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Determinants Of Reproductive Freedom Among Israeli Women Ages 18-50: A Mixed Methods Study, Abby Kra-Friedman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Reproductive freedom is a social determinant of health (SDOH) that reduces health disparities and increases health equity. Through the National Health Insurance Plan, Israeli women can access a range of contraceptive methods. Scant data on Israeli women limits development of policies and interventions to meet international benchmarks for reproductive freedom. The purpose of this dissertation study is to synthesize current international multidisciplinary literature using the capability approach for reproductive freedom, explore determinants of reproductive freedom among Israeli women ages 18-50 using Nussbaum's capability approach, and make recommendations for nursing research, practice, and theory.

Methodology: Using Whittemore and …

Synthesis And Physicochemical Characterization Of Noncentrosymmetric Quaternary Sulfides With Potential Nonlinear Optical Applications, Andrew J. Craig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this work, several new quaternary sulfides were synthesized and investigated for their potential applications in optics. Chapter 1 provides an overview of nonlinear optical (NLO) materials in general, including their applications, ideal characteristics, current deficiencies, and strategies for the discovery of new candidate NLO materials, particularly those for use in the infrared (IR). Two families of compounds are investigated in this work, including Ln₃LiTS₇ (3-1-1-7) compounds and I₄-II-IV₂-VI₇ (4-1-2-7) diamond-like semiconductors (DLSs). All products were synthesized via traditional high-temperature, solid-state synthesis and their structures were solved and refined through single crystal …

The Purple Heart And Suicidal Behaviors In Post-9/11 U.S. Army Combat Veterans With A Traumatic Brain Injury: A Mixed Methods Study, Jayna Moceri-Brooks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Military suicide rates remain high, despite years of targeted efforts to prevent suicide. Specifically, Army Combat Veterans who sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) while deployed in support of the Global War on Terrorism are at the highest risk for suicide. This dissertation highlights possible causes for suicidal behaviors within this unique group and provides specific military suicide prevention recommendations. The dissertation is organized into three publishable manuscripts: The first manuscript (Chapter 1) is a mixed-methods dissertation research proposal written according to the National Institute of Health proposal guidelines. The second manuscript (Chapter 2) is an integrative review of the …

Investigating Host Defenses Of North American Salamanders Against The Recently Emerged Chytrid Pathogen, Batrachochytrium Salamandrivorans, Kenzie Pereira

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A recently emerged chytrid fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) threatens salamander biodiversity. Bsal susceptibility varies between and within salamander species, but little is known about the mechanisms underlying these differences. Susceptibility is likely influenced by numerous interacting factors, but my dissertation studied the role of host immune responses.

My first aim investigated between species differences by studying the bioactive properties of salamander skin peptides against Bsal and the related pathogen, B. dendrobatidis (Bd). Skin peptides were collected from five salamander species, used for in vitro assays, and analyzed by RP-HPLC. While skin peptides from one …

Is Trauma Informed Care Practiced In Public Std Clinics In New York State, Antonia Brewer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are increasing in the United States and often result in long-term adverse health outcomes. New York State (NYS) local health departments (LHDs) provide public STD clinics for high risk populations also found to have high rates of violence. This study examined if/how trauma informed care (TIC) is implemented in these settings. The study sample were LHD STD Program Directors in NYS.

Method: A convergent parallel mixed methods study design was used which included an online survey and follow up interviews. Survey data were analyzed using univariate statistics and conventional content analysis was used to analyze …

Neural Stem Cells: Age-Dependent Outcomes During Viral Infections In The Central Nervous System, Manisha N. Chandwani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Viral infections in the central nervous system (CNS) are associated with neurodevelopmental and neurobehavioral deficits. The outcomes of viral infections can be driven by damage and death of neurons. Neural stem cells (NSCs) play key roles in neurodevelopment, repair, and physiological brain function. During a viral infection, NSC activity can disturbed by direct infection of NSCs by the virus or by anti-viral immune response. Here, we aimed to assess whether the anti-viral immune response can impact NSC activity during an immunocompetent response in the adult brain. We utilized a transgenic mouse model of Measles virus infection where only the CNS …

Weathering The Storm: Navigating Urban Ecologies Of Communication In Times Of Crisis, Austin Hestdalen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project explores cities as urban ecologies of communication in which crises emerge and are given significance within the dialogic relations cultivated among public actors attempting to make a living, together, within the shared historical-cultural contexts of everyday life. To describe cities as urban ecologies of communication is to describe them in terms of urban communication and its interdisciplinary foundations in the study of rhetoric, philosophy, planning, policy, architecture, sociology, geography, and media. The first chapter introduces the challenges of urban risk and crisis management within the complex ecologies of communication constituted by cities and reviews how ‘risk’ and ‘crisis’ …

Respecting The Ethical Tension Between Surveillance And Privacy In Promoting Public Health And Disease Management, Kamal Althobaiti

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The recognition of the need to undertake surveillance and to protect privacy is well established. However, the continually changing circumstances and fast-paced development of healthcare today requires a continuing need to respect this ethical tension between surveillance and privacy. Hence, this dissertation is to respect the ethical tension between surveillance and privacy in promoting public health and disease management. This dissertation investigates the ethics of conducting public health surveillance, including the challenges associated with obtaining consent and protecting data from unauthorized access. The dissertation will focus on the ethical consequences of big data, including issues associated with obtaining informed consent, …

Without Permanence: Mapping Multi-Genre, Cross-Disciplinary Frameworks For Trans* Studies, Jesse Jack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project takes a cross-disciplinary and multi-genre approach to Transgender (Trans*) Studies to proliferate diverse and ambiguously-gendered representations of trans* experiences across time. It identifies the emergence of rhetorical intertextuality in recent trans* literatures as a discursive response to the biopolitical regulation and erasure of ambiguously-gendered, trans* experiences. It identifies the intersecting influences of twentieth- and twenty-first-century medical paradigms, surveillance apparatuses, popular trans* autobiographies, and archives in representing and exceptionalizing certain trans* experiences over others. In contrast, this project engages in a close reading of Pajtim Statovci’s Crossing (2016) and Andrea Lawlor’s Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl …

Ethical Oversight Of Roles & Relationships In Treatment & Research In Advanced Disease States, Alexa Vercelli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is often ethical analysis focusing solely on the care of the patient by the physician or on the protection of the research participant by the clinical investigator, but those two are often overlapping. By paralleling the analysis of treatment and research, it emphasizes the specific ethical approaches necessary for individuals facing advanced diseases states in the separate roles of being a patient or participant. It also gives guidance to the complexity of the ethics surrounding medical professionals who float between the roles of treating physicians and clinical investigators. As individuals with advanced disease states are considered a vulnerable population …

Quality By Design Based Optimization Of Anti-Inflammatory Nanoemulgels For Local Treatment Of Burn Wounds, Leah Dickey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Burns are some of the most traumatizing and damaging skin injuries, with the potential of causing extensive internal damage that increases the risk of chronic wound development. Oral and topical analgesics in combination with antibiotics can provide temporary relief and improve wound healing progress for both mild and severe burns. However, recurrent systemic exposure to pain relievers and antibiotics has been associated with adverse side effects including nausea, drowsiness, abdominal pain, etc., and increased risk of new infections or even ulcers. Local and targeted drug delivery systems, such as nanomedicine, have gained attention as potentially more effective alternatives to improve …

Identification And Characterization Of Genetic Elements That Regulate A C-Di-Gmp Mediated Multicellular Trait In Pseudomonas Fluorescens, Collin Kessler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Microbial communities contain densely packed cells where competition for space and resources are fierce. These communities are generally referred to as biofilms and provide advantages to individual cells against immunological and antimicrobial intervention, dehydration, and predation. High intracellular pools of cyclic diguanylate monophosphate (c-di-GMP) cause cells to aggregate during biofilm formation through the production of diverse extracellular polymers. Genes that encode c-di-GMP catalytic enzymes are commonly mutated during chronic infections where opportunists display enhanced resistance to phagocytosis and antibiotics. Our lab uses an emergent multicellular trait in the model organism Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf0-1 to study the emergence of c-di-GMP mutations …

The Effects Of Digital Game-Based Instruction On Knowledge Acquisition And Retention Of Genetics Content, Brinley Kantorski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Digital educational games have been a part of the educational landscape since the early 1970s. Since then, there has been a proliferation in the quantity, format, type, and quality of digital educational games available to classroom teachers. Despite this, the body of literature surrounding the effectiveness of these digital educational games remains highly fragmented and lacks unifying themes. While some literature exists to support the use of digital educational games in immediate knowledge acquisition, little research has been done on how digital educational games impact the retention of knowledge in the long term. As such, this study examines how the …

'Bleeding-In-The-World': A Qualitative Study Of Self-Cutting And Blood, Sadie Mohler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an existential, phenomenological study of the role and meaning of blood in self-cutting. Using in-depth, open-ended interviews with participants who self-cut, the author gathered data on the multisensorial experience of blood and bleeding in self-cutting. Data analysis was organized around the lifeworld existentials of corporeality, temporality, spatiality, communication, and relationality. The impact of blood and bleeding across each lifeworld dimension emphasized highly relevant, and previously unstudied, aspects of the lived experience of self-cutting. The six themes identified and explored are (a) blood as an animate abject; (b) bleeding and control; (c) bleeding is a process and the …

Social Entrepreneurial Skills And Practices Of Occupational Therapists Engaging In Emerging Community Practice Roles: A Working Theory Of Practice Improvement, Retta M. Martin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore the relationship between emerging practice in occupational therapy and social entrepreneurship by examining the behaviors and skills used by occupational therapists who are engaged in emerging practice. Five occupational therapists who engage in emerging practice were recruited to participate. The occupational therapists completed two surveys related to behaviors and competencies of social entrepreneurs. The participants also completed a semi-structured interview regarding behaviors, competencies and the occupational perspective of their practice.

Quantitative data was analyzed through descriptive statistics. The quantitative data determined a relationship between the skills used by social entrepreneurs as …

Experience Is The Best Teacher: Exploring Clinical Supervisors’ Experiences Who Receive Exclusively Administrative Supervision From Non-Licensed/Non-Clinically Trained Superiors, Monica Pattillo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goals of clinical supervision are to ensure that the supervisee is using skills appropriately and properly handling a client caseload, all while being mentored by an experienced professional, known as a clinical supervisor. However, little is known about the support clinical supervisors receive in their roles. If the support is inadequate, there is a potential to impact the welfare of the clients. Additionally, there are very few researchers that have looked at clinical supervisors’ experiences when receiving their own supervision. In order to add to the body of literature on clinical supervision, this study explored clinical supervisors’ experiences when …

Promoting Trauma-Informed Competencies In Public School Teachers And Staff, Stephanie Stern

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Childhood trauma is prevalent among today’s students. When educators implement trauma-informed practices in schools, student behaviors and learning typically improve. It is thus important that educators are trained in and have positive attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs toward trauma-informed care. However, high proportions of educators report that they do not receive trauma-informed training, and research regarding the effectiveness of professional development in trauma-informed care is limited. The present study examined whether educators’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding trauma-informed care differed by grade level of students worked with and previous professional development experiences in trauma-informed care, as well as tested the effectiveness …

Rendering Documentary Portraiture: An Interrogation Of Archival Discourse Through A Critical Exploration Of Nineteenth Century Stage Actress Charlotte Cushman’S Material Memory, Skyler Sunday

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Visual depictions of nineteenth century stage actress Charlotte Cushman, such as photographs, engravings, and painted portraits assist researchers in re-envisioning her both as an actress and as a person, but what do her remaining archival possessions further reveal to researchers about her memory? How do different objects operate as portraits that allow the researcher to tap into and remember specific moments and memory? How does the effort to preserve memory take different forms? This project argues that, when viewing the archive through its stored objects, our collective notion of portraiture can be expanded and used to interrogate existing methods of …

“I Hear You”: Exploring The Lived Experience Of Counselors’ Empathic Response To Clients When Conducting Telephonic Counseling During Covid-19, Michael Sickels

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dissertation supervised by Dr. Debra Hyatt-Burkhart

This study sought to unearth the lived experience of counselors empathically responding to clients via telephonic counseling during COVID-19. The term empathic response refers to as attending to the emotional and mental state of another person in a way that is attuned with the feelings and meanings of the individual’s experience. There are few studies that have assessed the merits of telephonic counseling, and even fewer that have examined counselors’ empathic response to clients through this medium.

To uncover the lived experience of the target population, the participants of the study were purposefully selected …

Inner Song Phenomenological Description Of A Musical Object Of Phantasy, Ellen Moysan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is the phenomenological description of a musical object of phantasy I call “inner song,” i.e., the music that the musician “sings in his or her head” while practicing his or her instrument. It describes the specific inner song of a single musician playing a melodic instrument, and rehearsing in a solipsistic situation. The description is based on three resources: my personal experience as a cellist; the third person experiences of other musicians I have interviewed on that topic since 2010; and the Husserlian corpus. Each chapter starts with excerpts of interviews focusing on specific aspects the inner song. …

Assessing The Risk Of Land Subsidence In The Lower Limpopo River Basin, Mozambique With Remote Sensing, Gabriella Zuccolotto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Land subsidence is a threat to coastal cities around the world. In the lower Limpopo River Basin, the presence of compaction-prone alluvial sediments, groundwater use, and reports of saltwater intrusion suggest that subsidence could be occurring. Using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) from Sentinel-1, combined with in-situ sea level and river height measurements, this study aims to determine if land subsidence could contribute to increased saltwater intrusion. InSAR results indicate that subsidence in the lower Limpopo River valley has occurred at an average rate of -2.98 cm/yr based on data from the dry seasons (May to October) of 2017-2021. River …

Social Justice Informed School Counseling: A Conceptual Model For Promoting Academic Achievement And Equity Among Dual-Enrolled African American Students, Sylvester Hanner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To promote college enrollment, high schools may offer students the opportunity to participate in dual enrollment programs. Students who gain college credit while earning a high school diploma may be more likely to graduate college on time and at a lower cost (College Board, 2017). Despite the benefits of dual enrollment, African American students lack equitable access to dual enrollment programs. Additionally, when they are afforded access to participate in dual enrollment courses, they have a lower academic success rate when compared to White students (CCRC Fink, 2017).

This study provides insight into concepts related to African American students’ opinions, …

Labeling Melanoma Cells With Black Microspheres For Improved Sensitivity In Detection Via Photoacoustic Flow Cytometry, Tori Kocsis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Melanoma is an aggressive form of skin cancer known for developing into metastatic disease. Current clinical diagnostics, including medical imaging and tissue biopsy, provide a poor prognosis since the cancer is in the late stages of disease progression. In recent years, photoacoustic flow cytometry has allowed for the detection of circulating melanoma cells within patient blood samples in vitro. Although this method exploits the naturally-produced melanin within the cells, it has only successfully detected highly-pigmented melanoma cell lines. Since various forms of melanoma exist, each with varying melanin concentrations, this research aims to provide a novel method for detecting lightly-pigmented …

Media Portrayal Of Private Prisons And Inmates., Ladye Anna L. Adams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Private prisons have existed in the United States since 1986, but research about prison privatization has been limited. To date, there have been two published studies examining how mainstream media sources frame prison privatization to their audiences. This thesis attempts to address this gap in the literature. Using content analysis, I evaluate how mainstream media frames prison privatization and inmates housed in private prisons. The analysis is conducted in two parts. The first tests if private prison reduction or expansion is the focus of the news story if framed using economic benefits, ethical concerns, or prisoner violence. The second tests …

An Analysis Of Public Comments On The Implementation Of The Ngss In Kentucky., Matthew David Trzaskus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Feedback has been a highly effective means to enact change. In the classroom teachers provide feedback to students concerning their performance, how they compare to the learning goal, and what students need to achieve those goals. For teachers, they utilize feedback from students to examine content focus and instructional practice in order to reflect and make positive changes. In this study, feedback is once again provided in order to enact change. Kentucky stakeholders, mainly teachers, in science education offered feedback about the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). In their feedback they highlighted the challenges that occurred after …

The Ties That Bind: Creole Networks And Reform In New Granada During The Age Of Revolution, 1780-1811, Philip John Baltuskonis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Spanish Americans were immersed in a practical Enlightenment that aimed to improve society during the Age of Revolution (1780-1850). In the city of Santafé de Bogotá, elites comprised of Spaniards and creoles (Spaniards born in the Americas) joined in scientific expeditions, higher education, creating newspapers, and proposing economic and educational reforms that all promised to bring prosperity to the Viceroyalty of New Granada (present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama). Rather than a source of major confrontation, elites’ activities aligned with the Spanish Crown’s interest in turning its American kingdoms into centers of wealth. …

Seeing Queer Joy In Mississippi: Pride Parades In Tupelo, Starkville, And Oxford, Ellie Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In May of 2016, Oxford, Mississippi, held its first LGBTQ+ Pride parade in recent memory. That first Oxford Pride was part of a wave of LGBTQ+ celebrations that began in the state in 2015 and 2016 and continue to the present day. Though the pandemic forced many to cancel or go online, communities across Mississippi have continued to organize Pride parades and other celebrations of LGBTQ+ identities since 2015, a marked contrast from earlier periods. In a state often depicted as actively hostile to queer people, these Pride events make queer southern communities visible in new ways, while also revealing …

Mississippi Modernism: The River Valley And Race In American Culture, 1892-1945, William C. Palmer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mississippi Modernism looks to the Mississippi River Valley of the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first few decades of the twentieth century to analyze the ways individuals expressed and determined their experience in the changing world. By engaging with theories of modernity from Marshall Berman and the Black modernism of Houston A. Baker, Jr. this work proposes the Mississippi watershed as a region where individuals indulge in the processes of modernism remaking the environments, both urban and rural, surrounding them. By thinking about the “dry” and “wet” valleys envisioned by European settlers as Christopher Morris terms it, …

Teaching In A Remediation Nation: Exploring Journalism And Mass Communication Faculty Perceptions Of Their Professional Practice, Andrew Mark Abernathy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research shows many new college students may be remedial in English language arts or mathematics (Jaggers & Bickerstaff, 2018). For faculty in journalism and mass communication (JMC) fields, teaching struggling student writers can be especially challenging as these students may not have the fundamental knowledge to build applied writing skills upon. Thus, this lack of readiness for collegiate writing poses challenges to not only these students’ academic success, but also their transition into media professions. Embedded remediation—an alternative to traditional, prerequisite remediation—is one strategy that JMC faculty can use to support struggling student writers. This dissertation explores how JMC faculty …

Examining Overrepresentation In Special Education Amongst African Americans Diagnosed With Emotional Disturbance In The State Of Pennsylvania, Krisa Franzetta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the disproportionality in special education, regarding African American students being overrepresented, specifically under the disability category of Emotional Disturbance (ED) within the state of Pennsylvania. Demographic information was collected with the use of secondary data provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, using 648 educational programs across 29 intermediate units. Data were analyzed with statistical representation of percentages as related to risk composition and the E-Formula. The results yielded an average risk of African American students being two times more likely to be diagnosed with ED than their White peers. Additional results from the calculation of the …