Digital Commons Network^™

“Camp Is A Home”: The Experiences Of Migrant Students In A College Assistance Migrant Program, Lourdes Bastas, Jamie L. Workman, Meagan C. Arrastia-Chisholm

Journal of Higher Education & Student Affairs

The researchers explored how the migrant students characterized their experiences in the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) program at a predominately White institution in Georgia and how they developed identity in this qualitative study. Interviews with seven migrant students were transcribed and coded for themes using Baxter Magolda’s theory of self-authorship as the theoretical framework. Participants developed their identities and established self-authorship as migrant students due to the influences and impacts of CAMP and perceived CAMP support as the nexus to their academic success and overcoming barriers. Other themes emerged from the narratives including disruption of frequent moves, cultural differences, …

Developing A Social Equity Action Plan: A Pathway Towards Achieving Water Equity In Oregon, Anis Zaman, Wade Hathhorn

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

The Sunrise Water Authority is a public utility serving the City of Happy Valley and surrounding areas of unincorporated Clackamas County. In general, the customers of Sunrise tend to be relatively affluent (by state and federal household income standards) and predominately white, and non-Hispanic by race and ethnicity. Notwithstanding, there are several vulnerable groups within the service population including low-income households, persons of color, children, seniors, immigrants, disabled, and others. Social equity looks to ensure fair and equitable access to public services for all. Following a framework established by the U.S. Water Alliance (known as the ‘3 Pillars’), a preliminary …

Strategies And Methods Used By Information Technology Security Professionals To Secure Cloud Access Infrastructure, Oliver Fontem

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cloud computing provides data storage and access services to end users and enterprises but requires effective access controls to protect privileged information from unauthorized and malicious users. Enterprises adopt and integrate cloud computing into their business operations due to its cost-effective and on-demand delivery of computing resources over remote networks but face the challenge of adequate strategies and policies to implement identity and access management securely. Grounded in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies used by information technology cybersecurity professionals to improve identity and access …

Relationship Between Self-Efficacy And Reading Achievement Among Students With Disabilities, Jessica Maine

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students with disabilities (SWD) often display lower self-efficacy and have a more negative attitude toward reading compared to typically developing peers. Little research has been conducted to measure the relationship between reading self-efficacy and reading achievement of SWD. The purpose of this study was to investigate if reading self-efficacy predicts reading achievement for SWD. Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy guided the research question to evaluate the relationship between reading self-efficacy and reading achievement for SWD. In the present quantitative study, a linear regression analysis was used to assess the predictive relationship between SWDs’ reading self-efficacy, as measured by the Readers’ Self-Perception …

Nursing Staff Retention, Turnover Intention, And Job Satisfaction In California Nursing Home Facilities, Dr. Selene E.A Laws

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nurse turnover rates in long-term care facilities, specifically in California nursing homes, are among the most pressing issues for the quality of patient care and nursing homes’ operational costs. The purpose of this integrative review was to reveal effective ways to improve job satisfaction, decrease turnover intention, and increase retention rates among nursing staff in California nursing homes. This study focused on the critical issue of turnover in healthcare administration, grounded by Herzberg’s motivation–hygiene theory, which stated that job satisfaction was the fundamental problem causing high staff turnover, and it suggested that hygiene and motivation factors may affect employee turnover. …

Prekindergarten Teachers’ Perspectives Regarding Kindergarten Readiness In Childcare Centers, Adrienne Dominic Stephens

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Which Tools Can Aid The Management Of Intangible Cultural Heritage In Community Based Heritage Organizations In Cairo? A Case Study Of Shubra’S Archive, Mienke Zwemstra

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a comprehensive overview of cultural heritage management in Cairo, focusing particularly on intangible heritage and the potential benefits of digital tools in this field. It highlights the marginalization of community-based organizations in the broader narrative of heritage management in Cairo, along with the limited alignment and collaboration between local, national and international heritage institutions. Drawing from ethnographic research conducted at the Shubra’s Archive (SARD), this study identifies the challenges faced by such organizations, including the reliance on volunteers and international funding for mission implementation. It emphasizes the importance of strategic planning and collaboration with municipal and national …

Towards An Inclusive Media Policy Framework Targeting Adolescents In Egypt, Saja Elgredly

Theses and Dissertations

For years, adolescents have been lost between adulthood and childhood. This is even reflected in the policies that directly affect their lives and well-being. In Egypt, there has hardly been a clear political line on how the media should deal with adolescents. As this age group belongs to childhood, most of the laws and regulations are hardly dedicated to address them despite their different characteristics. Within the Egyptian context, there are children's laws concerned with basic children's rights and other laws that relate to the media. However, we notice a gap in adolescent-friendly laws, policies and regulations, especially in the …

How Do They See Us?: Unhcr's Representations Of Syrian Refugees In “Every Second Counts” Campaign, Marah Khalid

Theses and Dissertations

Representation is not just an opinion; it is the recreation of realities, facts, and stories that encourage receivers, who are readers and viewers, to build perceptions of a certain topic, objects, events, and human beings. Studying the representation of refugees in the media, UN agencies, and International organizations' press releases, videos, and images has been the main focus for many scholars for decades. However, little is known about refugees' perspectives on visuals produced by UN agencies. This research tries to add to the few studies concerning the captured human object, refugees, perspective using Hall’s encoding/decoding model (Hall, 1997) to analyze …

Emotionally Stimulated Activism On Tiktok: The Impact Of Exposure To Audiovisual Moral Violation On Collective Action In The “Woman, Life, Freedom” Movement, Laila Abbas

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis unravels new, decentralized mechanisms for mobilization that challenge the traditional understanding of the ‘group-based psychology of collective action.’ By focusing on the Iranian “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, the study proposes a model that integrates traditional motives for collective action, emotions of different valence, and TikTok audiovisual moral violation stimuli. The proposed model allows for a more complex empirical understanding of the phenomenological experience needed for participation in digital environments. Theoretical assumptions in the current work were guided by the Social Identity Model of Collective Action (SIMCA), the Encapsulated Model of Social Identity for Collective Action (EMSICA), and the …

Reducing The Gap: A Phenomenological Study Of Student-Faculty Interaction Experiences Of International Students In Korea, Natalie Thibault

The Qualitative Report

This phenomenological study explored lived experiences of student-faculty interactions of undergraduate international students in Korea, in a higher education context where direct contacts between professors and students are infrequent. Guided by Astin’s theory of student involvement, the study investigated students’ experiences of direct interaction with faculty members, inside and outside the classroom. Seventeen foreign students participated in semi-structured interviews, during which they shared experiences, recollections, and perceptions of direct interactions with professors. Participants explained how certain factors, such as professor demographics, language proficiency or means of instruction, influenced the quality and frequency of interactions. They also expressed a clear desire …

Cognitive And Affective Information Seeking Barriers Affecting First-Year Students At The Tshwane University Of Technology (Tut), Rirhandzu S. Mhinga, Rirhandzu Sharon Mhinga, Madely Du Preez

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Introduction. Investigates cognitive and affective barriers caused by uncertainty that affect the information seeking and searching behaviour of first-year students registered at the Tshwane University of Technology, Polokwane campus. These students do not have a background of using academic information resources and systems. Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process (ISP) model and the four levels of information needs identified by Taylor guided this study. The research question that shaped this investigation is, how do feelings of uncertainty affect the information seeking behaviour of first year students?

Methods. A phenomenological research approach was employed in the study. Fifteen first-year students were interviewed. …

Educational Experiences Of Students With Visual Impairments In Higher Education: A Case Study Of A Private University, Ghadeer Alghurabi

Theses and Dissertations

The study's main goal is to investigate the educational experiences of students with visual impairments in a private university, considering their views, beliefs, and emotions. The study examines the university's disability policy using Cardno's methodology. Also, The study uses a qualitative research design to learn more about each student's unique experience. Moreover, this study has two components: policy analysis and empirical study (interviews). Policy analysis is used to analyze the disability policy, while student interviews shed insight into their experiences, including the educational challenges they faced, the influence of faculty members, and mobility issues on campus. Furthermore, the Crip theory …

Understanding The Relationship Between Perceived Childhood Experiences And Relationship With God, Remaz Bahaa

Theses and Dissertations

The present study explores the relationship between perceived childhood experiences and one’s current relationship with God in an Egyptian Muslim sample. While such relationship has been researched in Western contexts, there is a notable gap in understanding these dynamics within Muslim Middle Eastern cultures. In this study, 180 participants, brought up in Muslim households, were given the following questionnaires: both versions of the Parental Acceptance Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ) referring to the father and mother, Attachment to God Inventory (AGI), and Images of God (LAMBI Scale). The results presented the internal consistency of both the AGI and LAMBI scales with the …

Crafting Lives: Experiences Of Ethiopian Refugees In Cairo, Nayrose S. Abd El-Megid

Theses and Dissertations

There has been an ongoing influx of refugees for years driven by political instability, famine, and prolonged conflicts in the region, leading many individuals to seek sanctuary in other countries. Egypt has become a host country for many years, whether for settlement or transit, for various populations from different nationalities hoping to find refuge. However, amidst this influx, Ethiopian refugees often find themselves overlooked or usually associated on the sidelines with other African nationalities; their stories and struggles are marginalized in broader narratives of displacement. The experience of Ethiopians is heterogeneous and multidimensional in terms of their intersectional identities of …

Anxious Futures: Capital, Nation And Advertising In Beirut, Lebanon, Caitlin Alais Callahan

Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary billboard advertising in Beirut fuels anxiety in Beirut’s citizens. In a city suffering from daily uncertainties caused by a devastating financial collapse in 2019, and mourning victims of the worst non-nuclear explosion to ever occur in the Port of Beirut in 2020, Beirutis are also faced with advertising which constantly reinforces uneasiness. Visual advertisements market visas to leave the country, purchasing second passports and money counting machines, forming quotidian reminders of the current state of the country. Using interviews and visual ethnographic material collected during the summer of 2023, this thesis discusses how billboards help to foster dialogue around …

Dreams Of An Elsewhere Or Aspiring To Stay? Navigating Anxious Youthhood And Migration In Morocco, Chaimaa Radouani

Theses and Dissertations

Migration in Morocco has long been a topic of scholarly and public debate, with a particular emphasis on low-skilled labor migration. Nonetheless, there is still a significant need to figure out the aspirations of educated, skilled youth regarding their desire to move or stay in the country. This thesis investigates the aspirations of educated youth in Casablanca, Morocco, and how they are influenced by the changing dynamics of contemporary Morocco. It addresses youth aspirations and migration by examining the elements affecting their decisions within the context of the country’s current economic, social, and political contexts. The primary focus of this …

How Do The Entrepreneurial Motivations And Struggles Of Egyptian Women Entrepreneurs Challenge Existing Perspectives?, Salma Sherif

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines ten profiles of Egyptian women entrepreneurs and compares their perspectives to the widespread and main arguments in the existing literature reviewed on the topic; mainly their entrepreneurial motivation and challenges. The paper reveals similarities and contradictions, and introduces different angles to perceiving both aspects. The researcher concludes that contextualizing entrepreneurial motivations can, therefore, disclose deeper dimensions to the subject matter, and as for the challenges, it can change their relative importance. For the primary data collection, the paper follows a non-probability sampling approach by applying a purposive sampling technique. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted accordingly. The women …

Machine Learning Multimodal Framework For Fake News Detection And Mitigation, Nada A. Gaballah

Theses and Dissertations

Social media has become our new reality, people wake up every morning and the first thing they do before getting out of bed, is check their social media. Nowadays, people rarely read newspapers, they even rarely watch TV news or listen to radio broadcasts. In recent years, we have witnessed lots of fake news roaming social media every second, with people simply believing it and spreading it even more without checking the credibility of this news. This fake news affected several domains like what happened in the US election in 2016 and again in 2020, the false information about Covid-19 …

Wayward Utopias: Time In Wilde And Goethe, Kafi Moghrabi Mr

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I study the dialectical relation between the Utopian imagination and a reality perceived in every way as antagonistic to hope. In the first chapter, I present Ernst Bloch’s Utopian vision, as presented in The Principle of Hope, which offers an exposition of the author’s Romantic Marxism. The second chapter engages Oscar Wilde’s only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, demonstrating how a life devoted to self-gratification only results in the constant deferral of Utopian longing, and how, undone, Dorian’s demise opens up Utopian possibilities as anticipated by Bloch. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s version of the …

An Essential Gene Signature Of Breast Cancer Metastasis Reveals Targetable Pathways, Yiqun Zhang, Fengju Chen, Marija Balic, Chad J Creighton

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: The differential gene expression profile of metastatic versus primary breast tumors represents an avenue for discovering new or underappreciated pathways underscoring processes of metastasis. However, as tumor biopsy samples are a mixture of cancer and non-cancer cells, most differentially expressed genes in metastases would represent confounders involving sample biopsy site rather than cancer cell biology.

METHODS: By paired analysis, we defined a top set of differentially expressed genes in breast cancer metastasis versus primary tumors using an RNA-sequencing dataset of 152 patients from The Breast International Group Aiming to Understand the Molecular Aberrations dataset (BIG-AURORA). To filter the genes …

Meningioma Transcriptomic Landscape Demonstrates Novel Subtypes With Regional Associated Biology And Patient Outcome, H Nayanga Thirimanne, Damian Almiron-Bonnin, Nicholas Nuechterlein, Sonali Arora, Matt Jensen, Carolina A Parada, Chengxiang Qiu, Frank Szulzewsky, Collin W English, William C Chen, Philipp Sievers, Farshad Nassiri, Justin Z Wang, Tiemo J Klisch, Kenneth D Aldape, Akash J Patel, Patrick J Cimino, Gelareh Zadeh, Felix Sahm, David R Raleigh, Jay Shendure, Manuel Ferreira, Eric C Holland

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Meningiomas, although mostly benign, can be recurrent and fatal. World Health Organization (WHO) grading of the tumor does not always identify high-risk meningioma, and better characterizations of their aggressive biology are needed. To approach this problem, we combined 13 bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) datasets to create a dimension-reduced reference landscape of 1,298 meningiomas. The clinical and genomic metadata effectively correlated with landscape regions, which led to the identification of meningioma subtypes with specific biological signatures. The time to recurrence also correlated with the map location. Further, we developed an algorithm that maps new patients onto this landscape, where the nearest …

Chemical Herding As A Multiplicative Factor For Top-Down Manipulation Of Colloids, Mark N. Mcdonald, Douglas R. Tree, Cameron K. Peterson

Faculty Publications

Colloidal particles can create reconfigurable nanomaterials, with applications such as color-changing, self-repairing, and self-regulating materials and reconfigurable drug delivery systems. However, top-down methods for manipulating colloids are limited in the scale they can control. We consider here a new method for using chemical reactions to multiply the effects of existing top-down colloidal manipulation methods to arrange large numbers of colloids with single-particle precision, which we refer to as chemical herding. Using simulation-based methods, we show that if a set of chemically active colloids (herders) can be steered using external forces (i.e., electrophoretic, dielectrophoretic, magnetic, or optical forces), then a larger …

Electrochemical Identification Of Metal Chlorides In Eutectic Licl-Kcl Without Prior Knowledge Of Analyte Identities, Tyler Williams, Jason Torrie, Mark Schvaneveldt, Ranon Fuller, Greg Chipman, Devin Rappleye

Faculty Publications

The identities of unknown analytes within four eutectic LiCl-KCl melts were determined using electrochemical methods, simulating the uncertainty of electrochemically probing an electrorefiner salt bath or molten salt nuclear reactor. With a variety of electrochemical methods (e.g. cyclic voltammetry, chronopotentiometry, and square-wave voltammetry), and electroanalytical techniques (e.g. semi-differentiation), every analyte was positively identified, although one false positive occurred because of an unexpected chemical interaction. This study highlights some remaining challenges for the use of electrochemical sensors in nuclear material control and accountability in molten salts: (1) quantification of analytes without the use of calibration curves (e.g. error in property values, …

Money Is Morphing - Cryptocurrency Can Morph To Be An Environmentally And Financially Sustainable Alternative To Traditional Banking, Clovia Hamilton

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Real Persons Are The Corporations We Made Along The Way, Leonard Brahin

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Investigating Chatgpt's Performance In Students' Academic Writing, Robian M. Esmas, Peter Ivan A. Florendo, Joellianne Grace B. Somontina, Diana Nicole F. Malantic, Jackylyn L. Beredo

DLSU Senior High School Research Congress

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, its integration into various domains has become increasingly notable. One prominent example is ChatGPT, a software tool that has gained popularity as an academic writing assistant. Despite its popularity, ChatGPT has sparked controversies due to concerns about potential misuse and exploitation. Studies have identified several writing challenges students face, especially those learning English as a foreign language (EFL), including grammar and spelling, vocabulary, paraphrasing, and referencing. This study evaluates ChatGPT 3.5's effectiveness in addressing these specific writing skills. Participants composed of Senior High School (SHS) students were assigned an academic writing task with …

Teachers' Voices: A Phenomenological Study Exploring The Students’ Use Of Artificial Intelligence In Scientific Report Writing, Marcia Luija E. Astronomo, Myk Zachary Marcian M. San Miguel, Maximielle P. Mandocdoc, Ace-Kerwin D. Alvero, Zean Napoleon L. Belen

DLSU Senior High School Research Congress

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science made to develop and create systems imitating human intelligence. The digital transformation of AI in various sectors, including education, has been rapid within a span of months. In this line, AI use has created divergent perspectives on whether it provides quality education or diminishes it. With that, this qualitative study aimed to explore the lived experiences of science teachers on the students’ use of AI, specifically in scientific report writing. This study employed a phenomenological approach, and semi-structured interviews were done in a face-to-face setup and in online meetings. The included …

Exploring English Language Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs In Relation To Teaching Gifted Students, Shatha Mohammed Sobih

Thesis/ Dissertation Defenses

The diverse and constantly changing educational environment, along with students’ varying needs, backgrounds, and abilities, highlights the importance of teachers’ self-efficacy. As education develops, teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs become crucial to influencing their teaching methods and interactions with students of exceptional abilities. Self-efficacy is defined as the individuals’ confidence in their ability to successfully execute tasks and achieve desired outcomes. This study investigates the beliefs of English language teachers regarding their ability to identify and teach gifted students, focusing on how they perceive their own skills in teaching primary grade level students (grades 1, 2, and 3) with exceptional intellectual abilities …

The Male Gaze: Textual Analysis On Contemporary Shōnen Anime And How Its Female Characters Are Viewed, Sophia Mikaela A. King, Febe Faith R. Mendoza

DLSU Senior High School Research Congress

With its extensive history, anime continues to create a massive impact all over the globe that would either make or break stereotypes, determining the progression of the particular genre of animation. A significant factor that affects said progression would be the oversexualization of female characters, especially in shōnen anime. Because of this problem, the researchers analyzed in their paper the common patterns of how female characters are portrayed in Assassination Classroom (2015), Kakegurui (2017), and Chainsaw Man (2022), implying the Male Gaze, a theory by Laura Mulvey that examines how movies impact viewers' values by reinforcing pre-existing societal perceptions through …