Digital Commons Network^™

Strategies To Overcome The Unique Challenges Faced In Conducting Focus Groups In Extension, Vikram Koundinya, Amulya Rao, Cristina Chiarella, Deepa Srivastava, Mary Holz-Clause, Teresa Spaeth, Eleanor Haworth, Kit Alviz, Lajoy Spears, Rebecca Witinok-Huber, Natalia Pinzón, Yulia Lamoureaux

Journal of Extension

Focus groups are commonly used in extension. Extension professionals can encounter unique challenges when conducting focus groups. Extension literature is replete with best practices for conducting focus groups, but there is a lack of systematically documented practical challenges and strategies for overcoming them. We share the challenges we have faced over the past 13 years while conducting focus groups with different participant groups in extension globally and strategies that can be used to overcome or navigate these challenges. The ideas presented in this paper can provide valuable assistance to extension professionals who utilize focus groups for research and evaluation purposes.

Climate Resilience For Organic Vegetable Growers In The Midwest: Views, Needs, And Priorities Of Technical Service Providers, Natalie Hoidal, Greta Gramig, James Dedecker, Nicholas Frillman, Katie Black, Sarah Hayward, Rue Genger

Journal of Extension

As organic vegetable production becomes increasingly important in Upper Midwest food systems, Extension programs and partners must rise to the challenge of supporting growers with climate resilience. These growers are uniquely vulnerable to climate impacts, and addressing this challenge requires a networked approach. We report on a needs assessment and social network analysis process with technical service providers across the region to define the challenges, needs, and opportunities for building individual and institutional capacity to address climate change with growers. Results highlighted several focus areas, including improved communication, better access to funding, sound information, and cultural appropriateness.

Considering The Need For Congruence In Closing The Gap, Target 10: Reducing High Rates Of Adult Aboriginal Incarceration, Jane Anderson, Narelle Carroll, Boobaditj (Also Known As Phillip Ugle)

Journal of the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet

The federal and Western Australia (WA) state governments have made a national commitment to reducing high rates of Aboriginal adults held in incarceration, using, respectively, justice reinvestment and bureaucratic inclusion of Aboriginal representatives and organisations. This aspiration is also being pursued by an Aboriginal team who seek to establish a place-based Aboriginal justice support service in a WA regional town. The proposed service is underpinned by a combination of justice reinvestment and restorative justice principles and aims to use peer support workers who will effectively increase community agency in justice matters. This article examines congruence between federal, state and local …

Recommendations For Telesupervision: Promoting Ethical, Legal, And Effective University And Clinical Supervision Using Technology, Madeleine M. Stevens, Yegan Pillay, Edisa Music, Elena Shahen

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

The expansion of the use of technology in counseling has implicated counseling professionals in considering how to legally and ethically incorporate it into all facets of practice, including university and clinical supervision settings. In this article, we provide scholarship-backed recommendations for doing so as well as provide suggestions for incorporating psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral (CBT) supervision models into telesupervision.

Framing The Future: A Community Health Analysis Of The Pee Dee Region, Stephen Borders, Jean Anton, Rian Fontaine, Donielle Phillips, Treyton Ringer, Jessica Robinson, Caitlin Thompkins

Public Health

This report presents a comprehensive, data-driven analysis of community health across South Carolina’s Pee Dee region, encompassing Florence, Darlington, Chesterfield, Marlboro, Marion, and Dillon Counties. Using tract-level data from CDC PLACES, the U.S. Census, and the National Provider Identifier registry, it assesses chronic health conditions, health behaviors, and social determinants of health. The analysis incorporates the South Carolina Healthy Communities Index (SCHCI) and a Suitability Analysis to identify the region’s most disadvantaged communities. The findings highlight persistent disparities, particularly in rural counties, where high rates of poverty, chronic disease, and unmet basic needs intersect with limited access to care. Despite …

Langston Hughes And The “Afro-American Narrative” Tradition, Paul Haynes

Theses and Dissertations

After introducing Langston Hughes and defining Robert B. Stepto’s “Afro-American narrative” tradition, Chapter One presents a biography of Hughes from his birth in 1902 until he came under the patronage of Charlotte Osgood Mason in 1927. Chapter One also addresses the aesthetic expectations of the Harlem Renaissance and the extent to which Hughes either met or failed to meet those expectations. Chapter Two presents a reading of Not without Laughter as an integrated narrative, addressing how Hughes’s authenticating strategies and Mason’s authenticating devices evenly control the novel. Chapter Three presents a reading of Hughes’s short-story cycle, The Ways of White …

A Retrospective Study Of Pulmonary Function Tests In Bronchiectasis: An Infectious Disease Of The Respiratory System, Vinod Mutkule, Mahesh Shinde, Vidya Bapmare, Sangramsingh Dixit, Atharva Sharma, Kshitij Sarwey, Yogeshwari Patil, Sanket Jethlia, Aayushi Dwivedi, Disha Pardeshi, Anmol Rai, Kunal Shah, Vidhi Kalwar

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Introduction: Bronchiectasis, currently being recognized worldwide, is an abnormal dilatation of the bronchi and bronchioles brought on by recurrent cycles of inflammation and airway infection. Impaired pulmonary function has a predictive significance in bronchiectasis. When treating patients with suspected or confirmed respiratory diseases, pulmonary function tests (PFT) are useful examinations. Very few studies have been done on PFTs in bronchiectasis. The main aim of this study is to study PFTs in bronchiectasis.

Method: This is a retrospective observational study done on 50 patients over two years at the tertiary care center. The previous records of patients were collected from the …

Alternative Worlds: John Maddox Iv’S Fractal Families In New Millennium Narratives Of Afro-Puerto Rican Women, Roberta Hurtado

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

No abstract provided.

Imágenes De Silencio, Compromiso, Persecución Y Tortura: La Teología De La Liberación Y Su Encrucijada Con Las Dictaduras Del Cono Sur Desde Una Representación Cinematográfica, Marcial Martínez

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

This dissertation examines the interaction between liberation theology and the

dictatorships of the Southern Cone from the 1960s to the 1980s through cinematic

representation. Filmmakers from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay

depict the political upheavals of the time, including the rise of leftist movements,

military regimes, and the influence of liberation theology, a progressive religious

ideology advocating for the oppressed. The study focuses on what is defined here

as the "cinematic canon of liberation theology," a body of films and documentaries

that legitimize, contest, or obscure ideologies tied to this movement vis-à-vis the

dictatorships. These films contest the silence …

A Timber Tradition: Pacific Northwest Architecture And The Role Of Local Wood Sourcing In Oregon, Kaleb Patrick Paiker

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Within the study of Portland’s architectural heritage, there is a deep connection to

materials local to the region. The use of these materials, combined with sensitive

architectural design, delineates a building as being from a place rather than an

imposition. The impetus to define the local wood architecture of Portland, Oregon led

me to an understanding that the health of the forest is predominant in design and

construction. I have found that environmental stewardship promotes a distinct typology

of architecture; one that can be recreated and derived from the same source—a tree.

Inferring from local wood sourcing, I have determined …

Where To Deposit Your Master’S Thesis Or Doctoral Dissertation In The Unl Digital Commons, Sue Ann Gardner, Paul Royster

Thesis and Dissertation Deposit Information Resources

A list of degree-granting programs with links to the proper series for thesis and dissertation deposit in the UNL Digital Commons.

UNL = University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Updated May 2025.

Find your degree-granting program in the list, then click on the link to go to the proper series to deposit your thesis, dissertation, or other student work.

If you have questions about the process or problems finding the correct series or uploading your work, contact Sue Gardner.

The Human Dimension Of "Home", Robert A. Destro

Catholic University Law Review

All societies provide a legal framework that protects the pivotal functions of home and family. None provide a clear legal definition of “home”. Nor, this article argues, can they. “Home” is a concept rooted in the lived experience of human persons. In this article, the second in a series, the author employs the “human dimension” [HDIM] concept, initially developed by the U.S. military and later adopted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as the lens through which one can examine the “human element” of human rights. The framework for this analysis is the “four clusters of value-types” …

The Real Impact Of General Deterrence: Empirical Insights From The Robbery Data Of Three American Cities, Andrew W. Eichner

Catholic University Law Review

General deterrence theory relies on the critical assumption that prospective offenders will be deterred from committing crimes when they are aware of the apprehension and punishment of others. This idea has been reiterated across thousands of years of Western political thought and has significant implications in modern American criminal sentencing, though it has not been historically subjected to rigorous testing. The recent availability of voluminous crime data permits a deeper examination of the real impact of sentencings on crime trends and allows the opportunity for previously impossible analyses regarding the efficacy of general deterrence.

To examine whether there is evidence …

Presence Of The Past: The Translation Of Traditional Culture Into Contemporary Form Among The Igbo Peoples Of Southeastern Nigeria, Nelson Agalaba

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Architecture serves as the physical embodiment of a group’s cultural values, history, and social dynamics- or identity. The arrival of European colonialism and modernism brought about a paradigm shift, prioritizing a universal European aesthetic and “international style”, displacing indigenous architectural traditions and severing the deep connections between culture and the natural and built environments. The global south has experienced the brunt of this process, especially the African continent. For example, the Igbo peoples of southeastern Nigeria have lost nearly all examples of their building traditions and have been in a constant struggle to create an architecture that captures their rich …

Does Student Interest In Rural Or Underserved Practice Change Following Exposure To A Full Time Rural Or Underserved Clinical Experience?, Hans D. Capistrano, Maxwell D. Giedlin, Kayla A. Houston

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Access to healthcare in rural areas remains a significant challenge, with rural communities facing unique barriers such as limited healthcare providers, increased travel distances, and lower insurance coverage rates. Nevada exemplifies this issue, ranking 45th in the United States in access to physical therapy services, with particularly low provider availability in its rural regions. Research suggests that clinical education experiences in rural and underserved areas may encourage healthcare professionals to practice in these communities post-graduation. This study examined the relationship between clinical experiences in rural and underserved settings amongst University of Nevada, Las Vegas Physical Therapy (UNLVPT) students’ interest in …

A Comparative Study Of Music Between Mongolia And The Mongolian Ethnic Minority In China: Cultural Backgrounds, Musical Styles, And Modern Developments, Yile Huang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis conducts a comparative study of Mongolian music traditions as they have developed both within Mongolia and among the Mongolian ethnic minority in China, exploring their cultural backgrounds, musical styles, and contemporary developments. By investigating the historical, geographical, and socio-cultural influences that shape the music in these regions, this study highlights the unique musical identities of each group while uncovering their commonalities and cultural exchanges. Drawing from a wide range of sources—including ethnographic studies and analysis of specific musical pieces—this research examines foundational elements such as the Mongolian long song, throat singing, and horsehead fiddle music. These traditional forms …

Financing Nonprofit Journalism: A Benefits And Revenue Analysis Of The Nebraska Journalism Trust, Nic Swiercek

Public Administration Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

Nonprofit organizations often seek revenue streams that are intuitively connected to their mission. However, without careful planning and intentional analysis, nonprofit organizations may not fully maximize their funding potential and develop an effective and balanced revenue portfolio aligned with its mission (Young, 2017). This paper is an organizational analysis of the Nebraska Journalism Trust, a 501c3 nonprofit organization and the publisher of the Flatwater Free Press, to analyze and assess revenue models for public interest nonprofit journalism organizations that serve state and local communities. The Nebraska Journalism Trust illustrates how nonprofit organizations can meet community needs in response to private …

The Riddle Of Rescissions: Ascent And Decline Throughout The Last Half-Century, Blake Bacas

Washington Semester Program

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of Vegetation Dynamics After South Sugar Loaf And Snowstorm Wildfires Using Remote Sensing Spectral Indices, Ibtihaj Ahmad

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Wildfires are increasingly common in sagebrush ecosystems across the western United States, leading to vegetation loss and ecosystem restructuring. This study investigated vegetation recovery within two large Nevada burn scars, the Snowstorm Fire of 2017 and the South Sugar Loaf Fire of 2018. Landsat 8 surface reflectance imagery supplied multi temporal spectral data, and vegetation burn severity was mapped with the difference Normalized Burn Ratio. The research aimed to quantify how vegetation health spectral indicators respond over time across severity gradients and to detect shifts in land cover composition from pre fire to post fire conditions.Four spectral indices—NDVI, MSI, MCARI2, …

The “Asian”-Ness Of Women Influencing The Romance Plot In Contemporary Ya Literature, Janetsa Jane Keovorabouth

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Contemporary young adult literature (YAL) is a growing genre that features a diverse range of stories, allowing young readers to see themselves reflected in realistic stories. One of its prominent subgenres, contemporary young adult romance focuses on a modern love story between two individuals. Historically, Asian American female characters were often depicted as the “model minority” stereotype or represented as exoticized figures who held traits such as mysterious, submissive, or seductive creatures. These portrayals often treated the Asian American experience as monolithic. However, the genre now explores an intersection of identity and romance, addressing themes commonly found in contemporary realism …

Research And Reflections On Southeast Asian American Education And Advancement, Wayne E. Wright, Vikrant Chap, Phitsamay S. Uy, Chhany Sak-Humphry, Vichet Chhuon, Bryan Thao Worra

Purdue University Press Books

This book is in commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement (JSAAEA) and the fiftieth anniversary of Southeast Asian American refugee resettlement in the United States. Pivotal research articles, reviews, and creative works from past issues of JSAAEA have been selected for this volume to document the history and experiences of Cambodian, Laotian, Hmong, and Vietnamese Americans since initial refugee resettlement began in the United States in 1975, as well as the experiences of more recent Southeast Asian immigrant and refugee groups. Reviews of academic books, novels, memoirs, children’s books, and motion …

Passive Envelope Retrofits As Climate Justice Infrastructure Against Extreme Heat: A Gis-Guided Approach For Outdated Single-Family Homes In Urban California, Mert Oztekin Mr.

Master's Projects and Capstones

I examined the opportunities to enhance equity in energy performance, climate resilience, and environmental adaptation through climate-resilient envelope retrofitting and spatially guided implementation strategies (via mappings of the Urban Heat Island -UHI- and socio-economic vulnerability indicators). Passive envelope retrofits of attic insulation; high-performance windows; cool roofs; and green roofs / walls, are examined across multiple climate zones of California' aged single-family housing stock, focusing on the Disadvantaged Communities (DACs). Through spatial analysis, strong overlap between Urban Heat Island(UHI) exposure; pre-1980 housing; socioeconomic disadvantage, and thus the need for spatially-directed action is underlined. The policy landscape analysis provides confirmation of the …

The Hidden Logic Behind Migration And Success, Elsa Russom

Master's Projects and Capstones

This research paper explores the hidden drivers of financial success among Eritrean migrants navigating uncertainty, displacement, and limited institutional access. Drawing on original survey data collected from diaspora communities across East African host countries, I apply a mixed-methods framework combining ordinal and binary logistic regression, random forest classification, bootstrapping, and Bayesian causal mediation; to identify the structural and cultural variables most predictive of financial stability. The findings reveal that participation in Ekub, a traditional rotating savings association, and engagement in communal support systems are the strongest predictors of financial success, outperforming conventional factors such as age, education, or employment status. …

Into The Urban Wild: Overcoming Barriers To Urban Rewilding Through Expert Perspectives On Benefits, Hurdles, And Measures For Creating Wilder Greenspaces, Simon S. Moesch, Dagmar Haase, Brenda M. Zoderer, Sophie Lokatis

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Urban rewilding, which promotes the development and transformation of urban greenspaces (UGS) into wilder forms, has garnered public support and offers numerous benefits – from enhancing human well-being and providing wildlife habitats to bolstering urban resilience against climate change. However, many UGS remain highly manicured. Research suggests that public expectations, safety concerns, conflicts with heritage preservation goals, and perceived disservices (e.g., allergenic pollen or unwanted wildlife) are among the barriers to adopting wilder designs; however, it remains unclear which factors hinder UGS rewilding the most. To investigate this, the study conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 experts involved in UGS management, …

Environmental History In Western Anatolia (Turkey) Since The Last Glacial Maximum, Mustafa Dogan, Cetin Senkul, Jessie Woodbridge

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Mediterranean landscapes have been shaped by complex interactions between climate, land use and fire overmulti-millennial timescales. Understanding past trajectories of change provides knowledge of how modernlandscapes emerged, which can be valuable for their sustainable management. The aim of this study is toreconstruct environmental change in Western Anatolia (Turkey) through palaeoecological analysis of sedimentfrom Buldan Yayla Lake (Denizli-Buldan) from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the present, using a high-resolutionand multi-proxy dataset. To this end, fossil pollen, micro-charcoal, non-pollen palynomorphs, micro(μ)-XRF and radiocarbon analyses were applied to an ~18 m sediment core from Buldan Yayla Lake (Denizli-Buldan). According to the fossil …

Time To Listen: Engaging Latino Autistic Adults And Parents As Partners In Advancing Autism Research, Cecilia Montiel-Nava, Chenoa Navarro, Jessica Abouchard, Ana C. Ramirez, Victoria Villareal, Susana Perez Kantor, Valerie Neeley, Alberto Allegre, Antonio F. Pagán, María Cecilia Montenegro

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

The limited representation of Latino autistic individuals and their families in research studies limits our understanding of how autism presents and is experienced across diverse communities, emphasizing a need for more inclusive research methodologies and participant recruitment strategies. Our project aimed to explore how participatory research methods can be effectively implemented to develop culturally valid measurement tools and research protocols that accurately capture the experiences of bilingual/bicultural Latino autistic individuals and their families. This study used a phenomenological framework design guided by community-based Participatory research and the social model of disability principles. Two trained researchers conducted three focus groups with …

Unmasking Masculinities In Counseling: From Conformity To Connection, Kyle R. Rose

Dissertations, 2020-current

This dissertation explored the entanglements of professional counseling and masculinities across three manuscripts, to contribute to (1) healthier forms of gender expression within and beyond the spectrum of masculinities for individuals, (2) the counseling profession’s role in transforming hegemonic masculinity within communities, and (3) larger movements to subvert the patriarchy throughout society. The first manuscript is a conceptual article that presented the Relational Cultural Privileged Identity Counseling (RCPIC) model, an integrative framework designed to help counselors address hegemonic masculinity within the therapeutic relationship. Drawing from Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) and Privileged Identity Exploration (PIE), this model provided a roadmap for compassionate …

Hybrids As Undeserving And The Enduring Legacy Of Eugenics In Modern Conservation Policies, Maria-Vittoria Carminati, Andrew Martin

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

This article explores the overlooked legacy of eugenics at the root of modern conservation, tracing how early conservationists—many of whom were also vocal eugenicists—shaped our definitions of species, purity, and protection. By examining the deep entanglement of racialized science and environmental policy, I argue that hybrids have been systematically excluded from protection, not because of well-founded scientific reasoning, but because of a century-old ideology rooted in the fear of impurity. It's time for conservation to evolve beyond these outdated frameworks and embrace a future-forward, adaptationist approach—one that recognizes hybrids not as mistakes, but as natural responses to a changing world …

Piloting The Inclusion Of Dollar Stores In The Modified Retail Food Environment Index (Mrfei) In Urban Clark County, Nevada, Tiana T. Tu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Food insecurity is the condition of having limited or uncertain access to adequate food. It contributes to poor diet-related health outcomes which are in turn influenced by the food environment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed the Modified Retail Food Environment Index (mRFEI) to characterize food environments by measuring the proportion of healthy and non-healthy retailers. The CDC mRFEI considers a variety of establishments but fails to include dollar stores, which contribute to the food environment by offering food and, in some cases, fresh produce. This study proposed an “expanded mRFEI” that modified the CDC mRFEI methodology …

Collisions: The Enlivened Entanglements Of The Object-Self, Grace P. Smith

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This piece is a performance collage centered around objects and our entanglements with them. Through unpacking five objects in my life and their histories and interrogating three interwoven levels of narrative (the historical, the personal, and the aesthetic), I playfully displace the subject/object hierarchy to contribute to broader theoretical discussions regarding the agency of objects, resulting in novel insights through the collisions produced from the performance collage.