Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding The Experiences Of First-Generation College Students Working As Resident Assistants, Mairead S. Murray

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

First-generation college students have been a population of interest in higher education for several decades as they are both a historically underserved group and make up a significant portion of the college-going population (RTI International, 2019a; Schuyler et al., 2021), making them an impactful group of students to research. As a whole, first-generation college students tend to fall behind their non-first-generation college student peers in key areas that are indicators of student success, including engagement, persistence, and degree completion (Goldman et al., 2022; Kezar & Kitchen, 2020; Kuh et al., 2007; McCallen & Johnson, 2020; Means & Pyne, 2017; Pendakur, …

The Relationship Between State-Level Career And Technical Education (Cte) Policies And Secondary Student Enrollment In Construction, Manufacturing, And Health Sciences Cte Programs, Brittany A. Kitterman

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Across the United States, employers in construction, manufacturing, and healthcare report ongoing difficulty filling positions. These shortages have been driven by an aging workforce, increased demand, and high rates of retirement. Compounding these shortages, Federal investments such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the CHIPS Act have further increased demand. Career and Technical Education programs are well positioned to support workforce development and help close workforce shortages, but access and participation remain limited. Supported by Federal Perkins funding, states have enacted CTE policies to increase access and enrollment in CTE programs aligned with high-demand industries such as construction, …

Spectral Analysis Of Traffic Accidents In New York's Capital Region, Michael Barr

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

In this paper we estimate the spectral density of traffic accident events in the Capital Distict, NY area using a band-pass filter known as the Kolmogorov-Zurbenko Fourier Transform (KZFT). The source data is provided by Moosavi, et al. (2019) and originally captured from various public entities and sensors in the road network. Spectral density estimation with KZFT suppresses noise to reveal the constituent frequencies embedded in the noisy signal. Signal reconstruction based on KZFT produces an approximate weekly accident arrivals for this noisy signal, or in other words a pattern which is proportionate to the event expectation viewed over a …

The Global Orbit ∞-Category And Applications To Assembly Maps, Zoë Pope

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

We reformulate the foundations of assembly maps in the context of the global orbit ∞-category of all discrete groups. We first show that the ∞-categorical slice of the global orbit ∞-category over any fixed group G is equivalent to the orbit 1-category of G, and we also frame the subgroup 1-category of G in this global context. We then use the afore-mentioned equivalence to redefine assembly maps as counits of the adjunction between left Kan extension and restriction, and give purely ∞-categorical and conceptual proofs of known results, such as the Transitivity Principle. Additionally, we give equivalent formulations for what …

Hidden Markov Models For Stock Market Regime Prediction, Meghan Blanch

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) are a powerful mathematical system used for analyzing time sequences in which the underlying states are unable to be directly observed. This project strives to develop the theory and computation of such models, including deriving the forward and backward variables, the Baum-Welch algorithm, and the Viterbi algorithm. Each of these HMM components are derived and explained to demonstrate the probabilistic principles that allow HMMs to be effective for modeling sequential data.

To demonstrate its practical relevance, the HMM is applied to financial time series. The observable stock market returns tend to be influenced by market regimes …

The Role Of The Coach In Student-Athlete Engagement, Christina Cobb

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Student engagement has long been recognized as a key indicator of student success in higher education, but limited research has examined engagement within the context of intercollegiate athletics. This qualitative case study explored how college coaches influence student-athlete engagement and how student-athletes utilize athletic department support services designed to promote engagement practices. Guided by Kuh et al.’s (2006) theory of student engagement, this study examined engagement through the lens of time and effort invested in educationally purposeful activities and the institutional environments that support or constrain participation.

Participants included six student-athletes, four coaches, and two athletic department administrators at a …

Understanding The Intergenerational Transmission Of Risk And Resilience In Black Birthing Parent-Infant Dyads: Physiological Coregulation & Cultural-Contextual Factors, Annabelle Armah

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Symptoms of postpartum depression (PPD) are common, particularly for Black birthing parents who may face increased psychosocial risk during the perinatal period. Previous work has demonstrated that PPD can have significant ramifications not only for maternal wellbeing but for infants’ regulatory development. PPD may influence the concordance or mutual influence of biological states between parents and children (i.e., physiological synchrony). Physiological synchrony is thought to be implicated in the development of self-regulation and may be a mechanism through which PPD undermines infants’ emerging regulatory capacities. In Black families, cultural-contextual factors, like racism or cultural practices, may additionally shape birthing parent …

Llevándolas Con Calma: Latin American Migrant Worker Parenthood And Covid-19, Anthony J. Stronach

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

We have yet to fully understand what Latino migrant worker parents -a population invisible in many ways to much of society- have undergone since the onset and as a result of the COVID-19 health crisis. As such, grounded in the experiences and words of eleven migrants, this dissertation demonstrates (1) the shifting parameters of migrant parenthood during and after the pandemic, (2) how migrant working parents navigated such unprecedented times, and (3) their reflections as they looked back upon such experiences. These experiences include more than merely what happened to them; they encompass their thoughts, their emotions, their memories, their …

Entropic Dynamics Approach To The Classical Limit Of Quantum Mechanics: Decoupling Of The Center Of Mass Motion For A Mesoscopic Particle, Fatimah Judayba

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

In the Entropic Dynamics (ED) approach, quantum mechanics is derived from the principles of entropic inference and information geometry. The ED approach differs from other interpretations by making a clear commitment to distinguishing which variables are ontic (real) and which are epistemic. The classical limit for the center of mass (CM) coordinate is achieved for a large number of particles, M →∞, while Planck’s constant ℏ remains finite. Typically, the emergence of the classical limit requires decoherence through interactions with the external environment. In this work, we investigate whether the classical behavior of the CM coordinate in a mesoscopic system …

Historical Changes In The Seasonality And Variability Of Daily Surface Air Temperature In Era5 And Cmip6 Models, Zirui Wan

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This thesis investigates historical changes in the seasonality and daily variability of near-surface air temperature (Tas) during 1950–2024 using ERA5 reanalysis and simulations from 21 CMIP6 models. ERA5 and CMIP6 show broadly similar climatological structures of the Tas seasonal cycle and variability, with considerable inter-model discrepancies. Both ERA5 and CMIP6 show decreasing Tas variability over northern mid-high latitudes, while Tas variability increases in the low latitudes in ERA5 but changes little in CMIP6 multi-model mean (MMM) due to different change patterns among the models. To investigate the mechanisms of historical Tas variability changes, I analyzed the relationships between Tas variability …

Initial Development Of Contextualized Social-Emotional Learning Assessment Tool For The Indonesian School, Nisrina Nurika Agustin

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

As social-emotional learning (SEL) becomes increasingly integrated into the Indonesian national curriculum, a significant gap remains regarding culturally grounded tools to measure student progress. Current assessments often rely on Western-centric frameworks that prioritize individualistic traits over the collectivist values—such as communal harmony and the 5S tradition—prevalent in Indonesian schools. This study aimed to develop and provide initial item generation for a localized SEL assessment tool for primary school students (Grades 1–3). Utilizing a Deductive Qualitative Analysis (DQA) design, the research drew upon the CASEL framework for structural alignment while employing inductive methods to ensure cultural relevance. Data were collected through …

The Chemistry Of Red Lipstick: The Impact Red Lipstick Has On Society, Lilliana Weldeslassie

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Cosmetic chemistry is deeply embedded in everyday life, shaping the products people use from morning to night. Among these, red lipstick stands out as a formulation that blends complex chemistry with a cultural meaning. This thesis examines the scientific foundations of red lipstick through its chemical composition, pigment structure, toxicological history, analytical methods, and evolving sustainability practices. Historically, red lipsticks relied on high-risk ingredients such as lead, mercury, and other toxic metals, reflecting an era before chemical safety and regulatory oversight were incorporated.²¹ Modern formulations have established safer synthetic dyes, natural waxes, plant-based oils, and stabilizers created to optimize …

Classification, Service Provision, And Early Academic Skills Of Early Elementary School Students Who Received Services As A Preschool Student With A Disability, Meghan Conboy

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Youth with disabilities benefit from coordinated supports and services, particularly during early childhood when they are developing foundational abilities that will influence their developmental trajectory (Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center, 2015; Sandall et al., 2005). Preschool-aged students who enter kindergarten with adequately developed pre-academic skills are more likely demonstrate high performance levels in academic domains throughout compulsory education compared to peers with low pre-academic skills (Christensen et al., 2020; Fitzpatrick, 2017; Hair et al., 2006; Tavassolie et al., 2022). However, despite the knowledge that both preschool programs and high-quality and effective early intervention benefit children across their lifetime, limited research …

Understanding Support And Success: A Cross-Group Analysis Of Student Support Services And Nontraditional Graduate Student Experience, Erica Shudt

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This study explored how nontraditional graduate students perceive their experiences with student support services within a Research 1, public university. The purpose of this study was to understand how these services impact their overall academic experience. Findings from semi-structured interviews with nontraditional graduate students and student support staff using a qualitative approach revealed four themes. These themes included (1) a shared emphasis on connection and belonging, (2) flexibility as a foundation for support and success, (3) individualized student-centered support, and (4) the acknowledgement of nontraditional student support identity. Both groups identify that meaningful support is within relationships with faculty and …

The Effect Of Education On Green Growth And Carbon Emissions, 1990–2022, Soojeong Ahn

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

The question of whether education promotes economic growth has long been a central topic in development research, and education has been linked to economic outcomes through macro-level pathways such as human capital accumulation, productivity growth, and technological diffusion. More recently, this discussion has expanded beyond economic growth to consider whether education contributes to environmentally sustainable development, particularly green growth. Green growth emphasizes the possibility of sustaining economic expansion while reducing environmental pressure (OECD, 2011; UNEP, 2011), and this study therefore examines how education is related to green growth and carbon emissions at the macro level.

At the macro level, existing …

Developments And Applications Of Transport Of Intensity Equation Imaging And Optical Diffraction Tomography In Bioimaging, Shane D. Carney

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Non-invasive imaging schemes are highly sought after methodologies in biology and metrology, where maintaining the physical state of a sample is important. Quantitative phase imaging (QPI) techniques non-invasively reconstruct the relative phase delay imparted onto an optical field due to transmission through a sample. Phase delay is proportional to the thickness and refractive index of the sample, but is lost in the intensity measurement process. Digital holographic microscopy (DHM) and transport of intensity equation (TIE) phase imaging are two high-resolution QPI techniques. DHM is a well-researched, accurate, and widely implemented technique, but can be difficult to implement in labs without …

Bonny And Read: Navigating The Waters Between Truth And Tale, Fiona J. Faccilonga

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This thesis examines piracy, cross-dressing, gender fluidity, and ambiguous identity in the lives of Anne Bonny and Mary Read as represented in A General History of the Pyrates by Captain Charles Johnson. This thesis argues that Johnson’s narrative reshapes their piracy through feminine frameworks to align them with patriarchal expectations of womanhood and fixed identity. Specifically, he uses the breast and the belly as sites of gendered truth, attempting to reduce their masculine presentation as mere performance rather than intrinsic identity.

However, despite Johnson’s attempt at narrative authority, Bonny and Read ultimately resist such containment. Through close readings of both …

Reviving Southern Divides: Multilevel Explorations Of Gentrification’S Role In School Resegregation In Tallahassee, Florida From 1999 – 2015, Ola U. Kalu

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This dissertation examines whether neighborhood gentrification in Tallahassee reshaped Title I elementary schools by improving academic outcomes, changing who enrolled, or both, from 1999 to 2015. Using Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Model as a conceptual scaffold, the study situates schools within their neighborhood and district contexts across three nested analytical levels. A two-wave panel design using 2010 and 2015 school-year observations is linked to a 2000 Census baseline to connect school data with spatially weighted neighborhood change indicators. Mixed-effects multilevel models and fixed-effects robustness checks estimate the associations between neighborhood change indicators and two continuous dependent variables: standardized ELA achievement and …

Multifunctional And Adaptive: Tracking How Fibroblasts Respond To Tissue Injury And Facilitate Tissue Remodeling, Joey R. Tavarez

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Fibrosis is characterized by an accumulation of proteins in the extracellular matrix (ECM) that results in altered tissue architecture and reduced organ function. In the salivary glands, fibrosis leads to loss of saliva, dysbiosis of the oral microbiome, an increase in oral infections, difficulty in digestion of food and an overall reduction in the quality of life. Understanding the progression of fibrosis and how it affects human health is a crucial step for designing effective therapeutics. Understanding fibroblast function is integral to advancing the field due to the many roles they play in maintaining the ECM. To perform preliminary analysis, …

Constructing The Political “Other”: Affective Polarization And Cross-Ideological Portrayals On Instagram, Amanda M. Novellin

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Instagram has frequently been characterized by users as a platform that permits the circulation of hostile and adversarial political content due to comparatively limited moderation practices. In January 2025, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced changes to content moderation policies on Facebook and Instagram, including the removal of third-party fact-checking mechanisms. These platform-level changes further reshaped the political information environment in which online discourse occurs. However, even prior to these policy changes, Instagram had established itself as a prominent space for highly polarized political expression across the ideological spectrum.

This thesis examines how political polarization in the United States is reflected …

Entropic Foundation Of Finance And Physics: Securities Price Dynamics And Quantum Theory, Mohammad Abedi

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

In many scientific and financial contexts, we must reason and make predictions under conditions of incomplete information. This dissertation develops Entropic Dynamics (ED) as a unified framework for deriving dynamical laws directly from principles of inference. Within this approach, probability distributions represent states of knowledge, and their evolution is determined through entropy maximization subject to relevant constraints. This leads to a novel concept of entropic time and a formulation of dynamics as an inferential process. In this talk, I will present how ED provides a common foundation across multiple domains. In physics, quantum dynamics for particles and scalar fields in …

When The Internet Attacks, Craig Cowie

Cardozo Law Review

Courts have struggled with applying personal jurisdiction in cases involving intentional torts where the defendants act outside the forum, and the problem is particularly apparent and acute when the defendants use the internet to commit the tort. For example, is there jurisdiction when a defendant doxxes someone and calls for violence? What if they leave a bad Yelp review? Or tweet a defamatory statement? Courts have used many tests for determining whether personal jurisdiction is appropriate in these situations, but there has been relatively little recent scholarship on whether these tests are appropriate for analyzing personal jurisdiction in these contexts. …

Discord Is Still A Chord: A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Discourse Networks, Brokerage, And The Fiscal Consequences Of Fracking Policy In The Delaware River Basin, In Hae Noh

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Beneath the policy debates of many environmental controversies lies a dynamic network of actors making claims, forming coalitions, and contesting policy discourses. Drawing on theories of discourse coalitions, discourse networks, network brokerage, and public finance, and using the Delaware River Basin hydraulic fracturing debate as a case study, this dissertation examines how discourse coalitions evolve, how discourse brokers shape coalition dynamics, and whether resulting policy decisions produce meaningful fiscal consequences. The first paper investigates how discourse coalitions shifted across three periods of the Delaware River Basin fracking debate, using a mix of methods integrating discourse network analysis, computational text analysis, …

Concentration Or Coincidence? Rethinking Random Effects In Spatial And Spatiotemporal Concentration Of Burglary Through A Target-Based Approach, Yichao Gao

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Studies of crime and place have long asked how much random processes contribute to the spatial and spatiotemporal concentration of crime. Traditionally, simulations assume that crime incidents occur randomly across microgeographic units—such as block groups, street segments, and parcels—by selecting geographic units at random with replacement. This dissertation takes a different approach, modeling crime incidents as random selections among potential targets, also with replacement. In this framework focusing primarily on burglary, simulated patterns reflect the spatial distribution of potential targets (i.e., properties). This dissertation relies on burglary data from San Antonio, Texas (2017–2019), and measures available burglary targets as individual …

Development Of Photolabile Coumarin Linker For Rna Synthesis And Crisprcas9 Applications, Ian Mcclain

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

The scope of RNA-based therapeutics continues to expand as more siRNA, mRNA, and CRISPR-based treatments are approved for various medical applications. Purification of synthetic RNA drugs is inherently challenging and requires considerable time and resources. New cost-effective and efficient purification strategies will expedite drug development process and will lower the drug costs. In this thesis I describe two generations of photolabile linkers for the non-chromatographic purification of therapeutic RNAs. In addition, the photolabile linker was utilized for regulation CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. In the first part of the thesis, I describe the first generation of the photolabile coumarin-based linker for non-chromatographic …

Academic Drift In Indonesian Islamic Higher Education: An Empirical Study Of The State Islamic University Of Mataram, Ade Alimah

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Many higher education institutions imitate one another to achieve upward movement, a phenomenon known as academic drift. While this trend is widely acknowledged, the existing academic literature primarily focuses on developed nations. This research aims to investigate how academic drift occurs in Indonesian Islamic higher education, particularly through institutional transformations that involve institutes transitioning to universities.

This qualitative study examines academic drift at the State Islamic University of Mataram, Indonesia. To gather extensive data, in-depth interviews were conducted with participants from this university, representatives from two leading public Islamic universities, and senior officials from the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Our …

Becoming-With The Earth: Contemplative Practice As A Critical Onto-Epistemic Resource For Planetary Belonging, Care, And World-Making, Megan M. Fowler

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

In an era of accelerating planetary crisis, social work is called to reimagine its theories, methods, and practices beyond anthropocentric frameworks that separate human wellbeing from the health of the Earth and its resplendent living systems. Working in the space of transformative eco-social work, a growing chorus of voices contends that eco-centric responses require broadening the scope of health, welfare, justice, and care to extend beyond the human, to include the more-than-human world upon which all life intimately depends—understandings resonant with Indigenous and other relational knowledge systems long marginalized by colonialist-capitalist-modernity. Drawing from eco-feminist, eco-queer, decolonial, and post-anthropocentric lineages of …

The Communicative Constitution Of Resilience In Graduate-Student Parenthood: Ventriloqual Analysis, Intersectionality, And Sociomaterial Assemblages, Lin Lin

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Graduate education is often organized around norms of uninterrupted productivity, flexibility, and professional availability, making graduate study especially challenging for students who are simultaneously raising children. Although prior research has documented the structural barriers faced by graduate student parents (GSPs), less attention has been paid to how resilience is communicatively enacted within the intersection of academic work and family life. This dissertation examines how GSPs communicatively constitute resilience while navigating work-life disruptions. Drawing on Communication Theory of Resilience (CTR) and the communicative constitution of organizations (CCO) perspective, particularly ventriloqual analysis, this study explores how resilience emerges through interactions among human …

Development And Applications Of Fluorescence Microscopy Protocol To Investigate Borrelia Burgdorferi Immune Interactions In The Skin, Rebecca V. Landry

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

The skin is an immunological organ that acts as the hosts’ first line of defense against infectious agents. Infectious disease vectors like ticks breach this barrier by feeding on hosts, transmitting pathogens like Borrelia burgdorferi in the process. Uncleared infection with B. burgdorferi causes Lyme disease, the most prevalent vector-borne disease in the United States. Previous research has explained many elements of Lyme disease pathogenesis and immunity including the dissemination of the spirochete, innate immune cells performing phagocytosis, the production of antibodies by the humoral response, and the impact of prophylactic treatment with monoclonal antibodies. A remaining gap in the …

Building Fiscal Resilience And Enhancing Social Equity In Disaster Mitigation At The Local Level, Hyoeun Kim

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

As climate-related disasters are becoming more frequent and severe, local governments face growing pressure to manage disaster-related fiscal shocks. Although disaster mitigation and preparedness are widely recognized as cost-effective strategies for reducing future losses, local governments often lack the financial, political, and technical capacity to invest in them. Despite the importance of pre-disaster investment, mitigation and preparedness efforts continue to lag at the local level, and concerns remain that federal mitigation funding is not distributed equitably across communities. This has important implications for both equity and resilience because unequal access to mitigation resources can reinforce existing vulnerability to future natural …