Digital Commons Network^™

From Colonization To Cultural Responsiveness: Examining Cultural Identity And Representation In Taiwanese Music Education, Peijyun Syu

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the Taiwanese music education system through the lenses of postcolonial theory, critical pedagogy, and culturally responsive teaching—beginning with its establishment during the colonial periods under the Japanese Empire (1895–1945) and the Chinese Nationalist regime (1945–1987), and extending to an analysis of the current curriculum. This study was guided by the following research questions:

Q1 How do current Taiwanese elementary school music textbooks address cultural responsiveness through an analysis of the cultural origins of songs, composers/artists, and instruments included in the curriculum?

Q2 What are the views of Taiwanese elementary school music teachers …

Students’ Ability To Transfer Organic Chemistry Concepts To Metabolic Reactions, Timothy Jones

Dissertations

Bridging foundational knowledge learned in prerequisite courses like organic chemistry to higher-level courses like biochemistry represents a significant challenge in science education, often hindering deeper student understanding and future knowledge application. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate students’ ability to transfer and apply their understanding of organic chemistry when reasoning through metabolic reaction problems often seen in biochemistry courses. The research questions guiding the project were two-fold:

Q1 What are the organic chemistry reaction concepts deemed foundational to understanding metabolism by experts in the field?

Q2 What is the student’s ability to transfer knowledge of organic chemistry reactions …

Enhancing Credit Path Planning With Llm-Based Multi-Agent Systems, Sahar Yarmohammadtoosky

Dissertations

This work explores applying Multi-Agent (MA) Large Language Models (LLMs) to enhance credit card management, an underexplored area for their multi-step reasoning capabilities. Focusing on Equifax’s Optimal Path™ model [1]—a personalized solution for credit score optimization—the study addresses two key challenges: first, designing a natural language interface for financial credit models to improve accessibility and aid customer decision-making, and second, enhancing the reliability and real-world applicability of complex financial models prone to generating invalid or unfeasible recommendations caused by a lack of practical interpretability and susceptibility to edge cases. To tackle these, we propose and evaluate various MA designs, including …

Supporting Cultural Capital In Undergraduate Biology: Instructor Roles And Practices, Lydia Nicole Mayo

Dissertations

Undergraduate biology students must navigate complex academic environments that require more than content mastery alone. Increasing evidence shows that students’ attitudes, beliefs, and values—such as motivation, confidence, and a sense of belonging—are critical to student engagement, persistence, and success, especially among first-generation college students and those from historically marginalized backgrounds. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation is to use cultural capital theory to explore how instructor practices in college biology classrooms support these non-content resources, framed as three forms of cultural capital: aspirational, navigational, and emotional capital for college biology.

To investigate this phenomenon, the dissertation integrates three complementary studies. …

Reinforcement Learning And Virtual Human Animation: A Novel Approach To Data-Driven Animation, Portraying Dynamic, Flexible Human-Like Behaviours, Vihanga Gamage

Dissertations

Virtual characters require animation capable of portraying dynamic, context-sensitive human-like behaviours. Several approaches to generating such animation have been developed, but each carries limitations. Motion capture can produce high-fidelity animation but is expensive and ill-suited to systems that must respond in real time. Physics-based reinforcement learning (RL) enables flexible, dynamic behaviour portrayal, yet relies on simulation feedback signals that are unavailable for social gestures. Supervised approaches can learn social behaviours from motion capture data but yield agents with limited flexibility and generalisation.

This thesis presents RLAnimate, a model-based, data-driven RL framework for character animation that enables a single agent to …

Rural Secondary Principals’ Perceptions Of Their Role In Transition Planning For Students With Disabilities, Christina Natascha Ruffatti

Dissertations

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to investigate rural secondary principals’ perceptions of their role and challenges experienced in transition planning for students with disabilities. Transition planning for students with disabilities has been federally mandated since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1990), emphasizing positive postsecondary outcomes. However, limited research has existed on principals’ roles, particularly in rural contexts.

Participants included 11 principals from small rural districts across 5 regions in Colorado. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using a hybrid approach of inductive and deductive coding, guided by Kohler et al.’s (2016) Taxonomy for …

Cognitive And Affective Factors Related To Geoscience Academic And Career Choice, Amanda Diane Manzanares

Dissertations

Recruitment and retention continue to be a challenge for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. Research shows that both cognitive and affective factors influence student learning, which can then shape academic and career choice. Therefore, my alternatively formatted dissertation includes three articles examining two STEM disciplines: geosciences and Interdisciplinary Environmental and Sustainability programs adding to prior research and further uncovering specific factors that could predict student educational and professional aspirations.

Regarding cognition, students often begin STEM courses with pre-existing mental frameworks, also referred to as schemas that are formed by their prior experiences. These schemas may conflict with established …

Framing The Problem To Meet The Policy Solution: An Embedded Mixed Methods Case Study Of The 2017 Michigan Opioid Laws, Leandra Hawkins Burke

Dissertations

The opioid crisis presents a wicked problem for public administration. Hundreds of thousands of people have died from opioid overdoses in the United States, and countless others have experienced severe opioid-related physical, psychological, and socioeconomic harms. Countering the opioid crisis has been difficult due to interdependencies across different drugs and multiple pathways for abuse and dependence. Many scholars, health providers, and politicians have called for a broad public health approach to combat the opioid crisis, but the full expanse of what that would entail has not yet been realized. What has been demonstrated is that interactions targeting a single aspect …

Mechanistic And Evolutionary Insights Into A Group Of Nicotine And Hydroxynicotine Degrading Flavoenzymes, Zhiyao Zhang

Dissertations

Flavoprotein amine oxidases (FAOs) are key enzymes in various kinds of metabolic pathways, mediating redox reactions via flavin cofactors. While most FAOs function as oxidases that readily reduce oxygen to hydrogen peroxide, a few outliers of the FAO family act as dehydrogenases that suppress the reaction with oxygen. The molecular basis for this divergence in function remains poorly understood.

The work presented in this study investigates the fundamental mechanisms of how flavincontaining enzymes activate or suppress their reaction with different electron acceptors to achieve high turnover rates. The overall body of work is divided into three different sections that (1) …

Enhanced Point Cloud Generation From A Novel 360° Underwater Lidar, Olagoke E. Daramola

Dissertations

This dissertation presents novel algorithms to improve the mapping capabilities of a 360-degree underwater Pulsed Laser Line Scanner LiDAR (PLLS-360°). Due to its 360° field-of-view (FOV), the PLLS-360° is a compact full-waveform omnidirectional imager suitable for seafloor mapping, underwater asset inspection, object detection, ice-sheet mapping, and construction progress monitoring. The proposed methodology includes an improved waveform fitting technique for saturated waveform recovery, detection array response correction, radiometric corrections, and fusion of LiDAR and sonar bathymetric datasets. The first part of this dissertation assesses the LiDAR’s performance and describes how the data for this unique 360° FOV architecture is processed. The …

Shifting Instructional Planning Practices: Exploring High School Mathematics Teachers' Perceptions Of Integrating The Do The Math Protocol Into Collaborative Instructional Planning, Lillian M. Gordon

Dissertations

This qualitative case study explores the perceptions of high school mathematics teachers regarding the implementation of the Do the Math protocol during collaborative instructional planning. This study investigates how the use of a structured planning tool can support professional growth and instructional improvement. Over five weeks, participants engaged with the protocol to collaboratively plan instruction. Data was collected through interviews, observation of collaborative instructional planning sessions, and analysis of instructional artifacts. Findings revealed two major themes. First, the protocol contributed to building content and pedagogical knowledge by deepening teachers’ understanding of math standards, promoting intentional collaboration, and encouraging the sharing …

Applying Transcriptomics For Technology Development And Conservation In North American Marine Organisms, Cory Von Eiff

Dissertations

RNA biology is a rapidly expanding field, with many avenues of discovery among marine organisms. In this study, we analyze both mollusks and sawfish. First, we perform an evaluation of sRNA biogenesis pathways throughout Mollusca, with emphasis on the easter oyster, Crassostrea virginica. Understanding these molecules prescribes RNAi-based gene silencing approaches, benefiting genetic investigation and biotechnology. Similar to other animal groups, mollusks have conserved microRNAs (miRNAs), with some shared with ecdysozoans and deuterostomes; however, there is no evidence of an endogenous small interfering RNA (siRNA) pathway. These results suggest that long double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-based RNAi is not appropriate for gene …

A Monte Carlo Analysis Of Cost Competitiveness Of Chinese And U.S. Fine Chemical Exports To Europe Under Europe’S Energy Crisis, Lin Luo

Dissertations

The European energy crisis, driven by geopolitical conflicts, has created a significant supply-demand gap in Europe’s fine chemical sector, necessitating reliance on imports from the United States and China. This quantitative study examined how energy, labor, and logistics costs interacted to shape the cost competitiveness of U.S. and Chinese fine chemical exports to Europe, using a Monte Carlo simulation parameterized with historical data from 2015-2023, to provide a probabilistic forecast of competitive outcomes. The findings revealed that while China holds a 76.55% probability of being the lower-cost supplier, its advantage is characterized by high volatility primarily due to its logistics …

Understanding The Experiences And Perceptions Of Faculty Supporting Undergraduate Students With Mental Health Challenges, Jenna Ranee Parbati Jamieson

Dissertations

College is a big adjustment for students, and it doesn't come without its challenges, including being in a new place with new responsibilities. This is a stressful time that presents new obstacles and frustrations that can lead to increased stress, anxiety, depression, and mental health challenges that may cause faculty to engage and support undergraduate students with mental health challenges. As students adjust and transition to college, it is vital for university faculty to feel confident and comfortable supporting students from diverse backgrounds with varying levels of distress. By interviewing faculty, a better understanding of their lived experiences and perceptions …

Spatial Distributions And Occupancy Dynamics Of Carnivores In A Central Hardwood Forest, Maximillian Larreur

Dissertations

Extirpation of apex predators, caused primarily by anthropogenic alterations to natural environments and persecution, has led to mesocarnivore release in these areas. Mesocarnivore release is an ecological phenomenon in which mesocarnivores thrive in the absence of apex predator dominance within the carnivore hierarchy. Mesopredators fill this dominant role on the landscape as de facto apex predators, however, this can lead to changes in inter-guild species space use, predator-prey dynamics, activity patterns, and interspecific competition. Understanding patterns in wildlife spatial distributions, which indicate variability in habitat space use across spatiotemporal scales, is critical for developing effective management and conservation plans and …

Perceptions Of Department Chairs And Program Directors Of Ethnic Studies In The California State University System: A Convergent Parallel Mixed Methods Study, Christopher Jarrett Cox

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation study is to explore the conditions of Ethnic Studies departments and programs in the California State University (CSU) system nine years after the release of the CSU Ethnic Studies Task Force report released in 2016. Using a convergent parallel mixed methods analysis, this dissertation revisits several questions from the original CSU survey to assess the effectiveness of Ethnic Studies units in the CSU. Respondents to the survey included 13 of the 58 recognized department chairs and program directors for Ethnic Studies units among the 23 campuses of the CSU system, and interview participants included 5 …

"Are You My Counselor?" A Call To Action How Latinx General Counselors Can Support Latinx Student Retention Rates At California Community College Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Valentín García Cabrera

Dissertations

Latinx students comprise the largest population within the California Community College (CCC) system, but experience disproportionately lower retention rates. This dissertation used a phenomenological qualitative design and testimonios collected from Latinx general counselors to explore factors influencing Latinx student retention. Sixteen tenured Latinx general counselors from ten Northern California Hispanic-serving community colleges served as participants. Guided by two research questions, the study explored counselors’ perspectives on the factors influencing Latinx community college students’ retention and the counseling strategies, services, and resources that General Counseling Departments should provide to support Latinx student retention. Grounded in Latinx Critical Race Theory, the study …

Contracts, Communication, And Contextual Integrity: A Case Study About Student Data Use In Higher Education, Joseph Fessehaye

Dissertations

This case study examines the contractual agreements between the University of Missouri System and the California State University System with the Educational Advisory Board (EAB), focusing on how these contracts align with institutional student data privacy policies. The research utilizes a Policy Document Analysis approach and explores both universities’ strategic plans, student data privacy guidelines, and the third-party agreements with EAB, using a Contextual Integrity framework to analyze how student data is managed and protected. Through the analysis of these documents, this dissertation investigates whether the flow of student data within the context of these contracts meets institutional privacy standards …

Cultivating Belonging: Empowering Hispanic Parents In The U.S. Education System, Kalpana Galagali

Dissertations

This qualitative study explores the experiences of Hispanic families at Bay Area Middle School and the strategies I employed to create a sense of belonging and support for both students and their families. Key strategies included fostering effective communication through Spanish interpreters, celebrating cultural traditions, and organizing inclusive events like the annual cultural fair. Parents expressed gratitude for the personal attention their children received and noted how these initiatives positively impacted their sense of belonging. The findings highlight that cultural integration and community-building efforts significantly enhanced family engagement, transforming perceptions of the school environment from feelings of disconnection to appreciation …

Early Care And Education Systems In The United States Of America: Voices Of The Past, Present, And Future, Timothy Harper

Dissertations

This mixed-methods study centers the voices, knowledge, and leadership of Black and Indigenous women working in Early Care and Education (ECE) while tracing how racism, sexism, and classism have shaped the field from colonization to the present day. Twenty in-depth interviews with sixteen Black and Indigenous educators across the United States are paired with secondary analyses of national workforce data to create a multilayered portrait of their professional realities. Grounded in Black feminist thought and Indigenous desire-based inquiry, the analysis surfaces six inter-locking themes: (a) enduring structural barriers that depress wages and limit advancement, (b) the day-to-day resilience that sustains …

Guardrails For Growth: Governing Open-Source Software Risk In Healthtech Startups, Tonya Humphrey

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how healthcare software startups manage the risks associated with open-source software (OSS) use. Using a qualitative multi-site case study approach and thematic analysis, the study draws insights from interviews with developers, security professionals, and technology leaders in early-stage healthtech companies. Six key themes emerged: Strategic Governance and Oversight, Security and Compliance Practices, Operational Foundations and Standards, Risk Awareness and Technical Due Diligence, Technology Choices and Ecosystem Tools, and People and Culture. The findings reveal that, even in resource-constrained environments, effective OSS risk management is possible through lightweight governance, automation, and shared cultural responsibility. Practical implications include guidance …

The Effect Of Cognitive Biases And Organizational Constructs On Enterprise Resource Planning Implementation Success In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises: A Pls-Sem Approach, Michael Davidson

Dissertations

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are crucial to enhancing organizational performance, efficiency, and strategic competitiveness in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). ERP adoption in SMEs has been known to fail, with more than 75% of the implementations considered failures. These barriers are compounded by cognitive biases, such as temporal discounting (TD) and optimism bias (OB), which skew the strategic decision-making process. The framework suggested in this paper explains the relationships between top management support (TMS), information quality (IQ), system quality (SQ), user satisfaction (US), optimism bias (OB), and temporal discounting (TD) and their impact on ERP implementation success (EIS) and …

Implementing A Standardized Protocol To Screen For Depression In A Gastroenterology Outpatient Clinic, Catherine M. Karle

Dissertations

Problem: There is a lack of mental health screenings for depression taking place in outpatient gastrointestinal (GI) clinics. Outpatient gastrointestinal (GI) offices are not consistently screening patients for depression despite a rise in depression rates and the known adverse impact depression can have on the GI tract.

Methods: This Quality Improvement (QI) study used a descriptive research design guided by the Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice (JHNEBP) Model. Its purpose was to implement a 10-week PHQ-2/PHQ-8 depression screening protocol at a large midwestern health center's gastroenterology outpatient clinic. The study used purposive sampling, including all GI outpatients aged 18+ with …

Transportation: A Barrier To Healthcare Access Among Disabled, Older Adults With Diabetes And Hypertension In Rural Areas, Anne G. Mwangi-Amann

Dissertations

Problem: Transportation is essential for health service utilization (clinic appointments, diagnostic services, and picking up medications from the pharmacy (Hansmann & Razon, 2024). Shekelle et al. (2022) in their systematic review and meta-analysis indicated that the U.S. rural population is 60 million. Rural areas continue to experience transportation as a significant barrier to health, a key social determinant of health. It causes delayed or foregone care in approximately 3.6 million people annually, resulting in more than 25% of missed appointments. Methods: This quality improvement project utilized a descriptive and observational design. A convenience sample of Medicaid patients receiving care at …

Screening For Depression And Anxiety In Women With Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Nicole M. Bondurant

Dissertations

Background: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is a multifaceted endocrine disorder that affects up to 20% of women of reproductive age and is associated with an increased prevalence of psychiatric conditions, particularly depression and anxiety. Despite international guidelines recommending routine screening for these mental health conditions in women with PCOS, consistent implementation in clinical practice remains limited.

Methods: This quality improvement (QI) pilot project aimed to address this gap by developing and implementing a standardized screening protocol for depression and anxiety within a suburban concierge OB-GYN clinic specializing in women’s reproductive and sexual health using validated tools—the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) …

Implementing A Turn Team Process To Reduce Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injuries On A Telemetry Unit At A Hospital In The Midwest, Sally Wang

Dissertations

Problem: Pressure injuries (PI) are localized wounds to the skin and soft tissues that typically result from sustained pressure on specific areas of the body (Zaidi & Sharma, 2024). Hospital-acquired pressure injury (HAPI) refers to pressure injuries that develop while a patient is in the hospital (Rondinelli et al., 2018). PI can cause patients to experience pain, decreased feelings of dignity, increased feelings of depression and anxiety, reduced levels of social activity, difficulty sleeping, and impaired cognitive function (Roussou et al., 2023). The Advanced Cardiac Care Unit (ACCU) at Missouri Baptist Medical Center experienced an increase in HAPI cases: …

Care Coordination In Pediatric Primary Care, Alyssa K. Durzo

Dissertations

No central documentation of care plans exists for children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN) in the electronic health record (EHR). Providers of a large pediatric primary care office in St. Louis Missouri were asked to identify CSHCN in the practice. Clinic nurses completed a comprehensive chart review of the patients identified and constructed care coordination documents using a pre-established smart-text phrase. Subsequently, these were documented centrally in the EHR under the Problem List.

Likert score data was obtained from providers on the acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of the intervention through the verified tools: Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM), Intervention Appropriateness …

Nanoporous Gold Nanoparticles And Model Membrane Systems Applied To The Study Of Lipopolysaccharide (Lps), Dhanbir Lingden

Dissertations

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a key structural component of Gram-negative bacteria, is a major trigger of sepsis and septic shock, the systemic inflammatory conditions responsible for millions of deaths annually. Even at concentrations as low as 1 ng/mL, LPS can activate the immune system and initiate inflammatory cascades. According to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017, sepsis accounted for 48.9 million cases globally, with 11 million deaths, emphasizing the urgent need for improved diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

Accurate and rapid detection of LPS is vital for early intervention and improved clinical outcomes. While traditional detection methods are still widely used, modern …

Grounded Leadership: A Look Into California Community College Mid-Level Leaders, Vicki Hou

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this explanatory mixed-method study was to identify and describe what exemplary California Community College mid-level leaders do to maintain their physical, emotional, intellectual, social, vocational, and spiritual health based on the six dimensions of Rosen’s healthy leader model.Methodology: This study employed a purposive sampling method to select 15 mid-level leaders from two California community college districts. Data collection involved two instruments: the Stay Grounded Survey, administered to all 15 participants, and semi-structured interviews conducted with a subset of five participants. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including mean scores, frequency distributions, and standard deviations. Qualitative …

Bridging The Skills Gap: A Design Thinking Mixed Methods Approach To Workforce Readiness, Bernetta Matory–Sylvester

Dissertations

No abstract provided.