Digital Commons Network^™

History Of Florence State Teachers College, Susan Kirkman Vaughn

Documents

The story of the History of State Teachers College in Florence, Alabama.

La Grange Alabama's Earliest College, Walter Brownloe Posey, Ph.D.

Documents

This article on LaGrange College was published in the Birmingham-Southern College Bulletin in November 1933. (Volume XXVI Number 6)

Improving Drought Science Communication And Accessibility, Lindsay Erin Johnson

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Effective drought management depends not only on the accuracy of scientific data, but also on how that information is communicated and understood by diverse audiences. This dissertation examines drought communication through the lens of science communication, with a focus on improving readability, accessibility, understandability, and usability of drought information. Using a manuscript-style format, three studies investigate how drought information is written, delivered, and applied. Chapter 1 provides a brief overview and outline of this dissertation. Chapter 2 evaluates the readability of the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) national narratives over almost 8 years. Results show that these narratives are consistently written …

Slow Librarianship For Healthier Libraries And Library Workers, Meredith Farkas

Bryant Jackson Lectureship

We live in an individualistic achievement society that encourages people to chase external validation by putting the focus on innovation and competition over collaboration and collective care. Many of these dynamics are at play in the library and information science profession, leading to toxic cultures of scarcity, low morale, burnout, and disproportionate harm to BIPOC library workers and patrons. We have the power to imagine new futures that will equip us to better serve our patrons and support our collective well-being. Slow librarianship focuses on relationship-building, values-driven work, quality over quantity, solidarity, antiracism, and reflective practice.

Farkas is a faculty …

Redefining Professional Boundaries To Strengthen Relationships And Postsecondary Goal-Setting: An Improvement Science Approach To Coaching Opportunity Youth, Felipe De Jesus Longoria-Shinn

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Transitional and independent living coaches at Central Service Agency (CSA), a pseudonym for a Midwestern human services organization, support opportunity youth—young people facing systemic barriers—in improving their life trajectories. Although CSA has served an increasing number of youth in recent years, the number pursuing postsecondary education has remained stagnant or declined. This study engaged coaches, staff, and participating youth in an improvement science (IS) initiative designed to increase the number of postsecondary goals set by youth. Grounded in research demonstrating that postsecondary pathways can mitigate the effects of adverse life experiences and promote long-term mobility, this study examined how relational …

Enduring Commitment: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Retention Among Veteran Early Childhood Educators In Rural Settings, Erin M. Wirtz

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The retention of teachers has been a challenge, particularly in the field of early childhood education (Downey et al., 2024; Havlicek-Cook, 2012; Markowitz, 2024; Totenhagen et al., 2016). Research on teacher attrition is abundant, yet studies of retention are far less common, and those that exist have largely focused on K-12, novice, and urban educators. This study seeks to address this gap by exploring the experiences of veteran early childhood educators working in rural northern Minnesota. Guided by the framework of Deci and Ryan’s (2000) Self-Determination Theory, the purpose of this study was to examine factors that contribute to sustained …

Memory And Identity: A Comparative Analysis Of “Iranian Cultural Identity” In Asghar Farhadi’S Adaptation Of Arthur Miller’S Death Of A Salesman, Raed Faridzadeh

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Recent cultural studies examine the intersection of cultural identity and memory, often viewing culture as a symbolic sign system or "culture as text." Jan Assmann defines "cultural memory" as essential to shaping societal identity. Literature and film contribute to this process by transmitting and evolving cultural meanings, not only reflecting but also constructing knowledge and reality. Iranian cinema has become a powerful medium of cultural expression, particularly post-revolution. Filmmakers like Abbas Kiarostami, Sohrab Shahid Sales, Dariush Mehrjui, and Asghar Farhadi explore the dynamic relationship between literature and film in shaping cultural memory. This article analyzes Asghar Farhadi’s adaptation of Death …

Cineture: The Trans(Inter)Mediality And Socio-Cultural Mobility Between Iran And The Us, Naghmeh Esmaeilpour

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Literature and film have proven to be influential socio-cultural mediums, facilitating interactions and counteractions between nations where politics often fail to do so. Introducing cineture as a transmedial genre, this article is situated at the intersections of glocalized culture, and Iranian-American studies by considering literature and film as the contact zone between Iranians and Americans. Cineture, the combination of cinema and literature, refers to the circulation of cultures through its specification of film-text transmediation. The application of cineture demonstrates the combination and blending of literary and cinematic works leading to cross the “center and periphery dichotomy.” To study cineture …

Rural School Counselors Supporting Queer Students In The Southeastern United States, Harley Devon Locklear, Damaris Bates

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This article aims to explore the storied experiences of school counselors who actively, overtly and covertly resist the oppression of queer students within rural schools throughout the Southeastern United States. Narrative Inquiry was the research methodology utilized to collect, interpret, and reconstruct these stories, culminating in the synthesization of six overarching themes capturing the factors contributing to and limiting the advocacy efforts of rural school counselors: View of Role, Counselor Self-Efficacy, Stakeholder Push-back, Services Offered, Advocacy Efforts, and Training and University Support. Implications for school counselors, counselor education program, and school administers are also discussed in relation to improving …

“You Can’T Ban That!”: Lgbtq+ Youth Of Color Speak Back To Book Bans In Utah, Sonny Partola, Leticia Alvarez Gutiérrez

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This article explores how LGBTQ+ youth of color (LGBTQ+ YOC) in Utah perceive anti-LGBTQ+ book bans amid a hostile sociopolitical climate. Drawing from a critical ethnographic study at a public high school, and guided by Queer of Color Critique, we examine how censorship, heteronormativity, and White Christian nationalism shape book bans. Youth participants described such bans as mechanisms of erasure and harm that restrict access to affirming literature and reinforce marginalization, while also revealing contradictions in schools’ promotion of literacy alongside censorship. Despite these harms, participants resisted erasure—asserting visibility, belonging, and intellectual freedom. This study contributes to scholarship on censorship …

Climate Change And The Reconfiguration Of Arctic Access, Charles H. Norchi, Amanda H. Lynch

Faculty Publications

The Arctic is warming faster than any other region on Earth, with surface air temperatures increasing at a rate nearly four times the global average.1 This amplification of global change has been reshaping the Arctic for decades, altering sea ice extent and thickness, snow regimes, permafrost stability, and hydrological systems. Against this backdrop, a persistent narrative has taken hold that the diminishing cryosphere2 is setting the table for opportunity: opening the Arctic to navigation, development, and exploitation. But this thaw renders the Arctic neither benign nor uniformly accessible. The region remains frozen for most of the year, dark for months …

Systemic Failure And Synthetic Abuse: Regulating Nonconsensual Deepfakes Under The Take It Down Act, Chisomeme Nwuda

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Marine Artisanal Fisheries And Blue Economy Development In Mainland Tanzania: An Empirical Analysis Of Catch, Revenue, And Employment (2011–2019), Iddi Mwanyoka, Modesta Medard

Blue Economy

The government of Tanzania is currently developing a Blue Economy (BE) policy for mainland Tanzania. However, it remains unclear how marine artisanal fisheries can contribute to, and support the implementation of, this emerging economic initiative. Drawing on in-depth key informant interviews, a review of relevant documents, and an analysis of nine years (2011—2019) fisheries data, this study examines the potential contribution of fish catch, revenue, and employment to the BE. The findings showed a significant (20.5%) increase in the number of fishing vessels between 2011 and 2019, together with a notable 52% rise in fish catches between 2018 and 2019. …

Association Between Maternal Factors And Stunting Based On The Indonesia Family Life Survey 5 (Ifls-5), Charissa Otniel Sukamto, Siti Nur Fatimah, Noormarina Indraswari

Makara Journal of Health Research

Background: Stunting remains a major issue in Indonesia. Maternal factors during pregnancy are one of the key determinants in preventing stunting. This study aimed to analyze the association between maternal history during pregnancy (age, height, parity, and inter-pregnancy interval) and stunting, with a comparison between urban and rural areas.

Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study used data from 3,639 children aged 1-5 years old from the household survey of Indonesia Family Life Survey 5, conducted between late October 2014 and August 2015 within 13 provinces in Indonesia. Data was analyzed using chi-square and binary logistic regression methods.

Results: …

Alberta’S Creation: A Historical And Legal Analysis, Kent Mcneil

Articles & Book Chapters

The provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created out of the Northwest Territories, a part of Canada owned and governed by the federal government.  In order to understand the context and implications of Alberta’s potential secession from Canada, it is necessary to examine the history of the region and discuss the law that may be relevant to this question.

Making It Work For The Future: Enslaved Contributions To Southern Baking And The Rise Of Black Culinary Entrepreneurship, Christiana Bell

Honors Theses - Providence Campus

This thesis investigates the two roles African Americans have in shaping Southern baking: first, as the foundational yet historically erased creators of techniques, ingredient traditions, and signature dishes; and second, as contemporary entrepreneurs reclaiming this heritage through the baking industry. Using a conceptual framework of Culinary Justice, Critical Race Theory (with a focus on counter-narratives), and Culinary Entrepreneurship, this study analyzes historical knowledge, cookbooks, and primary source narratives, alongside present-day interviews with Black culinary and pastry professionals. The research tests two hypotheses: first, that the contribution of enslaved Africans was significant and measurable across specific techniques, ingredient adaptation, and “making …

Efficiency Of The Geographic Distribution Of Public Education Schools In Al-Saiyh City According To Planning Standards: An Analytical Study Using Geographic Information Systems (Gis), Fay Nasser Dafer Alsebaie

Journal of Arabic Sciences and Humanities

This study aimed to analyze the efficiency of the geographical distribution of public education schools in Al-Sayh city, and to reveal the pattern of their spatial distribution, and the extent to which this pattern is consistent with planning standards and principles, in response to the need for an evaluative spatial analysis of the reality of educational services in the city.The study adopted the descriptive approach, based on the cartographic method, in addition to a set of quantitative statistical analyses such as: spatial mean, central Feature, standard distance, distribution direction, geographical distribution density, and also the neighborhood connection coefficient. The study …

Cultivating Home: Nepali Migrants And Gardening As Everyday Rhetoric, Menuka Gurung Lama

Frontera Retórica Symposium

Rhetorical knowledge is often discussed through formal institutions and textual traditions, leaving everyday community practices underexamined. This paper engages the theme “Rhetoric from the Margins” by examining how Nepali migrants’ gardening practices in Hooksett, New Hampshire produce knowledge outside dominant academic and institutional frameworks. I ask: How do Nepali migrants use gardening as a way of making meaning, sustaining memory, and cultivating belonging in unfamiliar environments? In what ways does gardening function as a rhetorical and epistemic practice through which migrants carry and transform land-based knowledge across borders? Rather than treating gardening simply as leisure or subsistence activity, I examine …

Customer-Facing Api Key Aliasing System With Policy-Bound Lifecycle, Zero-Downtime Rotation, Third-Party Data Payload Protection, And Closed-Loop Revocation For Web, Mobile, And Agent Credential And Data Security, Duncan Ndegwa Ndungu

Defensive Publications Series

This publication discloses a customer-facing API key aliasing system (A19) and a companion third-party data payload protection system (A19B). A19 provides alias indirection for API credentials across web, mobile, CI/CD, AI agent, and third-party integration environments — with policy-bound alias issuance, zero-downtime dual-alias rotation, device attestation binding for mobile (Apple DeviceCheck, Google Play Integrity), selective alias revocation, anomaly monitoring, and closed-loop revocation. A19B adds three layers of application-layer security above TLS: multi-identity outbound payload signing binding five identity dimensions (application, user, browser, device, alias) into a single HMAC-SHA256 attestation; selective AES-256-GCM field-level encryption with automatic PII detection and field-path AAD …

Cultivating Curiosity Across Academic Audiences: Biology And Evidence-Based Science Communication, Nathan D. Forbes

Whittier Scholars Program

Effective Science Communicators must speak to a variety of audiences, with varying quantities of prior interest and qualities of background knowledge. The purpose of this paper was to engage differing audiences in scientific learning. This was done through a hypothetical newsletter made up for four different segments exploring a variety of topics in biology. Each segment intends to speak to a different audience with a different level of interest and/or educational level. Simplifying or analogizing without sacrificing the statistical basis of this project was of paramount importance. In the two segments targeted towards younger audiences, the primary focus was on …

On The “Storied” History And Sustained Impact Of A Thriving Social Justice Journal, Mario L. Barnes

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

No abstract provided.

29th Annual Women's, Gender, And Sexuality Studies Symposium Program, 2026, Illinois State University, Women's, Gender, And Sexuality Studies Program

WGSS Student Research Symposium

Program from the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Symposium

‘Mobile Consumers’: Interpreting The Consumption Perceptions, Practices And Experiences Of Mobile Brazilian International Students In London, Mark Holton, Leonardo Santana Dos Santos Rodrigues

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

This paper advances existing work on the mobilities and geographies of students by examining the complexities and contestations affecting international students' consumption perceptions and experiences. This is important in positing new ways of understanding how educational mobilities, in both their meta and micro forms, can influence, and be influenced by, consumption practices and ideologies. Drawing on a set of semi-structured interviews with Brazilian international students living and studying in London, UK this paper draws together mobilities and consumption theories as a lens for interpreting consumption knowledge and practice as an evolving and iterative set of performances that align closely with …

An Analysis Of Surface-Level Macro And Microplastics Along Western Central Leyte, Philippines, Graham B. Morrison-Plumley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

With the pervasive use of plastics worldwide, their environmental effects can reach even the most remote ecosystems. This study examines both macro and microplastic pollution in the Greater Baybay region in western Leyte, Philippines. Samples from 10 separate sites within Baybay and its adjacent communities represent the unique environmental and geologic diversity of the central Visayan region of the Philippines. At each of the 10 sampling sites, 3 excavations were conducted, yielding 30 samples. Macroplastics were collected in the field, immediately around microplastic digs. Microplastic samples were analyzed in Florida Atlantic University’s Environmental Change Lab. It was determined that spatial …

Applications Of Suas Thermal Imaging And Lidar At Letort Spring Garden Preserve: An Independent Study, Kelsey Wardell

Harrisburg University Other Works

No abstract provided.

Danza Azteca As A Form Of Resistance To White Settler Colonialism, Miguel Martínez

International Journal of Human Rights Education

White settler colonialism is a systematic process by which Europeans and their descendants migrate to and settle in a new land with the explicit expectation of taking over the land, regardless of any Indigenous peoples that may live on the land (Speed, 2017; Wolfe, 2006). The Indigenous people who reside there can be exploited for labor, removed, exterminated or some combination of the three. In the process of settling the land, the settlers rename places, transform land use, create a new sense of cultural identity, and work to eliminate any remnants of what had existed prior to their arrival. Indigenous …

Crimmigration Pedagogy In An Age Of State Violence: Reclaiming Human Rights Education In Public Health And Social Work, Juan Carlos Ruiz Malagon, Belinda Marie Hernandez-Arriaga, Alonso R. Reyna Rivarola

International Journal of Human Rights Education

This essay calls for a transformative shift in public health and social work education to confront the racialized violence embedded in U.S. immigration enforcement, especially intensified during the second Trump administration (2025 -2029). Policies and enforcement events like the reinstated Remain in Mexico program and the widespread ICE raids in Los Angeles are part of a troubling rise of "crimmigration," which blends immigration and criminal law. This merging has normalized cruelty, heightened legal insecurity, and fostered fear within immigrant communities, leading to a sharp increase in mass detentions and deportations. Despite the sociopolitical reality, many public health and social work …

Human Rights Education, Racism And Early Childhood Education In Brazil: A Systematic Review, Ana Tereza Ramos De Jesus Ferreira, Juliene Madureira Ferreira

International Journal of Human Rights Education

Brazil was the last country in South America to put an end to the 388-year slave trade. To justify the trade of people from Africa, a series of actions were taken to dehumanize the Black  population, namely racism. Thus, the culture, religion, clothes, and phenotypical characteristics of Black people were considered inferior to those of the White race, and this continues to impact the lives of the Black population, which suffers from social inequality, low-quality education, and low-paid jobs up to this day. Therefore, this review aims to investigate Brazilian literature on activities in early childhood education (ECE) to fight …

“Some Rise, Some Fall, Some Climb”: Three Ways Of Looking At Robert Hunter’S The Giant’S Harp, Janet Brennan Croft, David L. Emerson

Journal of Tolkien Research

In this presentation we explore the world of the late Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter’s unpublished novel The Giant’s Harp. We will bring some of the tools we use in fantasy literature criticism and Tolkien studies to bear on this intriguing but sometimes problematic work. First, we want to look at the deep world-building behind the novel and related song cycles: does it create what in fantasy studies we call a legendarium, like the world J.R.R. Tolkien built? Second, how does it stack up as a mythology? What do we see when looking at it through the lenses of …

The Fantasy Of J.R.R. Tolkien: Mythopoeia And The Recovery Of Creation By Robert J. Dobie, Hayden Bilbrey

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

A chapter by chapter review of Robert J. Dobie's 2024 book The Fantasy of J.R.R. Tolkien: Mythopoeia and the Recovery of Creation. The review gives a chapter by chapter breakdown and asserts that though the book is more likely for academics, its approachable coverage of Tolkien's work and philosophical ideas also makes it a great read for anyone who is a fan of Middle-earth.