Digital Commons Network^™

Hidden Amongst People: Experiences Fo Black White Biracial Individuals With Microaggressions, Horizontal Hostilities, And Identity Denial In Educational Settings, Deborah Luckett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative dissertation explores the dissonance between critical race theory and culturally relevant pedagogical practices in the context of non-binary identity formation and identity denial for Black White Biracial (BWBR) individuals. This positioned subject study examines stories of five adult female members of this population. Utilizing Bell’s Storytelling for Social Justice Model (2020) the study reveals the stock, concealed, resistance and, emerging/transforming stories of participants as they recall experiences with monoracially instigated microaggressions and horizontal hostilities. The model provides analytic themes to examine the dissonance. The following questions will be explored:

Primary Question: What socio/cultural interactions influence BWBR racial identity …

Perceived Levels Of Teaching Self-Efficacy Among Advanced Ces Doctoral Students Engaging In External Pedagogical Experiences, Erika Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study examined factors of internal preparation practices (i.e., coursework in college teaching, fieldwork in college teaching, and frequency of supervision) and external pedagogical experiences (i.e., holding a bachelor’s or master’s degree in teaching and adjunct faculty experiences in higher education) and their potential effects on teaching self-efficacy among counselor education and supervision doctoral students. This study identified both significant and non-significant relationships between the stated variables. Contrary to previous research (Suddeath et al., 2020), internal preparation practices did not significantly predict scores of teaching self-efficacy among this population. However, the findings suggest that participants holding a bachelor’s or …

Exploring Moral Permissibility Of Nurse Participation In Limited Resuscitation, Felicia Stokes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation offers a novel approach to support nurses when they face conflict between clinicians and families or alternate decision-makers over potentially inappropriate end-of-life goals of care. This dissertation will provide a normative analysis of the moral permissibility of limited resuscitation, with arguments supported by analyses of families’ and nurses’ perspectives and actions in the EoL decision-making process. Limited resuscitation is a cardiopulmonary resuscitation effort where full pharmacologic and mechanical intervention is not used, or the length of the resuscitative effort is shortened. It is typically associated with deception because it is performed without the knowledge of patients and families. …

A Review Of Current Methods In Avian Dietary Analysis And Their Integrated Application To Characterize The Trophic Niche Of Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia Motacilla)., Brandon Hoenig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Characterizing a species’ dietary composition presents an avenue to understand many facets of its ecological niche and can provide essential information for the species’ long-term conservation. To date, the vast majority of diet studies have relied on direct identification of prey during foraging observations or from diet samples to characterize the dietary habits of birds. However, advancements in laboratory-based approaches have revolutionized the field of trophic ecology by allowing researchers to indirectly infer dietary habits with higher resolution across greater time scales. Here, I apply two of these laboratory-based techniques, namely DNA metabarcoding and stable isotope analysis, to characterize the …

How And Why School Counselors Use Twitter: A Phenomenological Study, Danielle R. Schultz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

School counselors are often isolated in their role because of the unique nature of their job. Lack of connection, lack of relevant professional development, role ambiguity, high stress, high student-to-school counselor ratios, and lack of professional connections are all contributors to school counselor burnout. School counselors use Twitter, a social media tool, for a variety of purposes. This qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experience of school counselors who use Twitter to illuminate how and why school counselors use Twitter. This study found that school counselors see the purpose of their Twitter use as professional advocacy, professional connection, and validation. …

Reporting On Athletes And Mental Health: An Evolution In Language And Lexicon From 1970 To 2019, Vivian Ferris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the spring and summer of 2021, several athletes made headlines for seemingly prioritizing mental health over the status quo of sports society. For example, in May 2021, during the French Open, professional U.S. tennis player Naomi Osaka announced she would not appear at press conferences, despite threats of fines, citing on social media it was for her mental health. The controversy surrounding Osaka and others led to further questions. Looking through the lens of agenda setting and framing theories, the purpose of this study is to better understand the frequency, variety, and evolution of language in journalistic coverage of …

Gauging The Utility Of A Learning Target Theory Of Action To Address Perceived Obstacles To Teaching And Learning During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Brian J. Pohland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study was guided by the following research questions: What instructional challenges did teachers face related to designing and delivering lessons remotely during COVID-19? How did those challenges impact teacher perceptions of self-efficacy for providing meaningful lessons for their students? What is the utility of a learning target theory of action for addressing teachers instructional practice challenges and perceptions of self-efficacy?

Six participants were selected from a convenience sample and asked to complete a survey with ten open-ended prompts. Their responses were analyzed by individual participant and also across participants through close reading strategies. The analyses revealed six common …

The Reception Of Isaiah's Suffering Servant In Thomas Aquinas' Theology Of The Cross, Daniel Waldow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a quantitative and qualitative analysis of Thomas Aquinas' reception of Isaiah 53 throughout his major works of theology.

A Systems Approach In Clinical, Organizational And Professional Ethics In Healthcare, Dina Siniora

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to apply a systems approach to clinical, organizational, and professional ethics in healthcare. A systems approach can offer a valuable understanding of bioethical issues and should be more extensively utilized to advance the bioethical analysis. This research is proposed to inspire systemic thinking as an approach to tackle the issues in clinical, organizational, and professional ethics, given that healthcare ethics can be considered as a kind of systems thinking because it takes into consideration the connections among several systems and comprehends their consequences on one another. Systems thinking has appeared as a means of hypothesizing and tackling …

The Lived Experience Of Second Victim Crnas, Michael Neft

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A second victim is a health care provider who has been involved in a critical event. A

critical event is a clinical situation in which an unforeseen clinical outcome occurs, or

the clinical deterioration of the patient takes place for many different reasons. The

patient and his/her family are the first victims. The health care provider(s) involved in

the event are second victims. After such an event, the healthcare provider may

experience a constellation of negative emotions, such as guilt, sadness, depression,

somatic symptoms, hypervigilance, and fear. Most second victims require support to

cope with the adverse clinical situation. Second …

The Contribution Of Ethical Governance Of Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning In Healthcare, Tina Nguyen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the Internet Age and technology progressively advancing every year, the usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) along with Machine Learning (ML) algorithms has only increased since its introduction to society. Specifically, in the healthcare field, AI/ML has proven to its end-users how beneficial its assistance has been. However, despite its effectiveness and efficiencies, AI/ML has also been under scrutiny due to its unethical outcomes. As a result of this, two polarizing views are typically debated when discussing AI/ML. One side believes that AI/ML usage should continue regardless of its unsureness, while the other side argues that this technology is too …

Adam Smith And Corporate Communication: Convergence, Embodiment, And Enhancement, Lazarus Langbiir

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

ADAM SMITH AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

Convergence, Embodiment, and Enhancement

By

Lazarus Langbiir

May 2022

Dissertation supervised by Dr. Ronald C. Arnett

The importance of Adam Smith’s thought and legacy for understanding corporate communication today is at the heart of this dissertation. Corporate communication is seen in this study as “one corporate body” interacting with its stakeholders in a complex world by embracing multiplicity or difference and managing communication needs in a manner that is coherent. By examining the thought and legacy of Adam Smith within the field of corporate communication, this dissertation seeks to extend the understanding of corporate …

Knowledge, Attitudes, And Beliefs Of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention In Young Georgian Adults, Kimberley Crawford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for 46% of all mortality in the country of Georgia (former Soviet Union). Young adults in that country have not been studied regarding CVD and a need exists to understand lifestyle modifications to promote cardiovascular health.

Design: An interpretive description qualitative design was used to explore Georgian young adults’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of CVD preventative practices and life experiences.

Methods: A convenience sample of 19 ethnic Georgian participants (18 to 40 years old) who were fluent in either English, Georgian, or Russian from a local private university was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted …

Isocrates's Place In Postmodern Advertising, Christopher Barkley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study in communication and rhetoric seeks to ascertain constructive applications for distinct advertising practices by examining Isocrates’s work and place in postmodern advertising. The focus uses 5 principles known to Isocrates which are: 1) commonwealths of households, 2) integration of reputation, elegance, substance and style, 3) education and public discourse, 4) phronesis and praxis, and 5) truth and verisimilitude. These 5 principles can form a constructive and practical advertising approach. This study is important. It examines Isocrates through the lens of advertising and extends the research done about him by leading Isocrates scholars who have looked primarily at his …

Cultural Trauma Fiction: Political Violence, Rampage Violence, And Structural Violence In Contemporary American Literature, Courtney Mullis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation identifies and proposes a new subgenre of American literature, Cultural Trauma Fiction, that has arisen since the late 20^th century in response to numerous large-scale traumatic events and their representation in the media. Cultural trauma occurs when a shocking, shared event fractures collective identity and initiates a discursive process to understand what took place, why it happened, and how the affected culture can heal. Cultural traumas differ from individual trauma because cultural traumas affect a culture, rather than an individual, and because they are mediated; many members of the culture experience the trauma of these events secondhand …

A Microfluidic Assay For Single Cell Bacterial Adhesion Studies Under Shear Stress, Amanda Trusiak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study of bacterial adhesion to host cells is important in understanding bacterial pathogenesis and developing new therapeutic approaches. Here, we studied bacterial adhesion under shear stress using a novel microfluidic method. Specifically, the adhesion of a uropathogenic E. coli strain (FimHOn, ATCC 700928/CFT073) to mannose-modified substrates was studied under flow conditions. The FimHOn E. coli strain expresses FimH which is a mannose-specific adhesin found on the fimbriae that binds to glycoproteins on the epithelium. We developed a microfluidic method that mimics bacterial adhesion to urothelial cells. First, the microfluidic channels were modified by sequentially adsorbing BSA-mannose and BSA onto …

Richard Sennett Calling In Communication Ethics, Lin Gu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project focuses on an interplay between Richard Sennett’s scholarship and the literature of communication ethics. Content from communication ethics provides a better understanding on how Sennett contributes to urban communication in this historical moment, and answers how we can make communication possible in the era of difference.

Sennett’s scholarly concerns starts with a phenomenon that he termed as the fall of public man, which is people’s self-withdrawal from the public domain. Sennett initially credited this to a mismatched “I” and “me” and believes reconciling them would solve the problem. Later, Sennett realizes the self-withdrawal from the public domain has …

Narrative Authority: A Narrative-Based Multicultural Ethics To Overcome Western Biases In The Current Models Of Care, Fahmida Hossain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Technological advances and globalization are transforming healthcare dramatically. But unfortunately, current medical practices remain blind to their multicultural patients’ varied worldviews and norms, especially in the West. As a result, patients often find themselves isolated, anxious, and resentful.

All the humanistic models in the current literature view the individual as a unique and autonomous being and, in turn, provide practices to access and recognize the patient’s personhood. These models—Narrative Medicine, Narrative Ethics, and Ethics of Care—attempt to catch sight of the individual, the person’s situation, and some semblance of the person’s story before diagnosing or offering prescriptions. However, all these …

Rooted In The Earth: An Igbo Sacramental Nature Of The Universe, A Model For Igbo Christian Ecological Ethics, Kenneth Oguzie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The contemporary Igbo society faces a lot of challenges. These include political, religious, and moral crises. These crises affect the environment in many ways. They threaten the peace and harmony of the Igbo society. As a result, it touches on faith. The Igbo society holds a holistic view of life. Whatever affects one aspect of life affects the other areas. Ecologically, various factors are responsible for the crises. These include changes in lifestyle from the traditional way of living to modern style of life with its penchant on consumerism. Also, colonialism and its lingering residues, civil unrests, politics, population growth, …

A Critical Study Of Unaccompanied Homeless Youth In A Local Housing Program, Michael J. Warren

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Housing programs available to youth experiencing homelessness offer varying types of supports and initiatives. However, few programs are created by and with the perspectives of these youth. This qualitative study examines the experiences of unaccompanied homeless youth (UHY) while living in a housing program, identifies specific needs of UHY, and aims to learn of the political role the community and educational institutions play in empowering youth experiencing homelessness.

Implications highlight how critical pedagogy can be used by educational leaders to empower student voice and aims to shift student learning from a “banking” model to democratic participation. This research will advance …

A Life Lived With Schizophrenia: When Mother’S Love Is Kept In The Dark Exploring Maternal Communication And Attachment Organization In Families With Schizophrenia, Myrsini Stefanidou Marini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, research into the transgenerational transmission of attachment styles has shown that a mother’sattachment style often predicts the attachment style of her infant. Fearsome parental behavior has been found to predict disorganized attachment in infants, which is further associated with a range of mental health disturbances in adolescence. Furthermore, regular patterns of disturbed communication between mother and child have also been found to lead to ‘schizophrenic’ thinking and behavior in the child’s life. While acknowledging that genetic and other biological factors contribute to the emergence of schizophrenia, this study focused on disorganized attachment and disturbed communication between mother …

Teaching During Covid-19: The Lived Experiences Of Title I Educators Transitioning From Face-To-Face Instruction To Remote Instruction, Nicole Boykins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate how school closures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic impacted school educators who teach in Title I schools serving minority students located in a southern region of the United States. Due to the swift nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and the massive impact on many communities’ health and well-being, government officials moved quickly to close schools. Teachers, much like everyone else, had little voice in the launch of remote learning, expectations of remote teaching, or how to best support students and families during a global pandemic. Educators had to rely on their skills …

An Application Of Differential Mathematical Modeling Techniques To Study The Ongoing Rabies Epizootic In China, Christopher Turner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rabies remains a global public health issue with a wide variety of neurological symptoms such as confusion, slight paralysis, hypersalivation, and hydrophobia. Rabies is usually fatal once symptoms appear. Many species are reservoirs for rabies, such as foxes, racoons, and wild dogs, which in turn can transmit the disease to humans, leading to complex transmission chains. There is a long latent period of rabies, between 1 to 3 months after infection, which further complicates control efforts. Mathematical modeling is a valuable tool in the study of infectious disease outbreaks and there have been many models applied to rabies outbreaks. However, …

Ashley: A Chamber Opera In Four Scenes., Rron Karahoda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an intimate chamber opera which explores an original story of a young woman finding her place in the world at the same time she is dealing with unresolved feelings of regret, jealousy, and confusion over her sister’s death. This journey is complicated by people on all sides seeking to benefit by exploiting her and her sister’s legacy. As these two threads collide, the opera reveals itself to be about introducing and synthesizing dualities (in the dialectical sense of thesis→antithesis→synthesis), both musically and dramatically. Octatonic and whole tone pitch sets learn to intermingle, as do whole families of …

Machine Learning Approaches For Early Prediction Of Hypertension., Heba Elsayed Mohamed Kandil

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hypertension afflicts one in every three adults and is a leading cause of mortality in 516, 955 patients in USA. The chronic elevation of cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) changes the cerebrovasculature of the brain and disrupts its vasoregulation mechanisms. Reported correlations between changes in smaller cerebrovascular vessels and hypertension may be used to diagnose hypertension in its early stages, 10-15 years before the appearance of symptoms such as cognitive impairment and memory loss. Specifically, recent studies hypothesized that changes in the cerebrovasculature and CPP precede the systemic elevation of blood pressure. Currently, sphygmomanometers are used to measure repeated brachial artery …

Statistical Methods For Assessing Drug Interactions And Identifying Effect Modifiers Using Observational Data., Qian Xu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three projects related to causal inference based on observational data. In the first project, we propose a double robust to identify the effect modifiers and estimate optimal treatment. Observational studies differ from experimental studies in that assignment of subjects to treatments is not randomized but rather occurs due to natural mechanisms, which are usually hidden from the researchers. Many statistical methods to identify the treatment effect and select the optimal personalized treatment for experimental studies may not be suitable for observational studies any more. In this project, we propose a exible outcome model to select the …

Internalized Racism Mediating The Effects Of Ethnic-Racial Socialization On Self-Esteem And Psychological Distress Among Asians And Asian Americans In The United States., Tianhong "Jojo" Yao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research has indicated ethnic-racial socialization can influence one’s ethnic identity development including ethnic identity and internalized racism. However, there is limited empirical research directly examining the relation among ethnic-racial socialization, internalized racism, and psychological outcomes including self-esteem and psychological distress among Asian populations in the U.S. The current research explored the influences of the three dimensions of ethnic-racial socialization (cultural socialization-pluralism, promotion of mistrust, and preparation for bias) on two outcomes (i.e., self-esteem and psychological distress) through internalized racism as a mediator in a sample of 245 participants identified as Asian and Asian American adults currently residing in the U.S. …

Hybrid Machine And Deep Learning-Based Cyberattack Detection And Classification In Smart Grid Networks, Adedayo Aribisala

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Power grids have rapidly evolved into Smart grids and are heavily dependent on Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems for monitoring and control. However, this evolution increases the susceptibility of the remote (VMs, VPNs) and physical interfaces (sensors, PMUs LAN, WAN, sub-stations power lines, and smart meters) to sophisticated cyberattacks. The continuous supply of power is critical to power generation plants, power grids, industrial grids, and nuclear grids; the halt to global power could have a devastating effect on the economy's critical infrastructures and human life.

Machine Learning and Deep Learning-based cyberattack detection modeling have yielded promising results when …

The Mystagogical Catechesis Of Narsai Of Nisibis: Mēmrē 39 And 38 In Their Syriac Context, Jordan Ryan Turney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a study of Narsai of Nisibis’s mēmrē on the sacraments of the baptismal liturgy that situates these mēmrē in their Syriac theological context and presents them as an important witness to Late Antique Christian mystagogy. Narsai is a significant figure in the Syriac Christian tradition, yet he has received comparatively little scholarly attention, especially in the West. However, an increase in editions and studies of Narsai’s work over the last century has led to a further awareness of his influence on Syriac Christianity. Several scholars have pointed out that these mēmrē bear a resemblance to other Late …

The Correlations Of Financial Exploitation On Senior Adults Over 65, Carmen Price

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the increase in people over the age of 65, the need for education about elder abuse and intervention in confirmed cases has become a priority for service providers, including social workers. The purpose of this study is to bring awareness to the different circumstances attributing to a senior adult over the age of 65 becoming a victim of elder abuse or financial exploitation. This exploratory descriptive study gathered data from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Open Data Portal and the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau. Various analyses were conducted to determine what may cause someone to be …