Digital Commons Network^™

Creation And Representation: Rhetorical Effectiveness Of Audience Construction Within The Deaf Vlogging Community, Imani Rodriguez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Diverse minority groups use YouTube as a platform to share stories, grow brands, and develop communities online. While previous research has investigated Deaf-focused videos on YouTube, past focus has been on video genres, creator purpose, and how content engages with existing representation and stigma (Hibbard & Fels, 2011; Li et al., 2022; Souza et al., 2023; Martzos et al., 2021; Oliveira et al., 2021; Parton, 2016). There has also been research on how online communities can initiate open conversation for many minority groups that may not be possible due to location, disability, or censorship (Case, 2012).

This research focuses on …

Convergencias Y Divergencias: Un Estudio Comparativo De Lenguas Y Literaturas Española Y Portuguesa En España Durante La Temprana Edad Moderna Europea, Eduardo A. Rodrigues D'Abruzzo

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study examines the literary and linguistic relationships between Spain and Portugal during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries through literary works and their translations. A period characterized by the Iberian Union, vernacularization, and the consolidation of early modern literary systems. It explores the interaction of Spanish and Portuguese texts within a shared yet asymmetrical cultural space shaped by translation, genre adaptation, and hierarchies of linguistic prestige. The research employs comparative textual analysis grounded in historical sociolinguistics, philology, and translation studies. Key works analyzed include Alfonso X’s historiography, Francisco Rodrigues Lobo’s Corte na aldeia and its Spanish translation, and Luís de …

Exploring The Link Between Hospice Setting And Caregiver-Reported Quality Scores, Aidan J. John

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Access to high quality hospice care largely varies across different care environments and regions within the United States. This can shape the experiences of family caregivers who support patients at the end of life. As hospice enrollment expands nationwide, understanding how care delivery changes between home-based services and more skilled inpatient and outpatient services has become integral for examining overall performance.  There are many noticeable differences in provider availability and resources between different programs that can influence the level of support families receive, including timeliness of symptom management and effectiveness of communication with hospice staff. This study evaluated whether hospice …

The Signature Of The Self: Toward A Critique Of The Phenomenological Origins Of Self-Constitution, Dylan Mendez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis is primarily concerned with how the narrative self emerges, as conceptualized in literature spanning phenomenology, philosophy of identity, and psychology. The first chapter focuses on an argument given by Dan Zahavi, in which he claims that an account of narrative self-constitution necessitates an account of minimal subjectivity, which he terms the “minimal self.” I argue against this claim on the grounds that an account of minimal intersubjectivity is a far more pragmatic and compatible model in determining how the narrative self emerges and develops throughout the lifespan. The model of minimal intersubjectivity that I propose is Trevarthen’s primary …

Ai-Thropology: A Study Of Artificial Intelligence Use In Anthropology, Carly R. Junod

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study examines how undergraduate anthropology students utilize Artificial Intelligence tools in their coursework and the impact on perceptions of learning. As the use of AI becomes more commonplace, I investigated whether it has been integrated into the praxis of undergraduate anthropology students. Using a Likert-scale survey distributed to 26 anthropology students across multiple subfields, I investigated AI usage patterns, perceptions of academic integrity, and correlations with demographic factors. The results reveal that anthropology students exhibit conservative AI usage patterns, with the majority rarely using AI for core academic tasks such as drafting papers. ChatGPT and Grammarly emerged as the …

Spanish-Speaking Parents' Health Literacy And Comprehension Of Idea Terminology, Daria Hernandez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study aims to examine how personal health literacy can affect Spanish-speaking parents’ comprehension of special education documentation, specifically within the scope of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) terminology; in order to gain insight into the readability of commonly used terms within special education documents. Across the United States, limited health literacy across organizations and individuals is an extremely pressing issue as it can limit the ability for individuals to make the proper decisions involving their healthcare and education. This issue is exacerbated when considering Hispanic populations, with their personal health literacy levels …

Performing Brazilian Identity: The Cultural Politics Of Carmen Miranda, Nicole M. Pineiro Serrano

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This honors undergraduate thesis examines how Carmen Miranda’s performances shaped Brazilian national identity in both Brazilian cinema and Hollywood in the mid-twentieth century. Through film analysis, historical research, and cultural theory, the study examines Miranda’s public persona and the symbolic significance of the Baiana costume, with respect to Brazil’s Estado Novo regime, and Hollywood’s own depictions of Latin America. Overall, it argues that Miranda’s image functioned as a site of cultural negotiation, where Brazilian cultural expression met Hollywood’s exoticizing portrayals, but the encounter did not always stay as a fixed stereotype. The study also examines the tensions between authenticity, commodification, …

Designing Rhetorical Education For Online Audiences, Nicholas Dixon

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This project demonstrates a multimodal education for online audiences through the creation of a YouTube video, What is Rhetoric?   The literature from composition, education, and media asserts that online multimodal media is useful for idea production, civic discussion, and learning. This project follows the idea that online multimodal digital media are valuable forms for meeting audiences with access to rhetorical knowledge, both within academic institutions and in the education of public audiences. In Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture, Henry Jenkins highlights the challenge online participants face in recognizing the ways media shapes perceptions of the world (xii). Rhetoric is …

A Historical Analysis Of The Squatter Settlements (Sukumbasi) In Nepal And The Role Of Smart Settlements, Keshav Bhattarai, Ambika P. Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

In Nepal, landless populations can broadly be categorized into two groups: urban squatters and rural landless families. Each group can further be distinguished by its level of political connection and access to power.

Among urban squatters, politically connected groups often occupy open public spaces in cities with some degree of protection or tolerance from political parties. In contrast, less powerful urban squatters usually settle on public land because they cannot afford formal housing. These settlements are commonly located in unsafe or marginal areas, such as riverbanks, flood-prone zones, and unused public spaces. Despite these risks, many remain in urban areas …

Interpreting Anti-Boycott Laws In The Shadow Of The First Amendment, Joseph A. Tomain

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

Thirty-eight states have enacted “anti-BDS” laws. These laws require people or entities doing business with the state to certify that they do not participate in the Boycott Divestment Sanction movement against Israel. Typically, these laws define boycott as a “refusal to deal, terminating business, or other actions” that limit commercial relations with Israel or Israeli entities. It is highly contested in the courts and commentary whether these anti-boycott laws violate the First Amendment. Assuming arguendo that the “refusal to deal” and “terminating business” clauses do not implicate the First Amendment, that leaves the residual clause. At least one court and …

Navigating Mercy: Ethical And Emotional Terrains In Carolingian Society And Politics, Wei-Ting Chen

Theses and Dissertations--History

This dissertation investigates mercy in the Carolingian period, especially its political dimensions. A sustained, holistic examination of mercy in the early medieval period remains lacking. This study examines mercy not only as a history of an idea but also as a history of emotion, tracing its transformation from the ancient Greek and Roman worlds through patristic literature and into Carolingian political discourse. This study argues that mercy played a central role in the construction of Christian kingship within Carolingian political discourse. Early Church Fathers reinterpreted mercy from a controversial concept in Roman Stoic philosophy into a positive virtue in Christian …

Defining Limited English Proficiency: Implications For Assessment And Special Education Placement Decisions, Christine Vernon

Master's Theses

Problem

The problem addressed was the lack of a clear, consistent definition of Limited English Proficiency, despite its influence on funding, programming, assessment, and student placement. The purpose of the study was to clarify how LEP is constructed and used in educational literature and to explore its impact on assessment practices. This study examines the definition of Limited English Proficiency and its implications for educational assessment and special education placement decisions.

Methodology

An integrative literature review, guided by meta-narrative methodology and structural coding, was conducted using 119 peer-reviewed sources from APA PsycInfo, ERIC, and JSTOR (2001–2023).

Findings

Findings revealed that …

Improving Adolescent Sexual Health Education Through A Gamified Quality Improvement Initiative In Kenya: Game On For Safe Choices, Alyssa Kashia Lee, Isabel Diazdeleon, Ilyana Karkar

ELMSN E-Portfolio. A collection of Scholarly and Creative Works

Adolescent sexual health remains a significant public health concern in rural Kenya because of the limited access to comprehensive sexuality education; therefore, contributing to high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV, unintended pregnancy, and gender-based violence. This quality improvement project evaluated the implementation of the Game On for Safe Choices, a culturally responsive, game-based sexual health education intervention designed to improve adolescents' sexual health knowledge and confidence. The project was conducted at ByKay Hotel in Sega, Siaya County, Kenya, and included 25 adolescents aged 15–17 years. Guided by the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework, participants completed three interactive educational stations focused on …

Patient-Centered Education In Fall Risk And Prevention Decreases The Number Of Falls On The Orthopedic Unit, Kaitlyn Chan, Amparo Guzman Garcia, Tran Huynh

ELMSN E-Portfolio. A collection of Scholarly and Creative Works

Inpatient falls are a major patient safety concern, particularly in orthopedic units where mobility limitations, comorbidities, and postoperative factors elevate risk and contribute to preventable injury, longer hospital stays, and increased costs. At Sutter Medical Center Sacramento’s orthopedic unit, an annual rate of 16 falls and persistent gaps in patient and staff education highlight the need for a targeted quality improvement initiative despite use of an EPIC predictive fall-risk model. Guided by the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework, this project implements a comprehensive fall-prevention education program modeled on the Fall T.I.P.S. toolkit, including a standardized bedside brochure, visual cues (wristbands, door signage, bedside …

Exploring Cultural Competence Of Alabama Nurse Educators : A Mixed Methods Study, Rachel Bloodworth

Dissertations

Cultural competence is a vital skill in nursing practice and nursing education. Nurse educators must be able to teach this concept and prepare students to provide culturally competent care to patients. This study examined the cultural competence of Alabama pre-licensure nurse educators in associate degree nursing (ADN) and baccalaureate (BSN) programs and explored their perceptions of cultural competence's role in nursing education. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed, guided by Campinha-Bacote's Process of Cultural Competence in the Delivery of Health Care Services Model. In Phase I, 51 nurse educators completed the Cultural Diversity Questionnaire for Nurse Educators-Revised (CDQNE-R) and …

Human Perceptions Of Social Intelligence In Large Language Models, Derek Koehl

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how users form perceptions of social intelligence and trust when interacting with large language model chatbots. Three experimental studies manipulated chatbot agreeableness, goal orientation, and simulated short-term memory, measuring perceived social intelligence and trust. The primary finding is an asymmetric effect of personality: disagreeable chatbot behavior produced large reductions in perceived social intelligence and trust, whereas agreeable behavior produced negligible gains above a warm baseline, consistent with negativity bias in social cognition. Goal orientation did not independently enhance perceptions but functioned as a contextual moderator. Simulated memory produced medium-to-large increases in perceived social intelligence without reliably increasing …

Cost-Aware Predictive Routing For Vision-Language Models, Sahil Sait Naveed

Master's Projects

Vision-language models (VLMs) are increasingly used for multimodal tasks, but their inference costs vary widely across model tiers. This work presents a predictive routing framework that assigns each query to the most cost-effective VLM by using multimodal embeddings, clustering, and per-cluster model error estimates. Evaluated on six commercial VLMs, the selected router reduces average cost by about 49 percent relative to the quality-first setting on both validation and test. This comes with accuracy losses of 0.4 percentage points on validation and 0.9 on held-out test data. It also outperforms K-NN and ZeroRouter routing baselines while providing lowercost operating points than …

The Global Privacy Frontier: Bridging User Expectations And Ai In Mental Health Technology, Salauddin Ahmed, Mohammad Asaduzzaman

Student Publications

This study examines privacy concerns in AI-driven mental health apps through the lens of Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory, utilizing qualitative research of consumer opinions on Google Play Store. It explores how global consumers articulate privacy concerns, experience boundary turbulence in online conversations, and exhibit culturally oriented privacy expectations in this high-stakes emerging tech arena. Results indicate that users are most likely to voice concerns about control and transparency of data, with ambiguous privacy policies raising suspicion. Boundary turbulence narratives, e.g., improper use of data, are most directly related to loss of trust and app abandonment, highlighting critical challenges for …

The First 1000 Days And Beyond: The Process Of Child Development, Orazio Attanasio

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper reviews recent developments in the economics of human development, focusing on the early years of life as a critical period for shaping long-term outcomes. Early childhood development is inherently multidimensional: cognitive and socioemotional skills evolve dynamically and interact with health, nutrition, and environmental influences. Economists have contributed to this field by providing a conceptual unifying framework that highlights how key drivers of development reflect the choices of individuals operating under incentives and constraints. Within this framework, the paper emphasizes two central challenges: understanding the interactions among multiple dimensions of development and identifying causal links—particularly the effects of different …

The Confidence-Man Goes To The Moving Panorama: Herman Melville’S Confidence Narrator And United States Imperialism, Bradley J. Lee

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis argues that Herman Melville fashioned his novel The Confidence-Man; His Masquerade (1857) after the moving panorama, a popular entertainment technology contemporary with the novel. More specifically, the thesis argues that the novel recalls Banvard’s Mississippi Panorama (1846). Using Jay Leyda’s The Melville Log and John Hanners’ record of Banvard’s performances, I establish beyond reasonable doubt the possibility that Melville saw this painting, or, at the very least, was aware of it, its content, and its social position. Tracing the novel’s engagement with this panorama reveals what seems at first to be its imperialist, Manifest Destinarian undertones. The novel’s …

Preserving Their Institutions While Living Among Strangers: Heritage Adaptation Exhibited Within Missoula, Montana’S Chinese Community, 1860 – 1940, Sophia Hattie Etier

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation by publication reconstructs the history, cultural institutions, and adaptive strategies of Missoula, Montana’s Chinese community between 1860 and 1940, arguing that the population underwent a long-term, multi-generational process of heritage adaptation shaped by exclusion, isolation, and demographic decline. Drawing from Kalervo Oberg’s 1954 culture shock model, the study proposes a new theoretical framework—heritage shock—that extends the four-stage adjustment process from individuals to cultural communities. This model demonstrates how diasporic populations collectively navigate periods of arrival, crisis, adjustment, and long-term adaptation when confronted with sustained external pressures. Using an interdisciplinary methodology that integrates archival research, archaeological and faunal analysis, …

Dead Trees & Etz Chaim: A Messianic Jewish Autoethnographic Reflective Poetry Chapbook, Mark Trager

Master's Projects

This capstone project, Dead Trees & Etz Chaim, is an autoethnographic reflective poetry chapbook that explores the author’s identity as a Messianic Jewish believer through the Jewish motif of the Tree of Life (Etz Chaim). Drawing on personal experience, biblical texts and theology, and archival research, the collection integrates poetry and prose to examine themes of faith, worthiness, suffering, redemption, and salvation.

Structured in five thematic chapters, the chapbook traces a progression from early spiritual questioning and formative experiences, including the author’s bar mitzvah, to deeper theological reflections on the nature of the Jewish Messiah. The work advances the claim …

Life Story Work With A Person Living With Dementia: From Theory To Practice In The Informal Setting, Laura M. Fortenberry Ms

Master's Projects

When a family member is diagnosed with dementia, care often replaces relationships. Family members other than the primary caregiver question how they can help and contribute to care. Life story work (LSW) provides a way for family other than the primary caregiver to support care. While the approach results in a life story product (memory book, memory box, even a digital memoir), the process of having helpful conversations to create the person’s life story matters as much as the product. It enhances relationships and communication between the person with dementia and the LSW facilitator. The sense of wellbeing is improved …

App-Uh-Latch-Uh, Sarah B. Moore

Master's Projects

This capstone project focuses on my personal experiences with the Appalachian dialect. Using scholarship as the background of the writing, I composed a series of creative nonfiction scenes from my life to foreground what could be revealed for K-12 teachers, administrators, and anyone interested in linguistic justice or about the Appalachian dialect and education. Then, I created a guide for teachers, detailing ways to better respond to prejudice against dialect and to create a sense of linguistic justice within the classroom. Throughout the project, it became increasingly clear that, while a vast amount of research exists about dialects and English …

Rivera V Triad Properties, Northern District Of Alabama

Historical and Topical Legal Documents

No abstract provided.

Ecpse 550: Foundations Of Special Education, Deborah J. Gruber

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Ecpse 350: Foundations Of Special Education, Deborah J. Gruber

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

From Text To Test: Pre-Lecture Reading Boosts Medical Students’ Comprehension And Retention, Hamad A. Alfahaad, Mohammed Y. Alasmary, Emad M. Masuadi, Henk G. Schmidt

Saudi Medical Journal

Objective: Medical students frequently attend lectures without prior review of the related literature when preparing for examinations. It raises the question of whether studying the material in advance could enhance their learning outcomes during lectures. Methods: A total of 102 medical students from a Saudi Arabian university took part in this research. Participants were assigned to one of 2 cohorts: one read a 4-page passage before a 15-minute lecture, while the other attended the lecture before reading the passage. Knowledge acquisition was measured using a test that assessed their ability to recall concepts administered 3 times—prior to the session, post …

Empowering Dietary Change: A Culturally Competent Nutrition Intervention For Hispanic Patients At The Agape Clinic, Ariana N. Smith

DNP Research Projects

Abstract 

Type 2 diabetes disproportionately affects Hispanic adults and may be more difficult to manage among uninsured and underserved populations experiencing barriers to healthcare, nutrition education, and culturally appropriate resources. The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice quality improvement project was to implement and evaluate a brief, culturally tailored nutrition education intervention for Hispanic adults with elevated A1C receiving care at The Agape Clinic in Dallas, Texas. A quantitative, quasi-experimental, within-subject design was used. The intervention provided bilingual, low-literacy education focused on A1C, portion control, added sugars, and culturally familiar foods. Thirty-eight participants enrolled in the project, and 11 …

Utilizing Youth Mental Health First Aid: A Community-Based Prevention Strategy To Increase Teh Confidence Levels Of Seventh-Day Adventist Adults In Assisting Youth With Mental Health Distress, Sarah Hillebert

DNP Research Projects

Abstract 

Objective: Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) is an initiative from the National Council for Mental Wellness that trains adults in identifying and responding to adolescents exhibiting mental health distress. This DNP project evaluated the effectiveness of YMHFA in increasing the mental health literacy and confidence scores of Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) adults. Method: quality improvement, pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was used. Participants were SDA adults aged 22 to 74 who work with youth in school, church, or camp settings (n=19; Mean age = 48.5 years, SD = 10.5). The quantitative MHFA 2.1 measured mental health literacy and confidence to intervene, …