Digital Commons Network^™

Utilizing A Small Group In Bible Studies To Bring About The Reconciliation Of All The Groups Of An Ethnic Community Church In Brooklyn, New York, Anthony Ukasoanya E Uwakwe

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Many local churches in America today have problems in their ministries. The problems may stem from the untimely action or inaction by the church leaders, including ordained pastors and laity. Other problems are simple misunderstandings, such as a congregant not being reimbursed for funds used for a church event. This thesis research project will present biblical teachings on reconciliation, provide a framework for resolving financial misunderstandings in the church, and foster unity among its groups. It is important to know God’s reasons for being reconciled in the fellowship of the church. The triangular methodology employed uses specific scripture passages that …

A Qualitative Study Of Expectancy Violations Theory On Instructor Feedback For Online Graduate Students Within United States Universities: How Student Perceptions Form When Their Expectations Are Violated, Josephine Hudson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Distance education has become increasingly commonplace as technology and digital connections have become widespread in everyday life. Like traditional classrooms, feedback in online classrooms is a critical form of communication between professors and students to facilitate learning and foster relationships despite the lack of face-to-face communication that distance education imposes. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how graduate and doctoral students’ experiences with expectancy violations influence their perceptions of feedback through the lens of Expectancy Violations Theory. Graduate and doctoral students who were or had been enrolled in at least two distance education courses participated in this …

Emerging Paradigms In Connectome-Guided Neurosurgery For Central Nervous System Tumors: A Narrative Review Of Structural And Functional Connectomics, Tirath Patel, Hamza Yousuf Ibrahim, Muhammad Abbas, Muzna Amir Ali, Sana Sohrab, Kinza Nawaz, Syeda Ramish Zehra Kazmi, Bhumi Daishik Patel, Nikhilesh Anand

School of Medicine Publications

Connectomics is a comprehensive mapping of structural and functional brain networks. It has introduced a paradigm shift in neurosurgery by redefining brain tumors as network disorders rather than isolated lesions. Unlike traditional surgeries, connectome-guided neurosurgery conceptualizes brain tumors as network disorders and aims to preserve brain function in resection. The objective was to study the role of connectome-guided neurosurgery in the management of Central Nervous System tumors and the use of structural and functional connectomics in tumor resection while preserving neurological function. Articles have been identified by searches of PubMed, Scopus and Google scholar from January 2000 to May 2025, …

Elementary-Level Achievement And Compliance Coach Training Manual, Tara B. White

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Ernst and Sara Lane Volgenau College of Education at Morehead State University by Tara B. White on April 7, 2026.

Executive Committee - Agenda, 04/07/2026, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

A Transcendental Phenomenological Study On The Ethical Use Of Artificial Intelligence In Instructional Practice, Jan David Bagwell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the instruction of the ethical use of artificial intelligence through the lived experiences for teachers at Little Texas High School, North Carolina. The theory guiding this study was Mishra and Koehler’s technological pedagogical content knowledge theory, which explains how teachers can use their knowledge of content, pedagogical practices, and technology to integrate the three skill sets to best instruct their students. This framework aligns with the ethical use of artificial intelligence because it recognizes artificial intelligence as a technological tool that can be used with a teacher’s content knowledge to …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Perspectives Of Transition Planning For High School Special Educators, Keva A. Adams

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand the experiences of integrating transition planning for special educators at secondary schools in Triton County, Michigan. The theory guiding this study is Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior, as the principle theorizes that an individual’s behavior is determined by their intentions and perceived behavior of control. The central research question of this study is: What are special educators’ lived experiences integrating special education transition planning at secondary schools in Triton County, Michigan? The design of this study employed hermeneutic phenomenological design with various units of analysis. The data was collected through …

The Fate Of Kings: Providence And Humanism In Shakespeare's Henriad, Katherine Cornell

Masters Theses

Shakespeare’s Henriad offers a picture of the rise and fall of kings, engaging with the integral concepts of Providence, humanistic responsibility, and the divine right of rulers. This analysis will consider the ideas of divine right and humanism as they appear within the Henriad and argue that the plays reconcile the two seemingly competing philosophies of divine right and humanism by depicting a world in which God establishes kings, but gives those kings free agency over their actions. The fortune and fate of kings is first expressed in Richard II, when Richard’s selfish actions cause his own demise, opening the …

Author Biographical Notes

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Negotiating Tonal Language And Western Melody: Mandarin Diction And Performance Practice In The Art Songs Of Huang Zi And Gao Ping, Xueying Ye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study examines the relationship between Mandarin lexical tones and melodic contour in Chinese art song, focusing on how this interaction shapes vocal performance practice. Through case studies of Huang Zi’s Three Wishes of the Rose and selected songs from Gao Ping’s Melody Abandoned, the project explores how two Western-educated Chinese composers from different historical periods negotiate poetic text, tonal language, and musical expression within evolving cultural contexts. The central research question investigates how the tonal structure of Mandarin interacts with Western-derived compositional techniques, and how this interaction presents specific challenges for non-native Mandarin singers. By analyzing poetic form, musical …

A Multiple Case Study: Communicating Uncertainty In Intelligence Community Analytic Judgments, Donald S. Terry Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) analysts face incessant challenges in expressing and explaining uncertainty (dependent variable) when communicating analytic judgments to their clients. IC analysts theorize and apply estimative language and levels of confidence in their analysis, and then it is received by decision-makers, ultimately having an impact on policy making. Historic case studies of the pre-war intelligence assessment of Iraqi WMD, the operational and diplomatic outcome of the 2011 raid on UBL, and the intelligence surprise of COVD-19 reflect the impact that uncertainty has on strategic analysis. Data is collected from primary sources, coded, and interpreted to survey ideas and …

Redefining Aesthetics: The Communicative Construction Of Body Image And Self-Esteem Among Young Female Adults In Fiditi And Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, Christopher Omamuromu Amojo

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examines the communicative construction of body image and self-esteem among young female adults in Fiditi and Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, within the context of contemporary social media use. Although a substantial body of scholarship has explored social media’s relationship with body image, much of this research is situated in Western contexts and framed predominantly through psychological or effects-based paradigms. Addressing this gap, the present study adopts a qualitative interpretive approach grounded in social construction theory and the sociocultural communication tradition to investigate how meanings surrounding beauty, self-worth, and identity are produced and negotiated through mediated interaction in a …

Samson As Judah/Israel: Parallelism And Metaphor In Judges 13–16, Roy A. Scorup

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation argues that the Samson narrative in Judges 13–16 functions as a metaphorical parallel to Israel and Judah. By employing rhetorical criticism methodology, this study will trace the parallelism between Samson and the twin nations of Israel and Judah and analyze the unique flourishes and oddities that are replete in the account, which largely serves to advance this metaphor.

The parallels between Samson and his nation are striking, tracing a shared trajectory from divinely appointed origins, chronic rebellion, and ultimate decline. While many scholars have noted a strong parallelism between Samson and the Israelite nations, aside from Greenstein’s “The …

Exploring Lived Experiences Faced By Latina Breast Cancer Survivors, Deborah Fortino

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of the hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore and understand lived experiences of Latina breast cancer survivors through semi-structured interviews on the Zoom Video Conferencing platform. The theory that guided the study was the Health Belief Model (HBM), a health behavior framework that explored Latina breast cancer survivors' behaviors concerning health (Rosenstock et al., 1988). Furthermore, Fleming et al.’s (2003) five steps of gathering qualitative data and Ajjai and Higgs’s (2007) six stages of data analysis were utilized to acquire the information to explore the phenomenon of Latina breast cancer survivors’ lived experiences. The sample population included nine …

Music Teachers’ Perceptions And Actual Effects Of Youth Orchestra Participation On Students’ Playing Ability, Erika J. Pierce

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite research demonstrating a significant correlation between social and academic development with participation in a youth orchestra, few studies have examined whether participation directly affects students’ note-reading skills, the accuracy of pitch production, and musical expression. This information matters because students often join a youth orchestra to develop these and other playing skills beyond what school programs and private lessons teach. This applied research study examined youth orchestra participation by comparing teachers’ perceptions with demonstrated performance outcomes on middle school students’ development in note-reading, pitch production accuracy, and musical expression. This study analyzed rubric-scored student performance recordings alongside teacher survey …

A Phenomenological Study Exploring The Role Of Religious Coping In Childhood Interpersonal Trauma Recovery Among Latinx Adults, Christina Mancebo-Torres

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand the role religious coping plays in recovery from interpersonal adverse childhood experiences (ACES) among Latinx adults attending Pentecostal churches in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The theory guiding this study was Pargament’s Theory of Religious Coping (1997), which posits that religious coping strategies are ways in which individuals attempt to understand and deal with sacred- related negative life events, including traumatic experiences (Xu, 2015). This study utilized a hermeneutic phenomenology research design. The purposive sample consisted of 12 individuals who self-identified as Latinx, 18 years of age or older, and having a …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of How Daily Explicit Writing Instruction May Contribute To Early Foundational Reading Skills: A Case Study, Jamie Shenk

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this single case study was to explore how K-3 elementary teachers’ perceptions of how daily writing instruction contributes to early foundational reading skills. The theories guiding this study were Sweller’s cognitive load study and Bartlett’s schema theory. The central research question was: How do educators perceive connections between an explicit, daily writing approach and its influence on foundational reading skills? A single case study was used for this research in order to focus on K-3 teachers who had completed a one-year study on explicit writing instruction. The participants were 12 K-3 teachers in one Title I school …

A Study Of The Lived Experiences And Identity Of Sexual And Gender Minority Young Adults, Hillary T. Coolbaugh

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of sexual and/or gender minority young adults with autism spectrum disorder traits and borderline personality disorder features in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Guided by the Minority Stress Model, this study explored how distal and proximal stressors influence mental health, relational functioning, identity formation, and coping processes within this population. Moustakas’ modification of van Kaam’s transcendental phenomenological method guided data coding and analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants who met the inclusion criteria. Data analysis followed established phenomenological procedures, including horizontalization and development of textural and structural descriptions …

Transnational Beings: Corner Store Entrepreneurship Of Mena Immigrants Of The Third Wave, Gabriel Al-Shaer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation examines the role of entrepreneurship as an institution of transition for Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) migrants in the United States from 1965 to the present. Drawing on oral histories, legal analysis, census data, and scholarship on racialization and migration, it argues that small cash-based businesses—particularly corner stores, gas stations, and bodegas—have functioned as critical sites through which third-wave MENA migrants navigate economic precarity, racial marginalization, and community formation. By situating contemporary entrepreneurial practices in relation to earlier forms of pack peddling among first-wave Syrian-Americans, this study demonstrates continuity in migrant strategies of survival while accounting for …

From Apathy To Apostasy: The Danger Of Dullness In Hearing God’S Word, Daniel D. Mann

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation contends that the issue of apathetic hearing among some of the audience in the book of Hebrews is a pivotal aspect in the threat of apostasy. The central theme of Hebrews is that God has spoken in the last days by his Son (Heb. 1:2). Thus, God speaking (1:1–2, 5, 13; 2:3; 3:10; 4:3, 4, 8; 5:5; 10:15, 30; 12:25; 13:5) and man hearing (2:1, 3; 3:7, 15, 16; 4:2, 7; 5:11; 12:25) emerge as twin pillars of emphasis throughout Hebrews. The author’s overarching emphasis is that God has spoken definitively in His Son and that Word deserves …

Generation Of Synthetic Data Via Embedding-Based Semantic Replacement From A Controlled Lexicon, Paramesh Manickavelu, Tomek Rutowski, Saeed Mirza, Paul Hsu, Stevan Malesevic

Defensive Publications Series

Evaluation of conversational artificial intelligence systems can depend on diverse datasets, but using raw user data may introduce privacy risks, and some anonymization techniques, such as redaction, can degrade data utility. A system for generating synthetic data can operate by transforming original text prompts. For example, a process can involve tokenizing a prompt, generating vector embeddings for the tokens, and performing a semantic search against a vector database. This database may contain embeddings for terms from a controlled, privacy-safe lexicon. Original tokens can be replaced with semantically similar counterparts from this lexicon to assemble a new, synthetic prompt. This technique …

Multi-Device Interactive Narrative System With An Ai Companion Initialized From Narrative Interaction Data, Qingfei Tian

Defensive Publications Series

On-screen user interfaces for interactive narratives may disrupt immersion and can lack mechanisms for persistent user engagement after a story concludes. A multi-device architecture may be used where a primary display presents cinematic content while a synchronized secondary device, such as a smartphone, smart watch, or other wearable device, manages diegetic user interactions via voice, motion, or touch. A remote server can orchestrate the experience and log user choices. This interaction data can be used to create a profile that contextually initializes a persistent artificial intelligence (AI) companion, seeding it with a memory of the user's specific narrative journey. This …

A Curious Companion: Care, Curiosity, And Companion Species In The Complete Adventures Of Curious George, Charlotte Brooks '26

Honor Scholar Theses

This thesis examines the Curious George series through Donna Haraway’s companion species framework in order to analyze how narratives of care, curiosity, and goodness structure human–animal relationships within the stories. Focusing on the first seven books written and illustrated by H. A. Rey and Margret Rey, as compiled in The Complete Adventures of Curious George (2001), the project uses close textual and visual analysis to examine how George’s curiosity repeatedly generates disruption that is managed through intervention, discipline, and forgiveness by human authority figures, particularly the man with the yellow hat. Drawing on Haraway’s concepts of companion species, naturecultures, and …

American Heresiology: Exclusionary Rhetoric In The Development Of Early Christian And Rabbinic Jewish Identity, And The Polarizing Narratives That Inform Contemporary Religio-Political Discourse In The United States, Taylor Cripe '26

Honor Scholar Theses

Emerging from the highly diverse religious landscape of second-century Judea, Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism did not arise organically as separate religious categories but were deliberately formed into theologically distinct groups. Writers of a genre of religious literature called heresiology engaged in the exercise of defining their traditions by the process of identifying theological alternatives, establishing orthodoxy by determining and repudiating possible heresies. Their effort in the second century to establish these religious categories by the explicit identification of the theological boundaries around them evidences the intentional creativity involved in the initial development of these familiar religious categories. The self-definitions created …

Manufacturing Collapse: American Power And The Dissolution Of The Federal Republic Of Yugoslavia, Jonah Michael Hillmann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

This thesis argues that the United States systematically worked to destabilize the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and initiate regime change through economic sanctions, propaganda campaigns, funding of political opposition movements, and the facilitation of NATO bombing campaigns. Through an examination of recently declassified U.S. government documents, National Security Council briefings, and diplomatic correspondence, a more complicated reality of U.S. involvement in Yugoslavia emerges. Evidence reveals that the Clinton Administration leveraged the real humanitarian crisis in Kosovo to advance post-Cold War strategic interests, particularly the political and economic unification of Europe under NATO. Organized into three thematic chapters: Militaristic Involvement, Economic …

Cardiovascular Adaptation To Whole-Body Vibration Exercise In Obese Young Adults: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, And Exploratory Analysis Of Sex Differences, Rafiu Okuneye, Abdulkareem Taiwo, Fatai Akinola Apalara, Okechukwu Kingsley Oforka, Isaiah Whenayon Ajoseh, Ogar Emmanuel Ekawu

Indonesian Journal of Research in Physical Education, Sport, and Health

Background: Obesity is strongly associated with hypertension and autonomic dysfunction. Whole-body vibration exercise (WBVE) has been proposed as a low-impact intervention for improving cardiovascular function in obese adults, but sex-specific responses remain unclear. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of whole-body vibration exercise on blood pressure, autonomic function, and cardiac output in adults with obesity, and to explore potential sex differences in cardiovascular adaptations. Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies examining the effects of WBV on systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate variability (HRV), and …

Dietary Patterns And Nutritional Status In Soccer Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Study From An Ergonomic Perspective, Rina Mayangsari, Ravi Masitah

Indonesian Journal of Research in Physical Education, Sport, and Health

Background: Normal nutritional status has been established as one of the principal determinants in an athlete's performance. Dietary quality plays a critical role in optimizing athletes' physical fitness and performance outcomes. Objective: To examine the associations between dietary patterns on the MacPersona System and nutritional status of soccer players (energy, protein, et cetera, fat, and carbohydrates). Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted involving 21 soccer players (total sampling). Dietary patterns were assessed using a validated Semi-Quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (SQ-FFQ). Nutritional status was measured using Body Mass Index(BMI) based on anthropometric data. The chi-square test was used for statistical …

Placing Loper Bright In Perspective, Russell L. Weaver

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

Regulating Speech Bias, Steven I. Friedland

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

Research Nexus : Volume 36 – 2026, Office Of Research And Graduate Studies

Office of Research and Graduate Studies

• Researcher Spotlight
• Research Milestones & News
• Capacity Building Initiatives
• NIH Updates and Other Resources
• Explore New Funding Opportunities