Digital Commons Network^™

Brands & Virtual Personas: How Virtual Influencer Types Impact Brand Awareness, Carol Calderon Ambelis

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

As social media continues to shape how consumers interact with brands, virtual influencers (VIs) have emerged as a new type of digital celebrity. While previous research has explored how VIs contribute to brand image and awareness, there has been limited attention on how different types of VIs, both anime-like and human-like, affect consumer perceptions across different markets. This study examines how these two types of VIs impact relatability, aspiration, and brand awareness, with a focus on the differences between luxury and mass market. Using a within-subjects experimental design, this study recruited 574 participants with social media experience using MTurk. The …

Mindreading And Embodiment: Beyond Mirror Neurons., Sanad Al Khatib

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

This paper examines the question: how do we figure out what other people are thinking and why they act as they do, or put differently, how is it that we can read minds in daily life? For decades, the dominant view held that we explain and predict other people’s behavior by attributing to them mental states such as beliefs, desires, and intentions, represented symbolically in the brain. The embodied simulation model challenges this view, proposing that understanding others primarily relies on mirror neurons that activate both when we perform an action and when we observe someone else performing it. This …

Of The Freedom Famine In Palestine, Ibtisam Barakat

International Dialogue

In this searing essay, poet and author Ibtisam Barakat bears witness to what she names the “Freedom Famine” in Gaza—a deliberate, decades-long deprivation of basic human rights culminating in the catastrophic conditions of 2025. Writing from the United States while in conversation with Gazan author Omar Hammash, Barakat juxtaposes their drastically unequal realities: her safety and his daily encounters with death, displacement, and starvation. Through Hammash’s testimony—delivered amid constant bombardment and interrupted by news of a friend’s killing—Barakat documents the collapse of Gaza’s infrastructure, the mass targeting of aid workers, the lethal failures of international relief, and the killing of …

The Effect Of Shared Decisions On Intertemporal Choice, Rosemarie M. Davidson

Masters Theses

Substance use disorders are a significant public health concern, and improving treatment outcomes requires a better understanding of the behavioral processes that influence drug consumption. Delay discounting, or the tendency to overvalue immediate reinforcers, is reliably more severe among individuals with substance use disorders. Recent work suggests that shared decision-making may increase tolerance for delayed rewards; however, prior studies used procedures that confounded delay to token delivery with delay to token exchange, limiting conclusions. The present study evaluates delay discounting across individual and social decision-making contexts using a traditional delay discounting paradigm.

Ten undergraduate participants completed sessions involving choices between …

Love Will Get You Further: Allan Leslie Combs And The Legacy Of Radiance, Julia C. Gardner

Journal of Conscious Evolution

In this reflective tribute, I draw on a November 2025 remembrance gathering for Allan Leslie Combs to explore how his scholarship on consciousness lived through his presence, pedagogy, and relationships. The article weaves reflections from students, colleagues, friends, and family to show how Leslie treated consciousness as a living, radiant field and knowledge as participatory. Speakers describe a mentor who walked beside their work, welcoming spiritual, creative, and embodied ways of knowing, while trusting love, humor, and trickster-mischief as legitimate modes of inquiry.

I then turn to my own dissertation research on play consciousness (PlayCS) as a tangible extension of …

Social Work In Times Of Genocide: A Palestinian Feminist Praxis Of Social Work, Stephanie Wahab

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The abstract is translated in Arabic below. Social work cannot meaningfully claim a commitment to justice, human dignity, and the worth of people while simultaneously remaining committed to colonial logics. Recognizing and resisting collusion with settler colonialism demands structural shifts in knowledge production, curriculum, practice, and institutional alignment. This article speaks to organized social work’s collusion with the zionist project of Palestinian erasure amid the ongoing Nakba and genocide. Since Palestinian social workers are living and surviving genocide as they practice social work, worn binaries, such as provider–client, are unsettled in ways that make a Palestinian feminist praxis of social …

Drought, Worry, And Preparing For The Future: The Ethnopsychology Of Climate Distress In Kilifi County, Kenya, Edna Bosire, Syed Wahid, Linda Khakali, Benjamin Oestericher, Felix Agoi, Anthony Ngugi, Rosebella Iseme, Jasmit Shah, Zul Merali, Lukoye Atwoli

Brain and Mind Institute

The impacts of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) presents a chronic and intensifying disaster, with drought, flooding, and extreme heat, presenting unique challenges and profound disruptions. Growing evidence links such events to ecological grief, ecological anxiety, and solastalgia – negative affective states that reflects responses to climate change related destruction of nature, species, culturally significant or sacred spaces, and other ways of life. While this literature is expanding in the Global North, little is known about how communities in SSA perceive and respond to deteriorating or depleting natural ecosystems. This article explores the ethnopsychology of distress precipitated by environmental …

A Quantitative Exploration Of Risk And Protective Factors Affecting The Mental Health Of Chitimacha Tribal Youth, Daphnie Vilcan-Tanner

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the relationships between demographics, risk factors, and protective factors with mental distress among Chitimacha Tribal adolescents aged 12 to 18. Using a Positive Youth Development framework, the research aimed to identify the prevalence of mental distress, trauma, discrimination, and protective factors, as well as their collective and individual impacts on mental health. Data were collected through online surveys completed by 73 participants residing on or near the Chitimacha Tribal Reservation. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to analyze the data. Results revealed that while trauma and discrimination collectively predicted mental distress, family and community …

Finding Utopia: An Examination Of Pedagogical Approaches To Teaching Utopianism In U.S. College Classrooms, Brittany Page Brake

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how, and if, utopianism is being taught in college classrooms across the United States. Long considered impractical, overly idealistic, and/or politically dangerous, utopianism has been largely marginalized in political science and American culture. However, this project finds that there are instructors teaching utopianism and they are using the concept to challenge students to think differently about governance, justice, and institutional design. Drawing from political theory literature, course syllabi submitted by faculty from different U.S. universities, interviews with instructors, and personal case studies of my own courses at Central State University and Manchester University, I explore how utopian …

The Graphic Shift: Leveraging Superhero Graphica To Un-Ban Critical Conversations In The Secondary English Language Arts Classroom, Avery Clason

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis investigates the challenges that books are receiving during an era of social and political turmoil based on their content. Understanding why these books are polarizing for most readers and the general public is in direct connection with finding different books that can harbor the same conversations about dense topics and cultivating connections between students, the text, the world, and themselves. While there has been a search to find alternate books that are not considered "political flashpoints,” there has been limited research into the use of superhero graphica in the ELA classroom, especially in connection to utilizing this genre …

A Prevalence Study Of Iron Deficiency Anemia Among Children In Elbasan, Albania: Directions For Health Care Policy, Artilda Lala

All Dissertations

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is one of the most prevalent disorders worldwide, especially in children from low-income and underdeveloped countries. In Albania, anemia is a major public health concern with many unstudied regions (prefectures and rural municipalities). Childhood IDA can impair cognitive development, immunity and overall well-being, so early diagnosis and prevention of anemia is critical. This study examined the prevalence of IDA in children aged 0-10 years in the district of Elbasan, Albania. The data were additionally analyzed for relationships with demographic (age, gender, education, parental education and child academic performance) and nutrition variables.

A cross-sectional study design was …

Effects Of Response-Independent Food Delivery During Timeout On Timeout Punishment, Haillie Mcdonough

All NMU Master's Theses

Timeout is a signaled, response-dependent, and time limited period in which the prevailing schedule of reinforcement is suspended. Timeouts are one of the most frequently used punishment procedures in clinical and parental practices. Even though timeout is a common punishment practice, recent research suggests that implementation errors, fidelity failures, occur at high rates in practice. The present study evaluated how failures in procedural fidelity alter the efficacy of timeout as a punisher by exposing rats to conditions in which response-independent reinforcers were delivered during timeout. During baseline conditions, no timeouts were delivered and rats’ lever-pressing produced food reinforcers according to …

The Image Of Camels In The Arabic Novel: The Novel Of A Good Camel By Saud Alsanousi As A Model - A Descriptive And Analytical Study, Yasser Ahmed Hamed Marzouq

University of Tabuk Journal for Humanities and Social Sciences

This paper deals with the image of camels in the Arabic novel, focusing on the novel A Good Camel by Saud Alsanousi as an analytical model. It explores the use of camels and their artistic connotations in the novel, and how they interact with the narrative structure, relying on a descriptive and analytical approach to uncover the dimensions of this use and connotation. One of the most notable findings was that camels in the novel transcend being merely animals or means of transportation, becoming a central character with profound dimensions, symbolizing patience, endurance, and resistance-values inherent in the desert environment …

Motor And Phonic Tic Severity And Its Relationship To Social, Emotional, And School Functioning In Children With Tourette Syndrome From The Caregivers’ Perspective, Courtney C. Thompson

Dissertations

Abstract

Tourette Syndrome (TS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by motor and phonic tics that is frequently associated with functional impairments. The present study examined the relationship between motor and phonic tic severity, comorbid conditions, academic accommodations, and the social, emotional, and school functioning of children with TS. Caregiver data were collected on tic severity, comorbid conditions, social, emotional, and school functioning, academic accommodations, and grades. Overall, social, emotional, and school functioning fell within the moderate range, with school functioning positively associated with social and emotional functioning. Phonic tics were linked to social functioning, whereas both motor and overall tic …

Design And Testing Of A Vr Escape Room Game For Philippine Martial Law History, Eric Cesar Vidal, Jr., Jesus Alvaro Pato, Johanna Marion R. Torres, Kenneth King L. Ko

Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC)

This paper presents a Virtual Reality Educational Escape Room game where players learn about the highly divisive Martial Law period in Philippine history. We describe the game’s general design and the results of a user test to evaluate the game in terms of VR presence, immersion, and overall usability.

Design And Testing Of A Vr Escape Room Game For Philippine Martial Law History, Eric Cesar Vidal, Jr., Johanna Marion R. Torres, Jesus Alvaro Pato, Kenneth King L. Ko

Department of Information Systems & Computer Science Faculty Publications

This paper presents a Virtual Reality Educational Escape Room game where players learn about the highly divisive Martial Law period in Philippine history. We describe the game’s general design and the results of a user test to evaluate the game in terms of VR presence, immersion, and overall usability.

User Evaluation Of A Virtual Patient For Philippine Medical Education, Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo, Samantha Castaneda, James Alvir Maclin V. Alaan, Paolo Santino P. Caoile

Department of Information Systems & Computer Science Faculty Publications

Caladrius is a virtual patient system designed for use in Philippine medical schools. It responds to the need for medical interview training, for greater variety in teaching-learning strategies, and for culturally appropriate technologies. It has two versions: a text-only version whose interface is similar to a chat interface, and an audio version that accepts speech input and responds with speech output. In a prior test of Caladrius, users requested improved audio response time and the inclusion of different patient personalities. A subsequent version of Caladrius was created to comply with these requests. As much of the lag was attributable to …

Applicability Of Cementochronology To Estimate Season-Of-Death In Humans: Insights From Modern Documented Collections, Olga Ibarra-Sanchez

Theses and Dissertations

Dental cementum is characterized by lifelong deposition of alternating opaque annuli in fall/winter and translucent bands in spring/summer. This study aims to test the applicability of cementochronology to estimate season-of-death, by observing the properties of the last layer, with direct implications for forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology. The sample includes canine teeth from 146 adults (84 males, 62 females), age-at-death ranging from 20-97 years (mean=61.7 years, SD=18.6 years), from two contemporary skeletal collections. Of these individuals, 78 (53.4%) died in spring/summer and 68 (46.6%) died in fall/winter. Overall accuracy was low at 64.4% (94/146). Accuracy was higher for spring/summer deaths 100.0% …

Research On The Impact Mechanism Of The Development Level Of Smart Agriculture On Farmers' Income, Baoping Liu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Agriculture is a fundamental and strategic industry essential to national food security and farmers’ well-being. Faced with global population growth, climate change, and resource constraints, the traditional high-input agricultural model is unsustainable. Smart agriculture, empowered by IoT, big data, and AI, has become critical for agricultural transformation and sustainable development. However, existing research overemphasizes technical efficiency and neglects how smart agriculture systematically affects farmers’ income, especially its transmission mechanism and regional heterogeneity.

Against China’s rural revitalization and digital village strategy, this study investigates how smart agriculture development influences farmers’ income, using a hybrid framework of macro empirics and micro analysis. …

The Reciprocal Relationship Between Physical Activity And Prosocial Behavior Among Rural Left-Behind Children: A Cross-Lagged Mediation Analysis Of Psychological Resilience, Dawu Huang, Xin Xiong, Peiyi Wang, Juan Xu

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Introduction: Although physical activity benefits youth development, little is known about how it is related to prosocial behavior over time, especially among structurally disadvantaged groups such as rural left-behind children in China. This longitudinal study examined the bidirectional relationship between physical activity and prosocial behavior and the mediating role of psychological resilience.

Methods: A total of 612 children (Grades 5–6; approximately 10–12 years old; 50.5% male) from three schools in Ji’an City, Jiangxi Province, completed measures of physical activity, psychological resilience, and prosocial behavior at three time points over 6 months.

Results: Crosslagged mediation structural equation modeling revealed reciprocal pathways: …

Proceedings Of The 25th International Symposium On Adapted Physical Activity, Catherine Carty, Gerard Masdeu Yelamos

Publications

This volume presents the Proceedings of the 25th International Symposium of Adapted Physical Activity (ISAPA 2025), hosted by Munster Technological University under the Patronage of UNESCO. It is intended as a permanent scholarly record of the symposium, its themes, and its contributions across research, practice, policy, culture, and inclusion in line with CoARA principles.

Investigating The Role Of Motivation On The Effectiveness Of Computerized Cognitive Training Among At-Risk Youth, Emely N. Lugo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Student motivation plays a central role in academic success, influencing persistence, engagement, and performance across grade levels. Within situated expectancy-value theory (SEVT), motivation is shaped by students’ beliefs about their ability to succeed (expectancy), the importance or usefulness they assign to a task (value), the perceived effort or trade-offs involved (cost), and the situational context in which learning occurs. Although the link between motivation and academic performance is well known, there is limited research on how motivational factors, like those proposed by SEVT, influence the extent of cognitive gains from school-based cognitive interventions designed to improve abilities related to academic …

An Evaluation Of Noncontingent Reinforcement And Additional Treatment Components In The Treatment Of Stereotypic Behavior, Stephanie Nicole Brand

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with autism often engage in stereotypic behavior that competes with learning and social skills. Behavior analytic treatment may be implemented to reduce stereotypy. Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) is one treatment that is often effective to reduce stereotypy. However, literature suggests that the use of NCR is contraindicated in some circumstances, as it may compete with the acquisition of new skills or may increase subsequent persistence of stereotypy. This research was designed to expand our knowledge of potential limitations of NCR when combined with other treatments. Study one examined persistence of stereotypy following treatment with NCR with and without response blocking. …

Conflict Management: Values-Based Training Effects On Shifts In Strategy Preference Among Formerly Incarcerated Individuals, Candace Renae Fay

Theses and Dissertations

Problem-solving refers to a behavior evoked by a problem in which the behaver manipulates, supplements, and consequently, generates discriminative stimuli (SD) that they subsequently respond to (Donahoe & Palmer, 2004; Skinner, 1957, 1968). The use of problem-solving when faced with interpersonal conflict reflects pro-social behavior patterns, while providing a learning opportunity for identifying relevant variables and contingencies, and possible reductions of extended conflict or escalation in anti-social behavior patterns. Patterns of preference can be identified following multiple opportunities, given an array of options, resulting in consistency of choice responses (Martin, 2006). When less prosocial (avoiding, yielding), or antisocial (forcing) conflict …

Crux: Exploring Imperialism And Resistance Through Role-Playing Games, Devon Gronka

Institute for the Humanities Master's Papers, Projects, and Capstones

This is a game about power. The game is a Role-Playing Game, or RPG. As with nearly all RPGs, the game presents the players with choices about how their characters will interact with each other and with the world around them, and these interactions are woven together to more or less form a plot. However, oftentimes in life there are no good choices available, and there is no win state outside of what we might determine for ourselves.

The game is a social experiment. While playing a game, a player takes in information in a very different manner than when …

Adoption Of The 4-H Thriving Model Of Positive Youth Development:A Case-Centered Examination Of 4-H Agents, Patricia Whitener

All Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Youth development professionals working in non-formal educational settings face the persistent challenge of translating evidence-based frameworks into effective practice. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study examines how South Carolina 4-H agent/educators perceive and adopt the 4-H Thriving Model following mandatory statewide training. The study investigates the roles of professional identity, change readiness, and organizational factors in shaping innovation adoption decisions among Extension professionals who work with considerable autonomy within diverse community contexts.

The 4-H Thriving Model represents a comprehensive theory of change that connects program practices to the developmental processes that influence youth outcomes (Arnold and Gagnon, 2019). The model …

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 …

Improved Model For Neurodegeneration In C. Elegans, Jean-Pierre Arditi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

During Alzheimer's disease (AD), insoluble amyloid beta (AP) peptides accumulate to form extracellular aggregates (plaques). The direct cause of neuronal dysfunction observed in AD has been broadly investigated. The amyloid hypothesis states that AP plaques are neurotoxic, but recent studies support the AP oligomer hypothesis, which states that intracellular AP (iAP) is neurotoxic. To test this hypothesis, I used CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to generate two transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) strains. I generated a strain (RSLl 11) using the rab-3 promoter to co-express GFP in neurons, which showed no gross behavioral changes but had a 50% reduced egglaying rate. RSLl …

The Impact Of Eyewear On Early And Mid-Latency Erp Components Of Face Processing, Alewa T. Anaya

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Facial recognition plays an important role in human survival and social communication. It relies on fast and efficient visual processing in the brain, as reflected by the P100 and N170 event-related potential (ERP) components. These ERPs are early and mid-latency stamps of facial recognition that reflect visual detection and structural processing of faces. Previous studies have shown that the N170 is sensitive to disruptions in facial configuration, such as inversion or partial face obscuration caused by masks. The present study, however, examines a common yet overlooked visual addition that may influence the N170: eyewear. Specifically, this study investigates how regular …

White Horse Village: A Northern Utah Ufo Narrative, Melissa Petersen

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

In the early 1960's a group of UFO believers, called Christ Brotherhood Inc., established themselves in Smithfield Canyon, UT and called their commune White Horse Village. A main house was built where the leader of the group lived and two or three smaller cabins were erected for the believers. Without running water they used an outhouse among them and built a small church where they would meet for lectures. Their beliefs centered around the popular movement of New Age spirituality of the time, which included scientific explanations for Christian beliefs including a belief in benevolent aliens as modern angels. Their …