Digital Commons Network^™

Perceived Quality Of Life In Oil Boomtowns: A Case Study Of Western North Dakota, Ian Nathaniel Geller

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the changes in the quality of life (QoL) perceived by long-term community members in oil boomtowns in Western North Dakota. The study focused on basic QoL indicators and indicators based on oil boom effects. This study explored what QoL indicators mattered most to long-term community members. The main method in this study was a principal component analysis (PCA) done on two surveys from 2012 and 2020 which included many indicators related to oil boom effects. This statistical method grouped together indicators related to each other according to the perception of long-term community …

Parental Telemental Health Satisfaction During Covid-19, Desiree Giesen

Theses and Dissertations

The outbreak of Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) rapidly became a global pandemic in early 2020, forcing the wide spread implementation of social distancing safety precautions. Most mental health services across the United States shifted from traditional in-person services to telemental health (telehealth) in order to safely treat their clients. Using a Grounded Theory theoretical framework, participants were interviewed using a semi-structured format regarding their telehealth experience during COVID-19. Participants were 12 parents whose children had received telehealth services. Themes emerged from their coded responses and were organized into four categories: COVID-19 Impact on Mental Health, Positive Elements of Telehealth, Negative Elements of …

Soil Bacteria Composition In Conservation Reserve Program Grasslands Of The Great Plains, Lydia M. Kantonen

Theses and Dissertations

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a grassland restoration program that allows landowners to remove degraded land from crop production, seed it with a perennial seed mixture, and leave it fallow for the remainder of the contract, which usually ranges from 10-15 years. While some ecosystem functions quickly improve upon CRP enrollment, soil organic carbon is slow to return to pre-agricultural levels. One explanation is that particulate organic matter left by litter takes several years to degrade even with a full bacteria community. Alternatively, it is possible that different chemical components of organic matter require different bacteria communities for full …

The Impact Of The Authority Gradient Created By Rank Imbalance On The Role Effectiveness Of U.S. Coast Guard Safety Officers, James Bernard Mccormack

Theses and Dissertations

Coast Guard air station commands have three department heads referred to as the Tri-P, consisting of the safety officer, operations officer, and engineering officer. The safety officer is generally junior in rank to the other members of the Tri-P despite what is advertised as an equal position within the command structure. The purpose of this study was to explore rank imbalance for Coast Guard safety officers at air stations throughout the United States by examining their perceptions in a quantitative survey. All current Coast Guard safety officers were eligible for participation in the survey. The survey revealed that safety officers …

Serving Their Communities By Preserving And Explaining Their Past: North Dakota County And Local Museums, Austin Allen Olson

Theses and Dissertations

Museum scholars and professionals continue to debate the purpose of museums and their relationships to the public. These contentious debates revolve around the institution’s roles within contemporary societal issues. The purpose of this study is to analyze the expanding roles of county and local museums in North Dakota have in their communities with the goal to understand how these museums can thrive and provide positive outcomes to the communities they serve. This thesis argues that local and county museums must undertake an active role in their local communities to continue to positively preserve and interpret the area’s history. Utilizing interviews …

Natural Fractals And Facial Emotion Recognition, Nathaniel Joseph Pagel

Theses and Dissertations

The psychological benefits that come from visually processing natural imagery have been widely studied. The components of natural imagery that provoke positive responses are not fully understood. This study uses a mixed design approach to identify if the acute exposure to statistical fractal imagery, of both a high-range or mid-range complexity, affects cognitive workload, physiological arousal, and gaze patterns in the recognition and identification of emotions through facial expressions. Participants were undergraduate students fulfilling a partial course requirement (N = 87). Eye-tracking metrics were used to compare exposure to fractal complexities. Participants were randomly assigned to either be exposed to …

Understanding How North Dakota Teachers' Knowledge, Beliefs, And Confidence Are Constructed In An Asynchronous Professional Development Course, Mckenzie Rabenn

Theses and Dissertations

Many researchers have argued that teachers are the most important school-related factor to increasing a student’s academic performance. In turn, schools often turn to professional development (PD) to strengthen educators’ performance and knowledge levels. Indeed, PD can be a prime tool to improve school performance. However, its efficacy is determined by how it is perceived by teachers.

This study examines the experiences of North Dakota elementary teachers who, in response to statewide legislation, enrolled in an online PD and how their experiences shape their knowledge, beliefs, and confidence. Research has demonstrated that these three constructs (knowledge, beliefs, and confidence) have …

The Experiences Of Black Male Teachers In International Schools In East And Southeast Asia, Myson Jonathan Sheppard

Theses and Dissertations

Although substantive research examines the issues surrounding the lack of Black Male Teachers (BMTs) nationally, limited studies involve their experiences in international schools. This is troubling when juxtaposed with their experiences researched and documented during teacher training, hiring practices, and on the job in the U.S. Although the issue is complex, many stem from explicit and implicit racial discrimination from the white racial majority. Given the problems preservice and eventual BMTs face in the U.S., examining BMTs narratives in the international school industry was necessary. Kanter’s token theory suggests that any slice of a social group comprised below 15% of …

Exploration Of Early Career Teachers’ Perspectives On Preservice Training, Classroom Experiences, And Retention, Ashley Smalley

Theses and Dissertations

To promote the advancement of teacher recruitment, retention, and reduce attrition, K-12 teachers need to be fully prepared for the complex nature of being in a classroom, a classroom filled with students of all types. There is a unique nature to education and one must recognize the complexity of each individual student. The context of this study explores early career teachers’ perspectives on their preparedness for teaching. This research examines teachers’ perspectives in their first to fifth years of teaching who graduated from a North Dakota college. Each participant answered 13 questions regarding their perspectives on the preparation they received …

The Impact Of Unmanned Aircraft System Observations On Convection Initiation Along A Boundary In Numerical Weather Prediction, Taylor Nicole Trask

Theses and Dissertations

Executing meteorological research experiments that utilize Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUASs) is difficult due to regulatory limitations, and knowledge regarding weather impacts is limited. To overcome these challenges, an Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) is used herein as a relatively inexpensive method to evaluate how these platforms could hypothetically improve the development, progression, and characteristics of simulated meteorological phenomena in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP). This OSSE is part of a case study of an event that occurred in southwestern Oklahoma in May 2016 to examine how sUAS observations impact Convection Initiation (CI) along a boundary in NWP. Synthetic observations of …

Childhood Adversity And The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, Fourth Edition (Mcmi-Iv), Jenna Marie Wolff

Theses and Dissertations

The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, 4th edition (MCMI-IV; Millon et al., 2015) is a reliable and valid personality assessment based on Theodore Millon’s biosocial learning theory of personality. Millon’s theory evolved to include 15 personality constructs that vary in adaptive and maladaptive response patterns. In his most recent book (Millon, 2011), he presented hypotheses about biological and environmental factors that contribute to development of each personality construct. Many of these hypotheses specify particular adversities in childhood that differentially contribute to each construct. This study is the first to evaluate Millon’s hypotheses about how childhood adversities may contribute to development of …

Need For Vertical Alignment In English Classes Between K-12 And Higher Education Institutions, Kelsey Buchholz

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation was to analyze efforts at the time of this study to vertically align curricula between secondary and post-secondary institutions and then analyze how much needs to be done to close the gap in curricular and performance expectations as students transition to higher education. To narrow the focus, this dissertation specifically followed English content and coursework, but ideas could be conveyed to other topic areas as well. Across the nation, students have been continuing to complete their high school graduation requirements but have been struggling to transfer their knowledge and performance to the next level as …

Mental Health And Youth Sports: The Importance Of Adding A Smartphone App To Improve Awareness, Education, And Resources For Youth Athletes, Kelli Gast

Theses and Dissertations

There is an alarming rate of mental health concerns among today’s youth. Similar trends also show increased anxiety and stress in youth sports. This dissertation examined the impact of a youth sports mental health app called M3Moorhead, which targets mental health and sports psychology education tools and connections for mental health support. Additionally, this study aimed to understand why youth athletes were motivated to download the app, what parts of the app were most helpful, and what motivated the youth athletes to engage in the app. The data for this study was collected through an online survey with the parents …

Self-Efficacy Of Applied Doctoral Students Scale: Initial Development And Validation, Kylie Anne George

Theses and Dissertations

The present study explored the development and initial validation of a measure of doctoral student self-efficacy for students in Health Profession Training (HPT) programs. There is a gap in existing scales that measure the full spectrum of tasks that contribute to doctoral self-efficacy. The scales that do exist focus on broad self-efficacy (Chen et al., 2001) or program-specific self-efficacy in one area (Stump et al., 2012; Van Horn & Christman, 2017; Lent et al., 2003). Our purpose was to develop and provide initial norming and validity information for the Self-Efficacy of Applied Doctoral Students (SEADS) Scale. The SEADS was developed …

Understanding The Characteristics, Motivations, And Preferences Of Non-Profit Donors In Rural Areas, Emily Ruth Gibbens-Buteau

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a two-part study to explore the differences in donation habits and preferences between rural and non-rural non-profit donors. First, a secondary data analysis was conducted on the nearly 160,000 donations from 4,459 real-life non-profit donors utilizing a donor database from Altru Health Foundation. Based on the secondary data analysis results, 28 non-profit donors were recruited for individual in-depth interviews to discuss their experiences and attitudes toward donating money, their motivations to give back to non-profits, and their donation preferences and habits, such as preferred mode of donation, causes they donate to, and types of solicitations they like …

A Measure Predicting Treatment Outcome For Sexual Offenders, Kaitlin Alyssa Guston

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers generally agree that treatment reduces the likelihood of sexual offender recidivism. However, studies show attrition rates of up to 85% in some treatment programs for sex offenders. Because many risk factors for recidivism and treatment attrition are the same, the present study used gold-standard risk assessments to predict which sex offenders would not complete a community treatment program. The Static-99r, Stable-2007, and URICA assessed static risk factors, dynamic needs, and responsivity to treatment for 289 sex offenders. Pre-treatment scores from the sex offenders in the sample indicated that these assessment instruments could predict treatment attrition for sex offenders in …

Spacesuit Hard Upper Torso Assembly: Development Of Fit Metrics And Customized Design Frameworks, Will J. Green

Theses and Dissertations

The Hard Upper Torso (HUT) of the spacesuit pressure garment is a central component of a spacesuit, enclosing the upper body and connecting with the shoulder joints, bearings, helmet, hatch, and waist-brief-hip components. The shape and positioning of the HUT and its connected components are critical for ensuring comfort, range of motion, field of view, and minimizing astronaut injury risk.This dissertation aims to build upon previous work on spacesuit sizing and develop new spacesuit fit metrics. Motion-tracking technology has been utilized to define the reach envelope and range of motion for test subjects wearing a HUT. Subjective surveys have also …

Towards A New Model Of Romantic Attachment For Autistic Adults, Michael Preston Huttar

Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder is an extremely prevalent developmental disorder, which impacts social-relational functioning. The majority of past research into autism has focused on childhood early intervention and skill development. In comparison, a minute amount of research has been dedicated to the study of autistic adults, particularly within the context of romantic relationships. In this article, we explore the relationships between autistic traits, relationship quality factors (i.e. intimacy, passion, commitment, and satisfaction), and the mediating variable of relationship maintenance behaviors as a possible mechanism in explaining this relationship. Contrary to our hypothesis, autism traits were shown to have no relationship with …

Core Values In Higher Education: Students, Faculty, Staff, And Administrator Alignment At A Midwestern Research University, Rodney Deshan Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

A growing body of research exists on core values. However, limited scholarly research exists on core values in higher education institutions that operate in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments. And yet, society entrusts higher education with our nation’s most important resource—our future leaders. University adopted core values serve as guideposts for institution stakeholders. Core values are important for an organization’s identity by providing concise and powerful guidelines for collective stakeholder action. Core values provide a true north values vector, especially when ambiguity and uncertainty exist. This, in turn, helps increase judgement and decision-making skills that are clearly aligned …

Toward National Regulation Of Legal Technology: A Path Forward For Access To Justice, Drew Simshaw

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Computational Framework For Neuro-Optics Simulation And Deep Learning Denoising, Cecilia Ling

Theses and Dissertations

The application of machine learning techniques in microscopic image restoration has shown superior performance. However, the development of such techniques has been hindered by the demand for large datasets and the lack of ground truth. To address these challenges, this study introduces a computer simulation model that accurately captures the neural anatomic volume, fluorescence light transportation within the tissue volume, and the photon collection process of microscopic imaging sensors. The primary goal of this simulation is to generate realistic image data for training and validating machine learning models. One notable aspect of this study is the incorporation of a machine …

Educator Perceptions On Equity And Inclusion In The Classroom, Brittany N. Melfi

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study is to identify solutions that can improve equity and inclusion measures in the educational classroom settings for all school community members. This qualitative research explores educators’ perceptions of solutions and barriers to improving equity and inclusion in education. Currently, there is limited research from this stakeholder perspective. This bottom-up research approach aims to determine the needs of those stakeholders in the immediate environment and what supports they feel are necessary to make immediate and lasting change. The qualitative research study took place in a small Pennsylvania school with an enrollment of 387 students and …

Self-Regulation And Goal Orientation In Physician Assistant And Medical Students, Jay Ryan Metzger

Theses and Dissertations

Self-regulation and goal orientation both play a crucial role in how medical providers learn and master the knowledge and skills that they will use throughout their careers. It is crucial that practicing physician assistants (PAs) and physicians know how to self-regulate their thoughts and actions and when to use resources such as research and peer advice (Ericsson, 2015). This research investigated self-regulation and goal orientation in the clinical training of PA and medical students, examined differences between PA and medical students, and provided insight into how goal orientation and self-regulation play a role in the education of these professionals. It …

Graduates’ Perceptions Of Horizontal Mismatch: A Case Study Of A Marketing Program At A Regional Research University, Michael William Mills

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study utilizes the human capital theory to examine the influence of high impact career exploration and career-focused practices in a public, regional four-year institution. Literature shows that graduates who enter well-matched careers earn approximately 30 percent more than graduates who are not closely matched. In addition, well-matched employees lower recruitment and training costs for employers. The guiding notion of the paper is that students should not only be well-rounded but also be prepared to enter a career that is related to their field of study. Most students attend college to advance their career and economic outlook. This …

Intergenerational Continuity Of Sexual Violence Victimization: A Socio-Ecological Examination Of Risk, Angela Hunter Minnich

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined intergenerational continuity of sexual violence victimization across the lifespan within mother-daughter dyads. Because increased risk for sexual violence in daughters is not the fault of the mother, this study examined risk factors across socio-ecological levels (i.e., individual, familial, and community risk factors) and the interplay across risk levels. Undergraduate and community dwelling mother-daughter dyads (N=202) completed self-report measures of Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA), adolescent/adult sexual violence victimization (ASV), demographics, psychopathology, parenting, abuse and abuser characteristics, intimate partner violence (IPV), rape culture, and sexual education characteristics. Multiple mediation, moderation, and DYADIC analyses were implemented to test study …

“When You Fully Immerse Yourself, That’S Where You Gain The Most Confidence”: Integrating Clinician Perspectives To Reframe Excellence In Neurologic Physical Therapy Patient Education, Allyson Muehlemann

Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study explored the current perceptions surrounding patient education in physical therapy (PT), specifically analyzing clinicians managing patients with neurological impairments. The purpose of this study was two-fold. The first objective was to gain a better understanding of how current clinicians provide effective patient education, and the second objective was to gain better insight into how physical therapists (PTs) develop self-efficacy to effectively provide patient education to individuals with neurologic involvement. In this study, four themes emerged: effective patient education is individualized, effective education should include discharge planning, self-efficacy in providing effective patient education improves with neuro exposure and …

The Impacts Of Airborne Cloud Microphysical Instrumentation Mounting Location On Measurements Made During The Observations Of Aerosols And Clouds And Their Interactions (Oracles) Project, Joseph Robert O'Brien

Theses and Dissertations

ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) was a five-year NASA investigation into the climate impacts of Southern Africa’s biomass burning aerosols. The University of North Dakota, in coordination with the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations, the University of Oklahoma and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign integrated and operated a suite of in-situ cloud microphysical instrumentation into the NASA P-3 Orion aircraft to study aerosol-cloud interactions within this region. However, during the course of the individual ORACLES campaigns, the accuracy of the cloud microphysical observations were uncertain due to the mounting location of …

Teaching Professionalism To Undergraduate Medical Laboratory Science Students Using Virtually Simulated Case Studies, Samantha Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

Professionalism is a required curricular component in accredited medical laboratory science (MLS) programs in the United States and is a critical element for career success and optimal patient care. A standardized definition of professionalism in MLS, however, has yet to be established. This poses a challenge to MLS programs when pertaining to teaching professionalism to MLS students. To explore a novel method for teaching professionalism in MLS, interactive and virtually simulated case studies were designed and built to cover three professional behaviors required of MLS professionals. Before and after case study completion, students (n= 49) responded to a survey designed …

Cognitive Decay And Memory Recall During Long Duration Spaceflight, Terry E. Rector

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to advance the efficacy of Long-Duration Space Flight (LDSF) pre-flight and in-flight training programs, acknowledging existing knowledge gaps in NASA's methodologies. The research's objective is to optimize the cognitive workload of LDSF crew members, enhance their neurocognitive functionality, and provide more meaningful work experiences, particularly for Mars missions.The study addresses identified shortcomings in current training and learning strategies and simulation-based training systems, focusing on areas requiring quantitative measures for astronaut proficiency and training effectiveness assessment. The project centers on understanding cognitive decay and memory loss under LDSF-related stressors, seeking to establish when such cognitive decline exceeds acceptable …

Teachers' Perspectives On Transformational Leadership, Kelsey Rae Peltier

Theses and Dissertations

School leaders aim for steady progress and yearly gains. In most cases, this means modifications must be made throughout the school, particularly within the classroom. If teachers are unprepared or disengaged in the planning process, a program’s success might be at risk. Consideration of teacher needs will be influential in instructional performance and will also have a favorable impact on student achievement. With transformational leadership and its eagerness to include teacher input, reform will surely flourish. Its presence has been reviewed in a quantitative study with participants who currently have a general education position in the same school. An online …