Digital Commons Network^™

Tl;Dr (Too Long; Didn't Read): Examining The Assessment And Causes Of Careless Responding Within Experimental Vignette Studies, David L. Sexton Jr.

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Careless responding occurs when participants answer survey items without considering their content and poses a serious threat to data quality. However, while past research has examined its deleterious effects on both survey and low-stakes cognitive ability measures, little research has focused on careless responding in experimental vignette methodology (EVM) research. EVM studies require participants to attend to one or more experimental vignettes, which are carefully crafted written scenarios designed to manipulate a focal variable across conditions. However, if participants are careless in attending to study vignettes, they may not be exposed to the researchers’ intended experimental manipulations, thereby precluding them …

The Middle Space: Redefining Collaborative Directing In Adaptive American Collegiate Theatre, Tyler J. Simons

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This thesis examines collaborative directing as an adaptive, relational practice that exists between rigid hierarchical authorship and fully collectivized creation. Challenging dominant binaries in directing discourse that frame leadership as either singular or egalitarian, this study argues for a “middle space” in which authority, authorship, and responsibility are continually negotiated in response to institutional structures, pedagogical contexts, and interpersonal dynamics. Directing is framed not as a fixed methodology or ideological position, but as a responsive practice shaped by context. Grounded in a practice-as-research (PaR) methodology, the thesis analyzes four productions: Rhinoceros (Theatre UCF, 2024), The Tricks of Scapin (Freedom High …

Mapping Historical Neighborhoods With Geospatial Viewshed Buffers, James B. Townsend

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The concept of neighborhood has been long studied with little agreement beyond the notion that neighborhoods are somewhat self-contained areas within a wider urban environment. Despite the lack of a finite definition, there is wide agreement of the importance of studying population dynamics at the neighborhood scale. Many attempts have been made to spatially define, measure, and quantify contemporary neighborhoods, but less attention has been given to methods to spatially define historical neighborhoods. In this paper, we utilize a historical spatial data infrastructure for the city of London, Ontario to develop a viewshed methodology that recognizes that ‘neighborhood’ is unique …

Microgravity-Induced Alterations In Left Atrial Hemodynamics And Thrombogenic Risk: Insights From Healthy And Atrial Fibrillation Models, Grace M. Hoeppner

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Background: Microgravity exposure alters cardiovascular loading, yet its impact on left atrial flow dynamics and thrombotic risk remains poorly understood. This study investigates how spaceflight-relevant microgravity-induced changes in cardiac outflow affect left atrial hemodynamics in healthy individuals and patients with atrial fibrillation.

Methods: Patient-specific left atrial models were generated for three healthy individuals and three AF patients. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed using each patient’s baseline mitral outflow waveform and two modified waveforms representing short- and long-duration post-flight cardiac loading changes derived from echocardiographic observations. Hemodynamic metrics included left atrial velocity, time averaged wall shear stress, oscillatory shear …

Are Iowa Pk-12 Schools Prepared For A School Shooting? A Needs Assessment Of Iowa Superintendents, Kurt Mj Devore

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

As school shootings remain a persistent threat to PK-12 education, this quantitative survey study examines the preparedness levels and beliefs of 75 out of 277 Iowa superintendents regarding active shooter events. In the wake of the 2024 tragedy in Perry, Iowa, results indicate a near-universal recognition of risk (97.3%), prompting a shift toward "muscle memory" training and the adoption of the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) to ensure a common language during a crisis. The data reveals a significant move away from high-intensity simulations in favor of trauma-informed tabletop exercises, alongside a definitive rejection of arming educators (0%) due to insurance …

Can’T Sue A Movement: Greenpeace’S $667 Million Crisis Narrative, Trevor Hart

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In March of 2025, the environmental group Greenpeace was found liable for nearly $667 million to Energy Transfer, the oil company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The lawsuit was widely regarded as a SLAPP, or Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, because it weaponized civic torts to infringe upon Greenpeace’s First Amendment rights. The $667 million verdict is an unprecedented figure in SLAPP litigation–it’s enough to bankrupt Greenpeace in the United States and “chill” democratic participation. This thesis used a hybrid blame-renewal crisis narrative framework to analyze Greenpeace’s public response to lawsuits against a backdrop of cultural and political economic …

On The Surface: The Mural Of Shireen Abu Akleh As Space For Encounter, Saja Abd El Hai

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This thesis examines a mural of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the city of Baqa al-Gharbiya as a site of political encounter. Rather than approaching the mural solely as a commemorative image, the study analyzes how it generated a series of interactions through acts of creation, defacement, restoration, performance, and digital circulation. Drawing on scholarship in visual culture, graffiti studies, and political theory, I argue that the mural operates as a gendered space of political encounter through which grief, resistance, and national identity are negotiated in public space. Methodologically, the project combines visual and contextual analysis with rhetorical criticism, …

Designing With Foresight: Premortem And Human-Centered Evaluation Of Emerging Technologies, Anusha Kannan

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded in safety-critical systems, including transportation, where people must make fast decisions under uncertainty and high risk. As AI takes on a larger role in supporting human judgment, researchers and designers must evaluate more than just its technical performance, they must ask whether people can understand the system and use it effectively in high-risk settings.

This dissertation presents two distinct evaluation methodologies. First, the Human-Centered Evaluation, examines how intelligent in-vehicle alert systems influence driver decision behavior across two experiments. In Experiment 1 (n=24) and Experiment 2 (n=26), participants completed a driving simulator study in which our …

Nation, Nature And Childhood In Five Curricula: Towards Earthly Education, Zsuzsa Millei, Katarzyna Gawlicz, Lucy Hopkins, Camilla Eline Andersen, Danielle Ekman Ladru

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This article explores the relations between nation, nature and childhood in five early childhood education curricula in the Nordic, post-socialist and settler-colonial states with the focus on the role education plays in the face of the climate crisis. The authors identify three interconnecting themes in which nation, nature and childhood are entangled in these curricula: 1) national nature as an object of learning; 2) nature and home/birth land and Country; and 3) stewardship for national nature. Exploring these themes from the perspective of alternative pedagogies developed to address the child–nature relations during the Anthropocene, the authors argue that these notions …

Longitudinal Associations And Interactions Of Adolescent Religious Deidentification And Parental Sanctification On Parent-Adolescent Relationships, Justin Hendricks, Sam A. Hardy, Michael A. Goodman, Emily De Schweintiz Taylor

Faculty Publications

In many religious families, shared religious identity is a strong source of intergenerational solidarity. However, when adolescents deidentify from their family faith, normative parent-adolescent conflict, which heightens in mid-adolescence and normally subsides in late-adolescence, may intensify and damage parent-adolescent social cohesion. Many religious parents view parenting relationships as sanctified, which typically leads to adaptive parenting, but in the context of deidentification may lead to greater distress. To understand how adolescent religious deidentification influences parentadolescent relationships, we examined the longitudinal associations and interactions of adolescent children’s religious deidentification and parental sanctification on parent-child religious conflict and parental warmth (N = 1,391 …

Developmental Themes Associated With Religious Activity After Early Return From A Latter-Day Saint Mission, Samuel E. Hancock, Sam A. Hardy, Michael Goodman, Camron Angell, Jenae M. Nelson

Faculty Publications

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, qualified young men are expected (and young women are given the option) to complete extended missionary service during the transition to adulthood. Some youth end their missionary service short of the anticipated duration, which is associated with markedly lower rates of religious activity post-return. This study is a qualitative inquiry into the developmental themes associated with early returned missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who chose to remain active (be consistently involved with the church), sampling from areas with high rates of Latter-day Saint activity, where stigmatization …

Hey, Siri: How Companionate Ai Usage Affects Social Satisfaction And Personal Intelligence, Ryan E. Moran, Marley Ireland

Honors Theses and Capstones

Artificial intelligence is a field that is growing and changing faster than humanity can keep up. While part of the population is benefiting from its unmatched diagnostic power, increased productivity in school and in work, and even its surgical and therapeutic contributions, others are filing lawsuits based on claims that an AI chatbot was a key factor in the mental health crisis of someone they loved. Research has found that reliance on these AI-generated conversational agents can lead to social withdrawal, unrealistic relationship expectations, addictive tendencies, and, in the worst cases, increased or encouraged suicidal ideations, especially in vulnerable populations. …

Application Of Medical Imaging Examinations For Temporomandibular Disorders Under Taiwan's National Health Insurance System, Feng-Chou Cheng, Mu-Hsiung Chen, Yu-Ling Wu, Chun-Pin Chiang

Journal of Dental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Exploring Consumers’ Intention And Behavior In The Circular Economy : Evidence From Vietnam, Tuan Hoang Nguyen, Vo Minh Thang Phan

Applied Environmental Research

This study aims to address the key gaps in understanding the factors influencing the intention–behavior relationship of consumers in the context of the circular economy (CE). Grounded in the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this research extends the framework by integrating social pressure, attitudes toward green consumption, and the availability of CE products as crucial components that shape intention and behavior. Data were collected from 603 Vietnamese consumers and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results confirm the core TPB constructs, with perceived behavioral control emerging as the most influential factor. Notably, attitude toward green consumption …

Conditional Admission And The Hazards Of Lawyer Assistance Programs Operating Without Transparency Or Oversight, Paula Schaefer

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Gratuitous Federalism In Gratuities Enforcement: Section 666 And Plugging The Snyder Gap, Justin New

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Marijuana, Marinol, And Chapter 11: The Federal Roadblock To Bankruptcy Protection, Grace Griggs

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Participatory Work Design Intervention In A Disability Support Organization: Effects On Job Demands, Social Support, And Burnout, Arian Kunzelmann, Connie Deng, Lucinda Iles, Ryan Cheng, Helena Nguyen, Anya Johnson, Sharon K. Parker

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a participatory work design intervention to improve job quality and mental well-being in a disability support organization. We investigate whether the intervention is associated with changes in burnout (i.e. disengagement, work-related, client-related), and we assess the changes in work design through which the intervention has its effects. We hypothesized that the effects of the work design intervention on burnout occur via changes in social support (i.e. co-worker instrumental and emotional support) and job demands (i.e. role conflict, time pressure). 72 participants were involved (N = 21 in the intervention group, 66.7% female; N = …

The Gender Gap In Writing: Gender Profiles For Paper- And Computer-Based Writing In Early Education, Anabela Malpique, Deborah Pino-Pasternak, Mustafa Asil

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Research Findings: The gender gap in writing has received strong interest from literacy education and research, based on recurrent reports of gender differences in writing typically favoring female students. In this study, we investigated gender differences on paper- and computer-based text composing performance among early primary children (N = 544 Grade 2 students). Multilevel analyses revealed significant differences between boys and girls in both compositional quality and productivity across writing modalities. Specifically, boys consistently exhibited lower scores in both compositional quality and productivity compared to girls. Gender differences were notably influenced by various student-level factors such as handwriting automaticity, spelling …

Playworld Translanguaging: A Place-Based Approach For Translanguaging Play Pedagogy In Early Childhood, Christine Robinson, Carly Steele, Toni Dobinson, Grace Oakley, Samina Manado, Katie Grace, Graeme Gower

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Conceptualised from a vision to honour children’s languages, agency and cultural ways of knowing, this research presents findings from a place-based translanguaging play pedagogy for early childhood called Playworld Translanguaging. In the remote Kimberley of Western Australia, researchers collaborated with educators in a Kindergarten/Primary/Yr 1 class of mostly Aboriginal children who have Bardi Jawi as their ancestral language, co-designing ways to revitalise this language through play pedagogy in ways intimately connected to place. Our Playworld Translanguaging approach reimagined Conceptual PlayWorlds (Fleer, 2018) with the intention of integrating pedagogical translanguaging. Following Indigenist research principles, critical participatory action research (CPAR) was the …

Mental Health Professionals’ Perspectives On Essential Elements Of Telehealth Family Psychoeducation For Major Depressive Disorder: An Exploratory Study, Obumneke Obieche, Jing Yu Tan, Sita Sharma, Daniel Bressington, Tao Wang

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Family-inclusive interventions, such as family psychoeducation (FPE), improve outcomes in major depressive disorder (MDD), particularly when tailored to the needs of individuals with MDD, their families, and carers. This study explored mental health professionals’ (MHPs) perspectives on the essential elements of telehealth FPE for MDD, including patients’ and their families’ informational and support needs. An exploratory cross-sectional study was conducted as part of the Supportive Program for Advancing Recovery, Knowledge, and Empowerment in Depression (SPARKED) research project, using an online questionnaire targeting MHPs within a regional area of Australia. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and quantitative and qualitative content analysis, …

Psag: Projection-Based Stabilized Attribution Guidance For Online Continual Learning, Hang Yu, Kun Hu, Zhuqiang Lu, Steven Qiang Lu, Zhiyong Wang, Fengxiang He

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Online Continual Learning (OCL) aims to incrementally learn from non-stationary data streams in a one-pass setting, facing the dual challenges of catastrophic forgetting and insufficient training. These challenges intensify the stability-plasticity dilemma, where pre-serving old knowledge conflicts with acquiring new information. In this paper, we propose Projection-based Stabilized Attribution Guidance (PSAG), a modular framework that leverages gradient-based attributions as active guidance signals to selectively preserve task-relevant representations. Our framework consists of three complementary mechanisms: (1) Attribution-Guided Feature Modulation (AGFM) that anchors critical features in the representation space; (2) Importance-Aware Loss Reweighting (IALR) that prioritizes informative samples at the loss level; …

Raising Children In Precarious Spaces: Coping Strategies Of Young Mothers In Urban Slums Of Accra, Ghana, Portia Nana Ama Brempong, Samuel Eduaful, Kwabena Frimpong-Manso, Phoebe Afram

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This study examined coping strategies of young mothers raising children in urban slum communities in Accra, Ghana. Guided by Jack’s Ecological Influences Framework and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, interviews were conducted with 20 young mothers aged 18–35 in Old Fadama and African Eleven. The findings revealed five strategies: spiritual coping and religious reliance; adaptive food management strategies; psychological endurance and emotional regulation; community-based support networks; and informal financial management and credit utilization. Environmental stressors, including crime and social disorder, shaped mothers’ parenting experiences and created tensions in transmitting values to their children. These findings suggest that young mothers’ coping strategies are …

Ethical Positionings Of Risk And Harm For Adolescents Encountering Sexual Content Online, Lelia Green, Giselle Woodley, Carmen Jacques, Elisabeth Staksrud, Liza Tsaliki, Brian O’Neill, Debra Dudek, Despina Chronaki, Thuy Dinh, Kelly Jaunzems

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper interrogates the ethical complexities of talking with 12 to 17-year-olds about sexual content online. Authors were granted ethics approval by the Edith Cowan University Human Research Ethics Committee (2019-00583-GREEN) with three other participant countries translating Australian ethical protocols into their national contexts: Greece, Ireland and Norway. This paper addresses the four national contexts and examines the ethical issues arising for different countries’ ethics procedures when researchers conduct sensitive research with adolescents. Given widespread concern around the risk that children will be ‘sexualised’ by encountering sexual content online the ethical procedures adopted in each national context, and the way …

Relationship Between Turnover, And Resilience Among Critical Care Nurses In Oman. An Implication For Nursing Practice., Mohammed Qutishat

Health Professions Education

Background: Critical care nurses face numerous challenges, including increased anxiety, depression, and traumatic incidents. Workplace stress can lead to Burnout and turnover, with a significant percentage of global hospital nurses planning to leave within a year. Resilience and positive attitudes towards mental health are crucial for nurses, as they serve as societal leaders. In Oman, many nurses plan to leave their current jobs within a year, highlighting the need for healthcare organizations to create measures to avoid stressors and foster worker well-being.

Aim: To examine the relationship between turnover and resilience among critical care nurses in Oman.

Method: This study …

Peer Assisted Mentoring As A Catalyst For Academic Success In Final-Year Dental Students: An Action Research Approach, Manovijay Balagangadharan, Babyjohn John, Saranyan Ravi, Sabitha Gokulraj, D.N. Shrienitha

Health Professions Education

Purpose Peer-assisted mentoring (PAM) is increasingly recognized as an effective educational strategy in health professions education. It fosters collaborative learning, where mentors and mentees engage in knowledge exchange, critical thinking, and skill development. This study aimed to explore the influence of peer-assisted mentoring on the academic performance of final-year Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) students, in comparison to their non-mentored counterparts, while also assessing its broader educational benefits.

Methodology An action research study was conducted during the 2023–2024 academic year at Vinayaka Mission’s Sankarachariyar Dental College, Salem, Tamil Nadu, and India. High-achieving dental interns were selected and trained to serve …

The Representation Of Urban Peripherality In Selected Noir Narratives, Mona Sayed

English Language and Literature

This thesis examines the representation of two forms of urban peripherality, i.e. city periphery and peripheral city, in selected noir narratives from two Akashic short story collections, Brooklyn Noir (2004), edited by Tim McLoughlin, and Mumbai Noir (2012), edited by Altaf Tyrewala. The study investigates these representations to attempt forming a broader conceptualisation of urban peripherality that goes beyond the conventional Western one, which foregrounds the geographical divides as identifying features between urban centre and periphery. The thesis draws on the urban conceptual framework to conduct a close reading of the spatial, cultural, and social representations of urban peripheries within …

The Effect Of Photobiomodulation Therapy On Neurosensory Recovery Of Infra-Alveolar Nerve Following Iatrogenic Trauma: A Literature Review, Rashin Bahrami, Maryam Pourhajibagher, Fateme Gharibpour, Amirmorteza Rezazadeh, Abbas Bahador

Journal of Dental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Human Oral Microbiota Dysbiosis May Be A Novel Non-Invasive Indicator Of Erectile Dysfunction, Yu Qiao, Fei Mao, Bing-Ru Jiang, Shu-Yan Lv, Heng-Bing Wang, Guang-Bo Fu

Journal of Dental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Higher Serum Gastric Parietal Cell Antibody Titers Are Associated With Increased Frequencies Of Macrocytosis, Vitamin B12 Deficiency, And Hyperhomocysteinemia In Patients With Oral Lichen Planus, Yu-Hsueh Wu, Yi-Pang Lee, Julia Yu-Fong Chang, Yi-Ping Wang, Andy Sun, Chun-Pin Chiang

Journal of Dental Sciences

Background/purpose: Our previous study found 139 gastric parietal cell antibody (GPCA)-positive oral lichen planus (OLP) patients (GPCA⁺OLP patients) in a group of 588 OLP patients. This study evaluated whether higher-titer (serum GPCA titer ≥ 160) GPCA⁺OLP patients had greater frequencies of macrocytosis, anemia, serum iron and vitamin B12 deficiencies, and hyperhomocysteinemia than lower-titer (GPCA titer ≤ 80) GPCA⁺OLP patients or 588 healthy control subjects.

Materials and methods: Complete blood count, serum iron, vitamin B12, folic acid, homocysteine, and GPCA levels in 53 higher-titer GPCA⁺OLP patients, 86 lower-titer GPCA⁺OLP patients, and …