Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

I4) A New Era Of Empowerment: Muslim Women’S Solo Religious Travel To Saudi Arabia After Vision 2030’S Groundbreaking Reforms, Ola Naim Omar Ismail Hajjaj

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Since the declaration of Saudi Vision 2030 in 2016, the country has undergone significant and transformative changes, including reforms aimed at promoting gender equality and empowering women across various sectors including religious tourism, represented by Hajj (pilgrimage) and Umrah. One of the most historical and impactful changes is the elimination of the requirement for women to have a male guardian/companion (mahram) when visiting Saudi Arabia (SA) to perform religious tourism, enabling them to travel independently. This policy shift, implemented gradually between 2019 and 2022, not only empowers women but also supports Saudi Arabia’s broader goals of increasing tourism, modernizing its …

The Role Of Applied Behavior Analysis Therapy In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Tracy A. Hourican

Lynchburg Journal of Medical Science

This paper evaluates the development, core principles, efficacy, and controversies surrounding applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy in treating autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a developmental disorder that affects behavior, social, and communication skills. The diagnosis of ASD continues to rise, highlighting the importance of understanding effective interventions as early as possible, which is critical for improving long-term outcomes. A comprehensive literature review was conducted using the National Library of Medicine’s^® (NLM) database PubMed^®. Filters were applied to include peer-reviewed articles from the past five years, focusing on clinical trials, meta-analyses, and reviews published in behavioral pediatrics and psychology …

The Effects Of E-Cigarettes And Oxidative Stress On Cognitive Function And Adolescent Academics, Alexis A. Kaminsky Jr.

Lynchburg Journal of Medical Science

Electronic cigarettes are the fastest growing method of tobacco consumption in the United States despite an overall decline in smoking rates. Evidence has shown that enticing flavor and trendy marketing campaigns have increased use among younger consumers. Nicotine use is a risk factor among younger individuals for damage to brain development and cognitive impairment, and electronic cigarettes are no exception. This paper attempts to review and clarify previously observed health impacts of electronic cigarette use among younger individuals, as measured by academic grades and scores. A focus on the effect of oxidative stress on the body and the resulting academic …

Intermittent Fasting For Metabolic Syndrome Management, Tony Laborde

Lynchburg Journal of Medical Science

This paper reviews the potential of intermittent fasting as a non-pharmacological therapeutic approach to the treatment of metabolic syndrome (MetS). MetS is a global health problem with risk factors that include obesity, hypertension, hyperglycemia, low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and high triglycerides that predispose to cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Traditional treatment approaches, including pharmacological agents and lifestyle modification, are typically of short-term benefit. Intermittent fasting, with its scheduled cycles of eating and fasting, presents another strategy for improving weight control, insulin sensitivity, lipid profiles, and blood pressure. Various intermittent fasting regimens, including time-restricted feeding and alternate-day fasting, have …

Keynote 3: The Future Of Religious Tourism And Pilgrimage: At The Intersection Of Sustainability, Silva Goretti

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Religious tourism, encompassing pilgrimages and spiritual journeys across diverse faith traditions, has emerged as a significant contributor to global tourism. Although exact numbers may vary according to different sources, recognition of its contribution to local development is widely acknowledged, as well as its resilience, even during economic downturns. The Bethlehem Declaration (2015) acknowledges these potentials, encouraging policies that develop religious tourism in ways that ensure community participation, socioeconomic benefits, and balanced visitor experiences. However, while presenting unique opportunities, religious tourism also poses significant challenges to sustainability due to the ecological footprint of mass gatherings, physical degradation of sacred sites, waste …

"The Number One Culprit Is Apathy": How Adventist Church Leaders In The Nad View Success And Failure In Evangelism, René Drumm, Petr Cincala, Tara Hargrove, Linda Crumley

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

This presentation highlights findings from a qualitative study on evangelism in the NAD from the perspective of conference and union officers. Participants identified successful evangelism as involving careful preparation, cultural adaptability, and the creation of a church culture where evangelism becomes a way of life. Failure occurs when church members lack commitment and involvement.

“Dark” Narratives Of Venezuelan Migrants In Trinidad And Tobago: Voices Of Gratitude And Resilience In A Foreign Land, Susan Chand

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

This study explored narratives of Venezuelan migrants in Trinidad during and post COVID-19 lockdown. Key themes of “gratitude” and “resilience” emerged despite exploitation and discrimination migrants faced in a foreign land. “Dark Ethnography” concept is applied to understand migrants’ lived experiences and the church’s role in integrating to new environment.

Transforming Care: An Academic And Community Symposium On Transgender Care And Experience, Alison Sutton-Ryan, Kimberly Van Vulpen

Transforming Communities

Background: Transgender experience is often excluded from education and training. An emphasis has been often placed on sexual identities instead of gender differences rendering transgender care invisible in the healthcare system (Gahagan & Colpitts 2017). Lack of education and training has created significant barriers to accessible gender-affirming care, contributing to disproportionately high levels of discrimination for transgender individuals seeking medical services (Redcay et al., 2021). Purpose: The Interprofessional Education Symposium on Transgender Care and Experience was an innovative initiative developed by the newly formed Transgender Interprofessional Care Team (TICT) at a medium-sized suburban university. This collaborative team, comprising key …

G2) Religious Tourism Experiences, Heritage And Digitalization: An Italian Case Study, Donatella Privitera

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

New technologies play a crucial role in sharing knowledge about religious heritage with tourists and local communities, particularly in geographically marginal areas. Digital tools can be employed in two main ways to enhance sensory experiences at a destination: (1) by actively stimulating one or more senses through technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), haptic devices; and (2) by organizing and disseminating information about available sensory experiences using applications, virtual guides, and interactive maps. Digital innovations not only facilitate access to information and knowledge about heritage but also introduce new experiential dimensions. From a supply-side perspective, they help …

G1) Virtual Religious Tourism - An Agenda For Future Research In The "Ai Revolution", Eleanor O'Keeffe, Ruth Dowson

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Developments in contemporary society that resulted from initial lockdown phases of the COVID-19 pandemic have continued as the world discovers new ways of living and engaging with others. The changes that disrupted social interactions around the globe impacted on spiritual and religious practices in diverse cultures. A major innovation in the pandemic was the increased use and production of virtual pilgrimage. This introduced new ritual producers to virtual pilgrimage, created new partnership opportunities, and engaged a far wider audience, creating a potentially significant cultural site of intergenerational, transnational, and multi-cultural action and exchange. Virtual pilgrimage is now a rich and …

H2) The Exploration Of Tourists’ Motivation Of Religious Sites Visitation In Destinations Less Popular In Religious Tourism, Po Man F. Tse

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Religious attractions have been playing a critical role in tourist destinations. Most of the studies focused on exploring the motivation of tourists visiting sacred destinations where the religion is originated. Yet, little is known on the motivations of tourists visiting religious sites in destinations that are less popular for religious tourism (Tse & Ho, 2019). Besides, relationship between motivation and place attachment is crucial to the development of destination, tourist management and the design of marketing strategy (Ogunjinmi et al., 2019).

Motivation is the driving force that arouses and influences travel behaviour (Prayag & Lee, 2019), which also affects tourists’ …

G4) Unveiling The Potential: Exploring The Role Of Waqf In Catalysing Islamic Religious Tourism Growth, Tariq Elhadary, Razaq Raj

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

This paper explores the proportional relationship between Islamic waqf and the growth of tourism, with a specific emphasis on Islamic religious tourism. Islamic waqf refers to the endowment or charitable trust established under Islamic principles, aimed at promoting religious, educational, or social welfare activities. Over the centuries, waqfs have played a crucial role in supporting various institutions and initiatives within the Muslim world. Tourism, as a global industry, has witnessed significant growth in recent years. With the rise of Islamic religious tourism, which caters to the specific needs and interests of Muslim travellers, there is a need to examine the …

H3) The “Tradition” Of The Torchlight Procession Of Solferino (Fiaccolata Di Solferino)., Mara F. Dissegna

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

This paper describes a case study of a “pilgrimage”: the Red Cross (RC) torchlight procession of Solferino. This “tradition,” born twenty years ago, represents a fundamental moment of the RC-RC Movement year after year, bringing thousands of members worldwide to Castiglione delle Stiviene yearly. It is vital because many members from around the globe return to the origins as a refreshment of the movement's principles memory. The “fiaccolata” goes from Solferino (RC Memorial) to Castiglione delle Stiviere. It represents the way of the people who, after the battle of Solferino (2406/1859), brought almost all wounded soldiers from the battlefield to …

H1) ‘Clothesure’: How A Pilgrim’S Clothes Can Become ‘Sacred’ And Contribute To Narrative Identity, Stephen F. Haller

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

This paper provides the story which explains how pilgrim-identity is created and endures through the clothes they wear; and why pilgrims are reluctant to throw their clothes, boots, and gear away preferring instead to dispose of them ceremoniously; for instance, burning them.

We understand our lives as stories. Narrative is what unifies a life, and chapters of that life, into a whole, with a beginning, middle and end. The choices of what to link together into a story are what makes meaning out of that which would otherwise be a random collection of events. Stories come to an end, which …

H4) Developing Faith Based Visitation For Malta A Pilot Project For A Quality Tourism Experience, Julian Zarb

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

The concept for developing faith-based visitor experiences has emanated from the principles of community-based tourism, first researched by Peter Murphy (1986). Since 1958, these islands have attracted visitors for sun and sea holidays, normally at the peak between June and September, although there have been attempts over the past twenty years to offer opportunities during the “shoulder” months. The type of visitor during the “shoulder” months has varied from the MICE business visitor to the visitor coming to these islands to attend some concert or theatre presentation. Some visitors have been interested in the culture and heritage, although this is …

Natural Language Processing Pipeline For Assessment Data: An R-Based Tutorial, Constanza Mardones-Segovia, Shiyu Wang, Allan S. Cohen

Chinese/English Journal of Educational Measurement and Evaluation | 教育测量与评估双语期刊

Natural language processing (NLP) has become an increasingly popular approach for analyzing textual responses in educational assessments. An important part of NLP involves cleaning and structuring examinees' written responses to create input data that conserves the syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of the words, thereby enabling the extraction of these features. This paper provides foundational knowledge on the steps needed for using NLP in educational measurement tasks, guiding researchers and practitioners through text preprocessing, feature extraction, and analyzing textual data from constructed response items. Additionally, an R-based example using Latent Dirichlet Allocation is provided, illustrating each step in the pipeline.

Ua80/1 Meeting Agenda & Minutes, W Club

University Organizations

Agenda and minutes of the June 2025 W Club Board of Directors meeting.

Inadequate Healthcare For Women In The United States, Grace Loveless

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Barriers to adequate healthcare for women stem from a lack of research on their specific health needs, gender-based biases in healthcare, and harmful societal norms. One key aspect highlighting these disparities is the menstrual cycle—a topic unique to women. Menstrual health, defined as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, illustrates the urgent need for greater focus on reproductive health. Despite its significance, the dialogue and knowledge about reproductive health remain limited; an issue which is exacerbated by societal attitudes of secrecy and shame. These attitudes create barriers that hinder many women in the United States from accessing …

Digital Infrastructure For The Regenerative Movement: A Case Study Of The Mycelium Learning Network, Abigail Karparis

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

The regenerative movement is gaining momentum worldwide, driven by communities working to restore ecological and social systems through place-based, culturally rooted action. Yet many of the groups leading this work, especially in the Global South or in hyper-local contexts, remain digitally invisible due to structural barriers, including limited access to appropriate technology, funding constraints, and misalignment between available tools and local values. Conventional digital infrastructures often exclude or marginalize these efforts, leaving regenerative practitioners disconnected from each other and from potential sources of support.

This article explores these challenges and presents a case study response: the co-creation of accessible, relational …

Freedom 50: Leading The World In Rights And Liberties, Erica Jensen

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.

Outcomes Related To College Students' Attachment, Suzanne Vaccaro

Psychology ETDs

Young adults aged 18-25 have the highest prevalence of mental health issues compared to adults over age 25. Mental health outcomes during emerging adulthood may be linked to early childhood variables, such as attachment, grounded in early caregiving, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) (Hughes et al., 2017; Waters & Roisman, 2019). The current study examined relationships between the attachment script assessment (ASA), a measure intended to elicit secure base script knowledge, indicative of secure attachment state of mind, ACEs, and mental health outcomes among a diverse sample of college students aged 18 to 25. Although results did not indicate relationships …

“Me Siento Como En Puerto Rico” : Puerto Rican Diaspora Communities’ Placemaking Through Urban Agri-Culture, Zuleima Esmeralda Vázquez-Carrillo

Theses - ALL

Puerto Ricans have a long history of migrating to the U.S., historically laboring as farmworkers, a result of colonial displacement and economic restructuring. Some Puerto Ricans who migrated to the U.S. engage in Urban Agriculture, helping them maintain ties to their cultural identity by growing Puerto Rican foods and creating gardening and farming spaces that resemble the Puerto Rican landscape. While critical food and UA scholars have vastly studied the connections between placemaking and food justice through the experiences of immigrants, the Puerto Rican diaspora has been largely overlooked. Drawing from interviews and landscape analysis from field visits in Puerto …

There Are No Good Landlords: Deconstructing Discourses Of The “Mom And Pop” Landlord In Syracuse, Ny, Natalie Mclaughlin

Theses - ALL

This thesis examines how landlords operating in Syracuse, NY’s high poverty neighborhoods use discourse to legitimize their class interests and reinforce their dominance in a postindustrial, neoliberalizing city. Drawing on interviews and participant observation with members of the Central New York Landlord Association, it explores how landlord narratives are shaped by, and help reproduce, the interconnected structures of urban neoliberalism, racial capitalism, and settler colonialism. While the City of Syracuse promotes redevelopment strategies to attract private capital and raise property values, many landlords continue to profit from long-term disinvestment and tenant confinement to the city’s poorest rental markets. Local landlord …

Alcohol & Substance Abuse Among Youth In South Africa, Carsyn R. Richins

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

South Africa is one of the riskiest drinking countries in the world, and its youth show some of the highest alcohol and substance abuse rates in the nation. In recent years, consumption rates among South African youth have increased while the average age of first use has decreased. This has led to higher levels of binge drinking, addiction, and dependency. This paper explores the root causes and long-term consequences of this growing issue. It argues that three primary factors — early and frequent exposure, poor governmental regulation, and the use of substances as a coping mechanism — have created a …

A Call For Change: Supporting Children With Tourette Syndrome, Matt Reall

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Tourette Syndrome affects 1 in 100 U.S. children but remains widely misunderstood due to stigma, delayed diagnosis, and media misrepresentation. This neurological disorder is characterized by involuntary tics and often co-occurs with ADHD, anxiety, and sleep disorders. Children with Tourette Syndrome face disproportionate challenges in social, academic, and emotional settings—despite having average or above-average intelligence. One-third engage in self-harm, and suicide rates are four times the national average. Peer-education programs like the Tourette Association of America’s Youth Ambassador initiative have shown promise in reducing stigma, but unequal access and weak institutional support limit their impact. This paper calls for early …

Correlates Of School Absenteeism: A Systematic Review Of What We Know And What We Don’T, Samantha C. Maguire

Dissertations - ALL

School absenteeism has been referred to as a hidden educational crisis by the United States Department of Education. National data show that chronic absenteeism has doubled since pre-pandemic rates, increasing from about 16% of school students to nearly 30% during the 2021-22 school year. To understand this widespread issue, I conducted a systematic review of the available literature on potential risk factors or correlates associated with school absenteeism. A total of 106 studies published between 2000 and 2023 were included in this review. Coding was completed by me and advanced research assistants to determine how school absenteeism has been defined …

Bench Strength: How Powerful Are Supreme Courts In Common Law Countries Really?, Nilesh Sinha

Dissertations - ALL

This thesis examines the extent of judicial power exercised by the top constitutional courts in common law countries, using judicial review as a proxy for this power. I analyze three apex constitutional courts—the supreme courts of the United States, India, and Canada—as they all engage in strong-form judicial review and have been referred to at different times by various scholars as “the most powerful court in the world.” To frame my analysis, I explore how these courts have evolved in power throughout their histories. I employ comparative historical analysis (CHA) and construct a typology that accounts for how these courts, …

It Was Always Designed To Kill Us: How Discrimination, Biopolitics, Necropolitics, And Orientalism Shape The Design Of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Ash Cavalcanti

Theses - ALL

This thesis is an analysis of how necropolitics, discrimination, and Orientalism shape the design of the game Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024). In examining how the game depicts race, gender, and sexuality, I explore the tension between the game’s intended progressive message and the design decisions that run counter to it. The first chapter explores how the game’s design shapes the player character and their allies into citizens and defenders of the status quo, and the problematic implications of connecting citizenship to humanity. This chapter goes into depth about how this defense of the status quo naturalizes some forms of …

Reparative Justice In Late Twentieth Century Africa: The O.A.U, Durban, And Accra Reparations Conferences, Franklin Donudenu Adorsu

Theses - ALL

This thesis explores the evolution of African-led transnational reparations campaigns from the final decade of the twentieth century through the early decades of the twenty-first. It examines how reparative justice initiatives have emerged in response to the enduring legacies of slavery, colonialism, and systemic racial oppression, and how these campaigns reflect both historical memory and contemporary demands for justice by Africans and people of African descent worldwide. While early reparations discourse often centered on the diaspora, this research argues that recent mobilizations on the African continent in attempts to seek redress for historical injustices, particularly the 1993 Abuja Conference, the …

Academic Summaries (Human Rights Violations Issue), Erica Jensen

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.