Digital Commons Network^™

The Penal Judgment Exception To Full Faith And Credit: How To Bind The Bounty Laws, Walker Mckusick

Washington Law Review

In the current moment of interstate friction over abortion, the penal judgment exception poses a barrier against interstate enforcement of bounty laws. A doctor who prescribes a medicated abortion to a Texas patient may be exposed to civil liability—even in faraway Washington State. A Washington court asked to enforce a Texas judgment against the doctor is subject to the Full Faith and Credit Clause. Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution mandates that each state give full faith and credit to judgments rendered in sister states. Under Texas Senate Bill 8 (S.B. 8), any member of the public …

The Best Children's Books Of 2024: Summer Reading Guide, Bank Street College Of Education. Children's Book Committee.

Children's Book Committee

Notable titles that have captured the attention of our members as well as experts in the field of children’s literature, such as librarians, authors, teachers, psychologists, and editors. This is the perfect place to find a book that will delight young readers during the long days of summer.

Effect Of Home-Based Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation On Cognitive Function In Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Two-Week Intervention, Jaesub Park, Kyungmi Chung, Yoonkyung Oh, Kwang Joon Kim, Chang Oh Kim, Jin Young Park

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Repeated transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is expected to have the potential to improve cognitive function in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of at-home tDCS for elderly patients with MCI.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients aged 60-80 years, who maintained normal daily living but reported objective memory impairments, were enrolled. Active or sham stimulations were applied to the dorsal frontal cortex (left: anode; right: cathode) at home for 2 weeks. Changes in cognitive function were assessed using visual recognition tasks and the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE), and safety and efficacy were …

Jak-Stat Signaling And Beyond In The Pathogenesis Of Spondyloarthritis And Their Clinical Significance, Siba P Raychaudhuri, Ruchi J Shah, Sneha Banerjee, Smriti K Raychaudhuri

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose of Review

Janus kinase–signal transducers and activators of transcription cell signaling proteins (JAK-STATs) play a key regulatory role in functioning of several inflammatory cytokines. JAK-STAT signaling proteins are the key regulators of the cytokine/cytokine receptor system involved in the pathogenesis of various autoimmune disease including spondyloarthritis (SpA). This article mainly highlights the JAK-STAT signaling system, its association with the relevant cytokine/cytokine-receptor system, and its regulatory role in pathogenesis of SpA. Also, we have briefly addressed the principle for the use JAKi in SpA and the current status of use of JAK inhibitors (JAKi) in SpA.

Recent Findings

Recent developments …

Comprehensive Examination Of The Effect Of A Randomized Controlled Brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention On Autonomic Nervous System Functioning, Li Shen Chong

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Brief mindfulness-based interventions are comparable to traditional mindfulness-based interventions in alleviating stress and improving well-being. To explore the underlying biological mechanisms of these practices, researchers have been exploring the effects of mindfulness-based interventions through the autonomic nervous system (ANS), a major bodily stress response system. Nevertheless, most of these studies relied on one stress response system or a specific biomarker. This study aims to comprehensively examine the effectiveness of two sessions of brief mindfulness-based interventions on ANS functioning. Participants were assigned to the brief mindfulness intervention condition (n = 44) or control condition (n = 47). Participants’ physiological data, including …

Southeast Asian American Tongues: The Sustainability And Growth Of A Vietnamese Dual Language Immersion Program In The Wake Of California’S Proposition 58, A Qualitative Study, Joseph Matthew Marquéz Manluco

Social Justice in Educational Leadership EdD Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the sustainability and growth of a VDLI program in Silicon Valley. The program was established in response to the 2016 passage of California’s Proposition 58, which reversed restrictions that inhibited the implementation of K12 bilingual programs. The study explored concepts related to the initial diaspora, linguistic experience, cultivation of an identity fostering a bilingual love of language, and community linguistic networks that sustained the bilingualism for research participants. Participants revealed their personal stories leading them to the VDLI from their own independent journeys in sheltering, preserving, and maintaining their linguistic heritage. The VDLI stands as a testament …

Recent Literature, Claire M. Stuyck

North American Bird Bander

No abstract provided.

New Longevity Record For Blue Grosbeak (Passerina Caerulea), Maren E. Gimpel, Meghan E. Mchenry, James G. Gruber

North American Bird Bander

No abstract provided.

Wampanoag Culture Keepers Oral History Archive, Majel Peters

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Wampanoag Culture Keepers Society (WCKS) is a group of Wampanoag Elders with five core members representing three Wampanoag tribes. The Society was founded in early 2023 with a goal of documenting and providing access to traditional Wampanoag knowledge held by its members as a means of ensuring its sustained preservation and practice for generations to come. Rooted in community archival practice, The Wampanoag Culture Keepers Oral History Archive project is offered and functions in support of the Elders’ work. While recognizing the shortcomings of digital archival tools in relation to traditional knowledge sharing practices, this project seeks to render …

Using A Novel Chain Of Chemical, Crystallographic, And Isotopic Analytical Techniques To Examine The Formation Histories Of Features In Chondritic Meteorites And Orbicular Granites, Samuel P. Alpert

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Understanding the chemistry, crystallography, and isotopic variability of minerals allows us to place significant constraints on the formation history of their host rocks. These constraints provide insight into everything from the distribution of water in the solar system to the onset of plate tectonics. Electron beam instruments and ion probes are important tools used by modern geologists to obtain crystallographic, chemical, and isotopic data. Here I present a new workflow, using these instruments, combining wavelength dispersive spectrometry (WDS), backscattered electron (BSE) imaging, machine learning algorithms, electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), to place quantitative constraints on …

The Efficacy Of Using Machine Learning Techniques For Identifying And Classifying “Fake News”, Muhammad Islam

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In today's digital world, detecting fake news has emerged as a critical challenge, one that has significant effects on democracy and public discourse at large both regionally and globally. This research studies how diversity of news sources in training datasets affects how well machine learning models can classify fake vs true news. I used the Linear Support Vector Classification (LinearSVC) to create and compare two classification models: one was trained on a dataset that only had real news from a singular source, Reuters (Dataset 1), and the other was trained on a dataset that contained real news from Reuters, The …

What The Debate About Spanish Gender-Inclusive Forms Reveals Regarding Ideological Beliefs About Language And Authority, Jalitza Gutierrez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The “masculine generic” is a feature of Spanish that dictates that the masculine ending, (-o), is generally used as the default when referring to a mixed-sex group or when the sex of a person or group is unknown. Critics have claimed that this linguistic feature is sexist and contributes to the invisibility of women and gender-nonconforming people within the language (Eisenberg, 1985). In order to combat these issues, critics have campaigned for the revision of Spanish to include gender-inclusive language, which has continued to be a source of debate, both from the bottom-up and from institutions such as the Real …

Examining The Factors That Contribute To The Survival And Resilience Of The Al-Shabaab Terrorist Organization, Kevisha R. Kellar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis explores the enduring threat posed by Al-Shabaab in Somalia, examining three primary factors contributing to its resilience: the mismanagement of international intervention, inadequate government oversight and resources, and Al-Shabaab’s ability to adapt to Somalia’s socio-political environment. These factors help Al-Shabaab foster direct and indirect relationships that allow the organization to survive. Through an analysis of Al-Shabaab’s organizational structure and strategies, this study sheds light on the exploitation of political, economic, and religious dynamics, and the complexity of combatting Al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab’s manipulation of an Islamic identity is a political tool, that fosters business networks, aids in arms acquisitions, evades …

The Role Of Language Ideologies In Curriculum Design: Possibilities In Computational And Digital Literacies Integration In Teacher Education, Jessica Velez Tello

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Literacy and language are linked in its usage, perception, and practice. As new forms of engaging with literacy are explored, digital practices and tools are being employed as useful supports for students and their language practices (García et al., 2017). As emerging technologies are further introduced in educational spaces, education programs have a role in shaping how computational and digital literacies (CDLs) are integrated and how teacher candidates and teachers learn about them, especially those who are being trained to become bilingual teachers or will inevitably work with emergent bilinguals and linguistically diverse learners^[1], as the intersections between …

Uses Of The Intuition: The Role Of Intuition In Birth Work (Towards An Intuitive Epistemology), Kayla R. Reece

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Intuitive knowledge ought to be esteemed, practiced, and integrated alongside traditional forms of knowledge. The coloniality of knowledge has structured our society’s ways of thinking to suppress knowledges which reside in non-hegemonic formations and sources, such as our bodies and intuitions. This paper assesses the uses of the intuition as potential sites of an intuitive epistemology through the author’s experience as an intuitive tarot card reader and through the experiences of six BIPOC birth workers living and working in the United States. I conceptualize the intuition as embodied, relational, and predictive, which offers a framework that privileges information one can …

Diaspora Documentation Of West Albay Bikol, Nhia Borja

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper presents a comprehensive linguistic analysis and cultural documentation of West Albay Bikol, a dialect spoken in Bikol, Philippines. Drawing upon narratives spoken by a native speaker, this study aims to expand the literature on Bikolano language and add the dialects of Balugo and Polangui to the conversation. The motivation for the project stems from a personal aspiration to learn West Albay Bikolano and provide authentic language examples.

The paper comprises six chapters. The first chapter briefly overviews Bikol dialects and Central Philippine languages and reviews existing literature on the overall Bikol language. The second chapter is an examination …

Placemaking And Placewashing In Manhattan's Chinatown: Capitalist Vs. Community Interests, Mary Chu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since the late 1890s, there have been internal and external placemakers in Manhattan’s Chinatown. They take the form of city government, real estate developers, and community organizations vying for space, and seeking to define what this neighborhood should be, for whom it should serve, and how it should look. Sometimes these would-be placemakers operate with neoliberal goals and overt orientalist and/or racist views. They push those narratives through via media representations and as a tactic to attract tourism, but with little regard for how it affects the community. In this work, I examine connections between historic ideas of placemaking and …

Analysis Of Victim/Villain Narratives Presented Under Genocide And Ethnic Cleansing Frameworks: The Kosovo Case, Kristi Allaj

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The small country of Kosovo has been a point of contestation in the Western Balkans for decades. In that regard, the country has divided the two main feuding groups into Albanians and Serbians, who contemporarily showcase intense ethnic rivalries. The 1998-1999 conflict impacted the region's demographics, the international community's normative changes, and the contemporary policies of the now-independent country. The Kosovo War is often attributed to ethnic tensions and the rise of nationalism. At the same time, the NATO intervention that created a series of dissenting opinions is pinned on the humanitarian crisis. All notions that stand. This thesis aims …

What Does It Mean To Be Kindergarten "Ready?": Trends In Parents' Expectations And Families' School Experiences Across Ses, Lisa Babel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to explore the meaning of Kindergarten “ready,” especially as the practice interacts with educational inequity. Past research used secondary data to show that SES relates to the prevalence of redshirting where children’s school entry is delayed by one year with the idea that the older they are when they start school, the more advanced they will be, but studies do not explain why children from families with lower incomes are advised to start Kindergarten later than others (Greensburg & Winsler, 2020; Reardon & Portilla, 2016). Moreover, family expectations of the Kindergarten participation process, including …

Effect Of Magnetic Draping On Satellite Galaxies In Clusters, Vanessa Brown

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Galaxy evolution has been observed to be influenced by environment. Satellite galaxies orbiting within clusters can experience changes in morphology and composition through various mechanisms such as ram-pressure stripping (RPS), which removes a galaxy’s interstellar medium as it passes through the cluster via direct interaction with the hot intracluster medium gas. An open question is whether intracluster magnetic fields affect galaxy evolution, for example by forming a magnetic layer around infalling galaxies (called magnetic draping) and mitigating gas removal by RPS. Using the code GADGET-3, we compare global properties and mass distributions within identical cluster simulations run with and without …

Project Maplemon: Peeling Back The Secrets Of Queer Writing Through Stylometric Demographic Identification, Theodore D. Manning

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Project MapLemon is a corpus for stylometric demographic identification of 54,000+ words across 345 participants, originally created to obtain a baseline corpus for linguistic variation among North American English speakers. The corpus contains responses from 30 linguistic backgrounds, and 40 US states and 6+ Canadian provinces. Project MapLemon has innovated a new method for data collection for linguistic variants in the natural, digital written word. Project MapLemon utilizes a hand-drawn map and asks the participant to give directions via this map, as well as asking participants for a recipe for lemonade. In addition to its novel collection methods, MapLemon contains …

Development And Application Of Magnus Expansion Based Propagators For Problems In Spectroscopy And Quantum Dynamics, Taner M. Ture

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Stable and accurate numerical propagators of time-evolution equations in quantum mechanics are required to capture correct dynamical behavior, especially in the long time limit. Magnus expansion (ME) provides a general way to expand the real time propagator of a time dependent Hamiltonian within the exponential such that the unitarity is satisfied at any order. Integrators are developed by truncating the ME and using explicit integration of Lagrange interpolation formulas for the time dependent Hamiltonian within each time interval. The derived approximations are studied in a numerical test and compared to other available expressions. The sixth order expression is applied to …

Is Aggression In The Eye Of The Beholder?: An Eye-Tracking Study, Kemar P. Pickering

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The study of aggression offers opportunities to more deeply understand criminal behavior, personality and temperament. A deeper understanding of aggression has many implications in applied settings, including work, education and health. The knowledge gained may improve the treatment of behavioral misconduct and antisocial behavior. Additionally, the study of aggression has the potential to inform assessments of quality of life and development while offering information to guide early intervention and improve behavior trajectories.

Understanding aggression has many real-world applications, such as creating a better understanding of criminal activity, identifying who might be more likely to become a criminal, allowing for early …

The Impact Of Playing As A Non-Stereotypical Woman In A Role-Playing Video Game On Players’ Real World Gender Role Attitudes, Hunter Kincaid

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study had participants play the modern role-playing video game Skyrim as a female character with one of three different body types: an idealized feminine body typically found in video games, a tall muscular body that more realistically represents a warrior woman, and a lizard body that is hard to gender stereotype using human gender role attitudes. Participants were given a pretest and posttest measure that checked their gender role attitudes and were allowed to play the game with no restrictions on the role-play choices they make within the game itself. A lens of Black cyberfeminism was applied to critique …

Mandatory Esg Disclosure And Executive Compensation: Evidence From The Europe Union Non-Financial Reporting Directive, Dana Lacondre Nugent

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The European Parliament passed the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) with the intent to “encourage firms to identify and manage ESG risk” and “provide more transparent and relevant information …intended to empower stakeholders” (EU Directive 2014/95/EU). In my dissertation, I examine whether this change in the information environment is associated with a change in discretionary compensation as a result of decision-useful information conveyed in the mandated Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosures. While I expected that new ESG information (Resist) would experience cross-setting changes, my results show that the impact of the mandate is more nuanced. I find herein that …

Identifying Graduate Students’ Instructional Strategies And Approaches Towards Teaching Employable Skills, Elizabeth S. Che

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

College instruction tends to focus on imparting disciplinary knowledge rather than employable broad-based skills emphasized by undergraduate guidelines. The lack of emphasis on broad-skill development may leave many undergraduate students unprepared for the workforce. Graduate students who are future professoriate, are teaching undergraduate courses with various attitudes and strategies. This dissertation comprises three published studies that used data from two surveys identifying graduate students’ instructional strategies and approaches to teaching employable skills in their courses.

The first study asked whether graduate students teaching undergraduate courses (N = 114; 70.2% women, M age = 30 years) aim to teach employable …

Who’S Afraid Of Employer Sanctions?: Political And Institutional Dynamics Of Workplace Enforcement, Michael C. Macher

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since the breakdown of comprehensive immigration reform in 2007, a growing number of states have enacted work verification laws aiming to accomplish what the federal government could not: halt unwanted immigration by building a "wall" around the labor market. However, the empirical record on these laws remains mixed. While scholarly and journalistic reports observe that states appear to lack both the institutional capacity and political will to enforce their own work authorization policies, economic impact studies show that these same “poorly enforced” laws nonetheless produce substantive effects on the strategies of employers and migrants alike. This thesis asks the question: …

Sigma_N-Correct Forcing Axioms, Benjamin P. Goodman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

I introduce a new family of axioms extending ZFC set theory, the Sigma_n-correct forcing axioms. These assert roughly that whenever a forcing name a' can be forced by a poset in some forcing class Gamma to have some Sigma_n property phi which is provably preserved by all further forcing in Gamma, then a' reflects to some small name such that there is already in V a filter which interprets that small name so that phi holds. Sigma_1-correct forcing axioms turn out to be equivalent to classical forcing axioms, while Sigma_2-correct forcing axioms for Sigma_2-definable forcing classes are consistent relative to …

Three Essays Applying Dynamic Models In Economics, Finance, And Machine Learning, Lucas C. Dowiak

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a composition in three parts. Collectively, these essays investigate dynamic methods and their application in the fields of Economics, Finance, and Machine Learning. It pulls liberally from all three. In particular, this dissertation makes repeated use of multi-state modeling frameworks popular in Economics to bring a faceted view to the underlying data and detect its hidden heterogeneity. The challenge of modeling financial assets and estimating their dependence is another focus. For stimulus, concepts in the Machine Learning field are brought in to aid or compete with established econometric techniques.

Econometric Applications of the Hierarchical Mixture-of-Experts

In this …

Grieving: A Record Of My Becoming, Neyshka Diaz Maldonado

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This memoir travels into my experience growing up in Puerto Rico throughout moments of joy, sorrow, triumph, and growth. Through memorable recollections and introspective thoughts, the memoir navigates memory, offering insights into my relationships, aspirations, and struggles. Each chapter unfolds and captures the essence of my life up until this moment.

I explore my ability to overcome challenges with resilience and grace, discovering strength in vulnerability and wisdom in the face of adversity. Through moments of self-discovery and profound transformation, they unearth the threads of my resilience, embracing both the light and shadow that define my life experience.

This memoir …