Digital Commons Network^™

How Supervisors Can Help Their Subordinates Manage Stress Post-Covid-19: A Phenomenological Qualitative Research Approach Focused On The Lived Experiences Of Police Sergeants And Their Role In Helping Mitigate Stress Among Police Officers, Elvis Nti

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative research was to explore how police sergeants effectively lead their police officers in managing stress post-COVID-19 using the leadership traits of collective interest, moral purpose, personal temperament, and resilience (Fast, 2021).

Methodology: This phenomenological qualitative research approach focused on the lived experiences of police sergeants and aimed to explain how they reduce stress among police officers. Participants were selected using purposive and convenience sampling. Semistructured interviews were conducted with police sergeants from the Los Angeles Police Department. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded. Themes naturally emerged and were compared across participants to identify …

Phenomenological Study Of Personality-Driven Leadership In Social Justice Nonprofits Of The Pioneer Valley, Kelvin Molina-Brantley

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine how executive directors of nonprofit organizations leading social justice initiatives implement leadership styles shaped by their unique personality traits, and how these styles influence employee attitudes, team functioning, and organizational performance.Methodology: Guided by Hogan and Kaiser’s (2005) leadership model, which asserts that “who we are determines how we lead,” this qualitative study used semistructured interviews with 10 executive directors of social justice-focused nonprofits in the Pioneer Valley. Participants reflected on their leadership development, the role of personality in decision-making, and its influence on organizational life. Data were collected through virtual …

They Do Not See What I Carry: A Phenomenological Study Of Black Male Educational Leaders And The Quiet Weight Of Imposter Syndrome, Malik A. Richard

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how Black male educational leaders experience and cope with Impostor Syndrome (IS) as defined by Zorn’s (2005) nine elements—anxiety, lack of self-confidence, depression, perfectionism, procrastination, self-presentation, emotional exhaustion, fear of failure, and fear of success, within their organizational, social, and cultural contexts. Methodology: Guided by Moustakas’s (1994) phenomenological approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews and reflective journals from Black male leaders in K–12 educational settings in the Boston region. Purposeful sampling (Patton, 2014) ensured participants had significant leadership experience. Data were thematically coded, aligned with Zorn’s nine elements, and …

A Study On Betrayal And Safety: Understanding The Experiences Of Community College Employees, Jennifer Marie De La Rosa

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore and understand the experiences of community college employees who perceived their psychological safety had been compromised, leading to a sense of institutional betrayal. Its second purpose was to identify the experiences participants believed most impacted their psychological safety and contributed to feelings of institutional betrayal.

Methodology: This qualitative study employed a phenomenological approach to explore how community college employees made sense of their experiences related to psychological safety and institutional betrayal. Participants were selected through purposive and snowball sampling strategies, representing a range of roles across California’s community colleges. Semistructured interviews …

Administrator Leadership And Collective Efficacy: Enhancing Math Education In Public High Schools In California, Lina Ahmadieh

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative, multicase study was to determine challenges that high school administrators experience when they establish the elements of collective teacher efficacy (CTE) based on the elements of common purpose, collective teacher accountability practices, protocols for collective practices, and interventions in their mathematics department and to determine the strategies that high school administrators use when they establish CTE in their mathematics department.Methodology: In this qualitative, multicase study, five interviews were conducted with public high school administrators in California. The researcher employed qualitative methods to explain the challenges that high school administrators experience when they establish the …

A Phenomenological Study: Implicit Bias In The Hiring Practices Of Health Care Organizations (Perception, Impact On Workforce Diversity, Mitigation Methods, And Implementation Assessment), Mohamed Boubrik

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how implicit bias influences hiring practices within health care organizations. Specifically, it investigated the perceptions of hiring professionals regarding implicit bias, its impact on workforce diversity, the strategies used to mitigate it, and the effectiveness of those strategies in real-world implementation.

Methodology: This qualitative study employed a phenomenological approach to capture the lived experiences of hiring professionals in Southern California health care organizations. A random sampling method was used to select participants across various health care facilities. Data collection was conducted through semistructured interviews, using a validated interview protocol as …

Resetting The Imposter Phenomenon Reality: A Mixed Methods Research Study Of An Immediate Cognitive Behavioral Intervention On Stem Practitioners, Peter D. Smith

Dissertations

Imposter Phenomenon (IP) remains an essential framework for understanding how professionals attribute success to chance or misconceptions rather than genuine abilities. IP is especially pertinent for individuals who feel like frauds when attaining higher positions, convinced the promotions resulted from luck rather than accomplishments and credibility. The misguided mindset cultivates feelings of inadequacy or deceit, even when accolades, experiences, and qualifications prove the contrary. The prevalence of IP is widespread, impacting numerous individuals who have faced or continue to endure episodes of varying intensity. The psychological state makes individuals vulnerable to feelings of inadequacy, leading to reduced productivity, increased procrastination, …

A Phenomenological Study Of Gender And The Leadership Of Female Academic Library Directors, Julia D. Grace Dr

Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how the gender of female academic library directors affects their leadership. The theory guiding this study was Acker’s theory of the ideal worker, as it offers a framework for examining the impact of worker gender in the workplace. The central research question of this study examined how the gender of female library directors at medium nonprofit private universities and colleges in the U.S. affected their leadership. This study utilized a phenomenological approach, conducting semi-structured interviews of female academic library directors at medium nonprofit private universities and colleges in the U.S. The …

Assessing Best Practices Of Facilitation Of The Free Exercise Of Religion By Army Chaplains Utilizing The Success Case Method, Geoffrey N. Bailey Phd

Dissertations

This mixed-methods study examined how U.S. Army chaplains experience and facilitate the free exercise of religion. The research explored compelling narratives of best-case facilitation experiences, identified leadership qualities associated with successful religious support, and analyzed similarities and differences between best and worst-case scenarios. Using Brinkerhoff's Success Case Method, the study distributed a quantitative survey to 1,478 active-duty chaplains (achieving a 23% response rate) followed by twelve guided interviews with participants representing diverse ranks and faith traditions. The research revealed six major themes: significant gaps in education for pluralistic ministry, tension between personal religious convictions and professional duties, crucial impact of …

Returning To School After A Pandemic And The Lived Experiences Of 9-12 Grade Athletic Coaches On Student-Athlete Success, Louie Vallejo

Dissertations

Purpose: This phenomenological examination examines ninth-12th grade athletic coaches’ perceptions of the impact on athletes returning to athletic competition after being online during the pandemic for 2 years with regard to behavior, athletic achievement, attitude, and social connections.

Methodology: This qualitative study interviewed athletic coaches in the Tri-County Athletic Conference in Central California. Semi structured open-ended interview questions were the main source of data collection. Data were coded and the researcher analyzed the data for themes and patterns, and the results were validated through the interrater process by an experienced researcher.

Findings: After analyzing data, codes, and themes, the researcher …

Leadership In Times Of Crisis: Motivating Employees Through The Challenges Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Hanan Khamis

Dissertations

Purpose: This study explores the critical role of leadership and employee motivation in sustaining organizational effectiveness during times of disruption, focusing specifically on the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It investigates how leadership styles and motivational theories evolve in response to heightened uncertainty, rapid operational changes, and emotional strain. Central to this purpose is understanding how adaptability, empathy, communication, and relational leadership practices help maintain employee engagement and ensure continuity within higher education institutions during crisis conditions.Methodology: A qualitative phenomenological methodology was used to capture the lived experiences of 10 human resource (HR) leaders representing public and private universities …

Bridging The Gap: A Comparative Delphi Study Of Elementary Educators And Business Leaders On Interpersonal Workforce Skill Needs, Jazmyne Mercedes Chaffin

Dissertations

The purpose of this comparative Delphi study was to identify similarities and differences between elementary educators and business leaders regarding interpersonal workforce skill needs for students leaving elementary school and workers entering the workforce. Additionally, this study sought to identify how both panels rate the importance of the identified skills and gather recommendations for teaching the skills. Finally, the study was designed to compare results. This study used a comparative Delphi method, consisting of three data collection rounds with expert elementary educators and business leaders. In Round 1, participants responded to an open-ended question designed to elicit perspectives on essential …

“Remember, You Are Not A Superhuman”: The Lived Experience Of Rest, Unrest, And Leadership In Special Operations, Trey Zoda

Dissertations

U.S. special operations forces (SOF) operate in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments that demand cognitive clarity, emotional regulation, and relational presence. While previous research on SOF readiness has addressed physical fitness, resilience, and sleep, little attention has been given to the psychological dimensions of rest and their implications for leadership. The purpose of this qualitative, transcendental phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of psychological rest and unrest in U.S. government SOF and the perceived influence of these states on their leadership. Guided by Moustakas’s transcendental method, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with SOF personnel. They were …

Exploring Leadership Through The Lenses Of Psychological Safety: Experiences From The Warehousing Industry, Francis V. Manigault

Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological study explored how psychological safety is experienced and sustained in warehouse environments, particularly through leadership practices. The research focused on five central questions regarding how psychological safety is defined, the barriers to sustaining it, and the specific leadership behaviors that influence employee voice and workplace culture. Seven participants from warehousing operations across the southeastern United States were selected through purposive sampling. These individuals held leadership positions and had firsthand experience with efforts to promote psychological safety. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data were analyzed thematically using Colaizzi’s method. The study found that psychological safety in warehouse settings …

A Phenomenological Study Of Success Despite Barriers: How Leaders With Disabilities Experience Supervisory Leadership Through The Lens Of Adaptive Leadership, Ashley Oberlander Townsend

Dissertations

People with disabilities experience unemployment and underemployment more frequently than those without disabilities and encounter obstacles to becoming supervisory leaders (Harlan & Robert, 1998; Krzeminska et al., 2019; Roberson et al., 2021). The American workforce is significantly impacted by this problem, as more than one in four people have a disability (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024). This hermeneutic phenomenological research utilized interviews to collect data from three participants to answer the research question to explore the problem: what are leaders with disabilities’ lived experiences in overcoming barriers to achieving supervisory roles using an adaptive leadership lens? The research …

A Dissertation To Explore Entrepreneurial Decision-Making In High-Risk Uncertainty Using Ethical Leadership, Janice Patrick Honeycytt Hering

Dissertations

Entrepreneurs regularly face high-risk, uncertain situations. Until this study, no research had examined how entrepreneurs approach these situations. Although studies have identified the construct of courage and suggested ways for employees to take courageous action in the workplace, no study has examined how entrepreneurs approach situations perceived as high-risk and with uncertain outcomes until now. This study was based on ethical leadership, one of the major components of courage: acting for the higher good. This study conducted qualitative grounded theory research to determine what process entrepreneurs use when faced with the need for courageous actions. Participants were entrepreneurs in the …

Insights Into Female Urinary Microbiota Through Long-Read 16s Rrna Sequencing, Jerrin John

Dissertations

The human urinary microbiome—once thought to be sterile—is now recognized as a dynamic, low-biomass microbial community with potential implications for urinary tract health. Conventional short-read 16S rRNA gene sequencing targeting individual variable regions often lacks the taxonomic resolution needed to distinguish closely related species, while culture-based methods may miss fastidious or low-abundance taxa. We applied full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing across all nine variable regions to daily urine samples collected from asymptomatic premenopausal female participants. Sequence data were processed with a modified DADA2 pipeline optimized for long reads to generate exact sequence variants. We compared species-level community profiles against both …

Correlating Optical Phase And Atmospheric Coherence Width In Characterizing Turbulence, Scott Alexander Kaiser

Dissertations

This dissertation presents the development, validation, and optimization of a novel Hartmann Turbulence Sensor (HTS) for real-time, high-speed characterization of atmospheric optical turbulence. The HTS captures and processes live data at 1 kHz and reports turbulence parameters at 22 Hz. A key innovation is the integration of a dominant spectral component selection method into the Difference in Differential Tilt Variance (DDTV) algorithm. By using spectral analysis to identify areas of interest (AOIs) based on their dominant spatial frequency content, this method reduces computational load by up to 75% while maintaining a low RMS error. It also offers a visual representation …

Pushing The Limits Of Fermi-Gbm Data, Stephen Lesage

Dissertations

The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) is a wide-field survey instrument in a low-Earth, low-inclination orbit. It contains twelve sodium iodide detectors and two bismuth germanate detectors which together span an energy range from ~8 keV to ~40 MeV and observe the entire unocculted sky (~70%). The highest resolution GBM data product is the time-tagged event data which has ~2 microseconds temporal resolution and 128 pseudo-logarithmically spaced spectral channels. All of these factors make Fermi the perfect instrument for detecting a wide variety of high-energy terrestrial and astrophysical phenomena. In this dissertation, I implement new data analysis techniques to explore …

Design And Synthesis Of Crosslinkable Amphiphilic Pegylated Poly(Amino Acid) Copolymers For Spion Encapsulation, Adekunle Titus Akinmola

Dissertations

The development of polymeric micelles for biomedical applications has been of significant interest due to their potential for targeted delivery for therapeutic and diagnostic agents. This dissertation focusses on the synthesis, characterization, and application of amphiphilic PEGylated poly(amino acid) block copolymers as nanocarriers for superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) in magnetic particle imaging (MPI). Series of novel diblock and triblock copolymers were synthesized through ring-opening polymerization of amino acid N-Carboxyanhydrides (NCAs) to afford HO-PEG77-b-p(L-Leu)m and HO-PEGx-b-p(Allyl-L-Gly)10-b-p(L-Leu)n. These polymers were further functionalized to yield their folate conjugates through dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC) coupling. NMR and FTIR were used to verify the chemical structures …

Novel Ai/Ml-Based Frameworks For Protein Conformation Selection In Drug Discovery Applications, Shivangi Gupta

Dissertations

Drug development is a lengthy, expensive process with a high failure rate. The urgency brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to enhance drug discovery by increasing target specificity, reducing toxicity, and optimizing formulation strategies. Building on this momentum, this dissertation introduces novel AI/ML-driven frameworks for protein conformation selection and classification, addressing critical challenges in modern drug discovery. However, designing such a novel AI/ML data-driven framework is a difficult task because most real-world biomedical datasets suffer from class imbalance issues, which can significantly skew AI/ML model training, resulting in …

The Effect Of Micro-Sized Tin/Hard Carbon Composition On Sodium-Ion Battery Performance, Joseah Amai

Dissertations

Sodium-ion batteries represent a promising alternative to lithium-ion technology for large-scale energy storage due to sodium's abundance, global availability, and cost advantages. However, developing high-capacity anodes that simultaneously deliver substantial energy density and stable cycling performance remains a critical challenge for its commercial viability. This dissertation investigates tin/hard carbon composite anodes as a solution to the fundamental trade-off between specific capacity and cycling stability in sodium-ion battery systems. While tin offers exceptional theoretical capacity through alloying reactions, it suffers from massive volume expansion during sodiation/desodiation, leading to particle pulverization and rapid capacity degradation. On the other hand, hard carbon has …

Manganism And The Development Of A Green Sustainable Low-Threshold Spectrophotometric Test For The Monitoring Of Manganese In Consumable Water, Anna Merritt Holmes

Dissertations

Manganism, a neurotoxic disease from the hyperaccumulation of manganese, follows an etiology that parallels Parkinsonism. Non-occupational Manganism is acquired by the lifelong accumulation of manganese through water contaminated by natural and industrial sources. Biologically active manganese (II) eludes flocculation and filtration removal methods at water utilities. The U.S. Standard Methods For the Examination of Water and Wastewater persulfate testing method uses mercury sulfate, concentrated nitric and phosphoric acids, silver nitrate, and ammonium persulfate. The low detection limit of 210 µg/L is an order of magnitude greater than the World Health Organization (WHO) allowable limit of 10-50 µg/L. In 2004, the …

Observational Analysis Of Small-Scale Structures Across The Earth’S Bow Shock, Rebecca Harvey

Dissertations

This work identifies and characterizes magnetic structures in the solar wind and magnetosheath across the Earth’s bow shock. I investigate the differences between the properties of small-scale flux rope (SFR) structures immediately upstream and downstream of the bow shock by employing two data analysis methods: one based on wavelet transforms and the other based on the Grad-Shafranov (GS) detection and reconstruction techniques. 676 hours in the solar wind, and 1051 hours in the magnetosheath, of in situ magnetic field and plasma data from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) and Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) missions were …

The Contributions Of Patient Education And Home Visits To Reduce Post-Cesarean Hypertension Readmissions, Stephanie Armstead

Dissertations

Cesarean births in the United States (U.S.) have increased steadily over the last decade. Researchers have identified maternal hypertension/hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) as a comorbidity associated with the increase of cesarean births. Mothers who are diagnosed with HDP and undergo a cesarean birth have a dual diagnosis of high-risk pregnancy, and due to worsening conditions, are readmitted to the hospital more frequently than mothers who experience a vaginal birth. This study aimed to determine whether a patient discharge education intervention provided by a transition of care (ToC) team or interdisciplinary care team (IDT), combined with early follow-up care from …

Understanding Pediatric Healthcare Access From A Black Parental Perspective : A Qualitative Study, Jessica A. Celestand

Dissertations

In the United States, healthcare access disparities have existed for several years in the African American/Black pediatric population. The District of Columbia ranks first nationally for health insurance coverage; however, African American/Black children have disproportionately experienced barriers to care compared to the District of Columbia’s pediatric population overall. There are current gaps in research that investigate African American/Black pediatric healthcare access from a parental perspective. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenology qualitative study was to explore research gaps by investigating barriers and facilitators to care, and the social determinants of health that impact pediatric healthcare access through the lens of …

Correlated Unsteady Interactions Between A Normal Shock Wave, Lambda Foot, And Other Flow Events, Ward Manneschmidt

Dissertations

This dissertation considers interactive relationships between a normal shock wave and the downstream shock wave leg of the associated lambda foot, as well as between a normal shock wave, time-varying static pressure, surface temperature fluctuations, and surface heat flux variations as measured along the bottom surface of the test section. Such relationships are investigated as they vary with two different magnitudes of inlet unsteady Mach wave intensity and are characterized using shadowgraph flow visualization data, as well as power spectral density, magnitude squared coherence, and time lag data. Employed for the investigation is a specialty test section with an inlet …

An Algorithm For Three-Dimensional Bubble Simulations And Analysis For Advanced Nuclear Propulsion, Pongkrit Darakorn Na Ayuthya

Dissertations

This dissertation presents the development of a predictive simulation framework for analyzing gas-liquid dynamics in Centrifugal Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (CNTP) systems, where hydrogen gas is injected into a rotating liquid uranium fuel core. Using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), a fully Lagrangian mesh-free method, this research models multiphase flow behavior under extreme conditions, capturing critical phenomena such as bubble formation, surface deformation, void fraction evolution, and rotational confinement. A novel modification to the liquid equation of state is introduced to mitigate SPH artifacts, improving fluid stability and enabling surface recovery after deformation. The model is validated against experimental data from static …

Declarative Re-Planning : A Trustworthy Deep Reinforcement Learning Method Enabling Zero Shot Learning In Mobile Robot Path Planning, Nathan Hemming

Dissertations

Navigation methods are needed for robots to operate in a physical world. Path planning for navigation can be a difficult problem to solve due to uncertainties in the world and the robot. Navigation also must be completed in real time to ensure the robot does not collide with other entities in the world. Declarative re-planning (DRP) is a method for path planning. It leverages hierarchical temporal abstractions to drive learning, and run time efficiencies. It is multiple orders of magnitude more sample efficient compared to non-temporally abstract methods, and the asymptotic run time efficiency is linear for the full navigation …

An Exploration Of The Clinical Senior Nursing Student Preceptor Relationship, Kimberly Nicole Dunker

Dissertations

Problem

The use of clinical preceptors for training is well documented in the literature as an effective strategy for helping students, new graduates, and RNs orient to their roles in healthcare facilities. The need to ensure that the preceptor is adequately trained and then matched to a preceptee for a successful relationship is a challenge. The healthcare facility does its best to identify a preceptor and ensure adequate training is completed and there is a willingness to facilitate the experience. The academic institution is required to ensure that preceptors are chosen based on criteria outlined by the board of nursing …