Digital Commons Network^™

Diversifying Acts Of Citizenship In The Global South Digital Landscape, Jose Jowel Canuday

Social Transformations Journal of the Global South

Excerpt: The digital spaces of the Global South are one of the vibrant arenas wherein public interest discourse is actively shaped, rights are asserted, and socioeconomic imbalances are exposed in ways that bypass, at times contest, and on other occasions affirm institutions of power. As a discursive space, invariable articulations of citizenship emerged in these cybernetic zones diversely regarded as insurgent, critical, decolonial, and a range of other positions.

The Fandomization Of Citizenship: A Multimodal Analysis Of Vico Sotto On Tiktok, Karen Lee V. Panela

Social Transformations Journal of the Global South

This article examines how political engagement in the Philippines is increasingly articulated through affective, participatory, and fan-like practices by analyzing supporter-generated TikTok videos of Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto. Situating the case within conditions of hybrid politics, where reformist governance intersects with platform-mediated visibility and celebrity aesthetics, the study advances the concept of “fandomization of citizenship” to describe how civic orientation is performed through admiration, narrativity, and affective alignment with political leadership. Using multimodal critical discourse analysis, the article shows how supporters foreground ordinariness, accessibility, and relational intimacy through visual, textual, and sonic cues, often backgrounding policy achievements in favor …

Negotiating Depletion And Endurance: Hiya, Tino, And Bait As Vernacular Grammars Of Political Scandal In The Philippines, Karl Patrick R. Mendoza

Social Transformations Journal of the Global South

Political scandals in the Philippines often provoke intense outrage yet rarely lead to decisive accountability. Leaders are condemned but continue to endure, a paradox commonly attributed to weak institutions or entrenched elites. This research note advances a different explanation by foregrounding hiya (shame), tino (uprightness), and bait (goodness) as vernacular grammars through which publics interpret misconduct. Rather than fixed cultural traits, these idioms operate as interactive processes of depletion and endurance that shape how scandals resonate emotionally, register as morally legible, and align with familiar narratives. Hiya and tino collapse once violated, marking leaders as shameless or irresponsible, while bait …

Estelle Marie M. Ladrido, Magandang Gabi Bayan: Nation, Journalism Discourse, And Television News In The Philippines, Quezon City: Ateneo De Manila University Press, 2017. 288 Pp., Ena Marie O. Dizon

Social Transformations Journal of the Global South

Excerpt: Estelle Marie M. Ladrido’s Magandang Gabi Bayan offers a critical interrogation of the deep ties between news and nation in the Philippine context, foregrounding how television journalism functions as both a technology of power and a site of struggle. The book begins with the premise that news does not merely report on the nation but actively constructs and sustains a discourse of nationhood. Ladrido questions the naturalized belief in the centrality of news to national life, instead probing how such centrality is produced and maintained through journalistic practices, professional norms, and the mediacentric role of the press. By treating …

Politics, Trauma, Cinema: Archiving And Communicating Accountability, Jose Jowel Canuday

Social Transformations Journal of the Global South

Excerpt: Contributions to this issue take state-driven experiences of violence to account in two discursive grounds of communicating accountability, rights violations documentation and social realist cinema. These explorations offer distinctive thinking on how traumatic episodes in sociopolitical history are recorded, archived, and circulated for public interest examination, discourse, and action in a Global South context.

A Meso-Structure Reading Of Duterte’S Drug War As A Human Rights And Communicative Crisis, Augustus Ceasar D. Latosa

Social Transformations Journal of the Global South

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte launched the drug war in 2016 to address alleged rising criminality. His directive to kill those who resisted arrest became a symbolic articulation of a policy that led to the deaths of alleged drug offenders, particularly among marginalized urban poor communities. While the drug war has been extensively examined in relation to public policy and governance, few studies have approached it through the lens of communication, particularly crisis communication. Using the culture-centered approach (CCA) as its theoretical anchor, this paper investigated how human rights non-government organizations (NGOs) as meso-structural actors made sense of Duterte’s “war …

Maternal Melodrama, Domesticity And Female Liberation In Dekada ‘70, Laurence Marvin S. Castillo

Social Transformations Journal of the Global South

The critically-acclaimed Dekada ‘70 represents one of the most prominent efforts in post-EDSA commercial cinema to narrate the experiences of revolutionary involvement in the context of the Martial Law era. The film is remarkable as an example of mainstream Philippine cinema’s mobilization of popular generic conventions to depict a politically charged narrative that touches upon the question of socio-political and personal liberation. In this essay, I revisit the film to examine how it deploys the subgenre of maternal melodrama in exploring gender and domestic relations as the springboard for the politico-subjective transformation of its middle-class protagonist under the violent milieu …

Cinema As Praxis: An Integrated Theoretical Framework For Philippine Social Advocacy Cinema, Herwin Benedictos Cabasal

Social Transformations Journal of the Global South

This theoretical paper examines social advocacy cinema in the Philippines as a form of counter-hegemonic cultural practice. Drawing on Third Cinema Theory (Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino), critical theory (Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer), and participatory communication for social change (Paulo Freire and Thomas Tufte), this paper proposes Cinema as Praxis as an integrated theoretical framework for understanding how politically driven advocacy films operate through the convergence of cultural and political production, ideological representation and critique, and participatory communication. It argues that social advocacy cinema functions through interconnected dimensions: (1) production as praxis, in which collective and grassroots filmmaking constitutes …

Anthony Le Duc, Buddhist Environmental Humanism: Doing Good For Self And Others, London: Ethics Press, 2025, 259 Pp., Roderick Evans M. Bartolome

Social Transformations Journal of the Global South

Excerpt: Anthony Le Duc’s Buddhist Environmental Humanism: Doing Good for Self and Others is a significant addition to the current discussions on religion and ecology. Written by a Catholic priest and scholar deeply involved in interreligious dialogue and environmental ethics, the book provides a carefully constructed framework for how Buddhist principles can address ecological challenges. Le Duc currently serves as Executive Director of the Asian Research Center for Religion and Social Communication in Bangkok and is the Editor-in-Chief for the Religion and Social Communication journal of the research center. His institutional role and his location in Thailand give him a …

Investigating The Associations Of Cognitive Health, Health Behaviors, And Personality In Older Community-Dwelling Adults, Yan-Jhu Su

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Cognitive decline poses a significant public health challenge, with profound implications for aging populations. This dissertation investigates the associations between health behaviors, leisure activities, personality traits, and cognitive function in older U.S. adults, using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the Consumption and Activities Mail Survey (CAMS). This work comprises three studies that explore both cross-sectional and longitudinal perspectives on cognitive aging.

Study 1 examines the complex interactions between personality traits, education, health behaviors, and cognitive function. The study is divided into two parts: Study 1a explores the role of health behaviors—smoking, alcohol use, and physical activity—as …

From Contamination To Consequence: Tracing Donna Lake’S Human Environmental History, Dean Kyne

Sociology Faculty Publications

The Donna Reservoir and Canal System (Donna Lake) in Texas has been a persistent source of environmental contamination for over a century, exposing surrounding communities to dangerous levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Originally built for agricultural irrigation, the system became a recreational fishing site before PCB contamination was discovered during public health investigations in the 1990s. This study examines patterns of demographic vulnerability, evaluates remediation efforts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and explores residents’ ongoing challenges related to toxic exposure. Using publicly available demographic data, EPA reports, and previous health assessments, the study analyzes variations in community characteristics …

Embodying Altruistic Love: The Role Of Emotions In Teaching Black Students With Disabilities Within An Inclusive Elementary School, Joshua Armentrout

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Teacher emotions play a pivotal yet understudied role in shaping the educational experiences of Black students with disabilities (SWDs). This study examines how five special educators in a fully inclusive elementary school understand, experience, and navigate their emotions in relation to Black SWDs. Using a qualitative approach grounded in portraiture, this study explores the intersection of race, disability, and emotion, revealing how teachers internalize, resist, and negotiate dominant ideologies within the broader educational system.

Guided by a three-dimensional space framework from the field of narrative inquiry—temporality, sociality, and spatiality—this study traces how educators’ emotions are shaped by past experiences, social …

Challenges In Managing Recurrent Small Bowel Obstruction In A Patient With Concurrent Hepatic Dysfunction And Alcohol Use Disorder: A Multidisciplinary Approach, Kaan Sevgi, Logan Enman, Francisco Lucero, Sinan Nazif Aran

Student Publications

This case report describes a 63-year-old Black man with recurrent small bowel obstruction (SBO), persistent abdominal pain, and hepatic dysfunction, set against a complex background of idiopathic peripheral neuropathy, chronic hepatomegaly, an indeterminate adrenal mass, and long-term alcohol use. Imaging revealed dilated bowel loops with partial obstruction, while laboratory findings showed elevated liver enzymes indicative of hepatic impairment. His clinical course highlighted the multifactorial nature of SBO, likely influenced by anatomical disruptions, hepatic pathology, and systemic metabolic factors, including potential adrenal involvement. The case emphasizes the importance of a multidisciplinary approach integrating gastroenterology, hepatology, and endocrinology to manage such intricate …

Blockchain-Based Ai-Assisted Cyber-Physical Systems For Robust And Reliable Machining Processes, Prithbey Raj Dey, David Lee Enke

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study demonstrates the prospects of Blockchain-based Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) to establish a scalable framework for designing a secured, automated, and traceable modeling in machining processes. Machining operations like turning, being inherently complex, rely on different types of explanatory parameters such as feed rate, depth of cut, cutting speed, tools, and environmental factors. All of these variables significantly influence key response variables like surface quality, tool wear, cutting forces, and energy consumption. The proposed Blockchain-based framework, designed using the Object-Process Methodology (OPM) systems modeling language, enables the reliable exchange of comparative data streams within a unified data analytics platform. By …

Linear Mixed Model For The Surface Roughness Prediction In Hard Turning Operation, Prithbey Raj Dey, David Lee Enke

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Surface machining using hard turning is an intricate operation due to the influence of multiple machining parameters, their non-linear interactions, and the inherent variability introduced by different experimental trials. This study proposes a Linear Mixed Model (LMM) for predicting surface roughness, effectively addressing the challenges in traditional linear models, posed by the influencing factors, non-linearity, and interactions. The LMM incorporates variability from both fixed effects, such as cutting parameters (feed rate, depth of cut, and cutting speed), and random effects arising from tool wear across experimental runs. As a result, it provides a more comprehensive understanding of how these factors …

Genetic Factors Of Campylobacter Jejuni Required For Its Interactions With Free-Living Amoeba, Deepti Pranay Samarth, Asim Z. Abbasi, Young Min Kwon

Poultry Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Acanthamoeba, a free-living amoeba ubiquitous in environmental water, has been considered as the environmental reservoir of certain bacterial pathogens, including Campylobacter jejuni, an intracellular human pathogen causing self-limiting gastroenteritis. Acanthamoeba-C. jejuni interaction mechanisms may help clarify how the otherwise fastidious bacterium C. jejuni survives in environmental waters. In this study, we constructed single deletion mutants of C. jejuni strain 81-176 for the 10 selected genes (motAB, ciaB, kpsE, virB11, cheY, flaAB, cstII, docB, sodB, and cadF) previously shown to be important for the interaction (invasion and intracellular survival) of C. jejuni with mammalian hosts. We used a modified gentamicin protection …

Antiarrhythmic Drug Use In Atrial Fibrillation Among Different European Countries – As Determined By A Physician Survey, Espen Fengsrud, Carina Blomström-Lundqvist, A. John Camm, Andreas Goette, Peter R. Kowey, Jose L. Merino, Jonathan P. Piccini, Sanjeev Saksena, James A. Reiffel, Giuseppe Boriani

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: There is limited knowledge of physicians' antiarrhythmic drug (AAD) treatment practices for patients with atrial fibrillation and adherence to guidelines in European countries.

METHODS: An online survey (n = 321) of cardiologists, cardiac electrophysiologists and interventional electrophysiologists was conducted in Germany (DE; n = 83), Italy (IT; n = 95), Sweden (SE; n = 60) and the United Kingdom (UK; n = 83) including 96 questions on treatment practices.

RESULTS: ESC guidelines were the most important non-patient factor influencing treatment practice (55-72 %). However, while amiodarone was frequently (88-93 %) used in heart failure with reduced left ventricular ejection …

Multicenter Evaluation Of A New Strip-Based Blood Glucose System For Point-Of-Care Testing In Critical And Non-Critical Care Settings, Michael Goodman, Sven Bercker, Nancy Breitenbeck, Cristina Canada-Vilalta, Daisy D Canepa, William A Clarke, Christopher W Farnsworth, Edward O Ganser, Nienke Geerts, Barbara Goldsmith, Gary Headden, Debra Hoppensteadt, Birgit Klapperich, Ryan Matika, Gabrielle Miles, Sagori Mukhopadhyay, James H Nichols, Rebecca M O'Dell, Zubaid Rafique, Andre Schuetzenmeister, Robbert Slingerland, Ann F Stankiewicz, Jonathan R Swanson, Nam K Tran, Alan H B Wu, Brad S Karon

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Evaluation of the performance of Cobas® Pulse (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannheim, Germany), a new blood glucose (BG) monitoring system (BGMS; referred to here as BGMSA) intended for point-of-care testing using samples from patients in diverse clinical settings by intended point-of-care test operators.

Methods: Arterial, capillary, venous, or heel stick whole blood (WB) samples from patients in non-critical and critical care settings were collected and analyzed using BGMSA and the Nova StatStrip® BGMS (Nova Biomedical, Waltham, MA; referred to here as BGMSB), and a hexokinase comparator (Cobas 6000 Analyzer Series; Roche Diagnostics GmbH). The blood glucose measurement accuracy was assessed …

Anti-Viral Cd8 Central Memory Veto Cells As A New Platform For Car T Cell Therapy, Wei-Hsin Liu, Anat Globerson Levin, Assaf Lask, Galit Horn, Tova Waks, Bar Nathansohn Levi, Irit Milman Krentsis, Einav Shoshan, Xiaohua Su, Maksim Mamonkin, Richard E Champlin, Yair Reisner, Esther Bachar Lustig

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Central memory CD8 T cells exhibit marked veto activity enhancing engraftment in several mouse models of T cell-depleted bone marrow (TDBM) allografting. Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) can be prevented by stimulation of mouse or human memory CD8 T cells against their cognate antigens under cytokine deprivation, in the early phase of culture followed by further expansion with IL21, IL15, and IL7. Thus, human anti-viral CD8 central memory veto T cells generated from CMV and EBV-positive donors are currently evaluated in a clinical trial at MD Anderson Cancer Centre (MDACC). Results in 15 patients indicate a low risk of GVHD. Considering that …

Kevin Bobo's Boboland: A Performer's Guide, Tyler D. Whitehead

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Kevin Bobo is an active American percussionist, educator, and performer that continues to leave a lasting influence in the percussion community. His works for chamber percussion ensemble and solo marimba continue to push the limitations for percussionists in terms of technical ability, new compositional methods and techniques for expanded timbral effects. Bobo’s compositions such as Boboland, a marimba solo with percussion quartet, present technical and musical challenges that are generally unaligned with traditional performance practices in percussion and especially the marimba. This document aims to provide detailed guidance and instruction for the performance of Boboland and will cover all aspects …

Partnerships

Vision and mission statements

No abstract provided.

College Students’ Activism: The Usage Of Social Media Ads, Gabriela Perez-Amaya

Culture, Society, and Praxis

In a world where social media is at its optimal peak, social movements can use the ceaseless platform to mobilize, spread awareness, and promote activism. With climate change and environmental damages being a crucial societal issue, the Environmental Justice Movement must advance their mobilization towards the next collective of civilization. For this study, I focus on college students, and how social media ads influence internet activism within them. In doing so, I highlight characteristics like an individual’s perception and their social networks, mixed with advert engagement factors like vividness, content of post, and call to action.

Health Care In Women’S Carceral Spaces, Kate Gouveia Pereira

Culture, Society, and Praxis

Canada has had a long history of mistreating incarcerated women in their jails. The carceral system was built to fit around the needs of men, neglecting to consider the various health issues that only women face. For many years. federally imprisoned women were held in one deteriorated prison, the Prison for Women (P4W), and were held in abhorrent conditions and experienced many acts of violence. Despite the opening of five more prisons and funding for various programs for women, incarcerated women continue to experience violence and health crises, leaving imprisoned women extremely vulnerable to mental and physical distress. In particular, …

The Activists’ Choice: Ballot Initiatives As A Step Towards Pro-Choice Efforts, Levi C. Mahler

Culture, Society, and Praxis

Following the overturn of Roe V. Wade, many U.S. state legislatures failed to implement abortion rights that satisfy the general population. When the public disapproves of legislative law, some U.S. states allow citizens and activists the right to pursue a ballot initiative. With enough voter signatures, these ballots can turn into new laws. However, with ballot initiatives being a multi-step, lengthy process, what ultimately pushes activists to pursue this path? My research analyzes this novel intersection of political science and sociology fields to contribute to the current lack of literature on activists' decisions to pursue ballot measures for abortion rights. …

A Qualitative Research On The Technology School Administration Interaction, Abdullah Balıkçı

i.e.: inquiry in education

Technology-school administration interaction is increasing day by day. In the light of new developments, technology-school administration interaction needs to be understood. The aim of this research is to understand the interaction between technology and school administration. 21 school administrators participated in the research conducted with qualitative research method. The general benefits of technology on school administration are stated in the relevant literature. However, I think that technology has different effects on school administration. Therefore, it offers a different perspective to the literature. According to the research, two themes emerged. These are: Technology-school administration interaction and areas where school administrators benefit …

Scaffolding Subversion: Preparing Pre-Service Teachers To Sustain Justice-Oriented Action, Christopher Weiler, Kathleen Brinegar, Kristie Smith, Jessica Demink-Carthew

i.e.: inquiry in education

Dominant sociopolitical ideologies influence educational policy and threaten school-based equity. As teacher educators called to support the development of pre-service teachers (PSTs) who advance justice in their practice, we are compelled to consider our work against the contemporary sociopolitical context. Through collaborative critical discussions, we sought to explore what PSTs need to sustain their engagement in justice-oriented action beyond their teacher preparation program. The ideas and practices that emerged as essential to us as teacher educators in this era were the following: (a) Understanding and Sustaining Self, (b) Bridging Self and Community, (c) Cultivating Equitable Communication, and (d) Subverting Oppression, …

Academician Insights On The Implementation Of The School First Place Quota, Aysima Lale Aktaş, Adem Bayar

i.e.: inquiry in education

This study aimed to reveal the perspectives of academics on the competencies of students who are placed in universities through a first-place quota system. The study has been organized within the framework of a qualitative research approach with a phenomenological design. The data collected through a semi-structured interview form were analyzed through a descriptive analysis technique. The participants responded to the concept of competency as competence, knowledge, qualification, effort, development, process, performance, and experience. The participants expressed their views on the results of the university’s first-place quota implementation as language skills, lack of practice, lack of self-confidence, inability to express …

The Relationship Between The Perception Management Approaches Of School Administrators And Social Capital In School, Mehtap Şi̇mşek Gürkan, Sabri Çeli̇k

i.e.: inquiry in education

The Relationship between the Perception Management Approaches of School Administrators and Social Capital in School

Author¹, Author²

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the level of relationship between school administrators' perception management approaches and social capital within schools, based on the perceptions of teachers in Turkey. In our study, we applied a descriptive correlational survey model and obtained opinions from 450 teachers working across different districts. Results indicate that perception management strategies implemented by school administrators based on honesty and persuasion have a positive impact on the social capital of the school. Our findings …

The Architectonic Frames: Dialogic Leadership, Surveillance And The Problem Of Invisible Pedagogies, Jeremy Dennis

i.e.: inquiry in education

Scholars and practitioners seldom consider pedagogy as a starting point in their appreciations of the role of leadership in education. However, the rise of invisible pedagogies may warrant a revaluation of this practice. Invisible pedagogies are enabled by cloud-based learning management platforms and their data-driven algorithms and protocols, which incentivize opaque practices and the monetization of dialogism in the form of surveillance textualism or shadow texts. As such, some scholars predict that the future growth of invisible pedagogies is inevitable. Even though dialogic leadership is positioned to calibrate the trajectory of invisible pedagogies and explicate surveillance textualism, it is …

Practices Of Maintaining Academic Research Quality In Higher Education Institutions (Heis): Quests And Upheavals, Firdissa J. Aga Dr.

i.e.: inquiry in education

Maintaining academic research quality in HEIs has become a crucial demand of the day due to the need for advancing knowledge, standing answerable to the public, safeguarding institutional credibility, and pacing with the changing academic environments. This study, therefore, investigated the practices of maintaining academic research quality at three HEIs in Ethiopia. A blend of both qualitative and quantitative approaches was used to collect data using a questionnaire and interview guide questions.

The results revealed that the major practices across the three universities include: prioritizing the quantity of research outputs (reports/publications), focusing on researching quality (during the process), ensuring theoretical/conceptual …