Digital Commons Network^™

Cracked Cans, Bent Wire: Dating Historical Metal At Biry/Ahr House, Castroville, Texas, Maggie Logan

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

In this work I investigate changes in historical metal consumption practices over time at Biry/Ahr House, a frontier settlement in Castroville, Texas. Alsatian immigrants settled this site in Medina County as part of the empresario system of the 1840s. Biry/Ahr House was home to two families, the Birys (1844-1921) and the Groff/Tschirharts (1921-1972). Using vibrant materialism, consumerism, and collections-based research, I address the ways in which metal usage changed over time at the site as well as the factors behind these changes. I also consider the role that Alsatian heritage has played in the transformation of Biry/Ahr House from a …

Narrative Inquiry Into Postsecondary Transition Outcomes For Young Adults With Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities, Eric R. Sarrett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) continue to struggle with community engagement despite decades of research and policy initiatives addressing postsecondary transition. Evidence shows that persons with IDD are engaging in employment, postsecondary education, independent living, socialization, and other roles at significantly diminished rates, yet little data exists describing this participation in the voices of those affected. The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to describe community integration of persons with IDD in the decade following postsecondary transition in their own words. Critical disability theory was used as a lens to explore the successes and failures of public …

Implications Of Malthus-Boserup Ratcheting For Interpreting The Archaeological Record, Gideon F. Maughan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Prehistoric populations across North America seem to grow exponentially, with some variation between regions. Archaeologists have explored the differences somewhat, but have not explained the differences or the sustained growth with any reference to what may be going on under the surface in a way that is relevant to all regions. I propose that environmental limits on population are shaped by what populations eat and how they acquire food, and that when populations are large enough to feel the scarcity in their environment, they change their way of life in a way that increases those limits. The model I propose …

Developing Cultural Competence Among Sixth-Grade Students Through Indigenous Knowledge And Place-Based Education, Tyus Roanhorse

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

There is a need to develop cultural competence in educational settings. While there is a focus on training K-12 educators to be culturally competent, there is little focus on developing and examining the impact of student cultural competence training. Integrating Indigenous knowledge in an education setting is a unique way to start developing cultural competency by recognizing cross-cultural worldviews and perspectives. This can be done while using place-based education, which links the classroom to the cultural environment that has significant meaning to Indigenous peoples while enriching the learning experience for all students. The current study examines and measures the development …

Aging Bison Teeth With A Gis: A New Tooth Age Prediction Methodology And Its Archaeological And Ecological Implications, Andrew Edward Owens

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Archaeologists use teeth to estimate the age an animal died based on tooth eruption, growth, and wear. Animal age estimations then inform archaeologists about when and why archaeological sites were occupied. However, to date, no concise and repeatable practice exists to age estimate teeth. Therefore, we propose a new tooth age estimation methodology, in this case using bison teeth. The new tooth aging method uses GIS mapping software to draw tooth surfaces and then calculate tooth surface areas of known-age bison teeth. Then, this known-age tooth sample is used to derive algebraic equations that can estimate the age of prehistoric …

From Jerome To Dermott: Comparing The Treatment And Experiences Of Japanese Americans And German Prisoners Of War In Arkansas During World War Ii, Taylor Cash

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During WWII the US government housed German POWs at a camp in Denson, Arkansas that it had previously used to incarcerate Japanese Americans. This thesis compares how US authorities treated the camp’s two different inmate populations—one composed of enemy soldiers and the other US residents, about 70 percent of whom were citizens—to analyze larger questions surrounding how the US government interpreted race, citizenship, gender, and nationhood during the war. Federal authorities regulated and surveilled Japanese Americans at Jerome concentration camp with more vigor and energy than they did German prisoners of war at Dermott POW camp. Moreover, US officials provided …

Conspicuous Asceticism: Collapsing Consumers' Hungry Ghosts, Ash Zareian

Theses and Dissertations

The author investigates an emerging construct called conspicuous asceticism expositioned from a narcissism-centric view. The understanding of this construct is approached by drawing an idiomatic semantic parallel in opposition to conspicuous consumption and by utilizing its current theoretical framework of narcissism. Moreover, this paper seeks to extend conspicuous consumption’s theoretical framework as synonymous with the construct of compulsive consumption. Furthermore, I illustrate that consumers must transcend narcissism through engaging in treatment modalities requisite to operationalize a pioneering effort in which consumers can engage in marketing campaign efforts to advertise conspicuous ascetic contexts. This dissertation gleans from extant literature in sociology, …

An Inquiry Into The Number Of Traffic Tickets Issued And Implications For African Americans Motorists, Casey J. Davis

Dissertations (2016-Present)

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of race and gender disparities in police traffic stops as they relate to the number of tickets issued, number of consent searches, and number of arrests of traffic violators in the southern region of Texas, Harris County. The research will further shed light on how implicit bias affects police discretion and provide implications for police officers. This research will bring attention to the sanction disparity and examine the relationship between race and gender in motorist outcomes at the conclusion of traffic stops. The data for this research was conducted from …

Police Militarization And Overuse Of Force: An Analysis Of The Efficacy Of Paramilitary Units And Society, Ronald R. Burnett

Dissertations (2016-Present)

The role of the police is to maintain social order and safety through the enforcement of law. They investigate, prevent, and detect criminal activity. However, the problem with police protection today is overuse of force which often comes through the term militarism regarding agency tenets and dogma. Also, social media has focused on police overuse of force, exacerbating race riots and retaliatory police killings. Because of this, police reform has become a significant concern, not only in the United States but also abroad. The methodological approach for this dissertation is a quantitative analysis, data used is secondary, statistical procedure is …

Implications Of Ancestry Estimation: An Analysis Of Identification Rates In Unidentified Persons Cases, Gabrielle Mace

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Recently, attention has been drawn to the biases present in the methodologies employed by Forensic Anthropologists, and in the medicolegal system, towards People of Color throughout the identification process. As one of the important contributors to the medicolegal system, it is essential that forensic anthropologists understand the impact of their analyses on the identification rate of marginalized unidentified decedents. Thus, through the utilization of positive identification records from Wayne and Ingham Counties in Michigan, U.S., this research investigated the disparities in identification rates between decedents reported as White and those reported as People of Color (POC). The data indicated that …

Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion: Three Essays In The Educational Context, James D. Paul

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many universities and K-12 public school systems express a significant, formal commitment to the ideals of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Relative to the emphasis on DEI in America’s educational institutions, however, there has been little research describing DEI trends and evaluating the efficacy of DEI bureaucracies. This three-chapter dissertation examines DEI trends that have been the subject of much discussion—but rarely studied empirically.

For example, chapter one analyzes how universities promote DEI when hiring new faculty. I audit a subset of academic job postings and present the first evidence on how many require DEI statements, as well as the …

Drawn To Life: A Common Theory Of Making, J. Ryan Garner

All Dissertations

My research pivots around questions of making, its importance to all of life, and the challenges it faces in the contemporary world. The research is grounded in simple questions such as: what is making, what are its instruments, and can we do it on purpose? I approach these questions as if through binoculars. With one eye, I want to establish an account of making that is plain and somewhat quotidian. This will ensure the long-term viability of my study. With the other eye, I look for an account of making that is theoretically substantial and thoroughly vigorous. I apply …

Arsenic And Old Feathers A Survey Of Detection, Mitigation And Treatment Approaches For Pesticide-Affected Objects And Creating A Treatment Protocol Proposal For Suny Buffalo State., Liatte Dotan

Art Conservation Master's Projects

Animal hides and skins present in taxidermy and other organic artifacts have long been known to have potentially poisonous pasts due to the presence of residual pesticides that were applied by creators, collectors, and museums. While chemicals such as arsenic and mercury compounds were commonly used to combat agents of deterioration, these hazardous materials pose a serious health threat to those caring for collections as well as the environment at large. Whether by natural disaster, institutional necessity, legal repatriation, or ethical obligation, conservators and collection managers must be equipped with standard practices to provide adequate care even for these seemingly …

The Story Of Writing And Publishing A Research Article: An Autoethnographic Account Of An Early Career Researcher (Ecr) In India, Abhradip Banerjee

The Qualitative Report

Process of peer-reviewing plays a pivotal role in scientific development, especially in academic writing and publication. The process of peer-reviewing, however, is surrounded by issues like inconsistent, subjective, unprofessional comments from reviewers, abuse of peer-review leading to reviewers stealing original ideas, and most importantly huge gap between the actual time requirement and sheer time wasted for evaluation of manuscripts. This article provides an autoethnographic account of conceptualizing, writing, and publishing a research article of an early career researcher (ECR) in India, through which it aims to show how outcomes of the peer-review process make an impact upon the minds of …

"Religion, Culture, And The Monstrous: Of Gods And Monsters"[Review]/Mikles, Natasha L., And Joseph P. Laycock, Eds, Nathaniel Gibbs

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

This is a book review by Nathaniel Gibbs.

Exploring The Assetisation And Financialisation Of Non-Fungible Tokens: Opportunities And Regulatory Implications, Iris H. Y. Chiu, J.G. Allen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article explores the emerging phenomenon of use cases for Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) in novel forms of crypto-finance, a stage we call “NFT financialisation”, that can be developed from stages of consumption and commoditisation of NFTs, which are increasingly observed. Despite the emerging contests regarding property rights conferred by NFTs, the needs for commoditisation and financialisation in NFT markets would likely shape the delineation and framing of such rights in order for users to exploit the asset potential of NFTs. We argue that an institutional response is timely and beneficial for NFT financialisation. Financial regulatory governance can provide the institutions …

Habitats And Heritage: An Analysis Of The Natural And Cultural Resource Management Of The South Carolina Lowcountry, Patricia Ploehn

All Theses

The South Carolina Lowcountry is replete with cultural landscapes, each one featuring a unique collection of natural and cultural resources. These resources are valuable for their environmental and cultural heritage, a heritage which defines and benefits the communities who call the Lowcountry home. This study presents a comparative analysis of public and private land management organizations operating in the South Carolina Lowcountry. The purpose of this study is to compare how public and private organizations are currently managing natural and cultural resources on cultural landscapes that they protect and oversee. The history of federal and private land management was investigated …

Opioid-Related Content On Twitter And The Impact Of Covid-19 Government Stimulus Distribution, Alyssa Seeman

All Theses

The United States has continuously faced an opioid epidemic that has resulted in a severe loss of human life. The coronavirus pandemic began in December 2019 and affected many aspects of daily life. One result of this pandemic was government financial aid in the form of stimulus checks that were directly deposited into peoples’ bank accounts. This study aims to understand better the impact stimulus checks had on opioid overdose rates within America by using content collected from Twitter to gauge public opinion. The sample consisted of a stratified random sample of 600 overall tweets that contained at least one …

Teachers’ Views Of Situational Factors Influencing Teaching Efficacy During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Holly Gillespie

All Theses

COVID-19 created many disruptions in the field of education as teachers and administrators navigated the many changing protocols affecting learning environments and pedagogy over the past two years. This thesis examines secondary teachers’ perceptions of managing these protocols through their lived experiences while teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic through the 2020-2021 school years. Previous research has shown a teacher’s sense of self-efficacy is related to both learning situations and teacher performance. However, research exploring the impact COVID-19 has had on teachers and their learning environments is limited. This qualitative exploratory study fills the gap by investigating situational factors in learning …

Climbing The Masculine Hierarchy: Examining Constructions Of Masculinity Through Incel Identities, Alyssa Jewel Davis

All Theses

In a gender-segregated digital space known as the Manosphere, a group of men calling themselves “Incels,” or involuntary celibates, express feelings of hostility and hatred towards women. Incels hold a low position on a masculine hierarchy where the men who hold the most power in society are those who have access to women’s emotional and sexual services. Incels are characterized by feelings of entitlement to women’s services and aggrievement by their inability to access them. As a result, they often appear to fantasize about or engage in acts of violence to compensate for their lack of masculine privilege. However, there …

Sovereign Imaginaries: Visualizing The Sacred Foundation Of Law’S Authority, Richard K. Sherwin

Articles & Chapters

If a world is to be lived in, it must be founded. This foundational function belongs to the sovereign imagination. What a polity names as sovereign in the state of exception, when the sacred irrupts anew, is a matter of individual and collective responsibility. In this dispensation, law, politics, and religion become inescapably entangled in metaphysics. It behooves us to understand the nature and consequences of this state of affairs.

A Phonological Analysis Of Asu, James Passetti

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides an analysis of the phonology of Asu, a small and endangered Nupoid language of Nigeria. The corpus of data used for the analysis comes from more than two hours of recordings of a word list for the language, provided to me by the historian and anthropologist Constanze Weise.

The Asu language recognizes only two syllable structures, CV and CGV. The only syllables without onsets are formed by four noun class prefixes [è-,ē-, à-,ā-], that create Asu nouns without onsets word-initially.

The phonemic inventory of consonants consists of seven pairs of corresponding voiced-voiceless obstruents at the labial, alveolar, …

Weaving Ethnic Identity: Discovering The Threads Of Multilingual Diversity In The Fabric Of Group Identity Among Karen Communities Of Denver, Colorado, Charity J. Seidler

Theses and Dissertations

How do Karen immigrants use language within Colorado communities? My thesis answers this question through narrative case studies of six S’gaw Karen women. Many Karen refugees, who flee the decades-long conflict within their homeland in Myanmar (Burma), find themselves navigating life first in Thailand, and eventually in the United States as foreign-language speakers. These refugees encounter numerous linguistic and cultural barriers in their new U.S. homeland, where it is difficult to function in many domains if they do not have the opportunity to learn much English upon arrival.

The six case studies are based on recorded sociolinguistic qualitative open interviews. …

Validation In Vietnam: Motivations And Experiences Of Vietnam Veterans Who Returned To Vietnam As Tourists, Brian Washam Ii

Master's Theses

The current historiography on the memory of the Vietnam War has primarily looked at how the collective memory of the war has been constructed through various factors. Scholars such as Jerry Lembcke, Patrick Hagopian, and Marita Sturken tend to examine monuments, film, and oral histories to establish a basis for how the memory of the Vietnam War was constructed and how these legacies from the war shaped the U.S. as a society going forward. Recently, scholars have begun looking more at the return trips of veterans to Vietnam as a source for understanding how veterans remembered their service.

By engaging …

Mathematics Education As Dystopia: A Future Beyond, Peter Appelbaum, Charoula Stathopoulou, Constantinos Xenofontos

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

We argue that scholars and practitioners of mathematics education need to find new directions through recognition of its dystopic characteristics, and embrace these characteristics as both the source of challenges and method of response. This contrasts with the generally utopic approach of most scholarship in the field. We offer critical ethnomathematics education as a model, since it has its own origins in lingering dystopic legacies. A perpetual hopelessness and disempowerment is one implicit curriculum of contemporary mathematics education, where the mathematics one learns might help to describe things, yet hardly assists in transforming the reification of power and agency in …

Review Of Toward Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism, Charles Whitmer Wright

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Catholic Peacebuilding In Times Of Crisis: Hope For A Wounded World: A Summary With Link To Recordings Of Presentations, Gerard Powers

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

A Beacon Of Hope In A Troubled Context: Sketches Of The Life Of Mons. Paride Taban, Shepherd And Bridge-Builder, Alberto Eisman Torres

The Journal of Social Encounters

Monsignor Paride Taban, Bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Torit in Southern Sudan, is a multifaceted figure. Apart from his role as pastor and religious leader, he is an outstanding peace builder and the co-founder of the New Sudan Council of Churches, one of the most significant civil society institutions during the second civil war (1983 – 2005). This institution spearheaded numerous ecumenical initiatives including development work, humanitarian relief, training of grass-roots leaders and last but not least peace mediation. He is a relentless fighter for peaceful coexistence and tolerance in an environment marked by violence, oppression and impunity and …

Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma: Advocate Of Peace And Development, Loreta Navarro-Castro

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay describes the advocacy of Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma, currently the co-president of Pax Christi Philippines and archbishop emeritus of the archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao, Philippines, towards peace and development not only in Mindanao but also throughout the country. He is a strong proponent of interreligious dialogue and the importance of addressing the roots of the armed conflict so there can be an enduring peace in the Philippines and beyond.

An Angry Shepherd: Sudanese Bishop Macram Max Gassis, John Ashworth

The Journal of Social Encounters

Bishop Macram Max Gassis is a near-legendary figure in Sudan since he first spoke out against human rights abuses in his country before a committee of the US Congress in 1988. Targeted by the Islamist military dictatorship which ruled Sudan for thirty years, for protesting enslavement, religious oppression, forced starvation and mass murder in Sudan, he lives in exile, bringing help and hope to his persecuted people.

This essay is condensed from the 2021 book by the same author with the same title.