Digital Commons Network^™

Guilty Of Probable Cause: Public Arrest Records And Dignity In The Information Age, Nicholas Thompson

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The United States is exceptional among Western nations in its treatment of criminal records. Today, an estimated one-third of Americans1 bear the “modern equivalent of branding”: the publicly-accessible criminal record.2 Far from remaining locked in digital limbo, these records serve a variety of purposes, from legitimate law enforcement use to extortion against arrestees seeking to scrub their mugshots from a Google search.3 It would be natural to assume that such records result from an individual’s commission of a crime, for which the individual is duly convicted and then marked with the brand of the state for the transgression. But the …

The Importance Of Sexual Education On Adolescent Sexual Behaviors, Ryan Hill, Jacqueline Stephens

Scholarship in Medicine - All Papers

Objective: The objective of this report is to examine how sex education for adolescents living in rural and urban settings in the states of Alabama and Ohio impacts their sexual health and behaviors.

Methods: To explore this topic, several different statistical tests were done: an independent t-test, an ANOVA test, a Pearman/Spearman correlation, a regression, and a standard correlation. The reason for these different tests was to compare the difference in the number of sexually transmitted diseases, how insurance status correlates with teenage pregnancy rates and sexually transmitted diseases, and the relationship between socioeconomic status and the rate of sexually …

Copyright And Racism, Kimber Thomas

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Slides on copyright and racism by Dr. Kimber Thomas with an emphasis on United States copyright.

Includes points related to the origin of United States copyright law, original authorship and tangibility requirements, creation of works via oral or visual tradition and knowledge, the useful articles exclusion, and works made for hire.

“Hin Le Le” Folk Songs In Phitsanulok Province : Identity And Existence In Times Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Sasinut Phongnil

Journal of Urban Culture Research

The objectives of this qualitative research were to investigate (1) the identity of folk songs in Phitsanulok province, Thailand (2) the forms, methods and existence of folk songs during the COVID-19 pandemic, using musicological methodology. The examination of the background, musical characteristics, components and forms at present revealed that the identity of Hin Le Le folk songs is “the songs that reflect the way of life of the locals in Phitsanulok province, keep up with ongoing events for all age groups and are created by the elderly in the community.” The examination of the forms and existence methods of folk …

Cultural Responsibility: Whose Job Is It Anyway?, Shannon Coleman, Siobhan Cooke, Yu'vonne James, Elizabeth Younger

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

This professional learning module (PLM) on cultural responsibility in the school setting is rooted in the recognition of the importance of creating an inclusive and equitable learning environment for all students and staff. This PLM module was designed to help teachers, and those working within the school setting, understand, appreciate, and effectively address cultural diversity and its impact on students’ learning experiences.

View professional learning module.

The Social Construction Of Performance Enhancing Steroid Policies And Their Impact On U.S. Army Service Members, Trevor Scott Jackson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The United States military has seen a continued rise in the use of illicit performance enhancing substances, particularly androgenic-anabolic steroids (AAS), by service members in highly demanding occupational specialties. Despite these rising trends, there remains a lack of understanding of how U.S. Army substance abuse policy impacts service members’ motivations to use banned performance enhancing drugs. The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the motivations of service members who use performance enhancing AAS, as well as the impacts of substance abuse policies on those individuals. This study’s questions asked how social constructs and Army policy impacted service …

Elementary Principals’ Perceptions Regarding Implementing A District-Mandated Educational Equity Policy, Glen Patrick Messier

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem in the current basic qualitative study was that elementary principals were challenged to implement a district-mandated educational equity policy. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore elementary principals’ experiences implementing a district-mandated educational equity policy. The conceptual framework for this study was transformational leadership theory. This leadership theory was often used by leaders who focused on a collective purpose and held themselves accountable for initiating and sustaining positive social change. Three research questions addressed principals’ experiences and perceptions in their attempt to implement a district-mandated educational equity policy, as well as principals’ suggestions for continuous improvement …

Black/African American Men’S Lived Experiences Of Workplace Colorism Bullying, Dr. Benjamin K. Spady Ph.D

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Bullying in the U.S. workplace is an ongoing issue that transcends industry boundaries due to perpetrators’ ineffectiveness in viewing all coworkers as equals. The purpose of this qualitative interpretative phenomenological analysis study was to explore the lived experiences of Black/African American men who endure workplace colorism bullying. Critical race theory provided the conceptual framework, which labeled racism as an omnipresent systemic force. Semistructured interview data were collected from six Black/African American men who resided in the United States and who were bullied in the workplace within the past 20 years. Data were coded via open coding to discover themes. The …

Fact Finders: Exploring Perspectives Of Abuse Investigators For People With Developmental Disabilities, April Delandro

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abuse towards people with intellectual and developmental disabilities has been a long-standing area of study. One aspect of the post abuse process that has not been thoroughly considered is the perspective of abuse investigators. This is important because abuse investigators are to ascertain the safety of an alleged victim and then gather the information necessary to resolve issues with the intent to prevent further abuse. Using the Thomas theorem of interpretation and action, this study explored the experiences of abuse investigators by delving into how investigators’ experiences influence the conduct of an investigation and how investigators perceive their role and …

Revolutionary Songs From Myanmar: Reconsidering Scholarly Perspectives On Protest Music, Heather Maclachlan

Department of Music Faculty Publications

Since the February 1, 2021 military coup in Myanmar, Burmese musicians have been creating and circulating anti- coup songs. This article describes a representative sample of these songs, explaining how the lyrics reference important tropes in Burmese life and history. Further, the article argues that these anti-coup songs, while they can be understood as protest music, do not fit precisely into categories previously delineated for protest songs. Nor do these songs provide a neat answer to the question that scholars so often pose of protest music, to wit: do these songs work to persuade listeners to take an anti-authoritarian position? …

College Students And Beliefs In The American Dream: The Impact Of Race, Class, And Gender, Maggie E. Marlow

Honors College Theses

The concept of the American Dream and its promises of prosperity and social mobility, primarily through hard work, has been prevalent throughout modern U.S. history. However, what defines the American Dream has been arbitrary and varied, and research has shown that attitudes and beliefs surrounding the Dream have changed over time with shifts in the economic and political environments. The research for this thesis uses qualitative methods, specifically thematic analysis, to analyze 16 in-depth, one-on-one interviews to examine how students attending a predominantly white university in the Southeastern United States perceive the American Dream today while factoring in how those …

Investigating Intellectual Diversity: A Critical Examination Of Academic Publishing Practices And Their Effects On Wildlife Conservation, Madeline M. Damon

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Academic publishing processes and standards play a fundamental role in communicating, reviewing, and expanding scientific knowledge in wildlife conservation. However, various publishing biases privilege some research perspectives and worldviews while limiting others. These biases directly impact intellectual diversity, or differences in ontology, axiology, and epistemology. This study aims to quantify intellectual diversity in the field of wildlife conservation and identify how publishing biases affect knowledge available to researchers and decision-makers worldwide.

The study employed a sample of 50,000 articles published between 2018 and 2022, collected from the Web of Science database. To analyze the vast amount of article records, natural …

The Daily Patterns Of Emergency Medical Events, Mary Elizabeth Helander, Margaret K. Formica, Dessa K. Bergen-Cico

Social Science - All Scholarship

This study examines population level daily patterns of time-stamped emergency medical service (EMS) dispatches to establish their situational predictability. Using visualization, sinusoidal regression, and statistical tests to compare empirical cumulative distributions, we analyzed 311,848,450 emergency medical call records from the U.S. National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS) for years 2010 through 2022. The analysis revealed a robust daily pattern in the hourly distribution of distress calls across 33 major categories of medical emergency dispatch types. Sinusoidal regression coefficients for all types were statistically significant, mostly at the p < 0.0001 level. The coefficient of determination ($R^2$) ranged from 0.84 and 0.99 for all models, with most falling in the 0.94 to 0.99 range. The common sinusoidal pattern, peaking in mid-afternoon, demonstrates that all major categories of medical emergency dispatch types appear to be influenced by an underlying daily rhythm that is aligned with daylight hours and common sleep/wake cycles. A comparison of results with previous landmark studies revealed new and contrasting EMS patterns for several long-established peak occurrence hours--specifically for chest pain, heart problems, stroke, convulsions and seizures, and sudden cardiac arrest/death. Upon closer examination, we also found that heart attacks, diagnosed by paramedics in the field via 12-lead cardiac monitoring, followed the identified common daily pattern of a mid-afternoon peak, departing from prior generally accepted morning tendencies. Extended analysis revealed that the normative pattern prevailed across the NEMSIS data when re-organized to consider monthly, seasonal, daylight-savings vs civil time, and pre-/post- COVID-19 periods. The predictable daily EMS patterns provide impetus for more research that links daily variation with causal risk and protective factors. Our methods are straightforward and presented with detail to provide accessible and replicable implementation for researchers and practitioners.

"Old Ben": Ben Schwqartzwalder, College Football, And Social Change In Postwar America, Andrea Seroczynski

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

No abstract provided.

Demilitarization In Defense Of Black First Amendment Rights: A Comparative Policy Analysis, Hailey Williams

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

No abstract provided.

Parole Revocation As A Contributor To Mass Incarceration In New York And Texas: A Comparative Analysis, Elena Biglan

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

No abstract provided.

The Persistance Of Settler Colonialism In The Americas: The Political Thought Behind Colonization, Olivia Porter

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

No abstract provided.

At The Crossroads Of Culture: A Study Of Cultural Identity And The Interaction Between People And Place, Alesandra Temerte

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

No abstract provided.

What Makes Conversation Good? How Responsivity, Topics, And Insider Language Predict Feelings Of Connection, Emma M. Templeton

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

We spend our lives having conversations, and some inevitably go better than others. What happens in conversation that makes people feel connected? To explore this question, I recorded pairs of strangers and friends having unstructured conversations. In Chapter 1, I show that people who feel connected tend to respond quickly, creating short gaps between turns. However, long gaps are not necessarily bad. Although long gaps signal moments of disconnection and awkwardness for strangers, they mark moments of heightened connection for friends by providing space for enjoyment and mutual reflection. In Chapter 2, I examine how people start their conversations. Specifically, …

Preparing For The Future: A Collaborative Design For High-Quality Career And Technical Education Programming, Shannon Rodriguez

Education Theses and Dissertations

Educators in public education as faced with preparing students for college and career after high school graduation. The collaborative efforts of Career and Technical Education programming allows for the development of a high-quality program through exploring non-traditional teacher use goal setting and pedagogy provide a foundation of success for students.

Social Justice And The Structure Of The Litigation System, Yotam Kaplan, Ittai Paldor

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Engaged Alienation: Sotl, Inclusivity, And The Problem Of Integrity, Michael K. Potter, Jessica Raffoul

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) defines itself as an inclusive field of study, and scholars have long lauded its ability to engage academics from each and every discipline. Yet SoTL’s research culture has long been dominated by a narrow conception of social science. As a result, the lived experience of scholars from other disciplines, particularly the humanities, is one of engaged alienation. The borders created by SoTL’s research paradigm are invisible to those within and somewhat impenetrable to those who are othered by virtue of their disciplinary identities. This paper interrogates the contradictions between SoTL’s espoused values and …

Transgender And Gender Non-Conforming College Students’ Challenges, Supports, And Successes: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Jennifer R. Curry, Imre Csaszar, Tiffany Shierling

Journal of Higher Education & Student Affairs

We report findings from an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study of transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) participants’ perceptions of their on-campus experiences. Participants reported their lived experiences of campus culture in the Deep South. The data was viewed through a minority stress framework. Four major themes emerged: a) supports for students; b) barriers for students; c) undergoing personal change; and d) influencing systemic change.

The Environmental Democracy That Was, Then Wasn't, But Could Be Again, Daniel E. Walters

Faculty Scholarship

Over the 50 years since former EPA Administrator William D. Ruckelshaus wrote The Citizen and the Environmental Regulatory Process, much has changed. On the one hand, participation in environmental regulatory decisionmaking has flourished, but on the other, Ruckelshaus's prediction of growing consensus around the environmental movement has proven illusory. In this short essay reflecting on participation in environmental regulatory decisionmaking, I highlight what Ruckelshaus was right about and, just as importantly, where his vision of environmental participatory governance might need some updating. Looking back at the dawn of environmental democracy in the regulatory process and comparing it to the …

Pop Spiritualism: The Experience Of Superfandom, Samuel Goldberg

CMC Senior Theses

This ethnography will examine superfans of musical artists, specifically Lady Gaga and BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan or “Beyond the Scene”), to explore the nature of superfandom and the evolution of the parasocial relationship. To unpack this, I explore the research questions: For superfans of musical artists, what meaning do they find in their fandom? What kinds of experiences and behaviors does it stimulate?

This paper determines superfandom to be self-proclaimed, but the title generally applies to fans who invest heavily (in time or financially) in a particular artist or group, engage with that artist in a routine way, and have strong …

Gender Diversity In Private Equity: The Making Of A Deal, Trevor Anderson

CMC Senior Theses

This paper investigates the role of gender diversity and gender-based interactions on the following private equity deal characteristics: deal size, whether the investor is the lead investor in the round, and the number of employees (a proxy for the stage of the portfolio company). Inspired by past literature examining the impact of gender diversity on firm performance and risk-taking, this paper seeks to isolate where and when in the industry gender diversity has an impact. This paper utilizes the North America Private Equity Pitchbook dataset and the Gender-API name genderizor to classify lead partners and CEOs as male or female. …

Cruzando La Frontera: Examining Policies To Better Serve Work-Commuters On The U.S.- Mexico Border, Valentina Gonzalez

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explores the challenges of work-commuters living in Mexico yet working in American border cities. As the majority of work-commuters have limited educational backgrounds and limited English proficiency, workers are often restricted to low paying, onerous jobs in construction, landscaping, agriculture, and domestic work. However, there is a small percentage of workers in managerial and professional positions. Workers in these industries are at higher risk of experiencing occupational hazards and labor abuses, particularly because of the nature of these positions. Through the use of personal testimony and supporting data, this thesis will demonstrate the need for reform in immigration …

Portrait Of An Insecure Young Man; An Exploration Of The Online Propagation Of Mewing, Jamie Cockburn

CMC Senior Theses

As social media becomes more ubiquitous in our cultural existence as humans it plays an increasingly large role in the formation and expression of identity. On many social media platforms, the way people look is emphasized, with more attractive people garnering the most attention. This results in the phenomenon of upward social comparison, which leads to the lowering of self-esteem. Social media and the internet also enable the spread of information and ideologies, which has resulted in the propagation of pessimistic and misogynistic world views in in communities that make up the manosphere. One popular topic on the manosphere is …

Prosecuting Rape As Genocide: An Analysis Of The Legal Framework And Challenges In International Law, Anya Syed

CMC Senior Theses

Rape can be used to annihilate, control, and humiliate populations. Mass rape can have genocidal intent. Yet, thus far, the legal definition of genocide has failed to codify rape. These severe limitations in the definition of genocide create legal impunity and impede the rehabilitation of rape survivors. This failure also results in legal challenges, including the lack of basis to distinguish between rape during war and genocide. This paper seeks to provide readers with sufficient background to understand the legal challenges currently preventing the prosecution of rape as genocide. After presenting this information, the paper details past courts that have …

A Tale Of Two Cities: The Divergence Of Social Housing In Berlin And Vienna, Ben Eibl

CMC Senior Theses

The industrialization of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Berlin and Vienna led both cities to initiate a social housing program to create affordable housing for the masses moving into the cities. The cities share many characteristics and developed in similar directions at their early stages. Nevertheless, a century later, their social housing systems look far apart. While Vienna’s system continues to thrive and withstand pressures from the international and federal level, Berlin’s citizens showed their resentment towards housing in their city in a radical referendum demanding the expropriation of several real-estate companies. This thesis argues that we …