Digital Commons Network^™

Counter-Mapping A Sugar Mill In Mascarilla, Afro-Ecuadorian Ancestral Territory Of The Chota Valley, Andrea E. Chavez Chuquimarca

Graduate Masters Theses

This project examines the legacies of the colonial hacienda (estate) system in the community of Mascarilla, situated in the Ancestral Territory of the Chota Valley, Carchi Province, in the northern highlands of Ecuador. This study is framed within the first half of the 20th century, during the early stages of industrialization in Ecuador, and the last period in which the Trapiche de Mascarilla was still functioning. These elements will be viewed through the lens of the archaeological feature of the trapiche (panela production facility), serving as a referential space of history under the huasipungo system (debt-peonage). The interconnected components of …

“These They Cut In Pieces, Bones And All…”: An Examination Of Pequot Subsistence Practices During The Early 17th Century At The Calluna Hill Site, Groton, Connecticut, Megan V. Goldstein

Graduate Masters Theses

Beginning in the early 17th century, the arrival of Europeans in southern New England led to rapid changes and cultural transformation as Indigenous lifeways were impacted by the introduction of foreign materials, cultural structures, and the onset of colonialism. Archaeological research has helped to demonstrate how individuals and communities navigated the pressures of colonialism and developed ways to survive and persist in the centuries that followed. The early 17th century is an archaeologically underrepresented time period in southern New England, limiting an understanding of how Indigenous people initially interpreted foreign material culture, negotiated changes in their lifeways, and in particular, …

Shifting Views, Shaping Outcomes: Exploring Relations Between Educators’ Neurodiversity-Affirming Perceptions And Their Autistic Students’ School Experiences, Josh Yen-Ho Chou

Graduate Masters Theses

School environments frequently serve as a source of socialization but also stigma and socioemotional distress for autistic students. Against this backdrop, teachers can be crucial sources of neurodiversity-affirming views and support. Teachers’ perceptions of students can also shape the quality of their relationships with students and students’ emotional and behavioral adjustment in school. This study focused on understanding how general education teachers perceive autistic students and how these perceptions shape their students’ school experiences. This study sought to investigate the degree to which teachers endorsed three dimensions of neurodiversity-affirming perceptions of their autistic students: (a) strength/deficit-based, (b) holistic/reductionist, and (c) …

Empowering Youth In A Changing Climate: Design, Implementation, And Evaluation Of A Salt Marsh Summer Science Program, Dan Levesque

Graduate Masters Theses

Climate change presents not only environmental challenges but also emotional challenges for today’s youth. This thesis documents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a field-based summer science program aimed at empowering adolescents with coastal salt marsh ecology while addressing climate change emotions and science identity development. The program, based in a Massachusetts salt marsh, was adapted from existing public environmental curricula and guided by place- and experience-based learning principles. Over Spring and Summer 2025, 13 students (ages 13-18) participated in extra-curricular field trips, hands-on research activities, and reflective discussions about the environment and the emotions it brings forth. Pre- and …

Autistic Adults In-Session Experiences In Psychotherapy: A Qualitative Meta-Analysis Of Helpful And Harmful Factors From First-Person Perspectives, Elizabeth Kilgallon

Graduate Masters Theses

Autistic adults face heightened mental health needs yet encounter significant barriers in psychotherapy. Research on psychotherapy has often emphasized quantitative trials of specific modalities, while little attention has been paid to autistic adults’ own perspectives about in-session therapeutic processes. There is a need for clinical guidance that foregrounds autistic clients’ lived experiences of therapy, with emphasis on identifying what they find helpful or harmful, to inform accessible and affirming practice. In the present study, I conducted a qualitative meta-analysis that investigates autistic adults’ first-person accounts of psychotherapy. Thirty-three studies were included in the analysis. I used critical-constructivist grounded theory to …

Beyond The Self In Self-Compassion: Interdependent Values As A Moderator In The Mediated Relation Between Social Support, Self-Compassion, And Mental Health, Lisa Nakamura

Graduate Masters Theses

Psychological research often does not include diverse samples or focus on the experiences of people of color (POC). Western interventions have been created through an individualistic lens and are often not culturally responsive to the needs of POC. Despite the inclusion of common humanity and interconnectedness in the construct of self-compassion, research on self-compassion interventions has predominantly focused on self-oriented processes. Thus, the present study examined the associations between self-compassion, social support, and mental health outcomes, as well as the moderating role of interdependent values, among a sample of individuals who identify as POC at a U.S. university. Specifically, the …

Information Processing In Quantum Thermodynamic Systems, Shou-I Tang

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis extends the classical autonomous Hamiltonian framework of information thermodynamics to the quantum regime. In this formulation, a composite system consisting of a principal system, a heat bath, a memory, and a work source is described by fully quantum, time-independent Hamiltonian dynamics. By introducing the quantum speed limit (QSL) for the system and memory subsystems, referred to as the Quantum Thermodynamic Speed Limit (QTSL), I establish a connection between the QTSL and Landauer’s principle. This relationship reveals the fundamental constraints on quantum information processing in terms of dynamics and energy costs during the evolution. Furthermore, I present an interpretation …

Something To Say: Nativism, Prohibition, And The Loss Of Political Alignment In Davenport, Iowa’S German-American Community 1848-1922, Clayton R. Schuler

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis ends with the municipal elections of 1920 in Davenport, Iowa. Amid the First Red Scare, the Socialist Party was swept into power. The party won under inauspicious national conditions thanks in part to a successful campaign on local concerns; the party had something to say. An examination of the years prior to the election, however, reveals that other factors contributed to political unalignment for the city’s large German descended population. Frustrated with Republican and Democratic parties that seemed to have no place for them, these voters had something to say as well. Ultimately the opportunity that this unalignment …

Shaping The Landscape: Analyzing Enclosure Types, Farm Productivity, And Resource Use In Viking Age And Medieval Iceland, Chiara M. Torrini

Graduate Masters Theses

Enclosure walls, constructed during the Viking Age and Medieval periods, were a common feature of early Icelandic agropastoral farmstead infrastructure. These walls divided the landscape and created discrete areas, often protecting grass grown in homefields. Harvesting grass for fodder was essential to support livestock, especially cattle, through the winter. Enclosure walls were built with various combinations of turf, stone, and grass sod, which were generally cut, gathered, or excavated close to the wall’s location. Data was collected for this project and combined with substantial previous archaeological work, which all take advantage of common volcanic tephra layers (including Hekla AD 1104), …

Wilhelm Von Humboldt And The Idea Of The Modern University: The Unity Of Bildung And Wissenschaft, Ken Udas

Graduate Masters Theses

Wilhelm von Humboldt and the Idea of the Modern University examines Wilhelm von Humboldt’s contribution to shaping a philosophical ideal that has profoundly influenced the concept and identity of the modern research university for over two centuries. It highlights Humboldt’s position as a key figure in the Prussian reform movement and as the founder of the University of Berlin. Specifically, it addresses a question raised in the late twentieth century as part of the Mythos Humboldt revision: why has the Humboldtian Ideal maintained such lasting influence over the German university system, even as its practical realities have increasingly strayed from …

Foodways And Community: Shellfish Consumption At Sitio Drago In Bocas Del Toro, Panamá, Megan E. Winnick

Graduate Masters Theses

Food-related practices provide marginalized groups with spaces for cultural exchange and asserting agency within colonial contexts, often leading to the formation of new communities and identities. Marine mollusks, due to their widespread accessibility, have a significant role in the cuisines of African Diaspora and Indigenous communities in Latin America. This thesis examines shellfish consumption at Sitio Drago in Bocas del Toro, Panamá, highlighting how shellfish harvesting and communal cooking fostered community expression through local food sources. The study includes analyses of spatial distribution of mollusk species, MNI counts across three temporal periods, and a size distribution of common gastropods. Findings …

Early Childhood Educators' Experiences With Autistic Students: A Qualitative Study Of Challenges And Strategies, Sarah Yang

Graduate Masters Theses

Early childhood education is a vital early learning context for children ages 2-5 years old, encompassing some of their most formative years of life. Autistic children, however, are expelled from early childhood education programs at disproportionately high rates—a troubling trend that points to a broader picture of how early education environments lack the support and structure that young autistic children need to succeed. Early childhood educators (ECEs) are fundamental in shaping these early education environments and autistic children’s experiences within them. However, while most ECEs want to include autistic children in their classrooms, past research indicates they feel like they …

The Homemaker's Guide To Happiness: A Comparison Of Methods Used By Dissatisfied Mid-Twentieth Century American Housewives In Their Pursuit Of Fulfillment, Kristen Thompson

Graduate Masters Theses

In the mid-twentieth century, the United States of America had an unsung problem.The country had emerged from World War II as a superpower and the high of victory was still fresh, but under the surface the nation was desperately searching for stability to cope with the trauma of war. This search saw a cultural push back to traditional values and gender roles and a heavy focus on the nuclear family as the heart of society. As such, a great amount of pressure was placed on the shoulders of the American housewives who were at the center of the home and …

The Strange Made Beautiful, The Beautiful Made Strange: Dime Museums, Freak Shows, And The Circassian Beauty In 19th-Century American Popular Culture, Emma P. Lovejoy

Graduate Masters Theses

In the fall of 1864, the infamous showman P. T. Barnum premiered a new human oddity exhibit at his American Museum in New York City. Unlike most of the other freak performers there, there was nothing inherently extraordinary about the body of the woman who he introduced as “Zalumma Agra, the Star of the East.” Instead, she had intentionally teased her hair into a mane of curls unfashionable and uncommon for Caucasian women, and dressed in a costume meant to evoke Turkish or more broadly Near Eastern aesthetics. To explain and elevate her unusual appearance, Barnum (or another of the …

James Willie "Jay" Clifton

African American Funeral Programs

Program for the funeral of James Willie "Jay" Clifton, held at Ben Samuel Hill Memorial Chapel on December 31, 2025.

Ai And Creativity, Herbert Midgley

Faculty Publications

This article argues that artificial intelligence is best understood as a tool in continuity with earlier technologies like digital cameras, non-linear editing, MIDI, and desktop publishing, rather than as a magical threat that will erase creativity or employment. Drawing on historical shifts from film to digital video, manual paste‑up to graphic design software, and acoustic instruments to synthesizers, the author shows that new tools disrupt workflows and certain jobs, yet ultimately broaden access and generate new creative opportunities. Concerns about AI’s resource use are contextualized by comparing its water footprint to bottled water, agriculture, beef production, and textiles, concluding that …

Comprehensive Study Of Pediatric Migraine Based On Patient Data Of Demographic, Characteristic, And Treatment Outcomes, Shaima’A Dakhel Abdulhassan, Safa’A Dakhel Abdulhassan

Al-Qadisiyah Medical Journal

Introduction: Migraine is a common neurological disorder in pediatric consultations. It is often disabling and influencing negatively the quality of life of pediatric migraine patients (PMPs). Aim: This study aimed to characterize the demographic profile of 98 PMPs from outpatient and private clinics in Al-Diwaniyah City, Iraq. This study describes demographic distribution, migraine characteristics, associated symptoms, familial history, trigger factors, and treatment outcomes of PMPs. Patients and Methods: The dataset had the following variables: age, sex, duration and severity of the migraines, frequency of attacks, associated symptoms, family history, trigger factor, types of treatments, and follow-up duration. Descriptive statistics were …

The Role Of Il-13 Serum Levels With Its Genetic Polymorphism In The Risk Of Developing Chronic Rhinosinusitis, Baneen Mohammed Ali Hussein, Ibrahim Abdulmajeed Mustafa

Al-Qadisiyah Medical Journal

Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) represents a prolonged inflammatory condition of both nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses which extends more than 12 weeks without any sign of improvement. This condition affects work attendance along with productivity levels and quality of life detrimentally. Objective: To find out whether IL-13 rs1800925 C/T-1055 genetic polymorphism and its serum levels have a risk value for CRS disease. Methods: Three groups have been used as the basis for a case-control study. Thirty patients with a history of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyp; thirty patients with a history of chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyp; and thirty healthy …

Official Development Assistance (Oda) In Nigeria: A Political Economy Perspective, Robert Idoko Ogwola

Bullion

This study examines the effects of Official Development Assistance (ODA) on Nigeria’s economic growth, social welfare, and political development from 1960 to 2024. Using thematic content analysis, the findings reveal that ODA’s impact has been marginal, falling short of expectations. Instead of fostering economic growth and strengthening social and political systems, ODA often generated unintended outcomes. The study recommends that Nigeria reduce dependence on foreign aid, strengthen national institutions, tackle corruption, and reform public debt management to achieve sustainable development that aligns with relevant targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Navigating Trump Tariffs In Africa: The Role Of Regional Economic Integration, Baba N. Yaaba

Bullion

The global economy is shifting away from free trade toward protectionism and economic nationalism, from multilateralism to unilateralism. This is evidenced by both tariffs and non-tariff measures taken by major global powers, which arise from political populism, economic insecurity, and strategic competition among them. This study analyses this trend, emphasising Trump's recent tariffs and their attendant implications for the global economy. The study argues that African Regional Economic Integration offers a shield to the continent if pursued vigorously. With vast potential in Africa, strategic investments, good governance, and inclusive policies can drive growth. At the same time, cooperation, such as …

Adapting To Price Fluctuations: A Case Study Of Street And Market Vendors In Tarlac City, Gavie A. Mariñas, Roselyn V. Magapuro, Ivan Karlo S. Pating

Sinaya: A Philippine Journal for Senior High School Teachers and Students

This study examined the experiences and adaptive strategies of vendors in response to price fluctuations using a qualitative case study approach. Focusing on a bounded case of six purposively selected street and market vendors, the study identified patterns of resilience, negotiation, and vulnerability by emphasizing how vendors deal with uncertainty in a fluctuating economic environment. One of the most significant findings was a considerable drop in sales across vendors following price increases, resulting in fewer client visits. Despite their resourcefulness, vendors have challenges due to limited government assistance, which frequently forces them to rely primarily on their own abilities. Based …

Cytomegalovirus As A Potential Trigger For Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Case Of Nstemi In A Previously Healthy Patient, Hussam Al Hennawi, Muhammad Sabri, David Teng, Maxwell Berman, Botros Shenoda

Abington Jefferson Health Papers

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has been implicated in endothelial dysfunction and atherogenesis, yet its role as a potential trigger for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) remains underrecognized. We present a case of a 32-year-old male with no prior medical history who developed non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and was subsequently found to have active CMV infection. The patient had no known history cardiovascular disease, though subsequent testing did reveal additional underlying risk factors. This case highlights the need to consider infectious etiologies, including CMV, as contributors to ACS in young, otherwise apparently healthy individuals. Understanding the interplay between viral infections and atherosclerotic …

The Influence Of Ai Use On Innovativeness In Higher Education Institutions, Joanna Zimmer, Katarzyna Tworek

European Management Studies

Purpose: The aim of the study is to analyse the influence of AI tools use on innovativeness through Employees’ Dynamic Capabilities (EDC) among Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), taking into account regulation concerning AI and its possible moderating impact on that relation.

Design/methodology/approach: A critical literature review was combined with empirical research. The empirical research was conducted using a survey questionnaire on a group of 529 university employees from four European countries: France, Poland, Spain, and Great Britain. To ensure a diverse dataset, responses were collected from multiple sources, including an internal collaborative network and a purchased respondent panel. Data …

Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: Key Insights For Pediatricians, Michael Smith, Pezad Doctor

Pediatrics in Practice: A CME Podcast

Join Pezad Doctor, MD for a focused discussion on hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). Learn what pediatricians need to know about early detection, surgical stages, interstage monitoring, and supporting families through this complex journey. Practical tips and emerging updates will help you feel confident in managing HLHS in your practice.

Click here to stream the podcast episode.

The Effect Of Fixed And Variable Practice Based On Distance And Target Size On Developing Shooting Skill Performance In Futsal Players, Ismael Qasim Jameel

Modern Sport

The importance of the research lies in identifying exercises in the fixed and variable styles, using targets of different sizes and working at varying distances to improve players' skill performance. The research aimed to prepare exercises according to the distance and size of the targets and to identify the extent of the impact of these exercises on the scoring skill performance of futsal players by measuring the accuracy and speed of the skill. The researcher used the experimental method with a two-group design, selecting the research sample purposively from the College of Arts, University of Baghdad, futsal team. The sample …

The Effect Of Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy On Perioperative Outcomes In Rectal Cancer Patients Following Stoma Reversal-A Retrospective Cohort Analysis, Mary Junak, Rosemarie Turk, Mohammad Afaque Alam, Eli Thompson, David Schaub, Joseph Gunderson, Anesu S. Masango, Srikar Kollipara, Andrea Moreno, Daniom Tecle, Valentine N. Nfonsam

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Anastomotic leak after reversal of an ostomy is a significant complication in rectal cancer patients. The effects of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NCRT) on outcomes following stoma reversal are not well established. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of NCRT on outcomes in rectal cancer patients following stoma reversal. METHODS: We performed a [2005-2012] retrospective cohort analysis of the American College of Surgeons-National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP), including adult (≥18 years) rectal cancer patients who had elective stoma reversal. Patients were stratified into those who received NCRT and those who did not. Primary outcomes were anastomotic …

Haptic Journey Through Circular Textiles Design Practices, María Tamames-Sobrino, Adriana Cagigas-Gil, Laura Saldaña-Puentes, Carlota Gramunt, Mariana Gramunt

Artículos científicos

This paper presents an analytical framework designed to explore the educational barriers hindering the transition towards sustainability in the textile and fashion industry. The approach is based on the analysis of the ongoing Sustentare Project, which focuses on circular design methodologies and adopts the Textile Strategy Approach. Through the analysis and discussion of this project, we argue that textiles play a significant role in shaping cultural, economic, and ecological regeneration. Moreover, the established framework offers a more refined understanding of how design can drive sustainability transitions. It introduces additional analytical tools to circular design thinking, allowing for a deeper exploration …

Review Of Documentary Making For Digital Humanists, Adam Boggs

Open Educational Resources - Reviews

No abstract provided.

Addendum To The Mapbook Of Syntactic Variation In American English: Survey Results, 2020–2021, Jim Wood, Guilherme M. C. Pereira

Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity

This paper presents an addendum to the Mapbook of Syntactic Variation in American English (Wood et al. 2020), reporting the results of additional acceptability-judgment surveys conducted by the Yale Grammatical Diversity Project in 2020–2021. Using the same survey design, data-processing pipeline, and mapping techniques as the original mapbook, we extend the empirical record to a new set of syntactic constructions, including additional uses of hella, causal where, the alternative one construction, intensificational fully, and several cases of object omission with transitive verbs, which we call “lonely transitives”. As in the original work, we provide geospatial visualizations of …

Uab Libraries Q4 2025 Employee Updates, Uab Libraries

UAB Libraries News

No abstract provided.