Digital Commons Network^™

The Case For Visual Art In Overcoming The Double Empathy Problem, Katelyn Milea Rose Nilson

Theses and Dissertations

A person's cognitive environment--made up of their thoughts, experiences, and tendencies--can affect how they empathize with others. Those with significantly different cognitive environments, such as autistic and neurotypical individuals, may have a difficult time empathizing with one another. This study aimed to facilitate empathy between the two groups by aligning their cognitive environments through discussion about visual art. Five autistic neurotypical dyads completed three discussion sessions where they observed and journaled about a piece of art, discussed their thoughts with each other, and filled out a questionnaire about their experience. All participants also completed a post-study interview. Data from questionnaires, …

Modeling The Mark 26 Guided Missile Launching System: Exploring Its Role In U.S. Naval Doctrine In The Late Cold War, Ryan Matthew Cabico

Theses and Dissertations

The Mark 26 Guided Missile Launch System was an innovative and modular upgrade from previous systems for the United States Navy at a critical development point during the Cold War. Its incorporation into the Virginia-Class, especially the USS Arkansas, exemplified the rapidly evolving scope and demands of naval warfare in the modern era, and the requirements of individual vessels and component parts of the Navy to fulfill U.S. naval doctrine in this era. This same rapid evolution in technology and the global political landscape would ultimately seal the fate of the Mark 26 and USS Arkansas, with their designed innovations …

Comparing Emotional Facial Expressions Produced During Personal Narrative Discourse By People With And Without Aphasia, Chloe K. Houghton

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the differences in emotional facial expressivity between people with aphasia (PWA) and control participants during emotional discourse tasks. Participants consisted of 26 PWA and 26 control participants from Aphasia Talk Bank who retold a stroke or illness story and an important life event story, totaling 104 video files. Undergraduate research assistants were trained to code emotional facial expressions according to valence, intensity, and duration utilizing a modified Facial Expression Coding System (FACES; Kring & Sloan, 1991). Dependent variables included positive frequency, negative frequency, positive intensity, and negative intensity. Results from this study demonstrate that female participants used …

A Multiple Case Study On Cisgender Women Experiences In Electrical And Computer Engineering And Computer Science Majors, Alena Marie Degeorge

Theses and Dissertations

Gender disparities are found in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education because of gender norms and stereotypes that project the ideology that men are better at those subjects than women. Women who pursue a college education in STEM encounter barriers that influence them to switch to a non-STEM-related major making them part of the leaky pipeline. This case study examines the experiences that junior and senior cisgender women have while pursuing an electrical and computer engineering or computer science degree and how they overcome barriers they encounter to continue their educational pursuits in a Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) …

From Lists To Infinite Scroll: A Comparative Analysis Of Youtube’S Two Recommendation Algorithms, Selimhan Dagtas

Theses and Dissertations

As social media platforms increasingly dominate information consumption, the role of recommendation algorithms in determining user experience has grown both in complexity and impact. This thesis investigates the behavioral patterns and algorithmic preferences embedded within YouTube’s recommendation systems, comparing long- form videos with the rapidly growing category of short-form content, YouTube Shorts. Through a combination of automated data collection, engagement metric analysis, emotional sentiment detection, and toxicity assessment, this study analyzes the evolution of content over successive recommendation depths. Using a controlled digital environment, the research explores how content recommendations change in response to user behavior, including varying watch times …

Exploring Soft Polymeric Nanoparticles For Targeted Biomolecule Delivery In Plant Cells, Mohammad Rashid

Theses and Dissertations

Safe and efficient agricultural practices require innovative technologies. Nanotechnology offers promising solutions for advancing plant agriculture by enabling the targeted delivery of biomolecules such as agrochemicals and nucleic acids. This study focuses on developing a safe nanotechnological approach for delivering molecules of interest into plant cells. We investigated the ability of four types of polymeric nanoparticles such as Polyethylene glycol N, Nʹ-dibutylethylenediamine (PEG-DB), Polyethylene glycol 2-pyrrolidin-1-yl-ethyl-amine (PEG-PY), Polyethyleneimine (PEI), Arabinoxylan (AX)+, and Zein+ to form conjugates with plasmid DNA (pDNA). Our findings confirm that plant-derived cationic nanopolymers, AX+ and Zein+, effectively bind negatively charged pDNA (pGFPGUSPlus) carrying a GFP reporter …

In Vitro Evaluation Of A Novel Computationally Designed Anticancer Peptide In Ovarian Cancer Cell Models, Basma A. Shaala

Theses and Dissertations

Ovarian cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality among

women, highlighting the need for novel therapeutic agents with improved selectivity and

reduced toxicity. Anticancer peptides (ACPs) have emerged as promising candidates

due to their ability to selectively target cancer cells. In this study, the anticancer activity

of a computationally designed ACP was evaluated in vitro using the SKOV-3 ovarian

cancer cell line, with HEK cells employed as a non-cancerous control.

Cell viability was assessed using the MTT assay, and cytotoxicity was further confirmed

by the trypan blue exclusion method. Apoptosis and necrosis were analyzed using

Annexin V-FITC/Propidium …

From Drama To Change: The Role Of Female-Led Egyptian Tv Dramas In Tackling Women’S Issues And Inspiring Youth, Myrna Bader

Theses and Dissertations

The media is widely recognized as a powerful tool for driving social change, shaping public opinion, and influencing societal discourse. In Egypt, it has played a critical role in addressing women’s issues, including discrimination and societal challenges, by raising awareness and either reinforcing or challenging societal issues. This paper examines the impact of female-led Egyptian TV dramas in addressing women’s issues, specifically taboos, stereotypes, and personal status laws. The paper aims to examine their potential to raise awareness, challenge cultural norms, and inspire youth-driven social change. To achieve its objectives, three female-led Egyptian TV dramas addressing specific women’s societal issues …

Load Balancing In Mobile Networks Using Deep Reinforcement Learning And Traffic Prediction, Shorouk Raafat Mokhtar Abouamasha

Theses and Dissertations

Wireless communication networks are advancing at a rapid pace, driven by various challenges and ambitious goals. This rapid growth is driven by a range of applications, including technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), as well as innovations in smart cities, autonomous vehicles, and more. Different applications demand specific performance criteria such as high data throughput, low latency, robust reliability, and efficient energy usage. In this thesis, we investigate two enhancements that can be adopted in wireless networks to tackle the challenges of resource optimization and network management. The motivation behind this is the fact that future networks will face …

Constraining Nuclear Data Uncertainty Requirements For The 19F(A, N)22Na Reaction For Non-Proliferation Applications, Tyler R. M. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the requirements on nuclear data uncertainties needed for the use of the ¹⁹F(α, n)²²Na reaction for nuclear non-proliferation applications. An overview of how neutrons are produced from alpha decays in a UF₆ medium is discussed. Calculation demonstrate the role nuclear data uncertainties effect the neutron yield and energy spectra as a function of enrichment.

Framing The Sudanese Refugee Flows To Egypt Across Traditional And Social Media., Ghada Abdullah

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the framing of Sudanese refugees in Egyptian media during the first year of the Sudanese conflict (April 2023–March 2024). Employing a content analysis framework, the research investigates content from three Egyptian newspapers—Al Ahram, Al Masry Al Youm, and Al Wafd—alongside tweets from the social media platform X. The study identifies recurring frames, themes, and narratives, highlighting differences between traditional media and social media platforms in their portrayal of Sudanese refugees. Key findings reveal that neutral tone dominate traditional media, focusing on factual reporting, followed by negative, then positive tones. Conversely, social media predominantly features negative narratives, such …

The Effect Of Bilateral Stimulation On Reducing Tantrum Behaviors In Autistic Children, Pui Kwan Chan

Theses and Dissertations

Autistic children often experience difficulty with emotional regulation, resulting in problem behaviors. This study investigates whether wearable vibrating devices, delivering bilateral stimulation (BLS), effectively reduce tantrum behaviors (i.e., aggression, property destruction, and verbal outbursts) in autistic children when used within an applied behavior analysis (ABA) setting. Three autistic children ages 7-10 participated in an A-B-A-B single-case experimental design conducted at a private autism clinic. Each child wore wireless BLS devices during their regular therapy sessions. A functional relation between the independent and dependent variable was observed. The overall combined average Tau-U score across all three participants was -0.41 with the …

Finding Meaning In Mourning: Building Empathetic Responses To Grieving Individuals Using Immersive Technologies, Brooke C. Strong

Theses and Dissertations

Immersive grief narratives offer a novel approach to fostering emotional support by deeply engaging audiences and eliciting empathetic responses. Grounded in the narrative transportation theory theoretical framework (Green & Brock, 2000), grief narrative research, and supported by existing literature on immersive media, this study examines how immersive 360-degree grief narratives compare to traditional video formats' ability to elicit sympathy, affective empathy, and cognitive empathy towards those grieving. Specifically, the study investigates how presence, conceptualized as realism and sense of being there, and narrative arousal shape empathetic responses toward individuals experiencing grief. By integrating these theoretical frameworks, this research seeks to …

Teaching Hygiene Skills To Teenagers With Developmental Disabilities Utilizing Friendship Circles, Nathaniel Medsker

Theses and Dissertations

High school students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) often struggle with hygiene skills, including table manners. These difficulties are especially noticeable in peer tutoring settings. Peer tutors were utilized to increase the mouth wiping behavior of the students with IDD using peer influence through the friendship circles intervention. The participants included high school age students with IDD and accompanying peer tutors from their classroom. This was done in a social setting during lunch while the peer tutors modeled the appropriate mouth wiping behavior and complimented the students with IDD if they also participated in the mouth wiping behavior. The …

The Effects Of Morphine, Thc, And Lsd On Synaptic Plasticity Of The Ventral Tegmental Area, Michael Von Gunten

Theses and Dissertations

The brain is an intricate network of neurons that communicate via synapses. Synaptic plasticity, which is the ability to strengthen or weaken synaptic connections, plays a key role in learning, memory, and reward learning. Disruptions to synaptic plasticity play a central role in addiction, particularly in brain circuits involved in reward and motivation. The mesolimbic reward system, which includes the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and its dopaminergic projections, is a primary target of drugs of abuse, including opioids and cannabinoids. However, the physiological consequences of combined exposure to opioids and cannabinoids and the potential for psychedelics to reverse drug-induced neuroadaptations …

Creating And Validating An Aphasia-Friendly Measure Of Marital Relationships: Preliminary Pilot Testing, Jasmine Espinoza

Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to modify and validate an aphasia-friendly questionnaire that can be used to assess marital attachment for couples impacted by aphasia. Twenty participants (10 people with aphasia and their spouses) participated across two sessions. The study consisted of two phases. Phase 1 focused on modifying the Brief Accessibility, Responsiveness, and Engagement Scale (BARE) into an aphasia-friendly format through collaboration with an expert panel. Phase 2 involved piloting the revised questionnaire on participants with aphasia and their spouses along with a cognitive interview to obtain qualitative and descriptive data to assess the questionnaire's face validity and preliminary test-retest reliability …

Pride Flags And Five-Headed Monsters: A Portrait Of A Transgender College Student's Experiences In Campus Housing, Andrew Bamford

Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to develop an understanding of how transgender students experience living in on-campus housing and how these experiences affect their senses of wellbeing, inclusion, safety, and connection with their college. Additionally, this study solicits suggestions from its participant that can help campus housing departments identify ways to best serve their transgender student populations. Imperative due to the precarity suffered by the transgender community, especially during the notoriously anti-trans second Trump administration (Francois, 2025), this research focuses on transgender student experiences in housing due to the heightened vulnerability they experience in the confines of their on-campus housing assignments (Brauer, …

Conversational Theatre Rehearsals For English Language Education, Empowerment, And Healing, Jennifer Schaupp

Theses and Dissertations

I set out to examine the history and current structure of the English-learning classroom, with a strong focus on adult learners in community-based classrooms, of immigrants, refugees, and more who arrive and make their home in the U.S. as well those born in the U.S. to multilingual homes. I incorporate elements of therapy and theatre, particularly improvisational comedy and Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, as points of comparison to the teachers and students of the classroom by way of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. I use the concept of rehearsal to compare the three disciplines of psychology, language …

Relations Among Racism-Related Stress, Anxiety, Spirituality And Mindfulness In Black Sexual Minority Men, Kainaat Anwar

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract Kainaat Anwar RELATIONS AMONG RACISM-RELATED STRESS, ANXIETY, SPIRITUALITY AND MINDFULNESS IN BLACK SEXUAL MINORITY MEN 2021-2022 Jonathan Mathias Lassiter, Ph.D. Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology Black sexual minority men’s experiences of racism and anxiety have not been documented extensively in the literature. There is also a paucity of research exploring protective factors that can mitigate the effects of racial stress on anxiety in BSMM. Therefore, this study looked at the potential moderating effects of spirituality and mindfulness on the relationship between racism-related stress and anxiety in BSMM. Participants completed measures regarding socio-demographics, racism-related stress, anxiety symptoms, mindfulness and …

Exploring Virtual Group Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Format On Participation Of Parents Of Children With Autism, Abigail Owen

Theses and Dissertations

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and co-occurring challenging behavior (e.g., aggression, self-injury, property destruction) experience higher rates of anxiety, depression, and poor overall well-being. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), which encourages psychological flexibility, is an effective intervention for addressing well-being in this population when presented in various formats. Despite its potential to increase accessibility and improve social connectedness for parents, time commitment may impact parents’ willingness to participate in virtual ACT group interventions. The current study examined parents’ participation in and perceived acceptability of 6 hrs of virtual ACT groups in three different formats: a 6-hr workshop, …

The Earth's Voice: The Social, Spiritual, And Secular Justifications For The Earth's Freedom Of Expression, Ashley Tzeting Pun Eveson

Theses and Dissertations

The Earth's legal right to freedom of speech remains largely unexplored within the broader legal movement for the rights of nature, which emerged in the 1970s. While environmental law increasingly recognizes nature's rights to exist and thrive, as illustrated by legal rights granted to various natural entities--like the Whanganui River or manoomin rice--the Earth's ability to communicate remains underdeveloped. This study employs legal research analysis to examine the philosophical reasoning behind how social, spiritual, and secular frameworks justify the Earth's right to freedom of speech and expression. It explores legal guardianship, scientific data, Indigenous knowledge, and spiritual stewardship as valid …

First-Generation College Students' Transition Experiences After A Bridge Program, Alison Irvine Mcmurry

Theses and Dissertations

First-generation college students (FGCS) often encounter greater challenges than their peers. Universities offer transition programs like bridge programs, orientations, and advising, but service gaps contribute to FGCS difficulties. Bridge programs are often implemented for specific student groups that the university believes to be at-risk or more vulnerable than their peers. Targeted students are asked to come to campus early for additional training, education, and advising. The program is thought to bridge the gap between what they know and what they need to know to be college-ready and on-level with their peers. This case study examines the transition experiences of seven …

Structural Covariance And Episodic Memory: Sex Differences In Schizophrenia, Delaina Brooke Cimmino

Theses and Dissertations

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a chronic brain disease characterized by patterns of positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms that interfere with daily functioning and persist throughout the lifespan. Clinical and cognitive symptoms differ between males and females with the disease, suggesting neurobiological abnormalities that vary on the basis of biological sex. The present study used high-dimensional brain mapping and network analysis procedures of cortical and limbic regions known to be involved in memory formation to investigate sex differences in brain correlates of episodic memory among patients with schizophrenia. This study analyzed multi-site archival data from 363 male (M) and 108 female (F) …

Leveraging Reduced Order Models And High-Fidelity Simulations For Efficient Multifidelity Uncertainty Quantification Of Thermal Systems, Jakob G. Bates

Theses and Dissertations

Simulation-led design is becoming an important part of thermal systems design. Simulations of thermal systems continue to improve in their fidelity, but this comes with an increased computational cost. Additionally, uncertainty in simulation inputs, such as thermophysical properties, leads to uncertainty in simulation outputs. For simulations to be used rigorously for simulation-led design, this uncertainty must be quantified. Performing uncertainty quantification on thermal simulations is made difficult by their many uncertain parameters and high computational cost. Multifidelity uncertainty quantification is a set of methods that reduce the cost of uncertainty quantification by leveraging high-fidelity, high-cost simulations with low-fidelity, low-cost simulations. …

Diagnostic Accuracy Of Nonword Repetition Tasks For Dual Language Learners And Monolingual Students, Elizabeth Hunt

Theses and Dissertations

Assessments for diagnosing language disorders (LD) can be biased for dual language learners (DLLs). Nonword repetition (NWR) tasks show potential as a less-biased language assessment measure for DLLs. This study explored the diagnostic accuracy of NWR tasks for diagnosing LD. There were 291 participants included in this study in first through fifth grades. Thirty-nine of the participants had LD and 86 of the participants were DLLs. Sixteen of the participants were DLLs and had LD. Monolingual participants were administered an English NWR task, and DLLs were administered both English and Spanish NWR tasks. These tasks were scored by percent phonemes …

Leading The Way: Preparing School Psychologists In Postsecondary Transition Training, Kaiya Joy Dawson

Theses and Dissertations

Students with disabilities face significant challenges in achieving postsecondary success, yet training on postsecondary transition planning within school psychology graduate programs remains limited. A content analysis of 252 accredited school psychology programs in the United States revealed major gaps in transition training, with only 1.6% of programs covering all critical domains. Results indicated that 67% of programs include some transition training in at least one domain. Family engagement (42%) and program structure (30%) had the most training, then interagency collaboration (20%), student focused planning (3%) and student development (6%). Notably, programs with larger cohort sizes were correlated with more transition …

Commercial Pressures And Editorial Independence: Egyptian Journalists' Perceptions Of Advertiser Influence In Contemporary Media, Mohamed Ahmed Salem

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the complex interplay between commercial imperatives and editorial autonomy in Egypt’s contemporary media landscape, focusing on journalists’ perceptions of advertising influence. Drawing on Cognitive Dissonance Theory (CDT) and informed by Political Economy and Institutional Theory, the study investigates how Egyptian journalists navigate ethical tensions arising from advertiser demands—both state-linked and private—within a hybrid media system marked by economic precarity, political control, and digital disruption. Through 20 in-depth interviews with journalists, alongside insights from PR professionals, media managers, and academic experts, the research reveals a pervasive erosion of the editorial-commercial boundary. Journalists report widespread self-censorship, blurred content labelling, …

The Influence Of Incorrectly Labelled Ai-Generated Images On Subjective Feelings Of Truth And Memory, Tanner Mckenzie Grubbs

Theses and Dissertations

Artificial intelligence (AI) photo generators generated more than 15 billion images in the past year alone (Valyaeva, 2023). To subdue concerns about misinformation, many online platforms have mandated that content generated with AI be labelled as such (Bond, 2023), but the efficacy of these warning labels is largely unknown. Previous research shows that the presence of an image affects how much we trust the information we are exposed to, so we would expect these AI-generated images to influence people’s beliefs. The purpose of the present research was to examine how AI-generated warning labels influence people’s trust in claims presented with …

Investigations Into Fluorescence Of Fluorene Dimers: Linker Impacts And Tuning Potential Through Substituent Addition, Abigail R. Ressler

Theses and Dissertations

Fluorene-based fluorescing conjugated polymers are being used to develop sensors that show great sensitivity and selectivity, however, important questions about the photophysics of these systems remain unanswered. For example, a fluorescence intensity difference was observed between fluorene dimers linked with either an acetylene (diFA) or phenyl (diFP). The polymers diFA and diFP have similar structures and extinction coefficients, yet diFA yielded a five times higher fluorescence intensity than diFP. In project one, Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Time-Dependent DFT (TD-DFT) were used to calculate the ground and excited states of diFA and diFP. A python code was developed to solve …

Empowering Patients With Health Insights: Development And Utilization Of Knowledge Graphs For Comprehensive Patient Medical Journey Mapping And Analytics, Hassan Saadeddine Al Khatib

Theses and Dissertations

Healthcare advancements require advanced solutions to process and understand complex patient data. This dissertation outlines a detailed framework for mapping patient journeys with knowledge graphs (KGs), which begins by analyzing existing Patient-Centric Knowledge Graphs (PCKGs) literature to identify current research gaps in the representation and analysis of patient journeys. Our research proposes solutions to these gaps through three main contributions. First, we introduce the Patient Journey Ontology (PJO), which enables systematic encoding of patient encounters, diagnoses, treatments, and outcomes into a semantic knowledge structure designed for interoperability. The construction of patient journey knowledge graphs (PJKGs) is based on this foundational …