Digital Commons Network^™

Modulating Oran Nitrate-Reducing Bacteria To Enhance Nitric Oxide Bioavailability As A Therapeutic Target For Atherosclerosis, Donovan C. Davidson

CMC Senior Theses

Atherosclerosis remains the primary driver of global cardiovascular disease, yet clinical interventions are largely restricted to high-cost, invasive procedures only after it has reached a critical stage. Recent research has identified a connection between the oral microbiome and vascular health via the enterosalivary nitrate-nitrite-nitic oxide (NO) pathway. Oral nitrate-reducing bacteria (ONRB) drive the synthesization of NO by reducing dietary nitrate into nitrite, which is then converted into bioavailable NO. NO is a potent vasodilator that maintains endothelial health by suppressing inflammation through inhibiting the expression of adhesion molecules VCAM-1 and ICAM-1. However, this pathway is easily compromised by dysbiotic oral …

Not Biological, But Built: Structural And Metabolic Pathways Driving Black Maternal Health Disparities In The United States, Alexandra I. Umegboh

CMC Senior Theses

Black infants in the United States are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday than white infants, a disparity often attributed to genetics, behavior, or individual health choices. However, this idea is challenged by a key contradiction: African immigrant women consistently experience better birth outcomes than U.S.-born Black women despite being similarly racialized. This thesis investigates the origins of this reproductive advantage and the factors contributing to its decline over time. By drawing on epidemiological data, metabolic health research, and literature on African diasporic healing traditions, it argues that the “healthy immigrant effect” is not biological, …

Balancing The Scales Of Justice: The Unconstitutionality Of Marital Rape In India, Pallavi Raju

CMC Senior Theses

Marital rape remains an unpunished crime in India, despite decades of dispute and litigation. This thesis explores the question of why the state continues to retain the marital rape exception within the Indian criminal code, even though it commits to combat gender based violence in other areas of justice. The research begins with a broader understanding of privatization of women’s rights in the international sphere and culturally sanctioned violence to protect the institution of marriage. With a focus on the legal justifications and language of Indian court cases, this thesis determines that judges adjudicate on gender justice inconsistently. Attempting to …

Ceo Linguistic Stress And Abnormal Stock Returns Evidence From S&P 500 Earnings Conference Calls, Yiqi Sun

CMC Senior Theses

Stress is pervasive among corporate executives, yet its effect on firms' future abnormal return remains largely unexplored. This paper examines whether CEO's Linguistic stress exhibited during earnings conference calls predicts future abnormal stock returns. I provided a Large Language Model (Claude Sonnet 4.6) psychology-backed prompts to analyze CEO stress from linguistic patterns in 7491 earnings call transcripts from 470 companies in the S&P 500 during 2020-2024. I found three main results. First, the CEO linguistic stress is negatively and significantly associated with the immediate market reaction, with a one-unit increase in stress score associated with a 0.9% decrease in the …

A Reevaluation Of South Korea’S Economic Rise: The Defense Industrial Base, Timothy Lee

CMC Senior Theses

This paper seeks to reexamine how the Republic of Korea (ROK) was able to rise from one of the world's poorest economies after the Korean War to a leading international defense exporter today. Existing development theories—such as dependency theory, export-led industrialization, and world-systems theory—each offer partial explanations but none fully accounts for the ROK's rapid economic growth. To address this gap, the paper analyzes U.S. foreign aid data, U.S. national security documents, and the economic data of the ROK’s chaebols, family-owned business conglomerates, to reevaluate two key variables: the United States' strategic imperative to contain communism during the Cold War, …

The Vestiges Of The German Democratic Republic: Memory Politics And Xenophobia In Former East Germany, Diana Zhou

CMC Senior Theses

From the 2015 migration influx onward, xenophobic and nationalist sentiments permeated Germany’s national political discourse. The former socialist territories in eastern Germany have proven particularly susceptible to far-right, anti-immigration, and anti-integration rhetoric. This thesis explores the mnemonic foundations of xenophobic sentiments in former East German states, tracing the development of an antifascist yet ethnically nationalist mnemonic framework to the state-sanctioned myths and invented traditions of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). As the loss of a collective GDR identity produced a reactionary rehabilitation of this framework post-unification, the racial and ethnic “other” — migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees — became constructed …

Lessons Unlearned: Cultural Competence And The Limits Of U.S. Army Doctrine In Iraq And Afghanistan, Kylie W. Ha

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines how the absence of comprehensive cultural and linguistic competence within U.S. Army doctrine contributed to operational and ethical failures during the wars in Iraq (2003–2011) and Afghanistan (2001–2021). It focuses on the gap between doctrinal recognition of culture and language and the failure to institutionalize these elements as measurable, force-wide competencies. The thesis analyzes doctrinal publications spanning the period from 2001 to 2014 and finds that, while these publications increasingly acknowledged the importance of cultural awareness, language, and local context—particularly in counterinsurgency operations—these elements were not embedded as standardized requirements across training, planning, or evaluation. Iraq and …

Eurovision As A Platform For Cultural Diplomacy In Times Of Conflict, Lucy Meza

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines how states utilize the Eurovision Song Contest as a platform for soft power, focusing on the conditions under which cultural performance translates into reputational gains. Drawing on Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power, Biasioli’s theory of songwashing, Zamorano’s typology of cultural diplomacy, Anholt’s competitive identity framework, and Feklyunina’s analysis of identity and narrative, it argues that Eurovision’s effectiveness as a soft power platform is fundamentally contingent on the alignment between a state’s cultural narrative and dominant international perceptions of its legitimacy. Through a qualitative comparative case study approach, the thesis examines two nations whose Eurovision participation during …

The Jamaica That Dreams: A Normative Application Of Developmental Theory, Tamoy Pitt

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines Jamaica’s persistent underdevelopment through Martha Nussbaum's normative application of the capabilities approach as per her conception in Creating Capabilities. Through this approach, the paper will argue that Jamaica’s underdevelopment is a result of the failure of its domestic institutions to provide all citizens with the substantive freedoms and capabilities necessary to live lives of dignity. Originally detailed by Amartya Sen in his book Development as Freedom, the capabilities approach posits freedom as both the means and ends to development while rejecting contemporary approaches to development such as GDP, Utilitarianism, or Rawlsian resource-based approaches as insufficient frameworks for …

Measuring Effective Labour Regulation In The Less Developed World: Recent Advances And Challenges Ahead, Lucas Ronconi, Steven Raphael

Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal

This article critically reviews the literature on labour enforcement with a focus on less developed countries. Despite measurement limitations, the evidence indicates that enforcement is quite low in poorer countries; there are fewer inspectors and inspections, lower penalties, and less trust in the judiciary compared to richer countries. The lower level of enforcement contributes to higher rates of violations of workers’ rights. More controversial are the effects of enforcement on employment. Moreover, it is unclear how to prompt less developed countries to increase enforcement. This article discusses the scant evidence about the role of trade agreements, labour unions, international organizations, …

Collective Labour Dispute Resolution In Vietnam: The Evolution Of Rules And Institutions And Workers’ Strategic Deployment Of State Regulation, Trang T.K. Tran

Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal

While Vietnam has established a legal system for labour disputes that largely mirrors those in developed countries, empirical evidence reveals these formal mechanisms are rarely, if ever, used to resolve collective disputes. The persistent failures of the formal mechanisms have, paradoxically, created an environment where workers and trade unions have developed innovative, informal strategies to leverage the state’s legal framework. Workers in Vietnam mobilize around the very existence of labour laws to exert pressure on employers and state institutions to intervene on their behalf, even if not directly following each labour laws’ procedure. This strategic deployment of state regulation, often …

Transnational Labour Law And Governance: Advancing Workers’ Rights In Global Value Chains, Judy Fudge, Guy Mundlak

Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal

TRANSNATIONAL LABOUR GOVERNANCE is a multiscalar assemblage of agents, institutions, instruments, and legal concepts that has emerged to address the governance gap caused by the mismatch between the global nature of production and the territorial format of labour law (Blackett & Trebilcock, 2015; Hepple, 2005; Kolben, 2011; Mundlak, 2024). This special issue investigates some of the key components in this assemblage and identifies features that make a transnational labour law approach distinctive. In this introduction to the special issue, we begin in Section II by describing the governance gap and its impact on the wages and working conditions of supply …

The Problem Of Digital Trade Regulation: Silences Regarding Labour And Their Potential Disruption By A Sustainability Agenda, Tonia Novitz

Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal

The growing impact of digital trade on work in global supply chains is readily detectable but there are curious regulatory silences on labour-related issues. The key problem identified in digital trade law is national obstruction to the free flow of data needed to promote online ordering and delivery of goods and services. In comparison, the concerns of those whose work is constitutive of digital trade, such as platform workers, are largely overlooked. Arguably, provisions often found in trade agreements relating to digital privacy and the effects of algorithmic management could be utilised by those at work. However, there remain uncertainties …

Weaponizing Religion Against The Human Emotion Of Empathy: A Call To Fight Coercive Settlement Attempts On The Merits, Jeffrey Dodge

Faculty Scholarship

In March 2023, America First Legal filed a lawsuit against West Shore School District in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. In the complaint, the plaintiffs argued that empathy related instruction from the district’s social emotional learning curriculum violated their parental and religious rights. Nearly every headline about the lawsuit included a quote from a plaintiff parent asserting that “Not every human is deserving of my child’s empathy.” At the time of filing, America First Legal and counsel, Wally Zimolong, argued that students in this school district were illegally being subjected to a radical and invasive curriculum.

School officials denied wrongdoing in receiving …

A Conceptual Map Of The Right To Repair: Where Upcycling Fits In, Anthony D. Rosborough

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The chapter maps contemporary approaches to the Right to Repair along a spectrum from decentralised freedoms to centralised standard setting and product design. Decentralised approaches propose a Right to Repair that resembles a 'negative right' in that it protects user autonomy through dismantling legal and market barriers. Centralised repairability models, on the other hand, align more with a positive right that is built through stringent product design standards, obligations on manufacturers to repair products directly, and situate repair within larger circular economy governance models.

Using the US and EU approaches to Right to Repair policy as illustrative poles, the chapter …

Desperately Seeking Non-Judgmental Supports: Young People’S Perceptions Of Adult Responses To Technology-Facilitated Harms, Alexa Dodge, Kaitlynn Mendes, Christopher Dietzel, Suzie Dunn

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Young people around the world are increasingly impacted by technologyfacilitated harms, yet research shows that teens often do not seek help from adults in their lives to deal with these harms. This article draws data from 25 focus groups with 146 young Canadians (aged 13–18) as they explain why they are reluctant to seek adult help when experiencing technologyfacilitated harms. Young Canadians consistently said that adults speak to them in ways that are judgmental, emotionally reactive, and disempowering. To make them more likely to seek help from adults, young people want adults to avoid scare tactic approaches, listen to their …

The Reception Of International Human Rights Law In Charter Litigation: "Not A Box Of Chocolates" But You Still "Never Know What You're Gonna Get", Karinne Lantz

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This article explores the reception of international human rights law(IHRL)in Canada. Focusing on the Charter context, it demonstrates that how IHRL applies in Canada continues to lack clarity despite repeated (and recent) efforts by the Supreme Court of Canada to provide it. This article argues that this lack of clarity is an important matter for the Court to address, particularly as IHRL is increasingly being invoked before courts and other tribunals around the world. It argues that the Court should adopt a methodology that: (i) endorses the “Dickson Doctrine,”according to which the “minimum protection approach”is robustly applied for international human …

Help-Seeking For Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence: Insights From Canadian Young Adults Across Three Forms Of Harm, Jennifer L. Mcarthur, Anita M. Aucoin, Kayla J. Goruk, Julie Blais, Alexa Dodge, Suzie Dunn

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) encompasses a range of harmful digital sexual behaviors, each with unique characteristics and potential impacts on victim-survivors, as well as varying responses from support systems. To address this growing issue, it is necessary to understand the help-seeking behaviors of those affected by the different types of TFSV and the unique barriers they encounter. This study draws on interview (n = 17) and survey (n = 468) data from adults in Canada to compare the help-seeking behaviors and barriers across image-based sexual abuse, image-based sexual harassment, and sexual-, gender-, and sexuality-based harassment. Qualitative findings suggested …

Languages Of Marginalization: Educational Inequality And Identity Formation Among Rohingya Refugees In Bangladesh, Md Khalid Rahman

Sustainability and Social Justice

This research paper investigates how language-of-instruction policies shape educational inequality and identity formation among Rohingya refugee children living in protracted displacement in Cox’ Bazar, Bangladesh. Analyzed from a human right–based framework, the study examines whether existing educational policies align with international legal standards on the right to education, including the UDHR, ICESCR, Child Convention and SDG 4. While these frameworks guarantee non-discriminatory and inclusive access to education, the reality in Cox’s Bazar reveals a persistent gap between normative commitments and policy implementation. Moreover, the study explores how the exclusion of both the host language (Bangla) and the native Rohingya language …

Collective Bargaining Agreements As Non-Judicial Grievance Mechanisms, Sahiba Gill

Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal

Do collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) in global value chains meet the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights’ (UN Guiding Principles, or Guiding Principles) benchmark for effective access to remedy through non-judicial grievance mechanisms? The literature on access to remedy in the business and human rights framework has not considered whether they do, despite growing attention to contestation between rightsholders and companies via these mechanisms. This article contributes to filling this gap through empirical analysis of a dataset of 216 CBAs in manufacturing sectors in the Global South with grievance mechanisms. Findings indicate that grievance mechanisms in CBAs …

Supply Chain Bargaining And Worker Voice: Reflections On The Bangladesh Accord And The Dindigul Agreement, Marlese Von Broembsen

Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal

Both private governance and transnational labour law scholars are concerned with the participation of supply chain workers in “enforceable brand agreements.” Much of the private governance literature is concerned with improving workers’ participation in the negotiation and implementation of enforceable brand agreements. Some transnational labour law scholars are concerned with whether transnational labour law should depart from prescripts typical of national labour law — which generally recognises trade unions as the only legitimate representatives of workers — to recognise civil society organisations as bargaining agents. This article analyses the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety and the Dindigul Agreement …

Community Resources For Older Adults With Age-Related Disabilities And Chronic Conditions: A Scoping Review, Oejin Shin, Sojung Park, Soobin Park, Sarah Sunghye Kang, Sunghei Han, Eunsun Kwon, Seoyeon Ahn, Borin Kim

Faculty Publications - Social Work

Community resources are essential for supporting older adults with disabilities and chronic conditions, yet how these resources are conceptualized and evaluated across the empirical literature remains unclear. This scoping review synthesizes U.S.-based research on community resources for older adults with age-related disabilities and chronic conditions, guided by the PAGER framework. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we searched MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Web of Science, ultimately including 21 peer-reviewed studies. Findings reveal four primary resource domains: healthcare-based services, home- and community-based services (HCBS), behavioral health supports, and environmental or structural resources. Accessibility and utilization emerged as the most consistently examined dimensions, while quality …

End-Of-Life Resources And Place Of Death By Community-Based Housing Type, Sojung Park, Borin Kim, Oejin Shin, Jihye Baek, Byeongju Ryu

Faculty Publications - Social Work

As chronic conditions dominate mortality trends, the place of death has emerged as a key marker of end-of-life (EoL) care quality. Although many older adults wish to die at home, structural barriers often lead to institutional deaths, especially among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. This study investigates how housing types, defined by economic status, affordability, and congregate features, affect place of death in older adults. Drawing on National Health and Aging Trends Study data (N = 3,145), we examine links between housing type, EoL resource access, unmet needs, and death location. Residents of Subsidized Senior Housing (SSH) report more formal support yet …

Corporatism For The Informal Economy: Democratising The Potential Of The Mathadi Tripartite Board Model, Shelley Marshall, Hila Shamir, Babu P. Remesh, Anjali Sharma

Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal

This article examines the Mathadi Boards in Pune, India, as a pioneering example of corporatist regulation adapted to the informal economy. These tripartite institutions — comprising workers, employers, and the state — negotiate legally binding agreements on wages and working conditions for informal labourers, offering social protections and formalization without relying on traditional employment contracts. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interviews, the study explores the Boards’ structure, governance, and impact, highlighting their potential as scalable models for informal labour regulation globally. It also identifies challenges related to representation, enforcement, and social exclusion, offering insights into how corporatist frameworks can be …

Lessons Learned From The Last 25 Years Of Anti-Trafficking And Forced Labour Governance: Private Power And Public Policy, Genevieve Lebaron, Janie A. Chuang

Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal

Twenty-five years after adopting the United Nations Trafficking Protocol, anti-trafficking scrutiny is finally being brought to bear on forced labour in global supply chains. This article identifies and examines key aspects of the contemporary governance regime developed to address this endemic problem: corporate social initiatives and transparency legislation, human rights due diligence laws, strategic litigation, and forced labour import bans. As explored in this article, the interplay between public and private governance these interventions entail has a significant impact on whether workers ultimately benefit from these efforts. More specifically, the rise of corporate power and influence within this regulatory space …

Students' Perception Of Generative Ai-Assisted Collaborative Argumentation, Jinhee Kim, Seongryeong Yu, Rita Detrick, Liangjie Fan, Na Li

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The rapid scaling of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technology presents opportunities for personalised learning experiences and facilitates collaborative learning, including collaborative argumentation (CA). However, empirical research examining students' perceptions of GenAI-assisted CA within classroom contexts remains limited. This study explored university students' experiences with GenAI-assisted CA through in-depth interviews with 36 students following a CA activity using a ChatGPT4-embedded argumentation platform developed by the research team. Findings indicate that students viewed GenAI as serving multiple roles, including tool, facilitator, teaching assistant and machine buddy. Students perceived that GenAI-assisted CA could empower task performance and create a collaborative learning environment. Meanwhile, …

"When I Think Of The Public Library, I Think Of White": Black Families Counter-Narratives Of Library Irrelevance And Community Repair, Amber Matthews

STEMPS Faculty Publications

While public libraries espouse equitable access, few studies examine Black community disengagement. Drawing on Critical Race Theory and the theme "Information in Repair," this paper analyzes semi-structured interviews with seven Black parents of youth aged 13-24 in London, Ontario. Findings reveal that their lack of library engagement stems not from access barriers but from libraries functioning as racialized spaces irrelevant to Black lived experiences in Canada. Where libraries fall short, Black-led organizations perform continuous, invisible reparative labour through culturally responsive programming and trusted information networks. Meaningful repair requires confronting institutional whiteness, redistributing resources to Black-led organizations, and sustaining authentic relationship-building …

An Imperative For Leadership & Institutional Transformation: Going Back To Code, Jonikka Charlton

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Constant Time Delay Using Multiple Acquisition Exemplars On The Generalization Of Self-Instruction To Complete Vocational Tasks For High School Students With Intellectual Disability, Anna Norby

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

This study presents findings from a multiple probe design that evaluated the effects of constant time delay with multiple acquisition exemplars on the acquisition and generalization of self-instruction to complete vocational tasks for high school students with intellectual disability. The research included three high school students with intellectual disability, and data were analyzed across baseline, intervention, and generalization conditions. Instruction targeted the use of self-instruction procedures embedded within vocational tasks, with multiple exemplars incorporated during acquisition to promote stimulus generalization. Participants were screened using a set of pre-arranged vocational tasks to identify existing skill levels and determine appropriate instructional targets, …

Evaluating Dosage Within A Rapid Caregiver Coaching Model, Emma L. Lovell

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

Rapid caregiver coaching models are designed to increase caregiver implementation of naturalistic language strategies while prioritizing feasibility for both families and providers. Participants of the current study were caregivers with young children (ages 1-4) with expressive language delays and autism risk or diagnosis. The current study took place in families’ homes and examined whether a predetermined number of brief coaching and feedback cycles was sufficient to produce clinically meaningful improvements in caregiver strategy use. Target behaviors for caregivers included play-based imitation and expansion, responsive language input, and structured teaching episodes designed to expand child communication. Results were variable but demonstrated …