Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

Substrate Preference And Foraging Behavior Of Two Declining Warblers In Appalachian Shrublands, Samantha Fishman

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract Shrubland and early successional habitats (ESH) support a diversity of wildlife, including many declining songbirds. However, nonnative shrubs increasingly dominate these habitats, potentially altering habitat quality by influencing prey availability. Habitat quality can be assessed by observing foraging behaviors of songbirds and identifying preferred and avoided substrates as well as testing the predictions of optimal foraging theory; specifically that birds will maximize their energy gain relative to the costs. We examined foraging behaviors of Golden-winged Warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera; GWWA) and Chestnut-sided Warblers (Setophaga pensylvanica; CSWA) in ESH on private lands in Virginia with varying amounts …

Climate Change-Induced Shifts In Mediterranean Fungal Fruiting Phenology And Productivity, Rachel Demay

Theses and Dissertations

We used a 29-year dataset of mushroom fruiting from the Pinar Grande forest in northern Spain to investigate the effects of climate change on the phenology, productivity, and diversity of mycorrhizal and saprotrophic mushrooms. We investigated the long-term trends in fruiting season length, yield (by count, total weight, and average weight), and genus richness. Additionally, we identified associations between monthly temperature and monthly precipitation with these fungal responses across functional groups: mycorrhizal, saprotrophic, litter-decaying saprotrophic, and wood-decaying saprotrophic mushrooms, and the economically-important edible genera Boletus and Lactarius. We found that autumnal season length in the Pinar Grande has shortened over …

Scopolamine-Induced Modulation Of Serotonin And Dopamine Transporters Activity: Behavioral And Molecular Insights Into Rapid Antidepressant Action, Deepak Karunakaran

Theses and Dissertations

Major depressive disorder (MDD) affects over 350 million individuals worldwide and is characterized by profound dysregulation of serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) systems that govern mood, reward processing, and motivation. The serotonin transporter (SERT) and dopamine transporter (DAT), both dynamically regulated through phosphorylation, serve as critical determinants of synaptic monoamine signaling. Despite decades of therapeutic development, current antidepressants require 4-6 weeks to achieve efficacy, and approximately one-third to half of patients develop treatment-resistant depression. The emergence of rapid-acting antidepressants like ketamine represents a paradigmatic shift, demonstrating symptom relief within hours; however, ketamine's therapeutic potential remains constrained by abuse liability, dissociative …

Climate Migration And Urban Survival: Evidence From Chittagong’S Slums, Mohammad Nur Nobi

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the impact of climate change on rural-to-urban migration in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Based on a primary survey of 400 respondents across 35 slums in the country's second-largest city, the analysis employs two estimation methods: a multinomial logit model to assess the influence of climate-related factors on migration decisions, and a logit model to evaluate the impact of migration on the living conditions of migrants. The results show that individuals involved in ‘agriculture and daily labor’ are most likely to migrate. Compared to the base category (‘Other Reasons’) for migration, the odds ratios for ‘floods’, ‘droughts’, and ‘better job …

Does Fairness Shape Environmental Attitudes? Evidence From Nigeria’S Extractions, Isaiah Chukwudi Samuel

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis argues that citizens’ perceptions of fairness in the distribution of natural resource revenues influence their support for environmental regulation in Nigeria. The analysis shows that individuals who perceive revenue distribution as fair are more likely to back environmental policies. Utilizing data from Afrobarometer Round 9, this study employs logistic regression to assess this relationship while controlling for demographic and attitudinal factors, including age, education, urban residency, climate awareness, trust in government, and party affiliation. The results demonstrate a strong and statistically significant relationship between perceived fairness and support for environmental regulation, even after isolating these variables. Overall, the …

Spatial Temporal Patterns Of Us Landslides In Recent Decades And Climate Change, Karissa Duff

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events are on the rise in recent decades around the world due to climate change and the trend is projected to continue. Intensified rainfall is a well-known trigger for landslide hazards. The impact of climate change on landslide hazards is a research question of practical importance, as landslides can cause billions of dollars in damage and significant loss of human lives annually. However, previous studies have often focused on specific events with limited spatial and temporal scales. Here we report our preliminary results of leveraging modern geospatial statistical tools in GIS using both …

The Roots Of Empire And Industry: The Transnational History Of The Soviet Rubber Industry, Alexander Hinnov Craver

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Global rubber shortages and market instability in the early 20th century drove the United States, Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany to collaborate in an overwhelming drive to secure domestically producible sources of rubber, either from plants that could grow outside the tropics, or from synthetic rubber processes. The Soviet Union was an indispensable part of this converging, transnational “quest for rubber.” Russian scientists created the first factories to produce synthetic rubber, and Russian agronomists had discovered a dandelion in Central Asia that yielded latex suitable for manufacture. Consequently, both discoveries were disseminated across the world. Sometimes they were shared: the …

Geology, Paleoecology And Vertebrate Biostratigraphy Of The Hell Creek Formation, Carter County, Montana, Usa, Joshua Collin Mathews

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Hell Creek Formation of the Northern Great Plains records one of the greatest mass extinction events in Earth’s history, bringing to a close the reign of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period. This rock unit comprises one of the most studied geological formations in the world and is one of the few locations on the planet that preserve terrestrial deposits containing ejecta from the bolide impact that slammed into the Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago. This profound event in the geologic record has led to numerous studies of paleobiotas, climate change, ecosystem recovery dynamics, and …

Convective Modes Associated With Precipitation Exceeding Postfire Debris Flow Thresholds In The Southwestern United States, Anya M. Aponte Torres

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Postfire debris flows can occur when surface-water runoff dislodges and carries a slurry of loose sediment and vegetation downslope, usually in steep, recently burned terrain. Short-duration, high-intensity rainfall embedded within short or long-duration rainstorms (e.g., thunderstorms and atmospheric rivers) is most commonly associated with this mode of debris-flow initiation. The typical horizontal grid spacings of global numerical weather prediction and general circulation models are too coarse to resolve these convective precipitation features, which poses an obstacle to short-term forecasting and investigating future trends in the frequency, magnitude, and characteristics of debris-flow generating rainfall. For this study, 15-minute precipitation and simulated …

Natural Resources And The Role Of Political Parties In Perpetuating Authoritarian Regimes In Indonesia And Cambodia, Azriansyah A. Agoes

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explains the puzzle of the survival of authoritarian regimes through a comparative study of Indonesia and Cambodia. Despite the two countries being blessed with rich natural resources and ruled by dictators for more than thirty years, Suharto in Indonesia and Hun Sen in Cambodia experienced different political fates. After ruling Indonesia for 32 years, mass protests and elite betrayals forced Suharto to step down in May 1998. He left Indonesia in a chaotic situation as riots and violence erupted in every corner of the country, and his successor had to face repeated coup attempts due to a lack …

Demographic Response Of Breeding Grassland Birds To Keystone Effects Of Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs, Richard Andrew Dreelin

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Grassland birds are the most rapidly declining group of birds in North America due to a host of historical and recent changes to the Great Plains (Rosenberg et al., 2019; Bernath-Plaisted et al., 2023). Grassland birds evolved in a mosaic of heterogeneous habitats created by disturbance from keystone species and Indigenous peoples, and the suppression of disturbance by European settlement has resulted in more homogenous habitat and population declines in grassland birds (Knopf, 1994; Samson & Knopf, 1996; Vickery, Peter D. et al., 1998). Restoring the historical disturbance patterns and habitat heterogeneity forms the basis of management activities for grassland …

Carceral Bonds, Tyler E. Dougherty

Faculty Publications

Over the past 50 years, the U.S. financed a massive physical and fiscal expansion of prisons via the municipal bond market—with devastating results. This project is the first to shine a light on the role of municipal debt in state-level carceral decision making, spotlighting the ways that the municipal bond market affects states’ capacities to incarcerate.

This Article argues that the two primary controls of states’ use of the carceral bond market—(1) market discipline and (2) states’ fiscal constitutions—are particularly ineffective at limiting states’ spending on prisons. This failure to restrain states’ spending through the carceral bond market enables private …

Dissipation-Based Clustering Of Landfalling Tropical Cyclones In Vietnam: Changes In Translational Speed, Intensity, And Direction Of Motion, Lyndon Mark P. Olaguera, Clint Eldrick R. Petilla, Leia Pauline S. Tonga

Physics Faculty Publications

This study analyzes landfalling Tropical Cyclones (TCs) in Vietnam (1979–2020) using k-means clustering. Two clusters were identified based on dissipation locations: Cluster I with 36 cases and Cluster II with 69 cases. The two clusters show distinct environmental characteristics. Differences in sea surface temperature, sea level pressure, and vertical wind shear influence whether TCs tend to move northward or southward. The westward extension of the western North Pacific Subtropical High near southern China appears to delay TC recurvature, increasing the likelihood of landfall in Vietnam. The TCs in each cluster were characterized at three key stages: approaching point (AP), landfall …

Impacts Of Susceptibility To Peer Influence And Fomo On Viewing Alcohol-Related Content On Social Media, Alcohol Expectancies, And Alcohol Use, Callie L. Wang

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

PURPOSE: Young adult (YA) alcohol use remains a significant public health problem, and may be influenced by alcohol expectancies developed through exposure to peers’ alcohol related content (ARC) on social media. This study examined the associations among ARC exposure, alcohol expectancies and alcohol use among YAs, and how susceptibility to peer influence and Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) may influence these relations. METHOD: YAs in the United States who endorsed consuming 1-2 standard drinks per month (N=371) completed surveys measuring ARC exposure, alcohol expectancies, susceptibility to peer influence, FoMO, and alcohol use at baseline and at 4- and 8-week follow …

A Feminist Evaluation Of The Joint Programme: Assessing The Cultural Sensitivity Of Unicef And Unfpa's Strategies On Female Genital Cutting/Circumcision In Senegal And Nigeria, Coumba Soumare

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Female Genital Cutting/Circumcision (FGC) encompasses procedures involving the partial or total removal of female external genitalia or other genital injuries, performed for non-medical reasons. Typically carried out on young girls, often between infancy and age 15, FGC is widely condemned in global discourse as a harmful and barbaric practice. However, within certain cultures, it is viewed as a rite of passage or a necessary tradition. I argue that to effectively address FGC, organizations must adopt a culturally sensitive approach. This research examines the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) initiatives in Senegal and Nigeria. …

No More Pinkwashing At The Pink Pony Club: A Feminist Media Analysis Of The Potential Shift In Queer Popular Culture To Decenter Homonationalism And Pinkwashing, Taylor G. Maki

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Previous research on queer popular culture highlights the influence popular culture has had on the United States’ legal and political protections for queer people—specifically cisgender gay men and cisgender lesbians with the legalization of same-sex marriage and the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” However, some scholars and queer activists critique the homonationalist and pinkwashing agendas deployed by LGBTQ popular culture activists. This research examines whether or not there has been a shift in dominant queer popular culture that decenters homonationalism and pinkwashing. Using a feminist media analysis, this research examines contemporary queer musicians’ activism against the United States’ involvement …

Testing The Hefner (2009) Ancestry/Population Affinity Estimation Method On Japanese Bioarchaeological Populations And Observing Changes In Trait Frequency Distribution Over Time, Tristan Charnock Hershberger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Population affinity is the most controversial aspect of the biological profile to assess for forensic anthropologists due to an array of factors, both historical and in application. This has led to many calls for the abandonment of this type of estimation, however, many have challenged this by arguing for the category’s importance in the death investigation process. While the abandonment of population affinity estimation is unlikely, that does not mean that current approaches to population assessment should not be reassessed. This study attempts to reevaluate the category by applying an evolutionary lens to population affinity assessment. This project applied a …

An Exploration Of Resilience In Native American Older Adults, Georgie Victoria Ferguson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Native American older adults remain underrepresented in psychological research. The unique cohort of participants in this study (born 1924 - 1957) possesses experience and knowledge that can greatly enhance the knowledge base and contribute to the overall understanding of culturally embedded resilience. Participants contributed to the identification of Spirituality and Humor as positive, culturally embedded coping factors through a set of qualitative interviews, and the present study further investigates those specifically identified coping processes using quantitative measures. This research explores how these constructs (measured by the Spiritual Well-Being and Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scales) might counteract (main effect) or buffer …

Workable Seams, Jackson Mills Smith

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In Jackson Mills Smith’s Workable Seams, readers encounter the stories, landscapes, and lives of rural Knox County, Indiana, from the oscillating vantage of a Hoosier boy raised with a Cajun sensibility. After relocating from Louisiana to the river bottoms of the crossroad state at a young age, the speaker gradually uncovers a local history only previously understood in fragmentary shards and fading glimpses.

Alternating between semi-lyrical embodied experiences and memories, documentary pieces in conversation with the state’s historical archive, and the retelling of exaggerated local yarns, poetry is a means of inquiry in Workable Seams. Topics range from …

Cullet, Celia Alice Easton Koehler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

“Cullet” is an industry term for the refuse and smashed-up glass added to new material in the process of making new glass. It is related to the word “cull” from the old french “to collect” or gather. This collection of poems picks up the term as a framework for investigating the piece-meal of daily life, tracing relations between the individual and collective, and also tracing vantage and scale; shifts of where and how the speaker directs their gaze. The poems are invested in assembling an ethos of the domestic that recasts “the domestic” to include more public sites of daily …

Indigenous Access And Use On Private Land: A Toolkit For Heart Of The Rockies Land Trust Members, Ian James Craighead

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Climate Variability Study For Arid Regions, Faisal Almutairi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Water is the primary source for all living species to thrive, and water scarcity has been a primary concern for biological species and plants in arid regions due to urban planning, population growth, poor water management, and overgrazing. The objective of this research was to study the climate variability in precipitation and temperature for an arid region. This research encompasses two distinct studies. The first study examined the impact of climate variability on precipitation in Phoenix. Precipitation data were acquired from NOAA from 1948 to 2023 and the study was broken down into three time scales: annually, seasonally, and monthly. …

Remote Sensing - Based Mapping And Analysis Of Winter Cover Crop Adoption For Sustainable Agriculture, Minnehaha County, Belinda Buechler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Winter cover crops planted by farmers such as cereal rye, crimson clover, radishes, hairy vetch, and winter wheat are used to conserve and protect the soil during winter. These crops offer numerous benefits such as improving soil health, reducing erosion, fixing nitrogen, increasing carbon sequestration, and weed suppression. Over time, winter cover cropping has been recognized as a sustainable agricultural practice and has gained attention from Federal and State conservation programs, farmers, and non-governmental organizations. Due to their vital benefits, agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources Conversation Services (NRCS) have partnered with cost-share programs …

Modern Feminist Social Movements In Rural America: A Three- Part Study, Susan Kroger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Modern feminist social movement can be characterized by several distinctive features. The use of social media, the incorporation of intersectionality, and the injection of policy into modern social movements requires a broad approach to these movements that allows for examination from multiple angles. The proposed project allows for a nuanced and thorough look into an existing social movement in rural America as it unfolds and examines that movement through several lenses. Additionally, the project incorporates current social movement and feminist theory and notes the importance of examining these theoretical perspectives through an applied lens: in order for change to occur, …

Shifting Waters: A 41-Year Time-Series Analysis Of Surface Water Change In The Prairie Pothole Region, Madison Dejarlais

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Prairie Pothole Region (PRR) is a landscape defined by a dynamic surface water system, with wetlands, lakes, and rivers playing critical roles in supporting biodiversity, regulating floods, and maintaining hydrological balance. This study conducts a time-series analysis of surface water change in the PPR from 1984 to 2024, using remote sensing tools including Google Earth Engine, ArcGIS Pro, and ENVI. 41 annual surface water presence rasters were compiled into a cumulative dataset, allowing for both year-to-year comparisons and broader trend analysis. Results indicate that the presence of surface water in the PPR has not followed a simple linear trend. …

Family Roots And Research Journal Unm Emeritus Professor José A. Rivera, José A. Rivera Ph.D

Faculty Publications

This article is an abbreviated life narrative of UNM Emeritus Professor of Community and Regional Planning, José A. Rivera. It begins with highlights of his family ancestry and continues with an account of his educational experiences K-12 and into a decade of university life as a student while earning a bachelor’s, two master’s and a doctorate. He taught at UNM for 35 years while also conducting research in his areas of interest, mostly in community irrigation studies, mutual aid societies, and rural development. The main body in the article focuses on positions he held at UNM and on publications that …

Community-Level Factors Influencing The Duration Of Buprenorphine Treatment In Individuals With Opioid Use Disorder: A Cohort Study Using Us Longitudinal Claims Data, Paula A Jaimes-Buitron, Kehe Zhang, Yanmin Gong, Yuanxiong Guo, Cici Bauer, Carolina Vivas-Valencia

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Buprenorphine is effective in reducing opioid-related morbidity and mortality; however, many patients discontinue treatment prematurely. While previous research has focused on individual-level predictors of retention, the influence of community context remains underexplored. This study aims to examine how community-level factors, such as social vulnerability, availability of buprenorphine-waivered providers and access to behavioural health services, affect the duration of buprenorphine treatment episodes for individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using longitudinal claims data from 2006 to 2022. Adults aged 18 and older who initiated buprenorphine treatment for OUD and maintained continuous enrolment were …

Worker Protection Or Commercial Facilitation: The British Empire, Labor Governance And The Gradual Invisibilization Of Labor Coercion During The Age Of High Imperialism, Christopher Roberts, Michelle Ong

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

This article considers labor governance and coercive labor practices in the British Empire between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In particular, it focuses its attention on several major commissions of inquiry undertaken around the British Empire in the period, as well as reforms that took place alongside those inquiries. In part, the article concludes these reforms were motivated by protective purposes, demonstrating some degree of genuine concern with workers’ well-being. More significantly, however, it finds these reforms were motivated by British imperial desire to ensure stable labor supplies, enhance the legitimacy of the British Empire, and establish more …

Large-Vessel Occlusion Stroke Knowledge And Training For Stroke Severity Assessment Among Emergency Medical Services Personnel In The United States, Kaiz S Asif, Robin Novakovic, Thanh N Nguyen, Santiago Ortega-Gutierrez, Youngran Kim, Amanda Jagolino-Cole, Sushanth Aroor, Alicia Castonguay, Prateek Kumar, Ashutosh P Jhadav, Dileep Yavagal, May Nour, Gabor Toth, Maxim Mokin, Sunil A Sheth, Mouhammad A Jumaa, Alhamza Al-Bayati, Mohamed Teleb, Ossama Y Mansour, Shashvat M Desai, Joshua Hartman, David S Liebeskind, Ameer E Hassan, Brijesh P Mehta, Svin Education And Speed Committees

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Prehospital identification of large-vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke facilitates the development of a regional triage protocol that could lead to an improvement in intrahospital and interhospital workflows. This requires stroke education of emergency medical services (EMS) personnel to improve stroke recognition, severity assessment, and prenotification. However, the current state of EMS personnel's knowledge of LVO stroke, their training for stroke severity assessment, and their preferences for educational methods are unknown. We conducted a nationwide EMS survey across the United States to glean insights that can inform and customize future EMS educational efforts.

Methods: The Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology, …