Digital Commons Network^™

A New Method For Teaching Classical Improvisation In The Wind Band, Eric Anthony Brewer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

ABSTRACT A New Method for Teaching Classical Improvisation in the Wind Band

In recent years there has been a renewed interest in the pedagogy of music improvisation taught in the eighteenth century Neapolitan Conservatories.  This project continues that interest by introducing concepts from that pedagogy to the wind band classroom at the high school and collegiate levels.  A new method for wind band that teaches basic concepts in music improvisation and trains students in elements of music composition is presented along with rehearsal techniques for implementing that method.      The method introduces students to the elements of major and minor keys …

Racial Resentment, Immigration Attitudes, And The Politics Of State Immigrant Policy Adoption In The United States, Cindy Osei Agyemang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Immigration remains one of the most contested public policy issues in the United States, and racial attitudes have become increasingly important in shaping public opinion and political debate. While prior research has shown a strong relationship between racial resentment and restrictive immigration attitudes, less is known about whether these attitudes extend to legislative discourse and the adoption of immigrant-inclusive state policies. This dissertation addresses that gap by examining the relationship between racial resentment and immigration politics across three levels of analysis: public opinion, legislative discourse, and state policy adoption. Using a mixed-methods research design, the study combines quantitative and qualitative …

Resilience And Reactivity: The Relation Between John Henryism And Cardiovascular Responses To Laboratory Stressors In An Appalachian Sample, Emma Raycher Thompson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

John Henryism active coping (JHAC), named for folk hero John Henry, is defined as the perception that one can overcome stressors through hard work (James et al., 1983). This construct has been tied to numerous health outcomes, showing a negative influence on cardiovascular health (Bennett et al., 2004). Many researchers have examined the relation between JHAC and cardiovascular reactivity to stress, though findings are mixed. Further, despite the legend of John Henry occurring in Appalachia, and traits associated with John Henryism, such as resilience, being prominent within this region, no study has examined the relation between JHAC and reactivity in …

Landscape As Expo: Reimagining Desert Landscapes As Climate-Adaptive Cultural Infrastructure In Las Vegas, Parinaz Baradaran Anaraki

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Contemporary desert cities face increasing environmental and social challenges driven by climate change, including extreme heat, water scarcity, fragmented ecological systems, and limited access to high-quality public open space. In many rapidly urbanizing regions, conventional urban development has marginalized desert landscapes, treating them as vacant land rather than valuable ecological and cultural assets. This thesis proposes Landscape as Expo as a new framework for transforming desert landscapes into climate-adaptive cultural infrastructure, where ecological processes become both functional systems and public experiences.

The project focuses on a 140-acre site within the Tule Springs Planning District in North Las Vegas, Nevada, identified …

Still The Same Daughter, Still Your Friend: How Social Media Enables Role Continuity In Transnational Relationships, Sahar Abedikedenji

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

Are There Enough Bees? Assessing Pollen Limitation In Native Eastern Washington Prairie Forbs, Alejandro Torres

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Prairie ecosystems in eastern Washington have been severely degraded due to agricultural intensification, urbanization, and habitat fragmentation, leaving less than 0.1% of native prairie intact. As a result, these ecosystems have become some of the most endangered in the United States. One group of essential pollinators is the bees, which facilitate plant reproduction and contribute to the long-term persistence of restored plant communities. However, despite the presence of at least 257 native bee species in the region, the impacts of habitat fragmentation and restoration on pollinator activity and plant-pollinator networks remain poorly understood. For this study, we worked across Eastern …

Macroinvertebrate Taxonomic And Functional Diversity In The Spokane River Watershed, Kaitlin L. Abell

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Changes in land use, such as agricultural expansion, have impacted stream systems by modifying discharge, substrate diversity, channel morphology, and nutrient inputs. The Spokane River Watershed is heavily impacted by human activity, including urban and agricultural development. Rehabilitation efforts are being organized to reintroduce Salmonidae species in the Spokane River Watershed. The first step of this reintroduction is to perform habitat studies to inform allocation of restoration efforts. As part of this effort, I performed benthic macroinvertebrate surveys throughout the watershed.

The objective of my research was to use the macroinvertebrate community as a biological indicator to determine which habitat …

Relationships Between Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities And Environmental Conditions In Headwater Tributaries Of The Pend Oreille Lake Watershed, Idaho, Devlin Mee

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Benthic macroinvertebrates are widely used indicators of stream condition, and their communities respond to thermal and land-use conditions in headwater streams. This study characterized macroinvertebrate biomass, community composition, and diversity across forested headwater tributaries of the Pend Oreille lake watershed in northern Idaho, and examined their relationships with summer temperature, land development, and road proximity. Samples from thirteen streams collected in 2024 were identified to genus, measured, and converted to estimated biomass using published length–mass regressions; ten streams had recovered temperature loggers. Because environmental variables were characterized once per stream, all analyses were conducted at the stream level.

Estimated total …

Making The Case For Open Dental Education, Casey D. Wright, Pamela P. Smalley, Fanny Eliza Bondah, Jennifer L. Lehto, Tonia Morley, Danelle Orange, Elisabeta Karl, Royce Kimmons

Library Faculty Research and Publications

Dental education as a field and dentistry as a profession are facing significant challenges, including workforce shortages, ever-rising costs, unmet student and community needs, as well as quality of pedagogical practices. Open educational resources are learning objects that are freely accessible and are able to be retained, reused, revised, remixed, and redistributed under the philosophy of more openness and sharing. While some efforts are being made to address the aforementioned concerns, the prospects of more readily welcoming and adopting open education have not been discussed as a potential means of alleviating these barriers. Here, we expound on some of the …

A Phenomenological Analysis Of Sense Of Belonging Among Community College Educators, Muhammad Owais Aziz

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

This phenomenological study explored the complex phenomenon of sense of belonging (SB) among diverse health professions educators (HPEs) and non-health professions educators (non-HPEs) at a Canadian community college. SB, as a dynamic construct shaped by an individual's perception of being valued and respected, is influenced by personal preferences and by complex interactions with the individual's surroundings. To better understand SB and foster a more inclusive environment for diverse educators, it is necessary to investigate SB among these educators. This qualitative study used eleven semi-structured interviews and seven steps of data analysis. The results of this study can inform strategies, policies, …

Bias Across The Data Lifecycle: Data Governors’ Perceptions In Land-Grant Higher Education, Shauna N. Mcclure, Lisa Lambert Snodgrass

Journal of Higher Education & Student Affairs

Higher education institutions increasingly rely on artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled tools and predictive analytics to inform decisions in areas such as admissions, student success, and resource allocation. This reliance heightens the need for data governance frameworks that address the policies, processes, and technologies governing student data. Data governors shape how institutional data are collected, interpreted, and used, yet existing approaches often assume that data are neutral, overlooking how bias can become embedded and compounded across the stages of the data lifecycle. This exploratory study investigates whether data governors perceive implicit bias as present across these stages. Using a quantitative survey, we …

A Proposed Conceptual Framework For Assessing Quality Of Life In The United Arab Emirates: Application To Ras Al Khaimah Emirate, Aaesha Saif Al Shehhi

Dissertations

Quality of Life (QoL) has become a central concern in urban planning and sustainable development, particularly in rapidly transforming contexts such as the United Arab Emirates. This dissertation proposes and empirically validates a comprehensive framework for assessing urban QoL, with a focused application to the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. A mixed-methods approach integrates objective indicators and residents' subjective perceptions, aligned with national strategies including UAE Vision 2030, the National Strategy for Wellbeing 2031, and UAE Centennial 2071.

The methodology combines Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and statistical analyses to evaluate seven key sectors: environment, infrastructure …

Prediction Of Psychological Alienation From Psychological Capital Among Mothers Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder In The Sultanate Of Oman, Azhaar Saif Saud Al Basami, Muna Abdullah Al-Bahrani, Ali Mahdi Kazem

Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

The aim of the current study is to examine the prediction of psychological alienation through psychological capital, while also measuring the levels of psychological capital and psychological alienation among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder.”. The study applied a descriptive predictive methodology and the sample consisted of 432 mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder, who were accessed using the convenience sampling method. The Psychological Capital Scale developed by Luthans et al. (2007) and the Psychological Alienation Scale developed by Dean (1961) were used in this study.The study found several results, including the low level of psychological capital among …

The Effectiveness Of A Group Counselling Program Based On The Acceptance And Commitment Therapy (Act)In Improving The Body Image Among A Tenth Grade Adolescent Female Students In The Governorate Of Muscat In Sultanate Of Oman, Nasra Aziz Khalaf Alriyami, Jalal Damra Kaid

Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

The current study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a group counselling program based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in improving the body image of adolescent female students in the tenth grade in Muscat Governorate. The Body Image Scale and the group counselling program based on acceptance and commitment therapy were used to achieve the study objective. The program consisted of ten sessions, two sessions per week. The research used the semi-experimental approach in two equal groups, with pre, post, and follow-up tests. Sixteen female adolescent students were involved purposely in the study procedures from the tenth grade, which …

Investigative Thinking Skills And Their Relationship To Awareness Of Contemporary Jurisprudential Issues Among Intermediate Female Students, Fatimah Ali Fadel Al-Ghamdi

Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

The current study sought to assess the level of investigative thinking skills and awareness of contemporary jurisprudential issues among a sample of third-grade intermediate female students, and to determine the relationship of these skills to awareness of contemporary jurisprudential issues. The random sample of the study consisted of 361 female students selected from all intermediate schools in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. For data collection purposes, an Investigative thinking skills test was developed and used. It includes five skills: deduction, classification, reasoning, interpretation, and problem-solving; also, an awareness of contemporary jurisprudential issues scale was also developed, which includes three dimensions: awareness of …

The Effectiveness Of 3d Printing Project-Based Learning In Developing Future Skills And Academic Passion Among 10th Grade Students In Physics, Asma Abdullah Alshabnuti, Salim Khamis Al Harmali, Sulaiman Mohammed Al-Balushi

Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

The study aimed to explore the effectiveness of 3D Printing Project-based Learning in developing future skills, according to the Omani Future Skills Framework, and academic passion among 10th-grade students in physics in the Sultanate of Oman. A quasi-experimental research design was used, with a control and experimental group. The sample consisted of (114) male and female students. The Study instruments were the Future Skills Classroom Observation and the Academic Passion Scale, to gather data. Findings showed statistically significant differences in favor of the experimental group in most of future skills, except in flexibility and adaptation skill. The effect size of …

Psychometric Properties Of The Revised Snijders- Oomen Non-Verbal Intelligence Test (Son-R 6–40), Among Sixth And Ninth Grade Students, In The Sultanate Of Oman, Fatma Said Alharthi, Yousef Abu Shindi, Hussain Ali Alkharusi

Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

The revised Snijders-Oomen Nonverbal Intelligence Test (SON-R 6–40) provides a standardized measure of intelligence. The test’s author, Nan Snijders-Oomen (1943), conceptualized intelligence as the ability to learn and the extent to which children can benefit from school education. This test is widely used in Europe, Latin America, and Asia, but its application remains limited in Arab environments, particularly in Oman, where there is a scarcity of psychometric evaluations of nonverbal intelligence tests. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the revised Snijders-Oomen Nonverbal Intelligence Test (SON-R 6–40) among a sample of sixth and ninth-grade students in Muscat …

Academic Hardiness And Its Relationship With Academic Self-Efficacy Among Secondary Students At Ajloun Governorate From The Hashemite Kingdom Of Jordan, Tahani Abdullah Abuwardeh

Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

The current study aimed to identify the levels of academic hardiness and academic self-efficacy among secondary school students in Ajloun Governorate in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and to examine the predictive ability of academic hardiness for academic self-efficacy. The descriptive and predictive approach was used. To achieve the objectives, the academic hardiness scale was developed, and the academic self-efficacy scale, which was used by Abo-Allymoun & AlRabee (2022), was applied. After confirming the validity and reliability of the two scales, they were administered to a sample of (367) students, (177) males and (190) females were selected using the cluster …

The Effectiveness Of An Educational Program Based On The Argumentative Theory In Developing Media Discourse Skills Among Female Students Of The Media Department At Taif University, Azizah Makhdhur Makhdhar Al-Harthi, Mohammed Abduljabbar M. Alsulami

Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

The study aimed to reveal the effectiveness of an educational program based on the argumentative theory in developing media discourse skills among female students of the Media Department at Taif University. To achieve the goal, the researchers used quasi-experimental design and prepared the following materials: a list of the written media discourse skills, a test of the written media discourse skills, provided with a rubric, a list of the oral media discourse skills, a test of the oral media discourse skills, equipped with a rubric, a general framework for the program, the student’s book, and the teacher’s guide. The random …

The Effectiveness Of Employing Artificial Intelligence Applications In Developing Technological Creativity For Students Of The Higher Basic Stage In Palestine, Mahmoud Mohammed Fouad Barghout, Ahmed Mohammed Abu Olba

Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

The research aimed to discover the effectiveness of implementing artificial intelligence applications in developing technological creativity for students of the higher basic stage in Palestine, the researchers used the Quasi-experimental design, and the researchers programmed and designed artificial intelligence applications for the unit (remote sensing and control) from the technology book for the eighth grade. The researchers prepared the research tool (technological creativity test). It was applied to the research sample, which consisted of eighth grade students at Saad bin Abi Waqas Basic School (B), affiliated to the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, where their number reached (72) …

Beyond Digital Pessimism: How A Focus On Trust Can Enhance Eu Digital Law, Neil M. Richards, Woodrow Hartzog, Claire Boine, Lea Despotis

Scholarship@WashULaw

Lawmakers looking to foster technological innovation on the European market are adopting laws they hope will promote consumer trust in digital products. Their strategy can be broken down into three components. First, they aim to empower consumers to choose how much data they want to share with companies through an express consent framework. Second, they seek to avoid harms from digital products through product safety law such as adapting the Product Safety Regulation to digital products or adopting the AI Act. Third, they endeavor to prevent manipulation of consumers through digital means.

In this essay, we argue that while laudable, …

Apportioned Direct Taxes, Conor Clarke, Ari Glogower

Scholarship@WashULaw

The Constitution requires that Congress apportion any “direct” tax among the states by population. This once-dormant provision is now the most important constitutional limitation on Congress’s taxing power. Last year, in Moore v. United States, the Supreme Court seriously considered, for the first time in decades, whether to invalidate an Act of Congress as an unapportioned direct tax. While the law survived, Moore has opened a new era in which scholars and policymakers must again take apportionment seriously. Yet the apportionment requirement remains poorly understood.

This Article provides a new perspective on apportionment by examining how Congress and Treasury …

Space Enterprises As International Lawmakers: Nudges, Pledges, And Other Bottom-Up Modalities, Melissa (M.J.) Durkee

Scholarship@WashULaw

Private entities are influencing the development of international space law. Space enterprises need regulatory certainty and consistent standards to attract capital and develop their plans for space. Yet, states have lagged in their capacity to make multilateral international space law in traditional public fora. Private entities have responded to this legal lag by attempting to create, develop, and nudge international space law in commerce-friendly ways. This chapter surveys a variety of modalities by which commercial actors can affect the development of international law, offers several examples of how commercial lawmaking efforts

How International Organizations Regulate Lobbyist Access, Melissa (M.J.) Durkee

Scholarship@WashULaw

This chapter explores how international organizations (IOs) regulate lobbyist access through participation frameworks rather than traditional lobbying laws. While no unified international lobbying regime exists, IOs use rules on NGO 'consultation' and 'engagement' to structure access. These rules, rooted in historical practices like the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) accreditation system, prioritize representativeness and legitimacy over transparency and accountability. As lobbying increasingly targets international forums, concerns about undue influence (the 'lobbying critique') and insufficient stakeholder inclusion (the 'access critique') have driven divergent reforms: some IOs, like the World Health Organization, have adopted stricter controls; others, such as the GAVI …

Taking Legality Seriously: What The Major Questions Doctrine Is — And Isn't, Andrea Scoseria Katz, Ofra Bloch

Scholarship@WashULaw

The Major Questions Doctrine (MQD), a controversial recent innovation of the Roberts Court that applies stricter scrutiny to “major” actions taken by federal agencies, has faced criticism for being atextual, unprincipled, and nakedly ideological. But this critique misses the fact that the doctrine has near-exact analogues in many other legal systems, where it is an established tool for reining in executive overreach. This Article argues that, while the MQD reflects valid rule-of-law concerns, as applied, it lacks theoretical clarity, consistency and limits. More importantly, the Court itself lacks a theory of what the MQD is. We provide an answer grounded …

Privatising International (Organizations) Law, Melissa (M.J.) Durkee

Scholarship@WashULaw

This essay explores the increasing role of private commercial actors within international organizations (IOs) and the implications for international law. Once conceived as state-centred institutions, IOs now routinely involve corporations, trade associations, and philanthropic foundations in lawmaking, policy-setting, financing, and implementation. These actors participate through multiple channels: as observers, delegates, stakeholders, funders, and partners. While private involvement has historical precedents, its contemporary scale and formalization mark a significant transformation in global governance. International law, however, offers little guidance on the boundary between public and private authority, leaving legitimacy concerns unresolved. To evaluate privatization, the article identifies two competing logics: a …

Advanced Introduction To Family Law In The Us, Susan Frelich Appleton

Scholarship@WashULaw

This Elgar Advanced Introduction provides key insights into family law in the US. In the midst of consequential changes wrought by the US Supreme Court, this book traces the evolution of the field from its origins in the law of domestic relations to the more modern regime of family law.

Key features include:
● Integrates state law, federal law, legal scholarship, and literature from other disciplines.
● Identifies the regulation of sex and the policy of keeping dependency private as family law''s principal enduring features.
● Surveys different topics in family law including: marriage, nonmarriage, and dissolution; pregnancy; parentage; and …

Abolishing The Family, Susan Frelich Appleton, Albertina Antognini

Scholarship@WashULaw

Family law scholarship is replete with calls for reform. Yet gender-, race-, and class-based inequalities within and across families remain intractable. So what if, instead of reforming the family, we abolish it?

Abolishing the family might sound like a startling idea for a family-law analysis, especially after decades of efforts to expand the legal understanding of “family.” But the proposal is hardly new. In this Article, we lay the groundwork for integrating family abolitionist ideas, which have until now mostly taken place outside of law, into family law scholarship.

While family abolition is in many ways a radical departure from …

Justifying The Fourth Amendment, Daniel Epps

Scholarship@WashULaw

Why does the Fourth Amendment belong in the Constitution? This question is not whether society should impose some legal restraints on government searches and seizures. Rather, why should such protections reside in our national charter, superior to other forms of law and insulated from change via ordinary majoritarian political processes? Despite major disputes about the Fourth Amendment’s content, Fourth Amendment theorists rarely ask this question. Almost all agree that the Fourth Amendment’s constitutional protections are critically important—even if no one can agree exactly what those protections are.

This Article seeks a justification for the Fourth Amendment—the reason why search-and-seizure protections …

Teaching Constitutional Law: Politics, Democracy And History, Andrea Scoseria Katz

Scholarship@WashULaw

Teaching Constitutional Law in the present era presents unique pedagogical challenges. My students arrive skeptical of the field, doubtful of the Supreme Court’s authority, questioning the relevance of legal methods in determining case outcomes, and perceiving constitutional adjudication as irreducibly political. Rather than dismiss these concerns, I argue that constitutional law professors must acknowledge them directly. Our task is not to restore naïve faith in judicial neutrality (an impossible ideal), but to present students with a vision of constitutional meaning-making—one grounded in politics, history, and democratic politics—in which they can recognize themselves as engaged participants in the future of our …