Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring External Engagement In Higher Education Through Defining Partnerships, Colleen Reaney

Dissertations

This research study has been designed to be an evergreen project to help higher education institutions define their external partnerships. The action research model has been used to create and test a model of external engagement, which was later redefined as the Reaney Model of External Engagement with the intent for continuous improvement. Further modification of this research study will need to be tested to strengthen the Reaney Model of External Engagement core while considering external factors that create challenges within the higher education space. Challenges that may arise to help higher education institutions clearly define external partnerships may include, …

Gender Diversity In U.S. Adolescents: An Exploration Of Multidimensional Survey Measures Of Gender And Their Associations With Health And Social Outcomes Using A National Sample Of Adolescent-Parent Dyads, Christopher Hansen

Dissertations

The measurement of gender is an evolving area of survey research. Extant research has assessed different approaches for measuring gender identity and expression among adults; however, comparatively less research has evaluated their use among adolescents who are developing their gender identity and expression. This dissertation uses data from a nationally representative survey of U.S. teens and their parents to evaluate multidimensional measures of gender in adolescents. Three research questions represent separate empirical chapters of the dissertation. The first research question examines the measurement of femininity and masculinity in adolescents based on a comparison of different survey scales. The second research …

Reconceiving Virtue: A Mengzian Adaptation Of Eudaimonic Virtue Ethics In Response To Contemporary Criticisms, Gina Elizabeth Lebkuecher

Dissertations

The primary question my dissertation aims to answer is: how might eudaimonic virtue ethics be reimagined to respond to contemporary criticisms from disability scholars, feminists, and empirical psychology? To answer this, I introduce the Eudaimonic View of Virtue, or EV, and propose a Mengzian adaptation of the EV (EV-M) in response to these criticisms. The EV captures the four core claims to which eudaimonic virtue ethical theories are committed: (i) virtues, in the sense of excellent character traits or dispositions, are the foundation of ethics or ethical action (i.e., aretaicism); (ii) virtue is at least partially constitutive of human well-being/flourishing …

Synthetic Assembly Of Antibacterial Agents And Metal Chelating Ligands, Zachary Joseph Liveris

Dissertations

The exploitation of chemical synthesis exemplifies the notion of bridging both innovation and curiosity for the strategic assembly of sophisticated molecular infrastructures. By exerting this continuously evolving and versatile tool, synthesis has been applied in the development and influence of a myriad of ligands, biological probes, and persists to direct pharmaceutical innovation and modern medicine alike. Since pathogenic multidrug-resistant (MDR) microbial strains remain to be a persistent threat to both clinical healthcare and society, the need to develop selective and efficacious antibacterial agents that can impede microbe pathogenicity and regulate cellular mortality is paramount. In contrast to pharmaceutical development, organic …

Factors Influencing Purpose In Life In Middle-Aged And Older Adults, Kelly Bergstrom

Dissertations

Purpose in life is an important dimension of psychological well-being with associated health benefits. The current study used a path analysis model to examine how perceived cognitive control, health locus of control- self, engagement in physical activity, and engagement in challenging cognitive activities relate to purpose in life longitudinally. Multimorbidity status was also examined as a potential moderator of paths in the model. Participants were middle-aged and older adults who participated in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) longitudinal national study (n = 2,481). After controlling for relevant covariates, engagement in physical activity, engagement in challenging cognitive activities, …

High Risk Medication Regimens And Medication Related Predictors Of Hospital Readmission In Elderly Home Care Patients, Mary T. Dierich

Dissertations

Adverse drug events are a primary cause of hospitalization in the elderly. Nearly 70% of the $177.4 billion dollars spent on drug related morbidity and mortality in the U.S. is due to hospitalizations. Polypharmacy, inappropriate medications or medication regimen complexity have all been implicated as precursors to adverse drug events and as indicators of high risk medication regimens. Understanding the relationship between medication regimens and readmission is important when evaluating potential errors in administration, risk-benefit ratios, and readmission risk. However, due to definitional and measurement issues, the high risk medication regimen remains an elusive concept. This study characterizes medication regimens, …

Humanizing History: Empowering Educators To Navigate Difficult History Through Museum-Led Professional Development, Andrea Miskewicz

Dissertations

As museums increasingly serve as educational hubs, this research examines how teachers' participation in such programs contributes to their perceived efficacy for teaching topics of difficult history. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study utilizes a survey with quantitative and qualitative measures to evaluate changes in teacher self-efficacy before and after a museum-led intervention. With a pre and posttest design, this study provides deeper insights into participants' experiences and challenges. Preliminary findings suggest museum-led professional development has a significant positive impact on teachers’ perceived self-efficacy, highlighting the resources and opportunities museums have available and the importance of humanizing history in social …

Settler Colonial Determinants Of Indigenous Health: Relationship Between Indigenous Women's Level Of Allostatic Load And High Blood Pressure During Pregnancy; A Secondary Analysis Of The Strong Heart Study, Nicole A. Thomas

Dissertations

There is a dearth of comprehensive literature relevant to the relationship between settler colonialism and health outcomes of Indigenous peoples residing in the United States (U.S.). Critical analysis of settler colonial determinants of Indigenous health will help to further shape discourse, research priorities, and policy relevant to Indigenous population health and disease distribution. This thesis will bring awareness to settler colonialism, propose relationships between settler colonialism and health outcomes, and identify specific settler colonial determinants of Indigenous health to help guide development and use of nursing theory. This dissertation argues that the structure of settler colonialism threatens and implicates the …

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists' (Crna) Perceived Ease And Usefulness Of Video Laryngoscopes For Endotracheal Intubation Of Surgical Patients With Difficult Airways, Uwe G. Klemm

Dissertations

Anesthesia providers frequently encounter patients with difficult airways. The inability to effectively ventilate and oxygenate a patient due to failed endotracheal intubation increases patient morbidity and mortality (Detsky et al., 2019; Joffe et al., 2019). Video laryngoscopes appear to provide benefits by improving airway visualization and first-attempt endotracheal intubation success and decreasing the rate of failed endotracheal intubation attempts (Lewis et al., 2017; Pieters et al., 2017; Vargas et al., 2021). This research study examined the perceived usefulness and ease of use of video laryngoscope technology by CRNAs for initial endotracheal intubation when confronted with a difficult airway. The study …

Caring Behaviors Of Nursing Students And Their Attitudes Toward Older Adults, Jacquelyn D. Lambert-Davis

Dissertations

Caring is an emotion. It is a feeling of compassion and an understanding of the difficulties of others. Research indicates that caring behaviors and attitudes are an important part of the knowledge base for nursing students. Caring behaviors and attitudes are an important part of the knowledge base for nursing students in order to provide competent care for older adults. This descriptive cross-sectional study reports findings of caring attitudes and behaviors of nursing students using the Caring Dimensions Inventory (CDI). The purpose of this study was to examine the self reported attitudes and caring behaviors of nursing students toward older …

On Near-Linear Cellular Automata Over Near Spaces, Abdul-Rahman M. Nasser

Dissertations

Cellular Automata can be considered as examples of massively parallel machines. They are computational mathematical objects consisting of a grid of cells, each of which can exist in a finite number of states. These cells evolve over discrete time steps according to a set of predefined rules based on the states of neighboring cells. The notion of cellular automata was first introduced by Ulam and von Neumann and then popularized by John H. Conway in the 1970s with one of the most famous examples being The Game of Life.

This research builds on and generalizes the work of Tullio Ceccherini-Silberstein …

Cooperative Pathways: Insights From Teacher Experiences On Improving Union And District Cooperation, Whitney Fink

Dissertations

This study involved an evaluation of teacher experiences within their districts, schools, and unions across the United States. The primary research question was: How are teachers currently experiencing the relationship between their unions, districts, and administrators and what opportunities exist to improve cooperation and shared ownership between those groups? The study used a mixed methods approach by gathering quantitative data in the form of a survey and qualitative data through open-ended responses on the survey as well as interviews with seven teachers. The results formed a general understanding of the current state of teacher experiences that was then applied to …

Persistence Of Female Faculty In Stem, Andrea Constantinou

Dissertations

The lack of women entering certain STEM fields impacts female representation in research faculty, teacher faculty, and leadership positions in higher education. Through a narrative inquiry methodology utilizing the theoretical paradigms of self-determination theory and relational autonomy, this study extended understanding of the factors that motivate persistence for women in certain STEM fields. While prior research focused on understanding the barriers to retention, this study sought to identify the factors motivating retention for women in certain STEM fields. The results of this study contribute to understanding the motivating factors that influence a woman’s persistence in STEM. The data gathered from …

Understanding Latino Students' Perspectives On Their High School Experiences And Post-Graduation Options, Rubi Ortiz

Dissertations

Projections from the U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics indicate Latinos will constitute 30% of the school-aged population in the United States by the year 2030. Enhancing the quality of education for this demographic becomes increasingly crucial. Such improvements not only benefit Latino communities but also hold significant implications for the progress and future prosperity of our nation. The focus in this study was to understand Latino students’ perspectives on their high school experiences and post-graduation options, as well as to explore the influence of high school programming on their experiences. This qualitative study was conducted with …

A Program Evaluation Of The Necessary Attributes, Accommodations, And Resources Neurodivergent Students Require For Success In Higher Education, Barbara Muñoz

Dissertations

Without academic resources and accommodations, neurodivergent students with mild to moderate Learning Disabilities (LD) may be unable to navigate the academic challenges and rigor associated with college success. I used a mixed-methods research design to collect data from various stakeholders to determine the supports neurodivergent students with LD need to be successful in college. My findings indicated students need accommodations for their learning differences, access to assistive technology, access to counseling or mental health services, and access to specialized support personnel to be successful. I recommended a policy to ensure neurodivergent students and their caregivers are aware of post-secondary institutions …

Teaching Writing With The Digital Feedback Protocol: A Peer-To-Peer Intervention To Increase Elementary Student Writing Motivation, Karyn Keenan

Dissertations

Writing is a complex task, especially for elementary school writers; motivation in writing leads to greater writing performance and writing quality. Teachers enter their careers underprepared to teach writing and have to seek out professional development on writing for themselves. Technology can be leveraged in the elementary writing classroom, but it is an under researched area. The Digital Feedback Protocol is a case study dissertation study with an embedded professional development opportunity that supports teachers to implement a protocol for students to provide digital feedback to each other’s writing. The study was conducted with four third grade teachers and their …

The Fourth Wall Of Dialogue: A Co-Constructive Collaboration On Bipoc Student Sense Of Belonging In Higher Education, Valarie Lindsey

Dissertations

Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) students’ sense of belonging (SOB) at higher education institutions has decreased over the last 30 years despite numerous initiatives aimed at increasing a sense of belonging for this group of students and addressing the challenges they face from various intersectionalities including cultural biases, gender marginalization, and racial subjectivities. Sense of belonging is often subjective in nature because it refers to an individual's lived experience, it is important for higher education institutions to tailor their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive (DEI) initiatives to meet the needs of the students on their campus. This initiative should include …

Estimating And Applying Parameters Necessary To Plan Cluster Randomized Trials (Crts) And Multisite Cluster Randomized Trials (Mscrts), Dea Mulolli

Dissertations

Cluster randomized trials (CRTs) are commonly used to study the effectiveness of educational interventions. During the design phase of a study, it is critical for researchers to ensure their studies are adequately powered to detect meaningful treatment effects, including both main and moderator effects. Designing CRTs with adequate power to detect main and moderator effects requires accurate estimates of design parameters. This research aims to advance the literature on design parameters for power analyses, specifically focusing on empirical estimates of intraclass correlations (ICCs). The work consists of three research papers that examine the role of including the teacher level in …

The Synthesis, Characterization, And Application Of Polysaccharide-Based Additive To Improve Wet And Dry Strength And High-Barrier Properties Of Paper Products, Cornellius Marcello

Dissertations

Paper products play an essential role in our daily lives owing to their low cost, environment-friendly character, renewability, and recyclability. Paper manufacturers have been using petroleum-based strength additives (cPAM, GPAM, PAE) to meet the perceived needs of customers. On the other hand, paper produced from cellulose is hydrophilic and porous, leading to shallow water and grease resistance, causing paper manufacturers to use many kinds of coating materials such as poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and synthetic plastic to improve water resistance, especially for food packaging paper products like cups, plates, food boxes, and packaging. However, PFAS are identified as likely carcinogenic to …

Brief Treatment For Ptsd: Promoting Trauma Recovery With A Five-Session Cognitive Processing Therapy Protocol, Sanela Kalakovic

Dissertations

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is a first-line treatment for trauma. CPT is traditionally administered over 12 sessions. This open clinical trial examined the feasibility and efficacy of a 5-session CPT protocol. The abbreviated protocol moves more quickly to the proposed therapeutic mechanism of action, cognitive restructuring, to alter unhelpful traumarelated thoughts and beliefs. The goal is to maintain efficacy while making therapy more efficient and thereby reducing barriers to trauma treatment. Using a repeated measures open clinical trial design (with embedded multiple baselines), 67 adults (M age = 43 years, 90% female, 79% White) with clinically significant post-traumatic stress disorder …

Addressing The Importance Of Recruitment And Retention Of Black And Latinx Teachers: Strategies Designed To Diversify The Teacher Pipeline, Shavon Pittman

Dissertations

The United States student demographic has shifted significantly, with minorities, particularly Black and Latinx students, now constituting almost half. However, the diversity of the teaching profession, historically led by White females, lags behind, with Black and Latinx teachers comprising less than 30%. This lack of representation poses challenges for students without culturally similar educators. My research explores the impact of teacher diversity on Black and Latinx students' success, revealing positive outcomes. Yet, attracting and retaining minority teachers faces obstacles, including feelings of isolation and financial concerns. Recommendations include educational pathways, scholarships, mentoring programs, salary incentives, and professional learning communities to …

Exploring Secondary Teachers' Digital Curricular Autobiographies As A Path Towards Digital Equity: A Currere Journey, Douglas S. Vandyke

Dissertations

Combining a narrative approach with portraiture and theoretically framed by reconceptualism and critical digital pedagogy, this study explores participants’ beliefs about and experiences using information and communication technologies (ICT) for learning. It also explores participants’ understanding of digital learning as essential to educational equity in a postdigital society. Participants were secondary teachers serving socio-economically marginalized Black and Latinx students across four public high schools in Chicago. Through a series of semi-structured interviews each constructed a version of their digital curricular autobiography (currere). Through this reflection, participants recalled their own experiences being excluded from learning which contributed to their …

A Convergent Parallel Mixed Methods Examination Of The Impact Of Graduate Student Loan Balances On Overall Quality Of Life Among Clinical Psychologists With Psyd Degrees, Lekai James

Dissertations

Graduate student loan debt in psychology, particularly for those with Doctorate in Psychology (PsyD) degrees in clinical psychology, is highly problematic. Previous research has shown that student loan debt negatively impacts quality of life (QOL) by affecting subjective well-being (SWB) and life satisfaction (LS). This study used a convergent parallel mixed method approach, guided by bottom-up spillover theory and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, to explore the relationship between QOL and total graduate student loan balances, as well as the effects of income and monthly student loan payments on QOL among PsyD graduates. Participants (N = 16) completed a survey with …

Produced Water Management From Production Sites In The State Of Kuwait, Feras Adel Alsalem

Dissertations

Extraction of crude oil also produces large volumes of water, termed produced water (PW). PW is by far the most significant by-product in the process of extracting hydrocarbons from the subsurface. Consequently, managing PW has become a great concern to oil and gas producers. The increasing amounts of PW and more stringent environmental and safety regulations in regard to PW make more efficient treatment methods necessary, where sustainable long-term solutions for PW management need to be provided. The focus of this study is on PW from onshore operations as the majority of the oil and gas extraction operations (upstream processes) …

A Modified Grounded Theory Analysis Of Luke’S Understanding Of His Thought Disorder, Daniel Dresher

Dissertations

This current Clinical Research Project examines patterns of therapeutic processing in “Luke”, a male diagnosed with schizophrenia, and how his understanding of his psychotic breaks and mental illness evolved over the course of person-centered psychotherapy. A modified grounded theory approach was used by multiple coders to analyze transcribed text samples from selected archival therapy sessions selected between 1996 and 2019 to develop further hypotheses as to how "Luke" uses schizophrenic language to process experience in ways that are clinically effective as well as ways that hinder his understanding of his experience. Results of this study demonstrated that while Luke’s use …

Empirical Exploration Of Software Testing, Samia Alblwi

Dissertations

Despite several advances in software engineering research and development, the quality of software products remains a considerable challenge. For all its theoretical limitations, software testing remains the main method used in practice to control, enhance, and certify software quality. This doctoral work comprises several empirical studies aimed at analyzing and assessing common software testing approaches, methods, and assumptions. In particular, the concept of mutant subsumption is generalized by taking into account the possibility for a base program and its mutants to diverge for some inputs, demonstrating the impact of this generalization on how subsumption is defined. The problem of mutant …

On The Ubiquity, Properties And Evolution Of Small-Scale Magnetic Flux Ropes In The Heliosphere, Hameedullah Farooki

Dissertations

The solar wind is a plasma constantly blowing out from the Sun with a large-scale magnetic field having significant local complexity at small scales. Small-scale magnetic flux ropes (SMFRs), plasma structures with twisted field lines, are an important element of this complexity. This dissertation contributes several studies that further our understanding of SMFRs. The first study applies machine learning to measurements from Wind labeled by the presence of SMFRs and magnetic clouds (MCs). MCs were distinguished from non-MFRs with an AUC of 94% and SMFRs with an AUC of 89% and had distinctive plasma properties, whereas SMFRs appeared to be …

Interaction Of Particles With Plasma And Shock Produced By Pulsed Spark Discharge, Shomik Mukhopadhyay

Dissertations

Interactions of powders with high-temperature plasma and shockwaves occur in diverse scenarios, such as nuclear blasts, accidental industrial dust explosions, solid propellant combustion in explosive charges and when removing contaminants from surfaces. Electrostatic Discharge (ESD), known for generating shock and plasma, is a promising lab-scale technique for simulating these interactions. Studies with ESD involved placing powders near a spark-producing gap between electrodes and observing mechanical and chemical processes like particle motion and ignition. A limited range of spark conditions and material properties have been tested, which facilitated the development and validation of preliminary computational models describing this system. Significant gaps …

Financial Time Series Fusion, Completion, And Prediction With Deep Neural Networks, Dan Zhou

Dissertations

Time-series analysis is essential for a wide range of financial applications, including but not limited to bond valuation, firm earnings forecasts, firm fundamentals predictions, and firm characteristics imputations. Given its considerable value, the financial community has shown a strong interest in refining and advancing time-series analysis techniques. The study in this dissertation contributes to this field by employing advanced machine learning approaches, specifically graph neural networks, deep neural networks, and matrix/tensor methods. The primary objectives are twofold: first, to reveal complex correlations within financial time series to improve prediction accuracy, and second, to enhance the process of integrating and imputing …

Microplastic Abundance And Removal In Stormwater Using Green Infrastructure, Meghana Parameswarappa Jayalakshmamma

Dissertations

Microplastics (MPs) are increasingly recognized as a pervasive environmental contaminant, conveying other contaminants, accumulating in aquatic organisms, and posing ecological risks. The existing research has primarily focused on MPs in wastewater treatment plant effluents in surface waters. However, the role of stormwater systems in MP transport has been less explored. Given the rise in MPs from urban sources, stormwater runoff from urban areas may serve as a critical conduit for transporting land-based MPs into aquatic environments. Green infrastructures (GIs) have been recognized for mitigating flooding and improving water quality from minor storms by trapping stormwater pollutants. Yet, the capability of …