Digital Commons Network^™

Synthesis And Characterization Of Homemade Explosives, Lindsay R. Mclennan

Open Access Dissertations

Homemade explosive (HME) is a general term used to encompass energetics easily prepared from materials that consumers can purchase, but because of sensitivity, stability, and/or performance, often have no legitimate commercial or military use. HME preparation has been described in many books and message board threads for years with varying levels of detail and correctness. The class of HMEs is broad and includes fuel/oxidizer mixtures (e.g. ammonium nitrate/fuel oil or ANFO), nitrate esters (e.g. erythritol tetranitrate, ETN), and peroxides (e.g. triacetone triperoxide, TATP). Though the energetic properties for many of these compounds have been known for over a century, they …

Blockchain Technology In Supply Chain Management: Performance And Risk Management Perspective, Leo Hong

Open Access Dissertations

Study 1

Blockchain technology (BT) in the supply chain/logistics has drawn much attention. Several benefits associated with the technology include cost-saving, sustainability enhancement, and economic viability. However, there are limited BT performance measurement models. The topic of the BT performance in supply chain management (SCM) is scattered across multiple disciplines. This study identifies different dimensions of BT performance and supports SCM managers to understand the systematic and holistic assessment of BT performance.

Study 2

The specific features of blockchain provide promise in managing supply chain risks. Given the growing research scrutiny in blockchain-based supply risk management, the development of a …

Incorporating Hemodynamic Cognitive Neuromarkers For Personalized Assistive Communication Technology, Seyyed Bahram Borgheai

Open Access Dissertations

A Brain computer interface (BCI) for communication bypasses standard efferent neural pathways towards peripheral nerves and muscles and directly translates brain activity into symbolic commands to facilitate communication in people with motor impairments. Although a range of access options have been developed, there are still many challenges, particularly for those with severe motor-control limitations. Limitations in availability of access options and the accuracy they provide may lead to patient frustration. Hence, many conventional non-invasive BCIs that rely on eye-gaze control and alternative communicative solutions, such as eye-tracking systems, fail to provide successful and efficient communication in people with severe motor …

Measuring The Effects Of System Conditions On U.S. Elections Through Simulation, Nicholas D. Bernardo Jr.

Open Access Dissertations

Elections are fundamental to the success of democracy in the United States (U.S.). For decades, researchers from various domains have investigated voting in the U.S. with many aims. One focus of investigation has been the act of in-person voting, sparked by instances of voter disenfranchisement and severe delays at polling locations. Despite many efforts to improve voting processes, some voters continue to face multi-hour long waits to cast a ballot. This research builds a robust simulation framework that is applied iteratively to assess several system conditions to quantify their exacerbation of voting delays. Once quantified, simulation results are analyzed through …

The Experiences Of Nurses As Double Duty Caregivers For A Family Member At The End Of Life: Interpretive Description, Sandra A. Basley

Open Access Dissertations

This study explored the experiences of nurses providing end-of-life care for family members while continuing to work as a nurse. As the delivery of healthcare changes in our country, we are seeing a transition to community-based client care. As a result, there are more people with complex, advanced illnesses being cared for in the home by family members and friends. Family caregivers are the primary source of support for older adults with chronic illness and disability. These family caregivers take on many responsibilities, and often experience physical, emotional, psychological, and social distress because of the demands placed on them. A …

The Development Of An Inclusive Three-Item Gender Instrument, Angela Astorini

Open Access Dissertations

Existing gender instruments are not inclusive and sensitive to all persons of transgender and/or gender diverse experience (TGDE), individuals whose gender identity does not align with their sex assigned at birth according to the heteronormative sociocultural construct of gender (Flores et al. 2016; Meerwijk & Sevelius, 2017). The goal of this study was to use a mixed methods approach to develop a new three-item gender instrument that collects information from participants on their sex assigned at birth, gender identity, and the gender they live as in their day-to-day life (lived gender). This gender instrument would aid researchers and health professionals …

The Bolstering Effects Of Psychological Capital On Community College Students, Kyle Normand Gamache

Open Access Dissertations

Community colleges have an important, civic mission to serve the educational needs of the public. Often, community colleges will serve a disproportionate number of students belonging to ethnic minority groups and students of lower socioeconomic status (Cross & Atinde, 2015). Unfortunately, community college students experience lower levels of academic success, often displaying lower academic achievement and degree completion (Dougherty et al., 2017; Rosenbaum et al., 2017). Many studies have sought to understand college student success and investigate ways to bolster student attainment. Research in the field of organizational psychology has developed theories related to psychological capital (PsyCap), psychological constructs that …

Chronicling A Pandemic: Understanding The Experiences Of Secondary School Teachers During The March 2020 Shutdown, Timothy Kenney

Open Access Dissertations

The COVID-19 shutdown in March of 2020 moved teachers into emergency remote teaching. Emergency remote teaching (ERT), which is a temporary shift of instructional to an alternative delivery mode due to crisis (Hodges et al., 2020, p. 6), caused teachers to deal with a pedagogy they had never anticipated (Yildirim, K., & Elverici, S. E., 2021), often done with little guidance from administration (Trikolis & Papanastasiou, 2020). ERT also isolated teachers from their students and colleagues (Green et al., 2020; Hart & Nash, 2020) all of which led to a decreased sense of professionalism and efficacy (Reich et al., 2020). …

An Interpretative Phenomenological Study Of Undergraduate Student Wellness: Exploring Generation Z Student Wellness Experiences During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Kristen Pepin

Open Access Dissertations

Qualitative research exploring undergraduate student wellness during a pandemic was scarce prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 and is still lacking. Studies investigating student wellness during pandemics often fracture the concept by quantitatively researching specific wellness dimensions (Cao et al., 2020; Galea et al., 2020; Tang et al., 2020) as opposed to exploring the construct from a holistic perspective. Additionally, few studies aim to understand how undergraduate students make meaning of wellness and their lived wellness experiences, specifically during a pandemic. Furthermore, emerging research (Huckins et al., 2020) corroborates the extant literature that posit student health behaviors were declining in …

Investigation Of Novel Low Temperature Electrolytes For Lithium-Ion Batteries, Undugodage Nuwanthi Dilhari Rodrigo

Open Access Dissertations

Improving energy storge technology is vital to the worldwide adoption of renewable energy sources as well as the growth of electromobility. Therefore, recent research has been focused on developing rechargeable lithium-ion batteries enabling high energy and power density over a wide temperature range with improved safety. Unfortunately, the performance of lithium-ion batteries is dependent upon the operating temperatures. At subzero temperature, the performance of lithium-ion battery in carbonate-based electrolytes is decreased by increased cell resistance limiting lithium-ion transportation. Therefore, adjusting the electrolyte composition through use of novel solvents, electrolyte additives, alternative lithium salts and optimized solvent blends has been reported …

Longitudinal Investigation Of Childhood Trauma And Emotiondriven Impulsivity, Svetlana Goncharenko

Open Access Dissertations

Exposure to childhood trauma is associated with numerous adverse psychological, physical, and behavioral health consequences. This highlight childhood trauma as a major public health problem. Addressing important gaps in the existing research, the proposed study clarifies the bidirectional and unique prospective associations between childhood trauma and both negative and positive emotion-driven impulsivity. This study utilized a sample of 11,872 participants from the ABCD study and conducted Cross Lagged Panel Models to evaluate the bisectional associations between childhood trauma and positive and negative emotion-driven impulsivity. Findings showed that earlier childhood trauma was associated with higher levels of later negative and positive …

Msw Graduates Process Of Readiness For The Social Work Field, Karin L. Capobianco

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study is to inquire from a total of 25 faculty, field supervisors, and recent alumni their formal and informal observations of Master level Social Work graduates’ process of readiness for the profession. Through the methodology of constructivist grounded theory and the methods of focus groups and individual interviews, this study seeks to explore the process of readiness for recent MSW graduates by examining the participants’ perceptions of the students’ readiness for the field. This perception of readiness is different than the benchmarks of the traditional components used for MSW graduate level students. The findings revealed …

The Text(Tiles) Of Adinkra Symbols: West African Art, Gender, & Poetic Translations, Rachel A. Ansong

Open Access Dissertations

The Text(tiles) of Adinkra Symbols: West African Art, Gender, & Poetic Translations is a critical and creative dissertation that interrogates Adinkra symbols from West Africa. These symbols, rediscovered in the nineteenth century, serve as codes, communicating warnings and meanings of proverbs to recipients. Many individual Adinkra symbols are abstract ideographs of the philosophical ideas they represent. My work expands on existing scholarship and further elaborates how Adinkra symbols moved from Ghana to the United States (U.S). Specifically, I trace how these creative-pictorial-philosophical symbols evolved in use as artistic mediums of expression of African/Black tradition and identity for the migrant African/Black …

Learning To Visualize: Middle-Level Learners Analyzing And Designing Science Infographics, Mark Davis

Open Access Dissertations

Infographics are part of daily life because of the rise of digital media and technology, as learners now encounter a barrage of images carefully designed to convey data and information through social media. But what happens in the classroom when young learners first encounter this expressive genre? This case study examined a unit of instruction on analyzing and creating infographics in a content-area middle school classroom. Data included classroom observations through video and audio recording, examination of a student graphic organizer and student-designed infographics, and semi-structured interviews with students and the facilitating teacher. Results show that students learned how to …

Exploring The Experiences And Motivations Of Women Who Lead And Engage In Change Work At Their Home Institution, Maria Muccio-Raposo

Open Access Dissertations

Higher education has the power to facilitate social and economic mobility, as well as academic and personal growth for individuals, families, and communities. The problem is not located in the potential of institutions, but rather in some of the economic and social forces that influence the operations and actions in higher education, such as Academic Capitalism (Slaughter & Rhoades, 1997) and neoliberal ideology (Harvey, 2006; Giroux, 2002). This study sought to understand the forces at play that draw institutions away from the free thinking and transformative power of higher education and how participants recognize and respond to systemic issues in …

Seismic Behavior On Oceanic Transform Faults Revealed By Numerical Modeling And Seismic Observation, Pengcheng Shi

Open Access Dissertations

Oceanic transform faults (OTFs) are long being recognized as hosting fewer and smaller earthquakes. On average, only 15% of the accumulated strain energy on OTFs are released through earthquakes. Detailed studies on a handful of OTFs suggests that their seismic distributions are highly segmented along-strike and favor the thick seismogenic patch model or multi-mode. Therefore, in Manuscript 1, we test this hypothesis at a global scale on 138 OTFs. We find that creeping segments are ubiquitous and alone can explain the deficiency of the earthquakes on OTFs. On a global scale, the thick seismogenic patch model is most consistent with …

Investigation Of The Structural And Optical Properties Of Xanthene Dyes For Analyte Detection And Thin Film Sensor Development, Mara A. Dubnicka

Open Access Dissertations

Chapter 1 Abstract:

The effect of structure on the photophysical properties of six xanthene dye thin films: Rh560, Rh19, Rh6G, RhB, Rh3B, and Rh640 is investigated. The absorption spectra of all six dyes exhibit bathochromic shifts as the thickness of the thin film is increased. Bathochromic shifts are also seen in the emission spectra of the thin films with increased thickness. These shifts are attributed to the formation of J-dimers as the concentration of the casting solution increases. The quantum yields of the thin films are greatly reduced compared to the quantum yield values in aqueous solutions.

Chapter 2 …

The Impacts Of The Invasive Green Iguana (Iguana Iguana) On Agricultural Production And The Communities Of Puerto Rico — An Interdisciplinary Assessment, Christina N. De Jesus Villanueva

Open Access Dissertations

Invasive species are one of the most pressing threats to the conservation of biodiversity, to human health, and the economy today. Agricultural production and invasive species are often entangled in a complex web of interactions that ultimately decrease agricultural yield and lead to billions of dollars in losses. With no indicators of slowing globalization, it is imperative that we monitor the movement of potential pest species, prevent new introductions, and mitigate the impacts of invasive species. Comprehensive monitoring of potential invasions is not always possible, however, since it is often after a species is established that wildlife management and agricultural …

Cognitive Reappraisal Vs. Acceptance: A Comparison Of Emotion Regulation Strategies To Reduce Anxiety, Ciara James

Open Access Dissertations

Emotion regulation consists of the skills and cognitive strategies used to alter different aspects of emotion, including the subjective and temporal experience of emotion, outward expression of emotion, the ways in which an emotional experience is interpreted, or the emotion-eliciting stimuli itself. Previous research has identified reappraisal, reframing the perception of an emotion-eliciting event to change the emotional experience, and acceptance, allowing the presence of thoughts following an emotional experience to pass through the mind in a nonjudgmental fashion, as adaptive strategies to use when managing negative emotions. The present study compared the efficacy of reappraisal and acceptance in reducing …

Simultaneous Alcohol And Marijuana Use: Associations With Alcohol Consequences Among At-Risk Youth, Daniel Delaney

Open Access Dissertations

Emerging research has examined simultaneous alcohol and marijuana (SAM). SAM use has been found to be associated with heavier substance use and adverse consequences. However, research so far has not focused on younger at-risk youth, or accounted for race and ethnicity as influencing SAM use or associated consequences. This study examined SAM use and alcohol-related consequences and risky behaviors in a diverse (N=576; 54% White, 24.7% Hispanic, 12.7% Black) sample of at-risk youth (9-18 years old) recruited from juvenile detention and community mental health centers. SAM use was more prevalent than alcohol or marijuana use alone in these settings. Analyses …

Parallelization Of Vectorized Self-Organizing Maps In Hardware Accelerator Architectures, Omar X. Rivera Morales

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation presents the culmination of research performed over six years into developing a parallel and stochastic implementation to the University of Rhode Island’s (URI) Computer Science Department Vectorized Self Organizing Maps (VSOM) algorithm. The Parallel VSOM (Par-VSOM) and the High-Level Synthesis VSOM (HLS-VSOM) algorithms are inspired by ideas from tensor algebra and are implemented using parallel kernels and vectorization in modern hardware accelerators.

The map quality generated by the algorithm is of significant importance since higher quality maps provide in-depth knowledge that allows the researcher to identify clusters of information within the datasets. Furthermore, of importance is developing a …

Gender-Specific Experiences Of Women Undergraduate Stem Students In Online Mathematics Courses During A Pandemic, Erika R. Fiore

Open Access Dissertations

Introductory college math courses have proven to be a significant barrier to degree completion for students in STEM. In particular, research shows women are more likely to leave STEM fields after failing a math course than their male peers. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic beginning in March of 2020, most students and instructors across the globe were forced to learn and teach in an online format. Many of these students and instructors were dissatisfied with their online experience, while others began to realize the opportunities that online learning has to offer, especially for some marginalized populations. This phenomenological dissertation investigates …

To Scale Dragons: Comprising Things Lost And Two Essays On Fantasy, André V. Katkov

Open Access Dissertations

To Scale Dragons comprises two essays on fantasy and a fantasy manuscript, which together form a critical-creative study of fantasy as a cross-media genre of art. In the first essay, “Fantasy as Hypernatural Art: A Look at the Genre’s Chthulucentric Coalescence,” I provide a theoretical foundation for fantasy as art, looking to key developments in the history of fantasy and fantasy criticism to propose a new set of core properties for fantasy as a fuzzy set, à la Brian Attebery, and defend an understanding of fantasy as the art of constructing and conveying immersive hypernature. In particular, I argue that …

Feasibility And Acceptability Of The Ebb And Flow Parenting Program, Maria Catherine Difonte

Open Access Dissertations

It is well-documented that parenting impacts childhood outcomes, and research has found specific positive parenting strategies that are associated with increased child resilience, well-being, and functioning (Williams et al., 2009). In-person and online programs aim to increase use of these strategies and have led to significant improvements in child outcomes and parental self-efficacy and adjustment (Webster-Stratton, 1981; Sanders, 1999; Morgan et al., 2018; Khanna et al., 2017). While findings are promising, work is needed to assess the preventative roles of single-session psychoeducational parent training programs in reducing the emergence of diagnosable concerns in children, yet research in this area is …

Protein Pairing And Lipid Linking: Physicochemical Properties Of Poly- And Perfluoroalkyl Substances (Pfas) Influence Their Interactions With Macromolecules, Jessica Alesio

Open Access Dissertations

Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a growing class of synthetic compounds used in a wide variety commercial and residential applications due to their hydrophobic and oleophobic properties. Since this body of work began, the list of the number of PFAS has grown from 1,000 to over 4,200. As this number increases, there is a pressing need to quickly understand a) if certain PFAS are harmful to humans and the environment and b) how harmful each compound is. The objective of this work was to characterize PFAS binding to proteins and lipid bilayers. Better understanding of these mechanisms aids in …

Multifunctional Plasmonic And Magnetic Nanostructures Guided By Self And Directed Assembly, Muzahidul Islam Anik

Open Access Dissertations

Nanomaterials showed promising development and progress in biochemical field during the past couple of decades. Nanoparticles that can not only perform as one single task such as imaging contrast or drug delivery agent but also possess the ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously has the potential to be the next generations of nanoparticles. Multifunctional ability will allow to use reduced dosage of nanoparticles providing us control over nanoparticle induced toxicity during imaging and therapy. The synthesis of such multifunctional nanoparticles can be guided by utilizing self and directed assembly for various application ranging from in vitro non-invasive particle tracking to …

Risk Prediction Of Opioid Use Disorder (Oud) Using Electronic Health Records, Wenqiu Cao

Open Access Dissertations

The opioid epidemic has emerged as a public health crisis, attracting increasing nationwide attention. Electronic health records (EHRs) provide rich resources to investigate and predict the risk of opioid use disorder (OUD) in real-world settings due to its diversity of data types and wide range of information. In thisdissertation, I conducted three studies to investigate the association between OUD and different factors in EHR, including demographics, comorbidity, laboratory test results, medications, and opioid prescription, and develop predictive models to predict OUD risk using features from EHR data.

In Manuscript 1, we used penalized logistic regression models to predict OUD in …

An Exploration In Detection Of Small Oxygen Containing Analytes Using Phthalocyanine Dyes And Piezocatalytic Thin, Benjamin B. Cromwell

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation is presented in manuscript format according to the guidelines of the graduate school of the University Rhode Island. Three chapters are presented covering the following: Chapter 1 a probing study of metal phthalocyanine dye interactions with four analytes of interest in the solution phase, Chapter 2 a study of the dye and analyte interactions and how they interact while on a PVDF thin film, Chapter 3 an exploration of the piezocatalytic effects of metal doped PVDF thin films.

Quantitative Methods For Analyzing Team Communication Patterns, Dominique Engome Tchupo

Open Access Dissertations

In recent decades, tasks, jobs, and systems have become increasingly complex, with no changing anytime soon. Therefore, the need to understand team dynamics to form and train better teams, and maximize their performance has become a focus of research in the organizational behavior, industrial & organizational psychology, and human factors & ergonomics disciplines. There has been a rise in the number of works focused on understanding different team dynamics through a variety of methods, such as psychometrics and physiological measures. Of these methods, one that has been used the longest and is among the least invasive is the use of …

Synthesis And Application Of Novel Trisresorcinarenes And Investigation Of New Photochemical Processes Of Chromophores, Carson Lawrence Hasselbrink

Open Access Dissertations

Two fields of organic chemistry with a prominent presence in many research groups are supramolecular chemistry and photochemistry. These fields continue to grow and spread their influence in many industries and research areas. The first two chapters of this dissertation focus on the studies and applications of the macrocyclic isomers Noria and trisresorcinarene (R3). The development of their respective rotaxanes via the slipping method was examined and how the incorporation of the linear thread molecule affects the binding properties of the exterior pockets for target gas molecules: CO₂, Xe, and Kr. Additionally, a novel water-soluble version of Noria …