Digital Commons Network^™

Diversity Term Accuracy: A Comparison Of Safmeds And Computer-Based Instruction Training Models, Candace Renae Fay

Theses and Dissertations

Promoting diversity and inclusion can impact a variety of different groups. Many organizations rely on various training methods to help ensure diversity in the workplace. However, little research has compared the effects of different training approaches on increasing recall of specific cultural terms. Thus, the present study employed an adapted alternating treatment design to explore the effectiveness of two different training approaches. A SAFMEDS training model was compared to a traditionally-applied Computer-Based Instruction, to determine which is more efficient at promoting cultural fluency. The number of correct definitions for diversity terms across various demographic categories, served as the dependent variable. …

Living With Ulcerative Colitis: Exploring Dietary Inflammatory Intake, Physical Activity, And Methods To Manage The Burden Of Illness, Kelli E. Dubois

Theses and Dissertations

Ulcerative Colitis (UC) is a chronic illness under the umbrella of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). IBD is becoming a global health issue as incidence rates are rising throughout the world. UC is characterized by chronic inflammation and ulcerations in the colon’s mucosal lining due to abnormal inflammatory and immune system responses. Patients with UC experience a range of gastrointestinal and extraintestinal symptoms as well as psychosocial challenges throughout the course of illness that generate a significant burden on daily life. Periods of active disease, or flares, present exacerbations of disease symptoms and the greatest burden on daily functioning, yet disease …

Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation As An Adjuvant For Nonfluent Aphasia Therapy: A Proof-Of-Concept Study, Lynsey Mcgrath Keator

Theses and Dissertations

Identifying effective and efficient rehabilitation tools is crucial to improve language outcomes for persons living with chronic aphasia. Speech entrainment has proved to be particularly successful in improving speech output in nonfluent aphasia. It is hypothesized that, for patients with aberrant oscillatory synchronization between anterior and posterior language regions of the left hemisphere, speech entrainment may act as an external gaiting mechanism to bolster an impaired efference copy and improve synchrony between these regions. Theoretical and empirical evidence supports this idea that speech production relies on anterior-posterior connectivity in the left hemisphere.

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) delivers low, periodically-alternating …

Automated Contingency Management For Water Recycling System, Shijie Tang

Theses and Dissertations

NASA’s exploration program envisions the utilization of a Deep Space Habitat (DSH) for human exploration of the space environment in the vicinity of Mars and beyond. Communication latency and extreme limitations of power and life-supporting resources make it imperative to operate the DSH systems in a highly autonomous fashion. One such system is the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) which needs to be monitored and optimized to support its designated missions.

Integrated System Health Management (ISHM) technologies have been developed in the past decades to provide a real-time assessment of system health and use this information to improve …

Diving Deeper: Employee’S Perceptions Of Diversity, Leader Behaviors, And Inclusion, Phylicia Fanetta Davlyn Richardson

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding an employee’s perspectives of their organization, team and leader has been researched extensively in the field. The same can be said for diversity, equity, and inclusion. However there have been gaps in the literature when it comes to an employee’s perception and how they can dictate their approach to their work environment. Grounded in the theory of the effect leadership has on employees (Jung & Welch, 2022; Randolph-Seng et al., 2016), this study examines vary leader behaviors (inclusion, antiracism, allyship) and how they interact with perceptions of inclusion and diversity. Using a survey, 211 participants answered measures assessing their …

Characterization Of The Responses To Chronic Stress In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Amy Laura Knight

Theses and Dissertations

Exposure to chronic temperature stress influences organismal phenotypes that are important for human health, agriculture, and ecology. In this thesis, the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans was used to study the effects of temperature stress on reproduction and lifespan. It was found that worms demonstrated a rapid shut down in egg-laying between 18-24 hours of exposure to 28°C. Despite this reproductive defect, the overall lifespan of worms was unaffected. At the molecular level, heat shock factor 1 (HSF-1), a regulator of the protective molecular pathway known as the heat shock response (HSR), was identified as important for progeny production during heat …

Predicting The Impact Of Iot Data Gathering On User’S Privacy Preferences, Ghassen Kilani

Theses and Dissertations

The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has increased data sharing, profiling, and manipulation on various networks. The rapid growth of information disclosure has caused system users to lose motivation to enhance their data privacy. The repeated breaches on different networks worldwide have made people feel discouraged, as they perceive privacy schemes as futile. IoT systems introduce another dimension of privacy leakage due to their expendability nature and information collection features. The situation worsens when users have to manage multiple IoT devices, each following different security protocols, leading to poor decision-making and privacy leakage. This tremendous flow of unsecured …

Preserving Users’ Privacy In Iot Systems Through Network-Based Access Control, Ahmed Khalid A Alhazmi

Theses and Dissertations

Privacy issues have plagued the rapid proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Resource-constrained IoT devices often obscure transparency for end-users. A lack of transparency and control complicates user trust in IoT. Additionally, a growing history of misuse and abuse exists in IoT. Notably, a smart TV has periodically scanned and collected users’ private information without consent, while power companies have adjusted the temperature of smart thermostats during heat waves. Due to a hybrid of distributed ecosystems within IoT, users cannot easily implement traditional access control over their devices as data flows within different nodes for storage and processing. …

The Effects Of Presession Conditions On Behavior During A Brief Functional Analysis, Dung Haylie Le

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has demonstrated that patterns of responding during a no-interaction condition of a functional analysis (FA) may predict FA outcomes. Thus, behavior analysts may use an initial no-interaction condition to identify problem behavior maintained by social reinforcement when time and resources are limited. However, in a clinic setting, most functional analyses are conducted in between or immediately after instructional sessions or structured play. Therefore, the proposed study was designed to examine the differential effects of presession conditions of naturally occurring activities (work versus play) at a clinic setting during a modified brief functional analysis. Results showed that presession conditions …

Lydia’S Urn: Exploring Trauma, Non-Binary Identity, And Plural Subjectivity Via Metamodern Gaming, A Creative Dissertation, Eric Jason Pitman

Theses and Dissertations

Not all non-binary folks, commonly called “enbies,” but also considered trans, often experience gender dysphoria in a manner like the descriptions provided in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). For example, the manual tends towards definitions that include primarily, trans folk who specifically desire the opposite gender they were labeled at birth. However, this does not describe nonbinary/genderqueer folk, and those enbies who do report gender dysphoria cover some diagnostic criteria, primarily that associated with a feeling of frustration with gender signifiers and an overall sense of discord between one’s assigned gender identity …

Infrared Search For N-Butane And Trans-2-Butene In Titan’S Atmosphere, Brendan Steffens

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation constitutes a study of the possible presence of trace hydrocarbons, namely n-butane (n-C4H10) and trans-2-butene (trans-2-C4H8) in Titan’s atmosphere. These molecules, both of which bear specific connections of interest to Titan’s astrobiological potential, are predicted by photochemical models to occur at detectable abundances within Titan’s atmosphere. In spite of this, neither has been detected to date, by any means. For this work, both of these molecules were characterized in the laboratory by obtaining a comprehensive set of highresolution, infrared cross section measurements at cold temperatures appropriate for Titan. In the case of n-butane, a pseudoline list (i.e. an …

Cities Of God Under Occupation: Settler Colonial Practices And Pacification In The Favelas Of Rio De Janeiro And The Occupied Palestinian Territories, Amanda Pimenta Da Silva

Theses and Dissertations

The 2002 film ‘City of God’ tells an anecdotal story of violence in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and is a reminder that the societies we tend to take for granted can actually be a luxury. The film portrays the daily life of the peripheries of Rio and its relation with drug trafficking, crime, and poverty, and how it has deteriorated into a war zone so dangerous that anyone risk being shot to death. Thousands of miles away from the Brazilian slums there is another so-called city of God, or the city chosen by God to be the home’s …

Assessment And Improvement Of Women’S Soccer Performance Using Precision Teaching And Frequency Building, Emily Anne Swope

Theses and Dissertations

Performance assessments may be a helpful tool to determine why performance is lacking in sports and fitness. They may also provide some examples of interventions that help improve performance. If the performance deficits are due to a lack of skill or knowledge, then one teaching procedure that may increase the performance of the skill is frequency building. The purpose of the present study was to use a sports performance assessment to identify the variables responsible for sub-standard performance on a college women’s soccer team. In addition, we used a frequency building procedure to improve the performance of three soccer players. …

Teaching Children With Autism To Tact Private Events Based On Common Properties, Madisyn Quidort

Theses and Dissertations

Skinner (1957) proposed that people learn to talk about private events in several ways. This study sought to examine the plausibility of one of those mechanisms: common properties. Skinner asserted that children learn tacts for public stimuli through normal interaction with their caregivers. When a child experiences a private stimulus that shares some feature with a previously learned public stimulus, the child generalizes the tact to the private sensation because there is a common property between the two stimuli. Three children with autistic disorder were taught 6 to 9 sensation tacts (e.g., prickly, cozy, tight) depicted in videos (e.g., a …

Was This Part Of The Plan? Examining Planning As A Mechanism To Mitigate Workplace Intrusions, Dominic Fedele

Theses and Dissertations

Workplace intrusions are commonplace in every organization. Limited preliminary work (e.g., Moon et al., 2020) is beginning to suggest that certain individuals may be more susceptible to workplace interruptions. Yet, it is unclear why individual differences may predict interruptions and how unexpected interruptions throughout the workday can be mitigated. Thus, this study examined these issues, focusing on dispositional self-control and planning as potential antecedents of intrusions as well as task performance and work-related stress as potential consequences of intrusions. Specifically, this research first adds to the literature by examining dispositional self-control as a predictor of the experience of workplace intrusions. …

Understanding The Reaction Kinetics Of Polyurethane Flexible Foam, Caitlin Alma Mckinnon

Theses and Dissertations

Polyurethane flexible foam is used throughout daily life predominantly as cushions for chairs and mattresses. Currently new foams are made through extensive research and development via trial and error. There are many reactions interacting with each other during the polyurethane generation process. The numerous reactions create difficulty in modeling and predicting the physical attributes of a foam. This thesis explores the kinetics associated with each reaction to generate a simple model to understand the reaction kinetics with the addition of some additives. This thesis focused on creating the foams in a real-world environment, including allowing ambient water vapor to be …

Water-Soluble Porphyrin Complexes For The Biological Inactivation Of Fentanyl, Anneli Nina

Theses and Dissertations

This work aimed to investigate the degradation of fentanyl in aqueous solutions using unsupported water-soluble cobalt(III) porphyrins (55 and 56), AuNP supported water-soluble cobalt(III) porphyrins (67 and 68), and liposome supported water-soluble cobalt(III) porphyrins (69 and 70). Complexes 55, 56, 68, and 69 have been shown to remove fentanyl from aqueous solutions at 37 ºC. The degradation of fentanyl, and the identification of breakdown products were analyzed with the use of time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS). Complex 55 has been shown to completely degrade fentanyl at 37 ºC in as little as two hours with a 400 mol% catalyst loading. Complex …

Assessing The Validity And Reliability Of The Performance Diagnostic Checklist-Human Services 1.1, Sebastian Jimenez

Theses and Dissertations

The PDC-HS is an informant-based assessment tool used by OBM practitioners in human service settings. An updated version known as the PDC-HS 1.1 has recently been released. The present study measured the validity and reliability of the PDCHS 1.1 by analyzing answers obtained while watching a video of a simulated interview between a consultant and a supervisor. Three video vignettes were created, each describing a performance concern in one or more areas of the PDCHS 1.1. Twenty-one participants watched all vignettes and filled out the PDC-HS 1.1 based on the answers provided. Validity was measured by calculating the percentage of …

Cucurbitacin B: A Potential Natural Agent For Targeting Tumor Immune Cell Population, Emmanuel Anning

Theses and Dissertations

Immune checkpoint blockade (PD1, PDL-1 and CTLA-4) immunotherapies have emerged as the breakthrough in cancer treatment. However, some malignancies show marginal response. One factor that influences the efficacy of immunotherapy is the development of immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME), caused by infiltration of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and tumor associated macrophages (TAM) into the tumor, facilitating metastatic tumor growth and immunotherapy resistance. We have identified Cucurbitacin B (Cuc. B), a potent small molecule that targets TAM and MDSCs and inhibits Stat3, CSF-1R, and PI3Kγ signaling axis at lower doses compared to the pharmacological inhibitor of PI3Kγ (IPI-549). IL-4 polarization of …

Screening For Potential Therapeutic Targets Of Yb-1 Protein Using A Bioinformatics Approach, Omar Muneer Karkoutly

Theses and Dissertations

Treatment options for cancer are becoming much more limited due to the robust characteristics of cancer that allows them to rapidly develop drug resistance. This may be a result of cancer cells’ ability to switch between differentiated and undifferentiated states (plasticity). Diagnostic measurement and detection of cancer and its progression is essential for developing successful treatments. Specific cancer targets whose expressions are highly associated with increased incidence, risk, and spread of cancer therefore become perfect targets for therapeutic intervention. One such novel target that is still being studied is the Y-box binding protein 1 (YB-1), which …

Essays On Individuals’ Information Assessment, Information Disclosure, Participation, And Response Behaviors In Online Health Communities, Joseph Ade Manga

Theses and Dissertations

The emergence of online health communities (OHCs) has enabled the use of information technologies to address some social and health needs including but not limited to emotional, social, and health-related issues. This information age has encouraged user generated (UG) content, which facilitates both peer-to-peer and business-to-peer interconnections. This rich and active information epoch (i.e., OHCs) is distinct in that value is generated when peers or participants—who may be content generators and/or content consumers—interact together by exchanging information and receiving supports aimed at addressing their specific needs; and this is made possible through the online platforms or support groups acting as …

Augmenting Heads-Up Displays With Intelligent Agents: A Human Factors Approach, Grant Edward Morfitt

Theses and Dissertations

Situational awareness, both tactical and strategic, is essential for humans engaged in complex tasks in civilian and military theaters of operation. Previous work has shown that heads-up displays are effective tools for providing critical information to operators in such situations. Hitherto, heads-up displays have been designed to relay instrument and sensor information to the operator in a topical, timely, and accurate manner. There is a large body of complementary work in the area of human factors that deals with presenting information to a user without detracting from the primary mission. This thesis investigates, measures, and validates the effectiveness of a …

Development Of Software Tools For Efficient And Sustainable Process Development And Improvement, Jake P. Stengel

Theses and Dissertations

Infrastructure is a key component in the well-being of our society that leads to its growth, development, and productive operations. A well-built infrastructure allows the community to be more competitive and promotes economic advancement. In 2021, the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) ranked the American infrastructure as substandard, with an overall grade of C-. The overall ranking suffers when key infrastructure categories are not maintained according to the needs of the population. Therefore, there is a need to consider alternative methods to improve our infrastructure and make it more sustainable to enhance the overall grade. One of the challenges …

Electro-Mechanical Data Fusion For Heart Health Monitoring, Kemal Yakut

Theses and Dissertations

Heart disease is a major public health problem and one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Therefore, cardiac monitoring is of great importance for the early detection and prevention of adverse conditions. Recently, there has been extensive research interest in long-term, continuous, and non-invasive cardiac monitoring using wearable technology. Here we introduce a wearable device for monitoring heart health. This prototype consists of three sensors to monitor electrocardiogram (ECG), phonocardiogram (PCG), and seismocardiogram (SCG) signals, integrated with a microcontroller module with Bluetooth wireless connectivity. We also created a custom printed circuit board (PCB) to integrate all the sensors into …

Ambivalence, Sexism, And Sexual Decision-Making Among Heterosexual College Students, Alexandra Nicoletti

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual ambivalence is defined as having both favorable and unfavorable thoughts toward sexual activity in any given sexual situation (Muehlenhard & Rodgers, 1998). Most sexually active people will experience feelings of ambivalence at some point in their lives and ultimately decide to engage in sexual activity (Muehlenhard & Peterson, 2005; Peterson & Muehlenhard, 2007). Based on previous research and guided by sexual script theory Simon & Gagnon, 1986), we hypothesized that gender, hostile, and benevolent sexism would moderate the association of prior experience with a partner/activity and engaging in sexual activity despite ambivalence. A total of 457 heterosexual college students …

Towards A Relational Understanding Of Food, Identity, And Diversity In Children’S Literature, Katy Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation extends existing work on food in children’s literature to examine the different narratives strategies that texts for young audiences use to connect cuisine, identity, and diversity. Three areas of scholarship—foodways scholarship, children’s literature scholarship, and feminist care ethics work—inform my project. Overall, I am interested in how a variety of genres for young readers use food to represent ethnically diverse identities in complex ways as well as the ethics surrounding those representations, so it is worth delineating here the different concepts and how they are used to make sense of various representations. I theorize three categories of texts, …

Consequences Of Microsporidian Prior Exposure For Virus Infection Outcomes And Bumble Bee Host Health, Elyse Christine Mccormick

Theses and Dissertations

Host-parasite interactions do not occur in a vacuum, but in connected multi-parasite networks. Resulting co-exposures and coinfections during an individual host’s lifetime can affect host health and infectious disease ecology, including disease outbreaks. However, many host-parasite studies examine pairwise interactions, meaning we still lack a general understanding of the influence of co-exposures and coinfections. Using the bumble bee Bombus impatiens, we study the effects of larval exposure to a microsporidian Nosema bombi, implicated in bumble bee declines, and adult exposure to Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV), an emerging infectious disease from honey bee parasite spillover. We hypothesize that infection outcomes …

Development Of Enhanced Food Packaging Systems Based On Blends Of Bio-Based And Biodegradable Polymers Exhibiting Antimicrobial Properties, Aishat Agboluaje

Theses and Dissertations

Food packaging is one of the important aspects of food processing, which contributes greatly to decreasing post-harvest food losses. While ensuring that foods are adequately packaged, it is also important to consider the impact of these food packaging materials on the environment. Accordingly, this research work was aimed at investigating the potential of bio-based and biodegradable blends of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and chitosan loaded with antimicrobial agents such as turmeric, clove, and cinnamon for use in food packaging applications. The methodology involved creating PVA/chitosan films with varying compositions via solvent casting method and selecting the best composition exhibiting the highest …

Investigating The Role Of Amyloid Beta Peptides In Inflammation And Alzheimer’S Disease Pathogenesis, Nguyen Le

Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by severe memory decline and cognitive impairments. In AD patients’ brains, aggregates of amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides, called amyloid plaques, are hypothesized to trigger innate immune responses that contribute to AD pathogenesis. Interestingly, recent studies demonstrated that an increased level of Aβ protected the host against pathogen infections. Using Drosophila as a model organism, our preliminary data showed that the loss of the Drosophila APP homolog, APPL, led to immune deficits against parasite infection, and that overexpression of Drosophila Aβ produced an inflammatory phenotype. These findings suggested that Aβ might be required …

Biomimetic Strategies To Control Therapeutic Release From Novel Dna Nanoparticles, Robert J. Mosley

Theses and Dissertations

The inherent chemical, mechanical, and structural properties of nucleic acids make them ideal candidates for the formulation of tunable, personalized drug nanocarriers. However, none so far have exploited these properties for the controlled release of therapeutic drugs. In this dissertation, a biomimetic approach to controlling drug release is exhibited by specifically manipulating the architecture of novel, DNA nanoparticles to take advantage of drug binding mechanisms of action. Rationally designed DNA strands were immobilized on gold surfaces via a terminal thiol modification. Immobilized monomers can be manipulated to form distinct monolayer architectures including flat, folded, coiled, or stretched structures. Increasing the …