Digital Commons Network^™

Through The Net: Investigating How User Characteristics Influence Susceptibility To Phishing, Charlie Marriott

Dissertations

In the past 25 years, the internet has grown and evolved from a niche networking technology, used almost exclusively by researchers and enthusiasts, into the driving force of modern economies. Fraud has evolved too, with rates of cybercrime on the increase as criminals become increasingly sophisticated in using technology to deceive their victims. The world is an online place, and data is the new oil. Phishing is a form of social engineering that is not that different from traditional fraud. Phishing attackers try to trick their victims into revealing valuable private information, usually for financial gain, by posing as a …

Automation Of Authorisation Vulnerability Detection In Authenticated Web Applications, Niall Caffrey

Dissertations

In the beginning the World Wide Web, also known as the Internet, consisted mainly of websites. These were essentially information depositories containing static pages, with the flow of information mostly one directional, from the server to the user’s browser. Most of these websites didn’t authenticate users, instead, each user was treated the same, and presented with the same information. A malicious party that gained access to the web server hosting these websites would usually not gain access to confidential information as most of the information on the web server would already be accessible to the public. Instead, the malicious party …

Assesing Completeness Of Solvency And Financial Condition Reports Through The Use Of Machine Learning And Text Classification, Ruairí Nugent

Dissertations

Text mining is a method for extracting useful information from unstructured data through the identification and exploration of large amounts of text. It is a valuable support tool for organisations. It enables a greater understanding and identification of relevant business insights from text. Critically it identifies connections between information within texts that would otherwise go unnoticed. Its application is prevalent in areas such as marketing and political science however, until recently it has been largely overlooked within economics. Central banks are beginning to investigate the benefits of machine learning, sentiment analysis and natural language processing in light of the large …

An Exploration Of Parliamentary Speeches In The Irish Parliament Using Topic Modeling, Fiona Leheny

Dissertations

The only resource available in the public domain which highlights parliamentary ac tivity is parliamentary questions. Up until the last ten years, manual content analysis was carried out to classify these. More recently, machine learning techniques have been used to automatically classify and analyse these data sets. This study analyses the verbal parliamentary speeches in the Irish Parliament (known as the D´ail) over a ten year period using unsupervised machine learning. It does so by applying a less utilised topic modeling technique, known as Non-negative Matrix Factorisation (NMF), to de tect the latent themes in these speeches. A two-layer dynamic …

Supervised Learning Models To Predict Stock Direction Within Different Sectors In A Bull And Bear Market, Tiffany Razy

Dissertations

Forecasting stock market price movement is a well researched and an alluring topic within the machine learning and financial realm. Supervised machine learning algorithms such as Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machines (SVM) have been used independently to gain insight on the market. With such volatility in the market the scope of this study will utilized the RF and SVM in a very volatility market to determine if these models will perform at a high level or outperform each other in both markets. This relative study is performed on 16 stocks in 4 different sectors over the bear market …

The Mckinney-Vento Act: Moving Beyond Aspirations To More Effective Implementation, Michael Cermak

Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative research study is to investigate teachers' knowledge of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (McK-V; the Act) and their perceptions of how to best meet the needs of the population of homeless students in schools. The literature base has shown that implementation of the Act has been largely inconsistent due to the lack of formal implementing regulations and a lack of awareness on the part of many educators. A professional development presentation was developed for teachers in order to increase their knowledge, and following the use of a pre/post/ delayed post-test survey, ascertain the impact of …

A Study Of Collaborative Skills Of Graduates Of A National, Faith-Based, Leadership Development Program, Eileen Kooreman

Dissertations

Collaboration is often cited as a long-term benefit of participation in leadership development programs. Successful collaboration requires unique leadership skills, which rely on trust and influence rather than authority and position. Collaboration takes place over the passage of time. Evaluation of leadership development programs that focus on outcomes after the passage of time is rare making it difficult to confirm if a relationship between the collaborative skills taught and measurable collaboration activity exists.

This study was able to draw on the alumni of the DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative, a national faith-based leadership development program that maintains on-going relationships with its …

Antecedents And Consequences Of Burnout Among Professional Psychologists, Alisha Miller

Dissertations

Mental health professionals are thought to be uniquely at risk for burnout due to the personal nature of their work and the types of clients with whom they work. But, while the phenomenon of burnout has received attention in the general occupational health literature, research focused on the predictors and outcomes of burnout among professional psychologists remains relatively limited. This study focused on the antecedents and consequences of the emotional exhaustion and client depersonalization components of burnout and, guided by the job demands-resources model, had three main aims: a) examine job demands and job resources as predictors of emotional exhaustion …

Chemical Modification Of Poly(Hydroxyalkanoate)S (Pha)S Via "Click' Chemistry, Samuel Nkrumah-Agyeefi

Dissertations

Poly(hydroxyalkanoate)s, PHAs, due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability have found many useful applications in biomedicine, prominently in the cardiovascular area. The spectrum of applications can be further expanded for PHAs by post biosynthetic chemical modification of terminal functional side chain groups. This should allow for the development of PHA platforms suited for specialized applications such as coatings, temporary medical implants, wound dressings etc. and for which novel applications can be envisioned. In this dissertation, four specific “click” chemistry tools, copper catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC), strain promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC), thiol-yne radical “click” reaction and thiol-halogen nucleophilic substitution, have been studied …

Beef Cattle Instance Segmentation Using Mask R-Convolutional Neural Network, Mohammad Danish

Dissertations

Maintaining the cattle farm along with the wellbeing of every heifer has been the major concern in dairy farm. A robust system is required which can tackle the problem of continuous monitoring of cows. the computer vision techniques provide a new way to understand the challenges related to the identification and welfare of the cows. This paper presents a state-of-art instance segmentation mask RCNN algorithm to train and build a model on a very challenging cow dataset that is captured during the winter season. The dataset poses many challenges such as overlapping of cows, partial occlusion, similarity between cows and …

Analyzing Student-Teacher Relationships Of Cariño And Confianza And Their Impact On Academic Engagement By Latino Males, Nereida Robles Vasquez

Dissertations

Latinos attending California’s public schools often feel disconnected, unwelcome, and unsafe. This qualitative interview study uses the grounded theory approach to provide a platform for the voices of Latino male high school students to explain their experiences. This approach allows for understanding of why a large number of them are transferred from their schools to alternative settings which in turn greatly limit and often prevent them from continuing their education. Many describe experiences of rejection and hostility causing them to drop out, or to have no interest in furthering their education. Findings illustrate the impact of their perception of Required …

Digital Literacy In Early Elementary School: Barriers And Support Systems In The Era Of The Common Core, Delnaz Hosseini

Dissertations

This study examines teachers’ perceptions about digital literacy instruction in early elementary school grades (e.g., Kindergarten through grade 2) so as to identify existing obstacles to digital literacy instruction as well as support systems necessary to enhance instruction. Participants (n = 37) included Kindergarten, first, and second grade teachers from both Title I and non-Title I schools. Data was collected through an online survey with primarily closed-ended questions. Correlations and relationships amongst and across survey questions were analyzed. Analysis revealed that early elementary grade students in this school district are provided with more opportunities to practice computer literacy than …

The Value Of Reflective Thinking Among Public Elementary Teachers In Ontario, Canada, Margeaux Natalie-Ann Levy

Dissertations

This research study investigated the perceived value of reflection among in-service teachers in Ontario, Canada. The surveys were randomly distributed to 140 teachers within the Toronto District School Board (TDSB; the largest school board in Canada). The teachers all had Ontario teaching certification, were surveyed at their current school, and had taught from one to 35 years. I investigated to what extent in-service teachers engage in reflective thinking, specific aspects of the teaching process that teachers reflect about, and sought to determine whether engagement in reflective thinking is related to years of teaching experience, elementary teaching levels (primary, junior, intermediate), …

The Influence Of Social Support And Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction On Student Academic Motivation At A Cameroonian University: Structural Equation Modeling, Samuel Adamou

Dissertations

Problem

The growing number of students at the university level in Cameroon created maladaptive behaviors including lack of behavior adaptation, interests, respect, happiness, self-esteem, which led to strikes, vandalism, academic failure and resulting in school dropout (Nwaimah, 2008). The Cameroonian government proposed a number of reforms to solve these issues. One of the major proposed reforms consisted of implementing the Bologna Model in higher education through borrowing and transferring of policies, ideas, and practices from a European higher education area (Eta, 2015; Mngo, 2011). Yet despite the surface progress, the question of how to enhance student learning and improve instruction …

The Impact Of Media Influence About Hair Texture On Internalized Racial Oppression, Ethnic Identity, And Self-Efficacy, Kristy L. La Mar

Dissertations

Problem

African American women and matters of importance pertaining to African American women are understudied and lacking within research. Understanding the ways in which majority culture media influences aspects related to women of color, especially those pertaining to hair texture, and their impact is essential to bring about awareness and mobilize changes that will positively affect the lives of Black women. Representation matters. When minority women of any culture value the majority culture they tend to devalue themselves. Representation matters and is important because if self-esteem, worth, goodness, and virtue is only portrayed in majority culture aesthetics, internalization of those …

The Impact Of Family Satisfaction, Racial Identity And Perceived Ethnic Discrimination On African-American College Students' Vulnerability To Stereotype Threat, Erica Lynn Featherson

Dissertations

Problem

Stereotype threat is something that has plagued the African-American community for decades. However, there is no direct research on the protective factors that could mitigate or exacerbate the effects of stereotype threat on African-Americans. The present study is intended to focus on the relationship between family satisfaction, racial identity, perceived ethnic discrimination and African-American college students’ vulnerability to stereotype threat.

Method

This study used the Family Satisfaction Scale (FSS), The Black Racial Identity Attitude Scale (BRIAS), The Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire (PEDQ) and the Stereotype Confirmation Concern Scale (SCCS) to explore the relationships between the four variables. A structural …

Getting On The Same Page: A Grounded Theory Study Of Nurse And Physician Collaborative Practice Development, Julie Cerese

Dissertations

The movement toward an integrated approach to healthcare professionals' education, interprofessional education (IPE), has been advancing over the past 60 years in the United Kingdom, Canada, and more recently in the United States. Support for IPE as a mechanism to positively impact collaborative practice and patient outcomes comes from international and national healthcare and educational leadership agencies as well as professional medicine and nursing thought leaders. Theories have evolved to explain the linkages among IPE, collaborative practice, and positive patient outcomes. Researchers have found support for the short term positive impact of IPE on attitudes, perceptions, clarity about roles and …

Administrator Support Of Social-Emotional And Academic Needs Of Students At A Selective Enrollment High School, Therese Elizabeth Plunkett

Dissertations

As an administrator at a selective enrollment high school in an urban district, I experienced firsthand the lack of differentiation for students experiencing social-emotional learning (SEL) issues, which in turn affects academic learning. This self-study examines what strategies and interventions assist administrators in targeting the social-emotional and academic needs of students. School leadership is obligated to facilitate increasing and implementing supports that address the SEL and diverse-learning needs of all students. One way in which leadership can promote addressing differentiated learning is through ensuring Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) are implemented with fidelity. MTSS formerly known as response to intervention …

The Impact Of Mood On Health Behaviors And Quality Of Life For Women With Cardiovascular Disease, Jacqueline Ann Tulley

Dissertations

Methods/Measurements: A cross-sectional correlational design explored the relationships between symptoms, functional status, health perceptions and QoL in women with CVD. The aims of the study were: 1) to determine the relationship of symptoms (depression/anxiety) to functional status (health-promoting behaviors), health perceptions (illness perception), and QoL; and 2) to determine whether age is a factor contributing to negative mood symptoms, functional status, health perceptions, and QoL after controlling for social support. Measurements were collected at one time-point to address these aims that included the following: biological function (Framingham Recurrent Risk Model and Functional Comorbidity Index), symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-8 and Generalized …

Mechanisms And Consequences Of Epigenetic Inheritance Following Parental Preconception Alcohol Exposure, Annadorothea Asimes

Dissertations

Recent advances in genomics research have revealed that preconception behaviors and experiences of mothers and fathers, including diet, environmental toxicants, and drug abuse, can impact future offspring through epigenetic mechanisms. This means that the risky behaviors of young people, such as the extremely popular practice of binge drinking, have potentially far-reaching consequences for generations to come. While there has been considerable research into fetal alcohol exposure and parental alcoholism, there has yet to be sufficient investigation into the mechanism of epigenetic inheritance or the functional consequences of parental preconception binge pattern alcohol abuse. The hypothesis tested herein is that parental …

Effective Leadership For The Implementation Of The Common Core State Standards: Principal Behaviors That Develop Professional Capital To Create Conditions For Positve Change, Eileen Beth Brett

Dissertations

Identifying specific leadership behaviors of elementary school principals that create conditions for positive change is critical to implementing educational reform. The purpose of this research is to identify specific leadership behaviors of principals that have positively impacted the implementation of the Common Core State Standards through the development of professional capital.

The Common Core Standards represent a recent movement to create national standards, founded on the belief that schools have an obligation to ensure that all students are college and career ready (McLaughlin & Overturf, 2012; Conley; 2014a). Implementing the Common Core has challenged principals to develop leadership skills to …

Divergent Pro-Leukemic Effects Of Myd88 And Ticam-1/Trif Mediated Toll-Like Receptor Signaling, Joseph Michael Cannova

Dissertations

The goal of this study is to determine the role of Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). AML is a hematopoietic malignancy that predominately affects the elderly. The median age of AML diagnosis is 67 years old. The standard of care of AML is treatment with cytotoxic chemotherapy, which elderly patients are often unable to tolerate. To identify novel pathways as potential targets for treatment, a microarray on AML primary patient samples was performed to determine the expression of key inflammatory genes. This microarray, and other published datasets, showed that TLR are overexpressed in myelomonocytic (M4) and …

International Mindedness: Phenomenological Inquiry Into Teacher Candidate Experiences, Kathleen Patricia Castillo-Clark

Dissertations

This dissertation contributes to the scholarship surrounding the development of international mindedness in teacher candidates. Phenomenological interview techniques were used to explore the experiences and perceptions of teacher candidates who enrolled in an undergraduate teacher preparation program leading to the International Baccalaureate educator certificate. By highlighting the teacher candidates, this study captured the strengths, challenges, and needs unique to this group. The findings can inform an understanding of how international mindedness develops in teacher candidates and subsequently how it is enacted, identifying curricular and instructional supports in practice that best support this learning. This study will also inform teacher educators …

The Real Deal: A Program Evaluation Of A Teen Pregnancy Program, Sejla Dizdarevic

Dissertations

Teen pregnancy rates within the United States continue to be the highest amongst developed countries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the Real Deal, a teen pregnancy prevention program currently implemented in a high school in a Midwestern state, has a short- and/or long-term impact on students' a) perceptions of taking care of a baby by oneself, b) abstaining from sexual activities, c) delaying pregnancies until obtaining a post-secondary education, and d) delaying pregnancies until after marriage. Furthermore, the study evaluated staff perceptions on a) ease of program implementation and b) adequacy of the content within the …

Beyond Body Mixing: Race, Space, And The Meaning Of School Integration In A Chicago Suburb, Megan Rigsby Klein

Dissertations

Integration is often characterized as an effective means of fixing the problems associated with segregation. Whether with respect to residential segregation, education, or to public spaces in general, integration is seen as a way to undo the perils of racial segregation. Yet often times, integration takes a certain reified form with a large white majority and non-white minority. How do lived experiences of Black residents in integrated spaces affect their perceptions of integration? Drawing on data collected from arcHIVal research, participant observation, and in-depth interviews with long-term African American residents, this dissertation examines the ways in which race, space, and …

Role Of Micrornas In Impaired Gut Permeability Following Ethanol And Burn Injury, Niya Latrice Morris

Dissertations

Every year there are nearly 500,000 reported burn injuries in the United States; half of which occur under the influence of alcohol. Clinical studies have shown that burn patients who are intoxicated at the time of injury have a worse prognosis; including increased risk of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and sepsis. The etiology behind these pathological consequences of ethanol and burn injury remains to be elucidated. The Gut-lymph hypothesis of MODS theorizes that trauma (e.g. ethanol and burn injury) results in a redistribution of blood flow to protect more vital organs which leads to ischemia/hypoxia (diminished oxygen delivery) in …

Uncovering The Mechanisms Underlying The Immunogenicity Of Adenovirus Vaccine Vectors, Natalie Nidetz

Dissertations

Vaccination is historically the most effective tool for preventing infectious disease but current vaccine strategies fail to generate robust immunity to major infectious diseases such as HIV and malaria. Therefore, newer vaccine approaches are needed. Vaccines generated from viral, adenovirus based, vectors (AdVs) have proven highly immunogenic in multiple disease models. However, the clinical use of many AdVs is limited by the presence of pre-existing antibodies in human populations, which prevent expression of antigenic genes during immunization with AdVs based on common adenovirus (Ad) serotypes, such as HAdV-5C. Immunization with rare serotype based AdVs, such as HAdV-28D, are not affected …

A Discrete Loop In Serca N-Domain Plays A Role In Serca Headpiece Dynamics And Function, Olga N. Raguimova

Dissertations

The sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA) is the major regulator of Ca2+ levels in the cell. Deficient calcium handling in the heart has been linked to heart failure, a leading cause of death in developed countries. As of today, targeting SERCA to enhance cardiac function has not been successful due to lack of details about SERCA structural dynamics during Ca2+ transport.

In my research, I utilized MD simulations and variety of physical assays to determine the role of Nβ5-β6 loop in regulation of SERCA structural dynamics during Ca2+ transport. Previous MD simulations by our lab predicted that the Nβ5-β6 loop …

Critical Conversations With Suburban Administrative Leaders On Special Education Disproportionality: Case Studies Of Suburban School Districts, Jennifer Colleen Sterpin

Dissertations

This dissertation study explored high school administrators' beliefs about why racial disproportionality exists, sought to understand the local practices that contribute to disproportionality, and identified interventions and supports that impact disproportionality in the special education referral, eligibility, and placement process. Research shows that students who are disproportionately represented in special education are negatively affected by factors such as stigmatization, substandard instruction, zero tolerance policies, and isolation from the general education setting (Sullivan, Kozleski, & Smith, 2008). Administrators were invited to participate in this study because they have a significant impact on student achievement and system-wide changes in schools.

This research …

Nitric Oxide Inhibits Biofilm Formation By Vibrio Fischeri Via The Nitric Oxide Sensor Hnox, Cecilia Thompson

Dissertations

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signal secreted by the squid, Euprymna scolopes, and is thought to limit symbiotic biofilm formation, the initial step in colonization by the bacterium, Vibrio fischeri. Previous work demonstrated that a mutant defective for NO-sensor HnoX (heme nitric oxide/oxygen binding) had a competitive advantage over wild-type V. fischeri, but the mechanism by which this occurred remains unknown. HnoX is encoded upstream of hahK, a recently identified positive regulator of biofilm formation. I thus hypothesized that HnoX inhibits colonization by controlling HahK-induced biofilm formation during the initiation of colonization.

I assessed the impact of an hnoX …