Digital Commons Network^™

Synthesis And Characterization Of Silicon-Containing Ternary Transition Metal Borides For High Performance Applications, Godswill Ngige

Theses and Dissertations

Binary borides are well known for their exceptional mechanical and thermal properties, including high strength, high melting points, outstanding hardness, and excellent chemical stability, making them suitable for high-temperature structural applications such as components in hypersonic vehicles, jet engines, nose cones, and the leading edges of aircraft. Despite these advantages, they are inherently brittle and suffer from low fracture toughness, limiting their ability to absorb impact or resist crack propagation.

To this end, attention shifted to ternary transition metal borides which are materials composed of a transition metal, boron, and a third element. These ternary compounds exhibit a broader range …

Which University Faculty Are Successful Researchers? Developing And Testing Measures Of Research Competence To Predict Faculty Research Motivation And Success, Muhammad Salahuddin

Theses and Dissertations

University faculty play a pivotal role in producing research that leads to positive social change through the creation of new knowledge, enhancement of higher education quality, and improved university rankings. Faculty produce more when they feel competent, autonomously motivated, and acknowledged. Past studies have measured faculty research competencies using self-report scales that may contain biases, potentially leading to significant discrepancies in research outcomes. My program of research – a three-article dissertation – aimed to develop and validate the test-based measures of faculty research competence that can more reliably predict faculty research success. The three studies provide an enhanced understanding of …

The Effect Of Salaciousness, Consistency, And Timing Of Disclosure On Alibi Believability In The Eyes Of A Jury, Jasper Allen Schmidtwood

Theses and Dissertations

Past research indicates a prevalent distrust of alibi evidence, coined by Olson and Wells (2004) as the alibi skepticism hypothesis. This inherent distrust prompts inquiries into the factors that enhance or undermine the credibility of alibi evidence in a trial. Utilizing attribution theory (Allison et al., 2012; Weiner, 2010), this study investigates the elements contributing to the believability of alibi statements, specifically the impact of alibi consistency, timing of disclosure, and the salaciousness of the alibi statement on jurors' perceptions of the defendant's character. Participants were randomly assigned to one of twelve conditions and read a mock trial summary that …

Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Programs: What Influences Students To Apply?, Emily Stephens

Theses and Dissertations

Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) are licensed professionals trained to work with various age ranges who have communication, feeding, and/or swallowing difficulties. The entry level education for an SLP to actively practice is a master’s degree. To fill the many vacant and needed SLP jobs across the country, it is necessary for SLP master’s programs to admit highly qualified students into their programs, resulting in many competent SLPs entering the workforce to fill the current job openings. Minot State University’s SLP master’s program has experienced a significant decline in graduate applications over the past decade. There is limited research specific to the …

Ecological Dynamics In Beaver-Engineered Boreal Wetlands: Amphibian Phenology, Occupancy, And Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Communities, Talon Stammen

Theses and Dissertations

Boreal wetlands are ecologically rich yet vulnerable ecosystems shaped by hydrological dynamics, cold climate regimes, and landscape-scale disturbances. Among the most influential agents of change in these systems are beavers (Castor canadensis), whose engineering activities create a mosaic of lentic habitats at varying stages of ecological succession. This dissertation investigates the structure and dynamics of amphibian and aquatic macroinvertebrate communities across a beaver-influenced wetland landscape in Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota, USA.The first study (Chapter II) examines breeding phenology and detection patterns of boreal anurans using a combination of passive acoustic monitoring and visual encounter surveys at 25 wetlands over four …

Walk This Way: Effects Of Eyewitness Identification Factors And The Featural Justification Effect On Mock-Juror Decision-Making, Lauren Nicole Stornelli

Theses and Dissertations

Surveillance cameras serve many purposes, including security, monitoring, and investigating crimes. The presence of surveillance cameras allows for a new form of witness: a non-eyewitness, where crimes are captured by surveillance cameras without a physical witness present (Pezdek & Lerer, 2023a). As such, police officers are acting as eyewitnesses by identifying the perpetrator from the surveillance evidence and testifying about their identification at trial (Rumschik et al., 2020). Previous studies have examined participants’ ability to accurately match previously viewed faces with faces on surveillance evidence, with results suggesting accuracy rates around chance (e.g., Bruce et al., 2001; White et al., …

Mindfulness And Modification Therapy (Mmt) Group Feasibility And Acceptability Among Prison Residents With Dysregulated Behaviors, Leslie Unger

Theses and Dissertations

Mindfulness and Modification Therapy (MMT; Wupperman, 2019) is a transdiagnostic therapy that systematically integrates aspects of six empirically supported treatments for impulsive and dysregulated behavior. As such, MMT may offer an efficient approach to addressing a variety of dysregulated behaviors, thereby supporting increased safety within carceral settings and enhancing goals of rehabilitation. To date, MMT has demonstrated positive results in community settings when treating substance misuse and anger/aggression, but it has not yet been examined in a prison setting. The present research examines the feasibility and acceptability of using a 14-session version of group MMT as a voluntary treatment option …

Advancing Human-Computer Interaction Systems Through Explainable And Secure Ai Integration, Ifiok Udoidiok

Theses and Dissertations

As artificial intelligence (AI) systems increasingly shape how humans interact with digital environments, the need for transparency, security, and robustness in intelligent decision making has become critical. This thesis explores how explainable and secure AI techniques can be integrated into modern human-computer interaction (HCI) systems to enhance trust, resilience, and alignment with human operators.

We present three related studies, each addressing a distinct challenge in the design of human-centered AI. First, we apply XAI methods, specifically Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations (LIME), to deep learning (DL) based CAPTCHA solvers. By interpreting model attention patterns, we uncover exploitable weaknesses in text CAPTCHA …

Targeted Coaching In The Detroit Promise Path: A Thematic Network Analysis Of Current Challenges And Opportunities For Student Success, Maryse Danielle Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

The Detroit Promise Program is one of the many college promise programs operating within the United States that offers full college tuition coverage to students within the city who meet certain residential criteria. Detroit’s population has one of the highest proportions of Black and first-generation students and the lowest average socioeconomic class in the country. From the time of the Promise Program’s launch until now it has seen minor improvements in college degree competition rates, but this rate is still low compared to the national average. The Detroit Promise Path, which is an off branch of the Detroit Promise Program, …

Public Perceptions Of Fracking And Anti-Fracking Activism: A Theory Of Planned Behavior Approach And Its Implications For Environmental Policy, Okhumode Hector Yakubu

Theses and Dissertations

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has become one of the most contentious energy technologies of the 21st century, drawing support for its economic and energy security benefits and opposition due to its perceived environmental and health risks. This study applies the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to examine the psychological, social, and informational factors that shape public perceptions of fracking and motivate anti-fracking activism. Using a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults (N = 522), this research investigates how attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and domain-specific knowledge predict support or opposition to fracking, as well as intentions to engage in …

Strategies For Success: Developing The Hero Within To Increase Persistence Of Community College Students Returning From Academic Dismissal, Angela Cavazos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Students are enrolling in college at a higher rate than ever before, yet retention rates continue to be problematic for higher education institutions across the United States. Many students fail to persist beyond their first year and are often forced out due to academic difficulties. Students who return from academic dismissal are likely to be dismissed again. This quasi-experimental quantitative action research study aimed to evaluate the impact that a student success intervention course designed through an asset-based positive self-leadership framework and focused on the development of psychological capital constructs of hope, efficacy, resilience, and self-efficacy (HERO) had on the …

Persistent Reading Deficiencies In Early Education, William Steven Reed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study investigated early reading teachers’ perceptions of the instructional practices they use to identify early elementary student reading proficiency, including unique challenges they face when addressing the development of early reading skills. The researcher investigated eight first and second grade teacher classrooms during the 2023–2024 school year through collective interviews, observations, and related school data. The researcher performed a qualitative analysis of the collected data to reveal varying themes that support recommendations to reduce persistent reading problems among early elementary students. Using purposeful sampling to select licensed, experienced participants, the insights of eight early elementary reading teachers …

Barriers Principals Face Integrating Blended Learning In Secondary Schools, Lacey Tremaine Ajibola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the barriers secondary principals encounter integrating instructional technology as a part of a blended learning model. Existing research investigating the barriers principals face is limited and fractured and is mostly examined from the perspective of teachers. Therefore, this study provided data on the perspective and experiences of principals as technology leaders and their perceived barriers to implementing blended learning models. The researcher aligned the research questions to the International Society for Technology in Education Standard for Educational Leaders as a conceptual framework. Interviews with 11 secondary principals from the same …

The Lived Experiences Of African American Women In Predominantly White Higher Education Institutions In Texas And Their Journey To Advancement To Tenure, Wanda Yvonne Carter-Dyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

African American women are underrepresented in predominantly White higher education institutions in Texas. Inconsistent treatment and policies have contributed to the disparate numbers of African American women in predominately White institutions. African American women are subjected to discrimination based on race, sex, and color. The problem investigated in this study was the barriers to African American tenure-seeking women in predominately White institutions. Barriers discussed in those interviews were discrimination, equity, inclusion, lack of support systems, organizational culture and relationships, and mentors. Six African American women in PWIs in Texas were interviewed to give a voice to the barriers experienced …

Exercise-Based Pain Interventions For People With Dementia Using A Biopsychosocial-Environmental (Bpse) Model, G. Peter Gliebus

All Publications

Purpose of review: To introduce the Biopsychosocial-Environmental (BPSE) model to guide an exercise intervention to address pain related to osteoarthritis (OA) among people living with dementia (PLWD). This review [1] synthesizes literature on the biological, psychological, social, and environmental aspects of pain from OA in the knee, neurodegeneration in PLWD, and exercise implications for these comorbidities, and [2] demonstrates the clinical utility of the BPSE model in designing tailored exercise interventions to manage knee OA pain in PLWD.

Recent findings: Research indicates that pain from knee OA and neurodegeneration from dementia interact across multiple factors, including psychological, social, and environmental. …

Perceptions Of The Health Care System As Mediators In The Association Between Experiences Of Discrimination, Communication From Providers, And Gaps In Mammography, Hannah Cohen-Cline

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Impact Of The Care Connect Washington Program, Hannah Cohen-Cline, Dan Fish, Taylor Doren, Abby Bush

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

No abstract provided.

How To Teach A Course On Land Use And Anti-Jewish Discrimination, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

In 2022, I was asked to teach a one-week mini-course within a broader course on "Structural Barriers and the Pursuit of Equity," a course focusing on various forms of structural discrimination. The course is typically taught by over a dozen professors from various parts of Touro University, each of whom teaches for a week on a different topic. I chose to teach on issues related to land use law (because my scholarship focuses on that area) and in particular how land use law has been used by and against traditionally observant Jews (because that is the religious tradition I am …

Cyber Sexual Misconduct: The Evolution Of Sexual Privacy Laws And Best Practices For Representing Victims, Jolie Bodner Zangari, Lindsay Lieberman

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Managing Compliance: The Role Of Leadership Styles In Information Security Practices In Nigerian Public University Libraries” Insights From North-East Nigeria, Musa Giade Ya'u Musagiade, Gaberial O. Alegbeleye, Madukoma Ezinwanyi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Background: Information security compliance comprises adhering to established policies, protocols and to ensure absolute security. Despite the importance of security compliance in academic libraries, evidence from previous studies reported a low level of information security compliance among personnel in public university libraries in North-East Nigeria. However, proper leadership styles influence information security compliance leading to absolute protection of information systems. So, this study explored the influences of leadership styles in security compliance in public university libraries in North-East, Nigeria.

Method: This study adopted a survey research design. The population consisted of 618 library personnel from the 14 public university libraries …

Citizenship And Empire In Elk V. Wilkins, Alexandra Fay

Articles, Chapters in Books and Other Contributions to Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

How Ai Reinforces Caste: Creating And Amplifying Systematic Inequality, Catherine Powell

Faculty Scholarship

In arguing that artificial intelligence (“AI”) creates, reinscribes, and amplifies caste, this Article asserts that algorithmic discrimination is not just a bug, it is an essential feature of the system that powers the digital economy. Because this economy traffics in our information and is monetized through targeted advertising, it depends on knowing our race, gender, and other protected characteristics (i.e., our caste). Given that the digital economy is inherently an information economy, it is driven by population-wide demographics and predictions, which algorithms can process and commodify at scale. As such, digital surveillance can lead not only to individual harm, but …

Race, The Academy, And The Constitution Of The War On Drugs, I. Bennett Capers, Jeffrey Bellin

Faculty Scholarship

The war on drugs is widely viewed as a policy failure. Despite massive government intrusions on personal liberty, drug addiction, overdoses, and drug-related violence have only increased since the war was declared in 1971. David Pozen’s new book, The Constitution of the War on Drugs, reveals a constitutional failure as well. Pozen chronicles a host of constitutional arguments that American litigants deployed to protect a “right” to use drugs with surprising, if fleeting, success. Pozen asks what might have been, exploring why the courts backtracked and effectively removed the Constitution as a meaningful obstacle to drug prohibitions. 

This Review …

Under Political Pressure: How Courts And Congress Can Help Prosecutors Do Justice, Bruce A. Green, Rebecca Roiphe

Faculty Scholarship

Some subordinate federal prosecutors faced a challenging professional dilemma in the early days of the second Trump Administration. It arose from the tension between their role as public officials and lawyers who owe fiduciary duties to the public and their role as Department of Justice (DOJ) employees who take direction from higher-ups. The DOJ leadership directed these subordinate prosecutors to use their considerable power in ways evidently designed to advance partisan political objectives. This was contrary to the clear understanding previously expressed by courts, the legal profession, and the DOJ itself that prosecutors have a duty to seek justice, which …

Subordinate Prosecutors’ Independence, Bruce A. Green, Jessica A. Roth

Faculty Scholarship

This essay is about subordinate prosecutors’ independence to do what they think constitutes “seeking justice” when they perceive that their boss, or their boss’s boss, wants them to do something that is unjust—not illegal, but unjust. Of course, if subordinate prosecutors want to do either what they are told to do or what they infer that a higher-up wants them to do, they can do so, as long as the conduct is legal. Subordinate prosecutors might choose to disregard their own professional judgment of what justice requires because they share their boss’s objectives, because they see conforming as a route …

Heat Camps: Juvenile Curfews, Extreme Heat & The Eighth Amendment, Norrinda Brown

Faculty Scholarship

For decades, in the summertime, America has confined certain of its youth in what are essentially open-air heat camps. In city after city, camp-form is established through the enactment of warm-weather juvenile curfews which keep the youth at home or in state-sponsored centers during summer nights and, increasingly, during days as well. Local governments justify these curfews with general notions of “public safety,” including to protect the youth they confine. But the laws are not benevolent. Reducing youth mobility by curfew results in exclusion, oversurveillance, and potentially lethal heat punishment of the youth, possibly in violation of the Eighth Amendment. …

100 Years Of The Federal Arbitration Act, Paul Bland, John H. Chun, Linda A. Klein, Pamela K. Bookman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Novel Sex Work Anti-Discrimination Protections, Chi Adanna Mgbako, Christine Eldabh, Katie Falk, Emma Pennie

Faculty Scholarship

Sex workers throughout the world experience ubiquitous and acute discrimination in every facet of their lives due to deeprooted stigma. Societal fear and hatred of sex workers often lead to their exclusion from healthcare services, financial institutions, and accessible housing, as well as their marginalization by the carceral state, family law systems, media, and politicians. Between 2022 and 2024, the Australian jurisdictions of the Northern Territory, Queensland, and Victoria passed groundbreaking legislation codifying novel anti-discrimination protections for sex workers. These laws are the first in the world to explicitly protect sex workers against discrimination in accommodation, employment, government services, and …

The Siren Song Of Territoriality, Robin J. Effron, Alan M. Trammell

Faculty Scholarship

Territoriality—the theory that a state’s physical borders determine its power and sovereignty—boasts a long, venerable history. For centuries, it served as the dominant political theory for myriad ideas. It defined a wide range of doctrines, including personal jurisdiction, choice of law, and prescriptive jurisdiction. By the middle of the twentieth century, though, this rigid territoriality no longer described or responded to the challenges of a society that had grown increasingly mobile and interconnected. Courts replaced inflexible territorial theories with more functional theories rooted in fairness and state regulatory interests.

In recent years, territoriality has seen a curious resurgence. The Supreme …

Abolitionism, Artificial Intelligence, And Non-Reformist Reform, Youngjae Lee

Faculty Scholarship

Prison abolitionism has gained significant prominence in criminal law scholarship, while artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force across society. Two schools of thought have arisen regarding their intersection. Some scholars contend abolitionists should welcome AI technologies to reduce the carceral state’s reach. Critics view these tools skeptically, arguing that they lead to biased surveillance and incarceration practices. Using this debate as an example, this article seeks to illuminate the distinction between reformist and non-reformist reforms. The article argues that abolitionists’ criticism of reformists as agents of oppression risks alienating potential allies and discouraging progressive interventions in pivotal, …