Digital Commons Network^™

Veterans Of Color At The Crossroads: Unraveling The Intersection Of Military And Racial Identity When Receiving Mental Health Care From White Providers In The Current Sociopolitical Context, Tabitha Alverio

Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of post-9/11 veterans of color (VoCs) who have received mental health services from White mental health providers (WMHPs) within the current sociopolitical context. Specifically, this study addressed two research questions: (a) How do VoCs describe their experiences of receiving mental health care from White providers in the current sociopolitical environment? and (b) How can White mental health providers improve their understanding of the identities of VoCs to provide greater quality of care, to improve treatment retention, and ultimately help to achieve better mental health outcomes for VoCs? Twelve …

Response Rates And Response Quality Of Online Course Survey For Deaf College Students: A Mixed-Method Study, Abdulaziz Abdullah M. Alqahtani

Dissertations

The purpose of the current dissertation study was to investigate how different delivery formats (written vs. sign language) of the course survey evaluation affect the response rate, psychometric properties and experiences of deaf and hard of hearing students taking course evaluation of total effectiveness. The following research questions guided this study:

Q1 To what extent do the different delivery formats of the online course evaluation of total effectiveness affect the response rate of DHH college students in KSA? (Quantitative question)

Q2 Do psychometric characteristics of the online course evaluation of total effectiveness differ by the design format of the online …

Teachers’ Perceptions On Success And Effectiveness Of Required Professional Development In A Midwest Middle School, Genevieve Kate Adams

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how teacher voice could be meaningfully integrated into the structure and development of site based professional development. This participatory action research study investigated teachers’ perceptions of the structure, delivery, and impact of weekly, site-based professional development (PD) at a middle school in Northern Colorado. Grounded in a constructivist theoretical framework, the study sought to elevate teacher voice and promote collaborative reflection on how professional learning could be more relevant, responsive, and empowering. The study explored the following research questions:

Q1 What professional development structures do teaching staff view as beneficial to their …

Regulating Algorithmic Accountability In Financial Advising: Rethinking The Sec’S Ai Proposal, Chen Wang

Buffalo Law Review

As artificial intelligence increasingly reshapes financial advising, the SEC has proposed new rules requiring brokerdealers and investment advisers to eliminate or neutralize conflicts of interest arising from AI use. This Article critically assesses the proposal’s scope, rationale, and feasibility, contending that its sweeping definitions and prescriptive mandates risk overregulation and conflict with the SEC’s longstanding disclosure-based regulatory approach. Drawing on case law, fiduciary duties, Regulation Best Interest, and existing antifraud provisions, this Article argues that the current legal framework, grounded in disclosure and informed consent, remains sufficient to manage AI related conflicts. It cautions against imposing categorical conflict elimination requirements …

Front Matter, Buffalo Law Review

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Concordia Seminary Magazine Summer 2025, Vicki Biggs

Concordia Seminary Magazine

Bearing Witness to the Truth

Usm Student Guide To Ai And Learning, University Of Southern Maine's Ai Task Force

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Access to technologies that use artificial intelligence (AI) has expanded greatly. As with any technology, there are pros and cons for using AI in any aspect of our lives. This guide offers a set of considerations for if, how, and when to use AI as a USM student.

Volume 11 Issue 11 (Aug 1912)

The Soul Winner

No abstract provided.

Robustness Investigation, Detection, And Defense Of Deep Learning Models Against False Data Injection, Amirhossein Nazeri

All Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the critical challenge of adversarial robustness in deep learning systems, focusing on two fundamental domains: time-series prediction and object detection. As these AI systems become increasingly deployed in safety-critical applications from power grid management to autonomous vehicles their vulnerability to adversarial attacks poses significant risks to infrastructure and human safety.

The first contribution introduces a novel stealthy black-box False Data Injection (FDI) attack specifically designed for quasi-periodic time-series data. Unlike existing attacks that produce easily detectable anomalies, our method generates adversarial perturbations that preserve the underlying periodicity and statistical properties of the data, effectively bypassing traditional anomaly …

Discovery Of High-Performance Cathode Materials For Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cells, Liang Han

All Dissertations

Environmental pollution and rapid energy consumption have become common problems in global development and will continue to grow with the world population. PCFCs use proton-conducting ceramics as electrolytes, with low activation energy and high ionic conductivity at intermediate temperatures, enabling them to operate at intermediate-temperature conditions, which can effectively solve the problems of poor stability and high cost of exotic materials of traditional solid oxide fuel cells. However, as the operating temperature decreases, the electrocatalytic activity of the cathode decreases significantly, seriously affecting PCFC’s performance. Therefore, developing high-performance cathode material suitable for working under intermediate-temperature conditions has become the key …

Elucidating The Mechanisms Underlying A Functional Plant-Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis Using Omics Approaches, Jasmine Gill

All Dissertations

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are obligate biotrophs forming symbiotic association with plants. The plant-AMF symbiosis has gained much attention due to its ability to improve plant nutrient uptake, especially phosphorus, which is often inadequately available to plants due to its limited mobility and complex formation in many soils. Phosphorus (P) is a crucial nutrient for plants, and most phosphate fertilizers are derived from phosphate rock, a finite natural resource. Thus, optimizing P uptake is vital for sustaining crop yields and addressing the needs of a growing global population. Plant-AMF symbioses are significant in this context, as AMF can acquire P …

Signals Of Trust: How Privacy Disclosures And Public Responses Drive User Behavior In Digital Markets, Jose Pius Nedumkallel

All Dissertations

This dissertation examines how data privacy practices and complaint response strategies influence user behavior and market outcomes in digital marketplaces. The first study analyzes the impact of Google Play’s Data Safety Label, launched in April 2022 to standardize data collection, third-party sharing, and security disclosures. Grounded in signaling and prospect theories, the label is treated as a compound signal users interpret holistically. A difference-in-differences analysis of 23,877 top Android apps over two years shows that disclosures increase user app adoption. Internal data collection boosts adoption, while third-party sharing reduces it, reflecting behavioral loss aversion. Security disclosures moderate these effects by …

Secure Control And Trust Evaluation Framework For Autonomous Transportation Systems, Grace Muriithi

All Dissertations

This dissertation advances the cybersecurity of hybrid tracked vehicles (HTVs) and ship power systems (SPSs) by developing innovative cyber-attack models and corresponding defence frameworks. First, we formulate stealthy false-data-injection attacks (FDIAs) on HTV energy-management systems as a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) solved via deep reinforcement learning. A novel sniffing-based reward function guides the attacker to covertly degrade battery capacity and energy efficiency, which we evaluate using custom stealth–impact metrics and a sliding-window anomaly detector (Isolation Forest with Dynamic Time Warping). Additionally, we model sophisticated control-layer attacks in HTVs, including reinforcement-learning-optimised replay attacks and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks targeting generator-speed …

Understanding The Elements Of Sterile Processing Workflow: Or, Sterilization And Personnel, Sayed Rezwanul Islam

All Dissertations

The Sterile Processing Department (SPD), also known as the Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD), is an essential part of hospitals and healthcare facilities and is responsible for ensuring the cleanliness, sterility, and proper functioning of medical instruments. Sterile processing departments (SPDs) are key drivers of productivity, effectiveness, safety, and infection control in hospitals. A well-designed SPD workflow can enhance patient safety, reduce operating room (OR) delays, and improve productivity. To understand the flow of sterile processing and interactions between the OR and SPD, process maps and task analyses were developed through direct observations of the basic SPD functions: decontamination, assembly, …

Breeding Biofortified Protein Rich Organic Pulses For Better Human Health, Sonia Salaria

All Dissertations

Pulse crops are dry grains of legumes, the second most consumed plant crops in the world after cereals. These crops are one of the primary sources of plant-based protein and contain high concentrations of pre-biotic carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. Recognizing the health benefits of pulses intake, their demands as sustainable food and changes in people’s diet preferences for plant-based protein have increased awareness for pulses consumption. With this scenario, improving the nutritional profile of pulse crops for rich nutrition has been an opportunity for breeders to explore and tailor the available germplasm to develop nutrient dense pulses. Furthermore, the genomic …

Coding Manual: Analyzing Semistructured Interview Data For Master Narratives, Jayson Seaman, Cindy Hartman, Andrew D. Coppens

Faculty Publications

This coding manual accompanies a methodological reorientation in narrative identity research, one that challenges the field’s prevailing “protagonist bias” — the assumption that first-person autobiographical accounts are the primary or most valid source for identifying cultural master narratives as psychological resources. While much psychological research has centered on how individuals narrate their own lives, this approach can obscure the ways that broader cultural narratives are circulated, reinforced, and contested through discourse beyond the self. This method provides researchers with a systematic approach for identifying how master narratives operate across multiple narrative levels, often outside of biographical storytelling.

Historically Minoritized Racial Groups At A Midwestern University: Behaviors, Attitudes, And Beliefs Toward Mental Health And Well-Being, Kemmel Palmer

Dissertations

The rising prevalence of mental health concerns among college students, especially those from historically minoritized racial groups, underscores persistent disparities and substantial barriers encountered within Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). This qualitative inquiry examined the mental health behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs of college students from five historically minoritized racial groups—Black/African American, Latino/Hispanic, Asian Pacific Islander Desi American, Middle Eastern/Middle Eastern American, and Indigenous/Native American—at a midwestern university. Utilizing a phenomenological methodology, the study employed five focus groups comprising 51 participants representing a wide range of academic levels, gender identities, and sociocultural backgrounds.

The findings from this study reveal deeply embedded and …

The Effect Of Voter Education On Behaviors In Ranked Choice Voting, Ethan G. Olsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The appeal of ranked choice voting has led to its recent meteoric rise throughout America, leading to adoption in a number of cities and a handful of states, but some critics and political scientists worry about its higher difficulty potentially leading to more errors and undesirable behavior. Utilizing an experiment, I find that a short voter education video is all that is required to reduce rates of errors and ideologically inconsistent behavior, while finding null results for undervoting, possibly due to its low occurrence in the sample.

As ranked choice voting’s adoption is considered in each election cycle for jurisdictions …

Non-Efl World Language Teachers’ Perceptions And Experiences With Generative Ai Tools, Georgia Konstantinou

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory quantitative research study explored the perceptions and experiences of non-English as a Foreign Language (non-EFL) world language teachers who were members of online communities of practice regarding their use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools in their teaching practices. Many research studies began to explore the impact of GenAI tools in various educational settings, and some studies even investigated the perceptions of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, but research studies exploring the perceptions of non-EFL world language teachers regarding the use of GenAI tools inside and outside of the classroom remain limited. This study addressed this …

Open Educational Resources In Elder Refugee Esl Contexts: Instructor And Administrator Perspectives, Alison Elliott

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Open Educational Resources (OER) offer a promising solution to educational disparities through their free, adaptable, and shareable nature, fostering collaboration and innovation in pedagogy. While OER, alongside Open Educational Practices (OEP), has seen a vibrant and growing integration within K-16 foreign language contexts, its application within adult English as a Second Language (ESL) education remains significantly under-researched. Adult ESL contexts, especially those serving refugees, present unique challenges: learners have experienced trauma, interrupted education, and have urgent practical English needs, while adult educators contend with inconsistent training, demanding part-time workloads, and a fragmented professional ecosystem that limits professional development and research …

Enhancing Emotional Accuracy And Behavioral Novelty In Robot Behaviors: A Generative-Discriminative Approach, Rista Baral

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Recent advancements in language modeling have improved robotic emotion expressiveness, yet several challenges remain. Many existing robotic expression models rely on fixed rules and static frameworks, which limit their ability to capture the dynamic nature of emotional expression. Additionally, these systems often struggle to balance emotional accuracy with generating novel and varied behaviors. These limitations underscore the need for method capable of delivering both emotionally accurate and diverse robot behaviors.

In this thesis, we addresses these challenges by introducing a new framework for expressive behavior generation in robots. We develop a generative model that generates robot behavior sequences that align …

Social And Economic Gradients Of Resource Transfer Behavior In Gorongosa, Mozambique, Karl J. Mertens

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Why do people who experience the same environmental and social conditions vary so much in their resource transfer behavior? This dissertation addresses that question through examination of behavioral variation in subsistence horticulturalists in the dry tropical forest bufer conservation area of Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. In this region of moderate and acute food shortages at both household and regional levels, individuals face similar challenges of addressing social and resource uncertainty yet respond with marked behavioral variation that cannot be explained solely by diferences in wealth, kinship, or reciprocity patterns.

Using a Behavioral Reaction Norms (Dingemanse et al., 2010) (BRN) …

Aging Effect On Effective Connectivity Within The Prefrontal-Motor Network And Postural-Related Muscle Responses During Dual-Task Paradigms, Jiahao Pan

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Falls are a significant global public issue for older adults, leading to severe health and social impacts. To understand the underlying mechanism of increased fall risk with aging, loss of postural automaticity has been suggested as increased prefrontal cortex and motor cortices activation, as well as worse balance performance in response to the secondary cognitive task. However, the interaction within these cortical regions and its effects on postural-related muscle responses are poorly understood. This dissertation investigated age-related changes in effective connectivity within the prefrontal-motor network, postural related lower limb muscle response, and biomechanical characteristics in response to the secondary cognitive …

Sustainability: Buzz Word Or Future Of Fashion? Measuring The Feasibility Of Outright Sustainability Among Fast Fashion’S Biggest Agents, Ryan Miller

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

Abstract

The fashion industry is currently experiencing unsustainable rates of pollution within its supply chains. The rapid increase in demand for short lead times perpetrated by large-scale retailers has led to hazardous practices negatively affecting both the environmental conditions and working conditions of producing countries. With this increased pressure, relationships between brands and suppliers have become untenable. Limited transparency and imbalanced power dynamics at the hand of the industry’s leading retailers require restructuring in order to build more sustainable and equitable supply-chain practices. Further, governmental regulation is currently limited in its capacity to enforce sustainable business practices on a global …

Examination Of Caregiver Supervision Practices And Beliefs Among Caregivers Of Children With Bleeding Disorders, Sophia Noelle Prokos

Dissertations

Abstract: Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death for young children in the United States, and children with chronic medical conditions such as bleeding disorders are at elevated risk for injury and more severe outcomes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2021; Mayes et al., 2009; Shen et al., 2016). While caregiver supervision is a known strategy for injury prevention (Damashek & Corlis, 2017; Morrongiello et al., 2011), limited research has examined how supervision beliefs and practices differ for caregivers of children with bleeding disorders. The present study compared caregiver supervision, injury attitudes, and injury history between …

Perceptions Of National Identity And Government Trust: The Effects Of Migrant Education Policies In Thailand, Kathryn Creglow

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This study looks at how government policies that shape national identity influence people's trust in the federal government. Using Thailand as an example, it focuses on immigration policies and their effect on public trust, especially in a country with a strong sense of national identity. This research study specifically examines Thailand’s 2005 “Education for All” policy, which allowed immigrant children to attend public schools. This policy was seen by some as a challenge to national identity. The study investigates whether such policies impact how much people trust the government.

To measure this, the study compares changes in trust over for …

Optimizing Delphinium And Larkspur Through Timing And Protective Cultivation Methods For Cut Flower Production, Nicholas Kirwan Volesky

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Cut flowers have become an increasingly important specialty crop for small farms nationwide, and particularly in Utah, where decreasing agricultural land has heightened the need for profitable cropping options. However, production is challenged by Utah’s high-elevation climate, which presents unique constraints not addressed by current recommendations. Cool-season crops, like delphinium (Delphinium spp.) and larkspur (Consolida ajacis L.), are underproduced yet highly marketable, generating strong interest among growers throughout the state. Developing region-specific production guidelines is essential to help optimize yields, extend harvest windows, and meet local demand. This research evaluated spring planting dates in high tunnel and field …

"Why Does Coach Do That?" Exploring Influences Of Coach Behavior In Non-Elite Women's Artistic Gymnastics, Katherine Vernay Adams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This two study dissertation explores coaching in women's artistic gymnastics, as the sport has been criticized for harsh and controlling coaching methods. The first study investigated whether coaches who experienced mistreatment as young gymnasts were more likely to adopt controlling coaching practices. While there was no direct link, those with a history of mistreatment tended to struggle more with managing their emotions. The second study tested whether coaches view controlling coaching as more acceptable for younger or more advanced gymnasts. The results showed that neither age nor skill level made a difference—controlling coaching was generally viewed as unacceptable, while supportive …

Perception And Experiences With Telemedicine Among Caregivers Of Children Requiring Outpatient Chronic Care, Maureen Wambui Kigara

Master of Medicine in Paediatrics and Child Health

Introduction Telemedicine is an expanding healthcare modality with potential to enhance access to paediatric specialist care, reduce healthcare costs, and minimize school and work disruptions. However, little is known about caregiver perceptions and experiences with telemedicine in low- and middle-income countries, especially in the context of chronic paediatric care.

Objectives This study explored how caregivers of children with chronic health conditions perceive and experience telemedicine, and what factors influence its adoption. The findings aim to inform the design of patient-centered paediatric telemedicine services.

Methodology A cross-sectional qualitative study was conducted at the Paediatric Specialist Clinics of Aga Khan University Hospital. …

A Scoping Review Of Arabic Self-Reported Measures Of Hearing, Tinnitus And Hyperacusis: Limited Quality And Quantity, Abdulsalam Alhaidary, Kishore Tanniru, Kevin J. Munro, Ahmed Bin Afif, Ibrahim Almufarrij

Saudi Medical Journal

ABSTRACT Objectives: To identify Arabic-language self-report measures related to hearing, tinnitus and hyperacusis and evaluate whether they had been validated and cross-culturally adapted following translation from other languages. Methods: The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR guidelines) and searched 5` information sources (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, PsycINFO and Google Scholar) from their inception to September 2023, identifying all originally developed or translated Arabic self- or parent-report measures related to hearing, tinnitus and hyperacusis. A total of 1,458 records were screened, with only 28 deemed eligible for inclusion. Results: This …