Digital Commons Network^™

Spiritual Friendship: A Metaphor For Integrating Attachment Theory Into Classic Christian Spiritual Direction, D. Gregory Mcelyea

The Asbury Journal

This article originated in the author’s doctoral dissertation. It refines and expands the literature review with respect to attachment processes in Christian spirituality. The central thesis is that insights from attachment theory, specifically as framed in Todd Hall’s “relational spirituality” model, can be integrated into the scope of classic Christian spiritual direction. The goal is to reimagine the dynamics of insecure attachment to God as expressions of dissonance in what Adrian van Kaam called the intrasphere, which includes the disciple’s emotional life, and the intersphere, which involves the disciple’s relational life.

In fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of …

Book Review: "Love Divine: A Wesleyan Systematic Theology", Colton Castle

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

For All The Saints: Sanctification, Autism, And A Rethinking Of Sainthood, Dean G. Blevins

The Asbury Journal

This article explores the intersection of sanctification, worship, and autism within Wesleyan traditions, arguing that autistic persons embody a truer vision of sainthood by challenging the “cult of normalcy” that often governs congregational life. Drawing on historical perspectives of sainthood, theological anthropology, and contemporary disability theology, the essay reconsiders how worship practices shape or exclude neurodiverse participation. By reframing sainthood through neurodiversity, the paper proposes that autistic presence in worship offers both theological insight and ecclesial renewal, calling the church toward adaptive practices of hospitality, holiness, and community that reflect the Spirit’s inclusive work.

Kenyon College Neuroscience Department Faculty And Staff

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

2026 Jan Term Course Catalog, Saint Mary's College Of California

Jan Term Course Catalog

No abstract provided.

“Crimes By The Brave”: Military Installation Impacts On Local Crime, Mara Strader

Honors Program Theses

The influence of the United States military extends beyond its primary installations, as numerous urban areas surround these bases and serve as habitats for many of our nation's heroes. These military communities have become integrated into civilian regions, leading to a confluence of military and civilian zones. Given the diverse populations within these areas, there is a corresponding increase in crime rates; however, there is a notable paucity of literature examining whether these installations affect crime in military-civilian communities.

This study uses 2023 National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) incident-level arrest data, aggregated by geographic proximity to U.S. military installations, to …

Shared Burden, Potential Space: A Qualitative Study Of How Psychodynamic Therapists Work With Intergenerational Transmission Of Historical Trauma, Shaun J. Halper

Dissertations and Theses

The intergenerational transmission of trauma (ITT) has been investigated since the 1960s, beginning with research on the descendants of Holocaust survivors. Few qualitative studies, however, have taken up how psychodynamic therapists experience their treatments with adult patients with ITT. This study uses Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (APA) to analyze adult ITT treatments from the perspective of psychodynamic psychotherapists. Ten licensed clinicians in the NYC tri-state area participated in semi-structured interviews, which were organized around three research aims: how clinicians conceptualized and identified ITT, what effective clinical interventions they used, and how they understood the impact of therapist-patient sameness or difference (regarding …

Comparative Rhetorical Analysis Of Discussion Sections In Chinese And English Research Articles Across Disciplines, Jingfen Jin, Angkana Tongpoon Patanasorn

PASAA

No abstract provided.

Personality Theories, Leswin Laubscher

Open Education Materials

Introduction to Personality Theories

“None In Velvet Gowns”: Camp Followers And White Womanhood In Eighteenth-Century Anglo-American Warfare, Angelica Labren Torres

History Theses

For over two hundred years, women who followed American and European armies during the long eighteenth century were popularly stereotyped and denigrated as prostitutes, burdens, and generally individuals of ill repute by both contemporaries and subsequent generations of historians. While recent scholarship has largely debunked this long-standing characterization as simplistic and inaccurate, the question remains: why exactly were these women so mischaracterized in their own time, particularly by commissioned officers and other members of Anglo-American middling and elite classes, when ample evidence existed of their material usefulness and comparative marital fidelity? This thesis seeks to address the ideological and cultural …

Flirting Motivations Across Communication Media: Face-To-Face Versus Online Context, Charles Afful Maccarthy

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study examined whether individuals' motivations for flirting differ across communication contexts, specifically face-to-face and online interactions. Drawing on Henningsen’s (2004) six flirting motivations – relational, sexual, fun, esteem, instrumental, and exploring – and Walther’s (1996) Hyperpersonal Model, this research tested whether flirting motivations influence the choice of communication medium. Using a quantitative mixed-design approach, 103 participants were randomly assigned to reflect on either a face-to-face or online (social media) flirting experience and completed a structured questionnaire measuring the six motivations. Data were analyzed using a 2 (communication medium: face-to-face versus online) x 6 (motivation type) mixed ANOVA. Results revealed …

A Qualitative Case Study Exploring The Processes And Criteria For Presidential Leadership Selection In Three United States Higher Institutions Of Learning, Gabriel Kofi Boahen Nsiah

Dissertations

Background of the Problem

Today, research on U.S. higher education presidential search processes is limited, and existing literature characterizes these searches as reactive postures that are secretive, closed-door practices that have not adapted to the early signals of external seismic change. According to Quincy Martin (2021), “the world has evolved (p. 99).” Therein lies the problem. Quincy Martin insists, “Higher education has entered a period of upheaval, aided by new technologies, but hampered by political and cultural shifts. These are only amplified by modern, warp-speed information-sharing practices. All of this has exacerbated the consequences of scandals that threaten the stability …

Expectations In The Preservation Of Dna And Bacterial Organisms In Differential Montana Burials, Kaylee M. Hinds

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study investigates patterns of decomposition and biomolecular preservation in domestic pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) proxies under varying burial conditions in a cold, seasonal climate. Conducted at the Lubrecht Experimental Forest in western Montana, the project aims to evaluate DNA degradation, microbial activity, and environmental influences across shallow, deep, surface, and secondary burial contexts. Three pigs were placed in distinct burial treatments (surface exposure, partial burial, and full burial), with a fourth site later added following bear disturbance and carcass relocation. Environmental monitoring included temperature, and soil sampling before and throughout the decomposition process. Systematic sampling of bone, soft tissue, …

Continental Violence And The "Oregon Question": George Frederick Ruxton And The Nineteenth-Century Pacific Northwest, Rory Orion Johnson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper builds on recent efforts to depict Indigenous polities across North America in their international relations with European and Euro-American colonists and their centralized governments. It examines George Frederick Ruxton, a private English citizen and former army lieutenant, as he developed his response to the U.S.-British Oregon dispute while living in London in early 1846. He concluded that continental warfare was imminent and took overt steps to influence British policy, which he believed could halt U.S. expansion and definitively resolve the “Oregon Question.”

Skeletal Dna Mapping Of The Post-Cranial Skeleton For The Identification Of Human Remains In A Modern Forensic Context, Mykala Denise Ward

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Human identification is a central goal of forensic anthropology and forensic molecular anthropology, particularly when remains are skeletonized, fragmented, degraded, or otherwise visually unidentifiable. Although skeletal elements such as teeth, the petrous portion of the temporal bone, and major long bones are commonly prioritized for DNA sampling, they are not always available, intact, or suitable for destructive analysis. This dissertation evaluates DNA preservation across the post-cranial skeleton to determine whether anatomical location, biological sex, and age-at-death influence DNA quantity and downstream forensic genetic success.

Surface cortical bone samples were collected from predetermined anatomical locations across four modern skeletonized individuals. DNA …

¡Salud! Sacrificing The Sacred Sip: A Critical Analysis Of The Impact Of The Spiritual Conquest On Alcohol Traditions In Central México, Elizabeth Vilchis

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

By thoroughly investigating the available primary sources, this thesis will convey the importance of the Mesoamerican inebriating drink pulque in both the ethos and mythos of ancient Nahua society, examining how the ritual use of pulque became problematic in the eyes of the Spaniards, by investigating the cultural and ideological contradictions or double standards that enabled the tensions, struggles, and violence with which the Spanish colonial regime repressed the ritual use of pulque. This thesis compares the Nahua ethos and mythos of pulque to the Christian ethos and mythos of wine, highlighting the parallels perceived by Spaniards in Central México …

Experimental Diegetic Thresholds: A Study Of Adapted Carceral Narratives [The] Nickel Boys And Sing Sing, Leslie D. Muench

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The diegesis is the storyworld of a film, including all the characters, settings, events, and other elements. At certain times, though, that threshold is permeable, particularly when the fictional source material involves lived experiences. Two carceral films model an experimentation with adapted material and the palimpsestuous layering effect that is a result of real-life narratives being transposed into fictional ones. Nickel Boys, directed by RaMell Ross (2024), and Sing Sing, directed by Greg Kwedar (2023), endeavor to humanize a stereotypically ostracized community: Black boys and men who are incarcerated. Through the screenwriting, casting, producing, filming, and sharing of their films …

Vishing And Smishing Perpetrators And Their Victims In Nigerian Slums, Lateef J. Adeyemo, Tirimisiyu Y. Olabulo, Idenyi G. Peter

International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime

This study investigates the personal accounts of both perpetrators and victims to better understand the techniques and strategies used in vishing and smishing schemes. It adopts a qualitative cross-sectional design across three Lagos slums (Ajegunle, Amukoko, and Ijora-Badia), using snowball sampling to recruit 20 victims and 10 perpetrators for in-depth interviews. Findings reveal that perpetrators impersonate trusted entities using low-tech tools (pre-registered SIMs, bulk SMS apps) to exploit trust. Selective morality emerges among offenders, with some repaying known victims due to guilt while exploiting strangers, alongside a mentorship culture where experienced scammers train newcomers. Poverty and peer influence normalize the …

"Art, Esthetics, Ideal": An Ethics For Literary Translators In The Age Of Translating Machines, Gabriel González Núñez

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

The advent of effective machine translation has raised several issues for translators, including the question of how a human translator ought to translate in this age of translating machines. In this context of new ethical questions, the present essay argues that an answer may be found in Pedro Figari’s (1912) philosophical essay on esthetics. Following Figari, the current essay argues that literary translation is art, that as such it can produce an esthetic emotion on readers and that the purpose of such art and esthetics is an ideal in the form of the continuous betterment of the human condition.

Languages Of Marginalization: Educational Inequality And Identity Formation Among Rohingya Refugees In Bangladesh, Md Khalid Rahman

Sustainability and Social Justice

This research paper investigates how language-of-instruction policies shape educational inequality and identity formation among Rohingya refugee children living in protracted displacement in Cox’ Bazar, Bangladesh. Analyzed from a human right–based framework, the study examines whether existing educational policies align with international legal standards on the right to education, including the UDHR, ICESCR, Child Convention and SDG 4. While these frameworks guarantee non-discriminatory and inclusive access to education, the reality in Cox’s Bazar reveals a persistent gap between normative commitments and policy implementation. Moreover, the study explores how the exclusion of both the host language (Bangla) and the native Rohingya language …

Trading Places With The ‘Other’: Octavia Butler’S “Bloodchild” And “Amnesty”, Katie Zamora-Godinez

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

A Guide To Human Ecology Mapping: An Approach For Understanding Human-Environment Connections, Thien-Kim Bui, Rebecca J. Mclain, David Banis, Lee Cerveny

Occasional Papers in Geography

Occasional Papers in Geography Publication No. 9

Places matter to people, and maps can help people and communities share why places matter. Over the past 30 years, public participation GIS (PPGIS) and other forms of human ecology mapping (HEM) have become important ways for agencies, non-governmental organizations, environmental and community advocacy groups, university researchers, and others to learn about or advocate for what matters to people about landscapes they visit, use, or love.

HEM is a method for mapping human-environment interactions and connections. This manual is intended for the planner or practitioner who is interested in using HEM to strengthen …

Pregnancy And Breastfeeding Are Associated With Less Later-Life Cognitive Decline In A Longitudinal, Prospective Cohort, Molly M Fox, Jennifer E Bramen, Dayoon Kwon, Mark A Espeland, Yijia Sun, Li Zhang, Aladdin H Shadyab, Ramon Casanova, Joann E Manson, Marcus Y Chang, Verna R Porter, Leslie V Farland, Qian Xiao, Robert A Wild, Prabha Siddarth, Carolyn J Crandall

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: The brains of female mammals evolved to undergo structural and functional changes during pregnancy and lactation, equipping them for motherhood. However, long-term cognitive health implications of these adaptations in women are poorly understood.

Methods: In the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Memory Study (WHIMS; n = 7427) and WHI Study of Cognitive Aging (WHISCA; n = 2304), postmenopausal women completed reproductive history interviews, annual global cognitive assessment from mean age 70 for up to 13 years, and multi-domain cognitive testing for up to 8 years.

Results: Each additional month pregnant was associated with higher scores of global cognition. Each additional …

Religious Radio Broadcasting In Ukraine In The Context Of Digital Mediatisation And Social Transformation, Oleh Sokolovskyi, Olena Yurchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The study carries out a religious studies analysis of contemporary forms of spiritual communication implemented through audio and digital media platforms. The work highlights the particular features of organizing religious broadcasting under conditions of transformation of the information space, when traditional models of transmitting doctrine become integrated into new technological formats. Mechanisms of the formation of religious identity, ways of maintaining spiritual continuity, and strategies of interaction between religious institutions and their audiences are examined. An analysis is conducted of the structures that ensure access to spiritual content, including forms of catechetical communication, mentoring practices, and models of pastoral support …

The Cross And The Flag: Papal Diplomacy And John Paul Ii’S Struggle Against The Tyranny Of The Possible: A Review, John Grondelski

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

A review of Lebui, John Tanyi Nquah. The Cross and the Flag: Papal Diplomacy and John Paul II’s Struggle Against the Tyranny of the Possible. South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine’s Press, 2024. Pp. xxvi + 322. PB, $30. ISBN 978-1-58731-143-7.

An Interdisciplinary Approach To Understanding The Social Ministry Of The Orthodox Church Of Ukraine In The Context Of Christian Theology And Socio-Humanitarian Sciences, Rostyslav Didukh

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article presents a comprehensive interdisciplinary scientific and theological analysis of the social ministry of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) in the context of Christian theology and socio-humanitarian disciplines. Modern approaches of Orthodox theology to the social mission of Christianity ensure the integrity of the development of the human and society. The need to ensure the coherence of theological concepts of the Orthodox Church social teaching with the existing church and parish life, church educational mission, theological education, and social work is emphasized. Special attention is paid to the interdisciplinary connections of Orthodox theology, religious studies, psychology, pedagogy and …

Signs Of Life: Interkingdom Communication And The Sympoietic Organism, Scott F. Gilbert

Biology Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

A Glimpse Of Early Ellensburg, Washington From The 1980'S Excavations At 45kt800, Leah M. Shenyer

All Master's Theses

The Robber’s Roost site, located in the town of Ellensburg, Washington, was excavated in a partnership between Central Washington Archaeological Survey and Kittitas County Youth Services in the summers of 1986 and 1988. In 2023, the collection consisted of 110 boxes of artifacts including bottle glass, ceramics, leather, and faunal remains, with no significant prior analysis and little information on the dig itself. The purpose of this thesis is to document this poorly-known excavation project and gain a better understanding of Ellensburg’s history through analysis of the artifacts recovered. I compiled all the available paper records and communicated  with past …

Chapter 2: Rhombus Textile Motifs And Patterns And Their Significance In Mesoamerica, Billie J. A. Follensbee, Lois Martin

Precious Pattern: The Dotted-Diamond Motif in Indigenous American Textiles, Explorations in Mesoamerica, the American Southwest, and the Andes

Presents the rhombus textile motifs and patterns in Mesoamerica and their significance.

Chapter 6: Snakeskin And Corn Markings: The Dotted-Diamond-Grid Pattern In The U.S. Southwest, Laurie D. Webster, Kelley A. Hays-Gilpin

Precious Pattern: The Dotted-Diamond Motif in Indigenous American Textiles, Explorations in Mesoamerica, the American Southwest, and the Andes

Discusses Southwestern tie-dye and its Mesoamerican and Andean connections.