Digital Commons Network^™

The Mental Health Of Latino Immigrants, Brenda Gallardo

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This research study explores the daily challenges, coping strategies, and mental health outcomes of undocumented adult Latino immigrants currently residing in the United States of America. The purpose of the research was to address the critical gap in scientific literature regarding the mental health of Latino immigrants residing in the United States. The healthy immigrant effect theory guided the study, which posits that immigrants' health declines the longer they live in a foreign country. Data collection occurred through a qualitative case study design using the first-hand accounts from 18 Latino immigrants residing in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. Each participant …

Dance Movement For Wounded Warriors With Mental Health Diagnoses: A Phenomenology, Amelia Ann Forsmo

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study will be to understand how dance movement can improve the psychological health of military veterans who are experiencing a mental health disorder such as posttraumatic stress disorder. The theories guiding this study are Carl Rogers’ humanistic perspective, Schlossberg’s transition theory, and the post-traumatic growth theory. A purposive sample of 12 to 15 veterans will be selected for participation in this study. Each veteran will have different military backgrounds, various battle wounds, and unique experiences with dance movement or dance movement therapy. For this reason, these perspectives allow each participant to be prioritized and heard. …

Leveraging Technology To Enhance Caregiver Competency In Aba Treatment: Reducing Barriers To Learning Through Qr Codes & Inquiry, Edward Bonacci

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative multiple‑case study is to explore how linking quick‑response (QR) codes (IV) to parent‑focused digital resources shapes caregivers’ experiences and perceived competence (DV) in implementing compassionate applied behavior analytic (ABA) procedures for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in various settings. Anchored in a constructivist paradigm and pragmatic theory, the study aimed to understand how immediate, technology‑based instructional supports aided skill acquisition and independent engagement during parent training. The central research question aims to understand how parents and caregivers construct meaning around the use of a streamlined platform while learning and applying ABA strategies, perceived accessibility, …

Exploring John Maxwell’S 16 Undeniable Laws Of Communication As A Possible Framework For Public Speaking Success: A Qualitative Content Analysis Of The Top 20 Ted Talks And Their Alignment With The Principles, Kevin C. Mcintyre

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The qualitative content analysis aimed to discover whether Maxwell’s 16 undeniable laws of communication are applied to the top 20 TED Talks of all time based on view count catalogued on the TED website and inform a framework for public speaking success. Through the lens of Fisher’s narrative paradigm of coherence and fidelity, while situated in Craig’s rhetorical tradition, which builds on ethos, pathos, and logos, the study examined the gap in workplace competence moving beyond theory to practical guidance. Additionally, the study was guided by three research questions that were answered in the study. Through an immersive multimodal examination …

Utilization And Preparedness Of Physical Therapists For Management Of Migraines In Georgia, Heath B. Martin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative survey experiment was to examine the referral to and utilization of physical therapists in Georgia for assisting with the management of migraine patients, explore the preparedness of Georgia physical therapists to provide evidence-based interventions for migraine patients, and compare the differences between the utilization and preparedness of rural physical therapists and urban physical therapists within the state. The theories guiding this study were the behavioral and biopsychosocial models. The behavioral model demonstrated that individuals' behaviors affect their access to care and perceived need for medical interventions. Due to the demographics of Georgia, characterized by a …

To Buzz Or Not To Buzz: A Survey Design Of Embouchure Development Among Kentucky Brass Musicians In Higher Education, Christopher P. Schmidt

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This survey design study examined the methods of embouchure development practiced by Kentucky brass musicians in higher education. The purpose of the study was to explore how collegiate brass professors, their graduate teaching assistants, and undergraduate student musicians apply or omit mouthpiece buzzing in their daily practice routines and private-studio instruction. The study explored pedagogical influences rooted in the teachings of William Adam, Philip Farkas, Emory Remington, and Arnold Jacobs to identify how their philosophies inform contemporary approaches to brass pedagogy. The findings revealed consistent pedagogical diversity among KPUBPs, with most participants using mouthpiece buzzing, long tones, airflow drills, and …

Analysis Of The Health Access Initiatives Available For Newly Resettled Immigrants And Refugees In Charlotte, North Carolina, Yetunde Akinyelu

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Health Access Initiative for Newly Arrived Immigrants and Refugees in Charlotte, North Carolina addresses the major obstacles which prevent these populations from obtaining vital healthcare services (P Iqbal., et al 2022). The research investigated healthcare difficulties faced by immigrant and refugee populations after their arrival in the United States while developing solutions to enhance their healthcare accessibility and results. The research employed qualitative methods to gather data through semi-structured interviews with immigrants and refugees who resided in Charlotte (Alkhawaldeh, et al., 2023). The research took place in community-based locations to create an environment where participants could freely discuss their …

Exploring John Maxwell’S 16 Undeniable Laws Of Communication As A Possible Framework For Public Speaking Success: A Qualitative Content Analysis Of The Top 20 Ted Talks And Their Alignment With The Principles, Kevin C. Mcintyre

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The qualitative content analysis aimed to discover whether Maxwell’s 16 undeniable laws of communication are applied to the top 20 TED Talks of all time based on view count catalogued on the TED website and inform a framework for public speaking success. Through the lens of Fisher’s narrative paradigm of coherence and fidelity, while situated in Craig’s rhetorical tradition, which builds on ethos, pathos, and logos, the study examined the gap in workplace competence moving beyond theory to practical guidance. Additionally, the study was guided by three research questions that were answered in the study. Through an immersive multimodal examination …

Christian Leadership In The Information Age: Has Unlimited Access To Information Influenced Truth, Robert J. Houk

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to understand and explore what influences and effects, if any, may be identified as church leaders interact with congregants that have been exposed to a wide array of information in pursuit of truth obtained from various sources. At this stage in the research, the Information Age is being examined to determine if it has had any influence on the pursuit of truth as people seek answers to life's fundamental questions. Previous research had identified growing changes within young people’s beliefs as they sought higher education thus leading to a decline in enrollment …

Examining The Role Of Metacognitive Strategies In Sight-Reading Instruction: Insights From Middle School Chorus Teachers, Krystin M. Kicklighter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Sight-reading in middle school chorus classes is emphasized more heavily due to the standards of learning. Teachers use various approaches to teach sight-reading. One strategy teachers can use is metacognition during the sight-reading process. However, there is limited research on teachers' perspectives on metacognition in middle school. Metacognition involves self-awareness, self-evaluation, and self-regulation. By engaging in these activities, learners can gain better control over their thought processes. This is especially important for music educators, since music learning and practice involve many metacognitive concepts. This qualitative-hermeneutic study explored middle school chorus teachers' perceptions of sight-reading practice and how they incorporate metacognition …

The Perspectives Of Secondary School Science Teachers Regarding The Next-Generation Science Standards In Fostering Critical Thinking Skills In The Rural Public High Schools Of A Southeastern Coastal State: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Janakikutty Vipin Das

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of secondary school science teachers regarding the Next-Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in fostering students’ critical thinking skills in rural public schools in a southeastern coastal state. The theory guiding this study was Bandura’s social cognitive theory (SCT), which helps describe the interconnected personal, behavioral, and environmental factors that explain teachers’ challenges in implementing NGSS. SCT provided a framework for answering the central research question: What are the perspectives of secondary school science teachers in rural public secondary schools of a southeastern coastal state regarding the Next-Generation Science Standards …

Glider Gladiators: American Transport Aviators And Gliderborne Troops From Operation Ladbroke Through Operation Overlord, Gregory F. Withrow

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study reassesses the overlooked but crucial role of American glider pilots, gliderborne infantry, and C-47 Troop Carrier Command aviators in Allied airborne operations from Operation Ladbroke to Operation Overlord. While most accounts of World War II airborne warfare focus on paratroopers, this dissertation shows that glider forces were key to the success of major Allied offensives. They often faced misinterpretation, bias, and historical omission. By using a wide range of primary sources—including glider pilot interrogation reports, unit operational records, after-action analyses, and firsthand accounts—this work reconstructs the tactical, logistical, and experiential aspects of American glider operations at a depth …

Predicting The Attitudes Towards Mathematical Modeling Of Primary Math Teachers: The Role Of Self-Efficacy And Motivation, Brenden Rawls

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this non-experimental quantitative predictive correlational study was to investigate the extent to which efficacy for pedagogy in mathematics, efficacy for teaching mathematics content, effectance motivation in mathematics, years of experience, and access to statistics, data science, or mathematical modeling courses predict attitudes toward constructivist practices in mathematical modeling of Virginia primary school mathematics teachers. The goal of the research was to understand what affective characteristics support effective adoption Virginia's mathematics curriculum change. Higher levels of mathematics teacher self-efficacy have been associated with constructivist instructional practices and higher levels of student achievement. The sample included kindergarten through fifth-grade …

Wdfy4-Dependent Cross-Presentation Proceeds Via A Vacuolar Antigen-Processing Route, J Luke Postoak, Alyssa Koch, Sicong Shan, Ray A Ohara, Suin Jo, Jing Chen, Pritesh Desai, Feiya Ou, Magdalena Kraft, Michael S Diamond, Sunkyung Kim, Theresa L Murphy, Kenneth M Murphy

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The intracellular processing route used by type I conventional dendritic cells (cDC1) for cross-presentation of viral- or tumor-associated antigens remains controversial. One model proposes that captured antigens exit from damaged phagolysosomes and enter the cytosol, where they are processed for presentation by MHC class I molecules (MHC-I). This model relies on proteasomal degradation and TAP-dependent peptide transport into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) for loading by the peptide loading complex (PLC). An alternative model proposes a vesicular route in which captured antigens are retained and processed within an endocytic compartment. A compelling argument favoring the cytosolic model is the dramatic loss …

Limbic System And Bipolar Disorder, A Narrative Review, Gauri Bharadwaj, Sanskriti Kondilya, Ankita Gupta, Lakshmisha Rao, Syeda Fatima Zehra

Manipal Journal of Medical Sciences

Bipolar disorder refers to a chronic mood disorder in which an individual experiences extreme changes in mood and emotions. The impact that the limbic system exerts on the genesis and regulation of bipolar disorder has been a subject of study, and various techniques have been employed to study this relationship. This article aims to extrapolate data to present a summary of the structural and functional variations in the limbic system and their influence on a specific mental health condition, bipolar disorder. Understanding the convergence of structural, functional and molecular aberrations as well as genetic susceptibility within the limbic system will …

Bridging The Gap: Optimizing Outpatient Care Delivery In Rural Kenya Through A Telemedicine Workflow Training Initiative, Elizabeth K. Bennett

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Access to timely, high-quality outpatient care in rural Kenya is constrained by workforce shortages, geographic barriers, and inefficiencies in care delivery. This Doctor of Nursing Practice project evaluated the impact of implementing a structured telemedicine workflow and training program for a regional mission hospital in the highlands of Western Kenya and its satellite outpatient clinic. Guided by the Iowa Model of Evidence-Based Practice, Kotter's Change Theory, and the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance (RE-AIM) framework, the project employed a quasi-experimental, pre-post design, with eight medical providers participating in structured workshops, interactive telemedicine simulations, and workflow integration exercises. Impacts were …

Intracellular Acinetobacter Baumannii Acts As A Transient Reservoir In Lung Infection Via A "Persist And Resist" Strategy, Manon Janet-Maitre, Gisela Di Venanzio, Clay D Jackson-Litteken, Nichollas E Scott, Mario F Feldman

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Although considered primarily extracellular,

Holter Monitor Qt Dispersion And Qtc-Dispersion In Pediatric Long Qt Syndrome And Development Of A Diagnostic And Arrhythmia Risk Prediction Model, Hadeel Allam, Na Le Dang, Edita Karasalihovic, Nathan Miller, Lisa Roelle, William B Orr, Dustin Nash, Anthony G Pompa, Jennifer N A Silva

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Holter monitors can provide temporal QT analysis, allowing for calculation of QT dispersion and corrected QT dispersion over time. We describe the results of the QT dispersion and corrected QT dispersion over a 24-hour period in pediatric patients with long QT syndrome (LQTS), compared with a normal cohort, and develop 2 new machine learning models for diagnosis and arrhythmia risk prediction in LQTS.

METHODS: A single-center retrospective case-control study was conducted comparing patients with congenital LQTS and normal controls who underwent a clinically indicated Holter between January 2022 and May 2024. After identifying patients with cardiac events, 2 neural …

Baseline Ecg And Cardiovascular Outcomes In People With Hiv: Insights From Reprieve, Aya Awwad, Shashwatee Bagchi, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: With antiretroviral therapy, people with HIV (PWH) have an increased burden of cardiovascular disease. The REPRIEVE (Randomized Trial to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV) trial demonstrated that pitavastatin reduces major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) among PWH at low to moderate traditional atherosclerotic risk. Electrocardiographic abnormalities are common in PWH, but little is known about their association with MACEs. We sought to examine whether baseline electrocardiographic abnormalities are associated with increased MACE risk among a global primary cardiovascular disease prevention cohort of PWH in REPRIEVE.

METHODS: In this observational analysis, entry electrocardiographic abnormalities were adjudicated and classified as major or …

Coordinated, Heterogeneous Model Composition Under A Shared Governance And Audit Layer, Joseph Jm Walker

Defensive Publications Series

This paper introduces the Modular Artificial Specialized Intelligence (MASI) framework, a distributed cognitive architecture designed to address the safety, transparency, and governability limitations of monolithic foundation models. MASI decouples reasoning into four canonical, independently operational roles—Wisdom, Foresight, Empathy, and Precision—coordinated through a standardized communication layer known as the MASI Bus. The framework enforces a Consult-Before-Execute (CBE) protocol, requiring multi-perspective verification, drift detection, and ethical arbitration prior to any system output or tool execution. This deliberative process is quantified via the MASI Trust Score ($T_{masi}$), a dynamic metric integrating fairness, logic, and uncertainty into a verifiable audit artifact. Additionally, the …

Self-Improving Autonomous Data Exploration System With Meta-Learning And Temporal Knowledge Graph, Sai Charan Tej Kommuri, Madhup Sukoon

Defensive Publications Series

Data exploration methods that rely on manual intervention may be limited in their ability to autonomously discover insights from large, unanalyzed enterprise datasets. To address this, systems and methods are described that can employ a self-improving, multi-agent architecture. This system can feature an exploration layer for generating hypotheses, an evaluation layer for validation, a temporal knowledge graph (TKG) to serve as a persistent memory of insights, and a meta-learning layer. The meta-learning layer can observe analytical outcomes stored in the TKG to refine future exploration policies. This closed-loop process can enable the system to autonomously generate, validate, and learn from …

[Conversational Operating System] Dynamic System Prompt Architecture For Context State Governance In Large Language Models, Joseph Jm Walker

Defensive Publications Series

Core Insight

The system prompt should not be treated as static instructions.
It should be treated as a dynamic operating layer that governs reasoning, tone, epistemic discipline, bias correction, and long-term continuity.

What Makes This Distinct

Most prompt engineering focuses on what the model says.
This work focuses on how the model reasons, under what constraints, and how that behavior persists over time.

This disclosure presents a dynamic system-prompt architecture that transforms the system prompt of a large language model from a static instruction block into an adaptive governance layer. The architecture introduces a context-state machine, an operator-level control protocol, …

Ischool Student Research Journal, Vol.15, Iss.2

School of Information Student Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Supporting Literacy And The Scholarly Conversation Through Understanding Apa Citation Style, Vanessa Sztym

School of Information Student Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Teaching Stem Courses Using Ignatian Pedagogy, Gintaras K. Duda

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

Despite the impact of the Jesuit educational endeavor on the rise of science, the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP), the signature Jesuit Pedagogy, is not frequently used to teach courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and very little literature exists documenting any such attempts. In this paper, I describe a framework for how to apply the IPP to STEM courses using active-engagement strategies and assessment tools from disciplinary-based educational research (DBER). I provide three examples of how I have implemented the IPP in physics courses at various levels in the curriculum at a Jesuit University complete with assessment results …

The Relative And Absolute Social Capital Of Jesuit Universities: Are There Differences?, Mark S. Rzepczynski, John Kalil

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

We test whether Jesuit universities, a specific college subset, are unique from public, private, and other religiously affiliated institutions of higher learning using social capital data for network cohesiveness, economic connectedness, and civic engagement from the Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas. Social capital dispersion is also measured across the set of AJCU Jesuit universities. Jesuit colleges show greater and more distinct social capital across selected college classifications and characteristics; however, there is limited social capital uniformity across the set of 27 U.S. Jesuit universities.

Generative Ai And The Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm, Nicole Reibe

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

A group of seven faculty members, the Digital Teaching Fellows (DTF), were formed in 2023 to explore issues related to generative AI at a Jesuit university in the United States. The group incorporated generative AI assignments into their courses and conducted a survey assessing students’ experiences with generative AI in the course. Drawing from both quantitative and qualitative analysis, the DTF reached two key conclusions. First, despite their reservations, students’ overall receptiveness to generative AI integration creates a fitting moment for thoughtful pedagogical innovation. Second, our findings reveal a critical gap between generative AI’s current implementation and its potential to …

We Need A New Language, A New Imagination, A New Story... And It Won't Come From Ai, Christopher Pramuk

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

Adapted from a public lecture given for Regis University’s Ignatian Mission Day, the essay wrestles with the crisis of communication across political divides, the attacks on universities across the country linked to Project 2025, and the emergence of Artificial Intelligence as a powerful new challenge in the landscape of Jesuit higher education. Identifying the root illness of our times as a diseased and captive cultural imagination, the author calls for responses that heal and break open the imagination. The poets and prophets, artists and storytellers, share common cause with the Ignatian imagination – a contemplative, transcendent horizon, grounded in the …

Strategies For Seeding Police Abolition In A Minefield, Kaden Paulson-Smith

Feminist Pedagogy

A major challenge for abolitionist teaching is uprooting the assumption that carceral systems are natural and inevitable. This essay describes strategies for teaching about the colonial capitalist origins and white cisheteropatriarchal development of the police, and the critical theorization and abolition of policing, in a hyper-politicized minefield. These strategies emerged from teaching, “The Global Politics of Policing,” after the Summer of 2020 in the Midwest, where abolitionist critiques were frequently met with burning resentment. Three overarching strategies to facilitate learning about police abolition include: 1) consistent engagement with learning materials; 2) critical analysis as a learning objective and theoretical framework; …

Research For Structural Change: An Abolitionist Teaching Activity For Early-Career Scholars, Sophia Sarantakos, Shannon Sliva

Feminist Pedagogy

In recent years, social work practitioners, educators, and scholars have increasingly wrestled with the harmful history of the profession, and sought ways to align the field with the anti-oppressive principles it has long espoused. One expression of this struggle is a growing interest in prison-industrial complex (PIC) abolition, primarily among social work students and early career scholars, who are eager to study this critical theory of change and apply it to the various domains of social work practice and research (e.g., schools, family policing, healthcare, the legal system, and beyond). As social work educators and scholars whose work is centered …