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The Effectiveness Of Interventions In Reducing Sexually Transmitted Infections Among African American Adolescents: A Comprehensive Literature Review, Brandy M. Leaver

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

In the United States, an estimated 20 million new sexually transmitted infections occur annually, with half of the cases occurring in adolescents. The infection rate among African American adolescents is four times higher than that among white adolescents. Although many types of interventions exist, few are specifically designed for African American adolescents. In conducting this comprehensive literature review and synthesis, I examined the effectiveness of existing interventions in creating behavioral change among African American adolescents by applying the health belief model to interpret and organize the findings. The databases PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar were searched on October 1, 2025. …

Reducing Sleep-Related Infant Deaths In Douglas County, Lauren J. Maskin

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Douglas County, including the city of Omaha, covers 339.6 square miles along the border of the Missouri River in Nebraska with a population of 517,110 (https://www.douglascounty-ne.gov/) and is one of seven large urban counties in the state. There are approximately 8,000 infants born in Douglas County annually (Nebraska Vital Statistics Birth Dashboard). The Douglas County Health Department (DCHD), established in 1854, is one of the oldest county health departments in the state and manages multiple public health projects annually. In 2024-2025, a renewed focus for DCHD has been its infant mortality rate (IMR). In 2024, 44 infant mortalities occurred in …

Esteban Salinas: Reworking Mono-Epistemological Thought In The Borderlands Through Local Leadership And Legacy, Jose M. Escobedo, Juan Salinas Jr., Griselda Salinas

Organization and School Leadership Faculty Publications

This article examines an ethnographic case study of Esteban Salinas, a local teacher beloved by communities across the mid-Rio Grande Valley. By reconstructing his story and critically examining his legacy, we can achieve a better understanding of the monocultural narratives imposed on the borderlands in his time and seek to challenge them through the examples and legacies of individuals like Esteban Salinas. We also seek to further add contextualization over the Western colonial institutions implemented in the 20th century in the borderlands through which we are still confined, and which require reevaluation and rework and how aspects of his legacy …

Motivation And Productivity Of Female Employees In China With Scoliosis Pain, Shauna-Kay Reeves

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A scoliosis diagnosis can impact an individual’s work performance, particularly if there is a lack of proper ergonomics or workplace accommodations that might lead to increased pain and discomfort. Organizational leaders must understand this impact as an indicator of employee motivation and productivity. The purpose of this qualitative, interpretative phenomenological analysis was to explore the lived experience of female employees in China with scoliosis pain and its impact on their motivation and productivity. The theoretical foundations used in this study were the job demands-resources model and the self-determination theory. The participants consisted of eight female employees with scoliosis pain working …

White Horse Village: A Northern Utah Ufo Narrative, Melissa Petersen

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

In the early 1960's a group of UFO believers, called Christ Brotherhood Inc., established themselves in Smithfield Canyon, UT and called their commune White Horse Village. A main house was built where the leader of the group lived and two or three smaller cabins were erected for the believers. Without running water they used an outhouse among them and built a small church where they would meet for lectures. Their beliefs centered around the popular movement of New Age spirituality of the time, which included scientific explanations for Christian beliefs including a belief in benevolent aliens as modern angels. Their …

Privacy Rights: Their Evolution, Expansion, And Narrowing, Rebecca Nichole Ivans

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Privacy rights in the United States have evolved significantly through judicial interpretation, with reproductive rights playing a central role in their expansion and contraction. This paper examines how the Supreme Court's treatment of reproductive rights has shaped the broader understanding of constitutional privacy rights, focusing on landmark cases from Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) to Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022).

The analysis begins by exploring how the Court first established privacy rights through "penumbras" found within various constitutional amendments, particularly in Griswold's protection of contraceptive access for married couples. The paper traces the expansion of these rights through subsequent …

Rewarding Disruptions In Tamsyn Muir's The Locked Tomb, Elijah Moss

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Tamsyn Muir, author of The Locked Tomb, says she thinks of Biblical allusions in the same way she thinks of alluding to digital folklore. This research paper investigates the veracity of this claim, using the dual lenses of literary analysis and digital folklore studies to ultimately conclude that the broad range of intertextual references in The Locked Tomb exemplifies a broader strategy of ambivalence (e.g., in her tone) that disrupts the readerly experience. With these ruptures, Muir creates space away from the typical expectations that may limit the range of themes historically found in genre fiction. Therefore, her tonal …

Systematic Review Of Instruments Measuring Teachers' Tpack, Jose Ruben Avalos

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The study examines the assessment of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), a framework that integrates technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge for effective teaching. Given the increasing integration of technology in education, it is crucial to understand how TPACK is assessed and the tools used to measure teachers' proficiency in these areas. This study aims to review and analyze tools used to assess TPACK, evaluate their validity and reliability, and provide a synthesis of existing research to inform future developments in TPACK assessment. A systematic review of literature was conducted, focusing on studies related to the evaluation of TPACK. Four research …

Hispanic-Servingness Complexity In The United States-Mexico Borderland: Employee Perspectives At A Hispanic-Serving Community College, Jessie Arellano

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Persistent challenges and low educational attainment among Hispanic college students highlight the urgency of Hispanic-Servingness. A mixed-methods design was employed through an exploratory questionnaire to examine Hispanic-Serving Institutions’ employees’ perceptions of five metrics: institutional, academic, student services, community engagement, and grant funding practices. Data were collected from 439 employees from a Hispanic-Serving Community College located in the southwest U.S.-Mexico borderland region, who anonymously completed an online survey. Quantitative results revealed employees perceived that the Hispanic-Serving Community College demonstrates strength in institutional and academic practices that support Hispanic students. Additionally, the results indicated general agreement with the effectiveness across the metrics, …

¡Maestra, Ya Le Entiendo! Teachers And Students Creating A Language-Rich Learning Environment With Available Language Resources And Students’ Funds Of Knowledge, Yolanda D. Castro

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative study investigates how dual language educators in elementary schools along the U.S.–Mexico border create language-rich learning environments with the Spanish resources available to them. Motivated by longstanding shortages of adequate Spanish instructional materials in bilingual classrooms, this study examines the extent to which this challenge persists in contemporary educational contexts. Grounded in translanguaging theory (de la Piedra, Araujo, & Esquinca, 2018; Flores & Chaparro, 2018; Otheguy, García, & Reid, 2015) and the funds of knowledge framework (González, Moll, & Amanti, 2005), the study explored: (1) the materials provided by districts and schools, (2) the challenges teachers face with …

Mi Cuerpo, Mi Salud: A Brief Sexual Health Pilot Intervention For The Promotion Of Latina Sti Testing, Ariana Cervantes-Borges

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Disparate rates of sexually transmitted infection (STI) contraction among Latinas and emerging adults highlight glaring public health issues that warrant brief and digital STI testing interventions to promote service acquisition. Latinas may experience a greater negative impact of STIs compared to men, indicating a need to target this population group. Prior studies have noted STI testing intentions and acquisition in Latina populations to be largely impacted by four components: education, stigma, social support, and self-efficacy. Given recent funding cuts for STI research, a brief and digital intervention may circumvent costs associated with traditional intervention implementation. The current study aimed to …

Acceptance And Commitment Therapy As A Transdiagnostic Approach To Improve Quality Of Life Among Adults Living With A Physical Chronic Health Condition, Marissa L. Donahue

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The research contained in this dissertation presents rationale and empirical support for the application of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) as a transdiagnostic approach in improving quality of life for adults living with chronic health conditions (CHCs). The first study consists of a systematic review that aims to examine (1) the current state of evidence of ACT for adults living with a CHC, (2) how outcomes are being characterized within this population, (3) the methodological quality of the included trials, as well as (4) summarizing the health conditions in which ACT has been evaluated for. The second study examines the …

The Sexual Objectification Experiences Of Amab Non-Binary People, Lee Rosemary Pradell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The current study combines two narrative-based methods to understand how AMAB non-binary people experience sexual objectification. Sexual objectification is the process of being treated as an object instead of as a whole person while also being sexualized. Individual people can sexually objectify others (i.e., catcalling, asking “What gender are you really?”, repeatedly asking female people about when they’re giving birth); institutions and systems can also objectify people (i.e., listing sex on driver’s licenses instead of gender; providing binary bathrooms, sports teams, and schooling; labeling female reproductive care “women’s health”).

The current study employed a process chart task that guided participants …

The Effects Of Secondary Students Using Metacognitive Strategies On Reading Comprehension Scores, Georgia Miller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This study focuses on researching the use of metacognitive strategies on secondary students reading comprehension scores. Metacognitive strategies are strategies that help students become more aware of their own thought process and learning. The metacognitive strategies used for this study were self-monitoring, self-regulation, self-questioning as well as the use of vocabulary knowledge. The study takes place in an intermountain west charter high school Reading for Pleasure course for students ninth through twelfth grade. All students within the Reading for Pleasure course received specialized reading instruction over a six-week term from the researcher. All students received approximately 360 minuets of specialized …

From Feedback To Insight: Using Hierarchical Clustering Analysis To Identify And Analyze Feedback Dimensions In Online Courses, Reagan R. Siggard

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The demand for online courses continues to increase, as do the critiques of their effectiveness. Studies have found that peer interactions positively impact the online course experience and that peers can offer feedback to each other at the instructor's level with proper guidance. To help understand this feedback, researchers have identified feedback dimensions. Most feedback dimensions have been created through inductive coding, not exploratory data analysis approaches. This study sought to identify those feedback dimensions that perhaps had been missed or were highly associated with those already existing in the literature, hoping to inform research and practice to improve the …

“Are There Any British Soldiers In Tobruk?” National Identity During The Siege Of Tobruk, May To November 1941, Stewart Golightly Weight

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Throughout this thesis, I examine what it meant to be British during the 1941 Siege of Tobruk. This is important as it reveals previous assumptions about the Second World War’s British Army, including its religious practices and regional distinctions, were more diverse and influential than previously assumed. To do this, I analyze previously overlooked sources concerning religion, morality, and regional identities to demonstrate that Second World War Britishness was not monolithic.

Social Media Mining For Extracting The Experience Of Neurodivergent Individuals On Twitter (X) And Reddit, Kartik Thakkar

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Neurodiversity refers to the natural neurological variations in the human brain such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, dyspraxia, Tourette syndrome and other neurological disorders. it’s estimated that around 15% to 20% of the world’s population is neurodivergent. This means a significant portion of people experience neurological differences in how they think, learn, and interact with the world.

Social Media has become an important space for neurodivergent individuals to share their experiences, build communities, and seek support. This thesis explores how the online venues like X (Twitter) and Reddit offer themselves as digital spaces where …

A Critical Policy Analysis Of Dual Language Education Policies On The Equity And Opportunity Of Participation And Access For Multilingual Learners, Justin A. Andersen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Dual Language Immersion programs help students become fluent in two languages while achieving academic success. Originally designed to support students who speak languages other than English at home, these programs have grown rapidly across Utah and the U.S. However, they increasingly serve white, English-speaking families seeking enrichment opportunities, while multilingual students who could benefit most remain underrepresented.

This study examined recruitment and admissions policies in two Utah school districts’ dual language programs. By comparing policy documents, analyzing enrollment data, and interviewing district staff, school leaders, and parents, the research revealed significant implementation differences despite identical statewide program requirements.

One district …

Using Behavioral Skills Training To Teach School Staff To Implement Functional Communication Training, Megan Johnston

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This project looked at how to train school staff in effective strategies for supporting students with disabilities who engage in challenging behaviors like hitting, self-injury, or crying. We taught three school staff members to use a behavioral intervention called Functional Communication Training (FCT), which helps students learn more appropriate ways to communicate their needs, while also ensuring they do not gain access to reinforcement for challenging behaviors. Staff were trained using Behavioral Skills Training (BST), a step-by-step approach that includes instructions, modeling, practice, and feedback. After the training, the school staff were able to use these strategies correctly, and the …

Biocontrol Of Canada Thistle (Cirsium Arvense) With The Rust Fungus, Puccinia Punctiformis In The Intermountain West: Integrated Weed Management Compatibility And Characterization Of Microbiome Associations, Caitlin Henderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) is an invasive weed of major concern in both agricultural and native areas. It competes against native plants, reduces crop production and quality, and causes significant costs in management and damages. Canada thistle can survive and spread through seeds, but primarily does so through its extensive root system, which causes the greatest management difficulties. There are several control methods for this invasive weed, herbicides are perhaps the most common and effective, however, they have limitations and negative consequences. Herbicide use near waterways is restricted and there are growing concerns of the development of herbicide …

Examining The Relationship Between Cultural Competency And Teacher Preparation For Ethnic Studies: The Role Of Unconscious Bias, La Taschya Renee Harris

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between cultural competency and teacher preparedness for Ethnic Studies, and seeks to understand whether unconscious bias influences that relationship. California’s Assembly Bill 101 mandates that all high school seniors take Ethnic Studies as a graduation requirement. Los Angeles Unified School District is the largest school district in California, the second largest in the U.S., and the fifth most segregated school district in the nation. With 44% of White high school teachers in Los Angeles Unified School District situated in the north region and a significantly less presence throughout the other three regions, the question of …

Predicting Stock Price Movement With Llm-Enhanced Tweet Emotion Analysis, An Vuong

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Accurately predicting short-term stock price movement remains a challenging task due to the market’s inherent volatility and sensitivity to investor sentiment. In this thesis, we present a published paper that discusses a deep learning framework integrating emo- tion features extracted from tweet data with historical stock price information to forecast significant price changes on the following day. We utilize Meta’s LLaMA 3.1-8B-Instruct model to preprocess tweet data, thereby enhancing the quality of emotion features derived from three emotion analysis approaches: a transformer-based DistilRoBERTa classifier from the Hugging Face library and two lexicon-based methods using National Research Council Canada (NRC) resources. …

Under Pressure: The Effects Of Stress And Cognitive Load On Interrogative Suggestibility, Claudia Cota

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

High-stakes situations, like police interrogations, can impair critical thinking due to stress and cognitive demands, making individuals more susceptible to suggestion. While much research focuses on children, young adults are also at risk for interrogative suggestibility, which can have serious legal consequences. This study experimentally manipulated stress and cognitive load to test whether both factors increase suggestibility in young adults, both independently and interactively, with the highest suggestibility among those experiencing both greater stress and cognitive demands. This was evaluated by examining both condition effects and self-reports of stress and cognitive load. College students (N = 230), aged 18 to …

¡Más Fuertes Y Resilientes! Strengthening Latino Occupational Resilience Through Career-Focused Support Services At Texas Hispanic Serving Institutions, Claudia Cochran-Miller

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Latinos face many threats to their occupational resilience. Occupational displacement is looming due to technological advances that threaten jobs where Latinos are overrepresented such as in manufacturing, retail, construction, agriculture, and food services. As technological advances, labor practices, and other factors disproportionately affect the Latino population, more will be seeking better employment opportunities and will turn to higher education. Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) are in position to significantly impact Latino occupational resilience. This correlational study examines the various career-focused support services offered by HSIs and how they relate to post-graduation outcomes for Latino graduates. Career-focused support services include alignment-driven career …

Borderlines Of Becoming: Transfronterizx College Students Navigating Surveillance, Hybridity And Belonging Along The Us-México Border, Aylin Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This narrative literature review examines the educational experiences of transfronterizx college students along the U.S.– México border, a population largely absent from higher education scholarship. Drawing on Borderlands Theory, Anzaldúa’s frameworks, and critical perspectives on neoliberalism and militarization, this thesis highlights the border as a site of both constraint and possibility. Structural violence, surveillance, and militarization intersect with linguistic, racial, and class hierarchies to shape students’ mobility, identities, and sense of belonging. At the same time, students mobilize hybrid identities, cultural wealth, and transborder networks to assert agency, cultivate belonging, and resist deficit narratives. It also identifies persistent gaps, particularly …

Exploring The Impact Of Stem Degree Attainment On Intragenerational Social Mobility Among Hispanic Students And Graduates In Two Texas-Mexico Border Universities, Pilar Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This research employed a two-phase, sequential, explanatory, mixed-methods design to answer the research questions. The first research question examined how obtaining a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) higher education degree affects the socioeconomic advancement of current Hispanic students and alumni of the Louise Stokes Alliance for Minorities in Participation (LSAMP) within the context of two higher education institutions located along the Texas-Mexico border. The second research question explored the determinants shaping the professional pathways of Hispanic STEM students and graduates in the geographic vicinity of the Texas-Mexico border. For this study, STEM degrees refer to those recognized by the …

Encoding Of Inferences Into Long-Term Memory In Bilinguals, Bianca Valentina Gurrola

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

When reading and listening to information, people often make inferences to facilitate their comprehension and the creation of a discourse representation. However, because such inferences are not explicitly stated, they can lead to distortions in the memory representation known as inference-based memory errors. The present study investigated the encoding of inferences in bilinguals while considering the effects of language proficiency, presentation modality, and working memory load. In Experiment 1, Spanish-English bilingual participants read and listened to narratives composed from common schemas (e.g., going to eat at a restaurant) before completing a recognition test on the details from narratives. In Experiment …

The Misadventures Of Popcorn And Zelda, Lori Lynne Kullberg

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Value of Animal Protagonists for Young Readers in Children’s Literature. This series is about my rescue cat and dog, Popcorn and Zelda, who are brought together at different ages and stages of their life. Witnessing their sweet interaction, mischievous playfulness, and close bond, I am immediately provided the inspiration for the early reader series of my thesis, The Misadventures of Popcorn and Zelda. My animals offer a constant stream of entertainment in watching how they interact with not only one another, but with me, as well. Oftentimes, Popcorn and Zelda’s behavior mirrors how I think a person would act …

Our Trajectories As We Leave The Teaching Profession: Pláticas With Former Bilingual Teachers On The U.S.-Mexico Border In Texas- An Explanatory Sequential Mixed-Methods Study, Carla Medina Jaquez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Teacher attrition has had a negative impact on the educational system for many years. New and experienced teachers have been leaving the classroom. Although the reasons appear repetitive, we know relatively little about what teachers must go through when deciding to leave the profession and what happens to them afterward. A teacher shortage is occurring along the U.S.-Mexico border, as in many other cities across the United States. Despite undergoing a lengthy certification process, teachers continue to leave the classroom. This research employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design to explore how new and experienced teachers navigate their transition out of …

Exploring Intergenerational Conflicts Association Among Cultural Values, Bicultural Identity Integration, And Alcohol Use Severity Within Hispanic College Student Drinkers, Ashley Marie Lindquist

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Hispanic college students are at higher risk of experiencing family conflict [i.e., intergenerational conflict (IGC)] and engaging in increased alcohol use as they begin adopting values aligned with higher education institutions. Furthermore, minoritized students often develop an additional cultural identity influenced by mainstream values, resulting in a form of biculturalism. Research has sought to understand the navigation of values and identity through the concept of Bicultural Identity Integration (BII). However, limited research has examined the effects of BII on cultural values, IGC, and subsequent alcohol use among Hispanic college students. The current study explored the direct and indirect effects of …