Digital Commons Network^™

Customers' Perceptions Of Customer Service After The Covid-19 Pandemic, Marissa Young

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how customers perceive customer service after the COVID-19 pandemic, using qualitative data from an open-ended survey to evaluate how expectations, experiences, and the meaning of service have shifted. The findings demonstrate that consumers view customer service as a holistic process influenced by interpersonal communication, operational efficiency, product availability, and pricing transparency. Participants emphasized both positive and negative encounters, stating that the COVID pandemic fostered lowered expectations due to staffing shortages and work stress, while also remaining observant of service inconsistencies. These results relate to theories of service quality, emotional labor, and organization-public relationships by illustrating how crisis …

Understanding Interculturality And Enacting Culturally Based Pedagogies: A Mixed Methods Study Of In-Service World Language Educators In Secondary Classrooms, Heather L. Sandy

Theses and Dissertations

This research study explored the relationship between an understanding of interculturality and culturally based pedagogies among world language teachers. The study examined the relationship between language teachers’ upbringing, their development of intercultural competence, and their self-efficacy in culturally responsive teaching practices. It addressed a practical knowledge gap concerning the intersection of interculturality and culturally based practices, specifically among secondary education teachers of Spanish and Mandarin Chinese in the United States.

The data sources focused on the qualitative aspects of interculturality, culturally based teaching practices, and world language pedagogy, with quantitative results to enhance qualitative data. The qualitative data collection included …

Create Your Character: Application Of Identity Play Findings From Cosplay And Video Games Onto Tabletop Roleplaying Games, Farhia A. Osman

Theses and Dissertations

Tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) are collaborative, imaginative games in which players create and enact fictional characters within shared narrative worlds. Although research on roleplaying games has expanded in recent years, much of the empirical literature has focused on digital roleplaying games, particularly massively multiplayer online roleplaying games, leaving tabletop roleplaying comparatively understudied. I conducted a study with 173 adult TTRPG players to examine the relations among openness to experience, motivations for playing TTRPGs, and avatar identification. I also explored whether the individual facets to openness to experience predicted motivations for play and avatar identification, and whether players who had portrayed …

Vocabulary Assessment And Washback: English Teachers' Practices In Preparing Students For The Wassce In Ghana, Ishmael Nii Amon Neequaye

Theses and Dissertations

Persistent concerns in WAEC Chief Examiners’ Reports consistently attribute declining student performance on the WASSCE English Language examination to limited vocabulary knowledge. Despite these recurring observations, little research has explored how teachers respond to the vocabulary demands embedded within this high-stakes examination. This qualitative study investigates (1) how Senior High School English teachers prepare students for the vocabulary demands of the WASSCE English paper and (2) how the assessment pressures influence instructional practices and classroom decision-making.  Drawing on communicative competence, multiliteracies, and washback, the study employed a descriptive case study design and thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and focus group …

Tooth Ablation And The Jōmon - Yayoi Transition In Japan, Laura R. Erickson

Theses and Dissertations

The Jōmon – Yayoi period transition in Japan is marked by many migrants coming through the Korean Peninsula into Kyushu, sparking changes such as the introduction of wet-rice agriculture to the native hunter-gatherer-fisher Jōmon population and decreases in tooth ablation patterns and percentages. Ritual tooth ablation, or the removal of healthy front teeth, is typically seen as a coming-of-age practice, with the Jōmon having a diverse amount of ablation patterns. In this study, I explored how the rates and variation of tooth ablation changed throughout Japan after the arrival of Yayoi migrants from the continent. After calculating ablation rates per …

An Evolution Of Drag In Theatre: A Historical Reflection, Krista Peters

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will serve as an overarching analysis and historical discussion on the art of drag within the traditional theatrical space. By employing queer theory, I will analyze how the use of drag has evolved throughout the history of Broadway and the United States and how it is responding to the contemporary social attitude. Drawing from the arguments of Butler, Lorde, Rich, Foucault, and others, this thesis uses historical survey to examine the direct representation of drag in theatrical spaces in conjunction with each representation’s sociopolitical and cultural environments. Sociopolitical contemporary contexts of each representation influence not only the form …

Transforming Instructional Spaces: Professional Development And The Design Of Culturally Responsive Classroom Displays, Tisha M. Ortega

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative action research study examined how secondary teachers at a Midwest high school engaged in the process of designing classroom displays for culturally responsive teaching. The semester-long study explored how teachers’ understandings of culturally responsive teaching informed their design decisions, how they engaged students with display content, and how ongoing reflection and participation in a professional development study group shaped their practices over time. Data were collected through interviews, surveys, study group transcripts, and photographs of classroom displays.

Findings indicated that participation in the study group served as both validation and inspiration, supporting teachers in refining their approaches to …

Transgender Representation In Japanese Video Games And Their Corresponding American Fandoms, Aj Abad

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores transgender and gender non-conforming characters within Japanese media and their corresponding American fandoms. In this thesis, I use a methodology named trans negotiated readings, stemming from Stuart Hall’s theory of dominant codes and negotiated readings. Through focusing on two characters from two different Japanese media—Arashi Narukami from Ensemble Stars!! and Mizuki Akiyama from Project Sekai: Colorful Stage Feat. Hatsune Miku, I uncover some of the dominant codes encoded the original source material. After, I also examine their corresponding American fandoms, uncovering the negotiated readings from the fanbase. This thesis attempts to show different cultures’ interpretation of transgender …

From Stage To Screen: Hamilton: An American Musical, Emotional Communication, And Digital Audience Discourse, Christopher J. O'Quinn Jr

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how musical theatre functions as a communicative and affective medium that extends beyond live performance into digital spaces where audiences actively construct and share meaning. Focusing on the Broadway musical Hamilton: An American Musical (throughout the thesis, I will refer to it as Hamilton), this research explores how audiences interpret, express, and create emotional responses through social media platforms. Using a modified digital ethnographic approach, data were collected from Instagram comments on posts from 2024 to 2026. Subsequently, a discourse analysis was employed to identify patterns in emotional expression, lived experience, meaning-making, performer appreciation, and shared …

The Synergy Between A Silver-Ruthenium Antimicrobial And Aminoglycosides Is Based On Severe Macromolecular Damage, Emmanuel Parkay Oladokun

Theses and Dissertations

The rise of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial pathogens, including uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), highlights the urgent need for alternative treatment strategies to restore antibiotic efficacy. The silver-ruthenium antimicrobial AGXX exerts potent bactericidal effects through the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS); however, its potential synergy with antibiotics has not been thoroughly investigated. Here, we show that sublethal concentrations of AGXX strongly enhance aminoglycoside-mediated killing across a diverse panel of Gram-negative and Gram-positive MDR clinical isolates, including highly aminoglycoside-resistant strains. Combinational treatments significantly reduced the effective concentrations of gentamicin, tobramycin, kanamycin, and amikacin required to kill bacteria. Mechanistic analyses revealed that AGXX/aminoglycoside …

Interaction Of The Gram-Positive Human Pathogen Staphylococcus Aureus With Host Lipids, Sharanya Paul

Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcus aureus is a prominent pathogen that is known to incorporate straight-chain unsaturated fatty acids (SCUFAs) into its lipids in addition to the normally biosynthesized branched-chain fatty acids (BCFAs) and straight-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Furthermore, it has recently been shown that the incorporation of oleic acid into S. aureus lipids significantly enhanced the growth of the organism at low temperatures due to the greater fluidity imparted to the membrane. Together with others in the Wilkinson and Dahl laboratory, I have shown that low-temperature growth is enhanced by various SCUFAs, including the human antimicrobial fatty acids sapienic acid, linoleic acid, and …

Children’S And Adult Perspectives On Mental Health In Children’S Youth Literature And Media, Edcel J. Cintron-Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation extends existing work on mental health in children’s literature to examine the different narratives strategies that text, film, and media for young audiences use to connect childhood, caregiving, and emotional wellbeing. Three areas of scholarship—children’s literature scholarship, health humanities work, and feminist care ethics—inform my project. Overall, I am interested in how a variety of genres for young readers represent mental health not only as an individual experience, but also as something shaped by family, culture, community, and adult-child relationships. It is therefore important to delineate the different concepts and frameworks that help make sense of how mental …

Why Make Books In Art Class Or Art In Reading Class? How Storytelling Impacts Youth Literacy And Cultural Dialogue, Holly Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

Given complex factors affecting reading literacy and students’ need for empowerment through creativity, this thesis project will investigate possibilities for combining artmaking with written narrative. Creative solutions, such as integrated and project-based learning activities, are documented as having some of the best positive impacts on overall learning growth (Laur, 2021; Aydin & Mutlu, 2023). Therefore, my thesis includes a discussion on Arts Integration initiatives and an illustrated book for students ages 10-15, which can be used as an example for their own studies into personal narrative. While the research presented here touches on multiple factors affecting students’ self-esteem and willingness …

Reconceptualizing Instructional Supervision For Stem Education In The Digital Age, Armen Alvarez

Theses and Dissertations

This conceptual thesis reconceptualizes instructional supervision for AI-enabled STEM teaching in the Digital Age. Traditional supervision models, including clinical, developmental, and cognitive coaching, emphasize human-centered observation and feedback but lack guidance for supervising AI-mediated instruction, interpreting algorithmic outputs, and addressing neurodiverse learner variability. Using integrative literature review methodology, this thesis synthesizes scholarship across five theoretical foundations: epistemic perspectives, the neurodiversity paradigm, Universal Design for Learning, human-centered AI and educational leadership, and supervision literature.

The resulting conceptual framework organizes supervisory attention into four interconnected domains:

• human-centered AI use in teaching and assessment,
• neurodiversity- and UDL-informed pedagogy,
• relational and compassionate classroom climate, …

Effects Of Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Strategies On Job Attitudes And Well-Being, Kara Cannon

Theses and Dissertations

Interpersonal emotion regulation involves using social interactions to influence their own or another’s emotions (Gross, 1998). Although previous research has examined the relationships between intrapersonal emotion regulation and workplace outcomes, there is a lack of research on interpersonal emotion regulation in the workplace context. The current study extends this research by examining the relationships between interpersonal emotion regulation strategies, co-rumination, well-being, and job satisfaction, and examines which interpersonal emotion regulation strategies are better predictors of the outcome variables than others. Positive correlations between interpersonal emotion regulation strategies and well-being and between co-rumination and well-being were found. Perspective taking and enhancing …

The Right To Read: Opposing The Censorship Of Young Adult Literature On Grounds Of Sexually Explicit Content, Kate Fortner

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I use intersections between sexuality studies, feminism, queer theory, and theories of children’s and young adult literature to examine and historicize the prevalence of book bans and challenges between 2020 and 2025 that target young adult literature on the basis of sexually explicit content. To understand the opposition to portrayals of underage heterosexuality, I analyze John Green’s Looking for Alaska, considering its history of censorship as well as the author’s response to those bans. To understand the challenges to depictions of LGBTQ+ identities aimed at young people, I look at Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer and Juno …

Exploring The Role Of Racial Microaggressions And Campus Climate In Fostering Sense Of Belonging For Black Latiné College Students, Lourdes D. Concepción Cabán

Theses and Dissertations

Racial microaggressions are subtle verbal or nonverbal behaviors that convey hostility and exclusion toward People of Color (Sue et al., 2007). These acts negatively impact the well-being, perceptions of inclusivity, and sense of belonging of marginalized groups in higher education (Solórzano & Pérez Huber, 2020). Black Latiné college students face unique challenges at the intersection of anti-Blackness and racialized Latinidad, compounding the effects of racial microaggressions in historically white institutions (Torres et al., 2012). I conducted a study with 77 Black Latiné undergraduate students from Midwestern universities to examine the relation between racial microaggressions, perceptions of campus climate, and sense …

Digital Truth Making, Creative Resistance, And Power Negotiation Through Social Media: A Digital Ethnography Of The 2024 Gen Z Uprising In Bangladesh, Mustafizurrrahman Rahat

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates how social media shaped political participation during the 2024 July Uprising in Bangladesh, focusing on the production and negotiation of political truth, legitimacy, and resistance through everyday digital practices. Rather than conceptualizing social media solely as a communication tool, the study analyzes digital platforms as contested spaces where activists, state-aligned actors, and other participants constructed, circulated, and challenged competing political narratives throughout the uprising.

Drawing on digital ethnography, this study integrates netnographic observation of Facebook groups, pages, hashtags, memes, and protest-related visual content with content analysis, reflexive participant observation, and semi-structured interviews with Generation Z participants. The …

Predicting Tilt In Esports: A Psychophysiological Approach To Understanding Player Emotional Regulation, Nathan Rhea

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Emotional regulation and stress management are important to both casual and competitive esports players. When players become dysregulated, they experience a phenomenon known as “tilt” within the gaming community, where they often lose control of their emotions and their performance declines. This study aimed to investigate whether a psychophysiological variable in heart rate variability could predict tilt in college-age esports players. Additionally, the relationship between heart rate variability and emotions predicted by the Tiltometer system with gameplay performance and winning or losing was tested.

This study used a quantitative correlational research design. Participants for this study were college-age players (N=23) …

The Law And Economics Of Resilience, Doni Bloomfield, Jeff Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

The field of law and economics has long studied externalities, the costs and benefits actors create and yet fail to internalize. But scholars have largely overlooked a set of externalities that lead firms across the economy to systematically underinvest in resilience, with macroeconomically harmful consequences. In this Article, we address this gap with a theory of the law and economics of resilience, by which we mean the ability of markets to reliably and optimally meet demand for goods and services without extreme price fluctuations. 

We argue that corporate resilience is determined by a conflict between two basic forces: the resilience …

Dan Subotnik Kept It Real, John Mcwhorter

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

If I Only Had The Words (To Tell You): Billy Joel Lyrics In Legal And Medical Scholarship, Seuli Bose Brill, Christian H. Brill

Touro Law Review

Law and medicine are often considered to be among the least accessible professions, partly because of the heavy use of non colloquial jargon. This article examines more than 150 instances in which Billy Joel’s lyrics have been used to improve the accessibility of legal and medical scholarship. Legal and medical professionals have used the words of the “Piano Man” to discuss a variety of topics—everything from civil procedure to property rights and the COVID-19 pandemic to colorectal surgery. Nontraditional communications techniques of this type do not just contribute to the body of legal and medical scholarship; they also help professionals …

Durbin’S Ripple: How Fee Caps Reshaped Banking And Boosted Fintechs: Exploring The Unintended Consumer Impacts And Regulatory Gaps In The Wake Of The Durbin Amendment, Rebecca M. Reeve

Touro Law Review

This Article explores the implications of the Durbin Amendment on consumer protection, financial innovation, and market competition. Initially intended to cap interchange fees and foster cost savings for merchants and consumers, the Amendment’s effects have diverged from its legislative intent. Financial institutions offset lost revenue by increasing other consumer fees, unintentionally spurring a financial technology (fintech) boom as consumers sought low-cost alternatives. This Article examines the administrative rulemaking challenges the Federal Reserve faced in implementing the Amendment, the rise of fintech solutions as a response to shifting bank priorities, and the potential regulatory gaps affecting consumer protection in a rapidly …

The American Dream And The Politics Of Promise: Presidential Rhetoric Against Reality On Inequality, Education, And Assistance Since 2000, Abigail Demonte

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

High Stakes And Random Rewards: A Critical Look At Loot Boxes And Illegal Gambling, Brian T. Wersan

Touro Law Review

Since their inception in the mid-2000s, loot boxes have been legal and virtually unregulated in the United States. Ever-growing mountains of evidence demonstrate the harms of loot boxes, but their structure has not yet been found to be in violation of any current U.S. gambling law, leading to a complete lack of recovery for victims. Certainly, if people experience harm, a legal avenue providing justice must exist. While other avenues are referenced, this Note ultimately argues that loot boxes can be interpreted by courts to satisfy the elements of, and thus, violate multiple state gambling laws, revealing a path to …

The Proportionality Trap: Why Death Tolls In War Need Not Add Up Equally, Thane Rosenbaum

Touro Law Review

Imagine a war without battlefields. There are no uniforms. Civilians and combatants are indistinguishable. Homes, schools, hospitals, and religious buildings are used as command and communication centers, and for the warehousing of weapons. Apartment rooftops are launching pads; the civilians who live inside . . . human shields. There are over 300 miles of reinforced tunnels, all outfitted with weapons and passageways for terrorists to take hostages and travel freely. Beyond Proportionality examines Israel’s battles against Hamas and Hezbollah under the laws of war and concludes that its war time conduct was based on military necessity and fought justly. The …

Who’S In Charge Here?: Collegiate Athletics After The House Settlement, Pamela Ko

Touro Law Review

The House v. NCAA settlement, which was approved in June 2025, paved the way for groundbreaking changes to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the implementation of its rules and regulations related to athlete rights, including transformative levels and types of student-athlete compensation that have never been permitted in the history of college sports. These changes fundamentally altered the relationship between many Division I student-athletes, educational institutions, athletic conferences, and the NCAA. This Article will discuss both the short and long-term impacts of the House settlement while analyzing both the continuing role of the NCAA and the role of …

Higher Education’S Legal Reckoning: The Institutional Lawyer—More Than A Trend, Jenean Taranto

Touro Law Review

Higher education institutions (IHEs) operate in an increasingly complex legal and regulatory environment that has transformed institutional governance, administration, and leadership. Since the enactment of the Higher Education Act of 1965, colleges and universities have experienced growing federal, state, and quasi-regulatory oversight, a phenomenon commonly described as the “lawyerization” of higher education. This process has resulted in expanded compliance obligations, increased litigation risks, and greater reliance on legal expertise within institutional operations. Recent federal actions following the inauguration of President Donald Trump in January 2025— including executive orders, agency guidance, policy memoranda, and related litigation—have intensified regulatory uncertainty and further …

Tinjauan Frasa “Setiap Orang” Dalam Pasal 3 Ayat (1) Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 56 Tahun 2021 Tentang Pengelolaan Royalti Hak Cipta Lagu Dan/Atau Musik, Fajar Hidayansyah Ilham, Luna Dezeana Ticoalu

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Copyright is one form of legal protection for intellectual works, occupying an important position within the intellectual property law system. The Copyright Law explicitly grants exclusive rights to creators, encompassing both moral rights and economic rights. Economic rights, as stipulated in Article 9 paragraph (1), allow creators to obtain economic benefits from their works, ranging from publication, reproduction, distribution, performance, to communication to the public. This provision shows that creators hold a primary position as legal subjects entitled to protection, while also serving as central actors in the creative industry ecosystem. In practice, the mechanism for copyright protection requires implementing …

Assessing The Scope Of Knowledge And Decision-Making Patterns Regarding Healthy Eating During Pregnancy In Pregnant Female Adults In Southern California, Raegan Soffel

Loma Linda University Research Reports

While recognizing the link between prenatal nutrition and maternal-fetal health, this investigator-initiated study seeks to identify pregnant women's understanding of prenatal nutrition guidelines and the influences on their dietary choices. Thirty-eight eligible women completed an online, anonymous surveying assessing the scope of knowledge and decision-making patterns of healthy eating during pregnancy. The average knowledge score among the participants was 6.05/14. There was no significant difference in the knowledge scores among pregnancy periods or among total number of pregnancies. Perceptions of nutrition guidance in prenatal care, factors influencing eating behaviors, and primary sources of nutrition information were explored. The findings may …