Digital Commons Network^™

The Meaning Of Spiritual Practices For Caregivers Of Children With Cancer In Thailand: A Heideggerian Phenomenological Study, Wipawee Ponkaew

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Caring for children with cancer may bring short and long-term challenges to families due to added healthcare activities focused on the ill child or adolescent. Among available resources and support strategies, religiosity/ spirituality (R/S) have been increasingly identified as a source of comfort.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experience and interpret the findings of spiritual practices for caregivers of children with cancer in Thailand. A purposive sampling method was used to recruit participants, with semi-structured interviews. Swanson’s Theory of Caring provided the theoretical underpinning of the study, and Deikelmann’s seven-stage process was adapted for …

Extracting The Future: An Analysis Of Petroculture In Apocalyptic Works, Cailey Poirier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

This thesis explores the critique of petroculture seen in mid- and post-apocalyptic literature. Chapter One, “Parable of the Sower: A Pre-Apocalyptic World Planting Petrocultures Destiny” argues Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower critiques American petroculture by demonstrating the destruction and devastation society is heading for under current societal structures. Chapter Two, “The Road: The Crumbling Remains of Petroculture” argues Cormac McCarthy’s The Road critiques American petroculture through its infrastructural collapse. Chapter Three, “‘Covehithe’: A Weird, Post-Apocalyptic Story Birthing the Future of Petroculture” explores how China Miéville’s “Covehithe” employs magical realism to communicate a different view …

Clinical Validation Of Delivery Analysis Software For Patient-Specific Quality Assurance Of Radixact (Tomotherapy) Treatment, Gagandeep Pama

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the patient-specific quality assurance (PSQA) performance for various disease sites treated with the Radixact machine using Gamma (γ) passing rate analysis (%GP) as per AAPM TG-218.

This study analyzed 22 PSQA plans executed on a Radixact machine using ArcCheck phantom and delivery analysis (DA) software. The %GP was calculated using a 3% dose difference (DD), a 2 mm distance-to-agreement (DTA), and a 10% threshold. A passing criterion of ≥95% was applied for PSQA evaluation.

The %GP was analyzed for all sites. The %GP (2D) on the ArcCheck phantom mean γ passing …

Gendered Violence And Identities: Exploring The Role Of Violence Against And Abductions Of Women In Cracking India And Lajwanti, Erin Mammel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

This article argues that representations of women’s bodies as symbols of honor during the partition of India and Pakistan in Bapsi Sidhwa’s Cracking India and Rajinder Singh Bedi’s Lajwanti frame violence against these bodies, and forced conversions and marriages, as forms of dishonor among religious rivals within split territories, which attempt to uphold men’s nationalistic identities. Many scholars, such as Rachna Mehra and Rituparna Roy, have studied the displacement of recovered and rehabilitated women in these texts. There has been less scholarship, however, that explores gendered forms of violence with Hindu nationalist notions of masculinity. Through the lens of postcolonial …

The Changing Roles Of Elementary School Principals, Ernie Lozano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

The role of the elementary school principal has changed throughout its history. The role has shifted from primarily a managerial role to an instructional leadership role, to the more current role of a multi-faceted operational leader. Recent events, from the Covid-19 pandemic to highly publicized school shootings, has added additional responsibilities to the current role of the principal. The current high-stakes accountability to ensure all students are learning has also added an increased amount of pressure on elementary school principals. The ability to effectively manage both the operational and instructional roles has created stress and anxiety on elementary school principals. …

Best Friends And Popular Peers As Sources Of Influence During Late Childhood And Early Adolescence, Mary Page James

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Across the transition into adolescence, changes in the child’s social world give rise to growing peer influence. As adult supervision declines and time with peers increases, children and adolescents become increasingly susceptible to influence from friends and popular peers. Unclear, however, is the relative magnitude of each and whether the scope of their influence varies across different domain behavior. Friends dominate private settings, where behaviors that promote reciprocity are particularly salient. Popular peers dominate public settings, where behaviors that promote hierarchy are particularly salient. The present study concerns the unique hypothesis that peer influence is domain specific, such that best …

Ai-Assisted Radio Frequency Fingerprinting For Identification Of User Devices In 5g Networks, Aishwarya Jawne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

As 5G networks expand, ensuring secure identification and authentication of user devices is critical. This paper explores machine learning-based Radio Frequency Fingerprinting (RFF) to identify and distinguish trusted and rogue devices in 5G networks. We evaluate ResNet, Transformer, and LSTM architectures using channel-isolated (CI) spectrogram and raw IQ slice inputs across varying packet sizes. Results show that ResNet with CI spectrogram inputs achieves the highest device classification accuracy and scalability while mitigating the Next-Day Effect, while the same architecture with IQ Slices is best for rogue device detection. Unlike related works, we emphasize the role of spectrograms in accurately capturing …

Joy In Teaching: Examining Teachers’ Perceived Experiences Of Choice, Self-Efficacy, And Sense Of Belonging, Shellie Hennings-Donow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Teacher joy is a critical yet often overlooked factor influencing teacher retention, instructional effectiveness, and student outcomes. This study explores how teachers describe their experiences of joy in the workplace, focusing on the roles of choice, self-efficacy, and belonging. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory and Attribution Theory, this research examines the extent to which teachers’ perceived autonomy, competence, and relational support contribute to teachers’ professional fulfillment. Through qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews and thematic analysis, this study captures the perceptions of educators across diverse school settings. Findings reveal that teachers experience the highest levels of joy when they have meaningful autonomy …

Experimental Characterization Of Power Generation Of A Small Wind Turbine With Variable Ducted Geometry, Robert S. Gaudreau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Wind turbines provide renewable energy but must be installed at suitable locations to maximize power generation. Applying duct geometry to wind turbines can increase output power, allowing for the integration into urban applications where space is limited, and visual pollution must be minimized. Therefore, the objective was to determine the change in output power for a wind turbine with variable area ducting comprised of a converging inlet nozzle and a diverging outlet diffuser. Parametric studies of 3D-printed models were conducted in a low-speed wind tunnel at 5 m/s to determine the optimal duct angle and area ratio with the greatest …

The Interaction Of Temporal And Structural Abstractions And Their Influence On Behavior, Ryan Gallagher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a crucial role in complex behaviors such as planning, decision-making, and adaptive problem-solving, which require integrating new information over time. Research has shown that information related to these behaviors is organized along a hierarchical rostro-caudal abstraction gradient in PFC, with abstract information represented in rostral (anterior) regions and concrete relationships in caudal (posterior) regions. Abstraction involves generalizing information by emphasizing broader concepts over specific details and can be understood more specifically by the context its applied to. However, past studies often confound different forms of abstraction, making it unclear how these different types of abstraction …

Commissioning Of Electron Blocks In Monaco And Diode Correction Factors, Sadaa Alotaibi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

This work examines the Elekta Monaco TPS Monte Carlo electron beam dose calculation model for electron treatment planning. The primary goals are to commission electron blocks and establish correction factors for diode measurements with the use of ion chamber output as references, improving dosimetric procedures and adhering to the AAPM for clinically acceptable precision. Output factor measurements of diodes were compared to ion chamber OFs on a 6 MeV to 15 MeV Elekta Versa HD linear accelerator. TPS calculations were held on the Monaco TPS system. To balance the computational costs and accuracy of the solution, grid sizes of 2 …

Movie Genre Classification Using Script Texts, Michael Roman Cuomo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Genres are used to classify movies so that they can be grouped with others that have similar themes and structures. These classifications are categories created by humans. In the process of creating a movie, a script is often the first creation to write and share ideas about a topic. The script contains large amounts of text that is used to describe the dialog, setting and direction of the film. Although the script contains important information for the film, the amount of text can present a challenge for machine learning algorithms. Often in studies on film classification, if text is used, …

Community, Placemaking, And Preservation: Historic Neighborhoods In West Palm Beach, Florida, Aislinn Cruz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Historic preservation: the act of protecting landmarks and buildings, often through active participation with the community. The project aims to explore perceptions of those living in historical neighborhoods in West Palm Beach, Florida about:1) Neighborhood cultural connection, 2) Placemaking locations, 3) Relationship with the city, and 4) Knowledge of preservation projects. Using digital and in-person surveys, the project utilized Likert-scale and short-response questions to collect data. Results showed residents had mixed feelings about their cultural connection. Though a majority described their neighborhood positively, some negative responses came from a specific northern neighborhood. Locations of placemaking notably included parks and community …

The Single Vote: The Senators Who Acquitted Andrew Johnson, Benjamin Maxwell Cohen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

On February 24th, 1868, the House of Representatives impeached Andrew Johnson, and in May of that same year, he would be acquitted in the United States Senate by one vote. At the center of these events were the seven Republican Senators who defected from their party and found the President not guilty. This thesis examines the conflicts between Johnson and the Radical Republicans, framing this within the broader political context of the era as the key to understanding the political nature of Johnson’s 1868 trial. This politicization culminated in the Tenure of Office Act, which was both protectionist and antagonistic …

“Ojala Que Llueva: Free Trade's Ripple Effect On Rice Farming In El Cibao, Dominican Republic", Arismendis Altagracia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Globalization has had a tremendous effect on agricultural communities. This study aims to understand Dominican rice farmers' methods of production, their impact on the Dominican economy, and the public health of those involved in production. Some concerns are how mass rice production affects the environment, public health, and the state's economy. The rice industry in the Dominican Republic is one of the most essential sectors due to its cultural and dietary significance. Rice contributes a substantial amount to the diet of Dominicans; its production process and nutritional profile is associated with health problems that burden an already strained public health …

Interleukin-1 Type I Receptor Implicated In Emergence And Severity Of Generalized Tonic-Clonic Seizures In A Transgenic Mouse Model Of Adult-Onset, Progressive Epilepsy:, Tashi Dillon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Interleukin-1 β (IL- 1β) is a proinflammatory cytokine with proconvulsive properties that is elevated in epilepsy. The hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) buffers hyperexcitability, and deficits in granule neuron gating contribute to epileptogenesis. Excess brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) may drive hyperexcitable circuit assembly, promoting a seizure-producing breakdown of the gating function. We use a transgenic mouse model of forebrain BDNF (TgBDNF) overexpression that exhibit spontaneous generalized tonic/ clonic seizures (GTCSs) at ~3 months, which progress as evidenced by prolonged periods of post-generalized EEG suppression (PGES). This is accompanied by hippocampal hypertrophy and brainstem cell loss. A strain globally lacking IL-1 …

Do Marketers Need To Know? How Firms' Newfound Quest For Customer Data Is Eroding Firm Performance, Victor Garcia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Firms today spend more than 30 billion dollars on marketing data. This obsession with data has been propelled by a firm's ongoing need to better understand its consumers and, in turn, drive positive firm performance. While the relationship between brand equity and firm performance has been confirmed for the last two decades, this study explores how data collection negatively moderates the existing relationship by testing multiple variables of privacy risk. This theoretical paper with a pilot study explores how the conflicting balance of shareholder theory and stakeholder theory can lead firms towards data collection practices that indirectly diminish the firm’s …

Crowding Out Whistleblower Altruism: Examining The Impact Of Whistleblower Incentives And Recognition On Retaliatory Behaviors, Megan Nicole Hiner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Whistleblowers play an instrumental role in exposing organizational wrongdoing and, thereby, helping to remedy the damage endured by stakeholders. However, whistleblower retaliation is rising, its personal impacts to the whistleblower are severe, and fears of retaliation serve as a strong deterrent to prospective whistleblowers. In this dissertation, I draw on motivation crowding theory, which posits that external interventions can crowd out or crowd in intrinsic motivations for engaging in a behavior. I employ a third-party perspective of motivation crowding theory and utilize a 2x3x2 between-participants experimental design to examine factors that impact employees’ perceptions of whistleblower intent and acts of …

Effects Of Crevice Corrosion On Metal Adhesive Performance And Shear Strength In Marine Environments, Westin Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Corrosion is a leading challenge that engineers and researchers face when working in marine environments. Annually, corrosion costs an estimated $2.5 trillion globally and can lead to environmental damage and pose a threat to public safety. This thesis investigates the effects of crevice corrosion on the performance of different epoxy adhesives when mated with stainless steel to determine if using epoxy is a viable option for the development of systems operating in marine environments. To accomplish this, metal-to-metal lap shear samples were created using Araldite 2015-1, Plexus MA560-1, Plexus MA310, and Plexus MA8120 epoxies and different preparation methods. These samples …

Is Infant Fear Related To An Increase In Maternal Stress?, Janairis F. Munoz-Perez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

The impact of infant fear responses on mother stress throughout the first year of life was investigated in this study. Between six and fourteen months, thirty mother-infant pairs were examined at three different time intervals. Maternal responses from the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R) and behavioral observations made during standardized lab tasks were used to evaluate infant fear. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) was used to measure maternal stress at all time points, and behavioral stress was coded during the first session. The findings showed no overall significant correlation between the mother's subjective stress and the behavioral fear of her infant. …

Mapless Autonomous Navigation Using Monocular Vision, Sai Digvijay Neelam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

This thesis investigates monocular vision-based navigation for autonomous ground robots in indoor environments. It explores the effectiveness of mapless navigation strategies using image inputs and evaluates both modular and end-to-end deep learning techniques. A comprehensive implementation pipeline was developed on a Clearpath Dingo robot, comparing the approaches: classical optical flow (Farneback), modular deep learning with motion planning, and an end-to-end model.

The modular methods involve predicting region-wise obstacle depths using a ResNet 18 based model trained on a custom indoor dataset, followed by a motion planner. The end-to-end approach leverages a ResNet-18 architecture to jointly predict steering angles and collision …

Veterans In Times Of Crisis: The Impact Of Veteran Status On Unemployment, Lubor Olsovsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of veteran status on unemployment in times of crisis. Driven by the social identity theory, we argue that people’s identity deriving from his or her military background makes them more valuable assets in the work environment, specifically in times of crisis, because of their human capital. We utilize the coronavirus pandemic as the exogenous shock in the labor marketplace, capturing the crisis environment. Due to the veterans’ human capital driven by their leadership and entrepreneurial characteristics from their military experience, we argue that individuals with veteran backgrounds have stronger labor …

Top Management Team Composition And Financial Reporting Quality: A Faultline Perspective, Tyler Ricco

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

This study examines whether faultlines within top management teams (TMT) influence financial reporting quality (FRQ). Faultlines reflect hypothetical divisions within a group based on team members’ unique demographic characteristics and experiences. Using a large sample of U.S. firms from 2003 to 2020, I construct a faultline measure based on executive gender, age, tenure, education, and board experience. I test whether faultlines negatively associate with FRQ, proxied by measures of restatements and accruals quality. I further investigate faultline type, based on the demographic (gender and age) and task-related (tenure, education, and board experience) components. The main results do not support the …

Organizational Accounting In Value-Based Care: How Are You Really Doing?, Stephanie Fischer Mba, Jennifer Stephens Do

Administration & Leadership

No abstract provided.

Personalized Persuasion In The Digital Age: A Data-Driven Approach To Effective Communication, Annye Braca

Doctoral

This thesis investigates the potential of Machine Learning (ML) to personalize persuasive marketing messages. It explores the identification of individuals receptive to specific persuasion techniques based on their psychometric profiles. By developing ML models that incorporate these profiles, the thesis aims to predict the impact of tailored messages and improve the effectiveness of marketing communication.

Development Of Holographic Optical Elements For Application In Wound Healing Monitoring, Pamela Stoeva

Doctoral

Growing global healthcare challenges, including the increasing prevalence of chronic wounds, necessitate the development of cost-effective, reusable, and readily accessible sensors for real-time wound monitoring. Such devices could extend basic healthcare to remote areas and support long-term space missions by facilitating on-the-spot wound assessment. Sensors that utilise Holographic Optical Elements (HOEs) are promising candidates due to their diverse sensing capabilities, advantageous physical properties (e.g., lightweight and flexibility), and suitability for mass manufacturing. The fundamental biochemical processes associated with wound healing are typically related to parameters such as oxygen levels, pH, temperature, and lactate concentration. Realtime quantification of these parameters enables …

Highly Sensitive Diffractive Optical Structures For Detection Of Volatile Organic Compounds, Faolan Radford Mcgovern

Doctoral

From aerospace to agriculture, sensors play a fundamental role in many aspects of modern life. Sensors form an integral part of the complex systems and devices required for the continued functioning and development of services and industries across society. The use of sensors is paramount in areas affecting human health, one such area being the monitoring of indoor air quality, in particular the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Human contact with VOCs has been associated with many health complications, including skin and eye irritation, cardiovascular damage, and cancers. Optical, electrical, gravimetric, and chemical sensors have been developed for VOC …

Surface Modifications Of Titanium Alloys For Biomedical Applications, Justynne Fabian

Doctoral

Hip implant failure remains a critical concern in healthcare, primarily driven by poor bone integration and bacterial infection. These issues contribute to a rising number of revision surgeries, posing significant challenges that must be addressed, particularly in light of an ageing global population. Titanium surface anodisation emerges as a promising solution for biomedical applications, offering a cost-effective, controllable, and efficient process. The anodisation technique results in the formation of titanium dioxide nanotubes (TiO2 NTs) on the metal surface. These nanostructures offer several advantages, including enhanced mechanical properties, and potential for surface modification through the incorporation of antibacterial and osteoinductive properties. …

Capacity Building In The Irish Brewing And Distilling Sector For Raw Materials Utilisation, By-Products Management, And Environmental Impact Assessment, Ekene C. Umego

Doctoral

The Irish brewing and distilling sector has shown a consistent increase in number, production output, sales, and export value in the last decade. This has implications for raw materials requirements, assessment, and by-products management for the sustainability of the sector. As a result, the main aim of this research study was to evaluate the status of raw materials use and assessment within the Irish brewing and distilling sector, explore by-products management options and valorisation initiatives, and analyse the environmental impact of Irish whiskey production. The first approach was a survey study to collect data on major raw material inputs use …

Machine Learning Applications In Epigenomics And Its Association With Health And Disease, Trevor Doherty

Doctoral

Epigenetic modifications can lead to altered phenotypes without a change in the DNA sequence itself. Disrupted gene expression regulated by epigenetic processes can result in cancers, autoimmune diseases and various other maladies. Machine learning (ML) involves the use of algorithms and models which are trained to learn patterns in data, and has demonstrated remarkable success in solving diverse, complex challenges. Epigenomic studies, such as those that use DNA methylation (DNAm) data, increasingly make use of ML techniques to process extremely high dimensional data obtained from high throughput platforms e.g., DNAm arrays. These datasets suffer from the curse of dimensionality, increased …