Digital Commons Network^™

Beyond The Books: Virtual Reality In Academic Libraries, Beryl White-Bing

Library Faculty Presentations & Publications

Explore how academic libraries are revolutionizing education with Virtual Reality (VR). This session showcases the integration of VR experiences at the University of North Florida's Virtual Learning Center, offering a hands-on approach to enhancing student engagement and learning outcomes. Discover how VR stations can transform traditional instruction, bringing abstract concepts to life and providing immersive learning experiences across disciplines. Attendees will gain insights into setting up a VR-enabled learning space, selecting educational VR content, and incorporating these technologies into curriculum design. Whether you're a library professional or an educator, this session will empower you to harness the power of VR …

Wisdom Responses To Troubled Times: Healing Through Contemplative And Somatic Approaches, David Smith, Thomas Falkenberg, Remy Y.S. Low, David Chang, Åsa Jarskog, Jason Brown, Randy Persad, Anna Rumjahn, Charles Scott, Heesoon Bai

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Humanity is facing troubled times, as witnessed by increased polarization and division that are exploding into various forms of violence. Collectively, we are facing unprecedented ecological and environmental disasters. On campuses throughout North America, and closer to home, student anxiety, depression and other mental health issues are increasingly prevalent. The academic fields of contemplative inquiry and somatic studies, which highlight holistic approaches to education, are responding to these troubled times by showing how we can accomplish presence of mind, promote healing, and embrace the physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, and ecological dimensions of wellness.

K2) A Pilgrimage Site As A Votive Offering: The Cases Of The Giant Statues Of Mar Charbel In Faraya And Hammana (Lebanon), Nour Farra Haddad

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Lebanon is located at the extreme east of the Mediterranean Sea and sandwiched between Syria and Israel/Palestine. What make this small country different from the others in the region are the close distances between the mountains, the sea and the green landscapes in the middle of deserted plains as well as its religious diversity with eighteen different communities.

The constant evolution of sacred geography in Lebanon testifies to the importance of Christian and Muslim religious markers in the landscape. The different communities have never stopped developing and building churches, monasteries, mosques, maqams and oratories. We have also seen that in …

Does A Ban On Liquor Sales Benefit Alcohol Dependence Patients? A Study On Usage And Procurement Of Alcohol During The Covid-19 Lockdown, Naren Albert Rajendran, Kailash Sureshkumar, Shabeeba Z. Kailash, Sivabackiya Chitravelu, Niha R. Rumaisa

Indian Journal of Health Sciences and Biomedical Research KLEU

BACKGROUND:

Restricting the availability of alcohol in “dry states” and during the COVID-19 lockdown reveal illegal trading and consumption of illicit liquor leading to deaths and use of alternate harmful substances. The current study aims to fill the gaps in the literature to study alcohol usage and its procurement during its complete ban of sale.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

A cross-sectional study of purposively sampled alcohol-dependent patients (

n

= 62) was conducted in an OPD setting, comparing two time periods: before and during total lockdown 2020. After reinforcing confidentiality and privacy, data were collected and analyzed.

RESULTS:

Alcohol usage during …

Bibliometric Analysis Of Media Reporting Of Suicide A Worldview, Sujita Kumar Kar, Kritika Chawla, Babli Kumari, Ankita Saroj, Amit Singh, Bandna Gupta, Adarsh Tripathi, Shashwat Saxena

Indian Journal of Health Sciences and Biomedical Research KLEU

Suicide is a global mental health challenge and suicides frequently get a wide media coverage. The media reporting of suicide and subsequent suicides are closely associated. Studies reveal country wise variations in the quality of media reporting. We aimed to do a bibliometric analysis of the published research on media reporting of suicide. All the published articles available on the PubMed database from the time of inception till August 2021 were included in the study. All the PubMed IDs of the articles were entered in Harvard Catalyst, a free online software, for bibliometric analysis, and data were extracted and verified. …

Ofloxacin Resistance In An Increasing Concern, Ramesh S. Kumar, K. R. Uma Devi, Azger Dusthackeer, Christy Rosaline Nirmal

Indian Journal of Health Sciences and Biomedical Research KLEU

Multidrug resistance tuberculosis (MDR-TB) associated with the development of resistance to fluoroquinolones (FQs) especially ofloxacin is a matter of concern, as they had been earlier recommended drugs for usage in the MDR-TB treatment regimens, and moxifloxacin and other quinolones are still on the list.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis

acquires resistance to FQs mainly through mutations in the quinolone resistance determining regions (QRDRs) of the

gyrA

gene and less frequently in the

gyrB

gene. A literature search on the geographical distribution of ofloxacin resistance in TB shows that there is a mild surge in reporting of the resistance to ofloxacin in tuberculosis patients. …

Analysis Of Gut Bacterial Community Composition In Obese And Lean Indian Participants By Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis, Tej Bahadur, Rama Chaudhry, Vishwa Deepak Bamola, Alka Mohan Chutani, Anil Kumar Verma, Jaishree Paul

Indian Journal of Health Sciences and Biomedical Research KLEU

Background:

Human gut microbiota consists of variety of microbes which play vital role in the host development, physiology and homeostasis. Alteration in gut microbial composition or dysbiosis may lead to various diseases and lifestyle disorders including obesity. Since gut microbiota varies with differences in dietary habits and geographical locations therefore studies are required to look into the gut microbial diversity in Indian obese and lean subjects whose dietary habits and geography are different from the western world. Therefore, the present study was conducted to assess the microbial diversity in obese and lean Indian subjects.

Materials and Methods:

Subjects with similar …

Substantiating Accuracy Of Goodsall's Rule In Fistula-In-Ano (Bhagandar) With Anatomical Consideration, Pradeep Shahajirao Shindhe, Ramesh Shivappa Killedar

Indian Journal of Health Sciences and Biomedical Research KLEU

BACKGROUND:

The exact identification of the internal opening in the surgical treatment of anorectal fistulae is of basic importance for effective management, and the same concept was existed long back which was described by Acharya Sushruta in the context of Bhagandar (Arvachina and Parachina). In the current practice, the rule of Goodsall enables identification of the internal opening whether anterior or posterior with relation to its external opening.

OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this study is to substantiate the accuracy of Goodsall's rule and to establish rationality of the rule with anatomical consideration

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

A total of 53 operated …

Renal Stone Disease In The Border Regions Of Karnataka, Maharashtra And Goa Role Of Diet, Urinary Ph And Body Mass Index, R. B. Nerli, Shivagouda Patil, M. B. Hiremath, R. A. Patil

Indian Journal of Health Sciences and Biomedical Research KLEU

Introduction:

Although surgical treatments remove the offending stone, do little to alter the course of the disease. The incidence of stone disease is on the rise, a thorough understanding of the etiology, epidemiology and pathogenesis of urinary tract stone disease is necessary so as to develop an effective medial prophylactic program. We took up this study to analyze geographical factors, diet, body mass index (BMI) in patients from North West Karnataka, South coastal Maharashtra and Goa.

Materials and Methods:

Patients with renal stones for surgical management at our hospital formed study group. A detailed history of these patients was recorded. …

J4) Regenerating Responsible Tourism - Conceptual Framework In Context Of Religious And Spiritual Destinations, Tomasz Duda, Anna Gardzinska

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

In the times of global challenges related to excessive tourist activity, environmental degradation, and the commercialization of sites of particular cultural and religious significance, the need for a regenerative approach to tourism is still growing. Responsible tourism, based on the principles of sustainable development and respect for local values, is an important element of this transformation. The aim of this presentation is to develop a conceptual framework for regenerating responsible tourism in the context of religious and spiritual destinations.

The study includes a literature review on responsible tourism, sustainable development, and regenerative management strategies for sacred sites. Based on qualitative …

“Dark” Narratives Of Venezuelan Migrants In Trinidad And Tobago: Voices Of Gratitude And Resilience In A Foreign Land, Susan Chand

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

This study explored narratives of Venezuelan migrants in Trinidad during and post COVID-19 lockdown. Key themes of “gratitude” and “resilience” emerged despite exploitation and discrimination migrants faced in a foreign land. “Dark Ethnography” concept is applied to understand migrants’ lived experiences and the church’s role in integrating to new environment.

Representing Middle-Earth: Tolkien, Form, And Ideology (2024), By Robert T. Tally, Jr., Andrew Higgins

Journal of Tolkien Research

Nook review, by Andrew Higgins, of Representing Middle-earth: Tolkien, Form, and Ideology (2024), by Robert T. Tally, Jr.

Thirtieth Aniversary Of The Srebrenica Genocide: Revisting The Judgment In The “Bosnian Genocide Case”, Harun Halilović

Indonesian Journal of International Law

The year 2025 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide. This article aims to revisit and give an overview of the critical points of the judgment in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina v Serbia and Montenegro (Judgment), related to the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide that was conducted before the International Court of Justice. The case (also known as the Bosnia v Serbia case) was brought to an end by the Judgment in 2007, drawing a mixed response. The main points of contention in the Judgment are related to …

The Millipede Genus Alocodesmus Silvestri, 1896 (Polydesmida: Chelodesmidae: Batodesmini): Description Of A New Species From Colombia And The Identity Of A. Hanseni (Silvestri, 1898), Juan Romero-Rincon, Santiago Alvear

Insecta Mundi

The genus Alocodesmus Silvestri, 1896 (Polydesmida: Chelodesmidae: Batodesmini) currently comprises six valid species, three of which are recorded for Colombia, including A. danielae Romero-Rincon and Alvear, new species, from Yondó, Antioquia Department. Two species are known from Panama and one from Venezuela. The new species differs from its congeners by having a spoon-shaped prefemoral process that is ventrally extended forming a conspicuous concave space with branch Z being shorter than branches X and Y. The identity of A. hanseni Silvestri, 1898, previously of uncertain status, is revised, and the species is herein proposed as a new synonymy …

“Me Siento Como En Puerto Rico” : Puerto Rican Diaspora Communities’ Placemaking Through Urban Agri-Culture, Zuleima Esmeralda Vázquez-Carrillo

Theses - ALL

Puerto Ricans have a long history of migrating to the U.S., historically laboring as farmworkers, a result of colonial displacement and economic restructuring. Some Puerto Ricans who migrated to the U.S. engage in Urban Agriculture, helping them maintain ties to their cultural identity by growing Puerto Rican foods and creating gardening and farming spaces that resemble the Puerto Rican landscape. While critical food and UA scholars have vastly studied the connections between placemaking and food justice through the experiences of immigrants, the Puerto Rican diaspora has been largely overlooked. Drawing from interviews and landscape analysis from field visits in Puerto …

There Are No Good Landlords: Deconstructing Discourses Of The “Mom And Pop” Landlord In Syracuse, Ny, Natalie Mclaughlin

Theses - ALL

This thesis examines how landlords operating in Syracuse, NY’s high poverty neighborhoods use discourse to legitimize their class interests and reinforce their dominance in a postindustrial, neoliberalizing city. Drawing on interviews and participant observation with members of the Central New York Landlord Association, it explores how landlord narratives are shaped by, and help reproduce, the interconnected structures of urban neoliberalism, racial capitalism, and settler colonialism. While the City of Syracuse promotes redevelopment strategies to attract private capital and raise property values, many landlords continue to profit from long-term disinvestment and tenant confinement to the city’s poorest rental markets. Local landlord …

A Layin On Of Hands: Black Feminist Healing Arts As Wake Work, Lei'anna Gladden

Theses - ALL

A Layin on of Hands: Black Feminist Healing Arts as Wake Work explores the work of two Black femme artists who engage in ritualized theater performance. This thesis examines the creations of Oakland-based artist Amara Tabor Smith, a ritual dance theater artist, and New York-based theater ceremonialist Ebony Noelle Golden. The project examines each artist’s unique artistic and spiritual practices as forms of immaterial, emotional, psychic, and social intervention in the afterlives of slavery, which impact Black life. Methodologically, this thesis depends on oral histories, performance analysis, and participant observation to document and explore the emotional, ecological, and spiritual effects …

Living Heritage, Resilience And Ethically Informed Infrastructures In Malawi, Martha B. Lerski, Frank Puluputu Mwale

Publications and Research

Rooted in a rural community’s needs, this paper explores how historically, and ethically informed infrastructures can support community engagement towards identification, documentation, and dissemination of local, traditional, and indigenous knowledge relating to climate change. The paper examines climate adaptation and sustainability issues through the lenses of community organizing and Library & Information Science best practices. It draws on a growing body of literature identifying a role for expanded epistemological and subject discipline perspectives. While the impacts of climate on material culture are increasingly recognized, intangible, and biocultural heritage have not received as much attention. Living heritage traditions and knowledge systems …

Bench Strength: How Powerful Are Supreme Courts In Common Law Countries Really?, Nilesh Sinha

Dissertations - ALL

This thesis examines the extent of judicial power exercised by the top constitutional courts in common law countries, using judicial review as a proxy for this power. I analyze three apex constitutional courts—the supreme courts of the United States, India, and Canada—as they all engage in strong-form judicial review and have been referred to at different times by various scholars as “the most powerful court in the world.” To frame my analysis, I explore how these courts have evolved in power throughout their histories. I employ comparative historical analysis (CHA) and construct a typology that accounts for how these courts, …

Stepping Into Who I Fully Am: A Creative Exploration Of Autistic Menopause, Mx Rose Matthews, Christine A. Jenkins, Margaret Janse Van Rensburg, Miranda J. Brady, Rachel L. Moseley, Julie M. Gamble-Turner

Faculty and Staff Publications

Research suggests that perimenopause can compound existing struggles for some Autistic people, with potentially catastrophic consequences. Barriers to self-expression due to communication differences are also well-documented. Acknowledging this, our neurodiverse research team invited creative submissions themed around Autistic experiences of menopause, receiving works from six Autistic participants including paintings, poetry, and graphic works. Engaging with the six creative submissions, Autistic Community Researchers on our team produced reflexive, polytextual response works. Creative exploration of Autistic menopause encouraged emotional catharsis, self-understanding, and activism/artivism. Autistic Community Researchers noted transcendent, almost “magical” dimensions of connecting with other Autistic people’s lived experiences. Our creative emancipatory …

Where The Soul Belongs: The Search For A Meaningful Life Through Han Funerary Art — With A Focus On The Mawangdui T-Shaped Painting And Jinqueshan Han Tomb Silk Painting, Tong Su

Theses - ALL

Perceptions of life and death are deeply embedded in the artistic expressions of a society, shaped by its cultural, philosophical and social environment. This study explores how funerary paintings from the early Han dynasty - the Mawangdui T-shaped painting and the Jinqueshan Han tomb silk painting - reflect evolving views of life and the afterlife under changing social conditions. While both paintings derive from the funerary traditions of Chu culture and Daoist beliefs in immortality, their differences highlight a significant shift: the Mawangdui T-Shaped Painting emphasizes ascent to the heavenly world through nature worship and ancestral connections, while the Jinqueshan …

The Accessibility Of Traditional Medicinal Food By Thais In Syracuse, New York, Siwapon Chotikasatein

Theses - ALL

Access to traditional medicinal food can be a challenge for immigrants and refugee populations. This study looks at how and where Thai immigrants and refugees in Syracuse, New York access Thai medicinal food and the challenges if any, that they have when attempting to access Thai medicinal food. Although the definition of traditional medicinal food is not strongly established, in this study I proposed that traditional medicinal food refers to food shaped by the sum total of knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, can relieve hunger once consumed and, at the …

Reparative Justice In Late Twentieth Century Africa: The O.A.U, Durban, And Accra Reparations Conferences, Franklin Donudenu Adorsu

Theses - ALL

This thesis explores the evolution of African-led transnational reparations campaigns from the final decade of the twentieth century through the early decades of the twenty-first. It examines how reparative justice initiatives have emerged in response to the enduring legacies of slavery, colonialism, and systemic racial oppression, and how these campaigns reflect both historical memory and contemporary demands for justice by Africans and people of African descent worldwide. While early reparations discourse often centered on the diaspora, this research argues that recent mobilizations on the African continent in attempts to seek redress for historical injustices, particularly the 1993 Abuja Conference, the …

Cultivating Post-Soviet Gardens: Seed Saving And The Household Plot In Rural Tajikistan, Katherine Macdonald

Dissertations - ALL

Over the last five years, local NGOs across Tajikistan have established community-based seed banks to support households cultivating agrobiodiverse kitchen gardens. While social movements to preserve local crop varieties are well-documented in other rural contexts, they are new to Central Asia and had gone without study. This dissertation brings together insights from political ecology, feminist political economy, and critical agrarian studies to explore how and why this effort emerged and what rural women’s participation in it signals about life-making in Tajikistan’s post-Soviet countryside. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork and document analysis, I argue that community-based seed banks are a response to …

Landowners And Class Struggle: Life, Law And The Social Rent Relation In North Dakota, Chad Chambers

Dissertations - ALL

In the United States, land may be owned by governments, private landowners, corporations, tribes, etc. The rent relation involved in oil and gas extraction on private lands, however, remain largely unexplored in energy geography, and geography more broadly. In this dissertation, I explore the rent relation between the landowning class and oil capital in North Dakota. I argue rent is a class struggle where the interests of oil capital collide with the private landowning class over the capture of surplus-value. My analysis of class struggle is grounded in the social-historical relations that shaped private property and the rent relation in …

Do Minorities Attend Culturally Competent Hospitals? The Case Of Minority-Serving And Safety-Net Hospitals, Rumel Mahmood

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Minorities disproportionately attend minority-serving hospitals (MSHs) and safety-net hospitals (SNHs). This study examines whether MSHs or SNHs are more culturally competent than their counterparts. No research to date has examined the cultural competency of MSHs and SNHs with hospitals outside of these categories. The literature on the determinants of hospital-level cultural competence is sparse, with limited measures used nationally and a robust measure used in a single U.S. state. I calculated a 100-point score of hospital cultural competence from a nationally representative survey of hospitals (N = 849 respondents). Using multilevel regression models, I found that MSHs are culturally …

Past Intrusion Of Circumpolar Deep Water In The Ross Sea: Impacts On The Ancient Ross Ice Shelf, Lucilla Capotondi, Gesine Mollenhauer, Tommaso Tesi, Francesco Muschitiello, Alessio Nogarotto, Jens Hefter, Chiara Pambianco, Simon Belt, Mathia Sabino, Francesca Battaglia, Federico Giglio, Alessio Di Roberto, Enrico Pochini, Andrea Geniram, Ester Colizza, Fiorenza Torricella, Giulia Giorgetti

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica’s largest by area, may face increased instability under future warming, threatening the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Understanding its past response to climate change is critical for anticipating future sea-level rise. We present a multi-proxy reconstruction of ocean and cryosphere conditions in the Ross Sea over the past 40,000 years. Our data show that warm Circumpolar Deep Water reached the JOIDES Trough in the western Ross Sea shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum, coinciding with the retreat of an ancestral ice shelf. This oceanic warming aligns with a southward shift of both the westerly and easterly wind …

The "N" Framework: A Teacher Knowledge Framework For Numeracy Across The Curriculum, Kathy O'Sullivan, Niamh O'Meara, Merrilyn Goos, Paul Conway

Numeracy

Governments and policymakers around the world are encouraging teachers to teach numeracy across the curriculum. This paper proposes a theoretical framework for the knowledge required to teach numeracy across multiple disciplines. The concept of teacher knowledge is complex and consists of many different facets of knowledge. This paper proposes a framework that integrates theories from existing models of general and subject specific teacher knowledge, along with a model of numeracy. The authors developed the "N" framework, an integrated framework of numeracy knowledge, subject specific knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge. Each element is essential for teaching numeracy across the curriculum in …

A4) Religious Tourism And Religiosity Among Generation Z From A Postsecular Context, Elzbieta Bilska-Wodecka, Justyna Liro

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Due to historical conditions and the social-cultural changes in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries among other factors, and despite secular processes, remarkably, religious and spiritual motives still continue to be common among travellers around the world. Therefore, the popularity of religious and spiritual travel cannot be simply explained by the growth in the religiosity of societies. It should be emphasized that this is postmodern phenomenon, reflecting one of the indirect aspects of post secularization, especially in European societies, and a way for individuals to affirm their faith. In contemporary societies, religiosity of Europe is experiencing profound transformations, especially among young …

Shared Autonomy Open Logistics Systems: Definitions, Examples, And Related Literature, Jennifer Pazour

International Material Handling Research Colloquium

No abstract provided.