Digital Commons Network^™

Addressing The Mental Health Disparities Among Black Children During Natural Disasters: A Clinical Perspective And Response To The Covid-19 Pandemic., Brittany Reed

DSW Capstone Projects

The experiences of Black children resulting from the events surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic present a projection to create long-term mental health effects at higher rates than their peers of other races. While the long-term effects of this pandemic are still considered ongoing, the disparities within the Black community will subsequently develop into a trickle-down effect of secondary traumatic experiences faced by Black children. Then, where does that leave Black children and their mental health? This capstone project aims to examine how the Covid-19 pandemic will affect Black children, explore the mental health challenges and disparities faced by Black children resulting …

Early Maturing Out Of Problematic Alcohol Use, Sarah J. Peterson

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Most research suggests that alcohol use peaks in the college years then declines into the mid-thirties (Jochman & Fromme, 2010). However, there is evidence that some individuals mature out earlier: downward trends for some individuals begin in college, with as many as one third of students decreasing their drinking (Baer et al., 2001). It is crucial to identify factors that differentiate those who decrease their drinking early from those who persist in high levels of consumption; doing so would clarify risk for college-related alcohol problems and perhaps subsequent alcohol use disorder, and aid in earlier targeted prevention and intervention. This …

Role Of Prior Knowledge In Timing Of Computer-Generated Feedback, Julie Faye Shirah

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Although often helpful, feedback sometimes has neutral or negative effects on learning (Hattie & Timperley, 2007; Kluger & DeNisi, 1996). For example, Fyfe and colleagues have found that the effects of feedback timing are moderated by students’ prior knowledge such that feedback has been useful for students with low prior knowledge, but has mixed effects on students with high prior knowledge (e.g., Fyfe et al., 2012; Fyfe, 2016). In this study, I extended Fyfe’s work by re-conceptualizing prior knowledge as knowledge of more familiar foundational concepts a learner brings to a learning task (Sidney & Alibali, 2017), which can be …

Mild Cognitive Impairment In Presurgical Deep Brain Stimulation For Parkinson's Disease, Elizabeth Roslyn Wallace

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Although clinically characterized by motor impairments, Parkinson's disease (PD) often affects cognition early in the disease course. Cognitive changes common in PD include visuospatial abnormalities and prominent executive function (EF) deficits, with 30% of individuals eventually developing Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD). Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has been identified as a transitional state between normal cognition and PDD. A large cohort of individuals with PD at the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute have undergone pre-surgical evaluations for deep brain stimulation, although cognitive performance in this cohort has never been probed. Baseline cognitive performance of this cohort from 2017-2020 was examined to characterize the …

Development And Cross-Validation Of Personality Assessment Inventory Decision Rules For The Identification Of Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures, Chelsea Marie Bosch

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The published literature on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) for psychogenic nonepileptic seizure (PNES) diagnosis includes a variety of interpretation methods to distinguish PNES from epileptic seizures (ES) and offers mixed findings. The purpose of this study was to use a cross-validation approach to create and derive new decision rules for the PAI to best differentiate PNES from ES. Data from 773 patients (PNES n = 328, ES n = 445) who underwent long-term video EEG (vEEG) monitoring and completed a PAI were examined. Individuals with invalid PAI profiles were removed, and patients were randomly assigned to the “development” group …

The Measurement Of Product Typicality In Design Research. A Basic And Applied Approach, Travis Kent

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The objective of this study was to examine the use of the cognitive construct of “typicality” to guide design decisions in the development of consumer products. Increasing products that will appeal to consumers, designers strive to balance novelty and familiarity. A potential way to thread this needle is to understand how “typical” a design is of its particular product category. The construct of typicality has been used by psychologists to understand how people create and represent categories. Objects that are more typical of a category are often associated with positive responses from observes (e.g., greater visual appeal, faster recognition). In …

Assessing The Temporal Relationship Between Changes In Neuroticism And Symptom Improvement In The Unified Protocol, Nicole Stumpp

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Neuroticism is defined as the tendency to experience frequent and intense negative emotions accompanied by the belief that one could not cope adequately in response to stress. Neuroticism is associated with the development and maintenance of a range of emotional disorders (e.g., anxiety disorders, depression) and targeting this trait in treatment (rather than symptoms) may represent a more efficient approach to care. However, researchers have rarely measured neuroticism and symptoms frequently enough to establish temporal precedence between these dimensions. The present study is a secondary analysis that examined the temporal relationship between neuroticism and anxiety and depressive symptoms during a …

Mental Health In The Courtroom: How Victim Mental Illness Impacts Juror Decision-Making In A Rape Case, Mary M. Levi

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The influence of mental illness on jury decision-making has rarely been investigated, and even fewer studies have examined how jurors perceive a victim with mental illness. The present study investigated the effect of victim mental illness on jury decision-making in a rape trial using a 3 (victim mental health status: schizophrenia, depression, no illness) x 2 (participant gender: female, male) between-subjects design. I hypothesized that mock jurors would render fewer guilty verdicts in the schizophrenia condition compared to the depression condition, and render fewer guilty verdicts in the schizophrenia and depression conditions compared to the control. I also hypothesized that …

"Think Of The Situation In A Positive Light": A Look At Cognitive Reappraisal, Affective Reactivity And Health, Jessica Chloe Maras

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

How individuals regulate their emotions is critical for maintaining health and well-being. For example, reframing a stressful situation in a positive light, a form of cognitive reappraisal, is beneficial for health and well-being outcomes. However, it is currently unclear why this relationship exists. One potential mechanism could be how one emotionally reacts to stressors in daily life, termed affective reactivity. The current study examined longitudinal associations that spanned 20 years between cognitive reappraisal and health outcomes and subjective well-being and if affective reactivity mediated this relationship. Participants completed waves 1-3 of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Survey series …

Self-Monitoring And The Dsm-5 Section Iii Alternative Model Of Personality Disorder, Gillian Mccabe

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The Alternative Model of Personality Disorder (AMPD) was introduced in Section III (“Emerging Measures and Models”) of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) to address many of the challenges inherent to the categorical system of personality disorder diagnosis. According to the AMPD, personality disorders can be identified by the extent to which impairment in personality functioning (i.e., Criterion A) and pathological personality traits (Criterion B) are present. Researchers have divided over the distinction between Criterion A and Criterion B, with one side favoring the current AMPD conceptualization of personality traits and functioning as independent constructs and the …

Experiential-Based Feedback During Alcohol Intoxication And Its Effect On Drinkers’ Risk Awareness, Alexandra R. Kelly

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The prevalence of alcohol-impaired driving injuries and fatalities has not decreased for over a decade despite strategies to reduce and prevent driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). In 2019, 10,142 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in the United States, which totaled to 28% of all traffic fatalities for the year. DUI interventions have been found to have moderate effects on reducing DUI recidivism. Prevention research has identified a lack of risk awareness in DUI offenders and this could be a target to motivate behavioral change. However, the training to increase levels of risk awareness needs to occur in …

A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial Of Smoking Cessation Induction Treatment For Rural, Underserved Cancer Survivors Across The Continuum Of Motivation To Quit, William Bowling

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The United States’ smoking prevalence has decreased substantially, but this public health improvement is unevenly distributed across the population. A promising individual-level approach to cancer control equity is to develop more acceptable and efficacious interventions that are widely disseminated to rural and other disadvantaged cancer survivors. Smoking cessation induction focuses not on long-term abstinence, but on engaging people in the process of making quit attempts and may be ideal for hard-to-reach populations. The aim of this pilot randomized controlled trial was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a smoking cessation induction intervention designed for rural cancer survivors. The treatment …

Effects Of An Online Insomnia Intervention On Sleep And Alcohol Consumption, Justin Verlinden

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) and insomnia are highly comorbid, due in part to the use of alcohol as a sleep aid among individuals with insomnia. Initial studies have shown that cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), the first-line treatment for insomnia, is moderately successful at improving both sleep and drinking outcomes in heavy drinkers with insomnia. However, CBT-I is expensive and not widely available. Online CBT-I could be a more accessible alternative. One online CBT-I program, Sleep Healthy Using the Internet (SHUTi), is especially promising due to its high efficacy in treating insomnia and its individualized and interactive platform. Here …

Latent Classes Of Symptom Trajectory In A Brief Treatment For Borderline Personality Disorder, Doug Terrill

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

It is likely that patients with BPD progress through treatment in different ways. Characterizing symptom trajectories during treatment can facilitate the identification of distinct treatment responses, which may be shared by subgroups of patients. Researchers have consistently identified multiple distinct symptom trajectories among individuals with common psychopathological conditions, but no research to date has attempted to do so among patients with BPD. This study used latent growth mixture modeling to identify and characterize distinct classes of symptom trajectories among patients receiving an 18-week cognitive-behavioral treatment for BPD. Two distinct BPD symptom trajectories were identified in this sample, which were primarily …

Examining The Impact Of Discrete And Contextual Stress Factors On Memory, Jillian Rae Silva-Jones

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Stress is a complex and multifaceted process which is often not perceived as such. Therefore, given the unidimensional conceptualization of stress in previous research the current understanding of the associations between stress and memory are not well understood. This study investigates the association between stress and memory by capturing the complexity of stress through discrete and contextual stress factors. The current study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and geocoded indices (i.e., zip codes) of population density (i.e., urbanicity) and deprivation (socioeconomic disadvantage) in a large and diverse sample of U.S. participants (N = 8817) to examine the relationship between …

Enhancements To Uniformity Of Magnetic Fields At The Sns Nedm Experiment, Ahmad Saftah

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

The nEDM experiment at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) aims to increase
experimental sensitivity to hadronic CP violation by nearly two orders of magnitude.To do that the nEDMSNS experiment requires an extremely uniform magnetic field to maintain ³He polarization during transit to the measurement cell. The Magnetic Shield Enclosure (MSE) coil provides the required field. However, the superconducting shield distorts the MSE field.

This thesis discusses a magnetic cloak for the nEDM@SNS experiment that can restore the MSE field uniformity and cos theta coils designed to test the magnetic cloak in the first part. The second part of this …

Understanding The Degradation Mechanism In Methyl Ammonium Lead Halide Perovskite And Black Phosphorene Via Electrical Transport Study, Huda Saleh Aljeailan

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

This work seeks to understand the degradation mechanism of technically important material systems such as black phosphorene (BP), arsenic phosphorene (AsP) and Methyl ammonium lead iodide (CH₃NH₃PbI₃) perovskite. Degradation studies were conducted by studying the in-situ electrical transport properties (resistance and thermoelectric power (TEP)) of these materials in vacuum (under annealed condition) and after exposure to the ambient air.

BP and both exhibited p-type semiconducting (positive TEP) behavior under annealed conditions and the changes in their transport properties upon exposure to ambient air can be explained as due to the charge transfer between the …

Magnetization Dynamics In A Modified Square Artificial Spin Ice, Amrit Kaphle

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

Artificial spin ices are magnetic metamaterials consisting of nanomagnet arrays in a 2-D lattice. Typically, these nanomagnet arrays are binary macrospins that can only be in an up or down state similar to the Ising spins. They have been intensively used to study magnetic frustration and ordering phenomena in a controlled environment. The hexagonal artificial spin ice and square artificial spin ice are among the most heavily studied systems. In this dissertation, we designed a modified square artificial spin ice system by an ordered substitution of a double-segment for a nanomagnet array in the unit cell of square artificial spin …

Classic Period Dune Settlement In The Eastern Lower Papaloapan Basin, Southern Veracruz, Mexico, Kyle Edward Mullen

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

This dissertation is an archaeological investigation into the long-term settlement change of an ecologically distinct portion of the Eastern Lower Papaloapan Basin (ELPB) of southern Veracruz, Mexico, before, during, and after the fluorescence of the Tres Zapotes polity. This project examines the changing settlement history in an area of near-coastal paleodunes and estuarine lakes in the northern ELPB, addressing the question: “What processes account for variations in the distribution of occupation on the dune landscape through time?” I argue that the answer lies at the intersection of specific environmental, economic, and political factors in the ELPB over time.

Assessing Stress Biomarkers As Embodied Identity In Kentucky’S Green River Archaic, Anna-Marie Casserly

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

The primary goal of this bioarchaeology dissertation research is to investigate the relationship between evidence of social identity and indicators of biological stress in the Green River region of Kentucky during the Late Archaic period (5,000-3,000 BP). Utilizing a biocultural perspective, I examine the ways that aspects of identity and social organization are embodied through the experience of biological stress. This research explores how social differences influence the patterning of osteological stress markers in an Archaic population while problematizing categories of difference that are often naturalized in bioarchaeology, such as gender or age cohorts. In so doing, it contributes to …

Otavalan Women Weavers: Rethinking Gendered Labor And Crafts In Ecuador, Kaitlin Marie Zapel

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

This research focuses on the gendered labor of craft production and distribution of Otavaleños, an indigenous group in the Imbabura Valley in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. Otavalans are often described as a society of weavers with strong gender divisions. Households typically function as units of production, with tasks ideally broken down along gender lines. Women are generally depicted as secondary workers who do not weave the textiles that make Otavalans famous; however, they are generally perceived as being responsible for selling these textiles in the market. This research argues that current gendered labor relations in Otavalan textile production can …

‘I Went To The One Game In Town’: Obstetric And Maternity Unit Closures, Dwindling Birth Choices, And Resilience In Rural Appalachia, Sia Beasley

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

Obstetric and maternity health services are being rapidly eliminated in the rural United States, making maternal care more difficult to access and causing negative birth outcomes. Service closures have a magnified impact in Appalachia due to histories of systemic regional and state policy practices which devalue the lives of people living rural areas, local economic marginalization, geographic barriers, and insufficient health infrastructures. This research investigates how women living in rural Appalachia navigate pregnancy and birth amidst constant care closures. The Sunflower Mountain Region is a seven-county area in rural Southern Appalachia. The region has experienced ongoing obstetric closures over the …

Angular Distribution Of Electron-Helium Scattering In The Presence Of A 1.17 Ev Laser Field, Brian N. Kim

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

We have measured relative differential cross sections for 350 eV electrons scattered by a helium target in the presence of 1.17 eV photons from an Nd:YAG laser. We report an angular distribution of free-free electrons that were scattered elastically at angles between 15^o and 80^o and of free-free electrons that underwent the process of electron-impact excitation of helium to its unresolved (1s2s)¹S and (1s2p)¹P excited states at angles between 1^o and 80^o. Our experiments test the momentum transfer dependence and the relationship between elastic and inelastic scattering in the Kroll-Watson approximation. …

An Energy-Integrated Analysis For Measuring The Anomalous Precession Frequency For The Muon G − 2 Experiment At Fermilab, Laura Kelton

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

In the search for physics beyond the Standard Model, the Muon g − 2 Experiment at Fermilab (E989) will make the most precise measurement of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, a_μ. Improvements in precision come from both increased statistics and new techniques to significantly reduce previous systematic uncertainties. The muon a_μ is determined by extracting both the anomalous spin precession frequency, ω_a, and the average magnetic field sampled by the muons, B. Traditionally an energy threshold analysis method which requires reconstruction of decay positrons from the muon decay, μ⁺ → e^{+ …}

Milky Way Morphology Probed By 6d Astrometric Data From The Gaia Space Telescope, Joshua Taylor Harry

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

At varying height above and below the plane of the Milky Way, I have used astrometric methods to classify stars of different galactic components of the Milky Way - the thin disk, thick disk, and stellar halo. This work complements prior study of Milky Way sub-structure - notably involving number density and/or pairwise correlations - which demonstrate non-steady state effects in the galaxy, such as axial/north-south symmetry breaking or more complex phenomena like the Gaia snail. This has motivated my exploration of stellar population changes with height about the Milky Way mid-plane, and the study of symmetry in such changes …

Elastic And Inelastic Compton Scattering From Deuterium At 61 Mev, Danula Godagama

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

A Compton scattering experiment using deuteron as target nuclei was carried out at the HIγS free electron laser facility at Durham, NC, with the goal of extracting the electromagnetic scalar polarizabilities of the neutron, α_n and β_n. A beam of 61~MeV gamma photons with a narrow energy spread was incident on a liquid deuterium target. The scattered gamma rays were detected at three scattering angles, 55^o, 115^o and 150^o. Backward-scattered gamma rays were detected using two large-volume NaI spectrometers with energy resolution (σ_E/E) better than 2%. The combined effect of …

Neutron Spectroscopy Of The Parity-Violating 0.734 Ev Neutron Resonance In Lanthanum-139 In Preparation For The Noptrex Time Reversal Violation Experiment, Danielle Schaper

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

One of the most outstanding questions in physics is the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe, resulting from excess baryogenesis processes during the early moments of the formation of the Universe. At present, the types of processes needed to explain this matter excess, so-called `CP-violating processes' are known to exist within the present framework of the Standard Model of particle physics. However, decades of research has shown that our understanding of the origin of these processes is incomplete, as we do not presently know of enough sources of CP-violating processes to account for the large baryon asymmetry that we observe. The …

Extraction Of Deep Inelastic Cross Sections Using A 10.4 Gev Electron Beam And A Polarized Helium-3 Target, Murchhana Roy

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

Experiment E12-06-121 at Jefferson Lab aims to do a precision measurement of the neutron spin structure function g₂ using inclusive inelastic scattering of electrons over a large kinematic range of x and Q². The third moment of the linear combination of the spin structure functions g₁ and g₂, d₂, is one of the cleanest higher twist observables and contains information on quark-gluon correlations. It is connected to the "color polarizability" or "color Lorentz force" of the nucleon. The experimental data taking was successfully conducted in Hall C using a longitudinally polarized electron …

Energy Integrated Ratio Analysis Of The Anomalous Precession Frequency In The Fermilab Muon G-2 Experiment, Ritwika Chakraborty

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

The muon’s anomalous magnetic moment, a_μ, provides a unique way for probing physics beyond the standard model experimentally as it gathers contributions from all the known and unknown forces and particles in nature. The theoretical prediction of a_μ has been in greater than 3 σ tension with the experimental measurement since the results of the Muon g-2 Experiment at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (E-821) were published in the early 2000s with a precision of 540 ppb. To settle this tension, the new Fermilab Muon g - 2 Experiment (E-989) is currently taking data with the aim of …

Understanding The Physics Of Galaxy Clusters Out To Their Virial Radii And Beyond, Arnab Sarkar

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

In the hierarchical structure formation model, galaxy clusters grow and evolve via mergers and accretion from the surrounding cosmic web, leaving distinctive marks in the gas properties, metallicity, and dynamical state at the outskirts of clusters, which needs to be probed to better understand the growth of a cluster. I probed the gas properties of four nearby galaxy groups MKW4, Antlia, RXJ1159, and ESO3060170 out to their virial radii using deep Suzaku and mostly snapshot Chandra observations. I found the gas entropy profiles of MKW4 follow a power-law at its outskirts - as expected from purely gravitational structure formation model. …