Digital Commons Network^™

“We’Re Dealing With An Inhumane Lack Of Resources”: Provider Perspectives On Palliative And End-Of-Life Care For Adults Experiencing Homelessness, M. Pilar Ingle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although palliative and end-of-life (PEOL) care offer many benefits to individuals with life-limiting illness, unhoused individuals face barriers in accessing these forms of care. Despite calls over the last several decades to improve PEOL services for unhoused individuals, this population remains underprioritized in efforts to improve access to healthcare. A richer understanding of these inequities as they relate to the specific social and political contexts within a state, such as Colorado, may offer more direct guidance on opportunities to improve policy and care provision.

The purpose of this study was to explore healthcare and social service provider-identified approaches and challenges …

Sense Of Community And (Third) Place Among Young Adults In Permanent Supportive Housing: A Mixed-Methods Inquiry, Danielle Maude Littman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Unhoused young people have often endured co-occurring experiences of marginalization, including long-term abuse and neglect from systems which have failed to support them. Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) is a formal intervention which seeks to offer stability and support to young people. This three-manuscript dissertation uses community-engaged mixed methods to understand sense of community, sense of place, and third places among young adults in PSH in Grand Junction, Colorado.

The first manuscript used longitudinal mixed methods to understand how PSH residents’ (N = 27) sense of community shifts over 1.5 years of living in PSH. We found that residents’ sense …

A Participatory Drone Mapping And Critical Physical Geography Of Water Security For Irrigation In Northern Ghana, Dinko Hanaan Dinko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dam discourse frequently incorrectly assumes that their emergence unilinearly translates to an expansion of economic opportunities while not considering how dams become sites for the reproduction of inequality and injustice. This dissertation investigates how the politics of irrigation water access are nested in a complex web of physical materialities of the 'natural' environment and power relations, with lived consequences on differentiated social identities in semiarid Ghana. The research draws on transdisciplinary perspectives from political ecology, embodiment, critical physical geography, and mixed methods, including interviews, focus group discussions, surveys, participatory drone mapping, and laboratory analysis of soil biochemical properties. The study …

Guaranteed Income As A Structural Social Work Response To Homelessness In The United States, Katherine Hoops Calhoun

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The number of projects exploring guaranteed income, or unconditional direct cash transfers, in the United States has exploded in recent years (Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, 2022a). Between June 2021 and June 2022, the number of city mayors engaged with the group Mayors for Guaranteed Income grew from 11 to 82 (Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, 2022b) and as of Winter 2023, there were over 90 guaranteed income demonstrations and projects in the United States (Guaranteed Income Community of Practice, 2023). Guaranteed income refers to direct cash transfers, often to targeted populations, that are unconditional, consistent, predictable, and flexible (Castro …

Let It Go: Cognitive Strategy Use Selectively Changes Temporal Context Effects In Risky Monetary Decision-Making, Hayley R. Brooks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Some of the most influential modern theories of risky monetary decision-making assume that choices result from stable, trait-like preferences, invariant to contextual influences such as recent events. Recent research has challenged this assumption, demonstrating that decisions under risk, even when values and their probabilities are explicit and known, are contextually sensitive, affected by recent events on multiple timescales, including immediate (previous monetary outcomes), neighborhood (recently encountered values), and global (cumulative earnings relative to dynamic expectations) events. Such temporal context-dependencies are perplexing, because relying on recent events at any timescale is inconsistent with the assumed goal of risky monetary decision-making: to …

Terrain Cost Learning From Human Preferences For Robot Path Planning Using A Visual User Interface, Kaivalya Velagapudi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Robot navigation in terrains with limited exploration and limited knowledge has been a problem of interest in robotics due to the potential dangers that may arise during traversal. Due to the large number of path permutations within a complex and feature-rich real-world environment, and in the interest of saving time and ensuring safety, the robot should learn the optimal path without repeated exploration of the terrain. This can be accomplished by leveraging the path preferences of a human operator so that, with selective inputs, the agent can effectively learn a terrain-cost mapping in order to determine the optimal route, thereby …

Black Quarterback, White Masks: A Critical Analysis Of The Nfl Anthem Protests, Cody Walizer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The NFL anthem protests were and are an important cultural moment and social movement. The widespread emulation of the protest, and the adoption of the kneel as a symbol of unity, reverence, and silent objection demonstrates the protests’ continued relevance. This dissertation critically analyzes Colin Kaepernick’s protest through the lens of racial rhetorical criticism (Flores, 2016) and Fanonian communication studies (Towns, 2020). Through the case studies of David Brooks, Lee Siegel, and Colin Fleming, and their New York Times opinion pieces on Kaepernick from 2016-17, this study argues that the common discourses surrounding the protest exist within the strategic rhetoric …

Post-Translational Modification Of Proteins Via Ambient Air Pollutants And Endogenous Reactive Species, Rachel Lauren Davey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Proteins can react with reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) to form post-translational modifications (PTMs), which can affect protein structure and function. The formation of 3-nitrotyrosine (NTyr) and dityrosine (DiTyr) upon reaction of proteins with ROS/RNS are two common PTMs studied due to their stability and irreversibility, as well as their ability to enhance the allergenicity of pollen allergens upon formation. Many common techniques used to study the formation of these PTMs can reliably detect the PTMs but can only provide semi-quantitative information due to many assumptions and limitations. In Chapter 2 we present an analysis of …

Identifying The Role Of Phospholipase D1 And Phosphatidic Acid In Exocytosis, Broderick L. Bills

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Exocytosis is an essential process for intercellular communication in eukaryotic cells. This process involves significant changes in membrane curvature, and lipids and curvature-sensing proteins can assist these processes. One protein in particular, phospholipase D1 (PLD1), and its product, the lipid phosphatidic acid (PA), are involved in multiple exocytic processes. However, PLD1 and PA’s role in this process has remained unclear. In this work, PLD1 and the production of PA were visualized during exocytosis, and PA localization to regions of membrane curvature was established. Together, these results support the hypothesis that PLD1 production of PA stabilizes negative curvature during membrane fusion. …

Systemic Risk And Blockchain Technology, Federico Colombo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

After the crisis in 2008, blockchain and systemic risk have seen increasing interest. In this thesis I advocate for more research to be conducted on the two topics jointly after noticing a gap in the literature regarding the effects that using a blockchain based financial system could have on systemic risk. The thesis is an attempt to set the stage for future research, by describing the major sources of systemic risk, the most important characteristics of blockchain, and finally suggesting some topics for future research on systemic risk and blockchain in areas where blockchain could have the biggest impact.

Universal Basic Income (Ubi): A Cure-All Or Band-Aid?, Madison Beckner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the triple crisis of capitalism looming and, in the U.S., a poorly performing welfare state, Universal Basic Income (UBI) has returned to popular attention. To assess whether this is warranted and, more importantly, to provide answer on the extent to which a UBI can or should be considered a cure-all, this work, first, examines the historical development of UBI proposals including those stemming from European Social Democrats and Libertarians. Next, pilot programs at the local, state, and national level are critically examined for their methodologies and empirical results. Turning, then, to theory on de-commodification, unpaid labor, and the equality-jobs …

Islamic Studies Teachers' Perspectives Of Applying Technology In Saudi Arabia Elementary Schools, Amal Abdulmohsen Alsaif

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, the use of technology in education has been on the rise around the world, and Saudi Arabia is no exception. The integration of technology in Saudi education has the potential to enhance the quality of education, increase access to education, and provide students with the skills they need to succeed in a rapidly changing world. It also has the potential to facilitate collaboration between students and teachers, both within and outside the classroom, and to promote lifelong learning.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate Islamic Studies teachers' perceptions of using technology in their classrooms …

Ethics In Kakadu (1988): Finding Djilile’S “True Tracks”, Natasia T. Boyko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tasmanian-born Peter Sculthorpe (1929 – 2014) was one of Australia’s most iconic modernist classical composers of the twentieth century. Kakadu (1988) seems to have sparked the most controversy of Sculthorpe’s works and has become one of his most well-known pieces. In the program notes provided in the score’s foreword, Sculthorpe asserts that “the melodic material in Kakadu, as in much of my recent music, was suggested by the contours and rhythms of Aboriginal chant.” Sculthorpe attributed this melodic material to the Arnem Land chant, Djilile. Consequently, Sculthorpe has been criticized for extracting Djilile from its authentic context as …

Reviving Heritage In A Historic Gem City: Examining The Management Of History At The Colonial Quarter In St. Augustine, Florida, Madeline Bonner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Colonial Quarter is a living history venue of Spanish and British colonial heritage in St. Augustine, Florida. Since 1966, the site has housed interpretive structures and programming related to St. Augustine’s colonial history. Over time, management of the site has fallen under the purview of the state of Florida, the city of St. Augustine, and the University of Florida Historic St. Augustine (UFHSA) Direct Support Organization, which functions as a managing agency for the state. In 2013, the UFHSA Board entered into a public-private partnership with the Colonial Quarter, LLC. This marks the first instance of private sector involvement …

Water Literacy In Drought-Prone Regions: Case Studies From Aurora, Colorado, Usa And Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, Meghan Mccarroll

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Water managers around the world must reevaluate their approach to water security as challenges continue to grow. Supply-focused paradigms that aimed to capture, control, and commodify water resources are increasingly unreliable and often depend on environmentally and socially damaging practices. Of particular concern are regions experiencing climate shocks and aridification from rising global temperatures. In order to stretch limited water resources using equitable water policies, conservation programs, and alternative water sourcing, water managers must invest in a water literate citizenry. Water literacy is the culmination of water-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. The benefits of a water literate citizenry abound, including …

3 Essays On Protests, Repression, And Signaling, Dogus Aktan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on conceptual development across multiple questions of political contention, with a focus on informational processes. In the first paper, I examine the interaction of informational and disruptive effects of protests with a formal model. The model shows that repression can have a screening purpose. Governments use coercion to set the terms of contention so that they only have to accommodate sufficiently aggrieved and salient groups, while filtering out the rest. The model also demonstrates that decreased cost of mobilization makes repression indirectly cheaper for governments, leading to more repression. In the second paper, I examine why governments …

Defining Business As Usual In Preschool Interventions For Challenging Behavior, Eleanor Bold

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Challenging behavior (CB) is a major barrier to service delivery in preschool classrooms. Persistent CB has been found to significantly impact children’s academic and social success long-term, especially amongst children from historically minoritized populations and those with disabilities. Numerous evidence-based intervention strategies exist to prevent and reduce CB, yet preschool teachers continue to voice a desire to increase their capacity to do so in the classroom due to high rates of CB continuing to be observed. This dissertation seeks to address this research to practice gap by ascertaining the current baseline intervention practices utilized to manage CB in preschool classrooms …

The Not-So-Silent Period: Testimonios Of Recently Arrived Latinx Students, Teri M. Hutchinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore and amplify the experiences of recently arrived Latinx¹ students as interpreted through their testimonios in educational borderlands. Through increasingly xenophobic discourses around immigrants and their children (Pérez Huber, 2015), U.S. public schools have become entrenched borderland spaces wherein the humanity of recently arrived students is voided through silencing them with labels of linguistic deficiency and cramming them into one-size-fits-all educational programming (Fine et al., 2007; Flores & Rosa, 2015). There is demand for research that explores the experiences of these children, especially in light of their continued marginalization through neoliberal programming …

Tactical Allocation Through The Lens Of Correlational Time-Variance, Determinants, And Regimes, T.H. Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We investigate correlations among six primary asset classes from January 1982 to December 2022. Our analysis extends existing literature, on the well-researched stock-bond correlation (SBC), by encompassing 14 supplementary asset class dyads and four correlational regimes. We challenge the archetype of correlational time-invariance that underlies buy-and-hold asset allocation strategies by implementing structural break tests and an innovative Wavelet Coherence (WC) methodology, where our findings reveal temporal instability. Through a multi-method statistical approach, we present robust and persuasive evidence of macroeconomic factors as determinants of temporal change. Leveraging time-varying Granger causality, we unearth elusive yet significant relationships. Our research pivots to …

Sorry Not Sorry: Microaggression Perpetrator Learning Readiness Factors, Kathryn Elaine Kelly Watson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Microaggressions are commonplace slights perpetuated against out-group members that reinforce negative stereotypes, often inadvertently and unconsciously. Workplace mitigation efforts have traditionally been focused on raising awareness with the belief that perpetrators are simply unaware of their actions. While these efforts have done much to raise awareness—especially for victims of microaggressions, who may be more sensitive than ever of their occurrence—some perpetrators consciously persist through awareness, often with even more negative implications to the victim such as minimization, dismissal, and further stereotype reinforcement. For perpetrators to change their behavior, in addition to classic behavioral change models that require capability, opportunity, and …

Breaking Down Barriers: The Impact Of Segregation On Social Capital And Economic Outcomes, Donyetta A. Bennett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Breaking Down Barriers. Does social capital indirectly affect black/white economic outcomes via entrepreneurial activities? Does the relationship between social capital, entrepreneurship, and black/white economic outcomes change when social capital interacts with segregation? Drawing from Bourdieu's (1986) and Coleman’s (1990) social capital theory and prior scholars' regressive view theories of segregation, I propose that 1) social capital improves entrepreneurial activities and black/white economic outcomes, and 2) segregation’s interaction with social capital has an adverse effect on entrepreneurial activities and black/white economic outcomes. To perform the analysis, data were collected at the county- level from multiple sources and aggregated into one file …

How Practices Drive Persistence: The Transformational Consumption Journey Of Native Americans In Higher Education, Gwen Locklear Almodovar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an academic environment where many higher education institutions tout their diversity and inclusion statistics, there is a decline in the enrollment of Native American students and a decrease in Native American scholars. The President of the United States, in an October 2021 briefing and with the issuance of an executive order named The White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Native Americans and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities, saw the immediate urgency to understand the systematic causes and implement evidence-based strategies that will improve and increase student enrollment and academic advancement. This research takes …

Optimal Management And Sizing For Battery Energy Storage Systems For Grid Applications, Abdullah Muslih Alharbi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Battery energy storage systems (BESSs) play a dominant role in the reliability, resiliency, economics, and operational flexibility of the power grid. As such, the BESS is a promising and reliable green technology for supporting power grid facilities. However, the integration of BESS technology into power projects can be expensive and challenging, both technologically and in terms of regulation compliance. Thus, it is necessary to examine best practices for fully optimizing BESS sizing, operation, and scheduling in the context of benefiting BESS operators and investors by fully exploiting the valuable economic and technical benefits of BESSs. In this research, we identify …

Process Depletion In Emotion Regulation, Christian Capistrano Boeckner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ability to regulate emotions via reappraisal is considered an important skill that is associated with greater well-being. However, the effectiveness of emotion regulation is impacted by individual differences, and its adaptiveness may vary depending on context. For example individuals from vulnerable populations such as children and mothers in the context of poverty often demonstrate less optimal reappraisal, that is in turn associated with maladaptive behaviors. Given its consequence on mental health, it is critical to understand mechanisms that influence reappraisal to maximize its adaptive consequences. The current study explored conditions that could either facilitate or impair reappraisal success. We …

Three-Dimensional Extrusion Based Bioprinting Of Metronidazole Immediate Release Tablets; Impact Of Processing Parameters And In-Vitro Evaluation, Atharva Bhatkande

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the applicability of a 3-Dimensional extrusion-based bioprinter in developing a 3D-printed tablet as a single-step process. Metronidazole was used as a model drug, and Eudragit® EPO as a taste-masking polymer for formulating taste-masked tablets. Processing parameters were optimized for the nozzle's printing speed, a printhead's heating temperature, and pressure. Oval-shaped tablets were printed with a rectilinear printing pattern of 30% and 100% infill. 3D printed tablets were characterized by Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The F9, F10, and F11 formulations showed desired printability, …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Amlodipine Besylate Based Sub-Cutaneous Implants: Fabricated With The Help Of Hot Melt Extrusion, Kshitij Chitnis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hypertension (HTN) can lead to heart attack, cardiac arrest, or coronary heart disease, and eventually death without proper treatment. Amlodipine Besylate (AMB) was approved by, US Food and Drug Administration in 1987, as a monotherapy for the management of HTN. AMB is commercially available in tablet (2.5, 5, and 10 mg) and solution (1mg/mL) dosage forms. However, adherence to the properly prescribed dosage form is critical and difficult for patients with chronic diseases such as HTN to prevent illness progression and death. The objective of the study was to develop AMB-loaded subcutaneous implants to reduce the frequency of administration, thus, …

Formulation And Evaluation Of Prochlorperazine Maleate Sustained Release Mucoadhesive Buccal Films Using Hot Melt Extrusion, Umesh Chandra Chowdary Devineni

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many patients find it difficult to swallow tablets or hard gelatin capsules and fail to comply with prescriptions, resulting in a high incidence of noncompliance and ineffective treatment. Well, in recent years, buccal drug delivery has gained significant attention as a potential alternative to traditional drug delivery systems. Prochlorperazine Maleate is a widely used antiemetic drug for treating nausea and vomiting caused by various medical conditions. However, its oral administration is associated with poor bioavailability and inconsistent therapeutic effects. To overcome these limitations this study aims to develop sustained release mucoadhesive buccal films of Prochlorperazine Maleate using the Hot Melt …

Adversarial Explanations For Text-Based Local Surrogate Models, Christopher Burger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

LIME has emerged as one of the most commonly referenced tools in explainable AI (XAI) frameworks that is integrated into critical machine learning applications–e.g., healthcare and finance. However, its stability remains little explored, especially in the context of text data, due to the unique challenges when it comes to perturbing the underlying data, data that requires a stricter measure of semantic and syntactic consistency. To address these challenges, we first evaluate the inherent instability of LIME on text data to establish a baseline, and then propose a novel algorithm XAIFOOLER to perturb text inputs and manipulate explanations that casts investigation …

Leveling Up: Implementing Supportive Practices To Address The Needs Of Students Impacted By Trauma In An Urban Charter School, Altovise Boyd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Childhood trauma is a worldwide issue impacting children as young as toddlers and infants. Children exposed to traumatic events are at a greater risk of having cognitive and academic concerns. Additionally, children impacted by trauma are more likely to exhibit internalizing and externalizing behaviors than their peers who have not been exposed to a traumatic event. The purpose of this mixed-methods applied research study was to support the social-emotional needs of students impacted by trauma by implementing trauma-informed practices. An action plan was developed and implemented to address the three elements of the action plan. The first element was the …

Construction Of A Restaurant Service Quality Scale In The Front-Of-House, Hayeon Hailey Choi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to develop a measurement scale for restaurant service quality by integrating newly adopted restaurant service attributes (i.e., hygiene and safety practices, technology service, and sustainable practices) and exploring the dimensionality of restaurant service quality, specifically applied to the front-of-house in full-service restaurants. Based on data collected from 403 respondents through surveys, 84 items were subjected to a Principal Confirmatory Analysis, resulting in 34 items distributed among 8 dimensions, including (1) environmentally sustainable practices, (2) hygiene and safety practices, (3) technology service, (4) employee service, (5) physical environment, and (6) food-related sustainable practices, (7) price perceptions, and (8) …