Digital Commons Network^™

Bridging The Gap: Exploring The Intersection Of Formal Mental Health Services And Informal Social Supports In Bipoc Communities, Patrice D. Patton-Campbell

Dissertations

Despite growing awareness of mental health disparities, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities continue to face significant barriers in accessing culturally responsive mental health care. This dissertation explores the intersection between formal mental health services and informal social supports such as family, religious institutions, and community networks to understand which systems are more trusted, accessible, and effective for BIPOC individuals. Grounded in Urban Liberation Psychology and guided by decolonial and culturally responsive care frameworks, this qualitative study draws from focus groups and interviews with 33 participants, including both community members and service providers from the Chicagoland area and …

The Premature Loss Of The Black Male And Its Implications On The Black Family System And Community: A Proposed 12-Step Grief Support Group Model, Alicia Smith

Dissertations

Premature deaths, ages 15–44, and loss of Black males through homicide, along with suicide and systemic violence, and incarceration, create lifelong emotional and psychological trauma for those who remain behind in Black family settings and society. U.S. social injustices against Black communities and multigenerational losses and racial harm create specific population-based challenges, such as questioning care, lack of accessibility to competent resources, and Black identity issues, which traditional grief recovery programs struggle to help adequately. Even though approaches such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, complicated grief treatment, present-centered therapy, trauma-focused therapy, including eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, and forgiveness therapy …

The Heart Of The Defense: Exploring The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence, Cultural Competence, And Client-Centered Lawyering In Public Defense, Cherise Burdeen

Dissertations

This dissertation explores the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI), cultural competence, and client-centered lawyering (CCL) within the public defense system. Using a mixed-methods design, this study analyzed quantitative data from 96 White public defenders and qualitative data from a focus group of 7 experienced public defense trainers. Because of the disparate racialized impact of the criminal legal system and anti-Blackness as a foundational component of the United States, cultural competence was operationalized as antiracism. Pearson correlations revealed significant, positive relationships between EI and CCL, r = .483, p < .001; antiracism and CCL, r = .356, p < .001; and EI and antiracism, r = .225, p = .027). Regression analyses indicated that EI significantly predicted both antiracism (β = .225, p =.027) and CCL (β = .483, p < .001), and that antiracism independently predicted CCL (β = .260, p =.004). A combined model including both EI and antiracism accounted for 29.7% of the variance in CCL scores, R² = .297, p < .001. Qualitative findings revealed that CCL and cultural competence are often viewed by attorneys as intuitive or already mastered, yet training on these skills typically provokes emotional dysregulation and resistance. The qualitative and quantitative analysis resulted in the Emotion-First Praxis Theory (EFPT), which posits that EI is a prerequisite for antiracist and client-centered practice, and that if contextualized in antiracist work, emotionally developed White facilitators should work with White people, to prepare them for the kinds of collaborations needed to ensure tangible results. Recommendations are offered to improve antiracism work in and beyond public defense systems. Future research should validate the CCL measure with clients, expand sampling, and empirically test EFPT in diverse settings.

Land Access As Liberation: A Qualitative Study On Faith, Food, And Farming Of Urban And Rural Black Land Stewards In The United States, Dominique Edwards

Dissertations

Since 1920, Black farmers in the United States have held less than 2% of the nation's farmland, a direct result of race-based discriminatory policies embedded within federal, state, local, and county-level institutions (Daniel, 2013). Structural barriers—ranging from exclusionary lending practices by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to the systematic dispossession of land through legal loopholes, heirs’ property laws, and violent racial terror—have contributed to this staggering decline in Black land ownership (Gilbert et al., 2002). The erosion of Black agrarian landholdings intensified in the latter half of the 20th century, as government programs, civil rights legislation, and technological advancements, …

The Day You Begin: A Case Study Of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy In Early Childhood Classrooms, Kim Shelton

Dissertations

Culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) has garnered growing attention in early childhood education due to its potential to cultivate inclusive and equitable learning environments for increasingly diverse student populations. This qualitative case study examines how early childhood educators perceive and implement CRP in classrooms with high concentrations of immigrant and culturally diverse students. Additionally, it explores the perceived impact of these practices on instructional effectiveness, classroom climate, and teacher-student interactions.

Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. Thematic analysis yielded four central findings: (1) teachers’ understandings of CRP varied considerably, with some demonstrating strong intentionality and others …

Through The Wire: Examining The Experiences Of Formerly Incarcerated Students In Prison Education Programs And The Wraparound Services Needed To Support Their Success, Isabel Castro

Dissertations

This qualitative study examines the experiences of formerly incarcerated individuals in Prison Education Programs (PEPs) and the wraparound services necessary to support their success. Through Schlossberg’s Transition Theory, this study explores how incarcerated students navigate educational transitions and how educators facilitate transformative learning. Using case study and narrative inquiry, interviews were conducted with fifteen formerly incarcerated PEP participants and seven educators.

Thematic analysis revealed six major themes: Access to Education in Carceral Settings, the Impact of Education on Incarcerated Individuals, Wraparound Services and Student Support, Experiences of Formerly Incarcerated Students, the Role of Educators and Program Facilitators, and Best Practices …

Testing For Broad Alternatives In Stratified Contingency Tables, Nan Mi

Dissertations

In medical and social sciences fields, data are measured in terms of discrete categories. The primary question of interest involves the relationship between a set of factors and a set of response variables under studies. Moreover, the distribution of the response variables may be influenced by another set of variables called confounders. The data from such studies are summarized in 3-way tables. The hypothesis we are interested in can be expressed in terms of "no partial association" between the sub-populations and the response levels.

The methods for testing the association or independence in a 2x2 contingency table have been developed, …

Comparative Genotoxicological Analysis Of Occupational Pesticide Exposures: An Experimental Approach And Systematic Review, Moustafa Samy Sherif

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the genotoxic and cytotoxic effects of pesticide exposure through three complementary research components: a systematic review of occupational pesticide exposure in Arab countries (AraSys), a systematic review on encapsulated versus conventional pesticide formulations (Encap-Sys), and experimental toxicological assessments of various pesticide formulations in human cell lines (Pyr-Ex). This experimental component includes cytotoxicity assays using propidium iodide and DNA damage assessments via alkaline comet assays in HL60 and HepG2 cell lines exposed to pyrethroid insecticides and glyphosate-based formulations.

The AraSys systematic review revealed a critical positive association between occupational pesticide exposure and DNA damage in agricultural workers in …

Childhood Neuroanatomical Markers Of Familial And Nonfamilial Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Rahman Baboli

Dissertations

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder, characterized by developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Children with family history of ADHD are at an elevated risk of having ADHD as well as a higher risk of persistent ADHD into adulthood, reflecting a source of etiological heterogeneity in ADHD. This heterogeneity in terms of both biological and environmental risk factors may explain differences in neural correlates, outcomes, cognitive, behavioral as well as developmental trajectories. It is therefore critical to understand the influence of having, or not having positive family risk factors on the neuroanatomical structures of the …

On The Design Of A Framework For Large-Scale Exploratory Graph Analytics, Oliver Andres Alvarado Rodriguez

Dissertations

Large-scale exploratory graph analytics merges data science with high-performance computing to extract critical insights from network-representable data. Data scientists routinely analyze data from the natural, social, and computing sciences by representing it as networks, or graphs, where objects become vertices and their relationships become edges. This representation allows data scientists to add graph analytics to their toolbox. However, designing tools for large-scale exploratory graph analytics is challenging due to the complexities of graph algorithms, such as high communication in distributed systems and large memory demands. These challenges can lead to overly complex software, which limits usability and development to a …

Machine Learning And Optimization For Intelligent Decision-Making, Elson Cibaku

Dissertations

This dissertation presents a series of innovative machine learning and optimization model designs that address complex operational challenges across logistics and power systems. By integrating advanced neural architectures with robust optimization techniques, the work delivers scalable solutions designed to improve efficiency, reliability, and decision-making in dynamic and real-world environments. The first study introduces a two-stage approach to effective vaccine distribution. This framework tackles the capacitated vehicle routing problem by combining adaptive clustering techniques with reinforcement learning and a simulated annealing pickup policy. Through extensive computational experiments, the approach demonstrates substantial improvements in routing efficiency, reducing both computational time and logistical …

The Interplay Of Accommodation And Oculomotor Vergence Within Young Adults With Binocularly Normal Vision And Typically-Occurring Convergence Insufficiency, Sebastian Fine

Dissertations

Concerted binocular coordination evoking oculomotor and refractive responses to visual stimuli are essential to daily function. Oculomotor dysfunctions can inhibit binocular responses to visually-near stimuli and have high comorbidities to accommodative dysfunctions. Three visual cues for inward (convergent) and outward (divergent) oculomotor movements, when presented concertedly create natural-viewing conditions: disparity- the binocular difference in light cast onto the fovea due to differing ocular perspectives, blur- the acuity of a visual target which stimulates accommodation, and proximal- the perceived distance of a visual stimuli based on size.

This study aims to quantitatively investigate oculomotor vergence and accommodation performances between individuals with …

The Role Of Excitatory Neuromodulation In Managing Variability Of Neural System Output, Omar Itani

Dissertations

Neural systems can generate consistent outputs across a population despite substantial variability in the underlying components of individuals. This dissertation aims to identify mechanisms through which neuromodulation influences the relationship between parametric and output variability in neural systems. Through a combination of theoretical analysis, computational modeling, and data-driven approaches, the research addresses how excitatory neuromodulation can shape population-level activity variability and identifies key patterns that govern the production of consistent neural population output despite underlying parameter variability.

The theoretical foundation is established by considering how excitatory neuromodulation affects population variability in simplified neuronal models. Two fundamental patterns of variability reduction …

Adversarial Robustness In Advanced Machine Learning Models Integrating Graph Neural Networks And Large Language Models, Mahmoud Nazzal

Dissertations

Artificial intelligence (AI) has achieved remarkable performances across various domains. In most real-world applications, data often takes relational forms, such as graphs and networks, or sequential forms, such as text and time series. As AI evolves, specialized models have emerged to handle these structures; Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) for relational mining and Large Language Models (LLMs) for sequential understanding. Despite their success, these models face challenges in security, robustness, and interpretability. GNNs excel in relational reasoning but are vulnerable to adversarial manipulation and lack interpretability, while LLMs are strong in linguistic reasoning and generalization yet struggle with relational data and …

An Inquiry Into The Physics Of Mixing And Floc Filtration, Andrew P. Pennock

Dissertations

Flocculation and clarification are two essential processes to deliver safe water at a reasonable cost to consumers. There are two major thrusts to the research presented in this dissertation. The first is to better characterize the physics and mixing parameters used for the design of hydraulic flocculators in the context of drinking water treatment plants. The second major thrust is to investigate floc filtration as a mechanism for the removal of primary particles during floc blanket clarification.

The intensity of mixing in environmental and chemical engineering applications is often characterized by the Camp and Stein velocity gradient. This parameter has …

Fact-Checking As A Multi-Step Process: From Ambiguity Resolution To Claim Validation, Wenbo Wang

Dissertations

The spread of misinformation and disinformation has become a major concern, particularly with the rise of social media as a primary source of information for many people. Fact-checking—the process of verifying claims against credible evidence—has emerged as a critical safeguard against misinformation. Yet, the task is fraught with challenges: claims are often ambiguous, context-dependent, or composed of multiple intertwined assertions, while automated systems struggle to replicate the nuanced reasoning of human experts. This dissertation addresses these challenges by reimagining fact-checking as a multi-step, knowledge-guided process that systematically resolves ambiguity, decomposes complexity, and validates claims through structured reasoning. Additionally, the proposed …

Enriching Vision Representation By Deep Neural Networks And Self-Supervised Learning, Yucong Shen

Dissertations

Nowadays, more and more interesting computer vision tasks are tackled by deep learning approaches. However, the increasing model complexity imposes significant computational and storage costs. To address this challenge, this dissertation explores efficient deep learning techniques, proposing morphological layer, an efficient feature extraction layer. It achieves competitive image classification accuracy with significantly decreased model parameters. Another attempt at efficient deep learning is a proposed channel pruning approach that compresses deep neural networks by identifying and removing redundant channels using optimal transport theory. This approach achieves significant reductions in model size and computational cost while maintaining or even improving performance across …

From Neural Networks To Large Language Models: Innovations In Financial Ai, Mathematical Reasoning, And Structured Data Representation, Junyi Ye

Dissertations

This dissertation explores the evolution and application of artificial intelligence techniques across three critical domains: financial modeling, mathematical reasoning, and structured data analysis. The dissertation presents seven research projects that chart a progression from specialized neural architectures to sophisticated large language models (LLMs), contributing novel methodologies and frameworks at each stage.

In the financial domain, the research first introduces TS-Mixer, a MLP-based architecture for time-series forecasting that captures both feature relationships and temporal dependencies through a simple yet effective design, outperforming more complex models in S&P500 index prediction. The dissertation then presents DySTAGE, a dynamic graph representation learning framework that …

Through The Four Truth Lens: Exploring Climate Change Communication At Joshua Tree And Glacier Bay National Parks, Heather A. Waterman, Amanda Berlinski

Dissertations

The climate crisis threatens our global communities, cultures, and futures. Communication that brings climate change into everyday conversations and galvanizes the public to respond to it collectively is needed. However, political divides in the United States make climate change a contested heritage topic that is challenging to address. The purpose of this applied, basic qualitative research study was to use the Four Truth Framework, developed by the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to investigate climate change communication at Joshua Tree National Park in California and Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. Climate change affects national parks more than other …

Parent’S Health Literacy And Stress Level In The Inpatient Pediatric Setting, Tina C. Smith

Dissertations

Purpose: This study examined the relationship between parent health literacy and stress levels during their child’s inpatient hospitalization.

Background: In 2019, over five million pediatric hospitalizations occurred in the United States. Parents are central to their child’s care, but stress and sociodemographic factors may hinder their ability to understand and apply health information. This study explored how stress and other variables impact parent health literacy during hospitalization.

Methods: A cross-sectional design included a demographic survey, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and the Newest Vital Sign (NVS). Bivariate analyses (Chi-square, t-tests) and logistic regression were used to assess …

Leading Change For Transgender And Gender Diverse Healthcare: Assessing Organizational Readiness, Braxten Lovett

Dissertations

Background: Transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) individuals face persistent stigma and systemic discrimination across multiple societal domains, with healthcare settings—intended as safe spaces—often being among the most harmful. Despite increased visibility of TGD populations and growing research on their health inequities, inclusive healthcare remains insufficiently addressed by many healthcare leaders, adding to the urgency to advance equitable, inclusive care. Additionally, structural cisnormativity and binary gender frameworks continue to perpetuate misinformation, erasure, and health disparities. Addressing these entrenched barriers requires systemic reform rooted in cultural humility, inclusive practices, and a commitment to dismantling cisnormative bias within healthcare delivery and policy. This study …

Striking The Balance: The Relationship Between Government Funding And Nonprofit Financial Health, Mehrnoush Jamshidi

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The nonprofit sector plays a vital role in society, partnering with the government to provide essential services across various fields, including education, healthcare, social services, arts and culture, and environmental protection. Salamon (1987) highlighted the cooperative relationship between nonprofits and the government, where nonprofits contribute expertise and community-based knowledge, while the government offers financial stability. Through this partnership, the government helps address “voluntary failures,” such as philanthropic insufficiency, particularism, and paternalism, which can limit a nonprofit’s ability to serve the public effectively. Given this close working relationship, understanding the financial health of nonprofits is crucial for ensuring …

Reimagining Pedagogies Of The Prison Yard: Using Ethnotheatre To Embody Transcarceral Conocimiento, Mabelle Reynoso

Dissertations

Latinxs make up 40% of California's population but account for 45% of the prison population and 47% of the jail population (Sawyer, 2023). Their overrepresentation in carceral custody not only impacts the individual but also affects families and communities by limiting access to social, political, and educational capital and agency. In response to gaps in research specific to the collateral impact, this interdisciplinary arts-based qualitative study highlights the experiences of five formerly incarcerated Latino men who participated in an Arts in Corrections playwriting class during their time in a California state prison. This study foregrounds their knowledge as cuentistas (storytellers), …

Walking The Tightropes: Tensions In High School Religious Education, Nicholas Hurt

Dissertations

This qualitative dissertation examined the challenges faced by high school religion teachers in Catholic education through interviews with 16 teachers from nine U.S. dioceses. The dissertation explored four key tensions the literature indicates have emerged in Catholic education since the Second Vatican Council: (1) balancing catechetical and academic approaches, (2) navigating the dual role of educator and minister, (3) reconciling prescribed curricula with diverse student needs, and (4) addressing training disparities and their impact on teacher morale.

Beyond these tensions, teachers identified additional challenges absent from the literature. First, they noted that nurturing authentic faith is difficult when students fear …

The Impact Of Focused Specific Phonemic Awareness Instruction On English Language Learners In The Kindergarten Classroom, Bethany Brewer

Dissertations

This study is about the impact of focused phonemic awareness instruction on English language learners in a Kindergarten classroom. The gaps in early literacy skills for students entering Kindergarten can create long-lasting deficits for students (NAEP, 2022). The purpose of this study is to determine if the engagement and performance of ELL students changes during whole group phonemic awareness and phonics instruction when taught specific skills in small group. The study took place in a Kindergarten classroom with students who have been identified as English Language Learners through ACCESS testing. This qualitative study used interviews with teachers to determine the …

Student Engagement In Ela Choice-Based Core Curriculum: A Case Study Of The Dramatic Writing For Film, Television, And Theater Course, Brian Thomas Clements

Dissertations

This paper describes a case study examining student feelings towards engagement in choice-based core ELA courses and teacher feelings towards student engagement specifically within the Dramatic Writing for Film, Television, and Theater course offered in the state of Georgia. The context of this study focuses on the impact that student agency, choice, and voice have on student engagement from their own perspective and how Invitational Education Theory connects to this impact and the course itself. The case study examines the course, its students, and teachers in two schools in a large, suburban metro Atlanta school district. Through interviews and observations, …

Using Sustained Silent Reading In The Secondary English Language Arts Classroom To Increase Reading Engagement, Hannah S. Burwell

Dissertations

Reading scores have dropped precipitously over the past twenty years, and English Language Arts (ELA) teachers are looking for in-school academic interventions to mitigate this decline. This descriptive case study explored classroom experiences and student engagement with reading in a choice-based Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) program in a high school. The study examines student experiences through Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT). EVT suggests that a student’s engagement with reading will increase when they find the task valuable and believe success is achievable. The study explores how providing students with the independence to select their reading materials influences their experience in class and …

The Impact Of Flipped Classroom With Active Learning Model Of Instruction In Teaching Stoichiometry In Chemistry Among Black And Brown Students, Lawrence Femi Akintokun

Dissertations

Students pursuing professions in STEM sometimes encounter difficulties in General Chemistry, a semester-long foundational subject. A fundamental subject in this course is stoichiometry, which pertains to the mathematical connections between elements and compounds in chemical processes. This fundamental notion is essential for comprehending advanced chemistry subjects, although it may provide challenges for students because of its dependence on algorithms and prior knowledge. Research has predominantly concentrated on the conceptualization of stoichiometry through models endorsed by educators, rather than on student involvement. This project sought to investigate the interactions of Black and Brown students with essential stoichiometry ideas in General Chemistry …

Determining The Effectiveness Of An Educational Intervention On Self-Management Behaviors Of Adults With Type 2 Diabetes At A Rural Clinic: A Quality Improvement Project, Stacy L. Harvey

Dissertations

Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 (T2DM) has the highest mortality deaths, and these are projected to increase over the years. Living with diabetes can be very stressful to manage because of the complexity and required multidisciplinary approach required for effective health maintenance and lifestyle management. Diabetes self-management education programs are essential for improved glucose control and the goal is to help patients improve their lifestyle choices through knowledge of the disease for effective self-management behaviors in the essential areas of diet, exercise, glucose monitoring, medication and cooperation with the diabetes team.

Examining Relationships Between Agile Workplace Practices, Productivity, And Agility In Organizations, Melba Kennedy

Dissertations

A growing interest in agile work practices (AWPs) has emerged in recent years, emphasizing flexibility, collaboration, and iterative approaches to work. Continuously changing work environments demand that organizations are flexible, adaptable, and can act quickly. Additionally, a highly competent, innovative, and responsible organization can function well as a team (Kamath, 2020). Thus, this research study examines the relationship between AWPs, organization productivity, and agility. The study's findings, which contribute to the literature by addressing the disconnect in research between AWPs' relationship with organization productivity and agility, have practical implications for the academic and research community. This study uses a quantitative, …