Digital Commons Network^™

Repetitively Counting Sheep: Sleep As A Moderator Of Executive Function Performance On Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms, Brittany S. Sapp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a leading cause of disability worldwide, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is associated with considerable costs on individual and economic levels. According to a U.S. national comorbidity survey, approximately 28% of individuals experience obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms in their lifetime. As with most psychiatric disorders, sleep disturbances are highly prevalent in individuals with OCD and have been linked to greater severity of OC symptoms and poorer treatment response. Similarly, deficient executive functioning (EF) has been demonstrated in OCD, with research evidencing a connection between EF impairment and OCD course, symptom severity, and treatment response. Sleep difficulties are also implicated in impaired EF, …

Safety And Security On Campus: Student Perceptions And Influence On Enrollment, Kaitlyn Puckett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research examining college choice has traditionally focused on factors relating to demographics of the student and the college/university. Less attention has been directed towards how safety and security of the campus and the surrounding community play a role in college choice. In addition, some studies have examined students’ fear of crime, perception of safety and security, and perception of public safety; however, there is still much to be learned. The current study sought to further the research by (1) assessing how campus safety and security impacts enrollment decisions, (2) assessing how students perceive fear of crime and their personal safety, …

Adverse Childhood Experiences And Trauma-Informed Schools: Restorative Practices For Social And Emotional Issues In Education, Heather Easterling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma-Informed Schools: Restorative Practices for Social and Emotional Behavior Issues in Education

by

Heather Easterling

The purpose of this study was to determine whether factors in school climate and culture and the educator's role in evaluating adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), trauma-informed situations, and disruptive classroom behaviors, enable a school to generate interventions needed to help students succeed. This qualitative study evaluated the ACEs and the relationships traumatic incidents had on disruptive classroom behaviors that teachers experienced with students. Although there is emerging research regarding ACEs and trauma-informed schools, there are multiple factors that facilitate the …

Reduced Fuel Emissions Through Connected Vehicles And Truck Platooning, Paul D. Brummitt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication enable the sharing, in real time, of vehicular locations and speeds with other vehicles, traffic signals, and traffic control centers. This shared information can help traffic to better traverse intersections, road segments, and congested neighborhoods, thereby reducing travel times, increasing driver safety, generating data for traffic planning, and reducing vehicular pollution. This study, which focuses on vehicular pollution, used an analysis of data from NREL, BTS, and the EPA to determine that the widespread use of V2V-based truck platooning—the convoying of trucks in close proximity to one another so as to reduce air drag …

The Effectiveness Of A Career And Technical Education Program Of Study On Preparing Students For Their Chosen Career, Rigoberto Vasquez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Attending a 4-year university is not a goal for all high school students. Some students, as early as their first year in high school, have chosen another direction by enrolling in a career and technical education (CTE) program of study (POS). The purpose of the study was to conduct a qualitative case study documenting the outcomes of past graduates of a CTE POS located on a public comprehensive high school campus in California. The participation of former graduates to share their insight and experience from being high school age students to working adults provided the real-life ramifications of the effectiveness …

Findings And Understandings Of 'Home': An Ethnographic Study Of How Homeless People And Displaced Persons Negotiate The Word 'Home'., Abby F Perez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an ethnographic study of various meanings of the word ‘home’ and how the word ‘home’ is used by homeless, evicted, and displaced persons, and by the researcher of the study, to negotiate boundaries and relations of power to achieve goals, both moral and material.Scholarly research on home in urban studies and sociology has produced many definitions and meanings of the word ‘home’ and concepts of home, but often neglects to consider the way the word itself is experienced, personally, by individuals and how to make sense of the way these personal experiences relate to official meanings of …

Divided We Fall: Gender-Based Occupational Segregation In Kentucky’S Executive Branch 2012-2020., Hillary Mcgoodwin Abbott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fifty-eight years have passed since the Title VII of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 was signed into law, yet discrimination in employment still occurs; the Kentucky Executive Branch is no exception. This paper will use Theodore Lowi’s agency typology and EEOC categorical data from the 2012 and 2020 Kentucky Office of Diversity and Employment Training Semi-Annual Report on Female and Minority Employment (SAR) to identify gendered occupational segregation in three distinct Executive Branch agencies, address potential contributing factors and areas of change (Alkadry & Tower, 2006; Lowi, 1985; Newman, 1994; Escriche, 2007). Addressing any underlying discriminatory practices that may …

A Decade Of Car-Cyclist Collisions In Louisville: A Spatio-Temporal Analysis., Elizabeth Ferguson Greenwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis has considered factors of the built environment to discover if cay-cyclist collisions display any patterns that could be used to improve cycling safety. This thesis contains an introduction, a literature review, an overview of the study area and data, a description of the methods, results, and discussion and conclusion section. This thesis is significant because it has been the first study to consider cyclist volume as an explanatory variable of the spatiality of car-cyclist dependence for Louisville, Kentucky. Through descriptive and spatial statistics, trends in car-cyclists were identified. Collisions occur more frequently in the summer, during commute hours, …

Burnout And Shared Trauma Rates Among Hospital Employees Due To Covid-19, Cassie Christian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

COVID-19 has caused job stress and exhaustion across all areas of healthcare, and especially in hospitals as they have tried to cope with wave after wave of case surges. Two years into the pandemic, we have more treatments, and the development of vaccines has changed the risk and infection rates, so hospitals are not as overwhelmed. However, we are still seeing concerning staff shortages in healthcare, and it is being attributed to burnout caused by the effect COVID has had on work environments. This study measured rates of shared trauma, perceived organizational support, and burnout among rural healthcare workers in …

Interrupting Holistic Processing May Improve The Detection Of Deceptive Emotional Facial Expressions, Christopher A. Gunderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although a growing body of evidence suggests that genuine and deceptive facial expressions differ, previous work is mixed as to whether observers can discern between them. One explanation is that cues to deception on the face are subtle and not readily perceived by observers. I argue that the way people process faces may obscure these cues, making them ‘unseen’ by observers. In the current work, I pit two hypotheses against each other to test whether interrupting holistic processing improves or impairs the ability to identify deceptive emotional expressions. Since people process faces holistically, one region of the face may interfere …

Mitigating Weight Stigma In The Medical System: Self-Compassion For Nursing Students, Ellen C. Joseph

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Weight stigma is a form of oppression that has been shown to have a detrimental impact on the well-being of people with higher weight. Healthcare providers are one of the most common sources of weight stigma, and their stigmatizing beliefs have been found to be associated with differential care for patients with “obesity”. The current study aimed to explore the feasibility of the loving-kindness meditation (LKM) as a brief intervention that reduces weight bias in nursing students by increasing self-compassion, positive, other-focused emotions, and cognitive flexibility, in order to improve compassionate care for patients with higher weight. Participants (189 nursing …

Extra-Legal Factors In Juvenile Court Outcomes: What Is The Role Of Youth’S Race/Ethnicity And Family Structure In Disposition Decisions?, Vitoria De Francisco Lopes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to the unique nature of the juvenile justice system, its focus on rehabilitation and the population it serves, juvenile court judges serve as the sole decision maker and are given substantial power of discretion. Prior literature has indicated extra-legal factors to influence court outcomes, and scholars have argued that the use of discretion has led to a significant variability in the way youth are treated by juvenile court officials and may contribute to the issue of minority overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system. Yet, family structure has not been examined in depth, especially as it relates to race/ethnicity. The …

"If Fear Wasn't Enough?!": African American Perceptions Of Policing After Breonna Taylor's Unprovoked Death., Moriah Antoinette Bellamy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates how African Americans perceive the racialization process in the criminal justice system following the death of Breonna Taylor. Focusing primarily on police-community relations in Louisville, KY, I find the Breonna Taylor case amplifies preconceived perceptions of race between civilian and non-civilian groups. To test the hypothesis that racialization in the criminal justice system has caused damaging effects on relations between African Americans and police, two virtual focus groups were designed to discuss participants’ experiences with law enforcement. My findings suggest that the racialization process in the criminal justice system negatively skewed African American civilians’ attitudes towards law …

Drone Location And Scheduling Problems In Humanitarian Logistics., Zabih Ghelichi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as drones, are a promising technology for the last-mile delivery of medical and aid items in humanitarian logistics. In emergency scenarios, like disasters, where transportation networks are destroyed and people are stranded, drones can accelerate the delivery of urgently needed items, e.g., food and water, insulin shots and blood pressure pills, to those trapped in the disaster-affected areas. Drones can also provide logistics services in many non-emergency situations by delivering medical items, e.g., vaccine shots and lab specimens, to remote communities and hard-to-access locations. The contribution of using UAVs goes beyond merely having …

Exploring Service Provider Perspectives On Facilitators And Barriers To Needle Exchange Program Participation By Females Who Inject Drugs., Tammi Alvey Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the opioid epidemic lingers on across the country, many areas have set up harm reduction strategies such as needle exchange programs (NEPs) to combat the long-term consequences of injection drug use (IDU). Males and females face a plethora of health issues associated with injection drug use such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C. While males comprise the largest portion of the injection drug use population, most research is gender neutral, which makes it difficult to discern issues specifically related to females inhibiting our ability to design interventions and procedures targeted to address their needs. Females require varying …

The Impact Of Criminal Justice Involvement: Examining Experiences In A Housing First Program., Amanda N. Denton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Individuals who come into contact with the criminal justice system are more likely to experience housing instability and homelessness, which, in turn, increases the likelihood of subsequent criminal justice involvement. Due to a lack of federal funding, as well as disjointed and inconsistent policies regarding eligibility criteria, people with criminal records are unlikely to receive federal rental assistance. While the exclusion of people with criminal histories is presented as necessary to protect communities and residents from crime, improving access to stable housing may reduce recidivism, incarceration rates, and correctional costs and increase public safety. The present study examined the differences …

Signal Fingerprinting And Machine Learning Framework For Uav Detection And Identification., Olusiji Oloruntobi Medaiyese

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Advancement in technology has led to creative and innovative inventions. One such invention includes unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). UAVs (also known as drones) are now an intrinsic part of our society because their application is becoming ubiquitous in every industry ranging from transportation and logistics to environmental monitoring among others. With the numerous benign applications of UAVs, their emergence has added a new dimension to privacy and security issues. There are little or no strict regulations on the people that can purchase or own a UAV. For this reason, nefarious actors can take advantage of these aircraft to intrude into …

Approaching Trans Debates As Fascistic Sites Of Engagement., Sarah Jump

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For the past decade, trans rights issues have been a legal topic of discussion and are still discussed publicly in 2021. This thesis researched how arguments surrounding anti-trans issues were successful in the United States. The arguments surrounding these issues are important to study to see how they pass within society and if traditional rules of argumentation are changing. This thesis proposes that traditional dialectical argument is no longer occurring and has taken a post-dialectical turn. The purpose of this thesis is to describe the kinds of arguments used in these issues and build the case that they are evidence …

A Gap Analysis Of Reentry Services For Corrections-Involved Populations In Rural East Tennessee, Alyssa P. Gretak Leal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Returning citizens face a host of barriers when attempting to reintegrate into society; thus, services for these concerns are imperative for successful reintegration. Unfortunately, services are often lacking, particularly in rural communities which tend to be overlooked in reentry research. In order to better determine service need for justice-involved populations in rural communities, the current study completed a gap analysis, both inspired and supplemented, by qualitative information collected from mental health providers (MHPs) in a rural Appalachian region of Tennessee. To complete the gap analysis, an estimation of need was collected via local crime statistics. Using this data, a two-sample …

Civil Religion And The Second Amendment, Shivaun Corry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American approach to legal hermeneutics emerged from the covenant theology of the Puritans. American civil religion understands the Constitution to be based in natural laws: a secularized conception of God-given rights. To change the text would collapse the epistemological framework of the nation. When a nation sees its constitution as a sacred text, then the answer to contemporary problems cannot be to change that text; rather, it must be to return to the text with an even more fundamentalist hermeneutic. Both gun rights advocate Charlton Heston, and gun control advocate Barak Obama, argued their cases using a fundamentalist hermeneutic, …

Fizzing Out: A Correlational Study Of Burnout And Worklife Perceptions Among Student Affairs Professionals In The Mid-Atlantic Northeast Region Of The United States, Ashante Connor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine level of burnout and the employee perceptions among student affairs professionals (SAPs) in the Mid-Atlantic Northeast Region of the United States. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS) collectively known as the Maslach Burnout Toolkit was electronically completed by 323 student affairs professionals at institutions located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The research designs utilized demographic and inferential statistics including Pearson Product Moment correlations. The response rate was high enough to make statistically significant associations. The scores obtained from the MBI and AWS subscales …

Teachers' Perspectives Of Restorative Disciplinary Practices, Asma Anwar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this phenomenological qualitative study, the perceptions of middle school teachers regarding the implementation of restorative practices with their students with disabilities were examined. Exclusionary suspensions have been overwhelmingly employed to handle student discipline, and students with disabilities experience these harsh punishments at higher rates than their general education peers. However, an increasing number of school districts have started to utilize alternative therapeutic methods, such as restorative practices, to handle conflict and build relationships. The researcher’s goal was to understand better the lived experiences of teachers when implementing these practices and understand the challenges they faced while building connections with …

The Relationship Between Career And Technical Education Enrollment And College And Career Readiness Outcomes, Daniel Soliz Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

College and career readiness for K-12 students has become a priority of legislatures and educational leaders in the United States. In recent years, Texas public school leaders have emphasized the importance of maximizing the percentage of College, Career and Military Ready (CCMR) graduates. The specific problem studied was that a low percentage of students in Texas, in comparison to the state’s graduation rate, graduate with a CCMR distinction. Career and Technical Education (CTE), a component of K-12 education, can assist school leaders in maximizing college and career readiness for students. However, it was not clear how within schools, CTE enrollment …

So What, Now What? Using Social Media Activism To Inform Power-Conscious Prevention Of Gender-Based Violence, Andrea R. Thyrring

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We will not end gender-based violence by responding to it. Experts and national organizations agree that effective primary prevention programs are essential to stopping harmful behaviors before they start (DeGue et al, 2014; American College Health Association, 2016; American College Health Association, 2018; Townsend, 2017; Schneider & Hirsch, 2018; McMahon et al, 2019), so much so that primary prevention to address gender-based violence on college campuses has been mandated by state and federal policy (SB 19-007, 2019; Institutional Security Policies and Crime Statistics, 2020). In order to be effective, primary prevention programs should be tailored to the community in which …

Evaluating Nuclear Energy As A Component Of U.S. Energy Innovation Systems, Bryce Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nuclear energy is contentious in policy discussions that evaluate its role in the current U.S. clean energy innovation system. OECD nations, on average, have begun to reduce their dependence on nuclear energy. However, the United States has remained invested in its nuclear energy infrastructure and the role that it plays within federal research and development. This thesis examines the Neo-Schumpeterian perspective and the National Innovation System’s approach, the economic history of nuclear energy in the United States, and given insight from these factors, discusses the current role of nuclear energy in the U.S. energy innovation system. The objective is to …

Demystifying School Resource Officers: A Case Study, Alexis Sliva

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, there has been a dramatic spike in student arrests for behaviors that previously fell under the auspices of suspensions, expulsions, or family consultations. Black and Latinx students receive discipline and law enforcement referrals at superfluous levels compared to White peers. Additionally, the disproportionate and aggressive referral of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students for disciplinary action are often for infractions that are considered less severe than the actions of their White counterparts. Punitive discipline advances school-based pathways to the juvenile justice system (SPJJ), formerly known as the school to prison pipeline (STPP). School psychologists are …

Uncovering An Alternative Social Structure To Social Dominance: A Blend Of Ethnography And Community Based Participatory Research, Andrew A. Fox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated social structures that are alternative to the prevailing assumption of Social Dominance Theory (SDT), which is that all human interaction is based on social hierarchies. The implications of social dominance impact health at an institutional, interpersonal, and intrapersonal level. The intersection of these levels of social dominance cause health disparities that perpetuate gaps between populations. This study explored one community organizing group who is challenging social dominance by creating alternative social structures. The methods of this study included Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and Arts Based Research (ABR) as ways to generate middle-range theorizing and attempt to …

The Defeathered Bird: A Case Study Of The Boeing 737 Max Crisis, Ernest Eshun

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On April 10, 2019, a global crisis began outside Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. A Boeing 737 Max 8 airplane owned and operated by Ethiopian Airline crashed in the desert killing all on board. The accident mimicked a six months old Lion Air flight 610 which happened in Indonesia and claimed the lives of all crew and passengers. Together, these accidents claimed the lives of 346 people and have been noted as one of the dark days in modern aviation history. Subsequently, the aviation world grounded all Boeing 737 Max aircrafts amid safety concerns. This brought severe public criticism to Boeing, …

Statutory Immunity For Educators: An Analysis Of Decisions By The Texas Commissioner Of Education And Texas Appellate Courts After House Bill 4, Melissa Ballou Kates

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative legal study explored statutory immunity protection provided to Texas educators under the Texas Education Code §22.0511 and §22.0512. The Texas legislature enacted the statutory immunity provisions as part of House Bill 4 and tort reform in 2003. Researchers have called for more balance when providing immunity protections for educators. The researcher limited the study to Texas Commissioner of Education decisions and Texas appellate court cases. The study utilized a legal framework to determine under what circumstances the rulings of statutory immunity shields educators from liability. The findings in this study provide evidence that Texas educators have more immunity …

Changing Faces, Changing Places: Understanding Immigration, Housing Market And Native Out-Migration In Established And New Destinations In The United States., Anqi Xu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation concerns residential incorporation and the socioeconomic impact of immigrants primarily from Latin America and Asia with their rapid geographical dispersal in the U.S. I adopt econometrics methodologies and GIS techniques to examine how immigration affects housing price changes and white out-mobility in established and new destinations, utilizing datasets from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The first part examines the effects of immigration into the U.S. established and new immigrant destinations on housing prices using county-level data that span 2011 to 2017. Using the global and local Moran’s I statistics, I demonstrate …