Beyond Challenging Up: How Organizational Climate Shapes Externally-Oriented Courage In The Workplace, Morgan Chandler

All Dissertations

Employees often face situations that confront them with the decision to do the right thing at work despite risk, which requires courage. This dissertation introduces a new form of workplace courage: challenging-around, which, in the context of the present study, involves pushing back against external stakeholders to uphold issues like ethical standards, organizational integrity, or professional judgement. Guided by Worthwhile Risk Theory, the study examined how organizational climate and moral courage influence this behavior. Results show that supportive, goal-promoting climates increase challenging-around, while moral courage independently predicts challenging-around. Additionally, the study validates a researcher-developed measure of challenging-around. Overall, findings suggest …

Sorghum Grain Secondary Metabolites And Underlying Genetics To Reduce Foodborne Pathogens In Poultry, Maria A. Conti

All Dissertations

The rise in antibiotic-resistant pathogens poses a threat to the poultry industry's ability to maintain animal health, prompting growing interest in alternatives to synthetic antibiotics. The use of non-tannin sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] in poultry rations offers a valuable alternative, as this cereal grain has a high bioactive profile that can provide health benefits, including antimicrobial (AM) activity. The scope of this study was to examine the AM potential of non-tannin sorghum grain against Clostridium perfringens, a major foodborne pathogen that negatively impacts poultry health and production. To that end, the inhibitory effects of a non-tannin sorghum …

Central Pattern Generator Test Bench Report, Stephanie Wing-Yee Lee, Dustin Wong, Joseph Hernandez

Electrical Engineering

The project presents the design, fabrication, and implementation of a PCB test bench that interfaces with a custom VLSI chip designed to emulate the neural activity of a Central Pattern Generator (CPG). The test bench provides a precise and reliable platform for supporting signal operations and validating neuromorphic functionality. The design integrates both analog and digital circuitry to provide stable biasing, signal routing, and measurement access for chip characterization. The incorporation of op-amp buffers and adjustable potentiometers enables precise voltage tuning, resulting in controlled neuron-like behavior within the custom IC. The two-layer PCB supports modular interfacing with standard laboratory instruments …

Experiences Of Care From The Perspective Of Students With Disabilities: A Multi-Case Study, Neve Grosse Siegfreid

Dissertations

Inclusion for students with disabilities is often limited to access to the general education curriculum and school environment. Previous research has indicated that teacher relationships are essential to student success. Missing from the research was the practice of care as relational inclusion, as described in Nel Noddings’s ethic of care theory. The purpose of this qualitative, multi-case study was to explore inclusion through care relationships as experienced by students with disabilities ages 12-15 and to contrast their experiences with Noddings’s care as inclusion, as described in the ethics of care theory. Using the philosophical lens of Nel Noddings’s ethic of …

Police, Punishment, And Mental Health: Examining The Effects Of School-Based Services On Disciplinary Inequities, Jessica Peña

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how school-based law enforcement officer (LEO) staffing ratios and school-based mental health provider (MHP) staffing ratios were associated with disciplinary disproportionality for students of color, and whether MHP staffing moderated the relationship between LEO staffing and disproportionality using a comprehensive national dataset. The following research questions guided this study:

Q1 Does disciplinary disproportionality exist in exclusionary practices within the current educational system?

Q2 How are ratios of school police officers related to disciplinary disproportionality?

Q3 How are ratios of school-based MHPs related to disciplinary disproportionality?

Q4 Does the ratio of school-based MHPs …

The Use And Efficacy Of Non-Verbal Gestures In Applied Studio Voice Instruction And Vocal Coaching, Mark Eugene Lubas

Dissertations

Despite important innovations in the use of technology in vocal instruction, individualized, faceto- face communication remains the predominant delivery modality for applied voice lessons and vocal coaching. Applied voice instructors and vocal coaches consistently identify non-verbal, gestural communication as a significant dimension of these instructional interactions. Existing scholarship has examined the expressive use of gesture in musical performance, the role of gesture in facilitating pitch accuracy acquisition among young singers, and the neurological responses of singers to gestural input. However, systematic investigation of gesture as a pedagogical instrument from the perspective of the instructor remains underdeveloped in the literature. This …

Practices And Strategies Used In Classrooms For Children Who Are Deaf With Autism, Jennifer Anne Hills

Dissertations

Deaf education has a history spanning more than 200 years; however, there remain relatively few evidence-based practices specifically identified for use with children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH; Cawthon & Carrie, 2021). In contrast, autism as a diagnostic and educational category is a much more recent phenomenon. Just over 80 years ago, Donald Triplett, became the first person diagnosed with autism in the United States (Donovan & Zucker, 2016). The diagnosis and education of autism is a newer phenomenon with strong research underpinnings. Conversely, the field of deaf education has existed for over 200 years, yet few evidence-based practices …

The Relationship Of Analysis And Performance In Henri Tomasi’S Concerto Pour Trombone Et Orchestre, Craig Owen Hull

Dissertations

Henri Tomasi’s Concerto pour Trombone et Orchestre is regarded as one of the most important pieces within the trombone solo repertoire. However, neither Tomasi nor his Concerto pour Trombone et Orchestre have received a notable amount of scholarly attention. This is likely due to Tomasi’s obscurity to a general audience and too few trombonists engaging in analytical and historical scholarly endeavors. However, the quality of the composer, his work, and the lack of scholarship surrounding it encourage such a study to exist.

The music theory discipline known as analysis and performance relies on analysis and historical context. The combination of …

Between The Lines And Behind The Lessons: An Educational Criticism Of Bridging Anti-Bias Possibilities In Colorado’S K-2 Standards And Classrooms, Grace Marguerite Breiten

Dissertations

In an era of standardized accountability in public education, anti-bias-oriented Colorado educators have sought to foster caring, courageous, and critically conscious citizens by affirming student identity, promoting diversity, demanding justice, and inspiring activism, all while adhering to mandated academic standards. The purpose of the qualitative Educational Critical and Connoisseurship study was to understand and describe how K-2 anti-bias-oriented educators teaching in public schools in Colorado interpreted and implemented Colorado’s Reading, Writing, and Communicating (RWC) and Social Studies (SS) standards using an anti-bias orientation. This study was guided by the following research questions:

Q1 In what ways are Colorado’s K–2 Reading, …

Reframing Health: A Phenomenological Inquiry Into The Lived Experiences Of Weight- Inclusive Healthcare Providers, Hannah Brass

Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the unique lived experiences of healthcare professionals who practiced from a weight-inclusive lens. This study was guided by the following research questions:

Q1 What is the unique lived experience of a healthcare provider practicing from a weight-inclusive lens?

Q2 What are the significant experiences that have influenced the development of weight-inclusive providers’ attitudes (i.e., thoughts, feelings, and behaviors)?

Data from these findings were analyzed using Giorgi’s (2009) descriptive phenomenological method to discover rich descriptions and themes of weight-inclusive healthcare practitioners' experiences. The study explored the significant experiences and supports that influenced …

Protecting The Public: The Impact Of Continued Competence Regulations On Nursing Disciplinary Rates, Laura Katherine Blackhurst

Dissertations

Nursing competence is essential for the provision of quality, ethical, legal, safe patient care. NRBs serve a critical role in establishing standards for nurses that lead to the protection of the public. While most NRBs mandate some measure of ongoing competence, there is notable variation in NRB competence regulations. While competence regulations should reduce the need for nursing discipline, there is limited evidence regarding the effectiveness of these regulations in promoting public protection.

The purpose of this study was to explore how continued competence regulations impact the disciplinary rate of registered nurses. The following research questions guided this study:

Q1 …

Feedback Without Content Expertise: Exploring Teacher Perception Of Effective Feedback In Teacher Evaluations With Content Mismatch, Anna Keathley Bergeron

Dissertations

A key element of teacher evaluation systems is to support professional growth by providing teachers with feedback on their instructional practices and identifying opportunities for improvement. Despite this intent, research consistently indicates that teachers often perceive evaluation feedback as vague, generic, or disconnected from their instructional context. These concerns are particularly evident at the secondary level, where evaluators frequently assess teachers outside their area of content expertise. As a result, recent research suggests that a lack of content knowledge may serve as a barrier to providing meaningful feedback.

The purpose of this qualitative instrumental case study was to examine how …

Conventional Vs. Regenerative Apple Orchard Management In Michigan, Anthony Poynter

Masters Theses

This study compares the variables and outcomes of a conventional apple orchard and a regenerative apple orchard production system in Kent County, Michigan. The premise is that conventional agriculture relies on high-input systems characterized by synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, while regenerative agriculture focuses on long-term soil health, biodiversity, and ecological processes. These differences are important as soil degradation, nutrient loss, and environmental impacts are becoming too significant to ignore. Most research on alternative ways to farm, such as regenerative practices, is focused on annual crops, while perennial orchard systems, especially in the Great Lakes region, have gained limited …

Behavior Of A Mildly Skewed Network Tied-Arch Bridge During Construction And Early Service Life, Harsha Amunugama

Dissertations

This dissertation work investigated the structural performance of the 2nd Avenue Bridge in Detroit, Michigan, the first skewed, unbraced network tied-arch bridge in the U.S. The 245-ft long, 96.5-ft wide bridge features an 18-degree skew. The bridge was constructed using accelerated bridge construction (ABC) techniques, including off-site fabrication at a bridge staging area (BSA) and installation via self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs) and lateral launching, enabling the completion of construction with minimal disruptions to I-94 traffic and improved safety.

Given the unique structural configuration of the bridge, the use of innovative construction techniques, and differences observed in structural responses predicted by …

Black Faces In White Spaces: Understanding School Belonging Among Black Adolescents At Nais Independent Schools, Letetsia Angelica Fox

Dissertations

Even though the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) has been committed to diversity for the last 30 years, they often focus their diversity efforts on all students of color instead of specific groups such as Black students (Brosnan, 2001). By not focusing on the specific experiences of Black students at independent schools, independent schools cannot truly foster a strong sense of school belonging for Black students because they do not understand the distinct barriers and factors that contribute to the development of school belonging for Black students who attend their schools (Hall & Stevenson, 2007).

This qualitative study sought …

Transparency And Accessibility In State Transportation Performance Reporting: A Systematic Examination Of State Department Of Transportation Websites Under Map-21, Jack Alan Klee

Dissertations

In the United States, all 50 State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) rely on federal funding as a key revenue source for roadway preservation programs. The 2012 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) Act introduced a performance-based framework for transportation policy, establishing seven national goal areas that require state DOTs to report performance outcomes. As MAP-21 reaches its ten-year milestone, this dissertation investigates the extent to which state DOTs demonstrate transparency and accessibility in reporting federally mandated performance management results. Despite the centrality of performance reporting to accountability and public trust, systematic evaluations of these dimensions remain limited …

Barriers To Climate Change And Sustainability Action: Nursing Education And Practice, Dawn Marie Smith

Dissertations

Climate change is one of the most pressing public health emergencies of our time and nurses can have a great impact in their current practice and in the education of future nurses (The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, n.d.; American Nurses Association, 2023; Health Care without Harm, 2025). Deaths due to rising temperatures, vector-borne illness, and food insecurity related to drought and extreme weather are on the rise (WHO, 2024). It has been estimated that globally over 250,000 additional deaths will be attributed to climate related effects between 2030 and 2050 (Watts et al., 2020; WHO, 2023).

A primary …

Convergence And Divergence Of Opinion About Treatment Of Binocular Vision Disorders Among Vision Care Professionals, Sonia Young

Dissertations

There are three distinct professions prominent in the field of pediatric vision care. They are ophthalmology, optometry and orthoptics. All professions are integral to the detection and treatment of pediatric binocular vision disorders. However, distinct schools of thought exist to describe the best approach to pediatric binocular vision disorders and their treatments. Literature often highlights two opposing schools of thought represented by the “medical” and “behavioral” approaches. While there is academic debate about the merits and pitfalls of either approach, there is a paucity of nuanced perspectives which more closely resemble the ways in which pediatric ocular clinicians approach diagnosis …

“The Thorns Of The Most Severe Virtue”: Education, Religion, And Cultural Power In Michigan, 1798–1855, Kyle Christopher Vanderwall

Dissertations

This project seeks to demonstrate the centrality of education and religion as cultural power levers used by Americans, Odawa, and Catholic missionaries. Though the power of each culture was uneven, efforts to create educational institutions imbued with different denominations of Christianity, as well as continued contestation over land, remade the cultures of all involved. Americans privileged state-building practices, the Odawa acculturated to remain in Michigan when removal policies were enacted throughout the United States, and the Catholic church attempted to proselytize Indigenous communities.

Although the ethnohistorical method needed to be understood in order to write this project, it is not …

Uncertainty In Neural Networks: An Interval Approach, Yahriel Isaac Guel

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Neural networks produce predictions but not reliable measures of how much to trust them. A clinician handed an output such as "97% chance malignant" has no way to tell whether that 97% reflects the model's actual reliability on inputs like this one, or whether the same number would have appeared on an image the model has no business classifying. The standard approaches to uncertainty quantification - Bayesian neural networks, deep ensembles, and Monte Carlo dropout - are useful. However, sometimes the uncertainty we need to handle only comes as lower and upper bounds. This raises a natural question: what if …

Active And Passive Seismic Studies Across Glacial And Geothermal Environments, Lucia Fernanda Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The collection of passive and active-source seismic data remains central to the detailed investigation and understanding of complex Earth processes across diverse and often inaccessible environments. Of equal importance is the selection of methodologies that must be tailored to the geological setting and dataset resolution to accurately depict the subsurface. In this dissertation, we apply a range of classic and/or "newly" developed algorithms, unique to each chapter, on seismic datasets from distinct glaciological and geothermal settings to evaluate their performance and enhance subsurface interpretation. In Chapter 1, we analyze active-source seismic data from Lemon Creek Glacier in Juneau, Alaska, using …

Voices Of Men In Diabetes Care: Evaluating Participant Satisfaction With A Men's Diabetes Management And Self-Care Program, Elida Herrera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: Hispanic populations in the US experience higher diabetes prevalence, yet Hispanic men participate in traditional diabetes education programs at lower rates than non-Hispanic White men and Hispanic women, in part because existing programs lack cultural and gender-relevant tailoring. To address this disparity, the Diabetes Garage (DG) program was developed for Hispanic men in Southwest Texas, leveraging car culture by using automotive maintenance analogies to illustrate diabetes self-management concepts to engage men. Purpose: To evaluate participant satisfaction with the DG program among cohorts participating across three predominantly Hispanic communities and to examine their personal opinions on their program experience. Methods: …

Robust Logistic Regression With Elastic Net For Contaminated High-Dimensional Data, Chitra Bahadur Karki

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

High-dimensional logistic regression is particularly vulnerable to outliers, which can distort estimation, weaken variable selection, and harm prediction accuracy. This dissertation introduces RobENetLog, a robust elastic net logistic regression method that jointly selects informative variables and reliable observations by extending ideas from least trimmed squares regression to the classification setting. The proposed approach combines adaptive outlier detection with trimmed penalized estimation so that it can address contamination in both predictors and responses across a wide range of dimensional settings. Simulation studies show that RobENetLog consistently improves predictive performance and robustness in the presence of outliers, while remaining competitive with standard …

Morphological And Dietary Consequences Of Hybridization Between Mexican Ducks And Western Gulf Coast Mottled Ducks In A Human-Altered Landscape, Vergie Miranda Musni

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Hybrid zones provide unique opportunities to study morphological and ecological consequences of hybridization. While landscape genetic studies confirm a newly established contact zone between Mexican Ducks (Anas diazi) and Western Gulf Coast Mottled Ducks (Anas fulvigula maculatus), I provide the first quantitative morphological comparisons of the two taxa and their hybrids in Chapter 1. First, I report significant differences among parental species in lamellar density, body mass, tarsus length, and wing chord lengths, with hybrids exhibiting intermediate or backcross-aligned phenotypes. In contrast, measured bill dimensions did not differ significantly between parental taxa. Despite substantial overlap in bill morphology between Mexican …

Simultaneous Carrier, Cargo, And Functional Tracking Of Lipid Nanoparticles, Hannia Vanessa Balcorta Muñoz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have become effective delivery vehicles in nanomedicine, particularly for nucleic acid-based treatments. However, a major limitation remains in the field regarding the simultaneous monitoring of the nanoparticle carrier, its encapsulated payload, and the resulting functional protein production in both in vitro and in vivo systems. Furthermore, traditional lipophilic dyes employed for labeling LNPs frequently exhibit incompatibility with tissue-clearing methods, such as CLARITY, due to signal loss following lipid removal. This research developed and evaluated a new fluorescent labeling method using CM-DiI, a dye that reacts with thiols, for multimodal tracking of LNPs. CM-DiI was included in the …

Tiny Tusk Internship: Gut Instincts: A Review Of Literature On The Impact Of Breastfeeding On The Infant Gut Microbiome, Rayla Payne

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate both the short- and long-term benefits that breastfeeding has on the infant gut microbiome. The PICOT question was: In full-term infants, how does exclusive breastfeeding compared to mixed or formula feeding influence the diversity and composition of the gut microbiome throughout the first 12 months of life? For this research, EBSCOhost, CINAHL, and the National Library of Medicine databases were searched to find relevant studies and systematic reviews. Terms such as “breastfeeding and infant gut microbiome” were used to conduct the search. Other terms used included “breastfeeding OR formula feeding”, “human …

Total Intravenous Anesthesia Versus Inhalation Anesthesia For The Prevention Of Post Operative Nausea And Vomiting: A Comprehensive Literature Review, Francesca A. Diflorio

Nursing Undergraduate

Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is a common complication defined as the occurrence of nausea and/or vomiting within the first 24–48 hours following surgery. While nausea represents the subjective urge to vomit, vomiting involves the physical expulsion of gastric contents; both remain among the most distressing postoperative complications, strongly associated with the type of anesthesia administered. According to Timerga and Befkadu (2024), the incidence of PONV ranges from 25% to 30% in the general surgical population and may increase to as high as 80% among high-risk patients. Complications resulting from PONV can further prolong recovery and negatively impact patient outcomes, …

Bridging Care Gaps For Sickle Cell Disease: Examining Case Management And Healthcare Utilization., Lindsey Page

Doctor of Social Work Capstone Projects

Individuals living with sickle cell disease (SCD) experience complex medical and social needs, including high emergency department (ED) utilization, fragmented care, and systemic inequities. Disease-specific case management has emerged as a promising strategy to improve care coordination, patient outcomes, and healthcare efficiency. This mixed-methods case study examined the impact of disease-specific case management on healthcare utilization, patient-reported outcomes, and healthcare providers’ perspectives. Quantitative analysis evaluated the impact of disease-specific case management on ED and inpatient admissions, healthcare-related costs, and the length of stay for inpatient admissions. Qualitative data were collected using interviews with patients and healthcare providers, exploring utilization, bias, …

The Intersection Of Athletics And Online Abuse: A Study Of Cyberbullying Among Student-Athletes., Kate T. O'Bryan

Doctor of Social Work Capstone Projects

Abstract

The current study aimed to identify associations between social media use, cyberbullying victimization, and mental health symptoms experienced by Division I athletes at the University of Louisville. Using an electronic survey methodology, the current study examined individual characteristics such as social comparison frequency, team culture, and sport-level factors (e.g., NIL–based visibility and online experiences of athletes) to investigate cyberbullying victimization frequency among athletes (N =80) and potential relationships with mental health symptoms. Findings indicate that one-fifth (21.4%) of athletes between the ages of 18 and 24 were cyberbullied in the last month, with rumors spreading and mean …

Analyzing Trauma And Behavioral Health Trends: A Study Of Cans Data From Kentucky’S Child Welfare System., Bradley Scott

Doctor of Social Work Capstone Projects

Children who are involved in the child welfare system experience disproportionately higher rates of trauma and unmet behavioral health needs, which at times often go unmet. This study uses a secondary data analysis of administrative data compiled from the Analysis of Screening and Assessment Practice Study completed by the University of Louisville from Project SAFESPACE data organized from the 2022 assessment year across a sample of 3.759 youth involved in the child welfare system. The study found that a youth who was found to be demonstrating an adjustment to trauma is highly predictive of additional traumatic event exposure. Additionally, it …