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Cultural Intelligence And Leadership: Examining School Principals’ Impact On Teacher Belonging, Retention, And Conflict Resolution, Quincy C. Commerford Aug 2026

Cultural Intelligence And Leadership: Examining School Principals’ Impact On Teacher Belonging, Retention, And Conflict Resolution, Quincy C. Commerford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The increasing diversity throughout the United States, especially reflected in the school system, has increased the need for school leaders who can effectively lead culturally diverse communities, and, specifically, for culturally diverse teachers. Cultural intelligence has gradually become a leadership competency alongside other intelligences, such as emotional and social, but little is known about how a school leader’s cultural intelligence affects culturally diverse teachers sense of belonging, their experiences with conflict, and overall teacher retention. In this study the researcher examined how a school leader’s cultural intelligence affects teachers’ sense of belonging in two culturally diverse secondary school settings. Using …


A Quantitative Exploration Of Public School Teachers’ Colorblind Racial Attitudes And Their Teaching Practices, Lindsey Dopheide Aug 2026

A Quantitative Exploration Of Public School Teachers’ Colorblind Racial Attitudes And Their Teaching Practices, Lindsey Dopheide

Dissertations

Teachers play a significant role in shaping student’s academic experiences, social development, and understanding of race and diversity within school settings. Because schools function as important sites of racial socialization, teachers’ beliefs about race may influence how they interpret student behavior, respond to inequities, select instructional practices, and engage with culturally diverse classrooms. One framework that has received increasing attention within psychological and educational research is colorblind racial ideology (CBRI) which reflects the minimization or denial of the continuing significance of race and racism in society. Colorblind racial ideology has been identified in prior literature as a dominant framework for …


A Primary Care Randomized Controlled Trial Investigating The Efficacy Of A Caregiver-Focused Prevention Program For Child Sexual Abuse, Cassandra Dukes Aug 2026

A Primary Care Randomized Controlled Trial Investigating The Efficacy Of A Caregiver-Focused Prevention Program For Child Sexual Abuse, Cassandra Dukes

Dissertations

Child sexual abuse (CSA) affects 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys before the age of 18, resulting in significant long-term physical, emotional, and social consequences. Caregivers play a crucial role in preventing CSA by engaging in preventative behaviors with their children. Primary care settings may be an avenue through which to educate caregivers on their role in prevention of CSA. The present study used a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design to investigate the efficacy of a caregiver-focused educational program to prevent CSA, provided via integrated behavioral health (IBH) in a pediatric primary care setting. Participants (n=56) were …


Establishing And Validating Foundational Competencies In The Application Of Behavioral Gerontology Through Expert Consensus, Alexandra Doran Aug 2026

Establishing And Validating Foundational Competencies In The Application Of Behavioral Gerontology Through Expert Consensus, Alexandra Doran

Dissertations

Behavioral gerontology continues to evolve and grow as an application of behavior analysis, but there remains a critical need to define competencies necessary for behavior analysts to provide ethical, effective care within their scope of competence. This study sought to establish and validate foundational competencies for Board Certified Behavior Analyst s® (BCBA s® ) working in this area. A mixed-methods design using three experiments was used. In Experiment 1, a review of discipline-specific competency frameworks and a job mapping process yielded a preliminary set of behavior-analytic competencies for behavioral gerontology. This produced a preliminary framework consisting of 142 competencies. Experiment …


Bridging The Gap: Action-Oriented Vs. Community-Minded Mentalities And Behaviors In Cold Case Investigation Units, Samantha Strine Aug 2026

Bridging The Gap: Action-Oriented Vs. Community-Minded Mentalities And Behaviors In Cold Case Investigation Units, Samantha Strine

Dissertations

One key group in policing that has seen an increase in public and media attention but not research is the cold case investigation unit. These units tend to be more “bureaucratic”, focusing on communication, community-engagement skills, and “desk work”. Thus, this is a potential area for learning techniques and policies that shift the mentalities within police culture to be more accepting of new community focused policies. This study also seeks to address a gap in current research related to studying specialized police units.

The purpose of this study is to describe the organizational dynamics and officers’ tactics, perceptions, and interactions …


Making Sense Of Generative Ai: A Qualitative Single Case Study Examining How College Students Describe Its Use In Academic Coursework, Hollie L. Reese Aug 2026

Making Sense Of Generative Ai: A Qualitative Single Case Study Examining How College Students Describe Its Use In Academic Coursework, Hollie L. Reese

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Generative artificial intelligence has become increasingly present in higher education, creating opportunities and challenges related to teaching, learning, academic integrity, and student preparation for future professional settings. The problem addressed in this study was the growing misalignment between students’ use of generative artificial intelligence tools and the guidance, expectations, and policies provided within college courses. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how college students described their use of these tools in academic courses and to identify the benefits and challenges associated with integrating them into learning experiences. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with undergraduate students …


A Correlational Study Exploring The Influence Of Organizational Climate On Job Satisfaction Of Non-Faculty Staff At Texas Community Colleges, Tamesha M. Hilliard-Daniels Aug 2026

A Correlational Study Exploring The Influence Of Organizational Climate On Job Satisfaction Of Non-Faculty Staff At Texas Community Colleges, Tamesha M. Hilliard-Daniels

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As U.S. higher education institutions face increasing challenges related to employee morale and retention, understanding the drivers of workplace satisfaction is critical for institutional stability. This research investigates the relationships between organizational climate factors and job satisfaction among staff within Texas community colleges, applying Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s motivator-hygiene as the theoretical framework. Specifically, this study explores the influence of institutional communication, employee well-being, and organizational mission and pride on staff job satisfaction. Utilizing a quantitative correlational design, the study analyzed secondary data from ModernThink’s Higher Education Insight Survey©. The sample consisted of 2,265 higher education professionals collected …


The Impact Of Mentoring: Professional Growth, Reflection, And Retention In Secondary Science Education, Summer M. Landreth Aug 2026

The Impact Of Mentoring: Professional Growth, Reflection, And Retention In Secondary Science Education, Summer M. Landreth

All Dissertations

Teacher attrition threatens the stability of the U.S. education system, with science teachers experiencing particularly high turnover rates. While research has primarily focused on early-career teachers, less is known about the factors influencing mid-career and veteran science teachers’ decisions to remain in or leave the profession. This study explored mentoring student teachers as a potentially transformative experience for cooperating teachers, offering opportunities for professional development, identity development, and enhanced retention. Guided by Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory, the study examined how mentoring may function as a productive experience that prompts critical reflection, revitalizes pedagogy, and reconnects teachers with their professional purpose. …


2026 August, Morehead State University. Office Of Communications & Marketing. Aug 2026

2026 August, Morehead State University. Office Of Communications & Marketing.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for August of 2026.


Cross-Layer Security And Responsive Evaluation Architectures For Quantum Resistance In Connected Vehicles, Geoff Twardokus Aug 2026

Cross-Layer Security And Responsive Evaluation Architectures For Quantum Resistance In Connected Vehicles, Geoff Twardokus

Theses

Connected vehicle (CV) technologies are emerging as a crucial technology for improving safety on future roadways. Wireless vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication allows CVs to exchange information that provides enhanced awareness and supports better driving decisions, especially in high-risk or non-line-of-sight scenarios. However, V2X also exposes new surfaces to physical layer attacks and increasingly sophisticated, potentially quantum-capable threat actors. As human or autonomous CV drivers will make split-second safety-critical decisions based on the contents of V2X messages, ensuring their authenticity, as well as their reliable and timely delivery, is crucial. Otherwise, malicious attackers may interfere with safety services or spoof messages to …


Miscela Aura: An Interactive Fragrance Experience, Francesca Delaney Aug 2026

Miscela Aura: An Interactive Fragrance Experience, Francesca Delaney

Theses

How can product customization lead directly to design customization? This question is explored through the lens of perfume. The concept of layering and customizing perfume is becoming more of a desired feature in the fragrance industry, opening the opportunity for how design can be used to create an interactive fragrance experience. Miscela Aura is a custom perfume line centered on an interactive brand activation. An interactive display scans your “aura” and gives you a unique color pattern. Each color represents a fragrance note, the amount of each scent controlled by the amount of each color. As the user interacts with …


When Work Is Not Enough: Food Insecurity Among Employed Latinos Receiving Snap In Massachusetts And The Burden Carried By Latina Women, Phillip Granberry, Rafael M. Pérez Medina, Florita Coto Tristán Aug 2026

When Work Is Not Enough: Food Insecurity Among Employed Latinos Receiving Snap In Massachusetts And The Burden Carried By Latina Women, Phillip Granberry, Rafael M. Pérez Medina, Florita Coto Tristán

Gastón Institute Publications

Across Massachusetts, many SNAP recipients are workers, caregivers, parents, elders, people with disabilities, and families navigating low wages, unstable work schedules, high housing costs, and limited access to wealth building opportunities. Many of these workers held jobs that were labeled “essential” during the COVID-19 pandemic: food service, caregiving, cleaning, healthcare support, retail, transportation, construction, and other service sector jobs. Yet the public recognition of their essential labor has not been translated into adequate wages, benefits, or economic security.


The Effect Of Cerebellar Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation On Anxiety, Shivangi Bhardwaj Aug 2026

The Effect Of Cerebellar Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation On Anxiety, Shivangi Bhardwaj

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health disorders in the U.S. Individuals of all ages are affected by anxiety. Therefore, research into anxiety and its potential treatment has constantly been an area of interest. Newer approaches to managing anxiety include non-invasive stimulation techniques, such as Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), because of its accessibility and effectiveness. Past tDCS work typically focused on regions in the frontal lobe. However, tDCS over the cerebellum has not received as much attention compared to the cerebrum, despite recent work demonstrating cerebellar involvement in emotion processing. Thus, a better understanding of how cerebellar …


Brief Insights: Learning, Leading, And Growing Together: Highlights From A Multilingual Learner And Mathematics Focused Research, Practice, Policy Partnership, Elvira G. Armas, Ed.D., Magaly Lavadenz, Ph.D., Kaivan Yuen, Ed.D., Miguel Valencia Aug 2026

Brief Insights: Learning, Leading, And Growing Together: Highlights From A Multilingual Learner And Mathematics Focused Research, Practice, Policy Partnership, Elvira G. Armas, Ed.D., Magaly Lavadenz, Ph.D., Kaivan Yuen, Ed.D., Miguel Valencia

Education and Policy Briefs

Building on a longstanding partnership, the Center for Equity for English Learners (CEEL) at Loyola Marymount University and Montebello Unified School District (MUSD) expanded their Research, Practice, Policy Partnership (RPPP) to examine Spanish academic oral language development among TK–5 Dual Language Immersion students engaged in Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) in mathematics. Teacher-researchers analyzed video samples of students explaining their mathematical reasoning using a rubric aligned with the California Spanish Language Development Standards.

Findings demonstrate meaningful growth in students’ Spanish academic oral language across the school year, particularly in their ability to support opinions and select language resources to communicate mathematical …


Continuous Authentication For Industrial System Access: Evaluating Bluetooth Low Energy Direction Finding And Channel Sounding For Tailgating And Relay Attacks, Mitchell Mennelle Aug 2026

Continuous Authentication For Industrial System Access: Evaluating Bluetooth Low Energy Direction Finding And Channel Sounding For Tailgating And Relay Attacks, Mitchell Mennelle

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In physical access control, authentication is often viewed as a one-time event, where, once an authorized user crosses a protected boundary, downstream systems assume the user remains physically present. Tailgating and relay attacks violate this assumption. In this thesis we propose a continuous authentication layer based on two Bluetooth Low Energy spatial signals. Angle of Arrival direction finding follows the trail of a worn credential to determine when an operator exits a work zone. Bluetooth Channel Sounding measures a physical property of the radio path and verifies distance during stationary periods. Limiting Relay Attacks with Event-Driven Distance Verification. A stream …


Evaluation Of Ostomy Pouching Change Practices Among Hospital-Based And Community-Based Nurses, Hannah Gerlach Aug 2026

Evaluation Of Ostomy Pouching Change Practices Among Hospital-Based And Community-Based Nurses, Hannah Gerlach

All Theses

An estimated 725,000 to 1 million Americans are living with an ostomy and depend on ostomy pouching systems as part of their daily care. Effective ostomy management requires regular pouch changes and consistent skin care to prevent peristomal skin complications. Many individuals living with an ostomy face long-term challenges in managing their ostomy care, which can negatively affect their health-related quality of life. There is a need to understand how professional experience across different care environments, such as hospital-based and community-based settings, influences ostomy nursing care practices.

This study evaluates how nurses working in hospital-based settings and community-based settings perform …


Price, Property Rights, And Local Generation: A Transaction Cost Analysis Of Microgrid Statutes, Devon A. Downes Aug 2026

Price, Property Rights, And Local Generation: A Transaction Cost Analysis Of Microgrid Statutes, Devon A. Downes

All Theses

In most U.S. states, public utility regulation and legal ambiguity has deterred entry into electricity markets by microgrid developers. Since 2012, seven states have enacted statutes that alter the regulatory environment, either by exempting microgrid operators from public utility classification or by directing regulatory agencies to establish the interconnection and compensation frameworks that make entry viable. I empirically analyze the determinants and effects of state statutes that authorize freedom of entry for microgrid developers. Using a pooled panel OLS with state and year fixed effects on annual data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 2016 through …


Electrokinetic Flow Instabilities In Non-Newtonian Fluids With Conductivity Gradients, Md Mainul Islam Aug 2026

Electrokinetic Flow Instabilities In Non-Newtonian Fluids With Conductivity Gradients, Md Mainul Islam

All Theses

Electrokinetic instabilities (EKI) arise in electrically driven flows because the applied electric field interacts with spatial variations in electrical conductivity, generating electric body forces that can destabilize fluid interfaces. EKI can be beneficial by enhancing mixing in microchannels where diffusion is slow, but it can also be detrimental by disrupting stable sample transport, focusing, and separation. EKI has been widely studied in Newtonian fluids, and the electric Rayleigh number is known to govern the onset of this instability. However, very few studies have examined its behavior in non-Newtonian fluids, despite their prevalence in biological, chemical, and industrial applications. 

This thesis …


Sea-Level Rise Perceptions And Adaptation Strategies In South Carolina’S Coastal Tourism Destinations: Perspectives Of State And Local Officials, Tzu-Hsuan Tseng Aug 2026

Sea-Level Rise Perceptions And Adaptation Strategies In South Carolina’S Coastal Tourism Destinations: Perspectives Of State And Local Officials, Tzu-Hsuan Tseng

All Theses

Sea-level rise poses a significant threat to coastal communities worldwide, yet understanding of how governance systems respond to this slow-onset hazard remains limited. This qualitative study examined how state and local government officials in South Carolina perceive sea-level rise risks and develop adaptation strategies in coastal tourism destinations.

Drawing on Resilience Theory and employing a phenomenological interviewing approach, this research analyzed perspectives from three South Carolina Office of Resilience officials and five local officials responsible for Myrtle Beach, Charleston, and Hilton Head Island. Data were analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis.

Five key themes developed: First, officials acknowledge sea-level rise with …


Extended Adaptive Oscillator Framework For Gait Phase Estimation With Adaptive Coupling And Transition Detection Across Locomotion Tasks, Nikhila Radha Krishnan Aug 2026

Extended Adaptive Oscillator Framework For Gait Phase Estimation With Adaptive Coupling And Transition Detection Across Locomotion Tasks, Nikhila Radha Krishnan

All Theses

Gait phase is a human-inspired physical variable that describes the instantaneous position of a person within a gait cycle. Adaptive oscillators have been widely used for gait phase estimation due to their ability to synchronize with periodic and pseudo-periodic biomechanical signals and generate monotonically increasing cyclic phase values. Typically, the performance of adaptive oscillators is strongly influenced by coupling strength, a parameter that bridges a trade-off between convergence speed and steady-state variability of the estimated stride frequency. In gait assistive applications, stride frequency estimation must be sufficiently fast to enable phase-based assistance while achieving a stable stride frequency estimate. The …


Flames And Fluids: Design Motivations For Painterly Stylization Of Effects, Nathaniel R. Edmonds Aug 2026

Flames And Fluids: Design Motivations For Painterly Stylization Of Effects, Nathaniel R. Edmonds

All Theses

Visual effects are widely used in animated media to immerse the audience, direct attention, and guide the perceptions and emotional responses to the world and characters therein. In these uses, effects act as narrative elements in a film. Visual effects can include weather (e.g., fog), visually distinct materials(e.g., water), and other visually interesting physical phenomena (e.g., fire or the fracturing of an object). Contemporary animations and, by extension, their animated effects are increasingly being produced in carefully crafted styles, ranging from the comic-book posterization seen in the Spiderverse franchise of animated films, to the painterly stylization of Puss in Boots: …


What Makes A Cozy Game Cozy? Looking Through The Lens Of Feminism And 4e Cognition, Mary Catherine M. Wilcox Aug 2026

What Makes A Cozy Game Cozy? Looking Through The Lens Of Feminism And 4e Cognition, Mary Catherine M. Wilcox

All Theses

Why do some games feel cozy, and others miss the mark, even if they are tricked out in bright colors and festooned with bows? This thesis examines the emerging genre of “cozy games” to better understand why some titles successfully evoke comfort and relaxation while others fail, despite relying on conventionally cute aesthetics or farming-sim mechanics. Although cozy games have grown rapidly in popularity over the past decade, the genre remains under-studied and is often dismissed as frivolous, reflecting the broader historical devaluation of media associated with women. Accordingly, this study argues that understanding cozy games requires examining women’s relationship …


Comparative Analysis Of Rigging Implementations, John E. Thomas Aug 2026

Comparative Analysis Of Rigging Implementations, John E. Thomas

Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Culminating Experience

Rigging acts as a bottleneck between modeling and animation, yet core rigging principles and procedures have largely stagnated over the past two decades. However, cutting-edge rigging systems have begun appearing recently in software not typically used for animation. These tools are proposed to mitigate the need for rigging artists. These novel systems now force teams to evaluate what system is best for their projects. Artists have focused their analysis of rigging tools on how they interact with, or compare to, existing pipeline structures, concepts, and deadlines. This research centers on the implementation and development of tools and systems ranging from …


Understanding What Works In Disseminating Clinical Practice Guidelines: A Qualitative Evidence Synthesis, Sumanth Kumbargere Nagraj, Tandekile Lubelwana Hafver, Valerie Reinthaler, Stijn Van De Velde, Carlos Zaror, Yan Jiao Shen, Susan Banda, Talitha Mpando, Gertrude Kunje, Suzgika Lakudzala, Ameer Hohlfeld, Emmanuel Effa, Denny Mabetha, Thomas Agoritsas, Per Olav Vandvik, Nicolas Delvaux Aug 2026

Understanding What Works In Disseminating Clinical Practice Guidelines: A Qualitative Evidence Synthesis, Sumanth Kumbargere Nagraj, Tandekile Lubelwana Hafver, Valerie Reinthaler, Stijn Van De Velde, Carlos Zaror, Yan Jiao Shen, Susan Banda, Talitha Mpando, Gertrude Kunje, Suzgika Lakudzala, Ameer Hohlfeld, Emmanuel Effa, Denny Mabetha, Thomas Agoritsas, Per Olav Vandvik, Nicolas Delvaux

Peninsula Dental School

Objective To identify the barriers and facilitators that influence the dissemination of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) and to explore the perceived usefulness, practical utility, expectations, and unmet needs of end users in relation to current dissemination strategies. Methods This qualitative evidence synthesis (QES) is a part of mixed-methods evidence synthesis. We searched literature from MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus, Epistemonikos, and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and Medical Guidelines Clearing house on January 30, 2025. Screening, data extraction and quality appraisal of the included studies were done by at least two authors independently and in duplicate. We …


Towards Confucian Economic Democracy: A Relational Alternative To Possessive Individualism, Sor-Hoon Tan Aug 2026

Towards Confucian Economic Democracy: A Relational Alternative To Possessive Individualism, Sor-Hoon Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article offers a Confucian conception of ownership and a different approach to equality based on a concept of relational person that could provide an alternative philosophical framework for economic democracy. The Confucian concept of nonexclusive and nonabsolute co-ownership, conditional on owners fulfilling their social responsibilities and sustained in networks of relationships mitigates the drive to appropriation and resistance to redistribution even without formalizing legal rights of equal ownership. Confucian texts’ condemnation of wide disparities between rich and poor corresponds with distributive ideas that balance equal satisfaction of needs with merit-based incentives for productivity constrained by social harmony. Without advocating …


Artificial Intelligence (Ai) In Forensic Psychology: An Umbrella Review Of Potentials And Pitfalls, Ysabel Thereze Ang Guevarra, Nur Eva Alisha Binte Mohamed Hisham, Andree Hartanto Aug 2026

Artificial Intelligence (Ai) In Forensic Psychology: An Umbrella Review Of Potentials And Pitfalls, Ysabel Thereze Ang Guevarra, Nur Eva Alisha Binte Mohamed Hisham, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly embedded within forensic psychological practice, shaping how criminal risk, legal responsibility and public safety are assessed. AI tools are now used in recidivism prediction, behavioural analysis, deception detection and investigative support, high-stakes domains where errors can have profound consequences. Despite this rapid adoption, the existing literature remains fragmented, with most reviews confined to narrow subdomains and offering limited integrated synthesis of AI′s broader role in forensic psychology. Thus, this umbrella review addresses this gap by synthesising findings from 43 reviews obtained from five major databases, namely EBSCOhost ERIC, EBSCOhost PsycInfo, PubMed, Scopus and Web …


Gender And Professional Identities In Businesswomen’S Negotiation, Chi-Ying Cheng, Amy J. Lim, Yi Wen Tan, Fiona Lee Aug 2026

Gender And Professional Identities In Businesswomen’S Negotiation, Chi-Ying Cheng, Amy J. Lim, Yi Wen Tan, Fiona Lee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Gender roles and expectations for women have been shown to account for why women tend to negotiate ineffectively in business settings. Drawing from the psychological literature on multiple identities, this paper examines how individual differences in perceived compatibility between gender and professional identities–captured by the construct Gender-Professional Identity Integration (G-PII)–shape businesswomen’s negotiation behaviors. Two studies examined how G-PII interacts with identity cues and cue valence to influence negotiation outcomes. We found that those who perceived their gender and professional identities as compatible (high G-PII) exhibited an “assimilation” effect–they negotiate more effectively when their professional identity was primed by professional identity …


Misplay Or Malice? Players’ Interpretations Of Poor Gameplay In Competitive Team-Based Multiplayer Online Games, Valerie Yu, Benjamin H. Detenber, Sonny Rosenthal Aug 2026

Misplay Or Malice? Players’ Interpretations Of Poor Gameplay In Competitive Team-Based Multiplayer Online Games, Valerie Yu, Benjamin H. Detenber, Sonny Rosenthal

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Research on perceptions of gaming toxicity has focused on its verbal forms, while gameplay-related forms remain relatively understudied. Furthermore, assessments of gameplay actions as toxic may depend on situational considerations. The present study used a controlled experiment to examine player interpretations of gameplay sabotage using pre-recorded gameplay scenarios from the game, League of Legends. We found that the presence of gameplay sabotage elicited stronger negative emotions and triggered greater player-reported intentions to retaliate and correct the offending player than in comparable instances of unintentional poor gameplay. Further exploratory analyses suggested that participants rated poor gameplay as less acceptable in more …


Physiological, Cognitive, Behavioral, And Perceptual Contributors To Falls Risk Across Middle And Older Adulthood, Jacquelyn Moxey Aug 2026

Physiological, Cognitive, Behavioral, And Perceptual Contributors To Falls Risk Across Middle And Older Adulthood, Jacquelyn Moxey

Rehabilitation Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Falls are multifactorial events influenced by physiological, cognitive, behavioral, and perceptual factors. Although falls prevention research has traditionally focused on older adults and objectively measured physical impairments, less is known about how cognitive performance, physical activity, and perceptions of ability collectively contribute to falls risk vulnerability across middle and older adulthood. This dissertation examined these relationships through three complementary studies.

Study 1 examined associations between cognitive screening performance and physiological falls risk in 315 community-dwelling older adults. Lower global cognitive performance was associated with greater physiological falls risk. Performance on items reflecting attention and visuospatial/executive function demonstrated the strongest domain-level …


Exploring Literacy Preparedness And Academic Experiences Of First-Year Community College Students, Alexandra Ranieri Aug 2026

Exploring Literacy Preparedness And Academic Experiences Of First-Year Community College Students, Alexandra Ranieri

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Community colleges enroll students with diverse levels of academic preparation, yet placement into college-level coursework often relies heavily on high school grade point average (GPA), which may not fully reflect students' literacy preparedness. Although research has linked literacy proficiency to academic success, little is known about how first-year community college students experience literacy preparedness during the transition to college. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the literacy preparedness of first-year community college students and explore how their reading abilities aligned with their early academic experiences. Guided by the Reading Systems Framework (Perfetti & Stafura, 2014), the …