Digital Commons Network^™

The Village, Hugh Keogh

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

On the dangerous Mekong River, a young swift boat officer deals with the inevitability of violence in war, and the responsibilities of service.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Impacts Of Plant-Microbe Interactions On Seedling Performance In A Riparian Forest Invaded By Lonicera Maackii, Taylor E. K. Strehl

Masters Theses

Soil microbes have profound impacts on plant growth and survival and can either promote or inhibit plant dominance. Exotic plants are often strongly invasive because they have escaped their natural enemies, potentially including antagonistic soil microbes. I examined how the invasive shrub Lonicera maackii and a common native tree, Acer negundo, responded to soil microbial communities to determine the role of soil microbes in regulating invasion success. This was done by growing both species with microbes from invaded (L. maackii) and uninvaded (A. negundo) soils collected from three locations within a riparian forest. Seedlings were …

Narrating Trauma: Youth, Masculinity, And Storytelling In The Midst Of War, Rebekah Smith

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Sharing The Costs Of Artificial Intelligence: Universal No-Fault Social Insurance For Personal Injuries, Jin Yoshikawa

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The twenty-first century is the artificial intelligence (AI) century. In the past few years, AI has become a familiar fixture of everyday life thanks to services like YouTube, Spotify, Netflix, and Alexa. Stocktraders, doctors, insurance brokers, real estate agents, recruiters, artists,and even lawyers now rely on predictive tools powered by AI to perform their highly skilled--even creative--tasks. In the following decades, AI will continue to transform more fields and deliver astonishing advancements in convenience, comfort, safety, and security. At the same time, however, AI will bring about new challenges. AI will offend, disrupt, crash, breach, incite, injure, and even kill …

Shaping The Tools Of Battle : Sexual Selection, Contest Dynamics, And Weapon Divergence In The Asian Rhinoceros Beetle Trypoxylus Dichotomus, Jillian F. Del Sol

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Exaggerated weapons of sexual selection often diverge more rapidly and dramatically than other body parts, suggesting that relevant agents of selection may be discernible in contemporary populations. I examined the ecology, reproductive behavior, and strength of sexual selection on horn length in five recently diverged beetle populations that differ in relative horn size. I show that mating system ecology differs between these locations and corresponds with the local strength of contemporary selection on horn length. Comparisons of ecological conditions and selection strength across populations offer a critical first step towards meaningfully linking mating system dynamics, selection patterns, and diversity in …

Blasting The Farm: Chemical High Explosives And The Rise Of Industrial Agriculture, 1867-1930, Patrick Benjamin Swart

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

The Temperance Movement's Impact On Adoption Of Women's Suffrage, Richard H. Chused

Articles & Chapters

This paper examines the nature of the Progressive Era and the Prohibition Movement and the important links between the sentiments giving rise to prohibition and those stimulating adoption of suffrage. Though each arose from a somewhat distinct array of reform impulses and overcame varying opposition groups, they were closely related in some ways, supported by overlapping groups of people, advanced by large numbers of women, and, in part, lifted to enactment by similar motivations. Indeed, without the support of many conservative citizens approving both Amendments, it is not clear what the fate of suffrage would have been after World War …

Helping Veterans Of Operation Enduring Freedom And Operation Iraqi Freedom, Dawn M. Robinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) created multiple challenges for the mental health of soldiers who served there. The local facility in this study determined there was a gap in providing OEF/OIF veterans assistance with mental health issues. The practice-focused question explored whether a training module for nurses would assist in the identification of signs and symptoms of mental health issues in OEF/OIF veterans, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, addictions, and suicidal/homicidal ideations, to help ensure timely referral for services. The project used Kolcaba's comfort theory as the basis for the training module. A pretest, …

Decentralization Policy And Citizen Participation In Government: The Case Of Liberia, Roland Tuwea Clarke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Political decentralization has been advanced in the 21st century as a prescription for enabling citizens' participation in politics and increasing good governance. However, empirical investigations have offered limited knowledge about decentralization efforts in Liberia. This study explored if decentralization could serve as a catalyst for citizens' participation and good governance in Liberia. The polarity of participation and representation - one of the pairs in the polarities of democracy model developed by Benet - was used to establish the theoretical foundation for this study. The study employed a case study research design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 participants …

The Outcome Of Influence: Hitler’S American Model And Transnational Legal History, Mary L. Dudziak

Michigan Law Review

Review of James Q. Whitman's Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law.

Leader Readiness In A Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, And Ambiguous (Vuca) Business Environment, Karen Rimita

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizational leaders in the 21st century face relentless changes in the business environments in which they operate. The diversity, intensity, and rapidity of these changes create volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), which challenge leaders on ways to lead effectively as existing methods prove inadequate. The problem in this study was that of inadequate leader preparedness to lead and win in VUCA environments. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of 15 Nigerian corporate executives about their VUCA business environment and the strategies they employed for VUCA-readiness and success within the manufacturing sector. The …

Expert Perspectives On How The Islamic State Potentially Shaped The Future Of Islamic Transnational Terrorism: An Exploratory Study, Richard Bryant Culp

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Since the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) declared its caliphate in June 2014, there has been an unprecedented amount of terrorist attacks conducted in the West by individuals either inspired by jihadist ideology or linked to ISIS. As evidenced by the number of ISIS-related attacks throughout Europe and North America, the West faces an ongoing and persistent transnational threat from Islamic terrorism. There is an extensive amount of literature on terrorism and ISIS. However, there is a gap in literature on the potential impact of ISIS on the future of Islamic terrorism. This qualitative case study explored how …

Bioterrorism Hardening: An Exploratory Study Of Emts Preparedness And Practices, Ndubuisi Chinemerem Ejike

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The 2001 anthrax attacks heightened awareness of the possibility of weaponizing biological agents such as Ebola, anthrax, and smallpox and hence, the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 to prevent biological attacks and reduce bioterrorism threats and vulnerabilities. However, the 2014 Ebola epidemic raised concerns about unpreparedness for bioterrorism within the healthcare community and about secondary infections from healthcare workers. Using Kingdon's conceptualization of multiple streams as the foundation, the purpose of this case study was to explore the nature of bioterrorism threats and the level of preparedness of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) who were involved in the 2014 Ebola epidemic in …

Evaluating The Effects Of Counterterrorism Strategies On Insurgency In Nigeria, Bowie Sonnie Bowei

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

With the evolving problems of terrorism in Nigeria and the formation of numerous new terrorist groups, insurgency in Nigeria has escalated, making it one of the most terrorized countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This study looked critically at the effects of the strategies applied in the attempt to fight terrorism and how these strategies have affected insurgency in Nigeria. The background of the study gives an insight on the evolution of terrorist groups in Nigeria, their mode of operation, effects on citizens and the Nigerian economy, as well as the operations of counterterrorist agencies. The qualitative research method was used for …

The Anatomy Of Extinction: Stories Of People As Place, Mason Parker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Threats Of Economic Sanctions And The Duration Of Civil War, Jared August Halvorson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Economic sanctions have been criticized as a tool of political expediency. Detractors argue that international leaders use sanctions to give the appearance of action, rather than as a true agent for change. Previous studies largely confirm this characterization, showing that sanctions are not effective. However, previous studies have ignored a major component of the economic coercion process and powerful tactic of negotiation: the threat of sanctions. Using survival analysis and data on civil wars and sanctions from 1960-2005, I find evidence that import restrictions and asset freezes are valuable types of sanctions in shortening the duration of civil war, and …

Our Friendship And Our Enmity: British Imperialism And The 1921 Cairo Conference, Mary Katharine Armbrester

All ETDs from UAB

A vital attempt at continued peace after the First World War that I chose to focus on for my thesis is the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference. The British government wanted an inexpensive peace that suited its own interests, and they used emissaries, particularly Winston Churchill, Gertrude Bell and T. E. Lawrence to maneuver the Cairo Peace Conference of 1921 to that end. This thesis discusses how after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the British unofficially offered the Arabs autonomy via the Hussein-McMahon letters if they gave the British support against the Turks during the Arab Revolt. The Arabs fought …

Legal Jurisdiction And Virtual Social Life, Paul Schiff Berman

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Social lives are increasingly unmoored from physical location. 21^st century developments in social media, virtual worlds, augmented reality, electronic financial transactions, drones, robotics, and artificial intelligence allow human beings to interact in more and more robust ways at a physical remove from their location. Meanwhile, the ubiquity of multinational corporations, global supply chains, and cloud-based data all mean that our lives are more likely to be affected by activity that is spatially distant. Virtual effects often replace direct territorial effects.

Three important consequences flow from this ubiquitous technology-enabled, data-driven virtual global societal activity. First, the territorial location of data …

Characterization Of Chemical Uptake And Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Mutations In Zebrafish, Jaclyn Paige Souder

All ETDs from UAB

In a society driven by technology and industry, we must be increasingly aware of how changes to our environment impact our health. This is especially true concerning embryonic development, which is easily influenced by extra-embryonic factors, including environmental contaminants. Determining how exogenous compounds are absorbed, which receptors they act through, and how these receptors act endogenously is important to fully understand to what extent developmental exposures impact fetal and adult health. I have used the zebrafish model system to address these questions for two classes of environmentally-relevant chemicals—estrogens and dioxins. First, I developed an assay to measure the uptake of …

0858: Society Of American Fight Directors, 1927-2021, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of various stage directions and fight choreography, books and magazines about weapons, armor, and theatre, SAFD administrative and financial documents, videos, photographs, and various SAFD artifacts. Please download the finding aid for full list of contents.

Female Veterans' Combat Experience And Ptsd On Male Partners' Psychological Distress And Relationship Quality, Theresa Denise Abraham

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Female veterans' combat exposure to trauma places them at risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which has consequences for healthful reintegration to family and civilian life. Previous research found that wives who provide continuous care to male veterans with PTSD experience symptoms of psychological distress; however, little research has been conducted on the influence of female veterans' PTSD on their intimate male partners' (IMPs) psychological well-being. A multivariate correlational design was used to examine the influence of female veteran PTSD on psychological distress and relationship quality in IMPs. The couples' adaption to traumatic stress model was used as the …

New Method Of Manufacturing Carbon Foam, Matthew D. Artimez

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Carbon foam is a product that has some unique features. Carbon foam is a light weight material that has a high crush strength. It is electrically conductive, but because it is composed of air space between the tendrils, it is not a thermal conductor. Since it contains no volatile content, it is noncombustible. All these features allow carbon foam to have many modern applications. Currently, there are only three methods of producing carbon foam, and all three are not cost- efficient enough to meet the demand of potential new markets.

In this thesis, a new procedure of producing carbon foam …

Employees As Regulators: The New Private Ordering In High Technology Companies, Jennifer S. Fan

Articles

There is mounting public concern over the influence that high technology companies have in our society. In the past, these companies were lauded for their innovations, but now as one scandal after another has plagued them, from being a conduit in influencing elections (think Cambridge Analytica) to the development of weaponized artificial intelligence, to their own moment of reckoning with the #MeToo movement, these same companies are under scrutiny. Leaders in high technology companies created their own sets of norms through private ordering. Their work was largely unfettered by regulators, with the exception of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s oversight …

Professionally Responsible Artificial Intelligence, Michael Hatfield

Articles

As artificial intelligence (AI) developers produce more applications for professional use, how will we determine when the use is professionally responsible? One way to answer the question is to determine whether the AI augments the professional’s intelligence or whether it is used as a substitute for it. To augment the professional’s intelligence would be to make it greater, that is, to increase and improve the professional’s expertise. But a professional who substitutes artificial intelligence for his or her own puts both the professional role and the client at risk. The problem is developing guidance that encourages professionals to use AI …

Can Volunteer Forces Deter Great Power War? Evidence From The Baltics, Lionel Beehner, Liam Collins

Journal of Strategic Security

Deterrence theory typically focuses on states’ armed forces and other tools of coercion. However, what about the resolve, resilience, and willingness of ordinary civilians who voluntarily organize and arm themselves as reservist militias to defend their homeland? Can well-armed volunteers in smaller states deter larger powers? We examine the case of the Baltic States and Russia, one of the central fault lines of global politics. Questioning the commitment of NATO to their collective security, the governments of the Baltic States have begun to actively arm, organize, recruit, and train thousands of volunteer reservists to defend their homelands from an asymmetric …

The Future Of Strategic Information And Cyber-Enabled Information Operations, Ben Hatch

Journal of Strategic Security

To prepare for future challenges across the continuum of conflict, the United States (US) must optimize how it manages, counters, defends, and exploits the effects of information by organizing for strategic information and cyber-enabled information operations across and through multiple domains. Currently, information related capabilities are fielded across the United States Government (USG) among multiple organizations and agencies, and therefore lack efficiencies normally gained through combined action, unity of command, and unity of effort. In considering a solution to these challenges, this study examines historic and current examples of successful information operations to show organization matters, and reviews options to …

Cyberwar And Revolution: Digital Subterfuge In Global Capitalism. By Nick Dyer-Witheford And Svitlana Matviyenko. Minneapolis, Mn: University Of Minnesota Press, 2019., Dr. Mark T. Peters Ii

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

The Hidden Power Of The New Economic Sanctions, Joy Gordon

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Contesting The Public Sphere: Within And Against Critical Theory, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This chapter examines how European thinkers working from within and without the Frankfurt School of critical theory have understood the public sphere as a distinctive political category. First-generation members of the school rejected institutional democracy and mass politics as ideologies that mask domination. The succeeding generation, whose most important representative is Jürgen Habermas, rejected that diagnosis. Habermas’s more optimistic assessment of the emancipatory potential of the public sphere as a medium of rational learning sought a middle ground between critics and defenders of liberal democracy. This ambivalence provoked strong counter-reactions from systems theorists, such as Niklas Luhmann, and from adherents …

The Legal And Ethical Challenges The Royal Navy May Face When Deploying Lethal Autonomous Surface Vessels Into The Maritime Battlespace, Grace Thorne

Plymouth Law Review

No abstract provided.