Digital Commons Network^™

A Qualitative Case Study Of Leadership Development In A Graduate Medical Laboratory Science Program, Demetra Castillo

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

Leadership development is increasingly recognized as an essential component of healthcare education, particularly as medical laboratory professionals assume expanded responsibilities involving collaboration, decision-making, systems thinking, and organizational leadership. Despite this need, limited research has explored how leadership develops within graduate medical laboratory science (MLS) programs. This qualitative case study examined leadership development through the lens of Experiential Learning Theory (ELT). Two research questions explored how the program fostered leadership development through students’ professional biographies, leadership questionnaires, final reflection papers, and leadership credos and how leadership reflections demonstrated growth over time. Secondary data from five student cases were analyzed using deductive …

'We Will Be Here': Modeling Hunting Community Narratives In Avanersuaq, Greenland, Talor Stone

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The Inughuit, a small Indigenous population in Northwest Greenland with a rich history of subsistence hunting in one of Earth’s harshest environments, have long been portrayed in Western media and academic literature as symbols of vulnerability and resilience, often depicted more as icons of climate change and a culture under threat than as actual people with hopes and aspirations. Indigenous voices are strikingly absent from these Western accounts.

As the Arctic gains prominence amid rapid growth in climate discourse, regional geopolitics, and tourism, the implications of these representations become increasingly significant. When Western crisis narratives dominate discourse and shape regulatory …

Energy Transition In Africa: A Comparative Analysis Of Five African Countries, Boluwatife G. Ayankojo

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Global energy transition remains a critical challenge for reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment, with solar energy adoption driving improvements in both energy efficiency and conservation. This research focuses on Africa's transition from fossil fuels to solar energy. As population growth and blackouts increase, African countries must transition from unreliable, centralized national grids to decentralized, low-carbon alternatives that ensure quality household electricity. While some countries have advanced in this transition to sustainable solar energy, others lag behind. The limited access to electricity hinders the African continent's healthcare, education, economic growth, and mortality rates. This research establishes the importance of …

The Co-Development Of Espn+ And College Sports: A Case Study, Eric Bohannon

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

In 2018 ESPN debuted its national streaming service ESPN+. This profoundly changed the way sports fans watch college sports as well as other professional sporting events. Prior to ESPN+, a limited number of college sports games appeared on linear channels such as ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, and occasionally a few other channels. Since 2018, ESPN+ streamed thousands of events per year ranging from college soccer to college softball and everything in between, including the qualifying and early rounds of professional tennis and golf tournaments from around the country. This case study describes the impact of ESPN+ on a college conference, …

Praise That Empowers: Training Preschool Teachers To Linguistically Adapt Behavior-Specific Praise For Hispanic Students, Claudia Abril Ochoa

Dissertations

Children’s engagement in early ages is critical for promoting behavioral, academic, and social-emotional outcomes. However, engagement in classroom activities may be difficult for young children who have not mastered the primary language used in early childhood education settings (i.e., English). Research regarding engagement in English Language Learners (ELLs) in preschool settings, as well as cultural and/or linguistic adaptations of classroom interventions to serve this population is limited. Behavior-specific praise (BSP) has been an effective strategy to improve behavior in preschool classrooms. The current study used a multiple-baseline design across three Head-Start teachers to test the efficacy of in situ training …

Of Cables And Threads: Reweaving The Urban Fabric At The Edge Of Bogotá, Federico Pérez Fernández

University Honors College Faculty Publication and Presentations

Over the past two decades, gondola lifts have become central to interventions in urbanLatin America’s auto-constructed peripheries. As cable car urbanism reshapes the city’sedge, it raises fundamental questions about the notion of the “urban fabric” as a socio-material practice, an epistemology, and a site of politics. In Bogotá, the city’s first aerialcable car line has been integrated into the sprawling district of Ciudad Bolívar, revealinga dialectical process of urban fabrication—a form of urban weaving, in the language ofboth experts and residents, that bridges technical retrofits and popular logistics. Thesestate-community interfaces operate beyond the binaries of compromise and dissent, co-optation and …

Genwriter 2.0: A Hybrid Case-Based And Llm Rewriting Approach For Mitigating Implicit Gender Cues In Text, Shweta Soundararajan, Sarah Jane Delany

Conference papers

Gendered language is the use of words or phrases that indicate an individual's gender. Although useful in some contexts, gendered language can reinforce gender stereotypes and introduce bias, particularly in machine learning models for tasks involving people such as recruitment or occupation classification. When textual content about individuals, such as biographies, contain gender cues, models can learn spurious associations between gender and other characteristics of individuals, such as profession, potentially resulting in unfair outcomes such as reduced hiring opportunities for women.

To address this challenge, we propose GenWriter 2.0, a hybrid approach that integrates Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) with Large …

Definitions And Mathematical Models Of Op Variants, Pieter Vansteenwegen, Aldy Gunawan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We have described the basic orienteering problem (OP) in Chap. 2, as one known variant of the single vehicle routing problems with profits (VRPP). In this chapter, we introduce the best-known variants of the OP. The first one is the team orienteering problem (TOP). In the TOP multiple routes can be composed to visit a subset of customers. In the context of the game of orienteering, the TOP corresponds to several players of the same team, each collecting profits in parallel, during the same time span. Another well-known variant of the basic OP is the OP with time windows (OPTW), …

Modeling The Psychological And Technical Factors Influencing The Use Of Artificial Intelligence Tools Among Non-Native Arabic Learners: A Comparative Study In Egypt, Saudi Arabia, And Jordan., Mohammad Odeh, Alaa Al Din Musa, Ahmed Ragab Ali Ghalish, Montaser Adel Sayed Ahmed

All Works

This study aimed to develop a predictive longitudinal model of the psychological and technical factors influencing the use of artificial intelligence tools among non-native Arabic learners (international students) in three Arab countries: Egypt, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. The study adopted an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) incorporating two psychological variables: trust in artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence anxiety. A quantitative longitudinal design with two time waves (T1 and T2) over a full academic semester was employed using Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analysis and PROCESS Macro for mediation. The sample consisted of 812 international students from public universities in …

The Arc Of Crisis: Geopolitical Shifts In The Horn Of Africa And Beyond, Hamdy A. Hassan

All Works

No abstract provided.

Race, Sex, And Age Disparities In Homicide Clearance Rates In Tennessee: An Intersectional Approach, Teliyah Cobb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Demographic factors can influence homicide solvability. This study examines the relationship between victim characteristics and homicide clearance rates in Tennessee from 2001 to 2023. Using an intersectional approach, it assesses whether victim characteristics both individually and in combination are related to case solvability. Variables of interest include: (1) victim race, age range, and sex; (2) year the case was reported; (3) crime type; (4) whether the case was cleared; and (5) the circumstances leading to clearance. A total of 11,534 homicide cases from the Tennessee Incident-Based Reporting System were analyzed.

Findings indicate that individual victim characteristics do not significantly predict …

The Internet Did This To Me: Forms, Consequences, And Coping Strategies Of Cyberbullying, Isaac Oppong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined self-reported cyberbullying experiences recounted in a subreddit (r/cyberbullying) to identify forms of cyberbullying, its effects, and ways to cope with it. The findings indicate that there are several types of cyberbullying, such as verbal aggression, deceptive manipulation, privacy invasion, and coercive control. These experiences led to emotional, social, and behavioral consequences, including fear, anxiety, withdrawal, and decreased online activity. Based on concepts from Social Information Processing theory and Symbolic Interactionism, this study reveals how cyberbullying can produce the same or similar consequences as traditional bullying. People experienced disturbances in their self-presentation, contended with spoiled identities, and dealt …

Examining Pain Catastrophizing, Mental Toughness, Self-Efficacy, And Perceived Pain In The Performance Of Female Athletes During Their Menstrual Cycle, Carissa R. Martinez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pain is a universal unpleasant or negative experience influenced by physiological, psychological, and environmental factors. Disruption in the neural pathways of pain can affect athletic performance and lead to injury risks. Both negative attributes, such as stress, anxiety, and depression, and positive attributes, such as mental toughness and self-efficacy, contribute to pain perception and catastrophic thinking. The menstrual cycle also plays a critical role in pain catastrophizing, as hormonal fluctuations across different phases may hinder pain perception and performance in female athletes. However, research lacks the inclusion of how these factors impact female athletes. Using a non-experimental quantitative analysis, this …

Dynamics Of High-Growth Young Firms And The Role Of Venture Capitalists, Yoshiki Ando

Research Collection School Of Economics

Motivated by the substantial growth and upfront investments of venture capital (VC)-backed firms observed in administrative US Census data, this study develops a life-cycle firm dynamics model. In the model, startups choose the source of financing from VC, angel investors, or banks, depending on their growth potential, and invest in innovation. The calibrated model explains the life-cycle dynamics of firms with different sources of financing and suggests that venture capitalists' managerial advice accounts for around 22% of the growth in VC-backed firms. A counterfactual economy without VC financing would experience an aggregate consumption loss of around 0.46%.

From Open Banking To Banking-As-A-Service: Regulatory Challenges In The Evolution Of Financial Intermediation, Nydia Remolina Leon

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Over the past decade, financial innovation has moved from open banking, centred on consumer-permissioned data sharing, to banking-as-a-service (BaaS), which modularises core banking functions through application programming interfaces. This shift allows fintechs and non-financial platforms to embed financial products seamlessly, reducing transaction costs and fostering innovation. Yet the 2024 collapse of Synapse in the United States exposed the fragility of this model when intermediaries operate outside robust oversight, leaving consumers without recourse and revealing liability fragmentation and regulatory blind spots. This paper distinguishes BaaS from open banking, open finance, and embedded finance, and maps leading global models – from bank-led …

Drinking Group Injunctive Norms: An Event-Level Examination, Karolina Kazlauskaite

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

College students are at increased risk for negative alcohol-related outcomes. Theoretical and empirical support suggest that peer groups play a crucial role in college student alcohol use, in part because they establish normative values and behaviors (i.e., norms) that members follow. Research indicates that those who identify more strongly with a group are more likely to embody that group’s values—particularly regarding drinking. Notably, injunctive norms, or perceptions of peer permissibility toward drinking, predict individual drinking outcomes, such that perceiving one’s peers as more approving confers additional risk for personal drinking. However, prior examinations of injunctive norms have not assessed perceptions …

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, And Access Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2026, Joshua Altshuler, April Anderson-Zorn, Elizabeth Babin, Karmine Beecroft, Chad E. Buckley, Leah Gutierrez, Ellie Harman, Laura Killingsworth, Heather Koopmans, Joshua Newport, Ryan Peters, Seth Peterson, Lindsey Skaggs, Caitlin Stewart, Eric Willey, Angela Yon

Reports and White Papers - Milner Library

Report of Milner Library's activities and initiatives related to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access in Fiscal Year 2026. Compiled by the IDEA Committee.

Harnessing Kenyan Aquaculture Through Social Media: Impacts, Challenges And Strategic Directions, Domitila Kyule, Jonathan Munguti, Mavindu Muthoka, Esther Magondu, Menaga Meenakshisundaram, Chrysantus M. Tanga, Kevin Obiero, Cecilia Githukia

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Aquaculture is increasingly important for food, nutrition and livelihoods in Kenya, but the sector still faces persistent constraints in extension delivery, farmer learning, input access, market coordination and information reliability. This review examines how social media and related digital communication tools are shaping aquaculture development in Kenya, with attention to impacts, challenges, governance needs and strategic directions. A systematic literature review of studies and institutional sources published between 2015 and 2025 was conducted. The search identified 388 records, of which 45 sources were included in the final synthesis after screening, eligibility assessment and quality appraisal. Because the evidence was heterogeneous, …

Connectivity And Selective Rural Migration, Lin Ma, Yuan Mei, Qunfeng Wu, Mingzhi Xu

Research Collection School Of Economics

How does infrastructure shape rural development? Using household panel data from a nationally representative sample of Chinese villages, matched to high-resolution highway maps, we find that road expansion between 2000 and 2015 operates mainly through reallocation, with less productive farmers scaling down or exiting and more productive farmers remaining and expanding. We quantify the aggregate and distributional consequences in a dynamic spatial equilibrium model with heterogeneous households and endogenous migration. Improved connectivity not only accelerates urbanization but also increases aggregate rural output by 2.2%–5.3% in the long run, even as the rural workforce declines.

Singapore In Global Value Chains: Implications Of The Trump Ii Tariffs, Pao-Li Chang, Ruoqing Chen

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper examines Singapore’s structural position in global value chains (GVCs) and the implications of the second Trump administration’s tariff escalation for Singapore and the broader ASEAN region. We proceed in three parts. First, using the ADB Multi-Regional Input–Output (MRIO) tables for 2019 and 2024, we characterise Singapore’s GVC participation and position. Singapore is the most GVCintensive economy in ASEAN, with nearly half of its gross exports comprising foreign value-added and a markedly downstream orientation. China is its dominant upstream partner across manufacturing and services—intermediating over 27% of foreign content in electronics and over 10% in chemicals—while Malaysia, Taiwan, and …

Marital Stability And Intrahousehold Inequality, Tomoki Fujii, Xirong Lin, Jacob Penglase

Research Collection School Of Economics

We study what predicts marital instability using a unique dataset from Japan with detailed measures of spouses’ consumption, savings, labor supply, satisfaction, and marriage-market conditions. We combine descriptive survival and event-study analyses with several econometric and machine-learning approaches, including Cox proportional-hazards models and DynForest, a method designed for survival data with time-varying covariates. Across these approaches, match quality, household resources, time use, stated satisfaction, and marriage-market conditions all contain predictive information. Our main contribution is to show that intrahousehold consumption allocation matters, highlighting information that is missed by standard demographic, time use, and income measures. We relate these findings to …

“We Want To Make You A Better Man”: African American Men With Dual Membership In Black Greek Letter Organizations And Prince Hall Masonic Lodges, Lakesha Rae Denton

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the rationale and experiences of Black men who have initial membership within a black Greek letter organization as an undergraduate, who also join Masonic Lodges. The study was guided by one research question: 1) what the rationale is pertaining to Black men, who are initially members of Black Greek letter organizations as an undergraduate, that also join a Masonic lodge, therefore granting them dual membership status. The study was important because the value of BGLO’s has declined due to hazing and lack of leadership and guidance. Black men are not being developed as they should and while …

The Joint Effect Of Bilingualism And Sleep On Executive Functions Among Children And Adolescents With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd), Yirou Jiang

Doctoral Dissertations

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that significantly impacts cognitive and behavioral functions, leading challenges for individuals across the lifespan. While extensive research has been conducted to understand the connection between executive functioning (EF) and ADHD, research findings related to the contributing factors of bilingualism and sleep still remains inconsistent (Bialystok et al., 2017). Investigating the joint effect between bilingualism and sleep on EF among children and adolescents with ADHD may help further clarify the connection between EF, language, and sleep, and facilitate the development of interventions from the perspective of these protective factors. EF encompasses cognitive processes …

The Impact Of Liberalism On State Hard Power, Allen Wayne Hammerquist

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the impact of liberalism on innovation, corruption, and, subsequently, state hard power in the international order. It hypothesizes that political, economic, and information freedoms facilitate the evolution of ideas and reduce corruption in society, resulting in a more efficient economy and greater wealth, income, and GDP per capita and, subsequently, greater state economic and military power. It employs four basic statistical models. The first two models examine the statistical relationship between domestic freedoms and innovation and corruption. They use a variety of metrics to measure the three key types of power that constitute the pillars of Western …

Decision-Making Criteria In Polygenic Embryo Screening: A Survey Of Reproductive Medicine Physicians, Rémy A Furrer, Aayushi Gandhi, Dorit Barlevy, Shai Carmi, Todd Lencz, Stacey Pereira, Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Purpose: Polygenic embryo screening (PES) examines embryos for their genetic likelihood of developing complex conditions and traits. The commercialization of PES places reproductive endocrinologists and infertility specialists (REIs) as the primary decision-makers in its use, despite professional guidelines cautioning that PES is not ready for clinical use.

Methods: This survey examines how 152 US REIs perceive and approach potential clinical decision-making scenarios regarding the use of PES.

Results: REIs were more likely to offer PES for medical conditions (up to 62% for cancer) than for traits (eg, 0% for skin color, 10% for body mass index). When evaluating 11 potential …

Drones In Wildfire Airspace Management: Developing A Scalable Framework For Mid-Sized Cities, Victoria Denise Tanner Williamson

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Wildfires are becoming increasingly frequent and severe, creating growing risks for mid-sized communities with limited emergency response resources. The January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires—which burned more than 57,000 acres and destroyed over 18,000 structures—underscore the urgent need to strengthen wildfire response strategies through the integration of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) (Hardy, 2025).

This study develops a scalable framework for drone-assisted wildfire response in resource-constrained environments. Using the city of Waynesboro, Virginia, as a case study, the research examines how mid-sized jurisdictions can integrate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to improve preparedness, response, and recovery. A three-round, mixed-methods Delphi study engages emergency …

Switches And Witches: Exploring The Relationships Between Religious Struggles, Spiritual Beliefs, And Well-Being, Emma J. Trierweiler

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study examined the mechanisms between interpersonal and doubt-related struggles and well-being outcomes in a formerly religious sample. The focus of this dissertation was to analyze the mediating roles of disengagement from God and perceived social support. Approach toward God was also examined as a control but not specified to be connected to the well-being outcomes given the emphasis on formerly religious individuals’ experiences. This was a retrospective study, where participants were asked to consider their responses as they relate to the time they were pulling away from religion. Three measures of well-being were explored using structural equation modeling. Positive …

De Facto Captivity In The Land Of The Free: Exploring The Confining Effects Of Network And System Avoidance, Brianna Ovalle

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Encroaching state surveillance has primarily targeted people of color living in urban, inner cities, resulting in both much higher likelihoods of encountering state agents and the consequences of such contact. The ceaseless surveillance has led some individuals to engage in protective behaviors aimed at minimizing encounters with agents of the CLS. These behaviors are adaptable to present risks of surveillance and contact with the system. While there are various types of avoidance, the focus of this research is system avoidance and network avoidance. Previous literature for both types of avoidance focuses on the experiences of lower SES men. Further, as …

Structure Meets Context: A Simulation Study Of Centralized And Decentralized Decision-Making In Complex Environments, Murat Balci

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The question of when to centralize or decentralize decision-making authority is a foundational problem in organizational theory and management science. Yet existing research often favors decentralized structures, frequently treating them as universally superior, and provides limited guidance on when centralization may be more effective. Leaning toward decentralization without thoroughly exploring options leaves organizational designers without clear direction under varying environmental conditions. This study addresses that gap by developing and applying a simulation-based framework to evaluate the context-dependent effectiveness of centralized and decentralized decision-making structures.

Drawing on contingency theory and decision science, the study conceptualizes environmental complexity along two dimensions: dynamism …

Empirical Rhetorical Modeling: New Analytical Tools To Evaluate The Intensity Of Rhetoric, August Immel

English Theses & Dissertations

Since 2020, the United States has experienced a surge of incendiary rhetoric in contemporary political discourse, which exacerbates societal polarization and incites violence as evidenced by heightened politically motivated attacks. Numerous actors characterize the impetus of such violence as “extreme rhetoric.” No standard definition exists for such a term, and this gap necessitates the central research question of this dissertation, which interrogates how rhetoric can be systematically evaluated for “extremeness.” I propose that the issue of extreme rhetoric can be fruitfully examined from within the context of rhetorical theory, but instead of attempting to create a new definition of “extreme …