaches cannot capture the full range of linguistic and social nuances at play in law. …

Patient Autonomy And Treatment Adherence In Esrd:A Study Of Provider & Nurse Perspectives On Barriers And Choices, Christina A. Larkin

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Missed dialysis treatments are commonly attributed to barriers such as transportation, mental health challenges, and limited health literacy. However, emerging evidence highlights the complexity of adherence behaviors, including psychological, relational, and ethical dimensions that remain underexplored—particularly from the perspective of dialysis providers and nurses. This qualitative descriptive study examined how nephrology providers and dialysis nurses perceive barriers to adherence, with a focus on patient autonomy, motivation, and decisionmaking.

Using Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a guiding framework, an anonymous, open- ended survey was distributed to 17 clinicians via the Qualtrics platform. Responses were analyzed using deductive content analysis, categorizing findings into …

Comparative Study Of The Development Of Citizenship In The U.S And Germany, Michael Brooks

International Professional Development Partnerships (IPDP) Consortium

This project explores how the concept of citizenship is developed within Waldorf schools in two distinct cultural contexts: the United States and Germany. Rooted in the foundational principles of Waldorf education which emphasize global citizenship and responsiveness to the challenges of contemporary society, this study investigates how educational environments shape students’ understanding of citizenship in both theory and practice. The research was conducted at Aurora Waldorf School in West Falls, NY, and Rudolf Steiner Schule Nürtingen in Nürtingen, Germany. Using IRB-approved observation and interview protocols, I observed classroom instruction and conducted follow-up interviews to gather deeper insights into both explicit …

Peer Mentoring In Education: Academic And Social Outcomes For Students With Disabilities, Mackenzie Peterson

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the academic and social outcomes of peer mentoring for students with disabilities, as well as the outcomes for peer mentors themselves. Through a review of research, the findings indicate that peer tutoring and mentoring have significantly improved academic outcomes in various areas, including reading comprehension, math problem-solving, and increasing content knowledge in subjects such as social studies, for students with disabilities. Peer mentoring also fostered greater social inclusion by reducing bullying behaviors, improving student engagement, and classroom behavior. It was also found that peer mentors themselves experienced personal growth with greater leadership skills, self-esteem, empathy, and positive …

Transcending Boundaries: Integrating Scientific Perspectives In Liberal Arts Education, Zlata Božac

GHEA21 Open Educational Resources

Transcending Boundaries: Integrating Scientific Perspectives in Liberal Arts Education confronts the enduring divide between the sciences and humanities, a split famously critiqued by C.P. Snow in his essay "The Two Cultures". While liberal arts education now includes natural sciences alongside humanities and social sciences, many Core Curriculum courses still fail to resonate with STEM students. These students often find such courses disconnected from their academic interests, perceiving them as irrelevant or lacking transferable skills.

This guide aims to bridge that gap by providing practical strategies and class exercises that integrate scientific thinking into the broader liberal arts framework. Drawing on …

Right-Wing Populist Mobilizations And Gender: France's Rassemblement National And Italy's Fratelli D'Italia, Meredith Mckinley

Scripps Senior Theses

European right-wing populist (RWP) parties are increasingly touting their attention to women’s issues and representation, and this has coincided with stronger electoral performances. Thus, the following puzzles emerge: how have RWP parties harnessed gender frames, issue salience, and women’s representation as part of a mainstreaming process, and through what mechanisms are these strategies resonating with voters? I address these questions by comparing France’s Rassemblement National (RN) and Italy’s Fratelli d’Italia (FdI), tracing their developments from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. I find that immigrants’ perceived relationship with the welfare state, feelings of insecurity due to terrorism, and RWP …

The Adelante Academy: A Pathway To Success For Fgli Latine High School Students In Santa Ana, Ca, Seleny Arroyo Ms.

Scripps Senior Theses

My thesis project focuses on the diverse experiences of first-generation, low-income (FGLI) Latine high school students in the Adelante Academy, a rigorous university preparatory program at Fairview High School, from 2016 to 2021. Fairview High School is a public high school in Santa Ana, CA. Rather than focusing on tracking student performance and post-secondary outcomes, I center the experiences of students—their beliefs, ideologies, academic goals, and overall takeaways—of participating in the Adelante Academy. I employ a three-part macro-meso-micro framework to situate and better understand the experiences of FGLI Latine students in the Adelante Academy from 2016 to 2021. This thesis …

The Triangle Of Social Media, Mental Health, And Activism: Lessons From July 2024 Anti-Discrimination Students Movement In Bangladesh, Md Belal Hossain

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This project explores social media, mental health, and activism as three interconnected avenues of academic inquiry in the context of a student movement called the Anti-Discriminatory Students Movement (ADSM), that took place in July-August 2024 in Bangladesh. The movement, also called July Revolution (Bangladesh), overthrew a 16-year-ruling autocratic government and propelled the nation towards significant structural and political reform efforts. Utilizing a mixed method approach, including key informant interviews (N=6) and an online survey (N=396), it investigates how the triangle of social media, mental health, and activism evolved during this movement. Interview analysis reveals five major themes: 1) Ambiguity in …

Evaluating Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis In Healthcare Drug Reviews Across Machine Learning, Deep Neural Networks, And Transformer Models, Eun Soo Park

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Sentiment analysis has become a critical area of research in Natural Language Processing (NLP), enabling insights from unstructured text. Within this field, Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis (ABSA) plays a practical role in domains such as healthcare, where patients drug reviews often contain diverse opinions across multiple aspects, including overall comments, perceived benefits, and side effects. However, aspect-level classification remains challenging due to class imbalance, subtle sentiment expression, and the limitations of traditional models. This research investigates the performance of three modeling paradigms: traditional machine learning (SVM, SVC, and XGBoost), deep learning (CNN-BiLSTM), and transformer-based approaches (DistilBERT sentence-pair classification). Using the UCI …

Performance Auditing Trends At A Supreme Audit Institution: Uk National Audit Office, 1999 To 2021, Amir Michael, Laurence Ferry, Bruce Mcdonald, Henry Midgley

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

Performance audits have become increasingly important across the world. Scholars know that a variety of practices are incorporated within performance audits and have mapped this diversity. However, few quantitative studies examine performance auditing as a practice. This study fills that gap. By analyzing the published performance audit documentation of the UK National Audit Office (NAO), the study explores the influences of governmental change and crises behind changes in a supreme audit institution's performance audit. It also examines whether performance audits are diverse by examining the language used by the auditors. The study provides evidence that neither crises nor changes of …

The Overlooked Witness Memory Risk, Sue Provenzano, Sarah Brown-Schmidt

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Kritike Special Issue On Philosophy Of The City, Remmon E. Barbaza

Philosophy Department Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Between Artistic License And Art Censorship: A Levinasian Account Of How The I Should Respond To The Alterity Of Art, Carl Jayson D. Hernandez

Philosophy Department Faculty Publications

The creative industry frequently confronts the need to reflect on artworks' moral and political implications. Controversial films, interpretations of classic novels, and other artworks beg the question: "Where does true artistic freedom lie?" Two extremes are often encountered concerning artistic freedom: artistic license and art censorship. On the one hand, artistic license is often invoked when artists intentionally or unintentionally create an artwork that contradicts a faithful representation of reality. On the other hand, art censorship restricts creative freedom and freedom of expression in the name of political expediency. Such restrictions led to banning books and labeling topics as taboo. …

Cultural And Counter-Cultural Contexts In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club And Cristina GarcíA'S Dreaming In Cuban, Melinda M. Ninewise

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This thesis explores the cultural and counter-cultural narratives presented in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club and Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban, examining how these works impact the literary canon and redefine the immigrant experience through a distinctly female lens. Both novels share themes of generational conflict, fragmented identities, and the struggles of communication shaped by cultural and linguistic divides. While these works feature distinct cultural backgrounds, Chinese American and Cuban American respectively, the authors challenge patriarchal norms by privileging female voices and presenting nuanced portrayals of mother-daughter relationships. The analysis highlights shared literary techniques and thematic parallels, including identity …

How Raciolinguistic Ideologies Shape Afro-Anglophone Caribbean Students' Negotiations Of Their Linguistic Identities, Merlyn Andrea Vanderstarre

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

During the last and current century, the United States has witnessed an increasing upward trend in immigration from the racially and linguistically diverse English-speaking or Anglophone Caribbean (Lorenzi & Batalova, 2022). However, there needs to be more research on Afro-Anglophone Caribbean (AAC) students recounting their experiences in schools in the United States. Framed by a raciolinguistic perspective and post-colonial theory, this qualitative study captures the experiences of seven (7) student participants from four (4) academy high schools in an urban school district in the U.S. Northeast, who provided insights into their linguistic identities and experiences in high schools in the …

Aberrant Splicing Exonizes C9orf72 Repeat Expansion In Als/Ftd, Suzhou Yang

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

A nucleotide repeat expansion (NRE) (GGGGCC)n in the first annotated intron of the C9ORF72 (C9) gene is a common genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). While previous studies have shown that C9 NRE produces several toxic dipeptide repeat (DPR) proteins, how an intronic RNA segment can access the cytoplasmic translation machinery remains unclear.

By capturing and sequencing NRE-containing RNAs from patient-derived fibroblasts and neurons, I found that C9 NRE became part of an alternatively spliced exon 1 through the usage of various downstream 5ʹ splice sites. These NRE-containing splice isoforms accumulate in C9 ALS/FTD brains, …

Fake News Detection Using Machine Learning Models., Anne Higgins

ICT

This project investigates the use of machine learning to detect fake news, addressing the societal and political challenges posed by the widespread dissemination of false and misleading information. Using automated classification techniques, the project analyses news content to predict the likelihood of intentional deception. The methodology follows the CRISP-DM framework, encompassing data preparation, model development, and evaluation. By leveraging machine learning, the study aims to support organisations, governments, and digital platforms in mitigating misinformation, while also considering ethical, interpretability, and strategic implications. The findings provide actionable insights for enhancing content moderation and reducing the influence of disinformation in digital media …

Sonic Photovoice And Critical Literacy: Listening To And Sounding What Is Me, What Is Not Me, And What Is Between, Alexander Chadwell

Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction

This study examined sonic photovoice, a sound-based arts research method, as a tool for developing critical literacy in middle and high school students. Participants found and recorded sounds related to three categories, “what is me,” “what is not me,” and “what is between,” composed a sound collage using the sounds, and reflected on the experience. Framed by 4EA cognition, participatory sensemaking, and relational and everyday aesthetics, the study explored how listening and sounding shaped students’ conceptions of self and reality. Data from recordings, journals, and interviews suggest that the sonic engagement can foster relational, emergent understandings of self and …

Pesiqta De-Rav Kahana, Rivka Ulmer

Faculty Contributions to Books

The projected thirty-volume Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR) is intended to serve as a comprehensive guide to the current state of knowledge on the background, origins, and development of the canonical texts of the Bible as they were accepted in Judaism and Christianity. Unprecedented in breadth and scope, this encyclopedia also documents the history of the Bible’s interpretation and reception across the centuries, not only in Judaism and Christianity, but also in literature, visual art, music, film, and dance, as well as in Islam and other religious traditions and new religious movements.

Living Our Principles: Designing An Accessible And Inclusive Virtual Conference, Theresa Evans, Kevin E. Depew, Amy Cicchino, Cat Mahaffey

English Faculty Publications

The articles highlights the Global Society of Online Literacy Educators' (GSOLE) innovative approach to virtual conferences, emphasizing their role in fostering professional development in online literacy education. Topics include GSOLE's strategies for engaging worldwide educators across time zones, its commitment to accessibility and anti-racist practices, and efforts to lower costs to include underrepresented and underserved teachers, tutors, and administrators.

The Case Against The Business Case For Gender Quotas On Boards Of Public Companies, Raluca Papadima

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Experiences And Impacts Of A Hospital-Based, Spanish-Language Teaching Kitchen And Garden On Staff And Participants, Sarah E Roth, Benjamin Gronowski, Heidi Davis

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

No abstract provided.

Oregon Doula Workforce Analysis, Aisha K Gilmore, Apoorva Somayazulu, Lindsay Dickey, Rosemelty Jimenez Medal

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

No abstract provided.

Welcoming Historically Under-Represented Groups In Higher Education Through Awareness Of Standard English Ideology, John Hellermann, Lynn Santelmann, Jennifer Mittelstaedt, Janet Cowal, Steven L. Thorne

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the context of changing demographics at regional universities (including our own), we highlight an ongoing project at our university that addresses the last area of acceptable bias in English-medium higher education: bias against speakers of other languages and non-standard dialects of English. We discuss the hegemonic aspect of the Standard Academic English used by default at most US institutions of higher education and its role in potential discrimination against users of languages other than English and dialects other than the Standard. Data from over 2000 surveys, 55 follow up interviews, and three focus groups from faculty, staff and students …

Mental Health Perceptions Among Caribbean Adults In The United States, Ambika Ramjawam

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate mental health literacy (MHL) among Caribbean American adults and to assess the extent to which mental health perceptions (MHP) and acculturative stress contribute to variations in MHL. A cross-sectional, quantitative survey design was utilized to examine MHL, MHP, and acculturative stress among a sample of 138 participants. Pearson correlation analyses were conducted to assess associations among MHL, MHP, acculturation, and age. Independent samples t-tests and one-way ANOVAs were performed to examine demographics across key variables. Findings revealed moderate levels of MHL (M = 4.7, SD = .99) and a weak, positive correlation …

Russian Forms: Race, Sex, And The Making Of Russian Literature, Fiona Bell

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

This dissertation argues that the elaboration of Russian racial imaginaries was coterminous with the construction of the Russian literary canon and Russian literary theory. Beginning with the global debates concerning the abolition of slavery and serfdom in the 1850s and concluding with the first wave of emigration from the Soviet Union in the 1920s, the dissertation demonstrates how canonical Russian authors—Ivan Turgenev, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Viktor Shklovsky, and others—wrote fiction that, in mobilizing the racial implications of intimacy, kinship, and heredity, articulated arguments about racial difference and the conceptual “fit” of “race” for the Russian Empire. Literary authors make arguments about …

Two Paradigms Of Research And Their Influence On The Study Of Animal Behaviour, David Fraser

General - Animal Cognition and Behavior

Taxonomist Roy Crowson identified a fundamental difference among sciences. What he called “natural history” is exemplified by classical biology; it begins by observing, describing and classifying phenomena in the real world, then seeks patterns and concepts that help to synthesize and explain the observations, and proceeds to measurement and experimentation grounded in that framework. What he called “natural philosophy” is exemplified by classical physics; it postulates fundamental principles or concepts that are thought to apply universally, and the research proceeds more directly to measurement and experimentation directed at these principles or concepts. The study of animal behaviour has been influenced …