Digital Commons Network^™

Wetland Restoration Efforts Result In Increasing Phylogenetic Diversity, Nicholas T. Foster

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Over the course of ecological restoration efforts, it has been observed that, despite restoration activities, species richness sometimes declines in a given habitat. While this response can be interpreted to mean that restoration activities are ineffective, other measures known as Phylogenetic Diversity Metrics can show that the community is actually becoming more diverse. Utilizing plant inventories collected as transect data from 1992-2021 of five wetland sites under various types of restoration in northern Illinois, a regional wetland community phylogeny was assembled. The community phylogeny was then analyzed for phylogenetic diversity measures through this 30-year period across the five sites. Additionally, …

Risk-Aware Path Planning For Autonomous Vehicles, Shaghayegh Gaeini

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Autonomous vehicles have been the subject of intense research leading to great improvements in safety, comfort, accessibility, efficiency, etc. Path planning which provides the autonomous vehicle with a smooth, collision-free, and safe path towards its destination, is a crucial part of autonomous vehicles (AVs). Various path planning techniques have been developed in the past decades that can successfully plan a smooth and safe path in various driving scenarios. Nevertheless, these algorithms perform poorly in critical situations where the vehicle needs to quickly make a decision. To address this issue, a couple of algorithms have been proposed to replace the AV’s …

Factors Contributing To College Counselors’ Probability To Take A Client’S Sexual History, Adam Gregory

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Many young adults are experiencing human sexuality related issues and disorders. Researchers have found ample evidence linking hindered human sexuality discussions with clients by mental health professionals to low and reduced comfort, lack of willingness, and non-positive attitudes about sex. There is limited research that shows there is a connection between sex-based discussions in the field of mental health and the lack of clinicians’ education and training in the field of human sexuality. One of the most essential ways to identify, treat, and promote sexual health is a thorough sexual history taking by clinicians. Mental health professionals agree that taking …

Transport Of Polyethylene Microplastic Spheres In A Sandy Aquifer, Alyssa Marie Graveline

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Microplastic particles are currently listed as a Contaminant of Emerging Concern (CEC) since they are in much of Earth’s water systems and recent studies indicate plastic particles can sorb toxic contaminants. Microplastics (MP) are defined as plastic particles under 5 mm in length. Currently, there is a paucity of data on the transport of MP in the subsurface. This study investigated the transport, filtration, retardation, and influence of 5-100ߎm plastic polyethylene spheres in a shallow sandy aquifer over a distance of 1m by utilizing two forced hydraulic gradient tracer studies. Slug tests were used to estimate hydraulic conductivity prior and …

Through The Labyrinth: Lived Experiences Of Women And The Superintendency, Michelle Christine Graham

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Men continue to dominate the superintendency in the United States, even though more than half of the specialized degrees needed to be a superintendent are earned by women (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019; Warner & Corley, 2017). Nationwide, 26.7% of the superintendents are women, while 27.75% of the superintendents in Illinois are women (Heffernan & Wasonga, 2017; Tienken, 2021). This study examined the lived experiences of five women superintendents from Illinois regarding their access to the superintendency and what they perceived to be significant factors along their trajectories. Data for this study was collected through one-on-one interviews using Seidman’s …

Estimating The Sex Of A Skeleton Using Measurements Of The Femur: Assessing Accuracy Among People Of Different Ancestry And Historic Periods, Hannah Decker

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Two of the most common elements used for sex estimation in humans are the pelvis and the skull, as measurements of these two regions can provide highly accurate results. However, in some forensic cases and archaeological sites, the skull and pelvis may be damaged or missing. As a result, it is important to develop methods for estimating the sex of an individual from other bones of the body. In this study, I specifically examined the femur and determined classification accuracy rates for six femoral measurements: the supero-inferior neck diameter, epicondylar breadth, vertical head diameter, transverse femoral head diameter, femoral shaft …

Touchpoints: How Faculty And Advising Understand And Colloborate On Guided Pathways Reforms To Influence And Support Major Choice In A Community College, Bryant Bates Manning

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Guided pathways is a nationwide whole-college reform that aims to improve college completion rates and times for students, especially in the community college sector. This multisite case study sought to explore how pathways institutions supported students to better align with the right academic and career programs. Through individual semi-structured interviews, faculty members and advisors reflected on if and how they collaborated to better serve students in this capacity. Three themes emerged during data analysis and were reported in narrative form: a.) divergent faculty and advising attitudes about pathways reforms, b.) inconsistent perceptions on levels of collaboration, and c.) criticisms and …

Dissociating Sensorimotor And Posterior Parietal Contributions To Fine Motor Control In Female And Male Mice, Jenna Rae Osterlund Oltmanns

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Fine motor control is a beneficial adaptation animals have developed. This ability allows animals to traverse difficult terrain, manipulate food, build shelter, and handle tools. Loss of fine motor control occurs in half of patients that survive stroke, a devastating neurological event affecting 15 million people annually. While many patients experience spontaneous recovery in the first month following stroke, about half of stroke survivors remain permanently disabled. Though medical advancements have increased survival rates, stroke remains a leading and rising cause of disability. There has been only one pharmaceutical intervention made available to patients in the last twenty five years. …

An Exploratory Case Study On The Perspectives Of African American Men Pursuing A Career And Technical Education (Cte) Pathway At An Urban Community College In Illinois, Kimberly Kay Hollingsworth

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative case study explores the motivating factors that influence CTE pathway selection for African American men students and will investigate the interplay between two components of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), self-efficacy and outcome expectations, and their role in the career decision-making process. Drawing upon SCCT, this case study seeks to understand the decision-making process of African American men pursuing CTE programs at an urban community college in Illinois. This study further explored whether culture/race shapes the perspectives of African American men students and their decision to pursue a CTE pathway. Lastly, the study will investigate the types of …

Perceptions Of Family-Of-Origin Belief Systems Among Cisgender Men In Outpatient Treatment For Sexual Offending: A Phenomenological Investigation, Jessie K. Huebner

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Sexual offending is a public concern and results in lasting detrimental effects. To prevent sexual offending, it is important to identify potential factors that increase an individual’s vulnerability to engage in sexual offending behaviors. Researchers have identified a general connection between early life experiences, specifically family-of-origin experiences, and later sexual offending behaviors. There is also an established agreement on the transmission of thoughts and beliefs present within a family unit on the development of thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, and behaviors for a child as they age and into adulthood. Among individuals who offend sexually, implicit theories, the underlying beliefs that began …

Three Essays Examining The Impact Of Paid Maternity Leave Offers On Women’S Labor Market Outcomes, Murshed Jahan

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays on the relationship between paid maternity leave benefit offers and different labor market outcomes of women of childbearing age. The first essay examines the impact of paid maternity leave offers in fringe benefit packages on wages of this particular group of women. Since the access to paid maternity leave and wage can be simultaneously determined by other factors, this essay uses an instrumental variable approach to estimate the effect. The information on access to paid maternity leave and other covariates for this analysis is extracted from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97). …

Medical Laboratory Professional Faculty Perspectives On Academic Integrity: A Narrative Inquiry, Andrea L. Jensen

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Academic integrity is a critical practice in medical laboratory professional (MLP) programs because academic health professions programs prepare learners for their future professional roles in healthcare. Because dishonest conduct and/or a lack of competence in healthcare environments can negatively impact patient safety, it is essential that MLP students establish integrity skills and build professional competence while completing their academic programs. Faculty in MLP programs play an important role in helping students develop themselves into scrupulous, competent practitioners. This qualitative study explored the perspectives of MLP faculty through a narrative inquiry of their lived experiences around academic integrity. Findings from this …

Three Essays Examining The Effects Of Labor Market Conditions On College Enrollment And Completion, Dezhi Jiang

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This research explores the causal effects of labor market conditions on college enrollment and attainment of high school graduates and answers the following questions: Does leaving high school in unfavorable labor market conditions cause a higher probability of college enrollment? Is this effect different between gender and across racial/ethnic groups? Does this effect vary regarding cognitive ability? Does this effect change over cohorts/generations? And does the positive effect on college enrollment in the short run translate into a positive effect on college degree attainment later?

The analysis that uses the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) data suggests that …

Preservice Teacher Socialization For Social Justice: Exploring Stances And Enactments Of Social Justice Pedagogies, Eric R. Junco

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This multicase study examined the socialization experiences of four preservice high school English teachers from four different Midwestern teacher education programs to understand how their acculturative and professional socialization experiences influenced their social justice beliefs. This study also examined how participants’ most salient social justice beliefs took shape within their social justice stances, mission-oriented approaches to enact social justice pedagogies like culturally responsive teaching, antiracist pedagogy, and culturally sustaining pedagogy within their classrooms. This study was framed by occupational socialization theory and critical race theory. Data were collected from the Learning to Teach for Social Justice Belief Scale, interviews, and …

Microbial Community And Soil Responses To Land Management Practices In Remnant And Restored Tallgrass Prairies, Desirae Marie Klimek

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Critical ecosystem functions, such as decomposition and nutrient cycling, are driven by microbial communities within soil. As such, it is important to examine the effect of restoration practices, such as the presence of native grazers and prescribed burning, on these microbes and the soil they inhabit. The Nachusa Grasslands provides a chronosequence of restored tallgrass prairies ranging in restoration age from 5 to 33 years, as well as remnant prairies, and agricultural fields. These sites were sampled seasonally from 2013-2020 and microbial ribosomal RNA genes were surveyed to characterize soil microbial communities and assess how common restoration practices affect these …

Longitudinal Associations Between Parenting Stress, Adolescent Temperament, And Externalizing Behaviors, Kristina Kochanova

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Although there is growing evidence that parenting stress and adolescent externalizing problems are linked cross-sectionally similarly to families of younger children, longitudinal research examining the direction of these associations among families of adolescents is limited. This study examined the direction of the link between parenting stress and adolescent externalizing problems over time and whether the associations differed due to adolescent temperament. Participants were 333 biological mothers (Mage = 40.15, SDage = 6.86; 75.7% White) with a 12- to 17-year-old adolescent. They were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and completed psychometrically valid measures through Qualtrics at two time points, six months …

Impact Of Prairie Restoration On Geochemistry And Microbial Communities In Groundwater, Kayla Koenig

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Prairie restoration is important for reversing the loss of biodiversity and repairing ecosystem functions humanity is dependent on diverse ecosystems. This study looks at the impact of the beginning phases of prairie restoration on groundwater geochemistry and microbial communities the relationship between them. This research project studied the geochemistry and microbial communities in five wells before, during, and after the beginning phases of the first year of a prairie restoration on the Northern Illinois University campus. Water samples were collected bimonthly for a year and analyzed on an Ion Chromatograph. Microbial samples were collected monthly and underwent DNA extraction, amplification, …

Palliative Care For The Pandemic ; Zoom New World-Skills I Learned During The Pandemic, Krysten Vance

The Art of Medicine

No abstract provided.

Isolation, Chloe Olson, Teresa Eberhart

The Art of Medicine

No abstract provided.

Untitled, Nate Singh

The Art of Medicine

No abstract provided.

Numb, Anonymous -

The Art of Medicine

No abstract provided.

We Made It. Now What? A Qualitative Case Study Exploring How The Transition Of Black Men To A Historically Black Community College Is Influenced By Orientation 101, Eric R. Agee Jr.

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

A gap in achievement among Black men who pursue post-secondary education remains. Many Black men start their college education at community colleges, but little is known about their experiences at Historically Black Community Colleges (HBCCs). The purpose of this dissertation of practice was to gain insights into the influence of College 101, also labeled Orientation to College 101 (ORI 101), on the transition of Black men to an HBCC. I utilized a qualitative case study design. The main data source were 15 semi-structured interviews, which were supplemented with closed-ended student survey responses on the ORI 101 course evaluation and the …

Effect Of Cash Transfer On Household Fertility Choice And Children's Human Capital Accumulation In Uganda, Shaila Ahmed

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This analysis examines the effects of conditional and unconditional cash transfer on household fertility decisions and other indicators of human capital accumulation. To test my hypotheses, I rely on the UCT and CCT sub-arms of the Cash-Plus Program recently implemented in Uganda. The design of the Cash-Plus Program follows randomized control trials for intervention. My empirical findings show that the Cash-Plus Program have no discernible impact on beneficiary households' pregnancy incidence. The only effect on the primary outcomes of interest is a marginally significant effect for household heads aged 25 to 49, who received unconditional treatments. The results also show …

Impact Of Public And Private Investments On Economic Growth Of Developing Countries, Faruque Ahamed

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This paper aims to study the impact of public and private investments on the economic growth of developing countries. The study uses panel data from 39 developing countries covering the periods 1990-2019. The study is based on the neoclassical growth models or exogenous growth models in which land, labor, capital accumulation, etc., and technology proved substantial for economic growth. The paper uses the impact on overall GDP growth and GDP per capita growth. The study used a mixed-effect regression model and a Bayesian logistic regression model to derive the findings. For private investments, domestic credit has a positive association, but …

Understanding The Impact Of Collective Efficacy And Race/Ethnicity On Child Internalizing And Externalizing Symptomatology, Demy Alfonso

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Neighborhood collective efficacy has emerged as an important predictor of mental health problems, specifically internalizing and externalizing behaviors, among adolescents. Existing research has shown that the association between collective efficacy and mental health problems may differ according to the child’s racial or ethnic background. The present study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the direct associations between collective efficacy at age 9 and internalizing and externalizing symptoms at age 15, while controlling for several demographic variables. Subsequently, a multigroup SEM approach was utilized to explore whether associations between neighborhood collective efficacy at age 9 and externalizing and internalizing symptoms …

Representations And Perceptions Of Sexual Pleasure In Undergraduate Anatomy And Physiology (A&P) Courses, Brenda Kucha Anak Ganeng

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The World Health Organization defines sexual pleasure as an important part of positive sexual experiences and sexual health. Despite its importance, sexual pleasure is often omitted from sexual health programming and curricula. Undergraduate human anatomy and physiology (A&P) courses serve as avenues where students who intend to go into health care learn foundational knowledge about human body systems and health; however, to our knowledge, there has been no documentation of if and how A&P students learn about sexual pleasure. A&P textbooks serve as an important resource for curriculum design and learning. I sought to answer the following research question: How …

Transgenerational Effects Of Chronic Preconception Stress On Developmental And Health Outcomes In Prairie Vole Offspring: Potential Mediation By Parental Emotionality, Mother-Father Bond, Or Parental Care Quality, W. Tang Watanasriyakul

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Background: A positive rearing environment is important for the health and well-being of growing offspring. Chronic parental stress can create a toxic rearing environment, which may impair developmental and sociobehavioral outcomes of the offspring. Specifically, parental stress is linked to unstable parental emotionality, tension between mother and father, and poor parenting quality, although the inter-relatedness of these factors and the mechanisms through which they contribute to the outcomes of the offspring need further investigation. The current study investigated developmental and sociobehavioral outcomes in prairie vole offspring exposed to chronic preconception stress, with parental emotionality, strength of mother-father bond, and parental …

What Mother Meant: Maternal Competence, Medical Authority, And Memory In The Case Of Mary Bickerdyke (1820-1910), Megan Marie Vangorder

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Mary Ann Bickerdyke, a poor widowed mother from Galesburg, Illinois, cared for sick and wounded soldiers across the Western theater throughout the course of the American Civil War. As a result of her efforts, authors and historians lauded her accomplishments. Her success as a Civil War nurse and Sanitary Commission agent has been the subject of several biographies and young adult books that idealize the role of women during the war. These portrayals suggest that Mary Bickerdyke provided an example of determined professionalism during the war years.

Those histories, however, do not tell the whole story. Mary Bickerdyke’s professional journey …

“Not A Typical Adjunct”: Qualitative Case Studies Of Adjuncts Serving A Teacher Preparation Program, Rachel Lee Warren

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The teacher shortage in Illinois drives a need for robust teacher education programs. Simultaneously, changes in higher education have forced a dependence on adjunct instructors. While this provides an opportunity to have teacher candidates instructed by talented, accomplished current practitioners, adjuncting is a low-paid, exhausting job with little security. As adjuncts are predominantly women, this suggests the issue is gendered. In a descriptive case study of five adjuncts serving a teacher preparation program, findings show that adjuncts experiences gendered organizational practices through invisible and emotional labor as well as through interaction with the ideal worker norm.

The Impact Of Community Violence Exposure On The Health Behaviors And Health Service Utilization Among High-Risk Black Men, Paris Willis

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative study explored the lived experience of high-risk Black men exposed to community violence in hopes of understanding their health challenges and behaviors in highly violent communities. Eleven Black men considered high-risk participated in the study through individual semi-structured interviews addressing the research questions below:1. How do high-risk Black men perceive community violence? 2. How do high-risk Black men maintain their health residing in high violent communities? 3. How do high-risk Black men in high violent communities utilize healthcare? 4. Do high-risk Black men exposed to community violence trust healthcare providers? Community violence exposure is a complex multilayered topic …