Digital Commons Network^™

Hoodies In The Halls Of Power: A Rhetorical Materialist Critique Of Professional Decorum In The United States Senate, Ryan Cheek, Samuel T. Allen

English and Technical Communication Faculty Research & Creative Works

This brief paper explores the controversy surrounding Senator John Fetterman's sartorial choices of casual attire in the hyper-professionalized space of the United States Senate. Fetterman's clothing choices transcend mere fashion; they embody a statement of class identity and challenge the established power dynamics within the Senate. His attire reflects Pittsburgh's industrial and labor-oriented history, in contrast to the conventional, affluent image most associated with politicians. Although controversial, Fetterman's white male privilege minimized the consequences of his indecorous behavior. The reactions to Fetterman's attire highlight the debate over what constitutes appropriate professional decorum, unveiling the underlying biases and demonstrating how something …

Is Chunking Multimodal?: Music Reading Expertise Effects On Eye Movements During A Cross-Modal Visual Search Paradigm, Nicole Arco

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Experts show performance advantages during visual search due to their extensive experience with domain-specific stimuli. Experts form memory representations for meaningful visual patterns, called chunks, that group together multiple chess features. Prior work suggests that the ability for experts to precisely encode a search template facilitates visual search performance (e.g. Hout & Goldinger, 2015). In music, expert musicians might also form chunks (see e.g., Maturi & Sheridan, 2020), although it is unclear what constitutes a chunk in music. The current study addressed the possibility that chunks are multimodal by introducing a new auditory-visual cross-modal version of the visual search paradigm …

Datum–Wise Learning And Inference For Supervised Classification, Sachini Piyoni Ekanayake Ekanayake Mudiyanselage

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Traditional supervised classification typically involves assigning a label to a single variable, considering a common subset of features for all the instances, and employing a single classifier. However, in many real–world applications like behavioral analysis or insurance recommendation, a data instance is described by a set of related variables such as physical activity and emotion, or driving quality and accident severity. At the same time, these variables are not directly observable but can be inferred via noisy but costly features. Specifically, access to all features is prohibitive due to cost, invasiveness, or limited resources. Finally, while using a single classifier …

Information Access For Infrastructurally-Challenged Environments And Beyond Through Mutually Aware Spectrum Sharing Technologies, Karyn Doke

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

The Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum is scarce and to make it available for new mobile wireless services, regulators are forced to re-allocate spectrum from existing services or develop mechanisms to share spectrum with new entries. Television White Space (TVWS) and Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) are two examples of recently commercialized spectrum sharing technologies. TVWS enables sharing among fixed wireless broadband technologies (secondary users) and terrestrial TV broadcast services (primary users). CBRS enables spectrum sharing among 5G/LTE (secondary users) and naval radar (primary users). With both technologies, a central database determines when it is safe for secondary users to operate …

Assessing Associations Between Emergency Room Visits For Respiratory And Cardiovascular Diseases And Criteria Air Pollutants Exposure In New York State, Tamba Solomon Lebbie

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Abstract

Air pollution is a major environmental health hazard for the general population. Approximately 90% of the global population is at risk of both indoor and outdoor air pollution, and it accounts for an estimated 7 million premature deaths every year according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Multiple studies including epidemiological and molecular analyses have confirmed the negative effects of air pollutants on human health even at levels within the WHO guidelines. This study examines the health impacts of releases of criteria air pollution from point sources in New York State (NYS). There is evidence from population studies that …

Essays On Public Finance And International Finance, Deepti Sikri

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

The first chapter examines New York State's Fiscal Score Monitoring program to find the effect of two quality labels on school district outcomes: fiscal stress scores, reflecting the budget solvency, and environmental stress labels reflecting economic and demographic conditions. Using the NYS school district data from 2013-22, I employ the regression discontinuity design to find the effect of stress labels, in response to the political pressure on district finances, housing, and school outcomes. I find the effect of fiscal stress label is limited, leading to a decrease in the fund balance ratio and an increase in the tax rate. However, …

Optimizing The Community Health Worker (Chw) Program In Belize And Understanding Its Unique Intermediary Position Within The Health System: Perspective From The World Health Organization (Who) Health Systems Approach, Andrei R. Chell

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Human resources for health (HRH) are the backbone of a well-functioning and resilient health system. Issues related to HRH recruitment, retention, planning, leadership and governance have been amplified by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and have posed additional and unprecedented challenges in many countries. Community health workers (CHWs) in particular, are uniquely positioned to be frontline health care workers (HCWs) that are considered a vital link between communities and the formal health system. Globally, the benefits of CHW programs have been well documented, and there is substantial evidence of the efficacy and effectiveness of these programs. However, countries are …

Pdgfra And B Copositive Fibroblasts Drive Fibrosis In Mouse Salivary Glands Through Tgfβ Signaling, Renae Williams Atkinson

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Fibrosis is of significant concern to the medical community as numerous disease processes are characterized by progressive fibrosis leading to organ damage. We begin the process of examining the mechanism of fibrosis to salivary gland hypofunction and briefly consider Sjögren’s Disease (SjD). Method: We employed single-cell RNA sequencing data from a reversible mouse salivary gland injury model and from NOD/ShiLtJ mice, a model of secondary SjD. We performed treatment comparisons with the help of Seurat dotplots and UMAPS. Using differential gene expression analysis and the publicly available R packages: clusterProfiler, WikiPathways and Cytoscape, we identified the processes and pathways …

Ribosome Hibernation Factor Induces Antibiotic Persisters Of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis In Neutrophil-Rich Lung Lesions, Jamie Corro

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the etiological agent of tuberculosis, is a prescient global health threat and the leading cause of death by an infectious agent. Treatment of Mtb infection involves administering 2-4 antibiotics for a minimum of 6 months. This extended drug regimen is required to target a subpopulation of persistent bacilli. As their name implies, these bacteria can “persist” by acquiring nonhereditary and transient antibiotic tolerance. Although the precise mechanism is unknown, it’s often attributed to slowing cellular growth and metabolic processes. During zinc deprivation, bacteria can remodel their ribosomes by replacing their zinc-binding paralogues containing the CXXC motif (C+) …

Stable Oxygen Isotope Variability As A Proxy For Large-Scale Dynamics Of The South American Summer Monsoon, Rebecca Orrison

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Terrestrial archives of oxygen isotope records are particularly important for the study of South American hydrology, where hydroclimate observations over the historical period are sparse and often not long enough to characterize multidecadal to centennial-scale changes. Knowledge of such low-frequency changes is critically important for interpreting and constraining projections of future change and detecting the emergence of forced change beyond the envelope of natural variability. This dissertation focuses on the past, present, and future of South American tropical and subtropical climate, with an emphasis on the mature phase of the monsoon season (December, January, and February; DJF) using oxygen isotopes …

A 3d Co-Culture Model Of Senescent Cell Burden And Salivary Gland Fibrosis, Stephen Rose

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Patients with head and neck cancer often suffer collateral radiation damage to the salivary glands, leading to fibrosis. Histological examinations indicate that radiation encourages fibrosis by promoting cellular changes leading to both senescent and myofibroblast phenotypes, coupled with a significant loss of regenerative and acinar cells. Chronic hypofunction remains a primary concern, even with modified radiation approaches to sparing salivary glands. Current treatments primarily offer symptomatic relief without rectifying irreversible glandular tissue damage. This limitation arises, in part, from a deficiency in predictive preclinical models to study this multifaceted problem.

We introduce a 3D in vitro microtissue model to address …

Understanding Teacher Behavior And Its Influence On Student On-Task Behavior, Jennifer Birchler

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Student behavior in the classroom is a significant predictor of student outcomes and teacher satisfaction. But, teachers report classroom management to be challenging. Finding simple, cost-effective methods of improving student behavior in the classroom can vastly improve long-term success for students. This study seeks to better understand how class size relates to teacher praise and movement, and how these teacher behaviors relate to student on-task behavior. Previous research suggests on-task behavior improves with more teacher praise and movement in the classroom. The current study used data collected using the Bx Management Tool as part of the Osage County Fall 2019 …

The Effect Of Presenting Concerns On Providers’ Assessment Of Patients' Suicide Risk, Alexandria Brunkow

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Objective: Suicide is the 10^th leading cause of death in the U.S. with nearly 50,000 people per year dying by suicide. Public health approaches to suicide prevention focus on screening people in primary and mental health care settings and offering treatment to those who screen positive. Research shows that mental health providers may not recognize risk factors for suicide and miss opportunities to screen patients who may be at risk. Providers’ mental representations of suicide risk may be influencing their perception of patient risk and contributing to low screening rates. This study used an experimental vignette case design to …

Testing An Integrated Dual Diathesis-Threat Model Of Authoritarianism, Brendan Gallagher

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

The Dual Diathesis-Threat Model of Authoritarianism proposes parallel motivational pathways by which similar personality features could predispose liberals and conservatives to different forms of authoritarianism. Specifically, the model posits that cognitive rigidity serves as a shared dispositional ‘diathesis’ of right- and left-wing authoritarianism ‘activated’ by distinct threats. For cognitively rigid conservatives, threats of change (i.e., threats to cohesion/conventions, cultural shifts) were expected to enhance the embrace of RWA; while for cognitively rigid liberals, threats to change (i.e., oppression, inequities, barriers to social progress) were predicted to promote LWA. Two studies examined this premise. In Study One, American citizens (N …

A Combinatorial Model For Affine Demazure Crystals Of Levels Zero And One, Samuel Spellman

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

The symmetric and non-symmetric Macdonald polynomials are special families of orthogonal polynomials with parameters q and t. They are indexed by dominant, (resp. arbitrary) weights associated to a root system and generalize several well-known polynomials such as the Schur polynomials, Jack polynomials, Hall-Littlewood polynomials, etc. There are two well-known combinatorial models for computing these polynomials: a tableau model in type A, due to Haglund, Haiman and Loehr, and a type-independent model due to Ram and Yip, based on alcove walks.

Crystals bases are an important construction encoding information about Lie algebra representations. It turns out that there is an interesting …

Examining Downshear Reformation In Tropical Cyclones, Nathalie Rivera Torres

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

The development of a new low-level circulation center in tropical cyclones, known as downshear reformation, can lead to sudden changes in storm structure and intensity, representing a challenge in forecasting tropical cyclones. This phenomenon is commonly observed in weak tropical cyclones (e.g., tropical depressions, tropical storms) experiencing moderate to strong vertical wind shear (> 5 m s-1), when the vertical wind shear organizes convection in the downshear region of the tropical cyclone, and lower-tropospheric vorticity is generated within the intense convection. Downshear reformation has been proposed as a mechanism for intensification, sometimes rapidly, in tropical cyclones under unfavorable environmental wind …

Sparse Representation Learning For Temporal Networks, Maxwell Mcneil

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Temporal networks arise in many domains including activity of social network users, sensor network readings over time, and time course gene expression within the interaction network of a model organism. Data of this type contains a wealth of prior information such as the connectivity among nodes (e.g., a friendship graph), and prior knowledge of expected temporal patterns (e.g., periodicity). Modeling these temporal and network patterns jointly is essential for state-of-the-art performance in temporal network data analysis and mining. Sparse dictionary encoding is one modeling approach for such underlying patterns. However, most classical approaches consider only one dimension of the data …

Understanding Local And Large-Scale Drivers Of Rainfall Variability And Change Over The Hawaiian Islands Region, Katrina Fandrich

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Hawaiian rainfall variability is strongly influenced by anthropogenic climate change and natural variability (e.g., Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Pacific North American (PNA) pattern, El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)). For local decision-makers and resource managers, understanding the drivers of rainfall variability and change in Hawai‘i is crucial for climate adaptation and mitigation planning. Previous studies have applied statistical and dynamical downscaling to produce high-resolution rainfall projections for the Hawaiian Islands region. However, to date, downscaling has only been used to investigate the influence of anthropogenic forcing on late-century rainfall projections for the Hawaiian Islands. For regions like Hawai’i, that are highly vulnerable …

Deconstructing Whiteness In Teacher Education, Allison Karcher

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This study sets out to understand how five teacher educators deconstruct whiteness in their courses and how their institutions support or hinder their work. Undergirding the study is the silence of whiteness residing in education and the urgency to notice, name, and disrupt it (Kohli et. al, 2021; Sleeter, 2017). The racial demographics in K-12 is 80% White for educators, and 54% students of color (National Center for Education Statistics, 2021). Therefore, most educators are teaching from experiences or identities that differ than their students. Since teaching is a personal endeavor, bringing our identities and experiences into the classroom, (Ahmed, …

The Transdiagnostic Role And Measurement Of Cognitive Inflexibility Across Understudied Eating Disorder Groups: A Multi-Method Investigation, Mckenzie Miller

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Cognitive inflexibility is an established transdiagnostic executive function deficit that maintains a wide array of psychiatric conditions. Eating disorders (ED) are serious, life-threatening conditions that remain underdiagnosed and understudied across diverse demographic groups. There is growing evidence for a role of cognitive inflexibility in driving hallmark ED symptoms, particularly in anorexia nervosa. Treatments targeting cognitive inflexibility may improve the currently poor outcomes of these conditions. To date, the role of cognitive inflexibility remains to be examined across demographically and diagnostically diverse ED groups. The first two studies presented here examine associations between cognitive inflexibility and symptom presentation in two relatively …

A Foundation For Transformative Learning Practices In Higher Education, Michelle Meyer

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Higher education institutions in the United States have an ongoing rhetoric of claiming that they offer students educational experiences that build skills and prepare them for a career. However, reports from employers and students indicate that many schools are struggling to do so, and research imperative skills like critical thinking have wide construct definitions that can be difficult for institutions to work with. Transformative learning theory (TLT) is a theoretical practice and pedagogy that could support institutions by providing both a pedagogical foundation of what should occur in a classroom and a series of steps for what transformative learning looks …

Understanding How Laypeople Perceive Sexual Harassment Claims From "Non-Typical" Claimants, Jennifer Mezzapelle

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Over the past four decades, scholars have generated a wealth of knowledge on the topic of sexual harassment. However, in much of this research, findings may have resulted from participants assuming that the target in question was a “typical” sexual harassment victim (i.e., a White, straight, cisgender woman who is traditionally feminine and conventionally attractive; Kaiser et al., 2022). As a result, the generalizability of this research is inherently limited, as it may not accurately reflect how sexual harassment is perceived when it is aimed at a person who does not possess the attributes typically associated with sexual harassment targets. …

Remediating Fibrosis To Restore Salivary Gland Function, Jennifer Morrissey

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Fibrosis is defined by the overgrowth, hardening, and scarring of various tissues and is attributed to excess deposition of extracellular matrix components including collagen. In the case of persistent injury or autoimmunity, as in Sjogren’s Disease, the ECM persists. Fibrosis can be studied in multiple animal models. Our lab has published the use of a mouse submandibular salivary gland partial resection model. In this procedure 40% of the left distal tip of the submandibular salivary gland (SMG) is excised. This leads to a chronic sustained fibrotic response in a localized region. The use of the non-obese diabetic mouse (NOD) has …

School-Based Grief Interventions For Childhood Bereavement: A Systematic Review, Louise M. Olson

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Childhood bereavement is a critical national issue in the United States. Children and adolescents who experience the death of a significant person, such as a parent or sibling, are predisposed to a variety of negative risk factors and long-term implications across several domains, including academic and social-emotional functioning. Schools are in the unique position to offer free, accessible mental health services to grieving students. As such, it is vital that school mental health professionals have access to information about evidence- and school-based grief interventions. The current study is a systematic review of school-based grief interventions for students who have experienced …

Compassion Cartography: Mapping The Psychological Landscape Of Altruistic Equity And Effectiveness, Kyle Fiore Law

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Psychologists and philosophers have often championed deliberative reasoning over empathy as a better approach to overcoming parochial biases and guiding altruistic equity and effectiveness. Advocates of the effective altruism (EA) philosophy even advise philanthropists to downregulate empathic responses to maximize the impact of their donations. However, recent research reveals that extraordinary altruists (XAs), such as those who donate organs to strangers, are driven primarily by empathy. This dissertation explores whether empathy necessarily impedes altruistic equity (impartial regard for others’ welfare) and effectiveness (prioritizing impact), revealing a more nuanced reality that challenges this perspective. Across two phases of research involving three …

The Effect Of Learning Environment And Student Groupings On Math Skill Mastery, Erin Marr

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This study was designed to evaluate the impact of instructional group size and composition on student progress within a classwide math intervention. In terms of group size, groupings of greater than and less than 10 students were compared. In terms of group composition, homogeneous and heterogeneous groups were compared, defined by grouping the classes with standard deviations of student performance within the upper quartile (heterogeneous) and lower quartile (homogeneous) on a pre-intervention measure. The outcome measure used to evaluate student progress was the number of trials required for students to reach mastery on a specific skill within the 16-skill intervention …

Building Engaged Audiences: The Influence Of Multimedia-Inclusive Posts On Online Engagement Breadth And Depth For Arts And Culture Nonprofit Organizations, Sabrina Jeffcoat

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

In recent years, broad access to digital communication tools provided by the “tech boom” has forced arts and culture nonprofit organizations (ACNPO) to transition to social media and mobile applications to engage audiences. While various approaches focus on building breadth (i.e. recirculation of content) and depth (i.e. replies) of engagement, ACNPO use multimedia to spur discussion and dissemination of their mission. Dependent on individual donors who generally give in small amounts, ACNPO are reliant on effective and visual social media campaigns to drive virality and broaden marketing appeal. Yet questions remain whether the presence of multimedia-inclusive posts (MIP) generates broader …

Evaluating The Impact Of Instruction Mode And Experience On Meditation Intentions And Outcomes In Self-Taught Meditators And Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Completers, Leah Howard

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Objectives: The widespread availability of mindfulness-based practices has led to growing concern about the potential for misuse, namely the use of such practices as a control-based strategy rather than in an acceptance-based manner consistent with research. Thus, the present study aimed to elucidate factors (e.g., mode of instruction, meditation experience, psychological [in]flexibility [PF/PI]) that may relate to intentions guiding meditation use. Methods: Self-taught (ST) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) meditators (N = 122, Mage = 46.54, SDage = 16.49, 65.6% Female) completed a battery of measures assessing meditation intentions (control- or acceptance-based), meditation experience (in months), PF/PI, psychological distress, …

The Shifting Suns: A New Understanding Of The Five Suns Story Of The Mexica Empire And 16th Century Colonial Mexico, Heungtae Yang

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

In this dissertation, I study the Mexica creation story commonly known as the Five Suns Story (Abbreviation: FSS) to explain the coexistence of multiple texts of FSS, the evolution of FSS from 1400 to 1600, and its multiple functions in multiple cultural spheres of the Mexica society. In contrast to previous studies up to the 1990s, whose main goals were to cite the Five Suns Story as part of a larger research topics, reconstruct a pure pre-Columbian version of the story, and analyze specific aspects of its symbolism, I conduct an intensive study of the FSS that brings together multiple …

Innovative Solutions In Medical Diagnostics, Seafood Industry, Environmental, And Forensic Applications Through Integrating Raman Spectroscopy And Machine Learning, Luis Perez Almodovar

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

There is an urgent need for rapid and on-site analytical methods to address various environmental and forensic challenges. This dissertation explores the application of Raman spectroscopy combined with machine learning for three critical areas: evaluating perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure in wildlife, authenticating tuna species in the seafood industry, identifying body fluids at crime scenes, and medical diagnostics.

First, Raman spectroscopy and support vector machine discriminant analysis (SVMDA) were employed to detect PFAS levels in the blood plasma of smallmouth bass from two different tributaries, rivers, or streams that flow into larger bodies of water. The method achieved 100% …