Digital Commons Network^™

Stories Of Social Transformation And Resistance: A Narrative Inquiry Into The Culturally Sustaining Practices Of Teachers Of Color, Daniel E. Hernandez

Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, persistent inequities in schooling have intensified the need for asset-based  frameworks, such as culturally sustaining pedagogies (CSP), to support students from  communities that have been historically racialized and minoritized. At the same time, growing  political and social resistance to practices of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has created  barriers for schools and teachers seeking to implement culturally responsive approaches to  teaching and learning. Using narrative inquiry, this dissertation explores the stories of three culturally  sustaining teachers of color to understand how they enact resistance and pursue social  transformation in their classrooms and schools. Through an examination …

Centering Well-Being And Wholeness: Exploring Racial Battle Fatigue Among Black 3-K To Twelfth-Grade Teachers, Olubunmi Fashusi

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study, with some descriptive statistics, examined Black 3-K through 12th- grade teachers’ experiences with racial battle fatigue (RBF), the psychological and behavioral stress responses they perceived most accurately convey how RBF manifests for them, and the strategies they used to disrupt RBF’s impact. Participants experienced compounded RBF due to advocating for students (i.e., speaking out, supporting, or intervening). Participants’ most perceived psychological stress response to RBF was racism awareness, and most perceived behavioral stress response was spirituality or religion. Participants disrupted the impact of RBF through intrinsic care (i.e., purpose or why, managing emotions, and self-care) and …

The Impact Of Corruption On Private Investment In The Mena Region: An Empirical Study On The Period Of 1996-2023, Mohamed A. El Regdawy

Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to examine and understand empirically the impact of corruption on private investment in the MENA region during the period of 1996-2023, as private investment is a key enabler for sustainable economic growth. To better understand such a relationship, a Pooled Mean Group estimator was implemented to figure out this relationship in both the short run and long run. The findings confirm that in the long run, within the context of MENA, corruption was used as a tool to overcome the lack of quality in the regulations that were supposed to enable the role of the private sector. …

From Institutions To Families: Assessing The Progress Of Egypt’S National Strategy For Alternative Child Care Reform, Yasmine M. El Hagry

Theses and Dissertations

This study serves as a critical mid-term review of the Egyptian National Strategy for Alternative Care for Children and Youth without Parental Care (NACS) (2021-2030). The 10-year strategy overall goal is to shift from institutional care, such as orphanages, to family-based care, such as kafala, the Islamic alternative to legal adoption, for children deprived of parental care. While the global literature strongly advocates deinstitutionalization, empirical research on the operational risks and unintended harms that can arise during such complex transformations remains scarce.

Adapting the International Civil Service Effectiveness (InCiSE) Framework, this research uses a qualitative approach to diagnose the …

The Mystical Soundscape And The Functions Of Commentaries On Ibn Al-Fāriḍ’S (D. 632/1235) Naẓm Al-Sulūk, Sherine Mohsen Aboulwafa

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Ibn al-Fāriḍ’s Naẓm al-Sulūk and its earliest commentaries by al-Farghānī (d. 700/1300) and al-Tilimsānī (d. 690/1291) through the analytical framework of the mystical soundscape. Rather than treating the poem and its commentaries as static texts, it argues that meaning in this corpus emerges as an experiential and perceptual event sustained through sound, silence, and reception. The mystical soundscape is conceptualized as comprising two interrelated domains: a silent soundscape, formed through reading, memory, imagination, and conceptual engagement; and an audible soundscape, formed through recitation, pronunciation, rhythm, and communal audition. These domains are linked by the experience of bewilderment …

Turning Boycott Into A Sustainable Opportunity: Leveraging Boycott To Boost Local Production And Enhance Local Market Competitiveness In Egypt, Alaa Maher

Theses and Dissertations

While existing literature largely concentrates on the consumer behavior dimensions of boycotts, limited attention has been paid to their structural economic implications for FDI and local production. This paper frames the 2023 boycott campaign as a demand shock in Egypt’s food and beverages sector. Dependency theory is applied to assess the pre-boycott stage, where MNCs’ market power created structural dependencies within the sector. Dynamic capabilities theory is employed to explain the heterogeneity in firm responses during the boycott and their attempts to acquire sustainable market share. Using a multi-case study design, qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted across 16 firms in …

Design And Optimization Of A Bluff Body For Energy Harvesting Of Transverse Galloping Induced By Low-Speed Wind Using Bernstein Polynomial Equations, Youssef Wael Abdelmoneim

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, a computational framework is proposed for optimizing the aerodynamic shape of bluff bodies used in galloping-based wind energy harvesters. The system targets low-wind speed environments, where normal wind turbines are not effective, offering a potential alternative to batteries used for powering small electronic devices such as wireless sensors. The design relies on the galloping effect, where airflow around a bluff body induces transverse oscillations that drive an energy conversion mechanism. To generate efficient bluff body geometry, the Class-Shape Transformation (CST) method is used to define a wide range of candidate shapes with minimal design parameters. These shapes …

Spatiospectral Lobes And Radiation Modeling Of Partially Coherent Supersonic Jet Noise, Tyce Wayne Olaveson

Theses and Dissertations

Noise fields generated by high-performance military jets are known to contain acoustic structures that differ from their simulated and lab-scale counterparts. These differences may limit current noise control efforts, which are designed and tested at scale before being considered for full-scale aircraft. One such noise structure is the presence of spatiospectral lobes, which appear as multiple spectral peaks at single microphone locations and multiple radiation lobes in field reconstructions. This dissertation uses data collected from the T-7A jet noise measurement to characterize the spatial behavior of the spatiospectral lobes as well as their first time-domain description. A multiple wavepacket decomposition …

Investigation Of Environmental Influences On Multiple Sclerosis: A Study For Egypt’S Health, Noha Ezzaldin Alziny Ali

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex, chronic neuroinflammatory disease influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. While global research has identified potential environmental influences, most evidence comes from Western populations, creating a significant knowledge gap for regions like Egypt, which has witnessed a dramatic rise in MS prevalence over recent decades. This study hypothesized that Egyptian MS patients exhibit a distinct biological signature in their blood, characterized by an imbalance in essential and toxic trace elements (the metallome) and alterations in stress-response biomarkers associated with neuroaxonal injury and cellular stress. Objective: This study aimed to comprehensively profile and compare …

Take Me To The Museum: Exploring The Use Of Art Kits For Families In The Art Museum, Amanda Marriott Elton

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the use of participatory art kits as a strategy for transforming family engagement within the art museum setting. Drawing on theories of experiential learning from John Dewey and participatory art practices rooted in the Fluxus art movement, my research positions art kits as tools that invite active, social, and embodied learning. Using a design-based research methodology, this study investigates how families interact with art kits within gallery spaces and how these tools influence and encourage conversation, artistic behaviors and relational dynamics. Data were collected through observation, family feedback and iterative kit redesign. Findings suggest that art kits …

Parent Perspectives On Primary And Secondary Online Learning, Barbara Tanner Sandberg

Theses and Dissertations

Given the growth of K-12 online learning and the expanded responsibilities parents often assume in this learning context, the purpose of this dissertation is to understand parents' perspectives on K-12 online learning. The first article reviews and synthesizes literature documenting parents' perspectives on how instructional modality affects parental support. Instructional modality affects parental support roles, parental perception of online school support, parents' lives outside the online course, and students' online learning support needs. Hence, parents expect modality decisions to account for modality affordances, student engagement, and personal circumstances. The second article examines parent perspectives on the decision to leave a …

The Disconnect In Female Labour Force Participation Policy In Egypt: Design And Implementation Gaps, Miral Mohamed Omran

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the disconnect between Egypt's ambitious female labor force participation (FLFP) policy goals in the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030 and the declining indicators since its launch. Applying Van Meter and Van Horn's implementation framework, it analyzes the full policy process using qualitative interviews across government, civil society, and private sector actors involved in the national policy’s design and execution. Findings reveal structural failures, resource shortages, coordination gaps, leadership turnover, and donor-driven fragmentation, intensified by cultural norms and frontline resistance. Recommendations prioritize short-term administrative tweaks leveraging public sector downsizing for harmonization and rethinking the …

History Of Midwifery In Arkansas: The Attrition Of Midwifery, Koria Torshia Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past few years, Arkansas has gained a spotlight due to an increase in maternal and infant mortality. This increase has been so massive that Arkansas has ranked within the top five in the nation for maternal and infant mortality rates for several years. A large percentage of the maternal and infant deaths in Arkansas are prevalent in the Black and rural community. This is an issue that has plagued the state of Arkansas for over a hundred years, with mortality rates highly affecting the same demographic of people. How did the practice of midwifery become a remedy for …

Effects Of A Complexity-Based Expressive Language Treatment On Comprehension In Children With Down Syndrome: A Preliminary Investigation, Aliese M. Pedro

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined whether a complexity-based expressive morphosyntactic intervention targeting auxiliary BE questions improves morphosyntactic, vocabulary, and narrative comprehension in adolescents with Down syndrome (DS). Two participants (ages 15;11 and 14;2) received intervention delivered over 15 and 12 sessions, respectively, using a structured narrative-based protocol. Comprehension was assessed pre- and post-intervention using the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Fifth Edition (CELF-5) Following Directions subtest, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Fifth Edition (PPVT-5), the Test of Narrative Language-Second Edition (TNL-2), and the Test of Early Grammatical Impairment (TEGI) Grammaticality Judgment (GJ) task. Results indicate no reliable or clinically significant improvements in comprehension across …

An Exploration Of The Lived Experience Of Married Couples Impacted By Aphasia, Summer Ewell

Theses and Dissertations

People with aphasia and those closest to them experience changes in their lives and relationships due to aphasia. These changes may be particularly impactful for married couples. The aim of this study was to increase understanding of the dynamic and complex experiences of couples impacted by aphasia and to add personal perspectives to the creation of practical treatments and resources. Twenty-eight participants (14 married couples) participated in both individual and couples' semi-structured interviews, resulting in 42 total interviews for analysis. Participants answered open-ended questions about aphasia's influence on the couple's communication and relationship. Interviews were then transcribed orthographically and coded …

The Relationship Between Musical Ability And Perceptual Skills For Speech Motor Learning In Young Adults, Emily Catmull

Theses and Dissertations

Speech motor learning is the multimodal process of acquiring speech sounds. Speech motor learning is trained through speech-language pathologist intervention in individuals across the lifespan. Previous research has explored which factors can influence speech motor learning, such as musical experience or training, which is the subject of this study. Sixty young adult participants (four male, 56 female) were recruited as part of a larger study that examined four possibly influential factors: bilingualism, phonetic knowledge, perceptual skills, and musical experience. Since the adult population has already acquired all the speech sounds in English, learning was measured using nonnative consonant clusters. Participants …

Ethical Recruitment In Graduate Education: How Labor Market Intelligence Shapes Messaging For Master’S Programs With Varying Career Outcomes, Alexander Charles Harm

Theses and Dissertations

Graduate recruitment messaging increasingly incorporates labor market information (LMI) to communicate the value of master’s programs, yet little is known about how marketing and admissions professionals decide when and how to use this data. This qualitative single-case study examines how recruitment and marketing professionals at a public research institution leverage LMI when framing the value of master’s programs with varying career outcomes. Drawing on interviews and analysis of recruitment materials, the study explores how data related to salary, job growth, and employer demand are selectively incorporated into recruitment messaging, shaping how program value is communicated to prospective students. While research …

Same-Subject Induction Experiences For Elementary Music Teachers: Teacher Efficacy Beliefs, Experiences Of Isolation, And Job Satisfaction, Wendy Tams Hickman

Theses and Dissertations

This survey study seeks to explain the relationships between elementary music teachers' experiences with same-subject induction support and those teachers' feelings of teacher efficacy, experiences of isolation, and job satisfaction. Independent variables came from latent class groupings of same-subject induction support for beginning elementary music teachers. Teacher background variables were also included as controls. Three- and four-step regression models helped provide understanding about how the relative set of predictors--teacher background variables, isolation levels, induction experiences, and interaction terms--predicted the three outcomes. Initial regression analyses showed that the number of years of teaching elementary music predicted efficacy and levels of isolation …

From Theory To Practice: Investigating Process Safety Skills Acquisition And Bridging The Industry Readiness Gap, Brittany Butler-Morton

Theses and Dissertations

Process safety management is vital to companies operating highly hazardous materials or processes, and it is of interest to the engineering community as poor process safety judgments can have catastrophic results. Process safety judgments consider more than the prioritization of safety, as they are often influenced by elements like production, spending, reputation, and time. As such, it’s important to prepare engineering students nearing graduation for the complexity of these judgments and narrow the Theory-to-Practice gap for students entering industry. This work sought to identify 1) how the Theory-to-Practice gap is manifesting in process safety judgments, and 2) how the application …

Environmental And Pharmacological Modulation Of Opioid-Mediated Behavioral Effects In Rats, Corinne Ann Gallagher

Theses and Dissertations

Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and opioid-associated overdoses continue to pose significant burden to US healthcare systems—both financially and in lives lost. It is imperative to identify risk factors which may predispose vulnerability to OUD development, which could aid in discovery of new therapeutic strategies for susceptible populations. This dissertation investigated the impacts of two such risk factors which modulate opioid-induced reward and behavioral effects: adolescent stress and the adulteration of illicit opioids by xylazine. In Chapter 2, we examined the effects of acute adolescent stress on oxycodone self-administration in rats, and the potential involvement of the locus coeruleus in these …

Impact Of Generating Culturally Relevant Decodable Text For Upper Elementary Basic Skills Students, Rahsan Saka

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative teacher research study examined the impact of incorporating AI-generated decodable texts that draw on students’ backgrounds on the literacy development of upper elementary Basic Skills students. The study was conducted over a ten-week period with three fourth-grade students receiving Basic Skills reading intervention. Ten personalized decodable texts were generated using the AI tool ChatGPT and were intentionally designed to align with students’ phonics needs while incorporating their identities, interests, and backgrounds. Data sources included teacher journal entries, student responses, exit slips, and pre- and post-assessments. Two interconnected patterns emerged from the analysis: (1) increased engagement and motivation, and …

Traveling Wave Fronts For Sir Epidemic Models With Nonlocal Dispersal And Delayed Effects, Ashley Evette Embry

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates traveling wave solutions for two classes of delayed nonlocal dispersal susceptible--infected--recovered (SIR) epidemic models incorporating biologically realistic mechanisms such as delayed infectivity, delayed dispersal, nonlocal transmission, demographic turnover, and nonlinear incidence effects. These models extend classical spatial epidemic frameworks by allowing long-range population movement through nonlocal dispersal operators and incorporating temporal memory into both diffusion and transmission processes. The primary objective is to establish the existence of traveling wave solutions connecting disease-free equilibria to endemic states and to characterize threshold conditions governing epidemic propagation. The simultaneous presence of nonlocal dispersal, multiple delays, and non-monotone nonlinear incidence terms …

The Correlation Between Perceptual Abilities And The Acquisition Of Non-Native Consonant Clusters, Hope Emma Nielson

Theses and Dissertations

A common approach in the study of speech motor learning is to have speakers learn to produce clusters of consonants that do not occur in their native language. This study investigated the relationship between auditory or speech perceptual abilities and the initial acquisition of non-native stop-stop consonant clusters. Sixty young adult participants (56 female, four male) were administered a gap detection test and a speech-in-noise test to assess their innate perceptual skills. The participants then performed a nonsense-word repetition task featuring non-native consonant clusters in the initial position. The participants' spoken productions of the nonwords were recorded and analyzed acoustically …

Rethinking Functional Groupings In Basketball Wings Through Ecological Trait Frameworks, Dhruv Mehrotra

Theses and Dissertations

This paper starts with a review about Plant Functional Types and then goes deeper into the conceptual foundations of Plant Functional Types (PFT's) with detailed discussion of global trait spectra such as the leaf economics spectrum and the fast-slow continuum. Using concepts like response and effect traits, the review then talks about how a trait based ecological framework can provide a more robust guideline to classify plants. The review then talks about how players in basketball have been classified in the past along with some of the newer typologies. The review starts to draw some parallels between the ecological framework …

Weekly Published Magazine Covers During World War Ii: Cover Photos Used To Represent The Wartime Experience, Annika B. Larson

Theses and Dissertations

Weekly published magazines served largely as news outlets during World War II, and the images on the covers of these magazines were not only an attention catcher and tone setter, but were images chosen to represent the ever-changing landscape both on the homefront and internationally. In addition, these publications often used photographs that represented the developments their allies and enemies were making in tandem with domestic coverage. The entities publishing the magazines were managed by both the government and independent civilians, dependent on the country, thus providing different views of the war. The coverage in the United States and United …

Vigor: Virtual Intelligence For Gaze Observation And Representation, Meherun Nesa Shraboni

Theses and Dissertations

Eye tracking in modern XR head-mounted displays can capture high-frequency gaze data at 90–120 Hz, generating thousands of samples within a single 30-second interaction. At the same time, the XR market has grown to millions of active users worldwide, with major platforms such as Meta investing heavily in eye-tracking-enabled devices. Despite this large-scale adoption and data availability, most applications still rely on hand-controller input, with gaze either processed offline or reduced to a simple pointing signal. As a result, the majority of temporally rich gaze information remains unused in real-time interaction, limiting system responsiveness, reducing interaction fidelity, and preventing effective …

The Reliability Of Yolo Object Detection On The Amd Versal In A Proton Radiation Environment, Jacob D. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Object detection is an important operation for satellites to be able to perform, and in outer-space missions it is crucial that machine learning models perform inference on satellite images accurately and reliably. Where size, weight, power, and other constraints exist, meeting this goal for accurate and reliable object detection is challenging. Additionally, soft errors caused by radiation further disrupt and degrade the operation of object detection in satellites. This thesis studies the performance of a deep learning model on an embedded device, the AMD Versal, in the presence of soft errors. The well-known and high-performing YOLO convolutional neural network was …

The Effects Of Phonetic Knowledge And Bilingualism On The Acquisition Of Non-Native Consonant Clusters, Kylie Wakley

Theses and Dissertations

Speech motor learning involves the production of new sounds or sound sequences. This study investigated how explicit phonetic knowledge and bilingualism affect how individuals acquire sound sequences that do not occur in English, or non-native consonant clusters. Sixty adults with typical speech, aged between 18 and 27 years, participated in the experiment. The researcher recruited participants into four groups based on their phonetic background (experienced or not) and language background (monolingual, bilingual). The participants produced stop-stop and fricative-nasal clusters in the initial position of nonsense words across six practice blocks. The duration of each cluster was measured, which in English …

Multimodal Analysis Of Content Drift And Algorithmic Bias In Youtube Recommendations, Mert Can Cakmak

Theses and Dissertations

Recommendation systems play a major role in shaping how users encounter information on digital platforms, yet their influence often unfolds through sequences of recommended content rather than isolated outputs. This dissertation investigates recommendation bias on YouTube by examining how recommendation pathways evolve across long-form videos and YouTube Shorts. Focusing on politically sensitive narratives, including the China–Uyghur conflict, the South China Sea dispute, and Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election, the dissertation develops a unified framework for understanding how recommendation systems reshape exposure across platform formats. Using an audit-based and multimodal methodology, the dissertation combines controlled recommendation collection, topic and relevance analysis, emotion …

The Washback Effect Of Task-Based Language Assessment On Esl Teachers And Students In A Low-Stakes Instructional Context In Egypt, Marina Alfonse Makkar

Theses and Dissertations

Washback is the effect that assessment exerts on teaching and learning, a phenomenon mediated by learner interpretations, teacher practices, and contextual conditions. Within this perspective, Task-Based Language Assessment (TBLA) emphasizes authentic communication and meaningful language use, positioning tasks as the primary means of eliciting evidence of language ability. While TBLA has the potential to generate positive washback when aligned with instructional goals, its effects remain under-researched in non-traditional educational settings. This study investigated the washback effects of TBLA in a low-stakes English-language instructional context at a school of continuing education (SCE) in an Egyptian private university. Data were collected from …