Anthropology Commons^™

The Relativity Of Education: Student Perspectives On Artificial Intelligence In Community College, Ashley Greta Magana

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This hermeneutic phenomenological study examined how diverse community college students experience and make meaning of the integration of generative artificial intelligence (AI) into their educational contexts. Although AI is quickly transforming higher education through automated grading, personalized learning systems, and new models of assessment, the discourse surrounding its implementation remains dominated by administrators, faculty, and institutional stakeholders, while the perspectives of students, specifically community college students who are often historically underrepresented and economically marginalized, are systematically excluded. Most existing research is quantitative and centered on universities, leaving a critical gap in qualitative understanding of the most diverse population in higher …

Stop Blaming My Users: Illumination Of The Technocentric Mythos Bias, Ervin H. Frenzel, Richard Lightcap

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

 Abstract -This conceptual essay addresses the need for systemic and systematic transdisciplinary analytical techniques within cybersecurity and technical security. This conceptual essay is contingent upon recognition that cybersecurity is not simply technical in nature, it does not need an adversary, and more importantly it is based upon systems engineering and systems thinking.  The essay contributes a socio-technical attribution chain and field-specific ontology/taxonomy which distinguish user-triggered events from root causes, latent conditions, technical debt, validation failures, governance failures, and attribution bias before assigning responsibility to end users. It systematically defines an ontology inclusive of developer technical debt, organizational debt arising from …

Ka Here Tāngata:1 Mātauranga And Te Ao Māori In Biocultural Kākāpō (Strigops Habroptilus) Conservation Approaches, Sophie Perfetto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This master's thesis examines conservation as a form of living cultural heritage practice through the co-management of kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus), a critically endangered parrot and taonga species in Aotearoa New Zealand. Situated within ongoing histories of colonial dispossession and Western frameworks of land and species management, contemporary kākāpō conservation is shaped through the partnership between the Department of Conservation’s Kākāpō Recovery Programme and Ngāi Tahu. Drawing on semi-structured interviews collected during fieldwork from July to August 2025, this study examines how institutional partnerships structure decision-making, authority, and responsibility in contemporary conservation governance. Findings demonstrate that Māori knowledge systems …

Volume 17, Christian O’Neill, Kyara Greene, Savva Sidorov, Laura Bisaillon, Luke Clemmer, Hannah Gordon, Kitt Benson, Taylor Blount, Rachel Danzitz, Nicholas Duellman, Chase Gionis, Hima Fernando, Seth Franzyshen, Onyx Gonzalez, Bryan Lin, Samantha Start, Ysabel Wells, Maggie Duncan

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction Dr. Amorette Barber, Director, Office of Student Research

From the Editor Dr. Hannah Dudley-Shotwell

Cover Artist’s Statement Maggie Duncan

On Mentoring Dr. Yulia Uryadova

Ukrainian Resistance in the Face of Russification: Nestor Makhno and Anarchism

by Christian O’Neill

Life Vest by Kyara Greene

Isolation and 16S rRNA Identification of Bacteria from Fire Department Connection Pipe by Savva Sidorov

The Effectiveness of Planned Exercise in Reducing ADHD Symptoms in Children by Laura Bisaillon & Luke Clemmer

Linguistic Analysis on Confidence and Communication Strategies with Disparities Between Sign Fluency and Hearing Impairment by Hannah Gordon

Freedmen in Indian Territory by Kitt …

Intersectionality And Belonging: Higher Education Mathematics, Ashley Natalie

Mathematics and Statistics

Students with intersecting marginalized identities (such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, disability, or first-generation background) often face unique challenges in advanced mathematics that affect confidence, participation, amounting to a sense of belonging. These experiences remain underrepresented in mathematics education research. This qualitative, narrative-based study examines how these students experience classroom dynamics and belonging in upper-level mathematics courses. Semi-structured interviews will be analyzed thematically to identify patterns related to identity, classroom culture, instructor behavior, and peer interactions. Findings aim to highlight barriers and supportive practices, informing more inclusive teaching strategies and equitable learning environments in advanced mathematics.

Intersectionality And Belonging: Higher Education Mathematics, Ashley Williams

Mathematics and Statistics

Students with intersecting marginalized identities (such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, disability, or first-generation background) often face unique challenges in advanced mathematics that affect confidence, participation, amounting to a sense of belonging. These experiences remain underrepresented in mathematics education research. This qualitative, narrative-based study examines how these students experience classroom dynamics and belonging in upper-level mathematics courses. Semi-structured interviews will be analyzed thematically to identify patterns related to identity, classroom culture, instructor behavior, and peer interactions. Findings aim to highlight barriers and supportive practices, informing more inclusive teaching strategies and equitable learning environments in advanced mathematics.

Analysis Of Volumetric Reconstruction Methods In Archaeology, Cade O'Fallon

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry in archaeological projects is entering a period of transition; a method of producing 3D data that is traditionally embraced as tool for documentation is being explored for its analytic potential. One such way SfM photogrammetry can be used analytically is through the calculation of volumes using photogrammetric data. The tools exist for archaeologists to be able to create and quantify volumetric models; however, the discourse on these methods is still so new there is no consensus on the best method for conducting volumetric work. Different methods of creating and isolating volumetric space …

Program And Proceedings, The Nebraska Academy Of Sciences 1880–2026: 146th Anniversary Year, One Hundred-Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

Program and abstracts of the proceedings for the Nebraska Academy of Sciences 136th annual meeting, 2025

Sessions

Aeronautics and Space Science

Anthropology

Biological and Medical Sciences

Earth Sciences

Ecology, Sustainability, and Environmental Science

Physics and Engineering

General Poster Session

2026 Maiben Lecture: Shifting Extremes: Understanding Nebraska’s Changing Climate and Preparing for What Lies Ahead, Deborah Bathke

2026 Friends of Science Awards: Julie Shaffer and Irina Filina

2026 C. Bertrand and Marian Othmer Schultz Colleaguate Schoalrship Award: Piper Ryschon and Bryce Reeson

In Memoriam: Paul Royster

The Willow Who Kept The Secrets Of The Heart, Ana Suarez

Speak for the Trees!

This digital museum exhibit features the climate change fairy tale The Willow Who Kept the Secrets of the Heart, presented as a written narrative and recorded reading that explores the symbolic relationship between the Weeping Willow, water, and ecological care in the face of climate change. It also includes an infographic highlighting the Weeping Willow’s habitat, characteristics, and environmental challenges in Texas, along with a curator’s talk and curator’s board. The exhibit features an artifact entry using a half-filled vial of water to represent climate instability and the often-overlooked resources that sustain life, as well as a persuasive essay, …

Super-Resolution Remote Sensing Datasets For Application To Caral–Supe Archeological Sites Employing Sar And Dems, Jungrack Kim, Ramesh P. Singh

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Publicly accessible spaceborne remote sensing datasets often lack the spatial resolution required to reliably distinguish archeological features from their surrounding geomorphological contexts. In this study, we assess the potential of super-resolution (SR) products derived from multiple public-domain remote sensing datasets for a systematic archeological survey in the Caral–Supe region. We focus on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and topographic datasets—including Sentinel-1, Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR), and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs)—because of their capacity to detect subtle surface expressions and shallow subsurface structures obscured by vegetation or sediment cover. Using state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms, …

Numerals And Other Means Of Expressing Plurality In Language And Thought: A Developmental Perspective Across Cultures., Giovanni Giuseppe G.G. Nicosia Prof.

Numeracy

Several ancient languages use linguistic structures to differentiate between singular, dual, and plural forms that are used when one, two, or many objects are referenced. (Some languages go further, adding a trial form to differentiate two from three.) In many modern languages, numerals are used to convey precise number. After reviewing a range of ways languages express number (including the interesting case of Pirahã which does not express precise number), the paper concludes with a proposed developmental path for the expression of quantity in languages.

A Stable Isotope Comparison Of The Biogenic Carbonate Of Mammalian Tooth Enamel From The Modern Ohio River Valley And Fort Ancient Buffalo Sites, Sara Elizabeth Slack

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C values change in response to anthropogenic factors (Ghosh & Brand, 2003). Little is known about the effects of anthropogenic climate and land use change on the ecology of the Ohio River Valley. The goal of this research was to quantify the effects of European colonization on the native ecology of the region. The specific questions of this research were: (1) How have mammalian tooth enamel δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C compositions shifted over time within the Ohio River Valley in response to anthropogenic climate change and vegetation? (2) Are there differences …

Plant Practices And Community At The Heart Of Hopewell: Paleoethnobotany At The Overly Site And Beyond, Abigail Deewaard

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Paleoethnobotanical analyses of Ohio Hopewell habitation sites in past decades have shed light on the subsistence practices, settlement patterns, and environmental management of Indigenous peoples engaged in what archaeologists describe as the Hopewell phenomenon. However, comparatively less attention has been paid to the social dimensions of plant use, particularly at habitation sites in the Scioto Hopewell region. Hopewell is an archaeological term that refers to the Middle Woodland (ca. 100 BCE–400 CE) network of interregional relationships across eastern North America characterized by long-distance exchange, monumental earthwork construction, and ceremonial practices including the honoring of ancestors. This thesis applies a social …

The Forensic Implications Of Hydrochloric Acid (Hcl) Exposure On Dna Preservation In Human Teeth, Shaelyn Lee Zimmerman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Identity is a human right, and forensic anthropological methods are often aimed at returning identity to decedents. Three main pathways are used for the identification of human remains: fingerprints, dental records, and DNA analysis. Identification efforts may be hindered when perpetrators attempt to obscure the victim’s identity. In cases where corrosive substances, such as hydrochloric acid (HCl) are used, dental comparison and fingerprinting often fail and genetic analysis becomes the best chance of achieving personal identification.

Previous studies have shown teeth are an excellent source of DNA. Large, multi-rooted teeth, such as molars, are often preferred because they contain the …

Report On A Gpr Survey Of The Copper Harbor Cemetery, Copper Harbor, Michigan, Grace Griffin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Copper Harbor Cemetery in Grant Township, Michigan, is one of the oldest settler cemeteries in the Keweenaw, with the earliest burial dating back to 1853. The cemetery is also still used by the community today. However, consistent burial records have not been maintained throughout the cemetery's entire history, leading to some doubt about which areas of the cemetery can be opened for new burials and where excavation should be avoided. For this reason, Grant Township commissioned a ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey of the cemetery, primarily to locate anomalies indicating possible unmarked graves and possible buried headstones. The survey …

Below The Rows, Beyond The Roots: An Art Exhibition Depicting Agriculture Across The Globe, Maggie Enoch

Honors Theses and Capstones

In Below the Rows, Beyond the Roots, artist Maggie Enoch creates multimedia works inspired by her exposure to diverse agricultural systems and perspectives while studying geography and sustainable agriculture/food systems around the world. By integrating complex histories with the contemporary realities of farming, Maggie paints vivid pictures of the power of food in this five-piece exhibition.

Mountain Communities During A Time Of War: A Case Study Of The Hutsul Region In The Carpathian Mountains Of Ukraine, Pavlo Rybaruk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the ethno-ecological technologies employed by the Hutsul people within the highland agrarian economy of the Carpathian Mountains. Over centuries, the Hutsuls have developed ethno-ecological technologies that maintain ecological integrity while supporting community livelihoods.

The study addresses three primary research questions: What are the most important ethno-ecological technologies of the Hutsul highland economy? How might these traditional ethno-ecological practices be applied to economic, agricultural, and tourism development in the Hutsul region? How might these traditional ethno-ecological practices be combined with contemporary approaches to encourage sustainable development in the region?

The research explores the devastating impact of the Russian …

Archaeological Predictive Meta-Modeling In Pre-Columbian Mexico, Peter Stamm

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Archaeological Predictive Modeling stands firmly as an important tool for Archaeologists to predict undiscovered sites from civilizations all across the globe. While powerful, this methodology is not without its own set of qualms. Striking a balance between pure a data-driven approach while also observing leading expert theories can be a complicated task. Going further, deciding on the specific domain of features to emphasize or overlook can be a challenge within itself, as one misstep can drastically change the output of model, sometimes for the worst. In addition, creating models that can expose their reasoning process can be rather difficult to …

Dental Microwear And Diets Of Late Miocene Primates From Rudabánya, Hungary, Peter S. Ungar, Anna K. Wilcox, David R. Begun

School of Dentistry Faculty Publications

Objectives: This study focuses on a dental microwear texture analysis of European pliopithecids and dryopithecins from the Miocene primate site of Rudabánya, Hungary. The goal is to determine whether these taxa, found in part together in the same deposits, differed in their food preferences, or at least consumed, on a daily basis, in a manner that might have facilitated sympatry. Materials and Methods: Here we report on a molar surface texture analysis of all available fossil primates from Rudabánya that preserve antemortem microwear. This includes both Anapithecus hernyaki (n = 14) and Rudapithecus hungaricus (n = 5, including one from …

A 12,800-Year-Old Layer With Cometary Dust, Microspherules, And Platinum Anomaly Recorded In Multiple Cores From Baffin Bay, Christopher R. Moore, Vladimir A. Tselmovich, Malcolm A. Lecompte, Allen West, Stephen J. Culver, David J. Mallinson, Mohammed Baalousha M.Sc, Ph.D., James P. Kennett, William M. Napier, Michael Bizimis, Victor Adedeji, Seth R. Sutton, Gunther Kleteschka, Kurt A. Langworthy, Jesus P. Perez, Timothy Witwer, Marc D. Young, Jordan Jeffreys, Richard C. Greenwood, James A. Malley

Faculty Publications

The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis (YDIH) posits that ~12,800 years ago Earth encountered the debris stream of a disintegrating comet, triggering hemisphere-wide airbursts, atmospheric dust loading, and the deposition of a distinctive suite of extraterrestrial (ET) impact proxies at the Younger Dryas Boundary (YDB). Until now, evidence supporting this hypothesis has come only from terrestrial sediment and ice-core records. Here we report the first discovery of similar impact-related proxies in ocean sediments from four marine cores in Baffin Bay that span the YDB layer at water depths of 0.5–2.4 km, minimizing the potential for modern contamination. Using scanning electron microscopy …

Rishon Le-ẒIyyon, Winepress Park: Geomorphology And Sedimentology, Joel Roskin, Yotam Asscher

Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel

An extensive brown sandy double-unit sediment, draping large parts of the archaeological remains at the Winepress Park in Rishon Le-Ẓiyyon, is suggested to be associated with the previously reported, undated ʻEn Ha-Qore clay. Based on relative age port-OSL profiling, the depositional mechanism of this unit and the overlying sand is suggested to be related to late Holocene, dune-dammed winter ponds. These aeolian-fluvial dune-damming processes may have been partly triggered by intensive Byzantine human activity that may have led to sand mobilization.

Syntax-Enhanced Boundary-Aware Named Entity Recognition Model, Chuanming Yu, Bin Deng, Zhengang Zhang

Journal of Scientific Information Research

[Purpose/significance] This study addresses the issue of inadequate perception of entity boundaries in traditional character-level modeling-based named entity recognition models by integrating syntax information containing entity boundary features into the task using a multi-head graph attention network with dense connections. This integration enhances the effectiveness of named entity recognition.

[Method/process] This study proposes a Syntax-enhanced Boundary-aware Named Entity Recognition Model (SynBNER), which utilizes BERT for text semantic representation and integrates syntax information using a dense-connected graph attention network. This integration incorporates implicit entity boundary information from syntax information into word representations, thereby enhancing the model's entity boundary perception capability.

[Result/conclusion] …

Analyzing Human - Nonhuman Primate Conflict Mitigation Techniques In Mto Wa Mbu, Northern Tanzania, Lil Adams

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Human-wildlife conflict is a widespread challenge faced by those living in regular contact with wildlife that can have profound impacts on livelihood outcomes for humans, wildlife, and their shared environment (Barua et al., 2013; Blackie, 2023). Human – non-human primate conflict is particularly crucial due to primates’ high capacity to live among human populations (Chapman & Chapman, 1990; Alberts & Altmann, 2006; Reader et al., 2011; Sinha & Vijayakrishnan, 2017), and is currently on the rise due to increasing contact between human and non-human primates (Hockings, 2016; Uddin et al., 2020). To characterize and analyze techniques currently being used to …

Culture And Environment: The Calling Lakes Ecomuseum As A Community Sustainability Initiative, Kace N. Anders

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Located in Saskatchewan, Canada, the Calling Lakes Ecomuseum, CLEM, is a community-based organization focused on water management and sustainability. Ecomuseums are holistic organizations that occupy landscapes, are responsive to community needs, conserve in situ heritage, and incorporate sustainability along with community development. The ecomuseum movement came from a need for holistic heritage management that disengaged with conventional museology and created space for communities to engage with their heritage in ways that promote community identity. This thesis analyzes the Calling Lakes Ecomuseum and how it utilizes the ecomuseum concept alongside environmental sustainability. Both semi-structured interviews and place-based field observations were used …

Arts-Based Sustainability: From New York To Malawi, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Recognizing that libraries serve multiple constituencies and subject areas, this chapter documents and advocates for development of transdisciplinary arts-based research (ABR) and culture-related projects linked to environmental challenges. Libraries contribute collections and spaces, as well as the research of library and information scientists. Libraries are currently among invisible contributors to sustainability planning and services. The chapter will link this invisibility to the value of what visual arts refer to as negative space elements in subjects ranging from traditional ecological knowledge to environmental science. Library collections, projects, and research contribute to education for sustainable development (ESD) as required to achieve the …

Proceedings Of The 12th Research Symposium At Mammoth Cave National Park, Pat Kambesis Editor, Lee Anne Bledsoe Editor, Ana K. Celis Editor

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Proceedings of the 12th Research Symposium at Mammoth Cave National Park: Celebrating 100 Years of Scientific Research & Resource Management in the Mammoh Cave Region.

Laying The Groundwork: Building Long-Term Community Partnerships Across A Shared Curriculum, Juliana Chow, Eric Robertson, Kate Magargal

Utah Conference on Community Engagement

Maintaining long-term community partnerships is a major challenge for community-engaged classrooms. This poster presents a community-engaged learning (CEL) program template for a project shared between multiple courses and instructors, demonstrating how shared resources, skill sets, relationships, and coordination could result in a long-term community partnership linked to multiple community networks. It shows how 3 courses at the Honors College of the University of Utah can weave together learning objectives and cooperative planning for a course module focused on the Native Plants Program, part of the U of U Climate Action Plan.

The Human Legacy: Agriculture, Civilizations, Strife, And Pandemics Changing Our Climate, Jacalyn M. Wittmer Malinowski

Climate Change and the Individual, 2025-26

For most of human history, climate has shaped our lives, while our influence on it remained minimal. However, the notion that early humans had no measurable impact on the climate before industrialization is inaccurate. Early in human history, activities – such as the rise of agriculture, the growth of civilizations, periods of conflict, and pandemics – altered greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. These changes contributed to significant periods of climate change long before the burning of fossil fuels set us on the path to today’s global climate crisis.

How The Ramapough Turtle Clan Tribe Sustained Their Culture Through Ford's Environmental Exploitation, Tori Sutera

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The Ramapough Turtle Clan Tribe is an Indigenous community composed of individuals residing mainly in Ringwood, New Jersey and a few surrounding boroughs. This land holds irreplaceable significance among the community, who, after facing colonial diaspora, have ultimately resided in Ringwood. However, due to the vast effects of the Ringwood Superfund site, this community has dealt with the loss of their people and their culture. Beginning in 1967, Ford Motor Company – partial owners of the site at that time – initiated the dumping of heavily toxic materials into Cannon and Peters Mines. This dumping continued until 1971, and the …

Revealing Hidden Histories: A Multi-Sensor Aerial Survey For Detecting Unmarked Burials At Sinking Spring Cemetery, Abingdon, Va, Noah Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Sinking Spring Cemetery, established in 1773 in Abingdon, Virginia, spans 11 acres and is divided by a road. The 9-acre southern section was reserved for white church members. Enslaved individuals and free people of color were buried in the smaller northern section, where few headstones remain today. This study aimed to map the unmarked graves using thermal, multispectral, and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors deployed on unmanned aerial systems. Graves were characterized by subtle topographic depressions mapped by LiDAR and cooler radiant temperature anomalies in thermal imagery. Thermal data collected at different times of the day and year …