Digital Commons Network^™

Empowered Presence: Theorizing An Afrocentric Performance Of Leadership By African American Women, Sharon Wamble-King

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

There is a paucity of theorizing concerning leadership enactments performed by African American women. The performances have been marginalized and obscured within the Western leadership canon as they fall outside its epistemological boundaries; they have also been sidelined within Critical Leadership Studies. This study employed Afrocentricity as a decolonizing paradigm and Africology as the research methodology to describe and define a leadership phenomenon enacted by African American women. Setting aside Western conceptions of leadership, focus groups of African American women examined video excerpts of Africana women’s oral performances through an Africological lens. Participants’ Afrocentric-oriented perceptions sparked collective storytelling and Meaning-Making …

A Case Study On Factors Influencing Retention Of Mental Health Clinicians In A New Hampshire Community Mental Health Center, William E. Keating

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study examined the perspectives of master-level clinical mental health providers and members of leadership at a Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) in New Hampshire, to understand clinician and leadership perspectives as to why master-level providers choose to continue working at CMHCs. Most prior research on turnover in such organizations has focused on why so many leave their positions, however this study instead focuses on factors related to the decision to stay at a specific CMHC in an urban area of New Hampshire. A single case study method was utilized to focus on masters-level mental health care providers with additional …

Learning From The Courageous Actions Of War And Post-War Time Teachers: A Bricolage Of Bosnian Educators, Elana Micahl Haviv

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study was to identify the preconditions that inspire courageous action through exploration of the choices made by four classroom teachers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Each educator had made the decision not only to teach during or after the 1992–1995 war and genocide in their country, but to do so in ways that went against official post-war teaching guidelines. Although there are a vast number of studies on courage in literature, there is little research that includes teachers who remained in their classrooms during wartime or chose to enter their classrooms in transitional societies after their communities …

Internalized Transphobia And The Development Of Disordered Eating Behaviors In Gender Diverse Adults, Bonnie Kester

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Gender diverse individuals experience a multitude of oppressive interactions within our society and receive incessant messages of invalidation, oppression, and aggression. These chronic stressors have been shown to increase the risk of developing disordered eating behaviors within this population. The current study aims to explore how internalized transphobia may affect the development of disordered eating behavior as viewed through the Minority Stress Framework. This study explored the lived experience of being gender diverse in our society and how this may relate to the development of disordered eating behavior while also investigating protective factors. This study utilized a qualitative phenomenological methodology, …

Experiencing Workplace Inclusion: Critical Incidents That Create A Sense Of Inclusion For Professional Staff In Higher Education, Katherine Penn Lampley

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Professional staff make up the majority of employees at colleges and universities in the United States but are rarely the focus of research in higher education. As a result, little is known about how these employees experience the workplace, creating a challenge for educational institutions working to attract, develop, and retain this essential resource. Employees who feel included in the workplace have higher performance levels and are more likely to remain with their organizations, but workplace inclusion is a complex and undertheorized psychological phenomenon. This exploratory study provides insight into the psychological experience of inclusion by examining the experiences, interactions, …

Relationship Goals: How Do Relational Therapists Conceptualize Cases And Treatment Plan When Working With Consensually Non-Monogamous Clients?, Caitlyn Burns

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study aimed to explore how relational therapists in the United States conceptualize cases and treatment plan when working with consensually non-monogamous clients and how dominant discourses about relationships (mononormativity) influence relational therapists during this process through a queer theory lens. This was a grounded theory study and surveyed a sample of thirty relational therapists or therapists-in- training. Results showed relational therapists conduct conceptualization and treatment planning through a two-part process. Therapists intend to treat CNM clients the same as any other client, but are unable to do so due to dominant discourses of mononormativity. Furthermore, mononormative discourses influenced relational …

Executive Functioning Among The Karyotypes In Turner Syndrome And Implications For Interventions, Sara Scull

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Turner syndrome (TS) is a genetic disorder seen in phenotypically female (pf) individuals who have either a complete or partial absence of the second sex (X) chromosome. TS includes different karyotypes, and it presents with a variety of phenotypic and genotypic features. In general, the neuropsychological profiles for individuals diagnosed suggest that TS can contribute to challenges in various aspects of daily life, including social and emotional functioning. With regard to academic performances, individuals with TS often present with relative strengths in a range of verbal abilities and relative weakness in visual-spatial/perceptual abilities, nonverbal memory, motor function, processing speed, executive …

Black Mental Health Clinicians' Experiences And Lessons From The Intersecting Crises Of Black Mental Health, Covid-19, And Racial Trauma: An Interpretive Phenomenological Study, Chanté Meadows

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study explored the experiences of African American mental health clinicians’ during the intersecting crises of the Black mental health crisis, the highly publicized racial tension tied to extrajudicial violence and over-policing of Black Americans, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic started a global crisis that affected millions of people’s physical and mental health and overall well-being. Shared trauma explores the duality of mental health clinicians’ personal and professional experiences. Grounded in critical race theory and models of trauma, this study explores Black mental health clinicians’ lived experiences and lessons. This is an interpretive phenomenological study with narrative interviews of …

Black Marriage, Attachment And Connecting In Relationships: An Observational Multi-Method Study Investigating The Effects Of The Getting The Love You Want Workshop On Black Couples’ In-Session Attachment, Interactions, Marital Satisfaction And Communication, Paula Smith

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The focus of this dissertation is examining the impact of Imago Relationship Therapy (IRT), more specifically the “Getting the Love You Want” workshop (GTLYW), on five Black/African American couples’ attachment, interactions, marital satisfaction and communication. This study examines Black couples’ lived experiences through a modified version of a quantitative measure, called the Patient Attachment Client System (PACS), the Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire-Revised (MSQ-R), semi-structured questionnaires to measure qualitative data as well as direct observation of participants’ interactions. PACS analyzes how patients’ in-session discourse enables them to share present experiences and link these processes with their attachment structure. In this view, attachment …

Counselors’ Lived Experience Treating Patients Utilizing Methadone: The Intersection Of Culture, Policy, And Stigma, Kathryn Floyd Eggert

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The United States continues to experience unprecedented deaths related to the opioid epidemic. Efforts to address the epidemic remain hampered by war-on-drugs policies that stigmatize people who use drugs and create barriers to accessing evidence-based treatments, particularly methadone maintenance treatments (MMT). Despite 50 years of research regarding MMT, it remains highly regulated, and arguably the most stigmatized treatment. The punitive regulatory structure of MMT remained unchanged until emergency waivers were initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study used an exploratory, critical phenomenological approach to examine the intersection of culture and regulation on the lived experiences of 26 addiction counselors who …

Once More, With Feeling: Partnering With Learners To Re-See The College Experience Through Metaphor And Sensory Language, Taran Cardone

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study focuses on better understanding students and their internal worlds through conceptual metaphor theory and sensory language. Using a phenomenological and arts-based approach, I examined students’ metaphorical constructions of their college experiences and the sensory language and information informing those constructions. By engaging participants in a multimodal process to re-see their experience through connoisseurship and criticism, I explored the following research questions: How do students metaphorically structure their college experience? What sensory language do college students use to describe the metaphorical dimensions of their college experience? How does sensory information shape the metaphorical structuring of their college experience? Through …

Diabetes Distress In U.S. Adults During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review, Joanna Leah Sullivan

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common metabolic disease that continues to grow in prevalence, affecting around 11% of the U.S. population in 2019. Although DM has a clear medical cause, a growing body of research points to social determinants of health (SDOH) and psychosocial factors as important mediators of prevalence and severity of DM. Diabetes distress, a mental health phenomenon arising out of the challenges of living with a stigmatized and demanding chronic disease, is one such factor. Given the heightened effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychosocial stressors and vulnerability to mental health disorders, it is important to understand …

Mokṣa, Seeking A Humanizing Way Of Being: I Am Recognized. I Am Acknowledged. I Am Human., Lauralynn Jansen

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation delves into the intricate dimensions of humanization by shifting the analytical focus from denial and exclusion to affirmative aspects of inclusion. The central aim of this research is to unravel the mechanisms underlying the process of humanization, or how individuals perceive and internalize their being recognized as human beings. Employing the critical incident technique, this research methodically examined the lived experiences of a highly diverse group of individuals living with varying social stigmas and how they experience humanization. This research displays the intricate interplay of language, actions, and sensory elements engendered before, during, and after a humanizing moment. …

More Than Mindfulness: The Effectiveness Of An Ecospiritual Fellowship In Building Connection, Promoting Wellness, And Transforming The Ecological Worldviews Of Teachers, Medora West Willmore

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Action towards planetary well-being requires more than environmental awareness, acquisition of knowledge, or technological fixes; it necessitates a sacred connection, recognizing interdependence, and an ethic that maintains dignity for all non-human beings. It requires a shift in our ecological consciousness from the dominator and exploitative (I-it) view to the connected and participatory (I-thou) view which is best facilitated by an emerging paradigm called ecospirituality. For the next generation to adopt this paradigm, teachers must first adopt it. The research goal was to to transform teachers’ relationship with the natural world by enlisting ecospirituality as central in supporting teacher wellness, as …

From A Boy To A Leader, Alejandro Zayas

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The following autoethnographic dissertation examines my personal experiences of trauma, abuse, and violence. Drawing on journals, memories, and artifacts from my life, I use self-reflection to illustrate the impacts of trauma on my childhood and adulthood. My traumatic experiences of sexual abuse, childhood violence, and emotional abuse are situated within broader sociocultural contexts of masculinity, Hispanic culture, and social norms. This study illuminates possibilities for healing and transformation for myself and others with shared traumatic backgrounds. It calls for trauma-informed education, masculinity, and resiliency. Evocatively sharing my traumatic life events provides an accessible window into often silenced experiences, bearing witness …

Teaching Without Walls: A Portraiture Study Of Nature-Based Educators In Duluth, Minnesota, Christina Wild

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation explores the lived experience of nature-based educators in Duluth, Minnesota. Portraiture served as the methodological framework for learning about how teachers in Duluth got into teaching and why they remain on the job. Teacher turnover and attrition is a national problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, teachers who perceive better working conditions are less likely to leave the profession. In addition, nature-based education has positive influences on students. Past research in nature-based education has looked at students rather than teachers. This study’s findings offer key lessons in the stories of educators who stay in teaching and experience …

A Theory Of The Covid-19 Pandemic’S Impact On The Government-Citizen Relationship / Teorija Vpliva Pandemije Covid-19 Na Odnos Med Vlado In Državljani, Lewis Luartz

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

This paper explores how crises, such as the COVID- 19 pandemic, can impact political behavior amid restrictions. Specifically, this paper builds a theoretical model suggesting the pandemic promoted restriction-oriented policies from the government in response to the crisis while promoting populist tendencies among citizens who disagree with those policies. Moreover, through a formal two-player extensive form game, the model promoted in this paper suggests restrictions are unpopular enough that citizens may push back on such policies regardless of crisis severity. The theoretical outcomes here have significant implications on governance, given that politicians care about re-election.

Tau-Function Formulation For Bright, Dark Soliton And Breather Solutions To The Massive Thirring Model, Junchao Chen, Bao-Feng Feng

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In the present paper, we are concerned with the link between the Kadomtsev–Petviashvili–Toda (KP–Toda) hierarchy and the massive Thirring (MT) model. First, we bilinearize the MT model under both the vanishing and nonvanishing boundary conditions. Starting from a set of bilinear equations of two-component KP–Toda hierarchy, we derive multibright solution to the MT model. Then, considering a set of bilinear equations of the single-component KP–Toda hierarchy, multidark soliton and multibreather solutions to the MT model are constructed by imposing constraints on the parameters in two types of tau function, respectively. The dynamics and properties of one- and two-soliton for bright, …

Probabilistic Solutions Of Fractional Differential And Partial Differential Equations And Their Monte Carlo Simulations, Tamer Oraby, Erwin Suazo, Harrinson Arrubla

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

The work in this paper is four-fold. Firstly, we introduce an alternative approach to solve fractional ordinary differential equations as an expected value of a random time process. Using the latter, we present an interesting numerical approach based on Monte Carlo integration to simulate solutions of fractional ordinary and partial differential equations. Thirdly, we show that this approach allows us to find the fundamental solutions for fractional partial differential equations (PDEs), in which the fractional derivative in time is in the Caputo sense and the fractional in space one is in the Riesz–Feller sense. Lastly, using Riccati equation, we …

Long-Time Asymptotics Of A Complex Cubic Camassa-Holm Equation, Hongyi Zhang, Yufeng Zhang, Zhijun Qiao

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

n this paper, we study the Cauchy problem of the following complex cubic Camassa-Holm (ccCH) equation mt=bux+12[m(|u|2−|ux|2)]x−12m(uu¯x−uxu¯),m=u−uxx,

where b is an arbitrary real constant. %By applying ∂¯-steepest descent method, l Long-time asymptotics of the equation is obtained through the ∂¯-steepest descent method. Firstly, based on the spectral analysis of the Lax pair and scattering matrix, the solution of the equation is able to be constructed %can be expressed by %the solution of via solving the corresponding Riemann-Hilbert problem (RHP). Then, we present %obtain different long time asymptotic expansions of the solution u(y,t) in different space-time solitonic regions of ξ=y/t. The …

Borsuk–Ulam Type Theorems For G-Spaces With Applications To Tucker Type Lemmas, Oleg R. Musin, Alexey Yu. Volovikov

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper we consider several generalizations of the Borsuk–Ulam theorem for G-spaces and apply these results to Tucker type lemmas for G-simplicial complexes and PL-manifolds.

Quantization Dimension For Inhomogeneous Bi-Lipschitz Ifs, Amit Priyadarshi, Mrinal Kanti Roychowdhury, Manuj Verma

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Let ν be a Borel probability measure on a d-dimensional Euclidean space Rd, d≥1, with a compact support, and let (p0,p1,p2,…,pN) be a probability vector with pj>0 for 1≤j≤N. Let {Sj:1≤j≤N} be a set of contractive mappings on Rd. Then, a Borel probability measure μ on Rd such that μ=∑Nj=1pjμ∘S−1j+p0ν is called an inhomogeneous measure, also known as a condensation measure on Rd. For a given r∈(0,+∞), the quantization dimension of order r, if it exists, denoted by Dr(μ), of a Borel probability measure μ on Rd represents the speed at which the nth quantization error of order r …

Resurgence Of Habiro Elements, Samuel Crew, Ankush Goswami, Robert Osburn

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

We prove resurgence properties for the Borel transform of elements in the Habiro ring which satisfy a general type of strange identity. As an application, we provide evidence for (and against) conjectures in quantum topology due to Costin and Garoufalidis.

Classification On Boundary-Equilibria And Singular Continuums Of Continuous Piecewise Linear Systems, Hebai Chen, Zhaosheng Feng, Hao Yang, Linfeng Zhou

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper, we show that any switching hypersurface of n -dimensional continuous piecewise linear systems is an (n−1) -dimensional hyperplane. For two-dimensional continuous piecewise linear systems, we present local phase portraits and indices near the boundary equilibria (i.e. equilibria at the switching line) and singular continuum (i.e. continuum of nonisolated equilibria) between two parallel switching lines. The index of singular continuum is defined. Then we show that boundary-equilibria and singular continuums can appear with many parallel switching lines.

Quantization For A Set Of Discrete Distributions On The Set Of Natural Numbers, Juan Gomez, Haily Martinez, Mrinal Kanti Roychowdhury, Alexis Salazar, Daniel J. Vallez

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

The quantization scheme in probability theory deals with finding a best approximation of a given probability distribution by a probability distribution that is supported on finitely many points. In this paper, first we state and prove a theorem, and then give a conjecture. We verify the conjecture by a few examples. Assuming that the conjecture is true, for a set of discrete distributions on the set of natural numbers we have calculated the optimal sets of n-means and the nth quantization errors for all positive integers n. In addition, the quantization dimension is also calculated.

Note On Illuminating Constant Width Bodies, Alexey Glazyrin

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Recently, Arman, Bondarenko, and Prymak constructed a constant width body in R n whose illumination number is exponential in n. In this note, we improve their bound by generalizing the construction. In particular, we construct a constant width body in R n whose illumination number is at least (τ + o(1))n, where τ ≈ 1.047.

Constrained Quantization For Probability Distributions, Megha Pandey, Mrinal Kanti Roychowdhury

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper, for a Borel probability measure P on a Euclidean space Rk, we extend the definitions of nth unconstrained quantization error, unconstrained quantization dimension, and unconstrained quantization coefficient, which traditionally in the literature known as nth quantization error, quantization dimension, and quantization coefficient, to the definitions of nth constrained quantization error, constrained quantization dimension, and constrained quantization coefficient. The work in this paper extends the theory of quantization and opens a new area of research. In unconstrained quantization, the elements in an optimal set are the conditional expectations in their own Voronoi regions, and it is not true …

Equity In Focus : Investigating Gender Disparities In Glioblastoma Via Propensity Score Matching, Solomon Eshun

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Gender disparities in health outcomes have garnered significant attention, prompting investigations into their underlying causes. Glioblastoma (GBM), a devastating and highly aggressive form of brain tumor, serves as a case for such inquiries. Despite the mounting evidence on gender disparities in GBM outcomes, investigations specific at the molecular level remain scarce and often limited by confounding biases in observational studies. In this study, I aimed to investigate the gender-related differences in GBM outcomes using propensity score matching (PSM) to control for potential confounding variables. The data used was accessed from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), encompassing factors such as gender, …

University Of Richmond Magazine - Summer 2023

University of Richmond Magazine

The University of Richmond's Alumni Magazine was first published as The Alumni Bulletin in 1936 and continues to this day as the University of Richmond Magazine.

Theming, Service Performance, And Downstream Effects Of Subjective Leisure Experiences, Brian J. Hill, Patti Freeman, Gary Ellis, Emily Catalan

Faculty Publications

We examined determinants (i.e., theming and service performance) and results (proclivity to recommend, enjoyment, perceived value of time spent) of structured leisure experiences. Structured leisure experiences were measured in terms of intensity of engagement (focus on unfolding narrative), absorption (focus on sensory stimuli), and immersion (focus on performance) during participation. Experience measures (n=310) reported by 168 young adults upon exiting a variety of leisure, recreation, and hospitality venues supported the research hypotheses.