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A Real-Time Approach To Capture Ambient And Focal Attention In Visual Search, Gavindya Jayawardena, Yasith Jayawardana, Yasasi Abeysinghe, Bhanuka Mahanama, Sampath Jayarathna, Jacek Gwizdka

Computer Science Faculty Publications

During visual search, individuals’ attention shifts between ambient and focal states in response to task demands and stimuli. The ambient/focal coefficient K is a statistically validated measure of these states, computed offline from fixation duration and saccade amplitude data. While current methods compute K offline, real-time computation could enable applications such as monitoring user attention, creating attention-adaptive user interfaces, and optimizing graphics rendering. However, real-time computation of K requires stable estimates for the parameters of fixation duration and saccade amplitude distributions. Since these distributions are heavy-tailed, the real-time estimates exhibit high variance and slow convergence. To overcome this, we propose …

Future Giving Intention As Related To An Individual's Donor And Volunteer Status Within A Charitable Nonprofit Organization, Adrienne Darrah

Iowa Journal of Communication

Charitable nonprofit organizations have a responsibility not only to the communities they serve but also to the individuals who support them. When nonprofits fail to act as good stewards of raised monies, they may find themselves caught in a scandal that not only holds legal ramifications but financial and ethical implications as well. Drawing on resource dependence and stewardship theories, manipulated stimuli related the American Red Cross’ response to the 2010 Haitian earthquake was utilized to analyze the relationship between future giving intention and current monetary donor, blood donor, and volunteer status. This paper also considers crisis communication in examining …

Breaking Barriers: Designing An Effective Early Intervention Process For Enhanced Developmental Outcomes In Private Schools, Breanne Kristen Cox

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The challenge of ensuring inclusive and equitable support for students with disabilities is increasingly prominent in education, particularly in private school settings. This dissertation explored the implementation and effectiveness of an early literacy intervention process, the “Bright Beginnings Boost Initiative,” in a small Montessori preschool in South Florida. The study addresses the gap in support services for students with disabilities in private schools, which often lack the comprehensive frameworks mandated by public education systems under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Through a qualitative two-phase action research design, this study gathered insights from preschool teachers, the preschool director, the …

Research News, Publications, 2025, Volume 2, Soumyajit Majumdar

Publications (2015-)

Publications that appeared during the period of April 1 - June 30, 2025.

Recovery Of Verbal Working Memory Depends On Left Hemisphere White Matter Tracts, Randi C Martin, Junhua Ding, Ali I Alwani, Steve H Fung, Tatiana T Schnur

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Researchers propose that the recovery of language function following stroke depends on the recruitment of perilesional regions in the left hemisphere and/or homologous regions in the right hemisphere. Many investigations of recovery focus on changes in gray matter regions, whereas relatively few examine white matter tracts and none address the role of these tracts in the recovery of verbal working memory. The present study addressed these gaps, examining the role of left versus right hemisphere tracts in the longitudinal recovery of phonological and semantic working memory. For 24 individuals with left hemisphere stroke, we assessed working memory performance within 1 …

Applying The Matching Law To Major League Baseball (Mlb), Christopher Watkins, Vincent Berardi

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The application of the generalized matching equation (GME) has been detailed in a variety of sports, including football, basketball, and others. However, only a limited number of studies have focused on Major League Baseball (MLB), and they typically have examined ≤ 5 players and/or focused on a single behavior. This paper increases the generalizability of such work by using newly available, state-of-the-art data from thousands of players to explore the GME in several scenarios within three aspects of a baseball game - defense, pitching and batting. We found that the GME accurately summarized response allocation in most scenarios, with r …

Guidelines For The Creation Of Accessible Consent Materials And Procedures: Lessons From Research With Autistic People And People With Intellectual Disability, Kelly B. Beck, Kristen T. Mackenziem, Anne V. Kirby, Ian Moura, Kaitlyn Breitenfeldt, Christina M. Nicolaidis, Shannon Roth, Multiple Additional Authors

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Informed, voluntary, ongoing consent is a central tenet of ethical research. However, consent processes are prone to exclusionary practices and inaccessibility. Consent materials are often too long and complex to foster understanding and ensure that people make truly informed decisions to participate in research. While this complexity is problematic for all people, these challenges are compounded for autistic people and people with intellectual disability. Consent materials and procedures rarely incorporate accommodations for processing and communication differences common in autism and intellectual disability. Failure to provide such accommodations ultimately threatens the conduct of ethical research. We describe lessons learned across multiple …

Factor Analysis Of Neuropsychological Attention Measures With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Patients, Elizabeth Mateer

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

This study explored the factor structure of commonly used neuropsychological tests to assess attention in individuals with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The study aimed to clarify the relationships among tests traditionally used to assess different components of attention, including the NAB Numbers & Letters Test, Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT), Trail Making Test A & B, Digit Span, Arithmetic, and Coding. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with an oblimin rotation procedure was used to identify the factor structure. The EFA suggested that a four-factor solution was optimal. These factors were identified as: (1) visual attention and psychomotor speed, (2) …

Social Support Networks’ Influence On First-Generation Professionals’ Career Success, Melissa-Ann M. Lagunas

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

This dissertation examines how perceived social support influences career success among first-generation professionals (FGPs)—individuals who are first in their families to pursue white- collar careers. Drawing on Seibert et al.'s (2001) Social Capital Theory of Career Success, I investigate direct and indirect pathways through which social support affects three dimensions of career success: sense of belonging, professional flourishing, and career satisfaction, while exploring mediating roles of perceived support network quality and resilience. A sample of 230 FGPs (Mage = 31.9 years, SD = 5.32) completed a 62-item online survey hosted on Qualtrics. Participants represented diverse professional disciplines classified into five …

The Impact Of Coping Strategies On The Perceived Stress And Well-Being Of People With Disabilities During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Angela G. Maccarrone

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly and negatively impacted those around the world, particularly marginalized groups such as people with disabilities (PWDs). What remains unclear from existing published research is the exact relationship between perceived stress of the pandemic, coping, and overall well-being in PWDs. Prior research and theoretical models of coping suggest that active coping processes are associated with more positive outcomes versus avoidant coping strategies, which have shown less favorable outcomes on well-being. Due to the varying ways in which the pandemic affected PWDs, coping might serve as a moderator, amplifying the negative relationship between perceived stress and well-being. Building …

Exploring Inclusive Education And Listening In Relation To Children's Experiences And Teachers' Perspectives, Ramazan Merk

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences Theses

This thesis addressed the field of inclusive education and the importance of listening from the perspectives of both children and teachers. Drawing on experiences in pre-school and reception classrooms in England, I explored the essence of inclusive education and effective implementation strategies to meet the needs of children, including those with diverse needs. Emphasis was placed on the necessity for teachers to acknowledge and address each child's individual needs when developing early years learning environments. Moreover, the study underlined the important role of active listening in promoting communication and understanding between teachers and children as a cornerstone of inclusive pedagogy. …

“The True Me”: Unravelling The Dual Narrative Of Borderline Personality Disorder And Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Robin Iliffe-Lewis

School of Psychology Theses

Purpose: There is growing recognition that some individuals who receive a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) are later diagnosed with autism. However, existing literature on this topic remains limited. This study aimed to explore the experiences of individuals diagnosed with BPD prior to autism, how they made sense of these diagnoses, navigated clinical systems, and learnt to manage the complex challenges associated with this diagnostic sequence.Methods: Thirteen (6 male, 6 female, 1 non-binary) adult participants took part in semi-structured interviews exploring their diagnostic journeys. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to develop a nuanced understanding of their experiences.Results: Three themes …

Developing New Memory Tests In Alzheimer’S Disease: A Development And Initial Pilot Study., Áine Maguire

School of Psychology Theses

Objective: This development and pilot study aimed to create and assess the utility and feasibility of using three new computerised memory tests of semantic interference during learning, short-term visual memory binding, and cross-modal associative memory binding with people with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Method: The new memory tests were evaluated as potential diagnostic and staging tests in AD using a sample of older adults: 15 with a clinical diagnosis of AD, mean age 70.80±5.41 years; 14 with positive AD biomarkers but no known cognitive impairment (preclinical AD), mean age 70.60±4.49 years; and 15 healthy controls (HCs), mean age 69.60 ±7.38 years. …

Detecting Meaningful Longitudinal Cognitive Change In Preclinical Alzheimer’S Disease From Statistics To Clinical Tools: A Psychometric And Multivariate Evaluation, Wayelina Marianne

School of Psychology Theses

Objective: To improve early detection of transitional cognitive decline associated with stage 2 preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD), this study evaluated three statistical approaches: Reliable Change Index (RCI), Standardised Regression-Based (SRB) models, and Multivariate Base Rate (MVBR) analysis for identifying Alzheimer’s disease related cognitive decline over a 12-month interval. Method: A longitudinal cohort of older adults (N = 91), including healthy controls, individuals with Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD), and diagnosed AD patients, completed a neuropsychological battery at two time points. Test–retest reliability and practice effects were estimated, followed by calculation of RCI, SRB, and MVBR indices at both 5th and 16th …

“We've Just Kind Of Woven In All These Different Ways Of Keeping Him Close By” A Narrative Analysis Of How Children And Their Surviving Parent Co-Construct Continuing Bonds Following Parental Death, Miriam Summers

School of Psychology Theses

Continuing bonds research has predominantly focused on adults and considered from an individualistic perspective; consequently, little is known about how such bonds may be developed relationally within families. This study aimed to explore how parentally bereaved children and their parent/caregiver co-construct continuing bonds. Eight families were recruited, and parent/caregivers and their children were interviewed together. Narrative analysis explored semantic themes and interactional processes. The findings highlighted that continuing bonds are co-constructed through regular joint remembering, family acts of remembrance, joint connecting through objects and shared interpretations of signs from the deceased. Constructive interactional processes included collaboration, agreement and sharing positive …

The Social Processes And Integrated Theory Of The Credible Messenger, David C. Brotherton

Publications and Research

The phenomenon of the credible messenger in anti-violence interventions in the United States has expanded greatly during the last decade or more. While the number of credible messengers has mushroomed along with their roles, there has been little attention paid to the agency of the subjects that makes these projects possible. In 2023-4 I led an evaluation study of such an intervention in New York City. Using an inductive analysis to discover emergent themes from qualitative interviews with credible messengers that centered on their: (i) life stories, (ii) training, (iii) field experience and (iv) professional trajectories, I propose an integrated …

Perceived Credibility Of Allegations Of Sexual Assault Across Victim Race And Mental Health History, Liyah C. Morgan

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Previous research examined the effect of victim gender and rape myth acceptance (RMA) on perceptions of victim credibility; however, little attention has been given to the impact of victim race and mental health history, and even fewer studies have explored the intersection of these two identities. The primary purpose of the current study was to identify factors affecting understanding of perceived credibility of victims of sexual assault, specifically in terms of victim race and mental health history. The study also examined the role of RMA on perceptions of credibility and explored participant attitudes related to color-blind racial attitudes and mental …

Resilience And Grit In Children And Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Danielle Oehring

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Resilience is the way in which an individual positively adapts to challenging or difficult life experiences. This process is marked by adjustments to external and internal demands through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility. Grit is perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Although grit and resilience have been researched in children and adolescents, there is a gap in the literature for how these variables relate to developmental disorders, like autism spectrum disorder, in children and adolescents. This study aimed to explore the relationship between autism spectrum disorder and internalizing and externalizing symptoms and whether grit and resilience moderates these relationships. Based …

The Moderating Effects Of Self-Compassion On The Relationship Between Shame And Depression In Military Populations, Sarah Foran

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The U.S. Military has faced a continuous rise in mental health concerns reported by service members and veterans (Currier et al., 2017; Rosenheck & Fontana, 2007). Studies of military personnel have found that up to 15% of service members meet the criteria for experiencing depression (Shen et al., 2012). Often, individuals with military experience face numerous stressors that positively contribute to this experience of depression and feelings of shame (Bradbard et al., 2014; Litz et al., 2009). Military culture (often emphasizing shame related to mental health) has also been found to put military personnel at higher risk of experiencing depression …

Educator Perceptions Of Crisis Frequency And Levels Of Preparedness In Rural Schools, Misty C. Duncan

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Recent national trends, particularly in rural education, highlight the urgent need for enhanced crisis prevention and intervention strategies. This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of crisis frequency and preparedness among rural educators. Through a survey, data were collected on participants' perceptions of crisis frequency and preparedness across various crisis areas. Preliminary findings revealed a significant gap between the perceived level of preparedness and the actual needs for school safety. Despite some training, the quantity and quality of training received by rural educators varied widely, impacting their preparedness to respond to crises. Moreover, an alarming percentage of educators reported not …

Artificial Intelligence In Science And Society: The Vision Of Usern, Tommaso Dorigo, Gary D. Brown, Carlo Casonato, Artemi Cerda, Joseph Ciarrochi, Mauro Da Lio, Nicole D'Souza, Nicolas R. Gauger, Steven C. Hayes, Stefan G. Hofmann, Robert Johansson, Marcus Liwicki, Fabien Lotte, Juan J. Nieto, Giulia Olivato, Peter Parnes, George Perry, Alice Plebe, Idupulapati M. Rao, Nima Rezaei, Fredrik Sandin, Andrey Ustyuzhanin, Giorgio Vallortigara, Pietro Vischia, Niloufar Yazdanpanah

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The recent rise in relevance and diffusion of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based systems and the increasing number and power of applications of AI methods invites a profound reflection on the impact of these innovative systems on scientific research and society at large. The Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), an organization that promotes initiatives to support interdisciplinary science and education across borders and actively works to improve science policy, collects here the vision of its Advisory Board members, together with a selection of AI experts, to summarize how we see developments in this exciting technology impacting science and society in …

Academic Procrastination And Health Behaviors Among University Students, Shelley D. Sadler

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Abstract

Sixty-eight percent of college and university students have indicated that procrastination is their greatest challenge to academic accomplishment. Academic procrastination has been associated with suboptimal health behaviors such as lack of sleep and poor diet due to increased stress and anxiety levels from this academic procrastination. The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice Quality Improvement Project was to provide evidence-based online modules to help university students lessen academic procrastination while increasing healthy behaviors. Participants included students in their first through fourth semesters at a regional mid-South university. The Academic Procrastination Scale (APS) and the Wellness Behavior Inventory (WBI) …

Cultural Competence Training: A Pilot Project For Improving Culturally Competent Care, Praveena Berlin

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Studies have shown that when healthcare providers lack cultural competence, there is a subsequent negative impact on the quality, safety, and cost of patient care. The purpose of this project was to develop an evidence-based cultural competence intervention that includes provider and staff training, development of several toolkits for staff, providers, and African American patients, in order to increase patient satisfaction rates among African American patients. The project was an exploratory quantitative study that used a pre-post-survey design and was implemented in a Mental Health Clinic. Two validated survey tools were utilized, the CCA and CCSS-29. The study results showed …

A Framework For Tailored Organisational Cyber Security Training, Zinnar Ghasem

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Zinnar Ahmed Ghasem A framework for tailored organisational cyber security training AbstractSociety is increasingly becoming dependent on cyberspace; in such it is becoming an integral part of every-day life of most people in both work and home context. This dependency spans across individuals, businesses, and organisations including governments who are relying on cyberspace for various services, ranging from email to social networking, and from cloud computing to ecommerce and financial automated process and transactions. These services are vulnerable and face sophisticated cyber threats, risks and attacks, and potentially can result in financial losses and compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability …

Long-Term Health-Related Quality Of Life In Kawasaki Disease-Related Coronary Artery Aneurysm: A Large Single-Center Assessment In Nanjing, China, Yun Zhou, Mei Chen, Wenting Gao, Yu Chen, Ying Meng

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

BACKGROUND: The impact of coronary artery aneurysms (CAAs) caused by Kawasaki disease (KD) on long-term health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children has not been well documented.

METHODS: This study investigated long-term HRQOL in a large sample of children diagnosed with KD-related CAAs. A case-control, retrospective study included 66 patients with KD-related CAAs. A total of 98 hospitalized patients were matched as controls based on age and sex: 49 patients were allocated to a group with pneumonia and 49 patients were allocated to a group with arterio-arterial fistula. Both child-reported and parent-proxy-reported Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory surveys were collected. …

Exploration Of Color Patterns For Improving Work Zone Safety And Perception, Hongyue Wu, Ze Wang, Yunfeng Chen, Jiansong Zhang, James L. Jenkins

JTRP Technical Reports

Work zone safety remains a persistent concern in the United States. Color patterns are an effective way to provide visual information for drivers. Existing studies explored the colors of work zone elements, while how the color patterns impact the drivers’ perception and overall safety in work zones is missing. Therefore, this study aims to systematically investigate color patterns based on human information processing theory to improve the overall safety and perception of Indiana work zones. Methodology of this study includes: (1) A literature review to summarize the current efforts; (2) Crash data analysis to identify the representative work zones; (3) …

Research Support To Indot On I-465 Southeast Variable Speed Limit And Ramp Meter Project, Jairaj Desai, Christopher Gartner, Rahul Suryakant Sakhare, Edward D. Cox, James Sturdevant, Darcy M. Bullock

JTRP Technical Reports

Traditionally, crash data, crash risk models, video recordings and user surveys have been utilized by agencies to measure the safety benefits of ramp metering technology. Connected vehicle data can now provide an agile evaluation alternative for quantifying impact of ramp meter deployments. Furthermore, in contrast to crash data, connected vehicle near miss events occur much more frequently, so the before-after evaluation can be conducted over a much shorter time period consisting of a few months, or perhaps even a few weeks.

Indiana deployed ramp meters on the southeast section of I-465 around Indianapolis, on or around May 14, 2024, which …

Exploring Associations Between Health And Fitness Measures And Metabolic Syndrome Risk Factors In Rural Firefighters, Isaiah Mews

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study investigates the relationship between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and muscular fitness measures in career rural firefighters. MetS is a cluster of conditions that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), a leading cause of death among firefighters. Previous research has shown that cardiorespiratory fitness is inversely related to MetS, but the role of muscular fitness variables remains unclear. This study aims to determine if fitness measures, such as cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and muscular power, can give insight into MetS in firefighters. Participants were recruited from a Southeastern rural fire department and underwent assessments of muscular fitness, …

“Stay Afloat, Stay Alive”: Stories Of The Challenges And Perseverance Of Foster Care Alumni In Higher Education, Marshall S. Parrent

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this critical narrative inquiry was to collect the stories of foster care alumni (FCA) in higher education, and so that we may better understand how FCA describe their experiences and what colleges and universities can do to help FCA achieve their goal of degree completion. This study highlights the need for a culturally responsive and sustaining curriculum in order to create an environment supportive of FCA needs. Undergraduate FCA are considered one of the most underserved student populations in higher education (Johnson, 2021). While 70-84% of FCA wish to attend college and earn a two- or four-year …

Correlates Of Body Image And Physical Self-Concept, Rashuna Middleton

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The growing overlap between social media and celebrity culture has played a significant role in shaping individuals' perceptions of body image and self-worth. This study explored the relationship between celebrity worship, problematic social media use, narcissism, physical self-concept, and body image among undergraduate psychology students. This study utilized the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS), the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), the Maladaptive Covert Narcissism Scale (MCNS), the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), the Body Influence Assessment Inventory (BIAI), the Self-Objectification Questionnaire (SOQ), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE). Findings indicated that vulnerable narcissism positively correlated with body image, whereas grandiose narcissism …