Digital Commons Network^™

Stages Of Being Foreign As Portrayed In Daughter Of Keltoum And Lost Birds, Fran Hassencahl

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

In this paper, I use the intercultural communication model, The Stages of Being Foreign, developed by anthropologist Oberg (1960) and modified by Gullahorn & Gullahorn (1963), Lewis & Jungman (1986), and Ward, Bochner, and Furnham (2001) to explain the experience of culture shock. This model describes the stages that individuals experience when they leave, either voluntarily or involuntarily, their home country/culture and must adapt to a new culture. These stages as described by Oberg are a preliminary stage (a spectator stage), an increasing participation stage, the pit of the culture shock stage, the adaptation stage, and for some migrants a …

A Phenomenological Analysis Of Sense Of Belonging Among Community College Educators, Muhammad Owais Aziz

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

This phenomenological study explored the complex phenomenon of sense of belonging (SB) among diverse health professions educators (HPEs) and non-health professions educators (non-HPEs) at a Canadian community college. SB, as a dynamic construct shaped by an individual's perception of being valued and respected, is influenced by personal preferences and by complex interactions with the individual's surroundings. To better understand SB and foster a more inclusive environment for diverse educators, it is necessary to investigate SB among these educators. This qualitative study used eleven semi-structured interviews and seven steps of data analysis. The results of this study can inform strategies, policies, …

Pathways, Outputs And Impact Of Nih-Supported Bioinformatics And Genomics Graduate Trainees In Africa, Daudi Jjingo, Andrew Walakira, Suhaila Hashim, Cisse Cheickna, Ronald Galiwango, Caleb Kibet, Florence N. Kivunike, Gerald Mboowa, Fredrick Elishama Kakembo, Babajide Ayodele, Jean Baka Domelevo Entfellner, Santie De Villiers, Karen Wambui, Segun Fatumo, Tinashe Chikowore, John Mukisa, Alfred Ssekagiri, Nicholas Bbosa, Julius Mulindwa, Samuel Kyobe, Mike Nsubuga, Grace Kebirungi, Eric Katagirya, Savannah Mwesigwa, Ibra Lujumba, Rogers Kamulegeya, Samuel Kirimunda, Stephen Kanyerezi, Shahiid Kiyaga, Ivan Sserwadda, Davis Kiberu, Daniel Masiga

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Global biomedical and health research is increasingly relying on genomic and computational approaches, largely driven by the increasing volumes of nucleic acid sequencing. Concurrently, epidemiological studies and clinical records are generating enormous amounts of data amenable to disease modeling, machine learning, and artificial intelligence techniques. Bioinformatics and data science expertise is therefore essential for improved population health. Accordingly, in 2012, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in partnership with the Wellcome Trust, and with support from the African Society for Human Genetics, initiated the H3Africa (Human Heredity and Health in Africa) consortium. One of its key goals was to …

Musicking In The Greek Diaspora Of Perth, Western Australia, Alix Simatos

Theses : Honours

This research investigates music making among second- and third-generation Greek Australians in the diaspora community of Perth, Western Australia. It explores how musical practices serve as a medium for expressing and negotiating Greek identity, with particular attention to how multiculturalism is embodied through music education, performance and communal exchange. Fieldwork was conducted in Perth between July and September 2025, using a methodology that included semi-structured interviews, participant observation and experiential learning through musical events. The findings highlight music’s significance in sustaining cultural heritage and shaping identity within diaspora communities. Key themes include the influence of physical and digital media on …

Waterborne, Theresa Ann Wilks

Theses : Honours

Waterborne incorporates four eco-Gothic fiction narratives that, through a practice-led enquiry, examine how drawing upon the abject, by employing the Gothic tropes of violence and captivity within Australian settings, may be positioned to foreground environmental impacts from anthropocentrism, particularly upon bodies of water. Utilising eco-Gothic settings in water locations exhibiting ecological damage, from land clearing and water management practices, the fictional narratives may also highlight the physical, social and emotional impacts of adverse environmental change upon ourselves.

“High Tea and Acquisitions” followed time immersed at a freshwater lake that is choked with introduced weeds and becoming shallow with sediment. It …

A Comparative Case Study Of Esg Integration Strategies In Hong Kong Region Using The Cepar Methodology, Xiaoying Lu, Xiaofang Liu, Chi Him, Alpha Tsang, Juan Zhang, Yuxi Chen

Department of Construction, Environment and Engineering

This study adopts the five-stage CEPAR (Challenge, Evaluation, Planning, Action, Review) methodology to conduct a comparative case analysis of ESG integration strategies across five key sectors (Real Estate, Financial Services, Technology, Logistics, and Retail) in Hong Kong region, based on simulated data of 15 enterprises. It explores sectoral differences in ESG implementation maturity, operational practices, developmental barriers, and alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The results reveal significant cross-sector maturity disparities: Financial Services ranks the highest (84.4/100) with robust evaluation and review mechanisms, followed by Technology (82.0), Retail (77.4), and Real Estate (73.2), while Logistics scores the lowest …

Optical Fiber Identification Via 2-D Rayleigh Backscattering Fingerprints, Huan Wu, Fang Zheng, Youqian Zhang, Chao Lu

Department of Construction, Environment and Engineering

We propose an image-assisted optical fiber identification method that exploits the unclonable Rayleigh backscattering signatures measured by optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR). A two-dimensional binary optical fiber identifier (OFID), analogous to a digital fingerprint image, is derived from the Rayleigh backscattering spectrum (RBS) matrix, enabling identification when combined with structure similarity index measure (SSIM). Experiments show that the proposed scheme offers 109% improvement in robustness over conventional one-dimensional local-RBS matching, while reducing data storage from 0.98 MB to 39.6 kB per measurement. A systematic analysis of OFDR parameters reveals that identification accuracy is maximized at a spatial resolution of approximately 3 …

Navigating Liminality: Building Resources For And With Undocumented Students, Yaneyry Delfin Martinez

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Rooted in Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and Liberation Sociology, this project outlines an institutional blueprint for the resources and support systems needed to address the lived realities of undocumented students at Cal Poly Humboldt (CPH). Conducted during the second Trump Administration amidst escalating hostility towards immigrants and attacks on DEI initiatives, this work documents both the structural conditions shaping undocumented students’ lives and the collective resistance that emerged in response. Furthermore, it examines how immigration policy, access to and restrictions on federal and state aid, geographic conditions, and on-campus barriers reproduce and maintain legal liminality within higher education. Grounded in …

Reclaiming Presence: An Anthropological Study Of Digital Disconnection And Meaning-Making, Leslie De Paz

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Human attention is increasingly at risk in an unregulated digital ecosystem where overconsumption shapes neurological function, social interaction, and the ways people make meaning of everyday life. Dominant discourse around digital overuse tends to medicalize the problem, framing it as individual addiction or clinical dysfunction. In this thesis, I argue that such framing obscures what a cultural phenomenon is fundamentally, one in which people are actively questioning their relationship with technology, building awareness, and developing practices that help them slow down and reclaim agency within algorithmically mediated environments. This study draws on 22 semi-structured interviews with Gen Z and millennial …

Don’T Give The Fae Your Name: Focus Of Attention And Victim Blaming, Entropy Cramer

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Victim-blaming is thought to be a result of the fundamental attributional error, where people over-emphasize internal attributions about the victim. Despite this, there is little literature on manipulating the focus of attention and the result for victim-blaming. People who are high in rape myth acceptance tend to visually focus on the victims longer (Süssenbach et al., 2015). Rempala and Bernieri (2005) found that adding irrelevant information, such as height and weight, to the trial about the victim increased victim-blaming compared to when it was absent. The current study investigated if relevant information about the victim and perpetrator changed the amount …

Integrating Human Rights Into State And Federal Court Litigation, Lauren E. Bartlett

All Faculty Scholarship

Human rights have never been more important in the United States as they are today. After more than 10 years of dormancy, the seminal work that guides public interest attorneys in incorporating human rights work has been finally updated. The Human Rights in the U.S. Handbook for Public Interest Attorneys is a handbook that provides practical direction to public interest attorneys, including clinical law teachers, legal aid attorneys, public defenders, and others, on how to use human rights in their everyday work. The Handbook invaluably advises attorneys on best practices for using human rights arguments before U.S. state and federal …

Inspiring Voices: The Impact Of Poetry Education, Nancy Aide Gonzalez St.Clair

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Poetry education is frequently viewed as an enrichment activity rather than a critical practice that supports academic, emotional, and social development. This qualitative exploratory case study examined how participation in a nonprofit creative writing program in northern California influenced the cognitive development, emotional well-being, communication skills, empathy, and perspective taking of young adults. The study was guided by constructivism, radical constructivism, and symbolic interactionism. It centered on the lived experiences of six poetry program alumni aged 18 to 25. The researcher collected data through semi-structured Zoom interviews and poetry portfolios containing three poems selected by each participant. I used inductive …

Toward A Transformative Church: The Role Of Elders In Church Growth In The Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Brian Kwalela Mungandi

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study addressed the need for a transformational leadership strategy that engages elders in membership retention and church growth for a Seventh-day Adventist Church. This mixed-method study aimed to identify factors contributing to declining membership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, with the goal of informing strategies for improved member retention and potential church growth. A survey involving 30 active members was administered to gather insights into the target church’s profile. Additionally, interviews were conducted with 18 elders across four churches to evaluate leadership perspectives concerning membership retention and church growth. These data sources offered a snapshot of the target church's …

History Of The Chicago Labor Movement By Jacob Winnen, Translated And Edited By John B. Jentz, Jacob Winnen, John Jentz

Library Faculty Research and Publications

This work is a primary source document for a history of Chicago labor in the late nineteenth century, rather than a history itself, despite its title.  It was written by a German construction carpenter and Socialist living in Chicago, who was from the mid Rhine Valley of Germany in the vicinity of Wuppertal, an area noted for labor activism.  He arrived in 1872 to work in the reconstruction of the city after the Great Fire of October 1871, when he was twenty-seven years old.  His carpentry stills included stair-building; and he belonged to a stair-builder’s union local, severing as president …

The Future Of Crypto-Asset Regulation Under Wto Law, Ines Willemyns

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

No abstract provided.

Uncharted Waters: Barriers To Ocean Carbon Removal In The High Seas Under Unclos And The Bbnj, Connor Stevens

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

No abstract provided.

"Donald Trump Is Definitely Fucking Satan": South Park, Media Satire, And Shifting Frames Of Acceptance And Rejection For Two Trump Presidencies, Matt Foy

Iowa Journal of Communication

In light of evolving questions of the role and efficacy of political humor in addressing the exigency of a second Donald Trump presidency, this study analyzes two extended satirical story arcs critical of Trump and MAGA from award-winning adult animated comedy South Park. The study utilizes three of Kenneth Burke’s rhetorical frames of acceptance and rejection (comedy, tragedy, and burlesque) to contrast South Park’s two most substantive satirical statements on Trump and MAGA: Season 19 and 20’s comparatively humane and introspective satire on Trump’s 2015-16 candidacy and Season 27-28’s dehumanizing mockery of Trump’s ongoing second presidency (2025-). The analysis suggests …

Reproducing Audiovisual And Representational Dissonance: Translating Foreign Telenovela Into Twinovela, Nancy A. Frimpong

Iowa Journal of Communication

This article examines the production processes and cultural implications of adapting foreign telenovelas into "Twinovela"— serialized foreign dramas dubbed into Akan—on Ghanaian television. Focusing on Adom TV and United Television (UTV), the study explores how dubbing practices challenge traditional notions of indigenous media by merging global and local cultural narratives. Using ethnographic research methods, including interviews, participant observation, and institutional discourses, the analysis delves into recruitment strategies, translational practices, and the creative process of dubbing. The study highlights the sociocultural dynamics of Akan language use, the role of linguistic norms, and the integration of Ghanaian cultural motifs to ensure audience …

A Comprehensive Overview Of Neurophysiological Correlates Of Cognitive Impairment In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Seyyed Bahram Borgheai, Brie E. Achorn, Alyssa H. Zisk, Sarah M. Hosni, Karl E. G. Richter, Frank S. Menniti, Yalda Shahriari

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that leads to the gradual loss of motor control, typically resulting in paralysis and death within 3 to 5 years of diagnosis. ALS shares neuropathological and genetic associations with fronto-temporal dementia (FTD), a neurodegenerative condition primarily impacting cognitive functions. These two conditions are increasingly viewed as manifestations of a single molecular disease process that affects distinct brain systems, impacting motor neuronal pathways in ALS and fronto-cortical functions in FTD. However, this simple dichotomy belies the complexity of these conditions. In particular, patients with primary motor ALS can also experience significant cognitive …

Quantum Machine Learning Models: Principles, Frameworks, And Computational Challenges, K. A. Jayabalaji, S. Venkata Anand, Dineshkumar Rajendran, Prasanta Chatterjee Biswas, Sardor Omonov, Rubaid Ashfaq

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Quantum machine learning (QML) has become an optimistic avenue of harnessing quantum computation in data-driven modeling, especially of issues with high dimensionality and complicated correlations. Current methods are generally based on fixed or over-parameterized quantum circuits, and hence restricted to scalability as well as unproductive optimization in real-world hardware. This chapter introduces a hybrid quantum-classical learning system that is adaptive and provides principled quantum data encoding, architecture-conscious variational circuit design and resource-optimal optimization. The technique is based on the concepts of quantum architecture search and subspace-preserving transformations to trade expressiveness with trainability, and discretize the quantum model into a classical …

The Privacy Paradox Of Llms: User Perceptions And The Reality Of Pii Leakage, Shuai Cheng, Haitao Xu, Shu Meng, Shuai Hao, Chuan Yue, Zhao Li

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly deployed, yet they introduce significant privacy risks by disclosing personally identifiable information (PII) during interactions. Although prior work has demonstrated the feasibility of extracting PII from LLMs, no comprehensive study has evaluated the actual extent of PII leakage across mainstream LLMs or investigated user perceptions, literacy, and behavioral responses to these risks. To address these gaps, we conduct a large-scale evaluation of PII leakage in popular LLMs, demonstrating that attackers can extract email addresses and phone numbers with high success rates. Through a mixed-methods study involving 20 interviews and 204 survey participants, we identify …

Biosecure-Llm Framework: Protecting Llms From Cyberbiosecurity Threats And The Case For Independent Ai Safety Governance, Xavier-Lewis Palmer, Lucas Potter, Srdjan Lesaja, Sotirios Karathanasis, Mohammad Ghasemigol

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Large Language Models (LLMs) are becoming critical infrastructure in scientific, healthcare, and governmental contexts. As frontier AI laboratories increasingly partner with government agencies, a fundamental question arises: Who should control the safety and policy-enforcement layers that constrain model behavior? Current safety mechanisms (LLM guardrails) are typically designed for generic "harmlessness" and operate by detecting semantic patterns and refusing requests. However, they are inadequate governance instruments because they cannot implement auditable, domain-specific controls tied to external regulatory policy objects (e.g., control lists or rules governing personally identifying information). Even a perfectly aligned model is not able to express institution-specific policy without …

Variational Autoencoder Inverse Mapper For Extraction Of Compton Form Factors: Benchmarks And Conditional Learning, Douglas Adams, Md Fayaz Bin Hossen, Joshua Bautista, Gia-Wei Chern, Simonetta Liuti, Marie Boër, Marija Čuić, Michael Engelhardt, Gary R. Goldstein, Huey-Wen Lin, Yaohang Li

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Deeply virtual exclusive scattering processes (DVES) serve as precise probes of nucleon quark and gluon distributions in coordinate space. These distributions are derived from generalized parton distributions (GPDs) via Fourier transform relative to proton momentum transfer. QCD factorization theorems enable DVES to be parameterized by Compton form factors (CFFs), which are convolutions of GPDs with perturbatively calculable kernels. Accurate extraction of CFFs from DVCS, benefiting from interference with the Bethe–Heitler (BH) process and a simpler final state structure, is essential for inferring GPDs. This paper focuses on extracting CFFs from DVCS data using a variational autoencoder inverse mapper (VAIM) and …

Open Scholarly Information Systems: Status Quo, Challenges, Opportunities, Hannah Bast, Guillaume Cabanac, Paolo Manghi, Jian Wu, Marcel R. Ackermann

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Over the past 30 years, a rich ecosystem of scholarly information systems has developed that openly provide their services to the scientific community. These systems include aggregators of bibliographic metadata (e.g., DBLP, OpenCitations, OpenAIRE Graph, OpenAlex, ORKG, Semantic Scholar, CiteSeerX, and CORE); publication, data, and software repositories (e.g., Arxiv.org, Figshare, Zenodo, Software Heritage, and Dataverse); and PID authorities (e.g., ORCID, ROR, Crossref, and DataCite). This interdisciplinary Dagstuhl Seminar "Open Scholarly Information Systems: Status Quo, Challenges, Opportunities" (25381) was the first of its kind to bring together practitioners from this ecosystem, as well as researchers investigating related questions or relying on …

Exploit Machina, Andrea Matwyshyn

Faculty Scholarship

Over half a century ago, Hannah Arendt cautioned us to “think what we are doing” when we build new technologies. Engaging with her counsel and a set of historical case studies, this Article frames what it calls exploit machina problems. Exploit machina refers to situations where broken technologies and broken governance combine to irreparably harm the public. In other words, exploit machina involves organizational choices to knowingly leverage technology as part of legally problematic conduct, including various forms of fraud. In the language of data science, exploit machina situations implicate strategic decisions in building and managing artificial intelligence (AI); they …

Neuro-Advocacy: Harmonizing Persuasion With The Operation Of The Brain, Gary Gildin

Faculty Scholarship

The most significant contemporary advances in effective courtroom advocacy will emerge from what on the surface is an unlikely source: neuroscience. Revolutionary advances in technology for the first time allow us to see how the human brain makes decisions. The findings are wholly inconsistent with how the trial process presupposes the finder of fact will perceive and use information delivered by lawyers and witnesses. Consequently, lawyers seeking to persuade jurors (and judges) must reframe their advocacy to align with what we have learned about how the minds of these decision-makers will receive testimony and argument and use these inputs to …

George White Family Papers - Accession 1900, White Family

Manuscript Collection

This collection consists of bound volumes, family Bibles, lecture and financial notebooks, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, magazines, publications, and memorabilia collected or owned by members of the White family and related families. The White family, descendants of George Pendleton and Ann Hutchinson White, was among the founding families of Rock Hill, South Carolina, and played a significant role in the development and history of the community. The family’s historical presence in Rock Hill is also reflected in the White Home, one of the early homes constructed in the city and now a local historic attraction, and White Street in downtown Rock …

Crypto Exchanges In Market Regulation, Yesha Yadav

Vanderbilt Law Review

The cryptocurrency market has proven notoriously challenging to regulate despite a decade during which it has gained in economic size, sophistication, and cultural impact. Even as repeated crises have left ordinary savers wiped out, regulation has shown itself to be woefully absent as a means of mitigating risks ex ante or helping cover the cost of damage ex post. This Article looks to break this deadlock by proposing a tried-and-tested solution: It argues that regulators should task crypto exchanges with providing oversight as self-regulatory organizations of the crypto market in which they play an anchoring role. It offers three supporting …

A Direct Path Should Be Easy To Follow: Reframing The “Direct Effect” Test For Jurisdictional Immunity Under The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, Greggory Cashmark

Vanderbilt Law Review

As sovereign nations become more involved in international commercial dealings, it becomes more important to establish a reliable and stable framework for resolving disputes with foreign sovereigns. The FSIA is the result of a long historical trend towards establishing that framework. While the FSIA is a step in the right direction, there are a number of interpretive questions regarding where it places the boundaries of a court's jurisdiction over foreign sovereign activity. While these questions remain open and while courts continue to find reasons to keep them open, they undermine the principal purpose of the FSIA: predictability. There is no …

Presidential Immunity: Before And After Trump, Thomas P. Schmidt

Vanderbilt Law Review

'All the officers of government," the Supreme Court said long ago, "from the highest to the lowest, are creatures of the law, and are bound to obey it." Despite that ringing and categorical language, however, the Court has held that the President-the "highest" and most powerful of all government officers-is "immune" from judicial oversight in several respects. Indeed, when the Court held last Term that former presidents are presumptively immune from criminal prosecution for officials acts, the dissenters warned: '`n every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law."

This Article unpacks the various presidential …