Evaluation Of The Antimicrobial Activity Of Four Endodontic Sealers Against Streptococcus Mutans And Enterococcus Faecalis Using The Agar Diffusion Test, Dakota Alan Bailey

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Abstract

Evaluation of the Antimicrobial Activity of Four Endodontic Sealers Against

Streptococcus mutans and Enterococcus faecalis Using the Agar Diffusion Test

Dakota A. Bailey, D.D.S.

Introduction: The antimicrobial activity of root canal sealers may contribute to the elimination of residual microorganisms that persist following chemomechanical preparation. Limited research has directly compared contemporary bioceramic sealers with traditional sealers against both Streptococcus mutans and Enterococcus faecalis. NeoSEALER EzFlo is a recently introduced bioceramic sealer with limited published antimicrobial data. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of EndoSequence BC HiFlow, NeoSEALER EzFlo, AH Plus Jet, and Kerr Pulp …

Implementation Of A Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Bundle To Reduce The Incidence Of Ventilator-Associated-Pneumonia And Improve Patient Care, Taylor Ryan Rice

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Introduction: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a concerning complication that can

develop from complications when a patient is placed on a mechanical ventilator. Endotracheal

intubation puts patients at risk for micro aspiration, which can lead to VAP.

Evidence Review: Nine articles were selected for review; after critical appraisal, seven were

kept for further review. Evidence in these articles shows that using evidence-based methods in a

VAP bundle can decrease the length of stay, mechanical ventilator days, and the incidence of

VAP.

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to improve oral care for intubated patients and keep

the incidence of VAP …

Provider Satisfaction Between General Dentists And Endodontists, Vaidehi Kumar

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Purpose: Burnout and low professional fulfillment are major issues for dental providers, impacting their well-being, patient care, and workforce stability. While burnout has been widely studied in dentistry, less is known about professional fulfillment and how it varies by specialty and work environment. This cross-sectional study compared professional fulfillment and burnout between general dentists and endodontists, and examined how practice setting, demographics, and job factors affect occupational well-being. Methods: Licensed dentists (n=147; 72 general dentists and 75 endodontists) participated in an anonymous online survey. The Professional Fulfillment Index (PFI) was used to measure three sub-domains: Professional Fulfillment, Interpersonal Disengagement, and …

I Think, Therefore I Can: Self-Efficacy, Self-Regulation, And Sense Of Belonging In Introductory Physics, Danielle Christine Maldonado

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Cognitive and affective beliefs in physics classrooms are important indicators of student success beyond traditional measurements of academic performance. This body of work explores major beliefs and processes, including self-efficacy, self-regulation, and sense of belonging, as they relate to academic achievement among introductory undergraduate physics students. First, this dissertation explores the development of physics self-efficacy and physics sense of belonging, two highly correlated variables. This work identifies unique sources of physics self-efficacy and sense of belonging development from current and prior academic experiences, personality factors, and demographic variables. Then, relationships between early- semester self-efficacy and sense of belonging, mid-semester …

Smartbot V3: A Scalable Educational And Research Robotics Platform And Decentralized Construction Framework, Robert Tyler Cook

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Autonomous robotic systems are increasingly used in both engineering education and robotics research, creating a need for systems capable of supporting both within a common platform. This thesis presents SMARTbot V3, a scalable robotics platform developed to support undergraduate robotics education and multi-robot research.

SMARTbot V3 is a differential-drive mobile manipulator incorporating a 3-degree-of-freedom manipulator, LiDAR, RGB cameras, onboard computation, and Robot Operating System 2 (ROS2) software. The platform was designed to support scalable deployment through standardized hardware, modular construction, and common software. A fleet of twenty robots was manufactured and deployed for both educational and research activities. Educational validation …

‘She Dared Not’: Authority In The Monasteries Of The Diocese Of Lincoln, 1400-1540, Morgan Mcminn

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Within monastic life, the Benedictine Rule prioritized the role of the abbot, and much of the everyday running of the house was left to his discretion. He was the elected father of the community, the pastor of the flock, the educator who instructed by word and example. He should discipline firmly but be loved and not feared, and he should play no favorite but rather adapt to the situation at hand. His brethren should obey him without question as the representative of Christ in the monastery, their self-will and earthly possessions submitted to him. These elements are also present in …

Assessment Of Emissions Factors For Produced Water And Other Atmospheric Liquid Storage Tanks On Natural Gas Sites, David Glenn Childs

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As the US natural gas (NG) sector continues to grow, concerns have increased regarding the effects and increasing volume of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. While NG is a cleaner burning fuel than diesel and gasoline, unburned methane (CH₄) has a global warming potential (GWP) 27-30 times that of carbon dioxide (CO₂). To better quantify CH₄ emissions on NG sites, the US Department of Energy (DOE) granted West Virginia University (WVU) funding to collect direct measurements at well sites and compressor stations.

In this work, a total of 18 sites, including controlled and uncontrolled …

Constructing The 'Other': A Cda Of Social Actor Representation And Agency Attribution In The New York Times Reporting On Palestine And Israel (2023–2025), Faithlyn H. Graham

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Media organizations play a central role in shaping public understanding of international conflict. Following the publication of a leaked internal editorial memorandum from The New York Times in 2024 advising reporters to avoid terms such as "genocide," "ethnic cleansing," and "occupied territory," questions emerged regarding institutional influence and ideological framing in coverage of the Palestinian and Israeli conflict. This study examined how The New York Times discursively constructed the conflict between October 7, 2023, and October 10, 2025, using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) informed by KhosraviNik's (2010) three-level analytical framework. A purposive sample of 119 hard-news articles was analyzed using …

Evaluation Of Engineering Controls In Mitigation Of Fecal And Chloride Contamination To An Urban Stream, Gabriel J. Zenny

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Fecal coliform contamination is a major contributor to surface water pollution in the United States’ (U.S.) waterways, whether from combined sewer overflows (CSOs) (point source pollution), runoff from precipitation and snowmelt (nonpoint source pollution), or exfiltration from aging and failing infrastructure. In addition to fecal bacteria, chloride contamination is also a major, prevalent surface water contaminant impacting U.S. waterways. Chloride contamination is predominantly released into U.S. waterways as nonpoint source pollution, endemic to northern areas that use industrial brine and salt as a form of mitigation for ice accumulation on roadways. The purpose of this research was to investigate impairment …

Influences Of Response Rate And Distribution On Accuracy Estimates: The Value Of Replications Based On Analytic Approach, Olivia Brianne Harvey

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Accurate observational data are essential for drawing correct conclusions about behavioral phenomena and ensuring the replicability of research findings. Accuracy is the extent to which an observer’s recorded responses correspond with true values (i.e., the actual occurrence of behavioral events). Correspondence is quantified using one of several percentage-based algorithms. However, these accuracy estimates may be influenced by characteristics of the data, such as response rate and response distribution, as well as the algorithm used to calculate them. The purpose of this dissertation was to evaluate how response rate, response distribution, and the algorithm used to evaluate accuracy influences estimates. Across …

Dataless Neural Networks For Boolean Satisfiability And Network Optimization, Andrew Evan Gautier

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Combinatorial optimization problems (COPs) require searching over a finite solution space subject to constraints, with the goal of satisfying an objective function. They arise in operations research, scheduling, resource allocation, circuit design, and many other fields. Many problems in combinatorial optimization (including satisfiability and network design) are NP-hard. Traditionally, researchers have built approximate solvers that return near- optimal solutions efficiently by developing increasingly sophisticated heuristics and meta- heuristics. Deep learning has provided new opportunities for improving combinatorial solvers by leveraging neural guidance to prune the search space. Traditional neural networks have distinct drawbacks in this context: separate training and …

Physics-Informed Machine Learning Methods To Predict Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine Performance And Emissions, Sandeep Guguloth

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The development of internal combustion engines for increased efficiency and reduced emissions demands improved design tools that are cost-effective, fast, and easy to integrate into existing engineering workflows. Low-dimensional physically based engine models serve this role by reducing the need for iterative experimental prototyping but historically rely on empirical correlations that sacrifice fidelity compared to CFD. Machine learning (ML) approaches, conversely, achieve high predictive accuracy but lack interpretability and generalize poorly beyond their training data. Physics-informed machine learning (PIML) bridges this gap by constraining the solution space to physically feasible predictions, offering a more reliable way to model in-cylinder phenomena. …

Multi-Timescale Monitoring And Modeling For Resilient Smart Grids: Pmu Anomaly Detection And Battery Digital Twins, Muhammad Imran Hossain

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Modern power systems face failures at very different timescales. Cyber-physical disturbances may emerge within seconds, while battery degradation develops over hundreds of operating cycles. Both monitoring problems share the same underlying difficulty: power systems produce measurement data in abundance, but reliably labeled examples of abnormal or degraded operation are scarce. Rare grid events are difficult to label, and battery degradation data are heterogeneous across cells, cycling protocols, and chemistries. This thesis addresses these challenges through two complementary domain-informed learning frameworks that constrain representation learning using information specific to each physical problem.

First, at the system level, T-BiGAN, a Transformer-augmented bidirectional …

Data Augmentation And The Reliability Of Conformal Prediction For Uncertainty Quantification In Medical Imaging, Rizwan Ahamed

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The safe clinical deployment of deep learning models for high-stakes medical imaging tasks requires more than high average accuracy; it requires demonstrable, per-case reliability. Uncertainty quantification (UQ) provides the missing signal that tells a clinician when a model prediction can be trusted and when a case should be escalated for expert review. Among UQ approaches, conformal prediction (CP) is especially attractive because it produces prediction sets that are guaranteed, under the assumption of exchangeability, to contain the true label with a user chosen probability, and it does so without assumptions about the model or the data distribution. This report first …

Does Diverse Seeding Adoption Reduce Production Costs? The Case Of Diverse Forage Seeding Strategies In West Virginia., Ivan Andres Wong

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Feed and harvested forage represent a major share of production costs in Appalachian cow-calf systems, where a pronounced summer forage gap forces producers to rely on purchased hay. This thesis evaluates whether adopting diverse forage seeding strategies reduces production costs relative to the existing pasture management practice, accounting for the spatial heterogeneity of West Virginia’s production environments. The analysis proceeds in two steps. First, an unsupervised K-means clustering of 14 farms enrolled in the NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant field trial groups the farms into two agroclimatic clusters, Highland-Cool and LowlandWarm, using elevation, growing-season Growing Degree Days, growing-season precipitation, and soil …

Multi-Sensor Fusion For Manual Wheelchair State Estimation, Kathylee Pinnock Branford

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Kathylee Pinnock Branford Manual wheelchairs are essential to mobility and independence, yet accurately characterizing wheelchair motion in real-world environments remains challenging. Inertial measurement units (IMUs) provide a practical means of estimating wheelchair kinematics, but existing trajectory-reconstruction studies have largely been limited to short, controlled trials. This report developed and evaluated a four-IMU framework comprising one sensor on each rear wheel and two sensors on the wheelchair frame. Three orientation algorithms (VQF, Mahony AHRS, and Madgwick AHRS), two accelerometer ranges (±2 g and ± 4 g), and calibrated and uncalibrated sensor data were evaluated during indoor motion-capture trials and a outdoor …

Assessing Mobility And Upper Extremity Function Beyond Laboratory Settings In Manual Wheelchair Users With Spinal Cord Injury Using Inertial Measurement Units, Kathylee Pinnock Branford

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury (SCI) face chronic, repetitive shoulder demands that far exceed those of able-bodied daily life, placing them at high risk for rotator cuff pathology and long-term upper extremity dysfunction. Despite this burden, existing research has relied predominantly on brief laboratory assessments that capture only a narrow part of real-world mechanical demands, leaving critical gaps in the identification of true injury risk factors. This dissertation developed and applied inertial measurement unit (IMU)-based methods and novel algorithms to characterize arm use, mobility, and environmental context during a full week of free living behavior in 25 manual …

Psychological Distance And Auditor Assessment Of The Severity Of An Internal Control Deficiency, Scott C. Jackson, John D. Keyser, Douglas F. Prawitt

Faculty Publications

Auditors often underestimate the severity of internal control deficiencies, particularly when associated misstatements are immaterial. We find that auditors are more likely to correctly classify a material weakness when no misstatement information is provided than when misstatement information is available, and that this finding may unconsciously arise from auditors’ construal level in judging control deficiency severity. Through a series of experiments, we manipulate misstatement information related to an internal control deficiency designed to represent a material weakness. We hold the size of potential misstatement constant and find that auditors and graduate auditing students are less likely to correctly assess the …

Women In Music: Experiences Of Women Oboists In Us Symphony Orchestras, Brianna Corgel

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The evolution of women in American music has been a gradual and ongoing process. Historically, women were largely excluded from public musical life and did not achieve widespread acceptance as professional musicians until the 20^th century, largely due to prevailing cultural and societal expectations. In the 19^th century, women typically performed in domestic settings for small gatherings of family and friends. Female instrumentalists were generally limited to the piano and a few string instruments, while wind instruments—such as the oboe—were discouraged because they were considered unladylike or visually unappealing when played. The 20^th century saw the emergence …

Effect Of Delay On Reinforcer Preference And Efficacy, Ciara Jasmine Rodriguez

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Behavior intervention plans are used to increase desired behavior and decrease problem behavior, and these plans require the use of effective reinforcers. High-quality reinforcers that are delivered immediately tend to be the most effective, but optimal reinforcement parameters are not always feasible or appropriate in applied settings. Some reinforcers may be disruptive, teachers’ competing responsibilities may introduce delays to reinforcer delivery, and reinforcers may not be immediately accessible. Stimuli may lose their reinforcing value with delay to their receipt, and this is referred to as delay discounting. Thus, there is likely a point where a less preferred but immediately delivered …

Dispositional Mindfulness And Autonomic Reactivity, Thomas Dylan Boyer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

To explain how different facets of mindfulness were associated with task performance in distinctive ways, Lindsay and Creswell (2017) proposed the Monitor and Acceptance Theory (MAT). According to this model, the mindfulness facet of monitoring present state awareness was thought to influence task performance differently than the nonjudgmental acceptance facet of mindfulness, but no studies to date have examined this model with respect to an individual's physiological response to stressful tasks. Because dispositional mindfulness has been associated with both increased and decreased physiological and affective reactions to stress in previous studies, the present study tested whether the Monitoring facet of …

Greed, Guilt, And Generative Ai: Emotional Dynamics In Digital Consumer Interactions, Danielle Lynn Hass

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

ABSTRACT

GREED, GUILT, AND GENERATIVE AI: EMOTIONAL DYNAMICS IN DIGITAL CONSUMER INTERACTIONS

Danielle Hass

Digital consumer interactions are increasingly shaped by complex emotional dynamics. As digital platforms and Generative AI (GenAI) technologies proliferate in our everyday lives, it is critical to understand the emotional undercurrents and how they impact consumer behavior. This dissertation investigates these dynamics through three essays that explore how emotions impact consumer experiences in digital spaces, with an overall goal to offer theoretical and practical insights into the interaction of human psychology and technological advancement in the consumer behavior field.

Essay One examines the paradox of pleasure …

Gcn5l1-Mediated Lysine Acetylation Regulates Mitochondrial Dysfunction In The Aged Heart, Jackson Edmond Stewart

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

For over a century, cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been and remains the leading cause of death globally. CVD risk and severity increase significantly with advanced age, and mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in the pathogenesis of aging. Furthermore, mitochondrial health is crucial for cardiac function, as one-third of total cardiomyocyte volume is occupied by mitochondria in order to meet the high energy demand of contractile and relaxational function. It is thus crucial that we understand the pathological mechanisms driving mitochondrial dysfunction in aging and how this contributes to age-associated cardiovascular disease. The current manuscript aims to fill this knowledge gap …

Self-Leadership And Perceptions Of Artificial Intelligence: A Single-Case Study, Patrik Garren

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this single-case qualitative project is to uncover how self-leadership’s behavioral and cognitive strategies influence perceptions of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI adoption. While existing literature acknowledges that there is an association between self-leadership, technology’s perceived usefulness and ease of use, as well as comfort with AI preparedness and its professional impact, there is limited research on how self-leadership shapes perceptions of AI and AI adoption in real-life contexts. To fill this gap in contemporary literature, this project analyzes qualitative semi-structured interviews with 25 healthcare professionals involved in the implementation of ‘AI Model 1’ at their mid-sized United …

Evaluation Of Finger-Tightening Torque Applied To Implant Healing Abutments By Dental Providers With Varying Experience And Physical Characteristics: An In-Vitro Study., Bayan Abuhalimeh

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Evaluation of Finger-Tightening Torque Applied to Implant Healing Abutments by Dental Providers with Varying Experience and Physical Characteristics: An In-vitro Study

Bayan Abuhalimeh, D.D.S

Aim: The primary objective of this project is to measure the actual torque applied by dental providers when finger-tightening a healing abutment and assess the variability among individuals. A secondary objective is to analyze the correlation between applied torque and: provider experience level (residents, general dentist, specialist); gender; age; and, physical attributes (e.g., grip strength, hand size, and dominant hand used for tightening). The null hypothesis is that there is no difference in the mean finger-tightening …

The Effects Of Gesture And Age On Jurors’ Perceptions Of Child Witnesses, Jihan Hani Rashed

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Jurors’ perceptions of child witnesses can have significant influence in judicial outcomes, particularly in cases where children’s testimony is central (Goodman et al., 1997; Goodman et al., 1998; Castelli et al., 2005). The role of gesture in shaping jurors’ perceptions is underexplored. Studies highlight that gesture enhances memory recall and reduces cognitive load, making it an important component of effective communication (Goldin-Meadow et al., 2001; Hudson & Sheffield, 1998; Cook & Fenn, 2017). The present research consisted of two studies examining whether child witnesses’ use of gesture during recall of an alleged crime affected jurors’ perceptions of witness credibility and …

Trust, Literacy, And Choice: Exploring How Taxpayers Decide Between Self-Preparation And Professional Assistance, Bethany Jo Elam

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Each year, taxpayers must decide whether to self-prepare their tax return or hire a tax professional. While the decline in paper filing has made electronic filing the standard, the ease of access to both DIY tax software and tax professionals allows taxpayers to switch between these options each year if they wish. While previous research has focused on tangible predictors such as cost and accuracy, psychological factors, such as trust, remain largely unexplored in the modern tax-filing environment. This study investigates the relationship among perceived tax literacy among taxpayers, various dimensions of trust, and the intention to use tax software. …

Early Life Adversity And Reward Reactivity In Humans, Maria C. Potts

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Both animal and human research has identified early life adversity (ELA) as a prominent risk factor for substance use disorder (SUD). However, the underlying mechanisms linking ELA to SUD development remain unclear. Animal studies point to differences in reward responsiveness as the primary explanation; specifically, that ELA could lead to individual differences in the attribution of incentive salience to reward-predictive cues, or the “sign-tracking” behavioral phenotype. Sign-tracking has been linked to addiction-related behaviors in both animal and human studies, but no human studies have examined whether sign-tracking could partially explain the link between ELA and SUD. In fact, human studies …

The Effect Of Innovative Value Proposition On Buyer Reactions: The Moderating Roles Of Price Orientation And Perceived Risk, Chad Stuttz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Value propositions are essential to the success of personal selling in the Business-to-Business (B2B) context. While earlier studies have offered valuable insights into the roles of value propositions in driving B2B sales, they have often regarded value propositions as uniform. In this dissertation, I argue that value propositions vary in their levels of innovativeness. The dissertation introduces the concept of innovative value proposition (IVP) and proposes that IVP indicates greater future growth potential to buyers, leading to more favorable reactions such as responsiveness and willingness to engage than less innovative ones. Additionally, the dissertation explores the moderating effects of buyer …

Facial Aesthetics And The Esthetic Plane: Effects Of Modern Lip Trends, Allison Paige Fritz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Background and Objectives: The objective of this study is to evaluate whether there is a difference in aesthetic preferences of lip position between dental professionals and the general public, which we will refer to throughout the paper as lay people. In addition, age and gender differences will be determined to evaluate whether there is a need to re-evaluate the accepted normative values for lips to Esthetic plane (E-plane).

Experimental Design and Methods: A cross sectional, observational study design was used. The study aim was to evaluate the perception and opinions regarding lip position and fullness of both lay people …