Digital Commons Network^™

Teacher Workplace Bullying: Victim And Bystander Perspectives, Abigail R. Smurr

Dissertations

Workplace bullying is a phenomenon that is addressed within a broad context. This study focuses on teacher experiences of bullying. The focus will examine the impacts horizontal and vertical bullying can have on teacher victims and bystanders within K-12th within California. The purpose of this study is to give administrators awareness of these issues from the victim and bystanders’ lens. The study implemented a mixed methods design to give insight to teacher perceptions on the impacts it can have on their teacher efficacy, teacher retention, and their emotional well-being. By looking at how often PK-12th grade teachers experience workplace bullying, …

From Surviving To Thriving: The Oxygen Mask Approach For Middle Management, Lydia Marque

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem: Middle managers in healthcare experience high levels of stress, heavy workloads, and burnout. At a large medical center in Northern California, middle managers reported low perceptions of organizational support for well-being despite an abundance of available resources.

Context: Baseline data indicated a perceived support score of 6.5 out of 10 on the Employee Interest Survey and a People Pulse Culture of Health score of 60 for assistant nurse managers (ANMs), both below regional benchmarks. These findings suggested inadequate engagement with organizational well-being resources.

Interventions: A six-month performance improvement initiative, guided by the ADKAR change model and …

Factors Associated With Maternal Health Care Utilization In Liberia, West Africa, Isaac Nyumah Yah

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Extant literature reports increased uptake of maternal health care utilization in Liberia in the era following the 14-year civil war that ended in 2004. The purpose of this secondary quantitative data analysis study was to examine the relationship between women’s place of residence, women’s earnings spending autonomy, and maternal health care utilization of women ages 15–49 in Liberia. Maternal health care utilization in this study is measured by women’s visits to government hospitals for antenatal care. Maternal health care utilization indicates whether women who were pregnant within the 3 years before the 2019–20 Demographic Health Survey in Liberia attended any …

Exploring Program Participant And Staff Perspectives On Correctional Education Programs, My Ngoc Nguyen

Dissertations

In this paper, I explored program participant and staff perspectives on correctional education programs. Prior research measured success of correctional education through recidivism, post-employment opportunities, and post-secondary education. However, few research examined the perspectives of staff, program participants, and alumni of such programs to understand factors that aid in important educational experiences within correctional education programs. In this study, I utilized a mixed-methods approach, where I collected close-ended and open-ended survey responses from 10 staff and 5 program participants on their ratings of program principles and characteristics as well as optional follow-up interviews to elaborate on their survey responses. The …

Resilience In Crisis: How Bipoc Educators Navigated The Challenges Associated With Covid-19, Racial Awakening, And The Move To Online Learning, Jannet Galicia Castrejon

Dissertations

An unprecedented number of BIPOC teachers exited the profession since June 2020 largely due to the challenges posted by the COVID-19 pandemic (Doan et al., 2024). This study aimed to investigate ways these educators coped with the heavy toll of the converging pandemic(s) by asking what, if anything, sustained them? Participants provided individual and group testimonios and shared snapshots of what it was like to teach and exist during this time via the photovoice methodology and reflected on the challenges and sources of support. BIPOC teachers described the following challenges: difficulty connecting with kids, first-hand and vicarious trauma, increased workload, …

Survival-Inferred Fragility Of Statistical Significance In Phase Iii Oncology Trials, Alexander D Sherry, Yufei Liu, Pavlos Msaouel, Timothy A Lin, Alex Koong, Christine Lin, Joseph Abi Jaoude, Roshal R Patel, Ramez Kouzy, Molly B El-Alam, Avital M Miller, Mohannad Owiwi, Jonathan Ofer, David Bomze, Zachary R Mccaw, Tomer Meirson, Ethan B Ludmir

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In phase III oncology trials, superiority is defined by statistical significance using P thresholds. However, this approach has been criticized because P is continuous. Here, we reconstruct patient-level data for 230 phase III oncology trials to model the robustness of statistical significance by estimating the survival-inferred fragility index (SIFI), defined as the smallest number of patients changing arms that alters the statistical significance interpretation. The median SIFI was 8 patients (IQR 4-19), representing 1.4% of enrollments (IQR 0.7%-3%). As a continuous statistic, P-but not the significance interpretation-was correlated with SIFI. Moreover, overall survival endpoints were more fragile than surrogate endpoints. …

2025 Deerfield Fair 4-H Animal Shows Premium Book, Extension

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Skin Care Excellence: Increasing Rn Skin Check Frequency To Prevent Hapis, Yu Jian Kwan

Master's Projects and Capstones

Background:
This quality improvement project was implemented in the Transitional Cardiac Unit (TCU), a 32-bed telemetry unit primarily serving older adults recovering from cardiac procedures. A microsystem assessment revealed a hospital-acquired pressure injury (HAPI) rate of 1.49 per 1,000 patient days, exceeding the regional target of 0.82. Key barriers included limited skin assessment frequency, inconsistent documentation, and gaps in staff training.

Problem:
From June to December 2024, six HAPIs occurred in the TCU. Despite existing protocols requiring two-RN skin assessments at admission, transfer, and discharge, early detection of skin breakdown remained insufficient. Contributing factors included inconsistent surveillance, varied assessment skills, …

Energetic And Economic Aspects Of Rebound, Part Ii: Applications Of The Framework, Matthew Kuperus Heun, Gregor Semieniuk, Paul E. Brockway

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Widespread implementation of energy efficiency is a key greenhouse gas emissions mitigation measure, but rebound can “take back” energy savings. However, the absence of solid analytical foundations hinders empirical determination of rebound magnitudes. In Part I, we developed foundations of a rigorous, analytical, consumer-sided rebound framework that is approachable for both energy analysts and economists. In this paper (Part II), we develop energy, expenditure, and consumption planes, a novel, mutually consistent, and numerically precise way to visualize and illustrate rebound. Further, we operationalize the macro factor () for macroeconomic rebound. Using the framework and rebound planes, we calculate and show …

Machine-Learning Driven Strategies For Adapting Immunotherapy In Metastatic Nsclc, Maliazurina B Saad, Qasem Al-Tashi, Lingzhi Hong, Vivek Verma, Wentao Li, Daniel Boiarsky, Shenduo Li, Milena Petranovic, Carol C Wu, Brett W Carter, Girish S Shroff, Tina Cascone, Xiuning Le, Yasir Y Elamin, Mehmet Altan, Simon Heeke, Ajay Sheshadri, Joe Y Chang, Percy P Lee, Zhongxing Liao, Don L Gibbons, Ara A Vaporciyan, J Jack Lee, Ignacio I Wistuba, Cara Haymaker, Seyedali Mirjalili, David Jaffray, Justin F Gainor, Yanyan Lou, Alessandro Di Federico, Federica Pecci, Mark Awad, Biagio Ricciuti, John V Heymach, Natalie I Vokes, Jianjun Zhang, Jia Wu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), either as monotherapy (ICI-Mono) or combined with chemotherapy (ICI-Chemo), improves survival in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, prospective guidance for choosing between these options remains limited, and single-feature biomarkers like PD-L1 prove inadequate. We develop a machine learning model using clinicogenomic data from four cohorts (MD Anderson n = 750; Mayo Clinic n = 80; Dana-Farber n = 1077; Stand Up To Cancer n = 393) to predict individual benefit from adding chemotherapy. Benefit scores are calculated using five distinct functions derived from 28 genomic and 6 clinical features. Our integrated model, A-STEP (Attention-based …

Student Athletes Set New Record For Academic All-America Selections, Julia Perez

Press Releases 2020-2029

No abstract provided.

An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Black Female Swimmers' Experiences Of Belonging, Felicity E. Passon

Master's Theses

Although swimming participation has grown in the United States, the experiences of Black female swimmers remain significantly underrepresented in academic literature. This study addresses that gap by exploring the lived experiences of Black women participating in Division 1 (D1) college swimming. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and Black feminist thought, the research explored how Black female D1 swimmers experienced belonging in this underrepresented sport. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine D1 Black female swimmers, and six major themes illustrate the varied factors that shaped their experiences of belonging. Even with racially gendered barriers to inclusion, they identified strategies to foster …

Investigating The Complexity Of Language Acquisition For Linguistically Diverse Children, Krittin Srisajjakul

Master's Theses

Understanding the natural productions of children's early expressive language development is important to support their development. These natural productions may also be especially complex in children with diverse linguistic backgrounds. A challenge for clinicians is how to assess these natural productions for children’s early expressive language milestones. For example, what does it mean for children to say the same word in two languages and refer to the same concept (e.g., “water” and “agua”)? Or refer to two different concepts, (e.g., “water” and “leche” (milk))? By understanding how children’s expressive language connects to conceptual understanding, clinicians can better support language learning. …

Sirilla: Predicting Traffic Flow Via Stacked Decentralized Federated Learning, Andrew Selvia

Master's Theses

Billions of people today rely on traffic predictions to optimize their travels. Digital mapping services deliver accurate predictions by learning from vast troves of historical data. Impressive as these systems are, their assumptions do not always apply. They depend on an endless flow of sensitive user data to a central authority, a stable Internet connection, and trustworthiness on both sides of the traditional client-server model. This thesis explores a novel architecture which bucks those assumptions. In the proposed model, traffic data remains on edge devices which individually train models via federated learning. Beyond the obvious privacy benefits, this architecture enables …

Evaluating Preference And Reinforcer Assessments For Distinct Social Interactions, Alecksandra Castaneda

Thesis Projects

The present study evaluated the efficacy of different assessments to assess reinforcer value and order of preference in regard to social interactions. A key component in this study was to expand on forms of social attention that have not typically been assessed, specifically non-physical. The lack of research in this area has led to an extension in understanding the effects of social attention in terms of reinforcement, as well as determining the optimal methods to do so. The researchers conducted a sequence of assessments across participants: concurrent operant reinforcer assessment, social interaction preference assessment, and multiple stimulus without replacement preference …

Optimizing Thermal Performance Of Ag-Mgo/H2O Hybrid Nanofluid Flow In A Quarter-Circular Cavity Using Response Surface Methodology And Artificial Neural Network, M.S. Alam, M.N. Huda, M.M. Rahman, M. Al-Lawati

Sultan Qaboos University Journal For Science

This research analyzes the optimization of the thermal performance of the natural convective flow of Ag-MgO/H2O hybrid nanofluid within a quarter-circular cavity utilizing response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) techniques through a non-homogeneous dynamic mathematical model. The Galerkin-weighted residual finite element method numerically solves the governing dimensionless equations and boundary conditions. The numerical results are then used to train ANN and RSM models and evaluate their performance. The results indicated that both models are dependable for this investigation, exhibiting a notably high coefficient of determination for the performance control variable, the average Nusselt number. In addition, the …

Analysis Of Stress-Jump Condition On The Onset Of Thermal Convection In A Composite System Formed By An Anisotropic Porous Layer Underlying A Fluid Layer, Neetu Srivastava, Naveen Dwivedi, Ashok K. Singh, Nirmal C. Sacheti, B. S. Bhadauria

Sultan Qaboos University Journal For Science

This paper investigates the onset of thermal convection in a bounded system comprising a horizontal viscous fluid layer of infinite extent overlying an anisotropic horizontal permeable layer saturated with the same fluid. It is assumed that this system is heated from below and cooled from above in the presence of internal heat generation. It is also assumed that the material parameters, such as viscosity and thermal conductivity differ between the layers, and that the Brinkman model is used to describe the flow in the porous region. An extensive linear stability analysis has been performed with an aim to determine the …

N5 As A Subalgebra Of A Principally Ordered Naturally Ordered Regular Semigroup With A Zero Element, G.A. Pinto

Sultan Qaboos University Journal For Science

We start with a basic and technical result: If S is a principally ordered regular semigroup that has a zero element, 0, then 0* is the biggest element (in fact, idempotent) of S. We obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for a principally ordered naturally ordered regular semigroup, S, with a zero element, to have as a subalgebra an ordered and algebraic isomorphic copy of N5, the smallest naturally ordered non-orthodox regular semigroup with a biggest idempotent.

The Reluctant Heroes: How To Teach Younger Generations Every-Day Heroism Through Pedagogical Imagination, Jarema Drozdowicz

Heroism Science

This article explores the notion of pedagogical imagination in the context of its practical use in teaching young learners today. The idea of imagination is being presented through the lens of the existing concepts such as ethnographic, historical, and sociological imagination introduced in the social sciences and humanities by various authors. The educational setting of today’s digitalized reality is being understood here as a sociocultural sphere where different generations clash in their diverse abilities to learn and form specific skills that might help them to cope with difficult real life situations. The process of forming heroic behavior patterns is thus …

Semantic Policy Summaries And Semantic Explanations For Explainable Ai In Networking, Dennis Lanov

Defensive Publications Series

Proposed herein is an explainability technique, referred to herein as a "Semantic Policy Summaries and Semantic Explanations" technique, for artificial intelligence (AI) -driven networking that translates complex model decisions into clear, human-readable explanations grounded in real-world network concepts. Instead of abstract outputs like feature scores, the proposed technique delivers goal-oriented justifications for AI network-related decisions/actions. The proposed technique integrates directly into a control loop, supports policy-based triggering, and logs explanations with decision metadata for audit and regulatory review. Further, the proposed technique aligns with requirements from the European Union (EU) AI Act and the proposed United States (U.S.) SAFE Innovation …

Gain Movie Insights Using Generative Artificial Intelligence, Akash Verma, Vineet Kumar, Abhay Kumar Gupta, Vivek Yadav, Szu-An Lu, Meng-Ting Tsai, Ya Hsien Liu, Chu-Feng Lien

Defensive Publications Series

A television (TV) application may present various types of media content of interest to a user. The media content may have different formats such as streaming video and audio. The types of media content may include, but are not limited to, movies, television shows, live sporting events, news items, short form videos, and music. In addition, or in the alternative, a variety of media content providers may deliver various types of media content for viewing by the user. The TV application may deliver a customized viewing experience to a user that spans the diverse types of media content provided by …

Achieving Equity For International Medical Graduates: A Systematic Review, Sangeeta G. Saxena, Elizabeth Tisdell, Elana Farace, Thomas Godfrey, Betsy Aumiller, Esther Dell, Omrana P. Razzak, Bernadette N. Kumar, Kristin K. Sznajder

Public Health

Introduction: Foreign-born and foreign trained International Medical Graduates (FIMGs) face greater challenges in acculturation to their host countries than IMGs who train abroad and return to practice in their home country. As FIMGs are likely to fulfill a shortage of physicians in High Income Countries in the foreseeable future, we conducted a systematic review of literature to identify acculturation interventions that help FIMGs assimilate better in their host country health systems. This improves their productivity and satisfaction, allows health systems to be more accepting of FIMGs, and most importantly, enhances patient outcomes.

Methods: Following the PRISMA statement, we searched PubMed, …

Kids Exploring The World With Chatbots, Maggie Mckay, Mark Connelly

Parent-ish Podcast

Are your kids chatting away with AI? In this episode, we provide parents with the tools they need to understand the implications of children's interactions with chatbots. Find out what signs to look for and how to set healthy boundaries to protect your child from potential pitfalls of digital companionship.

Click here to stream the podcast episode.

Mapping The Literature On Short-Selling In Financial Markets: A Lexicometric Analysis, Nitika Sharma, Sridhar Manohar, Bruce A. Huhmann, Yam B. Limbu

Department of Marketing Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study provides a comprehensive assessment and synthesis of the literature on short-selling. It performs a lexicometric analysis, providing a quantitative review of 1093 peer-reviewed journal articles to identify and illustrate the main themes in short-selling research. Almost half the published literature on short-selling is thematically clustered around portfolio management techniques. Other key themes involve short-selling as it relates to risk management, strategic management, and market irregularities. Descending hierarchical classification examines the overall structure of the textual corpus of the short-selling literature and the relationships between its key terms. Similarity analysis reveals that the short-selling literature is highly concentrated, with …

Fish Skin Versus Amniotic Allografts In Diabetic Foot Ulcer Management, Allison Betts

Summer Interdisciplinary Research Symposium

Objective: This capstone project aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of acellular fish skin grafts and human amniotic membrane allografts as adjuncts to standard care in managing diabetic foot ulcers.

Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted using PubMed, Medline, and Google Scholar. Keywords included “acellular fish skin,” “human amniotic allograft,” and “diabetic ulcer.” Articles published from 2019 onward were included if they focused on adult patients (18+) with diabetic foot ulcers and reported healing outcomes. Studies were excluded if they involved pediatric populations, lacked a diabetes or foot ulcer diagnosis, were published before 2019, or did not assess healing metrics. …

Therapeutic Benefits Of Boxing, Dancing, And Singing In Parkinson's Disease Management, Chloe N. Smith

Summer Interdisciplinary Research Symposium

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of boxing, dancing, and singing as movement-based interventions on motor symptoms, quality of life, cognition, and depression in individuals diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: A literature search was conducted using Google Scholar with terms including "Boxing," "Dance," "Singing," "MDS," and "Parkinson's disease." Studies were included if participants had a confirmed diagnosis, engaged in a movement-based intervention, and were either on or off PD medication. Exclusion criteria included the presence of other health conditions, inability of complete the intervention, or advanced disease symptoms that limited participation. Key outcomes assessed were mobility, agility, …

Reviving Heritage, Soreya Ganda

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Niger’s cultural identity is shaped by a rich mosaic of ethnic groups, including the Hausa, Zarma-Songhai, Tuareg, and Fulani, each with distinct traditions, building practices, and relationships to the land. For centuries, these communities lived according to their own social and spatial systems, rooted in environment-specific knowledge and craftsmanship. This balance was disrupted during the French colonial period, which began in the late 19th century and lasted until Niger’s independence in 1960. Colonial administration redrew territorial boundaries, centralized authority, and introduced foreign materials, aesthetics, and construction standards, redefining how people built and interacted with their environments. While Niger now appears …

The Parthenon, July 23, 2025, Baylee Parsons, Kaitlyn Fleming, Ashton Pack, Nate Harrah, Soleil Woolard

The Parthenon

No abstract provided.

Structural Differential Privacy In Graph Neural Networks, Bibek Giri

Master’s Dissertations

Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have demonstrated impressive performance across a range of graph-based learning tasks. However, their application to domains with sensitive relational data raises serious privacy concerns, as the graph structure itself may leak confidential information. This thesis investigates a decentralized framework for enforcing edge-level local di!erential privacy (LDP) in graph-structured data. We introduce two mechanisms that perturb a node’s neighborhood in a privacy-preserving yet utility-aware manner. The first approach replaces randomly selected neighbors with feature-similar nodes from the 2-hop neighborhood, ensuring structural realism while preserving degree. The second approach eliminates the need for explicit 2-hop propagation and dummy …

The Influence Of Underwriter Reputation And Firm Age On Ipo Pricing Decision: A Study On Companies Conducting Ipos On The Indonesia Stock Exchange In 2021–2024, Daniel Nathan, Prima Yusi Sari

Journal of Accounting Auditing and Business

This study aims to analyze the effect of underwriter’s reputation and firm age on IPO pricing decision among companies that went public on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) during the period 2021 to 2024. A quantitative approach was employed using multiple linear regression to examine the relationships between variables. The study’s sample consists of 229 companies that conducted IPOs within the specified period. The independent variables include underwriter’s reputation, categorized based on transaction volume rankings, and firm age, calculated as the difference between the year of establishment and the IPO year. The dependent variable is IPO pricing decision, represented by …