Digital Commons Network^™

Beyond The Ban: Chhaupadi Abolition And The Governance Of Menstrual Autonomy In Western Nepal, Nikita Paudel

Master in Public Policy Theses

This thesis examines how two decades of efforts to abolish chhaupadi have shaped the everyday conditions under which women and girls experience menstruation in western Nepal. Chhaupadi, commonly understood as menstrual seclusion, has been addressed through Supreme Court directives, national policy, criminal law, municipal implementation instruments, hut demolition campaigns, public health programming, and rights-based advocacy. Yet the practice has persisted, adapted, and in some cases moved into less visible spaces. Rather than treating this as a simple gap between law and practice, this thesis asks how abolition efforts themselves have become part of the regulatory regime through which menstruation is …

A Rarer Earth: The Many States Of Peat In Central Kalimantan, Layna Chen Ms.

Masters of Environmental Design Theses

Peat currently occupies a central place within climate discourse, with Indonesia’s peatlands as a key site of concern since the late twentieth century. Yet this contemporary understanding is historically unstable. Over the last two centuries, what we commonly consider peat has been repeatedly redefined by scientific and bureaucratic institutions. Within popular media, peat has circulated as a low-grade fuel, an infertile swampland, an agricultural soil awaiting rehabilitation, and a hydrological body requiring remediation. Tropical peatland fires, once treated as a scientific improbability, have become a recurring environmental crisis. This history of shifting definitions suggests that ‘peat’ is not a stable …

Unquaint Pigs’ Stakeholder Perspectives On Wild Swine In Central Western Florida, Tyler Koerner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Anthropocene presents important questions for how to address the continuous transferal of new species into new spaces and the cascading impacts of environmental transformations. Novel ecosystems present one such outline for conservation that acknowledges the modification of historic ecosystems and the social entanglements that arrive with new species. I argue that novel ecosystems can benefit from further anthropological integrations that aid in describing the entanglements of introduced species and the pursuit of best managerial outcomes. For wild swine in Florida, the adoption of a novel approach is especially relevant because of entanglements with historic and modern Floridian stakeholders and …

Peresepan Dokter: Organized Crime?, Agus Budianto

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Abstract

Mental Accounting And The Green Premium, Omar P. Woodham, George W. Stone

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Semiotic Analysis Of Promotional Philanthropic Public Texts In Persian And In English, Shaheen Borna Professor, Sushil Sharma Professor & Associate Dean, Russell Wahlers Associate Professor & Chair Mkg Department, Sameer Hajjar Assistant Professor

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Creative Practice Submission: 3rd European Baha'i Choral Festival, Colin N. Webber Dr

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

n May 2026, I travelled to Germany on invitation to conduct two choral works at the 3rd European Baha'i Choral Festival - one an original composition and one an arrangement of a piece by Australian composer Tom Francis), both recent works from the corpus of a cappella choral music I have developed over several decades in response to the writings of the Baha'i Faith. The two concerts took place on 17 May 2026 at the Baha'i-Haus der Andacht von Europa (European Baha'i House of Worship), Langenhain, Germany, following three days of intensive ensemble rehearsals with the 75 voice choir. These …

Economic Drivers Of International Migration To Türkiye: A Regional Comparison Study, Bekir Gündoğmuş, Musa Bayir, Ahmed Yusuf Sarihan

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

This study investigates the macroeconomic determinants of registered international migration to Türkiye by employing panel data regression techniques at the NUTS-2 regional level for the period 2016–2022. The results reveal that per capita income, employment, and the share of industry, services, and construction sectors in total production have a statistically significant and positive impact on migration inflows, while inflation exhibits a negative effect. However, agricultural production proportion and export performance do not appear to significantly influence regional migrant preferences. Causality tests further support the existence of both bidirectional and unidirectional relationships between economic indicators and migration. The findings underscore the …

Al-Manfiyun Exiliados: Voices Of The Lebanese Diaspora In Mexican Literature, Mia Del Rosario

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

This thesis explores two key works of Mexican literature published in the late 20^th century in terms of their cultural relevance in the Mexican literary sphere. The novels En el verano, la tierra by Carlos Martínez Assad and Las hojas muertas by Bárbara Jacobs center around the infrequently-explored identities of Lebanese immigrants to Mexico and their Mexican-born descendants through a sociocultural lens, discussing their identity negotiation in the context of 20^th-century Mexico, which was in the process of redefining its national identity after the Mexican Revolution. During this time, people of ethnicities that did not fall into …

Identity, Sexuality, And Gender: Perspectives From Self-Identified Sexually Fluid People, Mattilyn Wiseman

Psychology ETDs

Research on sexual fluidity has relied on categorical, gender-based measurement frameworks that prioritize quantifying change over exploring the lived experience of sexually fluid people. This study employed Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to qualitatively and ideographically explore how self-identified sexually fluid people made sense of their own sexual identity, gender (more broadly), and attraction as it relates or does not relate to gender. Three participants completed structured interviews with open-ended questions. Participants unanimously made sense of identity as a self-constructed journey and tied to their social realities. Participants’ lived experiences of their own gender identities informed their sense-making of gender more …

An Exploration Of Oman’S Global Identity: Framework For Looking Beyond Colonial Narratives, Kailee G. Pierce

Senior Theses

This paper explores how Oman’s global identity has been historically constructed through religion and tribe rather than solely through modern state institutions or colonial encounters. Challenging eurocentric approaches to International relations, it argues that Oman’s global identity reflects long standing patterns of tribal, religious, and political authority that predates British, and even Portuguese involvement. Focusing on the Nabhani Dynasty, this paper demonstrates that political authority in Oman was never actually a rigid divide of a religious interior and secular coast; these geographical boundaries did not hinder these strong foundational identity forces that moved throughout different global ports and the Omani …

But Did You Die? An Exploration Of How Humor Can Influence Grief And The Grieving Process: A Literature Review, Sophia Manzi

Expressive Therapies Theses

This literature review examines the power of humor as a defense mechanism amidst death loss grief. The intersection of grief, humor, and expressive arts therapy is under-researched, despite the natural overlap. This work connects concepts of humor with core principles of expressive arts therapy and highlights areas for further research. It contextualizes grief within common Western world frameworks such as the five stages of grief, the dual processing model, and defense mechanisms. Humor presents a nuanced coping skill that has many functions within grief. It can be contradictory in nature, as it can be utilized to resist and combat feelings …

Ecodramatherapy To Support Recovery From Religious And Spiritual Trauma, Ashton Eleazer

Expressive Therapies Theses

Religious and spiritual (R/S) trauma is an often unrecognized form of complex trauma that results from religious beliefs, practices, or experiences that fracture survivors’ connection to the self, the body, meaning, safety, and community. An estimated 27-33% of U.S. adults are affected (Slade et al., 2023). R/S trauma shares features with complex PTSD and Developmental Trauma Disorder, but also includes moral injury, existential questioning, communal, and embodied shame. This literature review examines the potential of ecodramatherapy, a combined approach of drama therapy and ecotherapy, to support reconnection and recovery in survivors of R/S trauma. A targeted review of peer-reviewed literature …

Exploring The Potential For Meaning-Making In Expressive Art Therapies Interventions In Treatment Of Complicated Grief For Gun Homicide Survivors: A Literature Review, Ash Landrein

Expressive Therapies Theses

Research shows that the violent nature of homicide and the extreme lethality of firearms in conflict lead to increased psychological impairment for survivors and communities affected. Black and Latinx communities are disproportionately affected by gun violence, yet are historically underresearched and underserved. Social constraints and systemic negligence complicate and stigmatize the bereavement process. This literature review examined culturally relevant grief practices, theories and components of meaning-making (MM) post-loss, and Expressive arts interventions for facilitating meaning, safety, and reconnection for survivors, through an intersection of race, ethnicity, gender, and age. Cumulative research shows that MM can help individuals experiencing complicated grief …

When You Consider The Radiance: Sergii Bulgakov, Beauty, Personhood, Daniel Adam Lightsey

Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation’s primary interlocutor is Sergii Bulgakov (1871-1944), the prominent Marxist economist later turned Idealist religious philosopher and finally Russian Orthodox priest and dogmatician who was forcibly exiled from his homeland in 1922 never to return. The thesis this manuscript pursues is that Bulgakov’s theology of beauty and metaphysics of personhood are inextricably enmeshed. Chapter 1 begins with beauty, specifically the problem or “tragedy of beauty,” a thematic to which Bulgakov consistently draws attention regarding the religious experience of postlapsarian persons. Chapter 2 assays Bulgakov’s chief rudiments of personhood as such, providing a kind of grammar for his metaphysical structuring …

Exemplars Of Faith: The Biblical Legacy Of Women In Chaplaincy, April M. Knoke

Doctor of Ministry Projects and Theses

Abstract This dissertation argues that women in Scripture are not marginal figures but foundational to both the theological understanding and practical expression of chaplaincy. By integrating biblical exegesis, historical theology, socio-cultural analysis, womanist interpretation, and pastoral theology, the study identifies a consistent divine pattern of inclusion and empowerment. This pattern affirms the essential role of women in providing spiritual care within contemporary institutional settings.

Chapter 2 examines four Old Testament figures, Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, and Abigail, highlighting their leadership within patriarchal contexts through prophetic, judicial, diplomatic, and intercessory roles. Chapter 3 turns to the New Testament and explores the ministries …

Predictive Natural Language Metrics Of Alzheimer's Disease And Cognitive Decline Trend Analysis, Zerui Ma

Computer Science and Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Inspired by Dr. David Snowden's Nun Study, which linked early-life Propositional Idea Density (PID) to later-life Alzheimer's disease, this thesis investigates two questions: whether fine-tuned Transformer-based large language models (LLM) can detect cognitive decline from patient speech transcripts with meaningful feature attribution, and whether longitudinal PID trends are observable across large-scale internet and academic text corpora. We evaluate dementia prediction on the DementiaBank Pitt Corpus and conduct an exploratory longitudinal PID analysis across seven diverse datasets spanning up to 29 years and over 12.6 million documents. This work suggests that linguistic ability metrics, traditional PID metrics and novel LLM-based analysis, …

Torá: A Description Of A Dormant Chapacuran Language From Legacy Materials, Akasha Synclair

Linguistics ETDs

Torá, an Amazonian language of the Chapacuran family, went dormant as the Torá people survived colonization. Yet, in the early 1920’s, over 600 Torá words, phrases, and sentences were documented. Despite interest by today’s Torá community in language revitalization, no comprehensive analysis of the data has been undertaken. This project used methods of linguistic reconstitution, cross linguistic comparison, and the creation of an open-access database to produce a phonological and morphosyntactic analysis of Torá. Phonological findings of particular interest include evidence for vowel harmony and variable oralization of nasals. In structure, Torá is very similar to related languages, displaying a …

Where Is Home: Finding Belonging In God Through Expressive And Drama Therapy Processes Among Chinese Diaspora International Students, Minmin Pan

Expressive Therapies Theses

Being an international student for 12 years in the United States, this research engages with personal reflection and literature around international student identity formation situated in the current social and political context of increasing visa and employment uncertainty. International students’ ongoing movement across cultural spaces, limited representation of cross-cultural narratives and supportive spaces in academic settings, can contribute to fragmentation in experiences and identity that are shaped by dominant narratives and social positioning, thus further leading to disconnection from self and surroundings.

Relational spirituality literature suggests that one’s relational experience with God can deeply impact their interpretation of experiences, social …

Empowering Pedagogical Practice Through Autoethnography Within The Context Of Family Literacy Projects, Sarah M. Johnson

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Family Literacy Projects being used in the high school setting to promote cultural and linguistic identities. The Family Literacy Project is used to bridge the gap between student identities at school and the identities at home. The purpose of this study was for the teacher to reflect in an autoethnographic study of herself in relation to the context of community, pedagogy, and the perceived needs and changes of the project for both students and the school’s culture. Through the autoethnographic study, the focus of the Family Literacy Project is in its importance to the school, community, students, and teachers was …

Benefits Of Advisory & Culturally Responsive Advisory Framework (Craf) Within A Southwestern, Urban, Dual Language Middle School, Mariana Anguelova Castañon

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

In this research report, I examine the benefits of a daily Advisory period at a southwestern, urban, dual-language middle school and explore the impact of the Culturally Responsive Advisory Framework (CRAF), a curriculum I developed as a researcher-practitioner. This work is situated within research on Advisory programs, urban schooling, and dual-language education, while addressing implementation challenges. Grounded in democratic learning theory, CRAF integrates social-emotional learning (SEL), social-cultural learning (SCL), and literacy. To evaluate its impact, I collected qualitative data through anonymous Google Surveys and semi-structured student interviews, supported by quantitative teacher and student surveys. Data were analyzed using open and …

Efficacy And Equity In Type 2 Diabetes Care: Comparing Glp-1 Therapy And Dietary Interventions Through Clinical, Social, And Ethical Lenses, Makayla Bogle

Honors Projects

Objective: Explores the clinical and sociocultural dimensions regarding type 2 diabetes (T2DM) care, comparing GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) therapy and dietary interventions for adults with T2DM. Part I consists of a narrative literature review examining clinical outcomes such as glycemic control, insulin sensitivity, and weight management for the two compared treatment methods. Part II conducts a narrative literature review examining the structural and social determinants that influence access to diabetes treatments. The review evaluates how social determinants of health (SDOH) shape the real-world implementation of both GLP-1 RA therapies and dietary interventions. The discussion highlights differences in measurable clinical …

Unpacking The Roots Of School Vouchers: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Its Origins And The Arizona Model, Swechha Singh

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Critical Race Theory (CRT) gained prominence in mainstream political discourse following President Trump issuance of Executive Order 13950, Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping, which intensified political debate surrounding CRT, diversity initiatives, and educational curricula. This study used Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis to examine how ideological forces gave rise to the enactment of school vouchers. Using CRT as a theoretical lens, the study examined historical and contemporary data to explore how ideology functioned to advance an expansive education policy agenda, including Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program. This study offers evidence of the impact of the anti-CRT movement, as well as sustained …

The Role Of Cumulative Usage In Language Learning And Language Variation: Evidence From Spanish Voiced Stops, Sarah Lease

Linguistics ETDs

This dissertation investigates the cumulative repercussions of a word’s typical context of use on lexical representations and speech production, both in cases of language learning and language variation, through the lens of Usage-Based Linguistics. The data come from sociolinguistic interviews with Spanish-speaking children and adults of Mexican heritage living and working in the Pacific Northwestern United States. Each study examines Spanish word-initial /bdɡ/ productions using a myriad of statistical approaches. The dissertation adds to our understanding of the long-term storage of variation in lexical representations, as well as its nuanced impact on children’s and adults’ speech production. The dissertation also …

Amplifying Strengths: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Elementary Teachers’ Culturally Proficient Practices With Newcomer Students Through An Appreciative Inquiry Lens, Mary Elizabeth Bradford

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of elementary educators working with newcomer students in a Southwest urban school district, with the purpose of identifying culturally proficient strengths that support student belonging and learning. Guided by an interpretive (hermeneutic) phenomenological approach and informed by Appreciative Inquiry, the study centered educators’ meaning-making rather than deficit-oriented perspectives. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with five elementary educators serving newcomer students across kindergarten through fifth grade. Analysis followed van Manen’s phenomenological methods and resulted in six interrelated themes: belonging before language; school as a cultural system; language as agency and identity; cultural …

A Constructional Approach To Multimodal Linguistic Analysis, Fredy A. Mendieta Rodriguez

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

This dissertation investigates the systematic organization of co‑speech gestures in referential communication, using data from Spanish‑speaking monolinguals and Spanish–English bilinguals. While traditional gesture research treats pointing as a universal phenomenon, the current analyses show that gestural productions display internal phonological patterning and context‑conditioned variability that parallels spoken constructions. Quantitative results demonstrate how referential distance and communicative context (find‑it versus misunderstanding situations) shape the selection of embodied phonological features—handshape, orientation, movement, and beats—revealing consistent associations between form and interactional demands. Qualitative analyses trace how gestural realizations reduce across discourse as shared understanding emerges. A new complexity metric, based on token frequency …

A Colonial Past Revisited: An Authethnography Of Outsider And Insider Identities In Indigenous Education Communities, Tara L. Deyoung

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

In the late 90s, at Rehoboth Christian school, a small private boarding school in northwest New Mexico, I had four different English teachers in my four years of high school. All but two of my teachers at that time would be considered outsiders to the community in which they taught. Teacher outsiders leave schools and districts at higher rates than insiders to a community; this is especially true for rural and remote areas (Hudson et al., 2020). The purpose of this autoethnographic study is to analyze my history as a cultural outsider and insider in relation to my core beliefs …

2026 Lynn University Commencement Program, Lynn University

Commencement Programs

The commencement exercises program for Lynn University's class of 2025. The ceremony, held on Saturday, May 16, 2026 at the Palm Beach Convention Center, included all graduating students (undergraduates and graduates).

The commencement speaker was was Bruce J. Himelstein, former Chief Sales & Marketing Officer of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Loews Hotels.

Tracing Washback In Language Education: Theoretical Foundations And Policy Implications For Assessment Research-Practice Partnerships, Chia-Hsin Yin

Mid-Western Educational Researcher

Washback—the influence of testing on teaching and learning—has become a central concern in language education, with important implications for assessment design, classroom practice, and educational policy. This paper synthesizes foundational theories and empirical studies on washback, drawing on models by Alderson and Wall (1993), Bailey (1996), Green (2007), and others to examine how test effects operate across micro-level classroom practices and macro-level policy contexts. At the micro level, research on self-assessment, portfolio-based assessment, digital tools, and stakeholder perspectives illustrates how test formats, teacher agency, and learner interpretations shape instructional behavior and learning experiences. At the macro level, national policies, language …

Gentleness, Meekness, And Propriety: John Chrysostom, Empire, And Women Patrons, Brodie Selmon

Denison Journal of Religion

No abstract provided.