Digital Commons Network^™

Virtual Worlds: Social Interactions Among Online Gamers Through Voice Chat, Omar Bradley Ictech Ii

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Online gaming scholarship has rarely focused on the micro sociological aspects of virtual worlds as much of the research on online games is undertaken by psychologists and scholars in other fields. When a sociological lens is employed in analyzing social interactions that occur in virtual worlds, new understandings of social phenomena in virtual worlds can come to light. My research draws upon multiple sociological theories to make sense of data collect via in-depth interviews and participant observations in an attempt to understand how voice chat influences relationship formation and maintenance, gender relations among online gamers, and how online gamers use …

The Fear Of Missing Out Phenomenon And Belongingness In Secondary Students, Minnie Mcbride

Education | Master's Theses

In the networks of student lives and the pervasive presence of social media in their lives, there is an increasingly important need to understand the dynamics that affect students’ well being and availability to being present with learning. This qualitative study sought to understand how FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), defined as “a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent” (Przybylski et. al, 2013, p. 1841), impacts students of color at one independent secondary school in Northern California and has been documented as having an impact on learning, health, and safety. The researcher …

The Complex Relationship Between Jews And African Americans In The Context Of The Civil Rights Movement, Hannah Labovitz

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

The Civil Rights Movement occurred throughout a substantial portion of the twentieth century, dedicated to fighting for equal rights for African Americans through various forms of activism. The movement had a profound impact on a number of different communities in the United States and around the world as demonstrated by the continued international attention marked by recent iterations of the Black Lives Matter and ‘Never Again’ movements. One community that had a complex reaction to the movement, played a major role within it, and was impacted by it was the American Jewish community. The African American community and the Jewish …

Incipient Fascism: Black Radical Perspectives, Alberto Toscano

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

The sordid twilight of the Trump presidency raised the stakes of the debate on fascism. While much of the discussion has been magnetised by the legitimacy of analogies with the 1930s, this article argues that a rich and complex tradition of Black radical critique of right-wing authoritarianism provides a vital resource for thinking through the problem of US fascism beyond analogy – beginning with the DuBoisian insight that a racial fascism forged by chattel slavery and settler-colonialism anticipated the ascendancy of European fascisms. The article homes in on Black radical theories of fascism developed in the wake of the movements …

Authoritarianism And Ideology, Asad Haider

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In “Authoritarianism and Ideology,” Asad Haider approaches the problem of authoritarianism by considering the classical question of tyranny, as framed by Spinoza, and how this can be traced to the Marxist theory of ideology. A fundamental axis of the debate over ideology in twentieth century Marxism was the phenomenon of fascism, theorized in highly influential but also markedly different ways by figures like Wilhelm Reich and Theodor Adorno. A close reading of two major texts—Reich's Mass Psychology of Fascism and Adorno's contributions to The Authoritarian Personality—provides a basis for conceptually elaborating different directions that can be taken in the study …

Vaccine Forum Syllabus, Lynda Coon

Vaccine Course

This forum zooms in on the race to develop a vaccine for the COVID-19 Coronavirus through a diversity of academic and professional disciplines: medicine, medical history, sociology, statistics, social media studies, public health, immunology, political science, industrial engineering, supply chain management, and chemical engineering. In so doing, the forum’s instructors situate the COVID-19 vaccine within a broader narrative of the science of immunization, the history of vaccines, the social and economic inequalities produced by deploying a vaccine, and the challenges presented to the global supply chain.

Right! From The Start: Improving Maternal-Child Health In The Mississippi Delta, John J. Green, Elizabeth Young Sweeney

Delta Directions: Publications

Right! From the Start (R!FTS) was created nearly ten years ago as a collaborative effort between Women and Children Health Initiatives, Inc. and the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF). The immediate goal of the initiative was to raise breastfeeding rates for mothers and babies in vulnerable families, especially those with preterm and low weight births. A long-term goal was improvement of maternal and child health outcomes in a region plagued by socioeconomic and racial disparities, the Mississippi Delta. R!FTS has gone through three distinct phases of development, which are detailed in this …

Library Leads, Spring 2021, Issue 20, University Of The Pacific Libraries

Library Leads

Contents:

• Introduction
• DEI Audit Update
• Discovery Services & Scholarly Commons: Usage Statistics
• Grants
• The Cube Projects
• Did You Know?
• Open Educational Resources Updates
• Stats
• Presentations
• Pet(s) of the Issue

Home Unchained: A Night Of Devised Theatre

Theatre Programs

No abstract provided.

College Faculty In The News: May 10, 2021, University Of Dayton

College of Arts and Sciences Newsroom

News agencies across the region, the nation and throughout the world often reach out to our faculty experts for their perspectives on today's issues. This media coverage highlights the service, research and scholarship taking place in the College of Arts and Sciences. Find links to a number of recent stories below.

Forum 1: Social Inequality, Justice, And Vaccine Intent And Distribution In The United States, Grant Drawve, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Casey Harris

Vaccine Course

The key issues for the distribution of the COVID vaccine are shared. These issues include funding, racial and ethnic disparities, supply and logistics, communication and trust, federal, state and local roles, and coverage and costs.

7.6 Million Fewer Births And Still Counting, Kenneth M. Johnson

Carsey Publications

In this data snapshot, author Kenneth Johnson reports that new data for 2020 show a 3.8 percent decline in births since 2019 and the fewest since 1979. There were 16.5 percent fewer births last year than in 2007, just before the Great Recession began to influence births. The cumulative effect of this sustained decline in births means over 7.6 million fewer babies were born in the last 13 years than might have been expected. This is unlikely to change in the short-term because of the pandemic’s adverse impact on fertility.

A critical long-term question is: how many births are being …

(Un)Becoming Human: The Systemic Exclusion Of Transgender/Gender Nonconforming/Nonbinary Individuals Through Hegemonic Conceptions Of Personhood, Lucy Sloan

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this essay, I explore the issue of transgender/nonbinary/gender nonconforming (henceforth referred to as TNBGNC) oppression and exclusion through a philosophical lens. To do so, I use the notion of personhood. I ask the question: How are TNBGNC individuals excluded from personhood and its associated rights? To be a person is the first qualification for rights such as political involvement and social inclusion. I argue that societal conceptions of personhood are rooted in the gender binary, and that sexual difference and gender performance are essential for recognition as a person worthy of such rights. Therefore, TNBGNC oppression and exclusion is …

Mutual Aid As Spiritual Tacit Knowledge Within Doukhobor Epistemology, Rachel L. Neubuhr Torres

University Honors Theses

The relationship between Michael Polanyi’s concept of tacit knowledge and religion is a topic that is rarely explored. Applying tacit knowledge to the study of religion and spirituality allows us to think about how we connect with the world and how we address the concern of what one feels to be true of their existence, or existential intuition. In the latter half of the 1800s the Russian prince turned anarchist, Peter Kropotkin, wrote extensively on the theory of mutually beneficial cooperation, or mutual aid, as being one of the most important factors of evolution. As Kropotkin began writing his series …

Clash Of Titans: An Ethical Framework Towards Limitations In Religious Accommodation Within Healthcare, Yoelit Lipinsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In late October 2017, a young Canadian Jewish man was at the center of a storm that involved ethics, religion, law and policy He had been unconscious for a month and doctors deemed him brain dead. The Jewish community, and his family, wished to keep him on life support, since their religion did not consider brain death to be ‘death.’ This clash between medical and religious perspectives poignantly illustrates the unique and growing challenges posed by religious observance in Canada’s secular healthcare system. A similar story is found in America. In December 2019, a story was published demonstrating fears that …

Spending Floors In Gifted Education Services, Jaret Hodges, Jessica Ottwein

The Rural Educator

For nearly two decades, the state of Texas mandated gifted education services and provided funding to public school districts. One policy that was unique to the state is the mandatory minimum spending. This research examines how these mandatory minimum spending floors influence spending in public school districts within the state and how that influence varies across locales. Our findings provide evidence that rural public school districts in Texas were more likely to operate near to the mandatory state minimum spending for gifted education than non-rural public school districts. In particular, rural public school districts allocated 50% of the funds towards …

#Black Boy Joy: The College Aspirations Of Rural Black Male Students, Loni Crumb, Crystal R. Chambers, Jessica Chittum

The Rural Educator

Too often research on Black boys emanate from deficit orientations and take a problem centered approach which overemphasizes stereotypes or pathologizes Black male students, overlooking their aspirations and successes. Utilizing the High School Longitudinal Survey of 2009 (HSLS: 09), we examine the postsecondary goals of Black male ninth graders as well as the relationships among their educational aspirations, college knowledge, and supportive school personnel using Community Cultural Wealth as the conceptual framework. We found that the educational aspirations of Black male ninth graders are high; however, their knowledge of college falls short of their educational aspirations and their relationships with …

Toward An Understanding Of Student Agency Within Institutional Dis/Ableism: A Critical Phenomenological Study, Shalinie Sarju

Theses & Dissertations

Students classified with dis/abilities and situated in segregated special classes learn in a system of compulsory able-bodiedness. Peripheralized school high students in special classes experience marginalization and oppression leading to poor academic and postschool outcomes. This critical phenomenological study sought to investigate the lived agentic experiences of high school students classified with dis/abilities and placed in a special class for educational instruction during distance learning and in-person school. To gain deeper insight into students as actors in their learning environment, it was necessary to examine the forms of capital that students harnessed toward their agency. Five high school students in …

Synesthetic Perception: Exploring The Senses Of A Synesthete Through Theatrical Art-Wear, Makenna Trujillo

Honors College Theses

The neurological condition known as Synesthesia is a condition that changes the way that the world is perceived for the affected individual. Altering the brain’s interpretations of sensory input means that when one sense is triggered, it can create a neuro-domino effect and trigger an otherwise completely unrelated sense. It comes in many forms, and no two are exactly alike. While there is a possibility of two Synesthetes having the same trigger and response senses, Synesthesia is so unpredictable that it is nearly impossible for two synesthetes to have the exact same experience. In this work, the researcher possesses a …

Art And Empathy: Self Discovery In A Dark Forest, Younser Lee

Graduate School of Art Theses

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 40 million people report feelings of depression, anxiety, and stress as the world moves at an increasingly rapid pace and faces unprecedented challenges. However, many ignore these negative thoughts and fail to acknowledge them as a serious issue. My art, which shares my own experiences, creates safe, cathartic places for viewers to think about their own emotional experiences. Crucial to this process is my use of daily objects and the creation of individualized, participatory, and multisensory experiences.

My art relates to daily life and the negative emotions that we experience daily. I …

Same Work But Different Pay: Gender Inequality In The Professional Sports Industry, Alyssa R. Burt

Culture, Society, and Praxis

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of the media representation and pay that women receive in the professional sports industry. While women face several challenges in the workforce, this paper specifically focuses on pay inequality. Different from previously done literature, this piece will be concentrating on how this issue is perceived by female college athletes. To understand their perspectives, I conducted two interviews with college softball players. From the data collected, it can be argued that the lack of media representation for female athletes has an impact on their received pay. Despite women’s successes, they typically get overlooked due to …

Changes And Challenges: Protests Amid A Pandemic, Claire Guittard

Culture, Society, and Praxis

In the time of a global pandemic, it is important to understand the tactics used by social movements to adjust to an entirely new environment. This research paper covers the way that the University of California, Santa Cruz COLA strike changed from using wildcat tactics to becoming a ULP strike while mobilizing entirely online. I first reviewed literature on social movement tactics and framing. Then, I analyzed COLA strike-related social media, including their website, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. I found that the pandemic had shaped the tactics used by the movement by utilizing union support to protect those fired …

Investigating Academic Pressures On The Children Of Immigrants, Michelle S. Murphy

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Immigration is a hot button issue in US society, and has been for a while now. Starting with the wave of Irish immigrants in 1815, immigrants were not necessarily greeted with open arms (History.com Editors. 2018). Throughout history, excluding immigrants and treating them poorly became a pattern. This includes the Chinese Exclusion Act, and the quota system placed into action in 1924 (History.com Editors. 2018). Immigrants have always been resisted by American society and treated accordingly.

This resistance against immigrants has only grown since the 2016 Presidential election. Immigrants and their families have been stereotyped as uneducated and who “steal …

Metasynthesis Regarding The Sociocultural Adaptation Of International University, Astrid Vanessa Sarmiento Quiñones, Claudio Enrique Bustos, María Victoria Pérez, Diana Lucía Peralta, Natalia Zañartu, Jorge Iván Vergara Del Solar

The Qualitative Report

This study centers on the sociocultural adaptation experience of international students in academic life and daily life. Responses to the guiding question of what differences and similarities are discernible in the sociocultural adaptation processes that international university students experience in the university versus outside university in the receiving society. It presents a metasynthesis of 12 empirical studies that apply qualitative methodologies to the study of international university students’ sociocultural adaptation, which were published in scientific journals indexed in Ebscohost, WOS and Scopus from January 2012 to March 2019. The metasynthesis results indicate that sociocultural adaption involves: (1) situations of shock …

The Soft-Shoe And Shuffle Of Law School Hiring Committee Practices, Carliss N. Chatman, Najarian R. Peters

Scholarly Articles

It is in the spirit of Ida B. Wells that we seek to turn the light upon the systemic racism of hiring practices. We believe these practices are indicators of the systemic failures on campuses and in workplaces that prevent them from being antiracist. We seek to use this Essay as a “tool for exposing, analyzing, and challenging the majoritarian stories of racial privilege.”

Our specifc intention is to recognize the largely performative nature of claiming to be committed to an idea while substantively and concretely ensuring the opposite. This Essay is written with specific experiences, patterns, and practices in …

South Dakota State University One Hundred Thirty-Fifth Commencement Ceremonies, May 8-9, 2021, Brookings, South Dakota, South Dakota State University

Commencement Programs

Please note: The names listed in the program are not official confirmation of meeting the graduation requirements. Commencement for the 135th Commencement at South Dakota State University consists of morning and afternoon ceremonies on May 8th and May 9th. Each program will commence with introductions by University President Barry H. Dunn. Dennis D. Hedge, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs will acknowledge student honors and Lt. Col. Jason A. Haufschild, Air Force ROTC, and Lt. Col. Jason W. Kettwig, Army ROTC, recognizing Army and Air Force commissions for each ceremony. The SATURDAY MORNING ceremony (page 7) will mark the …

Propaganda Or Persuasion: A Multisite Case Study Analysis Of The Impact Of Museum Communications On American Public Trust, Devon Anna Mancini

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

According to the Edelman Trust Barometer (2021), public trust in information sources has drastically decreased in America, except for museums. Since museums have historically spread propaganda through their communications, this multisite case study analysis of three American museums, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Creation Museum, investigated how museum propaganda impacts public trust. After examining Twitter posts and responses to the three cases, findings showed that even when museums did not intentionally spread propaganda, audience interpretations still led to a fracturing of trust. Recommendations for the field were …

Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Benefit To Climate-Displaced And Host Communities, Gül Aktürk, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Climate change is borderless, and its impacts are not shared equally by all communities. It causes an imbalance between people by creating a more desirable living environment for some societies while erasing settlements and shelters of some others. Due to floods, sea level rise, destructive storms, drought, and slow-onset factors such as salinization of water and soil, people lose their lands, homes, and natural resources. Catastrophic events force people to move voluntarily or involuntarily. The relocation of communities is a debatable climate adaptation measure which requires utmost care with human rights, ethics, and psychological well-being of individuals upon the issues …

University Of Mississippi 167th Commencement, Class Of 2020, University Of Mississippi, Glenn F. Boyce, Noel E. Wilkin, Patrick Willis

Commencement Programs

Because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Commencement Events for the Class of 2020 were postponed until May 2021. Convocation was held in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Hollingsworth Field.

Pornography, The Lgbtq+ Community, And The Queer Alternative, Rebekah Gredler

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Pornography is a complicated and controversial topic. Much has been said about how porn may or may not affect individuals, but very little has been done in the academic community on how pornography affects the LGBTQ+ community. In debates of censorship and regulation of porn, their voices are often ignored in public debate in favor of straight, feminist, or puritanical, religious discourses. This is problematic because pornography, particularly queer pornography, has done much for the evolution and self-affirmation of the LGBTQ+ community. It would be remiss if such positive effects of such a controversial exploit were to go unacknowledged. In …