Digital Commons Network^™

Perceptions Of The Grant Decision-Making Process: A Study Of Foundation Grantmakers And Grant Seekers Who Focus On Youth Violence In Chicago, Illinois, Patiya Freely

Dissertations

Local partners like churches, schools, and community organizations are often at the front lines of addressing the problem of recurring deadly violence against Black urban youth. Foundation grants are frequently used to fund their work. While foundations annually award millions of dollars in grants to community-based organizations addressing youth violence, there is little detailed information available about the foundation grantmaking decision-making process. Notably, there is a lack of research on the determinants of the grant decision-making process that may inadvertently affect grantee outcomes and ultimately the of beneficiary organizations and communities.A sample of ten decision-makers who had funded or sought …

Gardening And Watering 21st Century Soil: Culturally Responsive And Technology Enhanced Instructional Design In K12 Schools, Elissa W. Frazier

Dissertations

Decades of research have documented the positive impact of culturally responsive teaching on academic outcomes for African American and LatinX students. However, as the field of education has become increasingly embedded with technology as a powerful tool of instruction, more attention is needed to understand how culturally responsive teachers use technology to close achievement gaps. Although national public policy over the last twenty-years has documented the negative impact of the digital divide on low SES, African American and LatinX students, large-scale efforts to close the divide have focused primarily on access to devices only. More recently, the second digital “use” …

Evaluation Of Communication Sciences And Disorders Graduate Student Attitudes Related To Trauma-Informed Client Interactions, Jenica Joseph

Dissertations

Problem

Communication sciences and disorders (CSD) graduate students may have trauma histories and may be ill-equipped to identify and manage trauma responses in clients. This mixed-methods study examined graduate student attitudes towards implementing trauma-informed educational practice (TIEP) methods and trauma-informed patient care.

Method

The Attitudes Related to Trauma-Informed Care (ARTIC) Scale (Baker et al., 2016) quantitatively measured pretest/posttest changes in CSD graduate student attitudes towards use of trauma-informed care with clients. Participants (n=43) were assigned to non-equivalent experimental and control groups. Groups received the pre/posttest and either an immediate (experimental) or delayed (control) trauma-informed educational session. Twenty-one participants completed focus …

Childhood Trauma And The Faith Maturity Of Seventh-Day Adventist Pastors And Seminarians, Pete A. Palmer

Dissertations

Problem

Unfortunately, Childhood Trauma is a fact of life. For instance, children lose parents/guardians through death or divorce. Children grow up in impoverished situations. Children have parents who suffer from mental illness and/or commit suicide. In addition, more unfortunately, some children are mistreated, neglected, and/or abused. The long-lasting impact of Childhood Trauma includes increased morbidity and mortality, and decreased opportunities for prosperity. This research sought to establish a statistical relationship between Childhood Trauma and Faith Maturity. Childhood Trauma has been demonstrated to affect attachment processes in children and, since religion is an attachment process and God is an attachment figure, …

The Perceived Results Of Feedback And Evaluation Of Teaching Effectiveness On Adjunct Faculty Professional Development And Growth, Luda V. Vine

Dissertations

Problem

While full-time faculty at any institution of higher learning undergo an established system of evaluation of teaching effectiveness, adjunct faculty members' experience varies greatly from institution to institution. There is little in the relevant academic literature about an effective feedback mechanism for evaluating teaching effectiveness among adjunct faculty members. Limited qualitative research has been done to understand the effects of teaching evaluations on the professional development and growth of individual adjunct faculty members. Developing an understanding of effective evaluation of teaching that will result in improved adjunct faculty professional development and growth will impact not only the faculty members' …

Associating High School Science, Technology, Engineering, And Math (Stem) Course-Taking With Future Earnings For Non-Stem Employed High School Graduates, Beth Marchant

Dissertations

Problem

Due to the current resurgence of attention given to high school students' taking courses in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), research was needed to examine whether a relationship between the number of STEM courses a high school student, who graduates from high school and works in a non-STEM field, completes and the success of that student 10 years later. One measure of student success, future earnings, can be measured quantitatively and is included in the Education Longitudinal Survey of 2002 (ELS:2002) data set, an ideal source of information to evaluate this issue (Institute of Education Sciences, 2019b).

Method …

The Struggles Black Women Face In Federally Qualified Community Health Centers In South Carolina: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Women In Leadership Positions, Sharon Black

Dissertations

This qualitative interpretive phenomenological study examined the professional lived experiences of Black women who hold leadership positions within Federally Qualified Community Health Centers (FQHCs) in South Carolina. The researcher examined their experiences through the lens of Belenky’s (1986) Ways of Knowing framework, focusing on self-expression, voice, and how the participants processed their leadership experiences. In addition, the study draws on Crenshaw’s Intersectionality and Black Feminist Post-structuralist theories. The study explores the difficulties, successes, and strategies these women use, focusing on stereotypes, challenges in leadership roles, diversity of experiences, and the importance of voice themes.

The study provides practical suggestions for …

Probability Expressions In Ai Decision Support: Impacts On Human+Ai Team Performance, Elias Spinn

Dissertations

AI decision support systems aim to assist people in highly complex and consequential domains to make efficient, effective, and high-quality decisions. AI alone cannot be guaranteed to be correct in these complex decision tasks, and a human is often needed to ensure decision accuracy. The ambition is for these human+ AI teams to perform better together than either would individually. To realise this, decision makers must trust their AI partners appropriately, knowing when to rely on their recommendations and when to be sceptical. However, research has shown that decision makers often either mistrust and underutilise these systems, or trust them …

Modelling And Mitigating Interlocutor Confusion In Situated Human-Avatar And Human-Robot Interaction, Na Li

Dissertations

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is an important but challenging field focused on improving the interaction between humans and robots, to make the interaction more intelligent and effective. However, building a natural conversational HRI is an interdisciplinary challenge for scholars, engineers, and designers. Achieving successful conversational interaction with a social robot necessitates not only observing a user’s active participation in the interaction but also being aware of their emotional and attitudinal states as the interaction progresses. On the topic of attitudinal states, one field that has received little attention to date is monitoring the user for possible confusion states. Confusion is a …

Understanding Advanced Practice Providers' Personal Factors That Influence Evaluating And Referring For Sleep Disorders In Pediatric And Adolescent Young Adult Cancer Survivors, Lindsay R. Melson

Dissertations

Pediatric and adolescent young adult (AYA) cancer survivors disproportionately experience sleep disorders compared to healthy peers. This dissertation examines the facilitators and barriers that influence advanced practice providers' (APPs) ability to evaluate and refer pediatric/AYA hematology oncology cancer survivors to sleep specialists. The first manuscript provides an integrative review of APPs' behaviors in screening for sleep disorders in pediatric/AYA cancer survivors using the Social Cognitive Theory as a guide. The second manuscript defines the concept of sleep disorders in pediatric cancer survivors using the Walker and Avant method. The third manuscript provides a qualitative analysis from interviews with hematology/oncology (heme/onc) …

A High-Speed Simulation And Cybersecurity Regression Testing Platform For Industrial Control Systems, Shelton Wright

Dissertations

Modeling and simulation techniques are used extensively in both industry and science. Individual parts of larger systems are typically modeled and simulated using different techniques and tools making it difficult to study the more extensively coupled heterogeneous system. In order to show the vulnerabilities of a physical system to cybersecurity risks, the complex interdependence between the cyber and physical systems must be modeled. This paper discusses the development of a high-speed high-fidelity Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) simulation platform that 1) enables regression testing of both cybersecurity applications and other SCADA applications and 2) enables the creation of data …

Bayesian Methods For Time-Delay Interferometry In Space-Based Detection Of Gravitational Waves, Jessica Page

Dissertations

Gravitational wave (GW) data analysis often necessarily includes limiting assumptions about detector noise and its response function during astrophysical parameter estimation. Here we take a broad look at the impact these assumptions can have across the GW spectrum, with an emphasis on Bayesian techniques for the future space-based Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission. Laser frequency noise (LFN) will be the dominant source of noise in the LISA mission at ~7 orders of magnitude greater amplitude than typical GWs. Time-delay interferometry (TDI) is the method for suppressing LFN to acceptable levels by linearly combining time-shifted measurements to digitally represent an …

Community-Based Early Dementia Advance Care Planning In The United States, Christine Noelle Flaherty

Dissertations

Dementia Advance Care Planning (ACP) promotes quality of life through discussions and decisions about goals of care and end-of-life wishes. However, ACP is rarely introduced in the community setting, and ACP is commonly deferred until advanced dementia when the patient can no longer communicate. The purpose of this three-manuscript dissertation was to advance the understanding of community-based early dementia ACP through an examination of the literature (manuscript one), the development of the dementia public health exposome conceptual framework (manuscript two), and the exploration of perceptions of ACP amongst dementia clinicians, dementia caregivers, and individuals with preclinical dementia in a dementia …

Model-Free Control Methods For Gait And Standing Push Recovery In Bipedal Humanoid Robots, Jerry Sweafford Jr.

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the use of model-free control methods in various aspects of effective balance and gait control for two-legged humanoid robots. It explores what it should mean to improve balance and gait control for robots and proposes gait fragility as an alternative framework to the prevailing yet undefined dynamic stability objective. Next, it presents techniques for trajectory tracking control without deriving dynamic models, using modifications of the conventional reinforcement learning approach. Finally, it explores the use of deep online reinforcement learning with disturbance and assistance curricula for learning standing push recovery in bipeds.

Predictors Of Trust Between The Southern Baptist Pastor And Congregation, Jared Thompson

Dissertations

Trust is at a low point in American life regarding institutions in general but particularly the church. This study examined the relationship between a Southern Baptist pastor and the congregants that he serves. Specifically, a model was proposed in which perceived consistency between words and actions, perceived warmth, and perceived competence predict trust in the pastor from the congregation. To test this model, a quantitative study with a survey design was performed. A survey was created using a combination of instruments for authentic leadership, behavioral integrity, competence, warmth, and trust. The survey was distributed through digital mediums to Southern Baptist …

Professional Counseling/Psychotherapy And Its Influence On Emotional Intelligence And Authentic Leadership Development: A Qualitative Participatory Inquiry Research Study, Jenny Lee Broaddus

Dissertations

The authentic leadership theory acknowledges that leaders must advance their introspection to gain self-awareness, balanced processing, internal moral perspective, and relational transparency. Leaders may desire to lead effectively, yet modern leaders lack emotional intelligence, authenticity, and a vehicle to acquire (Northouse, 2019). Like authentic leadership, emotional intelligence is favored in leaders to include self awareness, emotional management, empathy, and relationship management (Goleman, 1995). Much research surrounds emotionally intelligent competencies in leadership, but limited research targets behaviors for development. A look at psychology and counseling revealed that self-awareness, a standard competency in authentic leadership and emotional intelligence, is also the primary …

Covid Implications For Southeastern States: A Thematic Analysis Of Influences From Leaders And Health Agencies Social Media Platforms, Jennifer Suber

Dissertations

The problem investigated in this study was the conflicting social media messages between the Office of the President and the two preeminent national health organizations (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health) regarding the COVID-19 crisis. The purpose of this study was to explore alignment and disconnect in the social media messaging between the Office of the President and the top two health organizations and subsequent state government decisions around the COVID 19 pandemic in the southeast region of the United States. …

By Chameleonic Means; "Trust Based" Philanthropic Relationships, "The Business Of Yes," As Experienced By Black Fundraisers, Novien Yarber

Dissertations

In the wake of society’s reinvigorated consciousness around structural and systemic racism, conversations centering justice, equity, inclusion, access, and cultural diversification are going far beyond political discourse. Contemporary fundraising practices are also challenging antiquated hegemonic ways of philanthropy and are critically examining the practice from within. Among many things, this entails diversifying the historically White-female dominated fundraising workforce. In this, fundraising literature has paid minimal attention to intercultural/cross-racial dynamics as implications of diversification of the fundraiser workforce. Although some research may center fundraisers themselves (relative to their ethical and/or professional standards), this dissertation expands this field of study by offering …

Applying Organizational Learning Theories To Continuous Improvement Practices Through Self-Study Methodology To Better Reflect Upon And Understand Factors That Influence School Improvement Efforts, Morgan Daniel Gallagher

Dissertations

The purpose of this self-study is to better understand and address the factors that influence continuous improvement efforts led by the researcher/practitioner. To this end, this study applies Bolman and Deal’s 4-frame model of organizational learning lenses to school improvement indicators on the Illinois 5Essentials Survey. Through taking Bolman and Deal’s Online 4-frame Self-assessment, I am able to identify the organizational learning lens least integrated into my own leadership worldview. The organizational learning lenses that comprise Bolman and Deal’s 4-frame model are the structural, symbolic, human resource, and political lenses. I then apply core tenets of my least integrated lens …

Role Of Micrornas In Intestinal Inflammation And Barrier Homeostasis After Alcohol And Burn Injury, Caroline J. Herrnreiter

Dissertations

MicroRNAs are small noncoding RNA molecules that negatively regulate gene expression. Within the intestinal epithelium, miRNAs play a critical role in gut homeostasis and aberrant miRNA expression has been implicated in various disorders associated with intestinal inflammation and barrier disruption. In this study, we sought to profile changes in intestinal epithelial cell miRNA expression after alcohol and burn injury and elucidate their impact on inflammation and barrier integrity. In a more targeted approach, we began by focusing on anti-inflammatory miRNAs that, when downregulated, could exacerbate inflammation and result in intestinal barrier disruption. Using a mouse model of acute ethanol intoxication …

Ultrafast Photoelectron Transportation In Gaas And Gaas-Based Devices, Rui Zhou

Dissertations

Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) is one of the most important semiconductors in the field of photonics and has been the focus of extensive studies since the 1960s. In particular, GaAs photonic devices such as GaAs diode lasers and GaAs photocathodes have attracted tremendous interest owing to their superb features and wide ranges of applications. Despite the success of past research, the advancement of new theoretical models and experimental techniques continues to offer new insights into the properties of GaAs and the potentials of GaAs photonic devices. The work presented in this dissertation represents our most recent effort towards understanding the ultrafast …

Application Of Machine Learning Techniques For Traffic State Estimation, Pattern Recognition, And Crash Detection, Muhammad Usama

Dissertations

In the quest to optimize traffic management through machine learning (ML), this dissertation delves into three foundational areas: Traffic state estimation (TSE), traffic pattern classification, and traffic crash detection. The first facet of this dissertation focuses on TSE. Traditionally, TSE methods are categorized into two approaches: model and data-driven methodologies, each with its limitations. Data-driven ML models can falter with limited training data or misleading samples. Moreover, their “black-box” nature makes them hard to interpret. This research introduces a physics-based neural network (PINN) framework that combines the strengths of both TSE methods. The presented approach uses limited observational speed data …

Interaction Between Autonomous Vehicles And Other Road Users : A Simulation Study, Irtiza Rafid Khan

Dissertations

This dissertation evaluates the dynamics and conflicts between Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and other road users, particularly focusing on the interactions at unsignalized crossings in urban settings and the implications of varying AV penetration rates on traffic performance. Utilizing a co-simulation approach which incorporates the autonomous vehicle simulator CARLA and the microscopic traffic simulation platform SUMO, this research comprehensively studied conflict scenarios at conflicting zones. Specifically, the influence of AV gap acceptance and waiting time thresholds on conflicts, such as collisions and lost time, was examined. Results showed that these thresholds significantly affect conflict performance indicators, highlighting a necessary tradeoff: designs …

Design Of Secure, Low-Power Internet Of Medical Things With Precise Time Synchronization, Steven C. Puckett

Dissertations

With the emerging worldwide aging crisis, low power, secure health monitoring becomes increasingly important. Internet of Things (IoT) technology is revolutionizing many application fields, creating a new opportunity: Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). The main IoMT issues include security, energy efficiency, and time synchronization. This study evaluates the IoMT design space, security weaknesses of IoMT systems, and methods of synchronization of distributed IoT sensors. The researcher presents an analysis of the design space of IoMT controllers in Espressif ESP-32 family of microcontrollers and the development, implementation, and evaluation of the ecoSync: a time-synchronization algorithm for IoMT devices on standard Wi-Fi …

Joint Sonar And Communication (Soncomm) System Using Solvable Chaos, Tamseel Mahmood Syed

Dissertations

An ever increasing number of actively interconnected wireless devices tend to exert congestion on the naturally limited resources provided by the electromagnetic spectrum. This fact imposes a significant engineering challenge on efficient utilization of communication channels. One method to lessen the stringency of the spectrum access is to combine functionality of wireless applications via jointly operational (multi-purpose) waveforms. Solvable chaos was previously shown to have inherent detection benefits when used independently in practical demonstrations of either acoustic ranging or communication. This dissertation focuses on the design of a joint sonar-communication (SonComm) system via solvable chaotic waveforms. First, individual hardware demonstrations …

Bioimpedance-Based Real-Time Wearable Physiological Monitoring, Robert Joseph Mathews

Dissertations

Cardiovascular and respiratory diseases account for nearly forty percent of worldwide deaths. A critical factor in preventing these deaths is early detection, treatment, and monitoring of the diseases. Remote patient monitoring coincides with significant advances in integrated circuit technology resulting in greater performance and lower power consumption. In this work, novel monitoring configurations and frequency excitations are assessed across ten subjects to evaluate their suitability for monitoring cardiac and respiratory activity. A custom bioimpedance controller board was fabricated and integrated into the existing UAH euHy board. In the pilot experiment, the average inter-beat interval (IBI) derived from bioimpedance compared with …

Spectral And Radiometric Calibration And Atmospheric Modeling For Sounding Rockets, Nicolas Gene Donders

Dissertations

Sounding rocket telescopes are demonstration test beds for novel science capabilities. These programs explore cutting-edge solar physics around the globe, leading to missions aboard satellites and orbital labs. My research with the sounding rocket team at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) involved various experimental efforts in the lab alongside computer modeling of spectroscopic signals. This dissertation focuses on the Full-Sun Ultraviolet Rocket SpecTrograph (FURST), which is led by a team at Montana State University (MSU) and will deliver spectroscopic observations over a range of 120-181 nm. FURST aims to provide full-disk data at a similar spectral resolution to Hubble (R …

Self-Powered Sensor Systems For Space Applications, Saininad Chandrakant Naik

Dissertations

Harvesting energy from ambient sources allows sensors and systems to become self-reliable and not depend on small batteries or energy sources, which is of paramount importance in space applications. In recent decades, multi-band or wideband energy harvesters have attracted much attention. The main challenge to design such energy harvesters is that they need to efficiently scavenge the electromagnetic waves at multiple bands and deliver the received multi-frequency signals to the rectifier that has a frequency dependent impedance. In this dissertation, a compact dual-band harvesting sensor is developed for space applications at the RF (900 MHz) and the ISM (2400 MHz) …

Edible Learning: School Food Service Programming And Experiential Education That Promote Sustainable Agriculture And Better Nutritional Health, Kristina Grasty

Dissertations

The typical American diet, which involves the consumption of processed foods high in saturated fats, sodium, and refined sugar, is known to be unhealthy. Millions of students in the U.S. suffer from symptoms of malnutrition, making them susceptible to compromising health conditions such as type 2 diabetes that may persist into adulthood. Well-designed school nutrition programs and action learning that promotes sustainable agriculture have the potential to enhance students’ nutritional well-being as well as their understanding of the ecological systems needed to support good nutrition. This dissertation uses documentary film as an exploratory, qualitative research method to investigate approaches used …

Identification Of Satellite Observed Lightning And Precipitation Markers Throughout Tropical Cyclone Evolution, Lena V. Heuscher

Dissertations

This study creates a new and unique merged satellite dataset, with data sources including matched Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) and low-earth orbiting Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission observations. Crafting and iterative analysis of the dataset resulted in a reprocessing of the GPM precipitation feature (PF) database, significant due to use by a broad segment of the science community. The new dataset is used to examine characteristics of mid-/high latitude deep convection as compared to the tropics, and significantly, provide new integrated observations of convective evolution throughout the tropical cyclone (TC) lifecycle to include post-tropical cyclone (PTC) phases. The combined datasets …