Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring The Stem Career Identity Development Of Black Women Across Their Lifespan, Veronica Hurd

Theses and Dissertations

Although STEM is the fastest-growing career sector, Black women are grossly underrepresented as they account for 2.5% of the workforce. Research highlights that this underrepresentation is due to racialized structures in K-12, postsecondary, and career settings that restrict Black girls’ and women’s STEM opportunities. While macrosystems such as hegemonic ideologies, attitudes, and social conditions shape Black girls’ and women’s opportunities in STEM, they continue to persist and achieve their career goals. To explore these barriers and Black women’s persistence in this industry, this study draws from the autobiographical memories of 10 Black women in the field or formerly in the …

Cognitive Impairment And Depression In Hispanic And Non-Hispanic White Low-Income Older Adults A Cross-Sectional Study, Cecil Latta

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Hispanic older adults represent a growing population in the United States and may be disproportionately affected by cognitive impairment and depression. We theorize that cognitive impairment would be more prevalent in the older Hispanic community and would affect the levels of depression in both Hispanic and non-Hispanic Whites older adults. This cross-sectional study examined the association between cognitive impairment and depression in 157 older adults, including Hispanic (n = 91, 57.96%, age: M = 76.4, SD = 6.8) and non-Hispanic White (n = 66, 42.04%, age: M = 76.2, SD = 6.5). We used the Memory Impairment Screen to assess …

Gender Equality And Social Capital Empowerment Of Rural Women, Nuraedah Nuraedah, Syamsul Bahri -

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

This study explores the role of social capital in empowering rural women, focusing on how social networks, trust, and community norms contribute to gender equality and women's decision-making. Despite the recognition of gender equality as a fundamental right, rural women continue to face structural barriers that limit their access to resources and opportunities. By examining the interaction between social capital and women's empowerment, this research aims to fill the gap in understanding the mechanisms that support women's empowerment in rural areas. The research adopts a qualitative approach, utilizing in-depth interviews with 30 women from various villages in Indonesia, complemented by …

Cultural Competence In Pre-Medical Education: Examining Preparedness For Cross-Cultural Care, Fiza N. Khan

Honors Undergraduate Theses

As the U.S. population continues to grow more diverse, there is an urgent need for future healthcare providers to develop strong cultural competence. This study investigates undergraduate pre-medical students’ knowledge, attitudes, and comfort levels toward caring for diverse patient populations, including immigrants, refugees, and individuals from varied cultural backgrounds. The goal was to assess how well students are prepared to provide culturally responsive care before entering medical school. Recognizing that the foundation for medical training begins at the undergraduate level, this study aims to identify specific gaps in readiness that may hinder equitable patient care in the future.

A modified …

Navigating Acculturation: Opportunities, Challenges, And Community Support For African Immigrants In The U.S., Sharitah Nalule

Theses and Dissertations

African immigrants in the United States encounter complex acculturation challenges that are often shaped by systemic barriers such as language exclusion, financial insecurity, limited employment access, and time-restricted support services. This qualitative study explores how African immigrants experience the acculturation process and how community-based programs support or fall short in supporting their acculturation. Semi-structured individual interviews with Somali immigrants and community practitioners in the Midwest. While most African immigrant narratives reflect the experiences of Somali immigrants, practitioners provide insight into the broader African immigrant population based on their work with diverse African immigrant clients. Findings revealed three central themes: (1) …

Voices From Within: Employees' Sensemaking Of Corporate Volunteerism, Janet Laadi Anani

Theses and Dissertations

Corporate volunteerism is a key component of the philanthropic pillar of CSR, shaping employee engagement and organizational identity. This study employed the social exchange and sensemaking theories to explore how employees make meaning of their experiences in corporate volunteer initiatives and how their experiences influence their perceptions of their organizations. Data was gathered from in-depth interviews with employees with varied corporate volunteer experiences across multiple organizations. The findings show that despite employees’ strong motivations to engage in corporate volunteerism, they face challenges such as time and workload constraints and limited variety of volunteer opportunities. The study also found that employees’ …

Skin And Bones: Transgenerational Trauma, Experimental Storytelling, And The Texture Of Hope, A Creative Dissertation, Janine Blue

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation theorizes and enacts experimental storytelling as a method for engaging transgenerational trauma, highlighting how form shapes the ways histories are remembered, embodied, and reimagined across generations. Grounded in hope rehearsal as both a theoretical and creative framework, this project examines how BIPOC writers use experimental writing techniques to navigate the afterlives of historical trauma and reclaim storytelling as an act of meaning-making, communal care, and futurity. The dissertation begins with a critical chapter that explores these experimental techniques as strategies for recovery and resistance. The dissertations’ creative chapter, Andre Lyle: Skin and Bones, expands on these ideas …

Evolving Perceptions Of Self And Others: The Effects Of Communing With Nature While Thru Hiking The Florida National Scenic Trail, Stella P. Arbeláez Tascón

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This body of artwork comprises a thesis that documents and exposes the artist’s inner workings as she regained balance after experiencing deep emotional trauma. This individual’s healing transformation was prompted by her immersion in nature while walking the Florida National Scenic Trail in its entirety, 1,130 miles (or 1,818 km), from the Everglades to the panhandle, in three and a half months. The artistic research conducted, and autobiographical body of work created from it, aims to help others reconnect with their own strengths and to seek wellness in the restorative properties of Nature, while advocating for an empathetic approach to …

Survivors Speak: Social Media's Influence On The Troubled Teen Industry, Jessica Hoffman

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This study focused on a three-year span of Twitter/X public tweets and discussions shared on the topic, The Troubled Teen Industry (TTI). Using the social listening tool Sprinklr, 7,743 public tweets were gathered on the matter and dissected to understand the influence the online conversation had on real-world changes in the industry. Narrowing down the initial 7,743 tweets to 2,447 applicable messages, this research analyzed the conversation surrounding the Troubled Teen Industry from the point of view of industry survivors and the role Paris Hilton and other influencers had on bringing the conversation to the digital space. The tweets meeting …

Analysis Of Queerness And Race In Black Lightning And Dctv Femslash, Rachel Marks

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

In this dissertation, I research issues of queer representation and race in the CW network’s DC television (DCTV) shows’ fandom by investigating femslash ships, or the fan pairing of female characters. To do this, I compare the femslash ship of the characters Anissa Pierce and Grace Choi (ThunderGrace), a canon multiracial couple from the CW television show Black Lightning, to three other DCTV femslash pairings: the characters Sara Lance and Ava Sharpe (Avalance), a canon white couple from the television show DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, the characters Alex Danvers and Kelly Olsen (Dansen), a canon multiracial couple from …

Precedents For The Experiential Turn In American Art Museums: A Case Study Of Paul Gardner, Chick Austin, Leslie Cheek, And The Museums They Directed, 1932-1968, David Matteson

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation examines the historical precedents for the experiential turn in American art museums by analyzing the directorships of Paul Gardner, Chick Austin, and Leslie Cheek Jr. between 1932 and 1968. Drawing on archival research and museum studies scholarship, this study reevaluates how these directors innovated museum practice through theatricality, mass media, and audience engagement—long before contemporary museological discourse framed such strategies as revolutionary. Gardner’s use of radio broadcasts at the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Austin’s integration of circus spectacle at the Ringling Museum, and Cheek’s scenographic exhibition designs at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts illustrate how mid-century museum leaders actively …

The Sociological Engagement In John Coltrane's A Love Supreme: Examining The Impacts Of Race, Music, And Culture In Video-Based Learning Amongst College Students, Kinyel K. Ragland Sr.

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This project consists primarily of the interest in Video Based Learning (VBL) and understanding the impacts of a video based on the connections between John Coltrane’s song Acknowledgement on the Jazz suite A Love Supreme to the Civil Rights movement and systemic racism. Research confirms that VBL has an impact on student learning, yet this project finds that because of the content of the video, it fits into scholarship where there are gaps. The methodological approach, which was qualitative, found that students were overall enlightened, entertained, and were interested in learning more. Other findings include suggestions and recommendations for future …

Barriers And Facilitators Of A Sense Of Belonging Among Occupational Therapy Students And Faculty: A Qualitative Study Using The Ecology Of Human Performance Framework, Sabina Khan, Elizabeth Deluca-Berg, Kersten Laughlin, Jacqueline Achon, Khalil Mrabe, Christianah Edema

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

A sense of belonging significantly influences both student engagement and faculty motivation. The objective of this study was to identify the barriers and facilitators of a sense of belonging among students and faculty of an occupational therapy department. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted with fifty-one students and ten faculty recruited via non-random purposeful sampling. Data were collected through focus group discussions with students and semi-structured interviews with faculty. Both the focus group discussions and interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed by a professional transcription service. Inductive coding was used to identify initial themes, which were then deductively mapped to the …

Applying The 5d Model Of Country Image For International Public Relations: Analyzing Cultural Perceptions Of Qatar’S International Events "Expo 2023", Taleb Al-Adbah

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Studying country image in public relations has become essential to developing practices for countries engaging with international audiences. Hosting international events highlights the need for international public relations, where the country must adapt its culture and create culturally sensitive strategies to communicate effectively with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds (Edwards, 2018). In this dissertation, Expo 2023 was employed as an international event to analyze Qatar’s country image among foreign and Qatari audiences. The dissertation aimed to understand the differences between their perspectives on Qatar and determine whether cultural tendencies impacted the country’s image. Additionally, the relationship between intercultural competency and …

Author Biographical Notes

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Singing Hunger In Protest Music: Nasboi’S “Hunger Games” And Post-Election Realities In Nigeria’S “Emilokan” Era, Omotayo Jemiluyi, Abubakar Tajudeen

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

This article examines “Hunger Games” (2024), a protest song by Nigerian artiste and skit maker Nasboi, as an indictment of the economic hardship, political repression, and widespread disillusionment that have characterized Nigeria’s 2023 post-election landscape under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s “Emilokan” administration. Situating the song within Nigeria’s long-standing tradition of politically conscious music, from the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti to the contemporary commentaries of Falz and Burna Boy, the study critically dissects how “Hunger Games” reflects collective frustration and subversively positions popular music as resistance. The analysis of the study demonstrates that Nasboi’s aesthetic strategy—combining satire with repetition—renders individual hardship …

Mourning And Haunting In Irish Gothic Fiction From The Victorian Era To Modernism, Wenyu Kong

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation explores how three Irish modernist writers, Elizabeth Bowen, Dorothy Macardle, and James Joyce, incorporate and reimagine tropes from the Victorian Gothic Revival to address Ireland’s uneven modernity in the first half of the twentieth century. I argue that the Irish Gothic tradition is essential for these writers to express their reflection and reaction to ongoing cultural and social turmoil in Ireland’s process of modernization during the foundation of the postcolonial Irish state. Extending Sheridan Le Fanu’s Big House Gothic legacy, Elizabeth Bowen creates haunted spaces in The Last September (1929) to describe Anglo-Ireland’s precarious situation during the War …

Rifles And Riflemen: Material Culture, Violence, And Early American Identity, 1720 -- 1820, John Bradstreet Weaver

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The rifle was one of many material objects which colonists of British North America brought with them from Europe. Starting in the early eighteenth century, German-speaking settlers in Pennsylvania began to manufacture rifles from locally made and imported parts. These rifles became associated with other material objects – namely a system of dress, which included wearing a whitetail deer’s tail in the hat, the hunting shirt, and forms of Native American dress – which became emblematic of some British colonists who used rifles in hunting and war. Rifles became militarily important in the Seven Years’ War, where Native American warriors, …

Reclaiming Revolutionary Relics: How Nineteenth-Century Americans Used George Washington’S Objects To Understand The Civil War, Abbi E. Smithmyer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

By combining cultural, memory, and material culture studies, this dissertation examines the ways objects associated with George Washington became instruments within the proxy war over whether the United States or the Confederacy best represented the American Revolutionary era’s principal values of liberty and equality. Exploring monuments, statues, historic homes, relics, and mementoes, as well as antebellum speeches and schoolbooks, letters, diaries, military orders, newspapers, and memoirs, this work demonstrates how the relics linked to Washington and the nation’s founding shaped how the Civil War generation thought about America’s past.

The 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States has …

Creative Energies: Unearthing The Role Of Romantic Ecocriticism, Nicole Marie Chambers-Stahl

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The literary field of ecocriticism has transcended the boundaries of Academia: excited to connect to their physical environments, many of these scholars are focusing on genres like place-based writing, rhetoric of energy policy, and representations of the Earth in film and media. Interdisciplinary by nature, ecocriticism has demonstrated clear potential in its ability to intersect with concentrations like the history of science, animal studies, and environmental justice.

However, as the language around global crises is heating up —“Today it is scientists, not prophets,” writes Tobias Menely in “‘The Present Obfuscation,’” “who speak the language of apocalypse” (478)—ecocritical scholarship is at …

Factors Impacting Germination, Emergence, And Establishment Of Direct Seeded And Transplanted Hemp (Cannabis Sativa L.), Paul Cockson Dr.

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Industrial hemp (IH) establishment has many challenges including: poor emergence, low stand establishment, and variable plant development in direct seeded hemp. In floral hemp production, quality transplant production is a challenge with seedlings often becoming root bound and etiolated. In both direct seeded and transplant hemp, the relationship between root vigor and vegetative growth has not been studied and may prove insightful for managing emergence and establishment challenges. The goals of this study were three-fold: 1) to measure and describe root system architecture (RSA) and root phenotypes observed in selected IH cultivars especially in regard to identifying agronomically important RSA …

Span 338/704 Syllabus - Oer, Mark Hoff

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Preventive Health Care Information Seeking Behaviors Among Baby Boomers In Taiwan, Alexander N. Chen, Michael J. Rubach, Tracy Suter, Hsin Ke Lu, Mark E. Mcmurtrey

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Preventive health care is widely acknowledged as one of the most effective ways to reduce medical costs and enhance people's health. Preventive health care information (PHCI) is a crucial component. This study examines the PHCI-seeking behaviors of Taiwanese baby boomers. The study found some support for the idea that the preferred media used influenced the likelihood of Information seeking behavior. People with good health conditions were found to be more likely to seek PHCI, while people with greater health care needs sought out PHCI less frequently. The study examined social influences, which were found to be important. Three different types …

How Can Chinese Culture Go Abroad? Evidence From Successful Establishment Of Chinese Academic Foreign Translation Projects, Tian Lan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Compared to Chinese economy scale, the global understanding and recognition of Chinese culture are quite superficial, it is crucial to promote Chinese culture go abroad through academic exchanges between China and other countries. This study explores and validates the relationship and applicability of Chinese culture “Going Global” based on the translation project of Chinese academic works. Through case analysis and the development of data models, it aims to provide theoretical guidance and practical tools for relevant institutions and individuals.

The study begins with qualitative research on cases, describing and analyzing typical examples to demonstrate how Chinese Academic Translation (CAT) projects …

Influence, Confidence, And Interest In Mathematics: The Route To Increasing Female Participation In Stem, Lisa Galbreath Neaton Black

Theses and Dissertations

Women are underrepresented in STEM professions despite initiatives to encourage young women to pursue these financially rewarding careers. Studies show this divide is not due to inability or lack of female participation in higher education, as women tend to outscore their male counterparts on standardized tests and make up approximately 59% of the postsecondary student population. Rather, the disconnect in the high school-to-college STEM pipeline for young women seems to center on mathematics. In response, this action research study focused on addressing societal influence and mathematical confidence and interest using a constructivist approach in an honors Algebra 2 class.Hands-on activities, …

“Digital Shame Shift”: From Telling The Pain To Recording The Truth — Black Maternal Health And Digital Counter-Narrative Storytelling On Tiktok, Odera Covenant Ezenna

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores how digital storytelling on TikTok is used to challenge medical racism, with a particular focus on Black maternal health. Guided by Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Critical Technocultural Discourse Analysis (CTDA), the study examines how TikTok users—ranging from Black mothers to healthcare professionals—create and circulate counter-narratives through two prominent campaigns: #BlackMaternalHealthWeek and #BlackMamasMatter. These digital stories serve as acts of resistance, disrupting dominant medical discourse and amplifying the lived experiences of Black birthing individuals. The research analyzes over 2900 TikTok videos posted between 2021 and 2024, identifying key themes, storytelling strategies, and rhetorical shifts over time. The …

Understanding The Role Of Hope On The African American Identity Through James Vanderzee's Wedding Day Harlem, 1926, Kerri Greene

Dean James E. McLeod Freshman Writing Prize

This essay explores how hope among migrants of the Great Migration was shaped by positive depictions of African Americans in photography, particularly through the work of Harlem Renaissance photographer James VanDerZee. It argues that these images offered migrants a vision of their desired futures, but true hope depended on the actions taken to realize those visions.

Therapy-Induced Senescence In Cancer: Developing Senolytic-Based Combination Strategies To Delay Re-Emergence Of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, Eesha Chakraborty

Theses and Dissertations

Therapy-induce senescence (TIS) represents a major biological outcome of many anticancer treatments and is increasingly recognized as a strategic vulnerability in triple negative breast cancer, which is a highly aggressive subtype with limited therapeutic options and frequent relapse. Here, we probed TIS as a primary cellular response that may ultimately compromise long-term outcomes using standard chemotherapeutic agents in TNBC as well as the antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan (SG). Both chemotherapy and SG reliably induced pronounced senescence across TNBC models, yielding durable growth arrest, however, also generating a persistent reservoir of viable tumor cells capable of eventual proliferative recovery, a hallmark …

Assessment And Health Benefit Of Vitamin C Using A549 Cell, Yetunde Adepoju

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is a vital micronutrient recognized for its antioxidant capacity and essential bodily functions, such as collagen formation, neurotransmitter activity, and regulation of the immune system. This study explores how vitamin C can protect and potentially heal cells under oxidative stress and inflammation, using A549 cells, a human lung epithelial cell line, as the model system. The cells were exposed to varying concentrations of vitamin C dissolved in water, DMSO, and 5% DMSO. To assess the outcome, cell viability was measured with an MTT assay. In addition, the expression of key genes related to oxidative stress and …

Existing In The Context: A Conjunctural Analysis Of Kamala Harris Memes, Amaya Mcneal

Theses and Dissertations

Political memes have become a common way for people to express their political views online, helping politics reach young adults who weren’t previously interested. Consequently, politicians have begun sharing and creating memes themselves. The memeification of American politics has diminished debate about ideas, ideals, issues, and people’s vital interests, debasing voters by treating them not as citizens but as passive “consumers” and “spectators” of mediated politics. This paper helps make sense of this crisis, focusing on the example of former Vice President Kamala Harris. Vice President Kamala Harris' memeified presidential campaign during the 2024 U.S. election targeted voters through a …