Digital Commons Network^™

Does Self-Compassion Buffer Against The Potential Effects Of Perfectionism And Psychopathology On Non-Suicidal Self-Injury?, Natasha Bourgoin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

University students with increased rates of reported perfectionism, anxiety, and depression, are vulnerable to non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). However, not all students with psychological distress engage in NSSI, suggesting protective factors may help to mitigate this risk. The present study examined the relation between perfectionism and NSSI, via the mediating effects of anxiety and depression, and the moderating role of self-compassion. Participants were 338 university students (67% female; 87% White) who completed several self-report measures. Students with greater perfectionism reported higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms and, in turn, more NSSI engagement. Self-compassion and several self-compassionate domains attenuated connections between …

Attitudes Toward Harm Reduction Among Criminal Legal Staff, Diamond Meadows

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are prevalent among individuals interacting with the criminal legal system (Moore et al., 2019). Despite the high rates of individuals with SUDs interacting with the criminal legal system, there continue to be barriers to integrating harm reduction approaches within the system. Harm reduction approaches (i.e., medication assisted treatment) are effective in reducing the negative consequences associated with substance use and the pathway to recovery for many. The purposes of this study are to: 1. examine the psychometric properties of the Harm Reduction Acceptability Scale (HRAS) among criminal legal staff, 2. explore individual differences in staff attitudes …

Machine-Learning Landslide Susceptibility And Runout Modeling In The Nolichucky River Gorge After Hurricane Helene, Grace Braver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Extreme rainfall from Hurricane Helene (September 2024) triggered widespread landslides across the southern Appalachian region, highlighting the need for rapid landslide susceptibility assessments that capture both landslide initiation and downstream runout. Traditional susceptibility models often focus solely on initiation zones, limiting their ability to identify which slopes will generate destructive landslides or where material will travel. This study addresses that gap by (1) integrating Geographic Information System (GIS)-based machine learning susceptibility modeling using ArcGIS Pro: Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) and Random Forest-Based and Boosted Classification and Regression (FBBC) and (2) the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Grfin (Growth, Flow, and Inundation) runout …

Thinking Beyond Bias: The Confirmation Bias Index And The Cognitive–Motivational Predictors Of Accurate Headline Evaluation, Anthony Cantu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Confirmation bias — the tendency to favor belief-consistent information over contradictory evidence — represents a central challenge in contemporary misinformation research, yet its behavioral measurement has remained inconsistent across studies. This study introduced the Confirmation Bias Index (CBI), a preregistered behavioral measure defined as the difference in accuracy between ideologically congruent and incongruent headline evaluations. Using a 3 (headline slant: Conservative, Neutral, Liberal) × 2 (veracity: True, False) within-participants design, 198 participants evaluated 36 validated news headlines for accuracy. Results supported a veracity main effect and a reliable group-level confirmation bias effect indexed by the CBI. Headline slant alone did …

Improving Estimation Efficiency Via Regression-Adjustment In Covariate-Adaptive Randomizations With Imperfect Compliance, Liang Jiang, Oliver B. Linton, Haihan Tang, Yichong Zhang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We study how to improve efficiency via regression adjustments with additional covariates under covariate-adaptive randomizations (CARs) when subject compliance is imperfect. We first establish the semiparametric efficiency bound for the local average treatment effect (LATE) under CARs. Second, we develop a general regression-adjusted LATE estimator which allows for parametric, nonparametric, and regularized adjustments. Even when the adjustments are misspecified, our proposed estimator is still consistent and asymptotically normal, and their inference method still achieves the exact asymptotic size under the null. When the adjustments are correctly specified, our estimator achieves the semiparametric efficiency bound. Third, we derive the optimal linear …

From Innovation To Interaction: Processes Shaping Animal Assisted Therapy Implementation In Outpatient Settings In The United States, Rachel Rachlinski

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Animal assisted therapy (AAT) is an emerging mental health specialty marked by rapid growth, inconsistent training pathways, and the absence of regulatory oversight. Although professional organizations have published competencies and guidelines, no regulatory body ensures that educational programs or licensed practitioners adhere to these standards, leading to wide variability in practice and potential risks to clients and animals. This constructivist grounded theory study examined the processes shaping how licensed mental health providers understand and implement AAT in outpatient settings across the United States, with attention to the influence of training, supervision, and prior clinical experience.

Guided by the Consolidated Framework …

Position: The Pre/Post-Training Boundary Should Govern Ip In Industry–Academia Ml Collaborations, Dirk Bergemann, Soheil Ghili, Nitzan Mekel-Bobrov

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Industry–academia ML collaborations routinely fail to launch—not for scientific reasons, but because academics must publish while companies must protect models trained on proprietary data, and no standard contract framework resolves this tension. Because contracts are negotiated by legal departments alone, many apparent legal disputes are incentive misalignment problems that only scientists at the table can correctly diagnose. We propose PBOS (Protect-the-Business / Open-Source-the-Science), a community-adoptable contract template anchored to a single technically-grounded boundary: pre-training artifacts (architectures, training code, benchmarks, untrained weights) are open science; post-training artifacts (weights trained on proprietary data) are business IP. This boundary is technically meaningful, legally …

"Am I A Man Or A Muppet": A Rhetorical Analysis Of Generative Ai’S Representation Of Gender, Jessica Boaz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how generative artificial intelligence constructs and performs gender roles through a rhetorical analysis of the fully AI-generated podcast Fairytale Forensics. Drawing on theories of constitutive rhetoric, stereotyping, and McLuhan’s approach to the medium, this thesis investigates how AI-generated hosts interpret classic fairy tales while simultaneously reproducing and negotiating gender norms through the lens of prosopopoeia, metonymy and synecdoche. These performances rely on normative gender stereotypes that align with broader societal expectations, thereby potentially reinforcing existing cultural assumptions about masculinity and femininity. Ultimately, it demonstrates that AI-generated discourse does not merely reflect human biases but actively participates in …

Moderating Effects Of Defense Mechanisms On The Link Between Dark Triad Traits And Stress: A Replication With Addition Of Early Trauma, Ngayin Cheng

Student Theses

Literature suggested Dark Triad traits, comprised of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, are linked to adverse childhood environment and maladaptive coping that contribute to negative mental health outcomes, but Richardson and Boag's study (Richardson & Boag, 2016) was one of the few studies that first found Dark Triad traits are associated with immature defenses and higher perceived stress simultaneously. This replicated study aims to verify the original findings of their research by examining how defense mechanisms moderate the relationship between Dark Triad traits and perceived stress. A sample of 199 participants completed self-report measures assessing the Dark Triad traits, defense styles, …

Moodify: A Mood-Based Music Recommendation System, Meghana Kagitha

Theses and Dissertations

Music has long been recognised as a powerful tool for emotional regulation, yet existing music streaming platforms often fail to align song recommendations with a user's current emotional state. Moodify is a mood-based music recommendation system designed to bridge this gap by delivering personalised playlists that reflect how a user feels in real time.

This project presents the design, development, and evaluation of Moodify, a mobile application that leverages the Circumplex Model of Emotion to capture user mood through an intuitive two-dimensional valence-arousal interface. Rather than relying on text input or manual search, users plot their emotional state directly onto …

Investigating Utah's Watershed Restoration Initiative: A Qualitative Case Study Of A State-Managed Collaborative Platform, Casey Trout

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Collaboration is necessary to address complex, cross-jurisdictional natural resource problems. To better understand the benefits and drawbacks of innovative collaborative structures, this research examined the Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative (WRI). WRI is a state-managed program in Utah that implements cross-boundary habitat restoration projects. Local, state, and federal government agencies as well as non-profit organizations convene on five regional teams to design and evaluate projects. Project partners are engaged at a local level while most program administration occurs at the state level. A case study of WRI was conducted, making use of interviews with 33 participants, document review, and field observations. …

The Dark Side Of Sport: Exploring Conceptualizations And Operationalizations Of Authority Figure-Athlete Abuse, Katherine Nicole Alexander

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Although sport can be a fun and positive environment, it can also be a unique and common setting for athlete abuse. Coaches and other authority figures can serve in positive and negative caregiving roles, and many athletes report experiencing at least one form of abuse perpetrated by these important authorities during their sporting careers. We have less research on experiences of abuse in athletes from the United States. The current dissertation was designed to explore ways to more effectively and accurately define and measure athlete abuse perpetrated by authorities and coaches among adults in the United States. Given that there …

The Role Of Response Time In Math Anxiety, Christine K. Hartmann

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Math anxiety is characterized by feelings of discomfort or distress that are triggered when an individual is tasked with using numbers. Math anxiety impacts people at all ages, from early elementary school into adulthood (for review see Ramirez et al., 2018). In these studies, we investigated the cognitive impact that math anxiety has on both children and adults by measuring their math anxiety and reaction time on two tasks. The first task was the arithmetic affective priming task (AAPT), which purportedly shows that those with math anxiety tend to complete math tasks more efficiently (faster) when they are primed to …

Dyadic Agreement In And Task Correlates To A Measurement Of Conversational Success, Samantha Budge

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Successful conversation matters for social connection, wellbeing, and quality of life, but people do not always agree on whether a conversation was successful, even when they participated in the same interaction. Conversation is also commonly measured through task success, even though it’s unclear how task success correlates to how successful a conversation feels. This study examined how conversational success is experienced by different conversation partners and whether feeling successful in a conversation is related to how well a task is completed.

Participants took part in a structured conversational task and then rated their own conversational experience using a self-report questionnaire …

Probing The Roles Of Connexin 43 Hemichannels In A Mouse Model Of Alzheimer's Disease, Madison Treasure-Areno

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disorder involving neuronal death and cognitive decline, such as memory loss and changes in personality. One feature of the disease is buildup of abnormal protein called amyloid-beta in the brain. Amyloid-beta may activate support cells called astrocytes, triggering them to release large amounts of chemicals, possibly harming nearby cells. This study set out to examine the roles of the channels on astrocytes involved in releasing these chemicals, called connexin 43 hemichannels. Using a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, this study blocked the hemichannels using the drug Tonabersat, and measured spatial learning and memory in a …

Housing Markets In The American West: A Dynamic Time Warping Analysis Of Inter-City Relationships, Daniel Johnson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Housing markets revolve around perhaps the most consequential good to the average person, yet the relationships between local housing markets remain understudied. While major American cities appear to follow similar patterns, the nature of these connections is not fully understood. This project looks at housing markets across the western United States, using Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) to identify which cities tend to lead or lag others in price movements, and look at the overall similarity of their market movements. We also explore whether geographic distance, population growth, and income growth help explain why some markets are more similar than others. …

It's Okay, I'M Fine: A Communication Approach To Masculinity, Vulnerability, And Emotional Intimacy In Male Friendships, Nathan M. Spencer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Vulnerability is a key part of any relationship, as it allows people to feel more connected and closer to one another. However, toxic masculine norms are inhibiting men from being vulnerable in their relationships, especially in their friendships with other men. This study seeks to explore how vulnerable communication can lead to increased feelings of emotional intimacy and partner responsiveness within male friendships, even when it goes against the person’s expectations. Findings suggest that when a man is exposed to a vulnerable message, he will perceive an increase in both emotional intimacy and partner responsiveness. Another factor was that when …

Effects Of Cannabinoid Agonist Win 55-212-2 On Latent Inhibition, Ashley Peterson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a modulatory system that helps regulate brain functions, including learning and memory, influencing processes such as latent inhibition (LI). LI refers to the slower association formed when a familiar event is paired with a new outcome, compared to the association of an unfamiliar event. LI is a process that is often disrupted in individuals with schizophrenia and is known as a cognitive symptom. This study aimed to determine whether the drug WIN-55-212-2 (WIN), which interacts with the ECS, influences the process of LI using a fear-conditioned response procedure. The results found no significant interaction among …

Dignity And The Free Press, Erin C. Carroll

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

As American institutions wither and die, those who believe in their importance must reflect and rebuild. One institution worthy of sustained attention is the free press. Divorced from government by design, the press can benefit from efforts to reinvigorate and reinvent it in ways that institutions more directly under the federal government’s thumb cannot. To best undertake these efforts, we need a richer understanding of why a free press is vital. Articulating the values that underlie the need for this institution is necessary not only to build the most robust free press, but also to best exercise our freedoms as …

Evaluating The Feasibility, Acceptability, And Preliminary Efficacy Of An Online Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Program To Improve Dietary Quality In Highly Stressed Adults, Francesca M. Knudsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Stress can negatively affect both mental and physical health, which can increase the risk for chronic illness. When people feel stressed, they may also find it harder to make healthy food choices, which can further impact their health. Despite this, there are limited treatments designed to help people improve their dietary quality while managing stress. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based psychological approach that helps people respond more effectively to difficult thoughts and emotions while behaving in ways that are aligned with their personal values. This study tested whether a brief, online ACT-based program, combined with coaching phone …

A Mixed-Methods Investigation Of Physician Compassion In Consultations For Chronic Primary Pain, Sarah Daehler

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Chronic primary pain refers to physical pain that has no apparent organic cause, cannot be explained by another condition, and has associated psychological distress or functional impairment. Chronic primary pain is common and can significantly interfere with functioning, including occupational or social functioning. Research has shown that physicians struggle to treat this population, with many physicians reporting feeling unequipped and many patients feeling that their physicians are unhelpful and dismissive. Compassion may play a key role in improving these difficult interactions. The present study analyzed a sample of 99 participants with chronic pain and 100 healthy controls to learn more …

Examination Of The Association Among Family Communication Patterns, Attitudes Toward Sex, And Sexual Communication Self-Efficacy, Brooklynn Edelmayer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the role that family communication plays in the development of sexual attitudes and sexual communication self-efficacy. Essentially, each family has a unique communication environment, which consists of how open communication is, the variety of topics a family might discuss, and expectations of conformity that parents have for their children. Attitudes toward sex can be conservative–reflecting traditional views toward sex–or progressive–reflecting tolerance and flexibility toward various sexual lifestyles. Sexual communication self-efficacy is the degree to which an individual feels comfortable communicating about sex with a sexual partner. Participants in …

Online Act Guide For Sub-Clinical And Clinical Insomnia Among College Students, Guadalupe "Gabe" San Miguel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

College students are shown to have more sleep difficulties, specifically insomnia. These sleep difficulties compared to the general public due to the college environment (for example increase screen time, sedentary time, or alcohol use). Students with reported sleep difficulties have ties to lower GPA and lower odds of graduation. That is why this dissertation conducted a comparison between an online version of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (intervention) to a placebo condition among college students with insomnia to help determine if the intervention had better outcomes over time. Each condition (intervention = 39; placebo = 40) completed questionnaires at the start …

Redeveloping Mississippi: A Case Study On Brownfields In Central & Southern Mississippi, Sahrah R. Yeroozedek

Master's Theses

Brownfields, or properties that are or possibly are contaminated with dangerous materials, represent a common obstacle for communities in Mississippi. The real or potential presence of contaminants at these sites often deters investors due to costly cleanup requirements (EPA, n.d. -b). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through its Brownfield Revitalization Program, implemented guidelines for covering the costs and labor associated with the remediation of these properties. The EPA is not, however, responsible for redevelopment that supports long-term environmental and economic sustainability. Although the EPA maintains inventories of all Brownfields, there is also no comprehensive database of Brownfields and their current …

The Effects Of Self-Management On Portion Control Consumption In A Natural Setting, Amber Nicole Lampert

Theses and Dissertations

Obesity is a significant public health concern, with overeating as a primary contributor. Despite national nutrition initiatives, most Americans consume inadequate amounts of fruits and vegetables while exceeding recommended portions of calorie-dense foods. Understanding food groups and recommended portion sizes of each may be a prerequisite skill for a health initiative aimed at weight loss. Given that environmental and behavioral factors influence eating behaviors, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) offers an evidence-based framework for improving nutritional habits through self-management interventions. This study examined the effects of self-management components on portion control within a natural eating environment. Four adult participants, one male …

The Political Transformation Of Corporate America, 2001–2022, Reilly S. Steel

Faculty Scholarship

This article reconciles conflicting views about the political landscape of corporate America with new data on the revealed political preferences of 97,469 corporate directors and executives at 9,005 different U.S. companies. Driven largely by turnover, I find that average observed ideology for directors and executives has shifted meaningfully to the left over time, changing from modestly conservative in 2001 to roughly centrist by 2022. This finding supports a middle-ground position between conventional wisdom casting “big business” as a conservative stronghold and revisionist views holding the opposite. Counterfactual simulations and a difference-in-differences design suggest multifaceted reasons for these changes, and hand-collected …

Decoding Trafficking Films: Advocate Perspectives On Human Trafficking Portrayals, Avery Mock

All Theses

The crime of human trafficking is often used as a plot point in popular action films in the United States, however, many of these portrayals do not fully represent the truth of the crime, how it occurs, and who the victims are. Nonprofit organizations often combat this misrepresentation to re-educate the public, in addition to aiding survivors and fighting for legislation. Previous research has looked into false representations of human trafficking in both news and fictional media, as well as public and advocate sentiments of popular film portrayals. This thesis aimed to better understand the ways in which anti-trafficking advocates …

From Leaders To Lifesavers: The Impact Of Leader Development On Healthcare Teams, Madison B. Washam

All Theses

With annual expenditures on leadership development in healthcare exceeding $166 billion, the effectiveness of leader development interventions in improving healthcare outcomes is crucial. This study examined the impact of leader development on team-level outcomes through the implementation of a program aimed at enhancing leaders’ relationship-oriented leadership skills. Specifically, it explored the effect of leader development opportunities on declarative knowledge of relationship-oriented skills, leader-member exchange (LMX), team psychological safety, and team members’ perceptions of patient safety. The study proposed that leaders equipped with relationship-oriented skills can foster healthier, more collaborative environments. Mediation analyses tested whether increases in declarative knowledge served as …

Identity, Party, And Politics: A Discourse Analysis Of Democratic Elites In Pod Save America, Geneva Lei P. Luteria

All Theses

The rise of popular podcasts has shaped public discourse and influenced millions worldwide on how they ought to think, imagine, and act about controversial subjects. Podcasts create an avenue for stories about power and technology to co-create a narrative that viewers buy into. This thesis analyzes one of these essential podcasts, Pod Save America, in how Democratic elite guests approach identity politics, a phenomenon best described as advocacy based on one position’s in society. I begin the thesis by considering the differences in scholarly interpretation of how identity politics functions conceptually and practically. Then, I integrate ideas about how …

Between Chronicle And Legend: A Two-Scene Environment And Visual Effects Examination Of Physical Accuracy And Emotional Exaggeration On The Honey Creek Bridge Collapse, Alison R. Gaddy

All Theses

This thesis explores how truth and dramatization intersect in digital storytelling by comparing realistic and stylized simulations of the Honey Creek bridge collapse within the context of the Kate Shelley animated short. At the core of storytelling lies a tension between factual accuracy and dramatic stylization. We investigate that tension by examining how narrative truth is conveyed, distorted, or enhanced through visual dramatization by focusing on the psychology of audience perception and the motivations behind creative embellishment. The practical contribution of this research is the development of two distinct digital scene setups depicting the same Honey Creek bridge collapse event. …